Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com. This is that show about the private sector, the working class, the innovators, and the entrepreneurs.

John: That's right. You mentioned the working class. The government talks about how workers need to get a fair shake here, a fair shake there, and they think - when they say, "workers," they think of the blue-collar guys, the manufacturing people -

Russ: I think the union guys.

John: The union guys. I'm not saying those people don't work, but what about the people who own those companies that hire these people. They never get the respect that's due, and that's why this show is in business.

Russ: That's right. The people that make the jobs.

John: That's right, that make the job.

Russ: All right. And here's our lineup for this morning. First of up, Jim Prather, the founder of YouData, a real cool Web-based company. And then that's gonna be followed by David Lineman of Click True. But first, [Silence from 0:00:49 to 0:00:59] that's right, it's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business. And this is not your business-as-usual school.

John: No. As we start the new year, we have a new curriculum.

Russ: And it takes a lotta energy to put this together, and that's why we're so fortunate to be powered by Champion Energy Services.

John: That's right. I don't know how we would do it without them. Of course, we did do it without them, but it was a lot harder 'cause we never had any electricity. We had to generate our own electricity with hand cranks and gerbils.

Russ: Right. And it was causing you and I both to age quite a bit.

John: I know. Age, right. And muscle strain.

Russ: That's right. Now it's not.

John: - workers compensation claims.

Russ: That's right. Champion Energy Services is the energy service known for its straightforward billing -

John: That's right. No BS in the bill.

Russ: No, none. And its low energy rates.

John: And low energy rates, right.

Russ: And we are privileged to be powered by them.

John: That's right.

Russ: All right. And we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning by the Quote of the Day.

John: Quote of the Day.

Russ: And, man, I have found a new treasure chest because PJ O'Rourke has a new book out.

John: Oh, yes? What's the name of the book?

Russ: Well, that's gonna be my quote of the day. I'm gonna have a few more of these in the future because he is incredible. The name of the book is "Don't Vote; It Just Encourages the Bastards."

John: Yeah, right. Okay.

Russ: [Laughs] And I think that sets the stage for some future quotes out of -

John: That's right. Don't vote. It just - and he called the last election not an election. It was a restraining order for Congress.

Russ: A restraining - [laughs] right. All right. And that bring us to This Week in Business History. What do you have for us for this January week in business history, John?

John: Well, this week in business history in 49 BC, Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, which starts a big Civil War in the Roman empire. Now what that means is there was a law in ancient Rome where a general could not enter the city with his troops. And they had a Roman republic and the civilians controlled the military or so they thought.

Russ: They thought.

John: But Caesar, he was drunk with power. He thought he was a God. Later, of course, he found out he was not a God. He crossed the Rubicon with his troops. The Rubicon is a small stream in Northern Italy. And once he did that, then the Roman citizens and his governmental associates, like Pompey, who was also co-dictator of Rome, knew that the Civil War was gonna happen.

Russ: Wow. That's cool. So that was like 2,060 years ago. Man, you gotta great start way back.

John: Yeah. This - okay, later on in 1776, Thomas Paine publishes a pamphlet called "Common Sense," which challenged the authority of the British government. And the thing about the pamphlet was it was written in such plain English and plain language that everybody could understand it. So it was one of those rallying points in the American Revolution.

Russ: Right, interesting. Wow, cool.

John: In 1861, the first elevator pitch was given when Elisha Graves Otis receives a patent for his elevator. So he had to talk about the elevator to get his patent, so -

Russ: 1861, the elevator is patented.

John: So I think those people down there at Rice when they have their elevator pitches for this, elevator pitches for that, they should call it the Elisha Graves Elevator Pitch Contest. They should name it after the guy who actually did the first elevator pitch.

Russ: And maybe do a little commercial for elevators.

John: That's right. Yes, there you go. All right. This week in business history, in 1870, John D Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

Russ: Goodness gracious.

John: Yeah, later on the same year in 1870 this week in business history, the donkey is first used as a symbol of the Democratic Party in "Harper's Weekly."

Russ: My goodness. They chose the beast of burden for their -

John: Yeah, the jackass for the Democratic Party.

Russ: [Laughs] Right.

John: How 'bout that? Okay. This week in business history in 1889, Coca-Cola Company, who was then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company is originally incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.

Russ: Everything seems to have happened this week.

John: I know. This is - well, this is the beginning of the new year. There's probably a lotta stuff - a lotta pent up things were going on and they finally came into fruition. This week in business history in 1890, the inventor of the first breath analyzer for determining someone's blood alcohol level was born this week in history. Rolla Neil Harger was born in January and he was a professor at Indiana University. He had an interest in toxicology, pharmacology, et cetera, et cetera, and built this machine. He called the machine the Drunk-o-meter.

