Bigger Fish

Once again conservatives are putting themselves on the wrong-side of an issue that should not even be an issue, Religious Freedom. I’m conservative on a lot of issues, but this is one where I have to side with the progressives. I understand the conservative position on this issue. I can see where a fundamentalist Christian caterer might not want to work a same-sex wedding. And the idea of sharing toilets with a transgender person is creepy for sure. But the truth is public toilets are creepy no matter who’s using them. If you really thought about the people who’ve been sitting on that toilet seat, you might just take a walk in the woods. And if you’re going to be consistent with your religious purity when it comes to weddings, best not work one where the bride and groom have been test driving the each other’s genitals before marriage. Once you open the “religion” door it’s tough to close. Where do you draw the line between belief and bias?

I also understand how a business owner needs to protect their business. Is it ok for a restaurant to have a dress-code? Should a search firm be required to recruit people for a company that’s known for being a terrible place to work? If I’m a hotel owner can I refuse to hire someone with Tourette’s Syndrome as my concierge. The hypothetical scenarios can go on and on. Some are legitimate questions and some become ridiculous. Franklin Graham wants to protect women and children from sexual predators using public restrooms. It’s more likely that a child will be molested in church by a priest or a youth minister than in a public restroom by a drag queen. So I don’t worry much about that, nor should the right Reverend Graham.

Recently there was a situation in one of our local restaurants. Three lesbians were refused service. I’m not sure how they were identified and I’ll refrain from the usual jokes about softball, Birkenstocks and K.D. Lang. The restaurant owner’s defense was that “these people” made the “regulars” uncomfortable. Screaming kids or old people who slurp their coffee out of a saucer make me uncomfortable. Let’s give them the boot, how about that?

It’s time that conservatives move on and get over it. We may not agree with a customer’s lifestyle choices, appearance or attitude; but within reason (whatever that is by today’s standards) serve them with a smile and take their money. There are more important things in life than worrying about who’s sleeping with who or who was the last person to sit on that toilet seat.

Lonesome Dove Remembered

“Yesterday’s gone on down the river and you can’t get it back”
– Gus McCrae, from Lonesome Dove written by Larry McMurtry.


As you know if you’ve read my posts over the years, I’m a big Lonesome Dove fan. This week I had the opportunity to attend the Lonesome Dove Reunion event in Fort Worth (http://lonesomedovereunion.com/reunion/), “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay homage to the film’s lasting legacy and celebrate with the artists who helped create this award-winning Western.” It was the first time the cast and crew had been together in 27 years.

Five years ago I wrote a short piece about the significance that the book and the mini-series holds for me:

Lonesome Dove has been with me since 1985 when I read the book for the first time. As a native Texan whose roots go back to the frontier days, the story grabbed me and I literally inhaled Larry McMurtry’s novel over the course of a summer weekend (getting a wicked sunburn in the process). The fact that he borrowed so liberally from Texas history and real events and real characters did not bother me one iota. Most of Texas history and all the hoorah is part fiction anyway so why not use it.

Then I saw the mini-series and heard the music. They go together you know. God said so. By the time the mini-series came out, I was living outside of Texas for the first time in my life. And Lonesome Dove became my touchstone and my connection to home. A few years later I moved to Montana. Driving across the Montana state line from Wyoming and listening to the soundtrack from Lonesome Dove is as close to a heavenly experience as one can ever hope to have on this earth.

I just about wore out that soundtrack for the next few years as I spent weekends exploring the best places in the Last Best Place. And they are right, Montana truly is the Last Best Place, but it was not my place and with a few detours along the way I finally made it back to Texas. With a new Lonesome Dove soundtrack and the latest digitized version of the mini-series, I continue to enjoy and relive the story. It is the perfect tale about imperfect people in a world that is so beautiful and yet so cruel that it comes as close to the truth as one can get with fiction.

As John Graves wrote in his classic Good Bye to a River….”I am unabashedly and unapologetically a Texan”. Lonesome Dove makes me feel only more so and in a good way. I’ve had conversations with people from other places who say they love Lonesome Dove. I nod and smile and affirm its greatness and its accuracy in portraying what Texas and the Old West for that matter, once was (or at least claimed to be.) But, I also know that no one loves the Lonesome Dove story more than a Texan. And no other Texan could possibly love it more than I do.


