Authority:

Originally Posted By: Webster's
1. Legal or rightful power; a right to command or to act; jurisdiction.
2. A person, board, or commission having power in a particular field.
3. Government; those exercising power or command.
4. One claimed, or appealed to, in support of opinions, actions, measures, etc.; hence:
a. Testimony; witness
b. A precedent; previous decision of a court
c. A book or its author
d. Justification; warrant
5. Power due to superiority, or the like. [Syn. See Influence.]

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While surfing on the net one day,
In the merry merry month of May
....
I came upon a site to rely
But then, a librarian did cry!

What's this we see, of authority
Are we now the Nut; or the Nutee?

Well I guess it depends on just what, from some web site, we choose to cite as a basis for authority.
Authority has to do with what the librarians call a verifiable, primary source.
Secondary sources don't have as much authority....
hmmmm.... now I'm being a secondary source. I should stop talking off the top of my head about authority and get a citataion!

...or maybe an example will work as well.
Below is what I'd consider as a secondary source:
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...recorded earlier tonight; but then came onto this tangent....
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John, thanks for the biocab link:

My goodness, these guys are a veritable gold mine of topical information.
Just to be clear, this is not a mainstream academic site. It looks like a laudable attempt to do good work, but I'd want any major conclusions that I made here to be verified with a more traditional resource.

I especially like Nasif's "Definition of Life:"
Originally Posted By: By Biologist Nasif Nahle, Council Leadership/Researcher Biology Cabinet Org., New Braunfels, Tx., CONFERENCE PRESENTED BY BIOLOGIST N. NAHLE... Theory published on November 14, 2002.
EXCERPTS from:
http://biocab.org/Abiogenesis.html#anchor_14
Life is a delay of the spontaneous diffusion or dispersion of the internal energy of the biomolecules towards more potential microstates.
Perhaps, the whole Solar System was synchronized at a frequency of vibration that would be normalized by an intermittent intensity and density of the electromagnetic energy emitted by an "embryonic" Sun and with the influence of the gravitational force.
It is realistic to deduce that the life's instant was promoted by the interaction of the Intergalactic Cosmic Energy, the oscillation in the density and the intensity of the energy emitted by the Sun, the correlation in the frequency of vibration of photons and molecules (resonance) and the gravitational waves with protobionts.
....
Sorry to say that I do not know the frequency of vibration of protobionts' molecules. It could be the same frequency of vibration of the chlorophyll molecules. If my hypothesis is demonstrated as true by experimentation, the conclusions will be extraordinary and productive.


http://biocab.org/About_Us.html
Who we are:
Biology Cabinet is an institution based in New Braunfels, Texas, USA and San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Our intent is to publicize updated information on Biology and issues of related sciences as well as describing the methods of science as clearly and simply as possible. The members of Biology Cabinet are active researchers in Life Sciences. Our central mission is to provide the latest advances in biological research. We also carry out research in a variety biology-related fields, such as ethology, botany, ecology, recurrent and emerging plagues and diseases, evolution, and uncorrupted science. We disdain pseudo-science, antiscience, solipsism, cultural relativism, non-science, and dogmatism.

http://biocab.org/Privacy.html
With respect to information available from this web page, neither the Biology Cabinet Organization nor any of its workers, makes any warranty, express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose; nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed; nor represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
BIOLOGY CABINET: Institute of Scientific Research and Education on Biology, 614-C S. Business IH 35, New Braunfels, TX. 78130 USA

...the cabinet guys, doing good work!

Despite the lack of warranty, there is a great deal of insight and inspiration on this site, if not good data also.
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Although as I look further, it seems to also be a tool for blatant Climate Change denialist spin.

WE HAD TOLD YOU... NO GLOBAL WARMING SINCE 1999 NEW!
"This page has been registered properly like an intellectual property of Biology Cabinet®, thus it is forbidden its partial or total reproduction, by any means, without the consent by writing of its author."

...hmmmm, well let's try clicking on "CLIMATE CHANGE":
http://biocab.org/Discrepancies.html
Originally Posted By: APPROVED-BY-CONSENSUS UNSCIENCE
The occurrence of the warming of the Earth and other planets of the Solar System is science based on facts that were observed in the last century. The Climate Variability and the Global Warming are natural phenomena. As a scientist, I am obliged to catalogue like pseudoscience, lies and dogmatism the attribution to the human beings of a 100% natural phenomenon. The climate science has been distorted and manipulated to instill fear on people.
MEANING
Global Warming refers to a cyclical positive tendency in the variability of the tropospheric temperature on Earth due to multiple natural factors. Those changes always happen and always have happened in the history of our planet. The difference is that today we have to a political class and to some owners of the oil who have founded nexuses with bad scientists to create a fictitious climate and to maintain the terror on the world’s people.


Oh, I see now....
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...it's always good to check the authority of your sources....

Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.