Brightstar,

Please go to: http://www.ipcc.org/. These are the actual scientists doing the work of understanding the causes and effects of climate change. They shared the Nobel Prize with Al. Please read their reports before you continue to spout nonsense in public forums.

Paglia, if you read this letter, the same goes for you.

Internet on planes would be cool (assuming some dirty old pervert next to be isn't surfing porn).

But please, please, please, do not ever enable cell phones on airplanes. I once spent the longest three hours of my life sitting near an obnoxious lawyer on his cell phone in a packed Acela Amtrack train. He talked at the top of his voice for the entire three hour trip. Everyone was annoyed. This will happen on planes if it is permitted.

With all due respect to Cary, guys like this are not San Francisco liberals. He will not respond to offers of reconciliation. For men like this, "might makes right." He probably honestly believes that if he can bully you into forgetting about his debt, then he owes you nothing. If you were to have a fist fight with this guy, win or lose, then he'd be willing to bargin with you and/or give you a little respect. But, for now, he thinks he owns you.

So what to do? The fist fight is not advised (for many reasons philosophical and practical). I'd forget about the money and chalk it up to a learning experience. (Ever notice that at a mechanics shop, you don't get your car back until you pay?) Also, since your home business is probably illegal in some way (taxes, zoning, etc), I wouldn't push my luck.

My own goal here would be to get this guy out of the neighborhood. Call the police about each and every loud fight, vandalism incident, etc that occurs. Get the police visiting him on a regular basis. If he is an ex-con, he will be wary of the police. He might even be on probation. He will either move, clean up his act, or get arrested. If he further threatens you or vandalizes your property, file a police report. Don’t confront this guy directly, just keep reporting him. On the other hand, beware calling the police for very minor incidents or when there is no real proof he’s doing anything wrong. Do that enough and they’ll start ignoring you or taking forever to respond to your calls. Also, if some like-minded neighbors start calling too, that will help a lot. A lack of response from the police can be sometimes helped by making an appointment with the police chief or with your local councilperson.

I've lived in situations similar to yours numerous times. In every case, this strategy worked wonders.

Good luck!

No, the majority of the scientific community doesn't doubt global warming. There are always a few scientists that disagree with the current consensus on a given topic. For example, there are also scientists that think that the HIV virus doesn't cause AIDS, that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer, and that evolution isn't happening. In all 4 cases, these people are a very, very small minority of the scientific community. In many of these cases, these "scientists" have some other agenda, religious, political, or monetary, that they are trying to push.

Again, please read up on this topic. I'm not telling you what to think, just to educate yourself and make your own decision that's not based on some sort of knee-jerk anti-establishment tendency or penchant for conspiracy theories.

The correct link to the IPCC is: http://www.ipcc.ch/

Yes, the climate has changed in the past. That's a well known scientific fact. However, what the "ice core data" actually indicate is that these changes have always accompanied changes in atmospheric gases, such as CO2. (What they often measure in ice cores is trapped atmospheric gases.) The difference today is that the elevated CO2 levels are man made. This time around, we are changing the climate.

I admit that Al Gore is not a scientist and that sometimes he talks about the worst possible case in an effort to wake people up to the possibilities. That's why I'm asking you to take a look at the IPCC reports, which are based on real science and written by real scientists.

However, it sounds as though you've made up your mind already. I don't expect much from you. So much for open-mindedness.

P.S. Most scientists don't give a damn about politics. Generally, there is not such a thing as a left or right-wing scientist. We just don't think that way. Certainly, we all have our own opinions on politics and I've met plenty of scientists that vote republican. However, when it comes to our work, we stick to the facts and leave the politics out of it. Of course, there are exceptions (we are only human), but the vast majority of us work this way.