While in Knoxville, we watched Rumor Has It (2005,PG-13) (ScreenIt! Review) with the Bells.

From Wikipedia:

The entire movie is told, presumably from the present, as a flashback to events that happened in 1997. It is also, as flashed on the screen at the beginning of the movie, "Based on a true rumor". In the backstory to this movie, Sarah's grandmother, Katharine Richelieu (played by Shirley MacLaine), had an affair with the much younger Beau Burroughs (played by Kevin Costner), forming the inspiration for the affair in The Graduate between Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson (whose first name, incidentally, was never mentioned in that movie).

I didn't think there was much to it, but it was passable. I give it 3 out of 5.

During a recent visit to Nashville, we went with the Lashlees to some of their family land in Kentucky and had a great time on the farm and exploring the huge caves there on the property. Rumor has it that Jesse James hid out in the barns and caves there. Here are some photos:

Last Thursday afternoon we attended the Midland County Fair. Here are a few photos:

I recently watched the documentary "Bhopal: The Search for Justice." From Wikipedia:

The Bhopal Disaster took place in the early hours of the morning of December 3, 1984, in the heart of the city of Bhopal, India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. A Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, immediately killing nearly 3,000 people and ultimately causing at least 15,000 to 22,000 total deaths. Bhopal is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster. The International Medical Commission on Bhopal was established in 1993 to respond to the disaster.

My employer, Dow Chemical, purchased Union Carbide in 2001 and has been under pressure to do something about Bhopal. From Dow's web page about the issue:

Bhopal was a terrible tragedy that none of us will ever forget. However, it is important to note that Dow never owned or operated the plant, which today is under the control of the Madhya Pradesh state government. Dow acquired the shares of Union Carbide Corporation more than 16 years after the tragedy, and 10 years after the $470 million settlement agreement – paid by Union Carbide Corporation and Union Carbide India, Limited – was approved by the Indian Supreme Court.

Although Dow never owned nor operated the plant, we — along with the rest of industry — have learned from this tragic event, and we have tried to do all we can to assure that similar incidents never happen again.

While Dow has no responsibility for Bhopal, we have never forgotten the tragic event and have helped to drive global industry performance improvements.

I understand Dow's argument: Union Carbide was a part of Dow neither when the tragedy occurred nor when Union Carbide settled with the Indian government. But Union Carbide did become part of Dow, and the settlement Union Carbide made does not seem to have adequately remedied the situation. According to the film, the site has never been cleaned up, so the pollution continues to affect the people living in the area. Though perhaps Dow has no legal responsibility for Bhopal, it seems like is does have a moral responsibility to try to make things right. If you (Union Carbide and now Dow) pay someone (the Indian government) to fix a mess you made (disaster in Bhopal) but the mess isn't cleaned up (due to either inadequate funds or failures of the Indian government), you still have a moral responsibility to clean up the mess.

This morning the TV was on, and one of the morning shows was airing some footage of some recent flooding in TX. With a certain amount of alarm, Finn said something like: "God promised not to cause a flood again, but he did!" I thought that was a good example of taking God at his word while thinking critically about whether or not he has kept it. I told him that the promise was about destroying the whole world and that this was just flooding in TX.