In 1898, the New York Biscuit Company and the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company merged over 100 bakeries into the National Biscuit Company, later called Nabisco. Founders Adolphus Green and William Moore, orchestrated the merger and the company quickly rose to first place in the manufacturing and marketing of cookies and crackers in America.

The original name for french fries was "potatoes, fried in the French manner" that is how Thomas Jefferson first described the dish. Did you that Luther Burbank was granted a patent for the Idaho Potato posthumously? Or that Mr Potato Head was patented in 1952?

Photo: Rick Hall

Because of current economic woes, it seems we will not be spending the same bucks for Halloween gear and sweets this year. The National Retail Federation reports that "consumers are expected to spend an average of $56.31 on Halloween, down from last year's $66.54. Total spending on the holiday is expected to reach $4.75 billion.

According to the NRF, 2009's top costumes are vampires, princesses, police officers and pirates, while politicians, nurses and Batman are losing popularity. However, fewer people plan to celebrate Halloween this year (62.1% vs. 64.5% last year).  Only one-third (33.4%) will dress in costume, compared to 35.3 percent last year.

The number of people carving a pumpkin will also drop (42.4% compared to 44.6% last year).  Fewer people will throw or attend a party (30.2% vs. 31.1% in 2008), visit a haunted house (17.0% vs. 18.1% in 2008) and hand out candy (71.2% vs. 73.7% last year) or decorate their home or yard (47.3% vs. 50.3%).

Photo - Biggest Pumpkin Contest

Children choose among Halloween pumpkins at the Buschmann and Winkelmann Asparagus Farm on October 18, 2009 in Klaistow, Germany. September and October are pumpkin harvesting season and the Buschmann and Winklemann farm alone harvests 800 tonnes of pumpkins and squash annually. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

What do the Grateful Dead, Satan, Ghosts, and Bats all have in common? Killer trademarks.

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I enjoy reading old patent drawings. It's a fun way to learn about patents and the history of inventions. For example, the patent drawing on the left is from an invention entitled "Noise Making Mask". What you are seeing is an actual USPTO patent drawing done in what is called a perspective view. Most inventors have to submit a series of patent drawings depicting their invention with their application for a patent.

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A recent news story got a good chuckle out of me.  A rumble strip is a stretch of road where illegal drag races are held. Apparently, the first time the phrase rumble strip was used, occurred some 57 years ago in reference to a section of the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, where drag races were (and still are) held.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on a  plan to harness all that wild energy by a company called New Energy Technologies, who have demonstrated a prototype of the rumble strip invention, at a Burger King in New Jersey and at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington.

And before you dismiss this idea as being another wacky patent, be advised that a nightclub in Holland generates electricity to light up the club by harnessing the energy of the dancers on the dance floor. Photo Credit: Getty Images/Alex Williamson

By definition, Random Access Memory or RAM is a type of computer memory storage whose contents can be accessed in any order. RAM is digital and can be both written to and read from, in contrast to Read-Only Memory or ROM. In 1970, the newly formed Intel company publicly released the first DRAM chip; and by 1972 it was the best selling semiconductor memory chip in the world.

During the early 1900s, a new profession of electrical engineering began to blossom. Manufacturers of electrical machinery had established research departments and now employed inventors. The times had indeed changed since the day when Samuel Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph, as a student at Yale College chose art instead of electrical engineering as his major, because electricity offered no jobs.

Photo Credit LOC: Nikola Tesla - Tesla's inventions included fluorescent lighting, the Tesla induction motor, the Tesla coil, and developed the alternating current (AC) electrical supply system that included a motor and transformer, and 3-phase electricity.

Heah so in a recent interview that Michael Moore (director of the most mainstream alternative films around including his most recent film Capitalism: A Love Story) gave, he was praising the importance of none other than the independent inventor. And how today's brand-fangled trickle down version of capitalism was failing to enable the Thomas Edisons of tomorrow. Yes, innovation is the life blood of a fresh economy, one that can surely learn a few better tricks than trickle downism. Any comments?

Photo credit: Filmmaker Michael Moore (L) attempts to talk to workers leaving the New York Stock Exchange while filming March 27, 2009 in New York City. That day the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 148 points to close at 7,776.18 (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In 1947, American businessman Kenneth Arnold reported nine bright unidentified flying objects flying at an incredible speed at 10,000 feet altitude. Arnold described their movements as being similar to that of a saucer skipping over water. This was the origin of the term flying saucer.

And yes, flying saucers have been patented for both utility and design. Patent Drawing USPTO