Two down: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we wrap up both a busy week and a long(ish) month of socioeconomic innovation.
Even with its extra day, February folds this weekend – meaning one-sixth of 2020 is already in the books. Well played!
You don’t soufflé: But maybe you should.
Rare, treat: It’s Feb. 28 out there, which of course makes this international Rare Disease Day and, on a brighter note, National Chocolate Souffle Day.
Something fishy: Making a meatless Friday somewhat more palatable, today is also the third anniversary of National Tartar Sauce Day.
Keeping up with Jones: “The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling” – Henry Fielding’s comedic narrative, known best as “Tom Jones” and considered one of the first English-language novels – was originally published in London on Feb. 28, 1749.
Stretching it: Nylon was created in a Delaware laboratory, under the direction of DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers, on this date in 1935.
Limited access: American computer scientist Jay Forrester patented his coincident current magnetic core memory – the standard for digital computers for two decades, and predecessor of RAM – on Feb. 28, 1956.
Also patented on this date was the screw-adjustable wrench, by New York City inventor John Munro in 1905.
Keep it quiet: The satellite Discoverer-1, the first object put into polar orbit and part of the CIA’s then-classified CORONA program, launched atop a Thor rocket on this date in 1959.
Final salute: Mike Farrell (left) and Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda, signing off.
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen: And it was Feb. 28, 1983, when the beloved sitcom “M*A*S*H” ended its 11-year run on the CBS Television Network with the most-watched series finale in television history.
For the record, the show about a medical unit in the Korean War ran nearly four times longer than the actual war.
What’s my Linus: American chemist Linus Pauling (1901-1994) – a two-time Nobel Prize winner who essentially invented molecular biology and later became an ardent nuclear-disarmament activist – would be 119 years old today.
Also born on Feb. 28 were German-Russian embryologist Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer (1792-1876), who discovered the mammalian egg; French archeologist Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil (1877-1961), a noted authority in Paleolithic cave art; leading English geomorphologist Marjorie Sweeting (1920-1994), who drove karst; “Love Boat” captain Gavin McLeod (born 1931); and professional wrestling great Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (born Richard Henry Blood Sr., 1953).
Queens royalty: And take some bows, Bernadette Peters and Mercedes Ruehl – the Queens-born actresses, representing Ozone Park and Jackson Heights, respectively, both turn 72 today.
Wish the stars, the scientists and all the other Feb. 28 innovators a happy birthday at editor@innovateli.com – story tips, calendar items and general socioeconomic howdy-do’s always welcome.
About our sponsor: Whether it’s helping in site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Salaberrios: Ray of hope for minority business owners.
Breakfast of future champions: Three heavy hitters in Nassau County’s economic-development lineup are teaming up to help minority business owners get in the game.
The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, the county’s Office of Minority Affairs and the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce have scheduled a March 3 Minority Business Networking Breakfast at The Carltun in East Meadow, where Empire State Development Corp. Senior Vice President Ray Salaberrios – who heads up Albany’s small-business capital-access programs – is slated to lead the discussion.
On the menu at Tuesday’s breakfast event: primers on Nassau County IDA incentive packages and the ESDC’s Metropolitan Economic Revitalization Fund, plus copious networking opportunities for established realtors, investors, accountants and other professionals looking to connect with all manners of early-stage entrepreneurs. Registration, more information just a click away.
Breakfast of current champions: Long Island’s innovation future is in solid hands, and we’ve got the awards show to prove it.
This week, we’re very happy to introduce some of the youngest honorees taking the stage at the 2020 Innovator of the Year Awards, our annual celebration of invention, investment and all-around ingenuity, returning March 24 to the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. Among them:
- Then-Roslyn High School senior Jeffrey Wu and current Jericho High School senior Wesley Pergament, who cofounded TeenHacksLI in 2018 to connect coders, academia and industry
- Lynbrook Senior High School’s Kaylie Hausknecht, winner of the Physics and Astronomy category at the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
- Half Hollow Hills High School’s Poojan Pandya and Ward Melville Senior High School’s Leo Takemaru, winners of Intel’s 2019 Microbiology category
- The team behind West Hollow Middle School’s FarmBot, a student-crafted, student-coded “open source farming robot”
More honorees, including our 2020 Master of Innovation, coming soon; watch next week’s newsletters. And speaking of weeks, only three left until our big show of shows – sponsorship opportunities, ticket pricing and registration for the 2020 Innovator of the Year Awards right here.
TOP OF THE SITE
Picking their shots: Academic and professional institutions across Long Island are taking up arms in the war against gun violence.
Med school: A Massapequa urgent care pediatric clinic is launching an ambitious pilot program designed to bring doctors into schools.
Subscription prescription: Nobody has ever gotten the coronavirus from an Innovate Long Island newsletter – one more reason to subscribe your fellow innovators for free.
ICYMI
Northwell goes small with a next-level pacemaker, nursing shortage looms large for Island educators.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From North Carolina: Chapel Hill-based undergraduate guru Bachelor’s Degree Center ranks the nation’s best, fastest and most affordable health IT programs.
From Massachusetts: Boston-based IT specialist Gravyty teams with charity networker Accordant to plug AI into healthcare philanthropy.
From Canada, eh: Toronto-based “Tinder for BDSM” KinkD nixes nudes from its chat app to comply with Texas law.
ON THE MOVE
Joanna Hazelton
+ Joanna Hazelton has been appointed to the executive council of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America-Long Island Chapter. She’s an associate in corporate practice at Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz.
+ Adelphi University President Christine Riordan has been elected chairwoman of the New York City-based Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities.
+ Noe DiLeo has been hired as the shopping center manager for Westfield South Shore and Sunrise malls. He previously served as director of operations at Holbrook-based J&B Restaurant Partners.
+ Jeremy Musella has been hired as an associate at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana. He previously held the same position at Garden City-based Cullen and Dykman.
+ The Community Associations Institute-Long Island Chapter has announced several new elections: Melissa Schlactus, associate at Smithtown-based Taylor, Eldridge and Endres, will serve as president; Nancy Fox, director of operations at Port Jefferson Station-based CAMCO Services of New York, will serve as vice president; and Andrew Nigri, president of Bethpage-based Sancus Insurance Agency, will serve as secretary.
+ Erin MacGrady has been hired as director of human resources at Ronkonkoma-based SUNation Solar Systems. She previously served as a regional human resources business partner at Belk Department Stores in Florida.
Just throw something on: The latest from Milan.
BELOW THE FOLD
Stocking up: A few canned goods couldn’t hurt, with the pandemic and all.
Looking up: Turns out the robot apocalypse might create better-paying jobs.
Brushing up: The latest in hair care and cosmetics from Milan Fashion Week.
They have it down: Nobody understands regional business-development and real estate issues like the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, one of the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI. Check them out.
