Adequacy front page
Stories Diaries Polls Users
Google

Web Adequacy.org
Home About Topics Rejects Abortions
This is an unofficial archive site only. It is no longer maintained. You can not post comments. You can not make an account. Your email will not be read. Please read this page or the footnote if you have questions.
 Once again, blame Microsoft!

 Author:  Topic:  Posted:
Sep 12, 2001
 Comments:
As the horrifying details of the World Trade Center bombing continue to surface, it becomes painfully clear that there is one villain paramount above all in this tragedy. I'm, speaking, of course, about Microsoft.

[ED} Typical Geek seems to be another typical Slashdotter, witness the lack of analysis and the anti-Microsoft bias. But in the interests of fair play that Adequacy is noted for, we will post this.

Update [2001-9-13 16:0:36 by elby]: You heard it here first!

conspiracy

More stories about Conspiracy
The Gay Tax
The AIDS Hoax
Models - Stormtrooping superbitches of the Fashion Industry
Luv Yr Enemies -- Jesus Christ
Germany Eats Young in Attempt to Globalize
Saluting American Heroes on Flight 93
Crazy, Like Me
The Adequacy.org Guide to Airplane Hijacking in the Post-WTC Era
The Evil of M*A*S*H
Hijacked plane crash destroys Canary Wharf; Shocked Americans ask, `What's Canary Wharf?'
The Hidden Threat
Was the fourth plane shot down during an attack on 9/11?
Looking For A Few Good Crusaders
The Boy Scouts of America, and the Threat To American Values

More stories by
typical geek

A Penny for the Guy!
Islam is not the enemy
We must invoke the Monroe Doctrine!
God bless the Queen Mum
Through eyewitness accounts of the plans wobbling into the Towers, and from the commonly known facts about airline pilots, one realizes that planes were being piloted by suicidal terrorists.

To be able to fly a commercial airliner, you need a multi jet engine pilot's license. ASide from the odd billionaire or movie star, the only way to afford this training is to get it in the air force. To estimate that 80% of commercial airline pilots are former military men is probably very conservative.

And what are the odds of a former Air Force pilot willingly flying his airliner into a building full of Americans? Slim and none, the annals are full of Air Force pilots sacrificing themselves to save apartment buildings and schools. Any Air Force pilot with a grain of backbone would have ditched in the Hudson River before doing what the terrorists wanted.

Eyewitness reports indicated the planes wobbled and had to line up before striking the towers, hallmarks of novice pilots at the yoke. Obviously the terrorists.

So, where did these terrorists learn how to fly multi engine jetliners? They're frightenly expensive to buy and maintain, and expensive to fuel (unless you're an oil state). They need large amounts of land to take off and land in. Few terrorists organizations could afford one, and the US's peerless spy satellites would have noticed.

But what about pilots with ties to terrorists organizations? In even the poorest country, a skilled multi engine pilot is a wealthy, upper class citizen, and aside from the occasional nutcase, not very likely to endanger his comfortable lifestyle to further an esoteric goal. No, the fanatics who crashed the planes had little or no real world experience.

Where then, did they get the small amount of knowledge that they had? One source, Microsoft Flight Simulator.

For those unfamiliar with Microsoft Flight Simulator, it is a flight simulator, of course, with modern airliners, and contains landscapes of modern cities to fly around. If you were ever curious about how hard it was to land a 757 in JFK airport in New York City, Microsoft Filght Simulator would let you do it. If you ever wanted to fly around Manhattan at skyscraper level in an Airbus, MS flight Simulator would let you do it. If you ever wanted to fly a 767 right into the World Trade Tower, MS Flight Simulator would show you how.

Now, I'm generally against all forms of government intrusion in my life and software, but perhaps Microsoft Flight Simulator has gone past the limit. I know an export ban would never work, it would just get traded over Napster. I suggest a hidden back door in Microsoft Flight Simulator that notifies the proper authorities via the internet when repeated attempts are made to fly planes into buildings and other landmarks. Sure, a few stupid teenagers might get unwanted attention from the FBI, but if it prevents this kind of tragedy, it's all worth it.


