Michael Tomasky has posted the article Barack Obama Needs to Force Congress Into Recess, Make Appointments.

He cites Article I, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution:

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States….

He then explains how Obama could use this section to adjourn Congress against their will and be free to make the recess appointments of all the people for whom the Republicans refuse to allow hearings and a vote.

Would Obama have the backbone to do something like this?  Would he even have the nerve to threaten to do this? Not very likely in my opinion.

The video clip below from 2001 A Space Odyssey. The Apple iPad looks a lot like the device the two astronauts are using. This is the look that Apple patented 40 years after it appeared in the movie.

Who knew I was supposed to watch more science fiction to get my engineering inspiration? Actually, it is not that surprising. It has been pretty well known that science fiction can be the inspiration for later actual technological inventions.

Of course patenting how to make something happen that was only dreamed of by science fiction writers is one thing. Trying to patent a look that was actually put into practice by film makers 40 years ago is quite another.