The Reunion event in Fort Worth was special. To hear the actors, producers and the director speak about the film and what it meant to them professionally and personally was quite moving. One of the supporting actresses really got to me. I’d forgotten that Margo Martindale was in Lonesome Dove. She played a prostitute in Ogallala. Since then she has gone on to great success as an award-winning character actress. I did not know that she was a native Texan, from Jacksonville in East Texas. When she spoke about what Lonesome Dove meant to her and got to the part about being from Texas, she choked up and started to cry. Maybe she was just acting, but I don’t think so. There was not a dry eye in the room. All of us understood what she was trying to say and there are no words. You just have to be a Texan to understand.

So it was a great experience, but also bittersweet. As Robert Duvall noted, they had not been together as a group in 27 years and would not gather again. Some have already passed on and others are sure to do so in the next few years. Ricky Schroeder, is a 46 year old man, no longer “little Newt”. Danny Glover is an old man now, still with a great voice, but had trouble hearing and seemed a bit out of it. Tommy Lee Jones, wasn’t there, reportedly due to some medical condition or procedure. (Most of the group didn’t seem to mind. Clearly he was respected as an actor, but you got the sense that they all thought he was sort of an asshole otherwise.) For many of the cast and crew, Lonesome Dove was not just the highlight of their careers, it was the ONLY highlight of their careers. That one shining moment, brought back briefly for a few days in Fort Worth to the applause of hardcore fans who still remembered them.

For me the most memorable anecdote was when D.B. Sweeney (Dish) told about Robert Duvall ambling into the lunch tent one day, always in character as Gus McCrae, and announcing that this was going to be the “Goddamn Godfather of Westerns.” And I think he was right. It all came together. A great novel, written by a Texan. A great screen play (also written by a Texan, Bill Wittliff). An exceptional cast and crew from all over the world. And, an audience that hungered then and hungers now for a story that captures and then breaks their hearts.

Hollywood and Heaven

Even as more and more Americans identify as having no specific religious affiliation and Christianity is increasingly viewed as being intolerant, homophobic and politically too far to the right; the entertainment industry is producing more Biblically based movies and television shows. Perhaps they have found a loyal and hungry audience of intolerant, homophobic, right-wing Christians who want to see their favorite Bible stories in HD. Or, maybe we Americans are still a fairly religious group. Or, maybe it just depends on the polls and the questions being asked. While it is true that an increasing number of Americans now fall into the “None” category when it comes to religious affiliation, and our culture certainly reflects a value system more aligned with secular humanism than a Christian worldview; the vast majority of Americans still believe in God and agree that at least some of the Ten Commandments make sense.

Of course, there are a lot of very serious believers out there, especially across the South and in the Heartland as evangelical fundamentalism in all its various forms continues to grow. These folks love to watch so-called Bible based movies and television shows if for no other reason than to pick out errors and call out examples of twisted liberal bias. And although their numbers are dropping, there are still a number of “mainline-denomination” Protestants and good Catholics who will watch high-quality Biblically themed productions. Then we have the people who “check-in” as Christians but aren’t all that “fundamental” or “orthodox” in their beliefs. Nevertheless, they still claim to believe in Jesus and hope they have a ticket to heaven. This group needs a break from watching The Bachelor, Game of Thrones and RuPaul’s Drag Race. So watching a dramatized version of Bible stories is a convenient way of putting in “religion time” without having to actually read the Bible. And it certainly beats getting dressed up and dealing with those people who want you to give them money or join their church. Bottom-line, there is a big audience for this genre.

Frankly, I’m glad to see more movies and television shows that are based on the Bible. Even if they take dramatic liberties and don’t get it exactly right, some viewers may stop for a moment and think about life’s big questions. Where did we come from, why are we here, how should we live and what is our ultimate destination? For me, Christianity offers the most coherent and consistent answers to those questions. Are the answers perfect? No. Do I still have doubts from time to time? Yes. But, if there is a better Way, I’ve not found it.

