Chopped and Screwed Music I strongly hope that I have no need of explaining what chopped and screwed music is to the people of Houston, or that the man behind it was DJ Screw. Screw changed the game and the entire direction of southern hip hop in ways that are still being felt in mainstream music. I would go so far as to say Screw pioneered not only a music technique, but the last great American regional music movement. May he rest in a most mellow peace.
Ammonia-free hair color Farouk Shami came to Houston from Palestine after growing up helping his mother make dyes and color from a very young age. When he arrived in the country, he went into the business of hair products. The problem was, he developed a severe allergy to ammonia, which is a common product in hair colors. Undeterred, he invented the first Ammonia-free hair color, and his company now rakes in $1 billion a year and services celebrities like Courtney Cox and Madonna.
Ventricular-Assist Device (VAD) The one and only Dr. Michael DeBakey looked at NASA space shuttle technology and said, "That. I shall shove that in a human heart" before presumably driving away in a Thunderbird on two wheels. Embellishment aside, DeBakey took the dangers of heart failure in patients waiting for heart donors very seriously. So he used NASA fuel pump innovations to cobble together a device capable of keeping a weakened heart going for months while a donor is sought. For this, DeBakey was given the 2001 NASA Commercial Invention of the Year award.
Eggies Every year Betsy Kaufman would make hard-boiled eggs for Passover Seder, and every year she would ruin a couple getting them out of the shell. There's got to be a better way, and Kaufman was inspired to find that way after seeing an invitation to log onto Edison Nation on her Bed, Bath, & Beyond receipt. Kaufman developed Eggies, heat resistant plastic cups you could crack eggs into then twist the finished egg out of when they'd finished boiling. A successful infomercial later and you can find them on the As Seen on TV shelf wherever such things are sold.
Weed Eater George Ballas was a man that never let a ridiculous-looking idea get him down. During a yard work session he took a break to go wash his car. At the car wash the rotary brushes gave him an idea. Returning home he used a tin can and some fishing line attached to an edge trimmer and the Weed Eater was born. Initially, no one thought the invention worth anything, but after sinking his own money into the project Ballas eventually ended up selling his company for $80 million in 1977. After making his fortune, Ballas went back to his love of dancing. No, really. He owned a dance studio, and his grandson is Mark Ballas on Dancing With the Stars. Just goes to show you, in Houston it takes all kinds.
Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.
