Russ: Good morning, this is The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. And for those of you keeping track, this is show number 209, and this is that show about innovators and make-it-happen entrepreneurs.

John: Yeah, emphasis on make it happen because that's what these people do. They're the artists and the athletes that are really going to be the ones that bring this economy around.

Russ: You bet. And here's our line up for this morning. First up for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, and this is defiantly a special flashback because guest number one, four years ago on The BusinessMakers Show was the entrepreneur who went from startup to a billion dollars in revenue faster than anyone in history. And that would be Rod Canion, the founder and former CEO of Compaq Computer Corporation. So last week I visited with Rod again, and got an update with what is of interest to him now along with revisiting some of the early days of Compaq. And then for our featured guest segment, earlier in this week I ventured out to Los Angeles to the headquarters of LegalZoom.com, where I had a real cool conversation with Brian Liu, co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of the company that has changed the landscape of legal documents. But first...That's right. It's time for The BusinessMakers Show School of Business, and this is our specially selected curriculum to help our audience do better and be smarter in the business world.

John: We've been at it for several years here, and I think we've really got this down to such a curriculum that I think the other business schools are green with envy.

Russ: I think I've noticed some are sort of copying some of our curriculum as well.

John: I think you're right. Yeah.

Russ: All right. We kick it off each Saturday morning first with a quote of the day.

John: Quote of the day.

Russ: This is the first time we've used this guy. We're going to quote Mr. Zig Ziglar.

John: Oh, Zig Ziglar.

Russ: You bet. And here it is. "You can get whatever you want in life as long as you help enough other people get what they want.

John: That's right. Getting things done through people. Okay.

Russ: You bet.

John: Okay.

Russ: And that brings us to This Week in Business History. So what happened during this second week in June in business history, John?

John: The second week in June-let's start with this: 1742 Ben Franklin invents the Franklin stove, which is still around today.

Russ: Yeah, it is.

John: -people use it all the time. This week in business history, in 1752, 10 years later, Franklin's at it again. That Ben Franklin-he's flying a kite ,and the kite is struck by lightning. A very shocking experience for him. But the reason why he did that-he wanted to prove that lightning was electricity, and that's how he determined it.

Russ: So he was pretty active on the second week in June already; first two stories.

John: This week in business history, 1786, commercially made ice cream first advertised in New York City. Commercially made ice cream. This week in business history, 1847, the Chicago Tribune begins publishing.

Russ: Oh, man. Well how are they doing these days?

John: -uh-they're not doing too well along with a lot of other-uh-big city dailies. Okay, this week in business history, in 1876, which by the way is the year of Custer's last stand, patent number 178,333 is granted to Harriet Schandevyl of East Saugus, Massachusetts for a combined skirt supporter corset.

Russ: Wow!

John: Yeah.

Russ: I wonder how that worked out.

John: Well, it worked out pretty good because-you know-corsets have been around for a long time-you know-and then they were replaced by girdles which you don't see used anymore. Now everybody lets it all hang out.

Russ: Yeah, they don't allow that anymore, but she combined them together, a skirt supporter corset.

John: Okay, this week in business history, in 1882, the electric iron is patented by Henry Seely of New York City. At the time it was called the electric flat iron. That's what you ironed your clothes. They needed the electric iron because they needed the iron hotter to iron the corset-the skirt supported corset. This week in business history, in 1892, patent number 476472 was granted to Edmond Lunkenheimer of Cincinnati, Ohio for the steam whistle. You know-you see these movies with the old trains, and they have steam whistles on the trains-

Russ: -yeah, before then-

John: -before then you know.

Russ: -I guess they had to blow into something-you know.

John: I don't know. All right. This week in business history, in 1903, patent number 701839 was granted to Americus F. Callahan of Chicago, Illinois for the window envelope. Do you realize how much time that saves; because it saves you from having to address an envelope twice.

Russ: It's probably put years onto people's lives.