And when it comes to Bible-based movies, the one that touches me the most is one that starts with a Bible story and then is all “what-if” fiction for the balance of the movie. Barabbas was made back in 1962 near the end of another movie industry religious revival period . I did not see the movie until the late 70’s. It was late on a Friday night, and let’s just say I had not been at a prayer meeting. Watching the movie in black and white on a small portable television with the intense focus that one has in that weird zone between being drunk and passed out, I found myself identifying with the movie’s conflicted main character, Barabbas. Anthony Quinn’s performance is one of his best. But neither he nor the movie ever got much recognition. Perhaps after The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur audiences were ready for something different. Or maybe the story just made people too uncomfortable. Barabbas, the story about a man whose place on the cross was taken by Jesus. Certainly one movie worth watching during the Easter season.

“Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” Matthew 27: 20-23

Step Away From the Smart Phone

I'm just doing my part here by sharing an article that recently came my way.


Why People Check their Tech at the Wrong Times (and the Simple Trick to Stop It)


By Nir Eyal


Chances are you’ve experienced the following: You’re with a small group of friends at a nice restaurant. Everyone is enjoying the food and conversation when someone decides to take out his phone — not for an urgent call, but to check email, Instagram, and Facebook.
Maybe you’ve witnessed this behavior and found it unsettling. So what do you do? Do you sit idly by, thinking disparaging thoughts? Or do you call out the offender?
For years, I accepted ill-timed tech use as a sign of the times. Sherry Turkle, an author and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, diagnosed the situation succinctly: these days, “We expect more from technology and less from each other.”
I used to do nothing in the face of indiscriminate gadget use. Now, I’ve come to believe that doing nothing is no longer O.K. Staying silent about bad technology habits is making things worse for all of us.

Social Antibodies

Paul Graham, the famed Silicon Valley investor, has observed that societies tend to develop “social antibodies” — defenses against new harmful behaviors. He uses the example of cigarette smoking: smoking in public became taboo over the span of just one generation after social conventions changed. Legal restrictions played a part, but a shift in the perception of smokers — from cultured to crude — laid the groundwork for public support of smoking bans. Similarly, the remedy to screen indiscretion may be developing new norms that make it socially undesirable to check one’s phone in the company of others.
Like cigarettes, our personal technology use can become a bad habit. People enter a zone when they use their gadgets. Checking email or scrolling through Facebook can be intoxicating and disorienting. Tech makers design these products using the same psychology that makes slot machines addictive. The variable rewards built into apps make time pass quickly, and can make people oblivious to what’s happening around them.
“Most people I know have problems with Internet addiction,” Graham wrote in 2010. “We’re all trying to figure out our own customs for getting free of it.” Ironically, despite his awareness, Graham has poured millions of dollars into addictive sites and apps, including Reddit and the gaming companies Machine Zone and OMGPop.
To be clear, I’m not pointing fingers. Like Graham, I am conflicted. My book, “Hooked,” is a how-to guide for building habit-forming products. I wrote the book in hopes that more companies could utilize the techniques used by Facebook, Twitter, and the like to make their products more engaging. However, the byproduct of making technology better is that sometimes it’s so good people can’t seem to put it down.
The trouble, as Graham points out, is that “unless the rate at which social antibodies evolve can increase to match the accelerating rate at which technological progress throws off new addictions, we’ll be increasingly unable to rely on customs to protect us.” In other words, if we don’t build social antibodies, the disease of distraction will become the new normal. But how do we develop and spread social antibodies to inoculate ourselves against bad mobile manners?

At Work

One solution is to take an explicit approach. At almost every corporate meeting I attend, someone (typically the highest-paid person in the room) starts using his or her personal technology. The behavior is toxic in many ways: it sends a message to everyone in the room that gadget time is more important than their time; it distracts people who assume the boss is sending work their way; and, perhaps worst of all, it prevents the person using the device from participating in the discussion, which means the meeting wasn’t worth having in the first place.
The best way to prevent this waste of time is for someone senior to mandate a “no-screen meeting.” In my experience conducting hundreds of workshops, the discussions declared device-free are by far more productive. Setting expectations up front is equivalent to administering a distraction vaccine.

