Out of 26 million Texans, you may have an idea to change the world. You may have had several ideas to change the world. But only a tiny minority of you pushed through the U.S. Patent office from application to successful patent. We've seen Texans change the world many times over. Jack Kilby did it with Texas Instruments in 1958 with the integrated circuit, causing the start of the digital revolution, which, in part, is why you can read these words over your electronic device.
Over the last few years, Texas Business has brought its feature: Texas Business Patent of the Day. This list is of the ones that were either extremely clever, odd or strange. One thing becomes apparent from these patents and the patent that runs daily in Texas Business—Texans have a unique mind set.
Though the history of the Corn Dog is disputed, the State Fair of Texas claims to have introduced the Corny Dog sometime between 1938 and 1942. As a paean to that invention that now sits in the freezer section of every grocery store in the southwest, here are the fried foods the State Fair of Texas has introduced, or tried to introduce, in the last seven years.
Dead Texas musicians live on every time you hear their songs. Their songs play everywhere, so the dead Texas musicians appear to be immortal. Here's the short list.
Don't get caught up with John Wayne religion. For one thing, he's not Texan. He's in some fine movies involving Texas, most notably The Searchers, but none of his movies can make the best cut of Texas movies. Here's the short list.
Unsung Texas Business Journalists Mention that one is a reporter, and there's a spark of interest. Mention that one is a business news reporter, and watch the eyes glaze over. Except to the players, business and economic journalists are unappreciated. While many wish to become sports reporters when they grow up, most do not realize that business journalists cover the Real Game. Mention that reporter covers business, and watch the eyes glaze over. A toast to these below on the short list and the numerous unnamed ones slogging away. Full Story » TexasBusiness.com
Best Texas Mexican Food: The Short List No, we're not going to debate the difference between Tex-Mex, Mex-Tex, Mexican and Texican food. Just know these establishments are the pinnacle of Texas Mexican fare. No brag, just fact. Full Story » TexasBusiness.com
Best Texas Burgers Texas Burgers. . While a hamburger is merely sustenance and gratification for a meal, the memory a good Texas burger can give rise to Homeric odes. The short list. Full Story » TexasBusiness.com
Texas Business reports: FORT WORTH--The TCU Board of Trustees approved the design plans of a $45 million renovation to Daniel-Meyer Coliseum with the project receiving a lead commitment of $10 million from Ed and Rae Schollmaier.
AUSTIN — On a late Saturday morning at a lot near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a twice-weekly flea market is in full swing. A Tejano band begins its first set. The beer is flowing. More than 1,000 people — mostly Spanish-speaking families — roam among vendors peddling fresh eggs, live chickens, unlicensed Spiderman dolls, neon leggings, potted plants, bridesmaid dresses and all things Virgen de Guadalupe.
Full Story » By Mary Ellen Knewtson for Reporting Texas
The broomsticks Kevin Peterson makes aren’t magical, but that hasn’t stopped them from flying off the shelves.
Peterson, a University of Texas senior, is poised to become the sole manufacturer of official gear for quidditch — a real-life sport inspired by the Harry Potter novels — if the sport’s governing body adopts his designs.
Full Story » By Megan Strickland for Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department contracted with Taylor Marine Construction Inc. to make the first significant structural repairs to the Battleship TEXAS in more than 20 years.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—The Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin won a $2.17 million grant from the Moody Foundation to create "UT3D," the first comprehensive 3-D production curriculum in the country.
Texas Business reports: CORPUS CHRISTI—Corpus Christi residents turned out in force to celebrate the groundbreaking of Schlitterbahn's newest Waterpark and Resort.
Texas Business reports: ATHENS—In reservoirs scattered throughout Texas, under the black skies of cool, fall nights, loud generators drone and bright lights beam from strange-looking boats built to transmit electrical current into the water to catch fish. Crews from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries district offices use these electrofishing boats to collect information on fish populations, including Texas’ most popular fish—largemouth bass.
Among the hundreds of local bands in Austin, some you might remember, and others you wouldn’t recognize if you passed dozens of their fliers plastered all over downtown venues. But Diesel and Dixie has a few distinctions that help the band stand out even in this crowded music scene.
