Orphée (1950)

Cool yeah maybe I'll pop in

Pet carrier disguised as a guitar case, patented yesterday. US 12543699

Today in design patents: D1111564 issued for a blanket with a viewing lens. WTH. #DesignPatents

Super? You decide.

Not being depressed is exhausting.

It's not the biggest or most important part of all this but: The Trump Organization continues to use the #ScheduleA litigation model to extract settlements & default judgments from defendants who are allegedly foreign. E.g., The Trump Organization v. Schedule A, No. 8:25-cv-03053 (M.D. Fla.).

Pyrotechnic cornhole. US Patent 12533570

Advanced lanyard technology. Patented this week. US 12532956

There's lots of crazy ideas in old Foundations of Physics papers and I'd love to know why the CIA was collecting them

US Patent No. 12527495

1/3 On this day in 1880, Thomas Edison received US Patent No. 223,898 for an “Electric Lamp”. This was not “the first light bulb”. Howeever, it was the set of design choices that made incandescent lighting practical at scale. #OnThisDay #OTD #PatentHistory #Patents #Edison

Watched Gimme Shelter (1970) today and it was unsettling to hear people say basically 'the Hells Angels were just trying to keep order'

That’s Minneapolis hip-hop artist, queer icon, and all around wonderful human being Nur-D. And he ended up at the hospital after this assault.

During a commercial, I pressed the usual button to pause the TV, but instead it added Tampax to my shopping cart. Yay technology.

A glass tube that you break open to get emergency cash. Patented this week by, apparently, the former chancellor of UW-Madison. US 12527383

Everyone welcome Mazeppa, MN

I used to do more posts about sinister new technologies buried in patent filings, but now companies are like "we're excited to announce our sinister new technology."

A motorized hand that oozes lotion from its pores, patented today. US 12520926

Today in design patents: D479105 issued in 2003 for an ice removal tool. #DesignPatents

1/2 #OnThisDay in 1928, Nikola Tesla received U.S. #Patent 1,655,114 for an “Apparatus for Aerial Transportation”. A “helicopter-plane” concept for vertical takeoff, then forward flight. #OTD #PatentHistory #Tesla #AviationHistory

D375,915 - issued in 1996 for a design for a "lump of coal Christmas stocking." #DesignPatents

Elf on a Shelf, but with shoes. US Patent 11986748

Use Christmas tree ornaments as targets for an electronic shooting game. US Patent 11918133

The outtakes from Emmet Otter go hard

#OnThisDay in 1871, Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, received U.S. #Patent No. 121,992 for an “Improvement in adjustable and detachable straps for Garments”. Even literary legends file patent applications. #OTD #PatentHistory #USPTO

"Reusable toilet paper system" US Patent 12274399

Turn old artificial Christmas trees into underwater reefs. US Patent 12495775, issued today

1/4 #OnThisDay in 1836, the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., burned in what became known as the Great Patent Fire. The blaze destroyed all 9,957 patent records and roughly 7,000 patent models, wiping out much of the early U.S. patent archive. #OTD #PatentHistory #Patents #USPTO

1/4 #OnThisDay in 1948, U.S. #Patent No. 2,455,992 was granted to Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann for the “Cathode-ray tube amusement device”, often considered the first video game. #OTD #PatentHistory #VideoGameHistory #GamingHistory

"Pillow Assembly," patented this week. US 12490848

A system for suspending your laptop overhead. Patented yesterday. US 12490828

I really want to do a post on how men with less legal experience explain things to me, but I had a client that did this and then her mansplainer stalked her and called in a threats to her place of business. So the internet is super fun.

A virtual reality system that simulates vaping at sea. US Patent 11284646

Hoodie with integrated popcorn bucket, patented this week. US 12484689

An interactive facemask that changes from a smile to a frown when people get too close. US Patent 12484643

A mirror to detect whether you have an asymmetrical face that demonstrates "criminal tendencies." US Patent 1779655

Chicago billboard (2022)

Happy Thanksgiving to all the patent folks on Bluesky (and also you turkey burlesque show fans).

"Bird Stand" US Patent 12245583

* Before patenting the now-iconic bear-shaped honey container, the inventor also patented other honey bottle designs. We could've had penguins or creepy clowns instead!

A head support for surgeons. US Patent 12440303

Chicago sunset tonight

Garment top with permanently attached suspenders, patented this week. US 12471653

1/2 #OnThisDay in 1923, U.S. #Patent No. 1,475,024 was granted to Garrett Morgan for his ingenious traffic signal. #OTD #PatentHistory #BlackInventors #BlackHistory

Dekalog: One (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1988)

When you're a teenager you have a surprisingly good sense of what's ok and what's not but you're still looking to adults to say "hey that's wrong" or "trust your discomfort." Because there's plenty of unacceptable things that seem like people are ok with it and you think "hmm well that's something?"

It will surprise no one that 35yo James Watson met his wife while she was a 19 year old undergrad working as an assistant to his secretary.

In the words of Borges, the idiosyncratic bestiary in this patent application "exerts chaos" (US20210137137)