John: Really-years, yeah, years, right. Okay. This week in business history, in 1934, was the first showing of a Donald Duck cartoon.

Russ: Ah! I was much more of a Donald Duck fan than I was Mickey Mouse.

John: Yeah, I know. Donald Duck was pretty good. He was always getting into trouble. And then he had his nephews-Huey, Dewey and Louie. This week in business history, in 1935, one of the biggest blowhards in politics that ever lived, Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, spoken continuously for 15 and a half hours. That's a world's record for the senate, 150,000 words.

Russ: I bet that was good to hear, man.

John: Oh, man, jeez. This week in business history, in 1953, Amos and Andy TV comedy last aired on CBS.

Russ: Well, now I watched Amos and Andy. It must-

John: -I thought it was a great show.

Russ: It was an incredibly good show.

John: -because they had African-American stereotypes.

Russ: Well, I know. Well, to me-

John: -purportedly. I never looked at it that way. I just thought it was a funny show.

Russ: I didn't either. I thought it was funny. If you look at it that way-you know-you can look at present day shows like Earl. They're pretty demeaning as well.

John: They're demeaning to everybody.

Russ: Yeah, okay.

John: There's something to offend everybody on television these days.

Russ: -there is. That's good.

John: Okay, this week in business history, Purple People Eater, song by Sheb Wooley was in 1958-

John: -hits number 1.

[Music: "Purple People Eater"]

John: Now that Purple People Eaters was later the name of the front four of the Minnesota Vikings.

Russ: Oh, yeah.

John: Later on; because they wore purple uniforms.

Russ: -I wonder if they got in any trouble like trademark infringement or copyright issues?

John: -well, I if I were Sheb Wooley, I wouldn't go up to any of those four guys and star-you know-giving them some crap-

Russ: -because it was Sheb's song?

John: Because it was Sheb's song. Okay, this week in business history, one of my favorite singers, Roy Orbison, in 1960 releases Only the Lonely.

[Music: "Only the Lonely"]

Russ: Oh- That was my favorite Roy Orbison song.

John: This week in business history, in 1963, patent number 3,093,346 granted to Maxime Faget and Andrew J. Meyer of Newport News, Rhode Island for the space capsule.

Russ: Whoa! So this is where for a space capsule that actually went into space then, I guess?

John: Yeah, right. This week in business history, in 1964, Manfred Mann recorded Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Remember that song?

Russ: Yeah.

John: How's it go?

Russ and John: There she was just a walkin' down the street singin'-

[Music: "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"]

John: This week in business history, in 1966, the Beatles record Rain. It was the first recorded song that ever used reverse tapes.

[Music: "Rain"]

John: Also, this week in business history in 1966, Janis Joplin's first live concert at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco

[Music: "Try (Just a Little Harder)"]

Russ: Man, I saw Love, Janis, the play. It was incredible.

John: Yeah, one of our reporters at the Business Journal plays in the Cosmic Pearl band, which is a-uh-Janis Joplin cover band. Okay, this week in business history, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy dies from his wounds after he was shot the previous night.

Russ: That was unbelievable, man.

John: That was right around the-uh-Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

Russ: I remember I was going to summer school in college my first semester freshman year, and we were all watching the TV and just going, Wow! That seems like it happens every week now.

John: I know. Well, I'm glad it doesn't but that was quite a shock. Okay, this week in business history, in 1974, the super group, Blind Faith, which was Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker; first concert ever-Can't Find My Way Back Home was one of the lead songs.

Russ: -oh, man.

[Music: "Can't Find My Way Back Home"]

John: Okay, later on in 1980, this week in business history, Richard Pryor suffers burns from freebasing cocaine.

Russ: And he was on a roll back then-I mean, just to popular and stuff but-

John: -well, he was popular even after that but that's indescribable. This week in business history in 1985, Coca Cola announces they screwed up, and they're going back to their 99-year-old formula that made them great in the first place.

