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
Let’s face it. Some days at work are rough days. Some days at work are surreal days. Some days at work fall outside what can be normally processed through your mind’s logic circuits. Some days exist far beyond what social and economic organizational theories argue.
The Gallows Humor of Madness The abandonment of evidence-based decisions for faith-based will undermine, and eventually destroy, the Texas economy. Full Story » Alan Nelson
Vanishing Texas Bookstores As technology continues, you see the cliched paradigm shift. Texas bookstores are vanishing into cyberspace. Full Story » Alan Nelson
Shoes, Sales and Ultimate Schemes From a small fitness club that failed, to the proponent of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, one Texan spun a Texas-size career. Full Story » Alan Nelson
Remember when sucking helium out of a balloon to make your voice squeak like a cartoon was funny? That may become a bitter, expensive joke in your lifetime.
Infinite States of Texas, But You Live In Only One According to physicist Bryan Greene there are infinite numbers of Texas, infinite numbers of Texas exactly the same, and infinite numbers of Texas with slight to radical variations. So how come you live in this one? Full Story » Alan Nelson
Dread Of A China Moon A symbol shines in the night sky of what we once were. If that symbol changes to a bitter meaning, our fortunes will change. Full Story » Alan Nelson
Steve Jobs Dies, Steve Jobs Lives. Steve Jobs intertwined his company and ideas with our daily lives through his products and through his influence on competitors' products. A toast to a legend. Full Story » Alan Nelson
It was one of those overscheduled days when at exactly 1:16 PM, the car wouldn't start. Thus began the unraveling of a high-tech ruse that almost cost me.
If you have a diesel turbine engine, can you leave off the muffler and run about without fear of tickets for excessive noise? Owners say yes. The Palo Pinto County Attorney says no. The Texas attorney general will now mull this sound
Alligators & Iguanas. The Chicken and The Egg. Supply and Demand. Demand and Supply. Alligators and Iguanas. The economic question posed: Does the demand exist independent of the supply? Does the word "supply" mean anything without a demand? Full Story » Alan Nelson
Sometimes the law frees us with its safety net, sometimes the law traps us within its mesh, sometimes the law falls away like broken string and doesn’t matter.
Houston Sprawls And Sprawls People move to Houston. More people move to Houston. More and more people move to Houston. And Houston spreads across the land. Full Story » Alan Nelson
The $100 Bill: Snarlups & Snafus Perhaps the spin to be put on the printing several billion dollars of useless $100 bills: A clever ruse by the government to stimulate the economy. Or not. Full Story » Alan Nelson
A Lack of Human Connection As technology shifts rewrites the existing economic paradigm, human contact becomes expensive and rare. Full Story » Alan Nelson
There are three Texas cities and communities with China in their name:China Springs, China Grove and China, Texas. In the era when China was a mystery, these were among the main Texas references to that ancient land.
Back in the print era, Laura Lippman worked as a reporter for the Waco Tribune-Herald and then for the San Antonio Light. I’ll always remember her story on a Rocky Horror Picture Show audience participation midnight showing.
The mute button and the volume buttons on my iPhone fell off. If you’re like most business people with smart phones, you live on your cell. Any quirk impacts you immediately and annoys you.
Certain Uncertainty You sense we’re at an economic crossroads. You feel waves of an emotion a few notches below panic in some industries that fear going the way of the keypunch operator and elevator operatorFull Story » Alan Nelson
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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