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: BRAZORIA COUNTY – Four new paddling trail segments on the Brazos River comprising the Stephen F. Austin Paddling Trail have recently been added as official Texas Paddling Trails.
The resilient longhorn, able to survive on sparse foliage and water, has endured in Texas for more than 100 years. But the recent sale of about 100 longhorns by theTexas Parks and Wildlife Department has spurred debate about the breed’s future in the state.
Texas Business reports: The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued an advisory warning people not to consume or to limit consumption of certain fish caught in all waters off the Texas coast due to unsafe levels of mercury.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN—The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission bought approximately 658 acres to expand a state park in El Paso that already ranks as the largest urban park in the continental United States.
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: ATHENS—Puxatawney Phil may herald the onset of spring for folks in the Northeast, but for Texans there is another signal: The beginning of the annual white bass run upstream from reservoirs into rivers.
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: SAN MARCOS — New signs are popping up along the San Marcos River to educate the public about recent state actions to protect the river.
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.
Texas Business reports: SAN ANTONIO—Laurus Corporation, a U.S.-based private real estate investment and development firm, completed the acquisition of the Hilton San Antonio Airport Hotel in San Antonio.
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.
Texas Business reports: HOUSTON—The Houston Airport System announced that Spirit Airlines launched its low fare service between Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth.
Texas Business reports: The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory warning people not to consume blue marlin caught in all waters off the Texas coast due to unsafe levels of mercury.
Texas Business reports: BURNET—Add one more reason to visit or revisit Longhorn Cavern State Park this summer other than its constant 68-degree environment. Workers have rewired the National Registered Landmark and replaced decades-old incandescent lights with hundreds of energy-saving, 12-volt halogen lights to better illuminate the cavern’s natural features.
Texas Business reports: AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved $3,014,992 million in federal funding for 26 National Recreational Trail Grant projects in communities across the state.
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: DFW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—JetBlue Airways began service to its 71st destination and the third destination served in the Lone Star State: Dallas/Fort Worth.
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.
From the coastal beachfront of South Padre Island to Big Bend National Park in the west, Texas businesses dependent on tourists say their areas are safe despite the drug-related violence in northern Mexico.
Full Story » By Lynda Gonzalez For Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: The Texas Department of State Health Services has issued an advisory limiting the consumption of gafftopsail catfish from Texas waters of Sabine Lake in Jefferson and Orange counties.
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: FORT WORTH, Texas and SYDNEY—American Airlines and Qantas Airways today welcomed the U.S. Department of Transportation's final approval of the airlines' trans-Pacific joint business agreement (JBA), which will allow the carriers to coordinate services between the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Texas Business reports: EDINBURG—One of America's most vibrant "birding hotspots" is Rio South Texas; a tropical paradise with almost 500 recorded species of bird.
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.
The 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats fly off on their nightly hunt for insects is one of the many free attractions that brings hundreds of visitors to Austin. Photo by Stephanie Bathurst.
Those Bats Also Bring Money to Austin J.P. Foley recently spent a Sunday evening standing under the Congress Avenue Bridge for the third time in four years, waiting for the city’s famous million-bat colony to take flight.Full Story » Nick Swartsell for Reporting Texas
Texas Business reports: CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas AgriLife Extension Service nature tourism program is offering a new online marketing platform, guide training and certification program for Texas fishing guides and coastal tourism service providers.
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: FORT WORTH—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, announced a temporary emergency closure on parts of Lake O’ the Pines due to ongoing fire suppression operations in the area.
Texas Business reports: GEORGETOWN—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District closed of Jim Hogg boat ramp at Lake Georgetown due to drought conditions.
Texas Business reports: The theater company Generations, in association with Rice University’s Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts, will present the coming-of-age drama "Spring Awakening" with a rock-music score.
Texas Business reports:A 16-year-old Egyptian girl who lived 2,300 years ago could not have imagined today's CT Scans. But because of the impact such technology has had on archeology, much has been learned about the mummified mystery teen -- all without ever unwrapping her.
Texas Business reports: Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport welcomed the inaugural Qantas Airways flight from Sydney, Australia to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Texas Business reports: Southlake—Travelocity signed a distribution agreement with S7 Airlines of Russia, a member of the oneworld alliance, and will offer the airline’s full range of content through Travelocity.com, Travelocity Business, and the Travelocity Partner Network.
Texas Business reports: Arlington—Six Flags Over Texas launched the New Texas Giant, a “super hybrid coaster” that claims to have the steepest drop of any wooden coaster in the world.
Texas Business reports: LV Air founder Sean Smith will meet with Dynamic Air in Dallas this week to work-out final details of lease agreements for 767 jets and flight crews for cheap luxury flights to Las Vegas, officials announced.
Texas Business reports: Houston—The Linbeck Group LLC recently “topped out” $33 million, 197,000 square foot expansion of the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Texas Business reports: Statistics released by the Mexico Tourism Board show a surge in travel from Texas to the country's top beach destinations and resort areas.
Texas Business reports: Galveston Island—Moody Gardens has entered the final phase of a $25 million enhancement project that will include a complete redesign of its popular Rainforest Pyramid.
Texas Business reports:Dallas—The popular tourist attraction, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, has added a color film that shows John F. Kennedy addressing Austin supporters the night before his assassination in Dallas.
Texas Business reports: Fort Worth—American Eagle Airlines, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, announced new nonstop service from Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island, Nebraska to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, beginning June 9.
Texas Business reports: Two events, including the opening of a new space-themed museum, to honor the space shuttle Columbia and the Columbia crew are planned in Hemphill on Tuesday.
Hearing Set on Off-road Vehicle Use at Lake Texoma Texas Business notes this story by Chris Severy of KTEN: The use of certain off-road vehicles, including golf carts, is a hot topic. So the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled a listening forum this weekend. Full Story »
Lake Texoma residents speak out against vehicle ban Texas Business notes this story by KXII:A federal law that prohibits the use of vehicles on parts of Lake Texoma is frustrating some elderly and disabled residents who aren't able to access the lake.Full Story »
Dr Pepper Hologram. Photo by Jenna Thompson. Copyright 2010.
Museums Adapt In Down Economy Museums are places of wonder. Massive dinosaur skeletons and looming mammoth tusks have inspired awe in visitors young and old for decades.Full Story » Jenna Thompson, special to Texas Business
On the hunt for the big game: tourist dollars Texas Business notes this story by Joe Gamm of the Amarillo Globe-News:Maybe it's because the season began with inordinately warm weather, but this year's whitetail deer hunting season has so far been a dud in Potter County.Full Story »
Whether swank or rustic, West Texas lodging is Texas to the core Texas Business notes this story by Judy Wiley of the Dallas Morning News: Having sheltered dusty travelers for centuries, West Texans know that lodging here is more than just a convenience: Distances between towns and temperatures both run to extremes.Full Story »
Tourism professionals visit Palestine, TSR Texas Business notes this story by the Palestine Herald-Press: Twenty-one tourism professionals from across the state got a sampling of Palestine hospitality while visiting the city this week.Full Story »
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: Insult to Injury: Texas Workers’ Comp System Denies, Delays Medical Help; 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;and more.
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