Russ: Man, it made-it was a happy day for me, I tell you. Man, I missed that.

John: Got to castigate top management for-

Russ: -ever doing it to begin with.

John: Yeah, but at least they admitted they were wrong.

Russ: Yeah. I think they had to.

John: -and corrected the wrong quickly. Later in 1991, this week in business history, Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian Federation.

Russ: He was a good leader. Now, he liked the Vodka a bit much, didn't he?

John: Yeah, he had a drinking problem.

Russ: Yeah.

John: I don't think he ever went through the 12-step program.

Russ: I don't think he did either.

John: And then this week in business history, probably one of the most momentous things ever happened in business history in all the business history items we've ever read and that is the first broadcast of The BusinessMakers Radio Show.

Russ: Wow! We're 4 years old, man.

[Music: "Reeling in the Years"]

John: June 6, 2005. Now, something even more momentous or just as momentous is I met my wife the night before.

Russ: Wow!

John: Yeah.

Russ: Wow!

John: I told her I was on the radio the next day and she ought to listen to it.

Russ: -and that-and that's-that helped you out, man.

John: -and she listened-she-yeah, you helped me as The BusinessMakers-helped me look good in front of my future bride, the fetching Tina Beddow.

Russ: And so we're 4 years old now. And that brings us to navigating business jargon. This is our vocabulary lesson, and it's all about the new words, the techno speak, the acronyms; and we help our listeners understand the new words and-

John: -yeah, we ought to put out a dictionary of all the words we've introduced.

Russ: Well, we could.

John: We have introduced more words than most English teachers.

Russ: Yeah. And the way we do this is I select a word-

John: Yes, you do.

Russ: And I say the word.

John: You say the word.

Russ: And then John has to guess its meaning.

John: Yes.

Russ: And here we go.

John: All right.

Russ: Junior moment.

John: Junior moment. Okay, senior moment is when you-uh-start forgetting things-forget to tie your shoes, forget to put a belt on your pants when you go outside and all that crazy stuff. A junior moment is when you do the same things but only when-what younger people do.

Russ: I think we got a winner this morning. Congratulations.

John: All right. Hey.

Russ: And it's the flip side of a senior moment. It can be committed by adults when a sudden lapse into immaturity happens.

John: Right. Like what? Give me an example.

Russ: Well, just when you suddenly-

John: -you walk into church and you forget to put out your marijuana joint. That would be a junior moment.

Russ: That's a junior moment. Okay. And that brings us to dumbest moment. So do you have a story for us this morning?

John: Yeah. This is a dumb governmental moment. And we'll feel the effects on this-

Russ: -like we feel the effects of many government moments.

John: Yeah, but this really isn't this unusual. But it is unusual considering the President of the United States is calling this the worst economic time since The Depression. Now, there's a lot of companies that are laying people off left and right. Okay, they're firing people. They're laying people off. They're putting people on furlough. But not he U.S. government. Now, the President said he was going to lead by example, right? Well, he's not; because this new budget, the 2010 fiscal year budget, shows an increase in employment of 15.6 percent in the federal government. Now, a lot of these, about 100,000 of these people, are temporary workers for the census. But even if you take those out, that's a 2 percent increase in full-time employment. And the average pay for a worker is being increased from 72,800 dollars to 75,419 dollars.

Russ: Hey, man, big government is in.

John: I know. Go work for the government.

Russ: It's a good time to be pro-government.

John: I know, but the problem is-you know-if you have too many people in the wagon and not enough pulling it-

Russ: It doesn't work very well-

John: -it doesn't work-the system doesn't work.

Russ: Maybe we should start a little new segment on the School of Business on how-how to get a job with the government. Okay. And before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook. So let's welcome Greg Price here on the piano.

John: -here he is. Here he is.

Russ and John: A one and a two and a-

[PKF Texas, The Entrepreneurs Playbook]

Russ: And that wraps this mornings School of Business. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.