Among Friends

In other situations, being explicit isn’t as easy. Take the dinner-party scene described earlier. Unlike in a corporate setting, no one at a dinner is the boss, so no one has the inherent right to enforce a device-free fiat. For a while, “phone stacking” — in which people tossed their phones in the center of the table, and the person who first reached for his phone during the meal had to pay for everyone — was sort of a thing, but it never took off, because the whole exercise felt punitive and patronizing. Most people already understand that using their gadgets in an intimate social setting is rude. But there’s always that one person who doesn’t.
So what’s the best way to get the transgressor off the phone? Embarrassing him in front of others isn’t a good idea, assuming you want to stay friends. A more subtle tactic is required. The goal is to snap the offender out of the phone zone, and to give him two options: either excuse himself to attend to whatever crisis is happening, or put away the tech. Over time, I’ve hit on one way to effectively call someone out while keeping things cordial: Ask a question.
Posing a direct question does the person a favor by pulling him back while sending a clear message. The technique works like a charm. For one, the unexpected question elicits an entertaining reaction — sort of like what happens when you hold someone’s nose when he’s dozing off. He gasps and sputters, but in this case it’s not your fault, because you, as questioner, can play dumb. “Oh, sorry, were you on your phone? Is everything O.K.?” If there really is an emergency, the person can excuse himself, but more often than not, he’ll tuck it back into his pocket and start enjoying the night.

Let’s do Something

Asking a direct question and declaring device-free meetings are simple tactics that spread social antibodies. Though personal technology clearly isn’t tobacco, it’s important we know that our devices are also designed to keep us hooked. By better understanding the psychology behind our technology, we can put it in its place.
Now is the time to take a stand. Fight fire with fire by sharing articles like this one on social media. Set limits, and don’t resign yourself to being ignored. The idea is not to disavow technology completely, but to encourage people to appreciate its power, and to be aware when its power over them is becoming a problem. In the end, technology should serve us — we should not serve it.

Nir’s Note: What do you think? How do you make sure you, your colleagues, and your friends don’t get distracted by technology. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and *please share this essay if you found it interesting.*

Nir Eyal is the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and blogs about the psychology of products at NirAndFar.com. For more insights on changing behavior, join his free newsletter and receive a free workbook.

A Not So Super Tuesday

So I plan on voting this Tuesday. I’ll be voting in the Republican primary, of course. Although I was raised a Democrat and even in my adult life have, on occasion, voted Democrat; I tend to lean more toward the conservative side on fiscal issues and international policy, less so on domestic /social. In fact, I recently took one of those on-line “who should you vote for” surveys and Hillary Clinton came in just ahead of John Kasich. Well, I’m not voting for Hillary and I don’t think Kasich can win, although I sort of like the guy. I just cannot check the box for Trump or Cruz in this primary. So I guess, I’ll vote for Rubio even though Trump is not far off when he calls Rubio a “lightweight”. Marco is sort of the Republican’s version of Obama…shows well but isn’t really qualified for a CEO position.

The political process is broken. When one looks at the candidates, not just Republican, but in both parties; it’s shocking that we do not have better options. I suppose anyone who is qualified and capable of doing the job is too smart to take it. Come November, if Trump is the Republican candidate, I may just stay home. It won’t matter. Texas will go Republican no matter who’s running. God help us if either Trump or Clinton lands in the White House. But, we the people are survivors. We made it through two terms of Obama and let’s be honest, Gee Dubya wasn’t great either. Maybe we don’t need greatness in a President. About now I’d settle for honesty and competence.

Who Are These People and How Will They Get Their Stuff?

