I think my exception to your view can be summed up as: authority alone does not make a good argument. By itself, authority stands for nothing but more authority.
If Tom Brokaw says the world is made of cheese, and I tell you, upon the authority of Tom Brokaw, that the world is made of cheese, you would be reasonable to dispute my position.
I really don't want to get into the topic of the oldest fallacy, which I think is actually getting into a land war in asia, or possibly never bet with a Sicilian when life is on the line,
You misunderstand the context in which the term fallacy is used here. In the discipline of rhetoric, a fallacy is, to speak generally, a false argument. In rhetoric, a fallacy cannot merely be an unwise suggestion or incorrect idea.
Funny reference to the Princess Bride, though.
but rather into appeal to authority. Appeal to authority is not a fallacy; appeal to inexpert authority is.
No. Appeal to authority is NEVER a good argument, it is always a bad argument, assuming we know nothing else about the knowledge of the listener, or need to make a quick decision. A proof derived from authority, or argumentum ab acitoritate, is never by itself a good argument.
You are also wrong to imply that general acceptance of an idea makes it true. Reality has a firmer base than any of our mental apparatuses.
Take, for example, your most beloved authority on computer programming, whoever he is. For the sake of argument, and to stay on topic, let's say that it is Alan Cox. Let's say Alan Cox once said on Usenet back in 1998 that "foo does X," where foo is a C function. So you're writing a C program, and you need to use foo. You note what Alan Cox said about foo, and include foo in your program. Later, however, you test the program. That way you can be sure that foo really does X. Even though Alan Cox himself said foo does X, it still might not. That's why you test it. Every single human being is fallible. Thus, knowing nothing more about your skills as a programmer, or about Alan Cox's, or about how much time you have to make a decision, to purely rely on an appeal to authority for your information is simply a false argument, also known as a fallacy.
Military agencies can put a "blasting cap" on
microchips that will be going into hostile territory. For example, a computer on board an attack airplane. If the airplane is ever downed in enemy territory, a remote electronic signal can be transmitted to light up all the silicon on the plane. As long as there is enough back-up battery charge to send the right voltage, there would be no need to send in a second plane or commando group to destroy the sensitive, grounded plane.
Energy source? The article said it produced a clean burning flame. Could the reaction be slowed down? Could we produce cheap energy from plentiful silicon?
Yes, Slashdot is wrong again. I heard on NPR this morning that the approval is Congress is necessary to override the wishes of Nevada before the project goes forward.
Again, the word "nazi" here is used in a positive sense. I find that regrettable. The Nazis did not become best known for their strictness, but for their acts of overt evil.
For all numerical values greater than or equal to zero, and less than or equal to one, the numerical value is used in the singular sense. Thus, "0.13 micron" is the proper English usage.
One could list a few values as: "Zero micron, 0.5 micron, 1 micron, 1.5 microns, 2 microns," etc.
At some point the cable would come loose from the counterweight. Maybe a meteorite would hit the counterweight, or a terrorist would cut the cable from that high location, or the fastener would simply give way. In any case, a worldwide disaster would result.
The cable would fall to Earth. It would wrap around the Earth several times, as pointed out in another post below. The cable would stretch across continents, oceans, roads, railroad tracks, lakes, rivers, cities, residential areas, wildlife preserves, and many other areas. Thousands if not millinos of people would likely perish. It is conceivable that the entire Earth would shudder, literally.
Who marked this post as flamebait? It makes a legitimate point.
Among others, this "space tether" would be vulnerable to the following terrorist attacks: missle, bullet, bomb, acid, human piloted aircraft, remote controlled aircraft, ground vehicle, laser, and fire.
These are just a few of the feasible methods to cut such a cable. If a terrorist wanted to place an infiltrator inside the space elevator, more attack options would be available to them.
This space elevator idea doesn't sound feasible when the security problems it would engender are considered.
Here's something different in this topic: a non-humorous post. Let's try to analyze this logically. My conclusion is that the story is false.