Give me a fucking break. (1.00 / 4) (#8)
by number nine on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 06:48:39 PM PST
I've been reading adequacy for a couple of weeks, and while the writing is much better than most sites the arguments are atrocious. The vast majority of articles here rely on rampant generalization, anecdotal evidence and immense leaps of logic to arrive at their twisted and unreasonable conclusions.

However despite how ill-formed most adequacy.org arguments are, this one is by far and hands down the worst I editorial I have ever read on any site, and puts even adequacy.org to shame. Go back to slashdot buddy.


It's not an editorial (none / 0) (#9)
by Adam Rightmann on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 07:08:16 PM PST
it's a reader submission, and it's my error in not making it clear. The guidelines for posting articles are very unclear.

So, if you have something to add, please submit a story.


A. Rightmann

I see... (1.00 / 1) (#10)
by number nine on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 07:17:18 PM PST
While I haven't been terribly impressed with the way arguments have been constructed on adequacy in the past, I should have known that something with a quality this low could not have originated from the resident authors. Thanks for the clarity.


ASSuME that you don't KNOW (1.00 / 1) (#13)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 10:28:16 PM PST
What a bunch of crap. Assumptions, nothing more. There is no such thing as a general multi engine license. You have to qualify for each class of jet in order to be able to fly. If you play racing games, would you be able to drive a formula 1 car? Heck, you probably would stall the engine right on the start...
I stop here, pure waste of time...


Waste of time is right (5.00 / 1) (#24)
by legolas on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 05:21:48 PM PST
There actually is a general mutli engine rating. When Mohammad Q. Public is working to become an airline pilot at a flight school in Florida, he has to go though several stages. First, he gets his private pilot licences. Then, he builds it up with a number of ratings, such as night flying, instrument flying, multi engine (which is basically flying around in a twin engine plane with one engine simulated off, since such a plane will fly differently then a single engine one in that situation). After getting various ratings, the pilot will then write his commercial flight test, and yes, their licence will then read that they are good to go on multiengine planes, among other things.

(Mine is only good for "fixed wing, single pilot, single engine, land aeroplanes".)

Obviously, you would have to check out for each different jet that you fly. Hell, I have to get a check out to go from a Cessna 172 to a Cessna 150 (basically, from a 4 seater to a 2 seater version of the same plane). However, that doesn't mean that the basic principles aren't the same. Most of a checkout on a new type of jet is remembering the special numbers (landing speeds, cruising speeds, etc.) and special procedures.

Also, as i'm quick to point out, the hardest parts about flying is taking off and landing. A basic grasp of flight theroy is enough to take a plane already in flight, and point it at a 120 story building in the middle of the day.
--legolas


In other words (5.00 / 4) (#25)
by iat on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 12:40:45 AM PST
Mine is only good for "fixed wing, single pilot, single engine, land aeroplanes"

Is this an extravagant way of telling us that you've got your driving license?


Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

well (none / 0) (#31)
by legolas on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 01:19:55 PM PST
Is this an extravagant way of telling us that you've got your driving license?

Well, I'm working on getting my twin engine rating, so that I can drive one of these.

That, or I only can fly little 4 seater cessnas that land on the ground (Instead of the water. Or the WTC.)

--legolas


 
Fsck you, Wrongmann! I am vindicated (5.00 / 1) (#30)
by typical geek on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 07:56:39 AM PST
by elby's msnbc link, and I helped your sorry ass website scoop MSNBC.

I am l33t!


gcc is to software freedom as guns are to personal freedom.

 
Which article do you mean? (4.33 / 3) (#12)
by elenchos on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 08:34:42 PM PST
If there was a ever an article posted on adequacy that contained "atrocious" arguments, or any of this "rampant generalization, anecdotal evidence and immense leaps of logic", I haven't seen it. Perhaps you saw an article you disliked for some reason and were unable to judge it fairly, and so maybe you feel that a few intermediate steps in reasoning were skipped over. I can understand how in an emotional state you could think that. But then... you go so far as to say that you know of an article here that reached an "unreasonable conclusion" ?!

Really? I admit, I have not read every single Adequacy article published in the last seven years, but I don't see how such an "unreasonable" article could have been published without me noticing the inevitable bouhaha that would have resulted.

