Imagine it: You're sitting on an airplane about to take off on a long flight, or you're at the holiday dinner table with your in-laws, and the person next to you starts talking about how global warming is a hoax, a doomsday conspiracy theory dreamed up by mean-spirited environmentalists and scientists who want more money for research. You start to engage them in a debate, only to clam up. You're suddenly unable to think of any responses, and can merely sit dumbly while they spout off.

Well, now there's help! A blog called "A Few Things Ill Considered":http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/, by an enthusiast named Coby Beck, features an FAQ called "How to Talk to a Global Warming Skeptic":http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/2006/02/how-to-talk-to-global-warming-sceptic.html, a point-by-point guide to holding your own against the misinformed and delusional. The guide features dozens of topics like "Global warming is nothing but an environmentalist hoax," and "Glaciers have always grown and receded. A few glaciers receding today is evidence of nothing." Each one is followed by a handy and easy-to-follow rebuttal that you can file away in a corner of your brain and whip out when needed. (Some are more detailed than others.) As Beck writes, "Nothing like a calmly presented and solidly logical rebuttal to put the scaliwags in their place!" [via "RealClimate":http://www.realclimate.org/ ] Image credit: "NASA":http://www.nasa.gov