Al-Qaeda does have a motive to introduce bugs into Windows XP, which will be deployed widely around the world, especially in the US. Al-Qaeda's leadership has stated that their goal is the destruction of America. To the extent that the American economy relies on Microsoft products, this alleged subversion would give Al-Qaeda information, the ability to disrupt systems over remote connections, and, when revealed as true, the ability to make the world's population panic and distrust their current set of leaders.
Al-Qaeda is known to have hatched many crazy schemes, including one involving a helium balloon that would have distributed anthrax in Washington, DC. This alleged subversion of Windows XP is crazy, but it fits with Al-Qaeda's modus operandi.
Al-Qaeda has different kinds of people on their payroll. It is conceivable that they hired experienced computer programmers who came under the cultish influence of Bin Laden.
Microsoft's software development proceeds not just in the US, but in other countries, too. This geographic diversity would make it easier for an Al-Qaeda operative to be hired by Microsoft.
Even if Al-Qaeda could not get its operative hired by Microsoft, it could have slipped the code into XP through a variety of means. Some people have mentioned third-party modules.
Another obvious choice would be to breach physical security at a Microsoft building, and insert the trojan or backdoor when no one else was around.
They could have cracked into Microsoft's core developer sites. This could have been accomplished via cracking techniques, social engineering, or breach of physical security combined with placement of of hardware or software that allowed the access. Any of these options would have allowed them to place the trojan horse or backdoor password.
As for Microsoft's code review process, there is little detailed public knowledge on how thorough it is. It does miss many security related bugs. No one individual can possibly look at all the XP code. Thus, the crucial part of the system is accountability, ensuring that trusted reviewers look at all the XP code. Has this been done?
Nevertheless, the story seems too unlikely. If Al-Qaeda carried out this alleged subversion successfully, why haven't we seen more ill effects from it yet? You'd think they would have already attempted to hack into sites and cause havoc and mayhem. That hasn't happened yet.
Nevertheless, I would hope that the security people at Microsoft are doing some double checking of the XP code.
Let's have some facts. Just about everything below is a quotation from the noted web sites.
Asperger Syndrome - Asperger Syndrome is a form of Autism, a condition that affects the way a person communicates and relates to others. However people with Asperger Syndrome are usually of average or above average intelligence, (unlike those with Autism). It is sometimes known as 'high functioning Autism'. It causes difficulties in the way a person relates to other people, socializes and forms relationships, amongst other things. (LINK).
Autism -- a condition characterized by an inability to relate to people. The incidence of the condition is about 2 in every 10,000 live births. Autistic infants do not cuddle and do not like to be picked up. They prefer to be left alone and are intolerant of change in their environment. Autistic children may respond with tantrums to such changes as the rearrangement of furniture or toys. Many autistic children are mute; in others, the development of speech is severely restricted to a repetition of a few words. Physical development is normal. Initially believed to be a consequence of poor parenting, it is now recognized as a neurological disorder. Some autistic children improve spontaneously. Others respond to a specialized plan of treatment. However, less than 25 percent of autistic children get better. Over half of all autistic children require residential placement by the end of adolescence. (LINK). There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. (LINK).
Selective Mutism -- (formerly called Elective Mutism) is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by consistent failure to speak in SELECT social settings in which there is an expectation to speak; such as school. (LINK) (warning: sub-par HTML). The crucial diagnostic element is that the child has the ability to both comprehend spoken language and to speak, but fails to do so in select settings. These children will display reasonably appropriate verbal and interactive skills at home in the presence of a few individuals with whom they feel at ease. The term Selective Mutism should separate individuals who demonstrate a selectivity with whom they speak from individuals who speak to no one. A population which should be excluded are immigrants who speak another language, have no history of the disorder, and experience SM for a short period of time. In these cases the mutism is usually transient. (LINK).
The cause or causes of selective mutism is unknown. (LINK).
Selective mutism is sharply different from autism. (LINK).
If you believe you or a child has a problem, a good place to start is with a medical doctor. Don't rely on the information I provide. I do not vouch for the accuracy of any of this.
Electrostatic discharge. Ground all your equipment properly.
