Is Fargo a true story? lies and deception redux

the following is from snopes.com:

"Fargo opens with: 'This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred.'

"Great opening. And not a word of truth to it.

"Fargo's creators, the Coen brothers, are known for their playfulness, the inclusion of 'little touches' that add to a film. Given the Coens' reputation for this, you'd think any responsible film reviewer would have made at least a stab at confirming this bold claim before blithely passing it along as fact. (Had they done any checking, they would have quickly discovered that nothing so much as vaguely resembling that level of carnage had occurred in Minnesota. Not in 1987. Not ever.) As a result of those reviews, an even greater number ended up believing what the Coen brothers had to have thought no one but the incredibly gullible would fall for. Their little leg-pull went over big time."

read the rest here.

Laws

Hi Everyone,

I was thinking the other day about the discussion of ethics being separate from the legal system and the importance of not confusing ethics and the law, and I though of this book...

"You May Not Tie and Alligator To a Fire Hydrant: 101 Real Dumb Laws"
http://www.amazon.com/You-May-Alligator-Fire-Hydrant/dp/0743230655

It seems to offer some support for the idea that not all of our laws are based on morality...

-Emily

Filming for the Environment

*Call for Submissions*

ACUPCC Video Competition

The American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment <http://www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/>(ACUPCC) is soliciting videos that demonstrate creative strategies for communicating the Climate Commitment across your campus and beyond. Deadline is Oct 1.

Five selected videos will be highlighted and screened at the 2nd biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education <http://www.aashe.org/conf2008/> (AASHE) November 9-11th in Raleigh, NC. Videos will also be made publicly available on the ACUPCC and AASHE websites, providing exposure for your institutional efforts and sharing creative strategies to build awareness.

For more information and for guidelines on submitting videos:

http://www.aashe.org/conf2008/ACUPCCvideocompetition.php

Money for Green Projects on Campus

In case you all didn't see this:

Now that you are back on campus, it's time to make it a better,greener place. Students can implement projects on campus, making the college more sustainable, while also building their resume.

National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology program awardsfellowship grants to undergraduate and graduate students who arecommitted to reduce their campus carbon footprint; projects including: greenhouse gas inventories, climate action plans, energy conservationand efficiency, habitat restoration, convening climate actiongatherings and more will be considered.

Grant awards:

Up to $2000 for Undergraduate Students

Up to $5000 for Graduate Students

Fall deadlines: October 1, 2008

November 14, 2008

Visit www.nwf.org/fellows for details about the Campus Ecology

Fellowship program.

How Wild is Wilderness?

An excellent and eye-opening read on just how dramatically the Americas where transformed by humans BEFORE they turned into wilderness, that is, before the majority of humans living in the America's were wiped out by European disease and made room for the beasts to roam:

1491, New Revelations about the Americas before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann

For a very special take on American wilderness see
http://www.rewilding.org/

Food for thought 1. Zeitgeist Movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kHhc67GopM

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Ethical and psychological egoism

Hi everyone,
Don't be bashful about using some of the links to the right from various philosophy resources on the web. Lawrence Hinman's site is very thorough; check out the page on "ethical egoism" at http://ethics.sandiego.edu/theories/Egoism/index.asp , for example.

Please do suggest other links to other resources if you encounter them, and I'll put them on the sidebar.

Jim

A little Calvin and Hobbes

Hey guys, sorry that the font is so tiny, but you can read the comic strip better at http://progressiveboink.com/archive/calvinhobbes.htm ...... I couldn't help but laugh at Calvin's logic when I read this. It says quite a lot about us, doesn't it? Are we right to be hunting deer in order to limit populations when we ourselves our extremely overpopulated? Is overpopulation a valid excuse for taking the life of another being? Any thoughts?