I say the burden of proof is on you. Would you be so kind as to provide a link to this article, and perhaps point out just how you are able to assert that it has an "unreasonable conclusion"? I await your response with an open mind. Pehaps I have misjudged Adequacy, and you would be doing me a great favor in enlightening me. If not, then perhaps you should retract your charge.

Thank you.


I do, I do, I do
--Bikini Kill


 
Fair point (1.00 / 2) (#16)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 09:39:21 AM PST
Fair point, leaping to randomly guided conclusions. However from somebody whp has just spent hours trying to report yet another bug (this time installing vs.net - which incidentally fairly secretly installs pre-release office 10 components- which breaks webdav and hence bizTalk) I am delighted to bump into any slander or Libel against a company I previously thought had some good basic tenets, despite the usual problems of companies this size. By the way I am excellent at quake.. (is this as relevent)


No, Quake bashing was 2 1/2 years ago (4.00 / 1) (#17)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 09:46:06 AM PST
after Columbine. Now it's flight sim bashing.


 
The only thing I can blame Microsoft for (0.75 / 4) (#11)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 08:03:20 PM PST
Is not suing your sorry ass for slander for posting this lame, anti-capitalist drivel. Go back to writing your regularly scheduled dreck.


I see (0.00 / 3) (#21)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 02:23:45 PM PST
three probable Slashdotters didn't like my statement. Too bad. Go fuck a penguin.


I'm not really all that fond of penguin fucking (2.50 / 2) (#22)
by motherfuckin spork on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 02:27:43 PM PST
sorry to disappoint you.

well, I guess by your incredible logic, I must be a probable Slashdotter. I am hurt by your stereotyping. Shame on you.

I simply rated your comment as I saw fit - I was just sad that I can't give it a zero.


I am not who you think I am.

Awwwwwwww... (1.66 / 3) (#23)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 03:09:04 PM PST
I am hurt by your stereotyping

Would you like a cookie to make it all better?


 
sorry, this article is crashingly wrong (5.00 / 3) (#14)
by venalcolony on Wed Sep 12th, 2001 at 10:55:10 PM PST
Where then, did they get the small amount of knowledge that they had? One source, Microsoft Flight Simulator.

That's not true. I learnt to fly jets by empathizing with the Richard Gere character in "An Officer and a Gentleman."


---
The difference between trolling and life is life doesnt have to make sense.

From Computer Chaos Club (none / 0) (#27)
by Anonymous Reader on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 06:09:09 AM PST
Chaos Computer Club, 09/13/2001

CCC condemns attacks against communication systems

- emphasis on international understanding more important than ever

As a reaction to the inconceivable murders in the US, an appeal to destroy web sites and other communication systems linked to the Internet in Islamic countries or used by Islamic organisations is currently passed around in the hackers scene.

The Chaos Computer Club strongly condemns this appeal and asks the public to ignore said appeal and similar ones. Being a galactic union of hackers, we simply cannot imagine to divide the world into good and bad at this moment and use -- of all reason -- religion as a criterion for such a segregation.

Understanding the recent events is a real challenge for every person on this planet and in the global village. Being hackers, however, we should try to do the now necessary "world processing" in the spirit of humanity. "We face this power of destruction and feel helpless. However, we believe in the power of communication, a power that has always prevailed in the end and is a more positive force than hatred", said Jens Ohlig, spokesman of the CCC.

"Electronic communication infrastructures like the Internet are now necessary to contribute to international understanding. In a situation like this, which is understandably tense, it's simply not acceptable to cut lines of communication and provide a stronger foundation for ignorance", CCC-spokesman Andy M�ller-Maguhn added.

The Chaos Computer Club, celebrating its 20th anniversary, demands informational freedom and at least world-wide, unhampered communication as a human right in its by-laws.

In 1999, the CCC joined an international coalition of hacker groups (Cult of the Dead Cow, 2600, L0pht, Phrack, Pulhas, Toxyn, !Hispahack and several members of the Dutch hackers community) to strongly condemn the use of networks as battlegrounds: "DO NOT support any acts of 'Cyberwar.' Keep the networks of communication alive. They are the nervous system for human progress."