Flood. Keep your servers a few inches off the floor for minor incidents. Keep a backup somewhere on higher ground for major incidents.
Earthquakes, tornadoes. Keep your server in a position where it cannot fall over or hit the ground over if it tips. Consider buying a solid steel case to potential minimize crush damage.
Kids. Get a door with a lock to keep kids from endangering themselves in your server room.
Sanity. Get a network connection from your server room to some other location or locations in your house. At this location, put your main workstation, from which you can access all your servers remotely. That way you won't be stuck in the server room for too long.
Back around '90-91 a 386/33 Mhz was considered a superb PC. It was also very expensive. The 386DX chips were not widely used in low end systems until the coming of Windows 3.x. Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 pushed the entire PC industry into using 386 class processors, and thus 32 bit processing. This result made Linus Torvalds's early decision to design for the 386 both prescient and historically serendipitous.
I am a busy person with many tasks and affairs. I don't have the time for the dreadful read-out of Slashdot. But I come here anyway. I tried Usenet again yesterday, but ever since '94 or so that hasn't been any fun. Then there's e-mail. If you're not getting spam, you're trying to interact with people with days of interruption between each sentence. Slashdot is an addictive community. It is fun because Slashdot's many awful failings, such as Commander Taco's screw up in posting this article, when an almost identical article was posted yesterday, are so unbearable that they make us feel superior. It's not like it's even challenging. Just read your own web site, Commander. Actually, if he ever started, this web site would really start to suck, because the best thing here is complaining about the trolls, crapflooders, and clueless moderators. So, sometimes we love it, sometimes we hate it, someday I'm going to get to 24 karma, and someday we will all look back at this and laugh. Imagine that.
You have valid points. It is a very important point, though, that legal advice from a lawyer really is far better than that which you can get from any law student.
Do not use anything written by a law student, including me, including what I wrote above, as legal advice. Law students are not lawyers. Law students are incompetent to give legal advice.
If you develop a legal problem, you should talk to a lawyer. Never take legal advice from a law student.
If you have a legal case or a legal problem, do not consult anyone, on Slashdot or anywhere else, except a lawyer. No one else will do.
We law students are not lawyers. We law students are incompetent to give legal advice. When I say something about the law, it is only one man's opinion, and it cannot be anything more. Law students do not give legal advice.
Just remember, if you have a real legal problem, you need a real lawyer.
Like I said, I'm a law student. I'm not qualified to give legal advice. Like I said, there are no real bug-related problems reported yet. Thus, there is no case beyond a hypothetical one.
If anyone develops a real legal problem, they shouldn't listen to anyone except a real lawyer, and definitely not a law student. Don't assume that I know what I'm talking about.
Slashdot Mirror
Netscape webmail works with Mozilla. You probably have to keep JavaScript on, however.
If Tom Brokaw says the world is made of cheese, and I tell you, upon the authority of Tom Brokaw, that the world is made of cheese, you would be reasonable to dispute my position.
You misunderstand the context in which the term fallacy is used here. In the discipline of rhetoric, a fallacy is, to speak generally, a false argument. In rhetoric, a fallacy cannot merely be an unwise suggestion or incorrect idea.
Funny reference to the Princess Bride, though.
but rather into appeal to authority. Appeal to authority is not a fallacy; appeal to inexpert authority is.
No. Appeal to authority is NEVER a good argument, it is always a bad argument, assuming we know nothing else about the knowledge of the listener, or need to make a quick decision. A proof derived from authority, or argumentum ab acitoritate, is never by itself a good argument.
You are also wrong to imply that general acceptance of an idea makes it true. Reality has a firmer base than any of our mental apparatuses.
Take, for example, your most beloved authority on computer programming, whoever he is. For the sake of argument, and to stay on topic, let's say that it is Alan Cox. Let's say Alan Cox once said on Usenet back in 1998 that "foo does X," where foo is a C function. So you're writing a C program, and you need to use foo. You note what Alan Cox said about foo, and include foo in your program. Later, however, you test the program. That way you can be sure that foo really does X. Even though Alan Cox himself said foo does X, it still might not. That's why you test it. Every single human being is fallible. Thus, knowing nothing more about your skills as a programmer, or about Alan Cox's, or about how much time you have to make a decision, to purely rely on an appeal to authority for your information is simply a false argument, also known as a fallacy.