Russ: The Drunk-o-meter.

John: Now I've heard a lot of controversy about these kinda machines, and I looked on the website of this attorney, David Breston. He's a DWI attorney. And it's interesting here. In the state of Texas, they use what they call the Intoxilyzer 5000. I mean, it's like they're naming these things like automobiles or something. But there's always a question of how accurate these things are. There are a couple things here. The sample chamber is never cleaned and is replaced only once a year. So this is a chamber that you breathe into.

Russ: That's not good.

Russ: Okay. The machine is self-testing. It's supposed to tell operators when there's a malfunction. The problem is that the operator who supervises the machine never perform any independent tests to see if the self-checking feature of the machine actually works.

Russ: My goodness.

John: And there's about eight or nine points that he makes in his website about the potential inaccuracies of this machine. Now one of the machines, it was originated by this - I think this guy mighta been drunk when he built this machine.

Russ: Now we're not advocating drunk driving, are we?

John: Of course, not.

Russ: No, no, no. But -

John: But I'm just saying it's like the red light cameras, there's ways of getting people to find out if they're drunk. And if you're gonna do it, I think the - it should be a legitimate analysis. That's all.

Russ: I'll drink to that.

John: I'll drink to that. This week in business history in 1896, the first intercollegiate basketball game, Wesleyan beats Yale 4 to 3.

Russ: Wow. Must been a defensive struggle.

John: Well, it coulda been a short game. There couldn't been -

Russ: It coulda been. Or there coulda been some bad shooting.

John: Coulda been a 50-second game or something.

Russ: Could have. Could have.

John: Anyway, it was the first game. So these players probably didn't have much experience.

Russ: They mighta thought that was a high-scoring game, too.

John: It might have been. Okay. This week in business history in 1945 is the birth date of Rod Stewart, the British singer whose, "Do You Think I'm Sexy -" you remember that song?

Russ: Yeah.

John: "Maggie May," and now he's singing standards from the Gershwin song -

Russ: Well, he's 65 years old this week, wow.

John: That's right. That's what happens. There he goes. This week in business history in 1949, RCA introduces the 45-RPM record.

Russ: Oh, I had many of those. Did you, too?

John: Oh, yeah. I - I mean, everybody did.

Russ: Yeah. I bet we have a lot of listeners who don't even know what they are, but -

John: Well, that's - they're gonna have to look 'em up.

Russ: That's right. [Laughs] There you go.

John: That's your homework assignment till next week. Look it up. Okay. This week in business history in 1954, New York Yankee, Joe DiMaggio, marries actress, Marilyn Monroe, and they had a nice marriage there for a while until he got angry at her about -

Russ: When her skirt blew up.

John: - when the skirt blew up and they were filming "The Seven-Year Itch."

Russ: And she seemed to enjoy it, right?

John: Yes, she did. This week in business history in 1957, the Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee. The rest is history.

Russ: Wow. They are - they knew how to -

John: Wham-O.

Russ: They did the Hula Hoop -

John: They hooed the Hula Hoop and the Frisbee.

Russ: - followed by the Frisbee.

John: There you go, yeah. I tell ya, that's -

Russ: The Hula Hoop was much bigger in the beginning, but I think the Frisbee has -

John: Well, Hula Hoop - the Hula Hoop is bigger than the Frisbee.

Russ: Yes, in dimensions, right.

John: Yeah, right. So there you go.

Russ: There you go.

John: Okay. This week in business history in 1964, the US Surgeon General, Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous.

Russ: 1964.

John: Yeah, setting off a chain reaction of all kinds of asinine reports from the Surgeon General, who wears a Naval uniform.

Russ: Yeah, what is that? Why do they wear a uniform?

John: So anybody that parades around like they're in a Gilbert and Sullivan opera in some stupid uniform that has nothing to do with the job they're hired for, how can they have any credibility?

Russ: Do they wear like a sword or anything, or a gun?

John: I hope they don't wear a gun 'cause that's hazardous, too.

Russ: It is hazardous.

John: They don't go around walking around with a cigarette, so what would they be doing with a gun in their holster? This week in business history in 1964, Jeff Bezos, an American entrepreneur is born and Amazon is rocking and rolling.

Russ: Man, he's 46 now. This guy spent a couple years in our city. He went to I think middle school in Houston.

John: I know, yeah. I know. And he later, the Kindle - I got a Kindle for Christmas.

Russ: Well, congratulations.

John: Nice piece of gear, actually. Okay. This week in business history in 1965, "Love Potion Number Nine." Now that was a great song

Russ: It was.

John: Okay.

Russ: I think they were searchers. It came - it peaks at this time.

John: I know. I'm surprised that it peaked at number three because it seemed like everywhere you went, that -

Russ: It shoulda been number one.

