An Illogic Puzzle

There are seven houses on a street. Three are yellow, and the remaining four are red, blue, green, and white, though not necessarily in that order. In these houses live seven people: Alison, Ben, Charles, Dianne, Emily, Fred, and Gary (again, not necessarily in that order). Each person has a pet. Each pet shares a name with its owner. The pets are distributed as follows: one goldfish, two cats, two dogs, a turtle, and a parakeet. David lives in a yellow house situated on the extreme left. Emily the dog is chained to a tree in the back yard of her owner's house. The length of the chain is seven feet, but as she circles the tree, the chain wraps around, decreasing its effective length. The tree, which is an elm tree, has a diameter of three feet. The street name is, incidentally, Elm Street. Alison and Gary each live in a yellow house, and both own cats. Fred has asked that Gary stop playing his old Elvis Costello albums at a volume greater than six decibels. The speed of sound is about 1150 feet per second at an air temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If today is Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Sunday, the temperature is 85 degrees Fahrenheit and the estimate of 1500 feet per second is accurate. Otherwise, the speed of sound is 25 feet per second less. The day before the day before tomorrow was two days closer to Tuesday (in either direction) than the day after the day after tomorrow will be. The distance from Gary's house to Alison's house is fifteen feet. A creature of habit, Gary plays the album "Blood and Chocolate" every Wednesday, which Alison does not mind. She hears the music on a slight delay. Alison's favorite food is chocolate, and she faints at the sight of her own blood. Gary bought "Blood and Chocolate" at a thrift store 470 days ago. If he bought it on a Tuesday or a Sunday, it was on sale for half the normal price. The price on a non-sale day is 75 cents for records that at spin at a rate of 226 radians per minute, or fifty cents for records that spin at a rate of 283 radians per minute. These prices are after tax. In three years, Gary will propose marriage to Alison, and will buy her a ring. If she accepts his proposal, she will move into his house, and a man named Daniel will move into her house and paint it red. Daniel owns a cat, but will not bring it with him on the move. Emily and Daniel are cousins. Both were born on a Tuesday. Daniel says, "In one year, I will be two years older than my cousin was when she was four years younger than she will be when she is one year older than I am now." Emily says, "I am twenty-six." Either Emily or Daniel is a liar. There are two doors. Behind one door is a sheet of paper which says who is lying and who is telling the truth. The door on the left is four feet wide by seven feet tall, and the perimeter of the door on the right is one foot greater than the perimeter of the door on the left. The door on the right has the dimensions that will give it the greatest possible area. You have one question with which to determine which door to open, but you may only ask it to the parakeet that lives two houses away from Emily. The parakeet will spin a spinner and flip a coin. The spinner is divided into a red section, occupying half of the spinner, and a blue section occupying the other half. If the spinner lands on blue, or if the coin comes up tails, he will tell the truth. Otherwise, he will lie. Frank said that Emily has never had a boyfriend, but he is stupid and we shouldn't trust him. Therefore, Emily has had a boyfriend. Which logical fallacy have I just committed?

Answer: I have utilized an ad hominem (attacking the person) argument, wherein I discount Frank's opinion based on the strength of his character, and not the validity of his statement.

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