Energy source? The article said it produced a clean burning flame. Could the reaction be slowed down? Could we produce cheap energy from plentiful silicon?
Mod the parent up!
For all numerical values greater than or equal to zero, and less than or equal to one, the numerical value is used in the singular sense. Thus, "0.13 micron" is the proper English usage.
One could list a few values as: "Zero micron, 0.5 micron, 1 micron, 1.5 microns, 2 microns," etc.
And add some other extensions while you're at it, like PDF and RTF, files of such types now having the potential to host viruses.
What was the bug number? If you can't remember, what was the description, or summary line, of the bug? I'll look into it personally.
Great. Now "Nazi" becomes a good word in some cases. Just wonderful.
The cable would fall to Earth. It would wrap around the Earth several times, as pointed out in another post below. The cable would stretch across continents, oceans, roads, railroad tracks, lakes, rivers, cities, residential areas, wildlife preserves, and many other areas. Thousands if not millinos of people would likely perish. It is conceivable that the entire Earth would shudder, literally.
This is a project that should never be built.
Among others, this "space tether" would be vulnerable to the following terrorist attacks: missle, bullet, bomb, acid, human piloted aircraft, remote controlled aircraft, ground vehicle, laser, and fire.
These are just a few of the feasible methods to cut such a cable. If a terrorist wanted to place an infiltrator inside the space elevator, more attack options would be available to them.
This space elevator idea doesn't sound feasible when the security problems it would engender are considered.
My strong recommendation is talk to a lawyer first. Even if they don't accompany you into the court room, they can give you some good tips.
Al-Qaeda does have a motive to introduce bugs into Windows XP, which will be deployed widely around the world, especially in the US. Al-Qaeda's leadership has stated that their goal is the destruction of America. To the extent that the American economy relies on Microsoft products, this alleged subversion would give Al-Qaeda information, the ability to disrupt systems over remote connections, and, when revealed as true, the ability to make the world's population panic and distrust their current set of leaders.
Al-Qaeda is known to have hatched many crazy schemes, including one involving a helium balloon that would have distributed anthrax in Washington, DC. This alleged subversion of Windows XP is crazy, but it fits with Al-Qaeda's modus operandi.
Al-Qaeda has different kinds of people on their payroll. It is conceivable that they hired experienced computer programmers who came under the cultish influence of Bin Laden.
Microsoft's software development proceeds not just in the US, but in other countries, too. This geographic diversity would make it easier for an Al-Qaeda operative to be hired by Microsoft.
Even if Al-Qaeda could not get its operative hired by Microsoft, it could have slipped the code into XP through a variety of means. Some people have mentioned third-party modules.
Another obvious choice would be to breach physical security at a Microsoft building, and insert the trojan or backdoor when no one else was around.
They could have cracked into Microsoft's core developer sites. This could have been accomplished via cracking techniques, social engineering, or breach of physical security combined with placement of of hardware or software that allowed the access. Any of these options would have allowed them to place the trojan horse or backdoor password.
As for Microsoft's code review process, there is little detailed public knowledge on how thorough it is. It does miss many security related bugs. No one individual can possibly look at all the XP code. Thus, the crucial part of the system is accountability, ensuring that trusted reviewers look at all the XP code. Has this been done?
Nevertheless, the story seems too unlikely. If Al-Qaeda carried out this alleged subversion successfully, why haven't we seen more ill effects from it yet? You'd think they would have already attempted to hack into sites and cause havoc and mayhem. That hasn't happened yet.
Nevertheless, I would hope that the security people at Microsoft are doing some double checking of the XP code.
Asperger Syndrome - Asperger Syndrome is a form of Autism, a condition that affects the way a person communicates and relates to others. However people with Asperger Syndrome are usually of average or above average intelligence, (unlike those with Autism). It is sometimes known as 'high functioning Autism'. It causes difficulties in the way a person relates to other people, socializes and forms relationships, amongst other things. (LINK) .
