There are three types of scientific explanations: those involving cats, those involving dogs, and those that aren't very interesting. Via Andrew Revkin, here's a well-done animation that uses a dog to explain the difference between a long-term trend and a short-term variation. [embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0vj-0imOLw[/embed] Show this to your local climate denialist when they get confused about the distinction between "climate" and "weather." Not that it will change their minds, but the dog is cute.