Full Story » Kathleen Silvia Leon For Reporting Texas
A Second Life for Aging Public Art The sculptures, created by Texas artist Buck Winn, were originally commissioned by the Aquarena Springs theme park, a roadside attraction that ran from the 1950s through 1994, when the park was purchased and closed by nearby Texas State University. Full Story » Jillian Bliss For Reporting Texas
While the city’s slogan is “Keep Austin Weird,” Chris English, founder of Haunted ATX, is keeping Austin scary. English provides the one and only mobile haunted tour in Austin, a year-round venture that is particularly popular around Halloween.
Larry Hagman Exits the Scene Larry Hagman, the man who was best-known as the iconic scoundrel, J.R. Ewing, died on Friday in Dallas from complications of cancer at the age of 81. His wife of 60 years,Maj Axelsson, was by his side, as were his Dallas castmates,Patrick Duffy and Linda Gray, from the original show and its new TNT revival.Full Story » Austin Chronicle
Texas Business reports: HOUSTON—Robert Redford , actor, film director, environmentalist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival, will join the 2012 Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF).
Texas Business reports: PLANO—Yo Ho, Ahoy and Avast! KingsIsle Entertainment today launched its second game Pirate101, the follow-up title to Wizard101.
Texas Business reports: WACO— Baylor University and FOX Sports announced a new multi-year agreement to televise the school's athletics events and related programming on FOX Sports Networks' platforms, which could include FOX Sports Southwest, FOX Sports Southwest Plus or FOX College Sports.
Texas Business reports: FORT WORTH—The Lone Star Film Society announced Jayne Mansfield’s Car, written, directed and starring Academy Award-winner Billy Bob Thornton, as the opening night film for the 2012 Lone Star Film Festival, Nov. 7 -11 in Sundance Square, Fort Worth.
Texas Business reports: WACO—Murder mysteries, music-filled sagas, aeronautical documentaries and football die-hards will make their debut as Texas Independent Film Network and Baylor University's Film and Digital Media team up for the Fall 2012 Film Series.
Texas Business reports: The Big 12 Conference announced it has reached agreement with ESPN and FOX Sports Media Group that extends and expands its partnerships with both media enterprises.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, acquired the North American rights to the crime thriller Graceland.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Fantastic Fest announced Walt Disney Pictures' Frankenweenie will have its world premiere on September 20 as the opening night film for the 2012 festival, happening September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.
The band named Austin Heat had just finished its set at the Hole in the Wall, a longtime music hangout in Austin just off the UT campus. Sitting on the back patio, singer Brian Scartocci mulled over his half-eaten Philly cheesesteak.
“To be completely honest, this sandwich was not worth $9,” he said.
Full Story » By Emily Grobe and Forrest Burnson For Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: SAN ANTONIO—The Witte Museum plans to open the Robert J. and Helen C. Kleberg South Texas Heritage Center, Memorial Day Weekend, Saturday, May 26, 2012.
The Weather Research Center’s 2012 hurricane season outlook predicts a quiet storm season for the Texas Gulf Coast — potentially good news for Galveston’s newest tourist attraction.
Texas Business reports: IRVING—Panini America, the world's largest sports and entertainment collectibles company, reached a trading card agreement with Washington Redskins quarterback and 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III for the 2012 season.
Texas Business reports: SAN ANTONIO—Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. will buy, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, a 75.5% equity stake in Retama Partners Ltd., the owner of the racing license for Retama Park Racetrack.
Texas Business reports: NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas— Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Waterpark, plans to open its largest development in almost 15 years with the addition of a new park area called Tubenbach.
Texas Business reports: ATHENS—Professional angler Tommy Martin of Hemphill and lure manufacturer and angler Lonnie Stanley of Huntington will be inducted into the Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame June 2, 2012, at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
Texas Business reports: STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Short films produced, edited, and acted in by students will be showcased April 19 at the 7th Annual Purple and White Film Festival.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN— Thomas Smith, visual effect producer for such films as "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" and "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial," has donated his archive to the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin.
Filmmaker Pablo Veliz has screened his work at the Sundance Film Festival and gotten “the call” from Hollywood. But his heart and, more important, the stories he wants to tell remain in South Texas. At age 22, with nothing but a digital camera and his imagination, Veliz wrote, produced, edited and directed his first feature film, “La Tragedia de Macario,” about a Mexican peasant named Macario and his struggle to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Full Story » By Melissa Macaya For Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: DENTON—Reefer Madness, a satire of the 1936 cult classic film, will be presented by the University of North Texas Department of Dance and Theatre March 29 through April 1.