Autism -- a condition characterized by an inability to relate to people. The incidence of the condition is about 2 in every 10,000 live births. Autistic infants do not cuddle and do not like to be picked up. They prefer to be left alone and are intolerant of change in their environment. Autistic children may respond with tantrums to such changes as the rearrangement of furniture or toys. Many autistic children are mute; in others, the development of speech is severely restricted to a repetition of a few words. Physical development is normal. Initially believed to be a consequence of poor parenting, it is now recognized as a neurological disorder. Some autistic children improve spontaneously. Others respond to a specialized plan of treatment. However, less than 25 percent of autistic children get better. Over half of all autistic children require residential placement by the end of adolescence. (LINK) . There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. (LINK) .
Selective Mutism -- (formerly called Elective Mutism) is a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by consistent failure to speak in SELECT social settings in which there is an expectation to speak; such as school. (LINK) (warning: sub-par HTML). The crucial diagnostic element is that the child has the ability to both comprehend spoken language and to speak, but fails to do so in select settings. These children will display reasonably appropriate verbal and interactive skills at home in the presence of a few individuals with whom they feel at ease. The term Selective Mutism should separate individuals who demonstrate a selectivity with whom they speak from individuals who speak to no one. A population which should be excluded are immigrants who speak another language, have no history of the disorder, and experience SM for a short period of time. In these cases the mutism is usually transient. (LINK) . The cause or causes of selective mutism is unknown. (LINK) . Selective mutism is sharply different from autism. (LINK) .
If you believe you or a child has a problem, a good place to start is with a medical doctor. Don't rely on the information I provide. I do not vouch for the accuracy of any of this.
Back around '90-91 a 386/33 Mhz was considered a superb PC. It was also very expensive. The 386DX chips were not widely used in low end systems until the coming of Windows 3.x. Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 pushed the entire PC industry into using 386 class processors, and thus 32 bit processing. This result made Linus Torvalds's early decision to design for the 386 both prescient and historically serendipitous.
I am a busy person with many tasks and affairs. I don't have the time for the dreadful read-out of Slashdot. But I come here anyway. I tried Usenet again yesterday, but ever since '94 or so that hasn't been any fun. Then there's e-mail. If you're not getting spam, you're trying to interact with people with days of interruption between each sentence. Slashdot is an addictive community. It is fun because Slashdot's many awful failings, such as Commander Taco's screw up in posting this article, when an almost identical article was posted yesterday, are so unbearable that they make us feel superior. It's not like it's even challenging. Just read your own web site, Commander. Actually, if he ever started, this web site would really start to suck, because the best thing here is complaining about the trolls, crapflooders, and clueless moderators. So, sometimes we love it, sometimes we hate it, someday I'm going to get to 24 karma, and someday we will all look back at this and laugh. Imagine that.
You have valid points. It is a very important point, though, that legal advice from a lawyer really is far better than that which you can get from any law student.
If you develop a legal problem, you should talk to a lawyer. Never take legal advice from a law student.
If you need legal advice, consult a lawyer.
We law students are not lawyers. We law students are incompetent to give legal advice. When I say something about the law, it is only one man's opinion, and it cannot be anything more. Law students do not give legal advice.
Just remember, if you have a real legal problem, you need a real lawyer.
DO NOT TAKE LEGAL ADVICE FROM ANY LAW STUDENT.
If you have a legal problem or a legal case, or believe you have one, talk to a lawyer. Don't use anything that I say as advice.
If anyone develops a real legal problem, they shouldn't listen to anyone except a real lawyer, and definitely not a law student. Don't assume that I know what I'm talking about.
But whatever you do, DO NOT USE WHAT I SAY AS LEGAL ADVICE. If you have a legal problem, get a lawyer.
high court = Court of Appeals
intermediate court = Appellate Division of the Supreme Court
trial court = Supreme Court
New York state has other courts, too, but the courts listed above are most in the public eye.
Here's more information.