“Our generation doesn’t knock on doors. We will call or text to let you know we’re outside” -unknown

About this time last year Goldman Sachs published a report on how Milleniels are likely to change the economy (http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/millennials/). If you have not read this “info-graphic”, I strongly suggest that you take a few minutes and do so. It’s well-done and to the point. And there are significant implications for transportation and logistics service providers. Milleniels are consuming differently and that means the supply chain will look different. For decades most of our thinking about the supply chain revolved around how to get materials and supplies into production and then how to get the finished product to the point of purchase which was for most part at the seller’s store. Now that purchasing event has moved. Increasingly, the point of purchase has nothing to do with the seller’s store. It’s all about the product and the purchaser. What is purchased, when it’s purchased, how it’s purchased and finally how much is purchased…these will determine how it’s delivered. And while purchasing habits are changing across all demographics, those of the Milleniels are likely to have the most impact.

So what are they buying? The bigger question may be what are they not buying? They are not “buying” into marriage, starting a family, driving around in a big SUV or owning a house. Those are big “nots” which have big impacts on “freight markets”. Think of all the shipments that are generated by household formation. Now we have the largest generation in the history of this country saying…Nah…not sure we want all of that; and very sure we don’t want it right now. Certainly they will spend their money on certain products as noted in the Goldman Sachs report. But when you consider what they are buying, it doesn’t move the needle much in terms of freight volumes.

When are they buying? Certainly not in the seasonal patterns we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. I think the marketplace is still trying to figure this out. But, it’s fair to say that they are buying less often and in ways that are unpredictable. And when they do buy, they want it now and with minimal hassle. Again, behaviors and expectations which significantly impact the supply chain.

How are they buying? Like many of us, only more so…they are buying on-line. The point of purchase is now an iPhone. It’s where research, shopping and purchasing takes place. This means that brick and mortar stores which traditionally served as supply points where products could be viewed, touched, tried-on and purchased are of less importance. While the stores are not going away entirely, they are likely to get smaller and carry a lot less inventory. The freight business that moves product in volume from distribution centers or manufacturing facilities to retail stores is going to get a lot smaller. The freight business that moves individual orders from large inventory locations to the final buyer is going to get a lot bigger. Amazon isn’t going to take over the world, but “Amazon-like” models will become the primary way many products are delivered to buyers in the future. And it’s a model that requires scale, so there aren’t likely to be very many of them around. It is a model that was bound to come as technology enables us to see, know and buy more stuff, more efficiently.

And lastly, how much are Milleniels buying? Less. Less seems to be more for this generation. It may well change over time, but at this point we have a generation of young people who came of age in the time of 9/11, the War in Iraq, Katrina and the Great Recession. Many of them have massive student loan debt and uncertain job prospects. The world is a scary place. So they go back home to live with their parents. Or they share an apartment with friends and/or lovers. They worry about global warming and what the world will look like for their children if they ever get around to having any. Taking on a big mortgage to live in a big house doesn’t make much sense to them. It’s a major shift in attitude from those who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s. What happens before your 10th birthday has a lot to do with how you look at yourself. But what happens between the ages of 10 and 20 has a lot to do with how you look at the world. And those kids who were 10 years old in 2000 see the world much differently than those who were 10 years old in 1984.

The Same Questions

“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve”- George Bernard Shaw

With the race for the 2016 Presidential nominations now in full swing, it seems that we’ve never had a bigger spread between the Right and the Left. Ultra Conservative vs. Progressive Socialist. But at the end of the day, the arguments are always the same because the questions never change. On foreign policy it comes down to who do we fight, when do we fight and how do we fight? And on domestic policy the questions are what are people entitled to, how do we manage our entitlement programs and how do we pay for them?

My sense is that the country leans to the right on foreign policy and to the left on domestic, which should make for a very interesting election year. For when we drill down on those core questions, we end up with vastly different answers. The Left will agree with the Right that we must protect our “national interest” and defend ourselves. But, then it comes down to who, when and how; and they see the world much differently. The Right will agree with the Left that our citizens are entitled to health, education and welfare. But the answers to what that looks like, how it’s managed and how it’s paid for are very different.

What really bothers me is that both sides tend to take very simplistic positions. These are sound bites that draw applause from their supporters, but have little or no chance of happening in the real world. And if a candidate does put forth an idea that actually makes sense, it probably includes some compromises with the other side. Which means that candidate has little or no chance of being nominated.

In a country divided, one must ask how do we move forward? Can anyone do the job? Who would even want to try?