Texas Business reports: The movie The Hunger Games, a story about adolescents in a post-apocalyptic survival contest, opens in theaters March 23 and offers "a perfect tale of apprehension for our time" of financial upheaval and a bleak job market, says a Baylor University culture critic and author.
Texas Business reports: CSI fans and would-be forensic investigators the world over can try their hand at solving an arson murder mystery online, thanks to a new federally funded expansion of Rice University’s hit educational game “CSI: Web Adventures.”
Baylor Theatre Will Present Quartet of Short Plays Texas Business reports: Baylor University Theatre will present a medley of short plays, "Quartet with Grand Piano," at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, through Thursday, March 8, with matinees at 2 p.m. on March 3 and 4, in Theatre 11 of the Hooper Schaefer Fine Arts Center on the Baylor campus. Full Story » TexasBusiness.com
Texas Business reports: NEW YORK—Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, entered into a historic new record deal with Texas musician Willie Nelson.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—There’s marketing, and then there’s marketing. Alamo Drafthouse launched a signature wine inspired by The Princess Bride in honor of the 25th anniversary of the film.
Texas Business reports: Actors from the London Stage, an international touring theater troupe based in London and the University of Notre Dame, will present Shakespeare's comedy of love, "Twelfth Night," Feb. 16-18 at Rice University's Hamman Hall.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas plans to expand locations in the Washington D.C. metro and surrounding areas with new franchise partner Cojeaux Cinemas.
What used to be clean, white tile floors are now a smooth and deep shade of brown. The change in color has occurred gradually over the past 33 years as customers weeve between the high shelves of Golden’s Book Exchange. Located at the end of a strip mall, Golden’s Book Exchange is one of two used bookstores in Waco, Texas. Started in 1978 by Donna Carroll, Golden’s has managed to survive the intrusion of large retail bookstores and other competitors over the years in a mid-sized market like Waco.
Texas Business reports: WACO—Dina Dwyer-Owens, chairwoman and chief executive of The Dwyer Group, will appear on CBS's hit reality show "Undercover Boss," on January 22.
Texas Business reports: SEGUIN – The 34th Texas Paddling Trail and second in Seguin will open on Wednesday, Dec. 7, along a scenic stretch of the Guadalupe River.
Texas Business reports: AMARILLO—Hastings Entertainment Inc., a multimedia entertainment superstore retailer, plans chain-wide Midnight release parties for the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 and the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
The Great Gobbler Gallop, a one-and-a-half-block race between turkeys Ruby Begonia and Paycheck, is a 39-year tradition of two towns' turkey celebrations. Photo by Elena Watts.
Texas Business reports: DALLAS—The Dallas Film Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that celebrates films and their impact on society, will honor screen and theatre legend, John Lithgow at its annual fall fundraising event The Art of Film on November 18, 2011, at the Hall of State, Fair Park.
Texas Business reports: DALLAS and GRAPEVINE—The Gaylord Texan's new 10-acre, $13-million Paradise Springs waterpark, designed by landscape architecture and land planning firm TBG Partners, boosted the resort's leisure travel business by nearly 40 percent since its Memorial Day opening.
Rodeo Clowns: Make ‘Em Laugh While Dodging Bulls Clowns, like any other entertainer, prepare for the show with makeup and costume like actors bustling behind closed curtains. But rodeo clowns take both of their roles — comedian and athlete — very seriously. For them, backstage is also a locker room, full of muscular men and sweaty athletic gear. As the announcer’s voice echoes underneath stadiums in Austin and Houston and outside trailers in Edna, Texas, they prepare physically and emotionally. When the overture is over, after the national anthem is sung, it’s time to face the bulls.Full Story » By Abbey Adkison for Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: DALLAS- In a three-night-only appearance, iconic Hollywood actors and brothers, Dick and Jerry Van Dyke will be in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas this September to perform Neil Simon's comedy “The Sunshine Boys.”
The Texas News Scrawl is a handy reference to stories Texas Business recommends from other news sources. Some of the stories that Texas Business currently suggests include: American Airlines continues to shed jobs; Chemical Safety Board shut out of West probe by ATF; America’s greatest threat: Unsafe work conditions; The West News proves the value of a great weekly newspaper in a community torn up with grief and chaos; Chinese investors checking out Texas, Austin; Texas makes bounce house operators carry liability coverage, but not plants like West Fertilizer; bSpaceX’s Grasshopper leaping to NM spaceport;and more.
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