Hi all. I'm in the middle of reading "Cracking the Code" and I'm afraid all the lessons have not sunk in yet. I would like to relate what happened to me today and see if anyone has some suggestions on how I might have handled it better. I live near Chicago and it has been unseasonably warm here for January. In fact I killed 5 or 6 mosquitos today. So I said to the guy that sits next to me (lets call him BowHunter) "I guess that climate change is real." He said "well, you know climate variation is a natural part of history." Had we been alone, I think I could have made some head-way with him, but Limbaugh fan on the other side of me said "If we try to do anything it will mean a tax increase." Then JehovasWitness says "there he goes with his tin-foil hat." Now I found this to be rather insulting, especially because thought we were pretty good friends. To me, being called a tin-foil hat wearer by a Jehovas witness is analogous to being called fat and intolerant by Rush Limbaugh. So I said "Tin-foil hat?! At least I don't believe in an invisible man who lives in the sky." He said "We're going to blow ourselves up before we have anything to worry about." I replied "so we should just drive around in our SUVs and talk on our cell-phones and not worry about it?" LimbaughFan pipes in "Don't you have a muscle car?" and I said "yes, and it runs great on E85." Well, BowHunter took the position that it was better to be on the side thats winning and pretty soon I was taking from 3 sides. I Gave up and went about my day. So how could I have changed this to my advantage? And how can I get them to stop being brain-washed by Fox "News"?

First, remove the tin foil hat. Keep an open mind. Understand the difference between science and religion. Religion requires belief. Science requires testing, study and the ability to arrive at conclusions that may run contrary to popular belief. There are so many things that affect the weather, nobody will ever be fully able to understand why things happen. The earth's orbit changes, the sun varies in it's radiation, cloud cover varies from year to year, man has added particulate matter to the atmosphere, volcanism and dust storms create global dimming. The popular belief is that CO2 creates a green house effect, but scientists know that atmospheric CO2 is a lagging indicator of warming temperature. Note that I said belief. Belief isn't science.

Take heart, the guy sitting next to you isn't right either. Believing in global warming and not believing in man made global warming are both foolish positions and neither position is reason enough to not conserve energy and strive for clean technologies which avoid pollution. Weather changes and the likelihood that a .6 degree increase in global temperature is hardly cause for panic.

You could also change the subject,to some steps to keep social security , tell the Jehovah's witness to increase proselytizing and the 100,000 preventable deaths could go to 200,000, thereby decreasing the fica claimants, and not effecting the claim of 'The greatest health care system in the world' [if you can use it]

Sawdust:

quote:

Belief isn't science.

The Secret Science of belief This is like the secret that Oprah, and Larry King were talking about, this is a new scientific method, and the Dr. shows it at work. There's a book and a movie, watch the movie, the tab at the top, will take you to the Doctor's lecture/seminar.