John: - it was there playing that song. This week in business history in 1969, Super Bowl III, the New York Jets shocked the world and the Baltimore Colts by winning the Super Bowl they weren't supposed to win. Now Joe Namath, the New York Jets quarterback predicted a victory, okay? Do you remember that? And then the headlines.

Russ: But remember, he came out there and he was wearing white shoes. They called 'em Joe Willie white shoes. And that was so unusual back then. It's getting unusual again. Nobody wears white shoes.

John: I know. They're black and gold and all kinds a weird colors. Okay. This week in business history in 1995, the murder trial against OJ Simpson starts in LA. What a circus that was.

Russ: Well, it, once again, demonstrated how pitiful our system works at times. Man. And we got to watch it live on TV for like a month.

John: Oh, well, it was actually longer than that.

Russ: Well, I think it was.

John: They allowed the cameras in the courtroom and it was - everybody was preening. They knew they were on national television. It was terrible.

Russ: Like reality TV, right?

John: I know. I know. Only worse.

Russ: Yeah, it was -

John: 'Cause it involved someone getting their throat slit. Two people getting their throats slit.

Russ: "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." All right. So that wraps up this morning's history lesson?

John: Well, my glove doesn't fit any more, so we gotta quit this nonsense.

Russ: So we went from Julius Caesar to OJ Simpson in one lesson. Wow.

John: Yeah, but -

Russ: All right. And that brings us to the Jargon Challenge Round. This is where I go out and find new words and John does not know which words I have chosen. And by contract, I challenge him to come up with the accurate meaning of the word. I think you haven't done this, once again, in awhile.

John: I know. Here comes the warning. I'll tell you what. Don't use this in public. These words are dangerous things if you don't understand the meanings and don't correctly use them when you're speaking in sentences.

Russ: It can get you in trouble.

John: So I'd suggest you go into your bathroom, and lock the door and stare in the mirror and practice the use of these words several times in private before you - you may hurt a family member. Words are like fists, as they say, and they can hurt people.

Russ: That's right. All right. Good morning. All right.

John: Now you've been warned.

Russ: All right. You ready for this morning's word?

John: Yeah.

Russ: Well, here it is.

John: All right.

Russ: Nutritarian.

John: Nutritarian.

Russ: Not to be confused with a Libertarian or a Presbyterian.

John: Yeah, right.

Russ: Nutritarian.

John: Okay. There's a vegetarian that eats veggies, so a nutritarian eats newts, which is those little tiny animals.

Russ: Right, exactly. We got a winner.

John: Really?

Russ: No. It's a person who chooses foods based on their micronutrient content.

John: Oh.

Russ: Are you a nutritarian?

John: No.

Russ: Yeah, right. Well, that's why - it explains why you didn't know it.

John: So a nutritarian could also be called a pain in the ass -

Russ: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. All right. That brings us to Dumb Moments in Business History. Do you have a topic for this morning?

John: Well, I have - okay, I've got two to select from, and I don't know whether to do the Europe starts confiscating private pension funds, or something screwy that happened with the Detroit public schools. Since the Detroit public schools happened in the US, I'm gonna pick that one.

Russ: All right. You go there. All right. Good deal. Although the other one sounds pretty interesting.

John: I know. We'll have to talk about that some other time.

Russ: Yeah, all right.

John: Okay. Listen to this dichotomy. Detroit public schools - this is according to the Detroit Free Press - 40,000 kids - school students in Detroit, are gonna get laptops from stimulus funds. The teachers are also gonna get laptops and there's gonna be 5,000 new desktop computers given to these kids.

Russ: All right.

John: All right? Now, at the same time this is going on, guess what?

Russ: What?

John: The Department of Public Schools are gonna lay off school bus attendants who help special needs kids - they help 'em get on the school bus and make sure they don't hurt themselves while they're on the school bus. They're gonna lay off some people who I would say are needed a hell of a lot more than the kids that need these laptops.

Russ: Right.

John: If the kids want their own laptops, have their parents buy 'em.

Russ: Absolutely. There's some weird judgment calls up there.

John: There's some weird judgment. This is stimulus money, folks. $49 million of your money, my money, are going to these kids to get their own laptops.

Russ: My goodness. All right.

John: I know.

Russ: All right. Good story there. Appreciate the reporting. But before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook. So let's welcome Mr. Greg Price.

John: That's right. And the has his own laptop. He did not use stimulus money to buy his own laptop. Here he is. One and a two and a -

Russ: One and a two and a

[PKF Texes Entrepreneur's Playbook]

Russ: All right. And that wraps up this morning's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our interview with Jim Prather, founder of YouData, and then that'll be followed by an interview with David Lineman, founder of Click True. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com.