In a recent report, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) states that the US infrastructure (public buildings and services. water supply, roads, electrical grid, health system, schools etc) is badly maintained, unsafe, and unable to meet current and future demands. In the 2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure that the ASCE released, yes its sounds like we are all still in school, the overall grade is a D. The bad stuff about this has been all over the news, however, the ASCE was kind enough to give a few positive solutions.

• Increase federal leadership in the infrastructure.
• Promote sustainability and resilence - attention inventors, a huge market lies in developing green technologies and energy sources
• Makes federal, state and local infrastructure plans.
• Address life cycle plans and ongoing maintenance.
• Increase and improve infastructure investment from all stakeholders.

Did you know that in 1882 the first Christmas tree was illuminated by the use of electricity? Or that a Catholic priest called Gregory Keller invented a machine to automate candy cane production during the 1950's? View whimsical drawings of Christmas related design patents with my own added whimsical commentary as a bonus.

Many people will swear that store merchants did invent Christmas when we observe cash registers singing and shopping malls filling up with happy shoppers during the days before Christmas. However, Christmas is not a physical invention, it is both an old tradition and a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. Many physical inventions have been created to aid with Christmas festivities that you can research the history about including: candy canes, electric Christmas lights (invented by a teenager), artificial Christmas trees, and snowmen. Illustration: Candy Canes by about.com

Toy manufacturers and toy inventors use both utility and design patents, along with trademarks and copyrights. In fact, many toys especially video games take advantage of all three types of intellectual property protection. Visit our collection of famous toy patents and photos. Image: Federal Art Project

Want to know what to give an inquiring mind for Christmas or any other special occasion? How about a book about gadgets or inventing, or books on the popular topics of television history, history of cars, biographies of Bill Gates. Need a gift idea for a kid inventor? What about a science fair kit? Image Courtesy: African American Inventors - Publishers John Wiley & Sons Inc