The 1999 declaration of info peace can be found at http://www.ccc.de/CRD/CRD19990107.html.



Hackers are a bunch of hypocrites (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by iat on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 07:46:22 AM PST
hacker groups [...] strongly condemn the use of networks as battlegrounds. [...] Keep the networks of communication alive.

and

it's simply not acceptable to cut lines of communication and provide a stronger foundation for ignorance

If hackers believe so strongly in keeping lines of communication alive, then why did some hackers choose to silence adequacy.org with a distributed denial of service attack? I propose that hackers are all hypocrites who manipulate their feeble code of ethics to suit themselves. Hackers only pay lip service to free speech - as soon as someone says something which doesn't agree with the hackers' own worldview, hackers use technological means to silence their opponents. Hackers are all pathetic teenagers without the maturity to settle disagreements without resorting to illegal and destructive methods.

I have no doubt that hackers will try to silence adequacy.org again following this little outburst. Go on hackers, prove me wrong.


Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

ALLLLLLAAAAH (1.00 / 1) (#33)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 20th, 2001 at 11:55:45 AM PST
By Allah we will crush u and ur haxckers.

You threaten Afganastans' Interweb! Now u shall suffer most badly for this.

Moneky Death to the Infidel Haxkers!


 
Hrmm.... (1.50 / 2) (#18)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 10:13:25 AM PST
I can't shake the feeling that this article is not only a poke at Microsoft, but a poke at Slashdot (see: Ed.'s comment), and media coverage in general (not to mention some of the Adequacy pieces). How one could arrive at the conclusion that Microsoft Flight Simulator is responsible for this would take a massive leap of illogic.

I, personally, don't take the article seriously whatsoever, and kind of chuckled all the way through it.


And Hmm Again (1.00 / 1) (#19)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Sep 13th, 2001 at 02:00:44 PM PST
While the Slashdot brigade are busy blaming M$, they might consider that the terrorists may have been inspired by one of their favourite websites.

Think about this:

One might see the plane as a penetration device, a sort of huge phallic symbol...a 'giver', if you will.

And then think about those images of the World Trade Center, the 'receiver' of the attack, with its huge flaming red hole...

God, I miss GiZ.


 
Virgin Megastores (3.00 / 1) (#26)
by Anonymous Reader on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 05:56:01 AM PST
Here in the UK have suspended all sales of Microsoft flight simulator, even though we know the terrorists were trained in the USA on real planes.
How stupid is this knee jerk reaction?
Very!


They would have to suspend all Microsoft product (1.00 / 1) (#28)
by Anonymous Reader on Fri Sep 14th, 2001 at 07:34:41 AM PST
IT's prooved , Linux or *BSd are better for:
1-Security
2- Graphics
3- Stability
And it's European (Alan Cox, Linus Torvaldt are Brit. and Finnish)
I'm sure Microsoft closed the eyes of many pof you.

Sorry for my English but I come from Chechnia




 
that is so right (0.50 / 2) (#32)
by fat and ugly on Wed Sep 19th, 2001 at 07:14:39 PM PST
#include <sarcasm.h>

int main()
{
And another thing, we shouldnt teach people to drive. I mean, am I the only one that sees all of these accidents on the streets. Stop the driving, then you stop the accidents. It's as simple as that.
}





I hate america

 
YOU ARE AN IDIOT (none / 0) (#34)
by Anonymous Reader on Sun Sep 23rd, 2001 at 01:22:21 PM PST
If you'd watch the news you would find that many of the hijackers came to America and went flight schools.



 

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest ® 2001, 2002, 2003 Adequacy.org. The Adequacy.org name, logo, symbol, and taglines "News for Grown-Ups", "Most Controversial Site on the Internet", "Linux Zealot", and "He just loves Open Source Software", and the RGB color value: D7D7D7 are trademarks of Adequacy.org. No part of this site may be republished or reproduced in whatever form without prior written permission by Adequacy.org and, if and when applicable, prior written permission by the contributing author(s), artist(s), or user(s). Any inquiries are directed to legal@adequacy.org.