Hot Topics

Cradle of Aviation Museum

Newsletters November 22, 2019

No. 457: On micro-credentials, electric avenues and a historic black-and-white kiss, in full color

  Well done: Here we are again, dear readers, nearing the end of another busy workweek and the beginning of another well-earned weekend. Outstanding job. It’s Nov. 22 out there – 56th anniversary of the assassination of President John. F. Kennedy and, mathematically, the earliest date on which Thanksgiving can fall, though not this year. Let’s get out of here: Fitting for a Friday, today is also National Go For a Ride Day, celebrating planes,…

Awards and Events November 20, 2019

Galactic gala honors past, present of LI air and space

By GREGORY ZELLER // After four trips to space, a front-row seat for the breathless Apollo 13 rescue and some relatively ho-hum years as a U.S. Air Force airman and test pilot – Arctic interceptor missions, midair collisions, yawn – Thomas Stafford doesn’t surprise easily. And the retired Air Force lieutenant-general – who’s graced numerous aerospace-industry boards, once simultaneously oversaw NASA and USAF test facilities at Edwards Air Force Base and has flown just about…

Newsletters November 20, 2019

No. 456: A closeup look at Hubble, Feinstein’s finest and the Moon men of Garden City

  Tipping point: Over the hump we go, dear readers, as we speed into the second half of this autumnal week of innovation and economic development. It’s Nov. 20 out there – National Name Your PC Day, and yes, that’s absurd. But what do you expect on National Absurdity Day? Also absurd: Today is also National Pay Back Your Parents Day, as if. Episodic: Before we catch you up on the innovation economy, in honor…

Newsletters November 6, 2019

No. 452: Filled with nachos, supernovae, supply chains and a popular movie riff

The innovator who came in from the cold: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we bundle up and brave a blustery week of autumnal socioeconomic innovation. It’s Nov. 6 out there, and around the world we go: Constitution Day in Tajikistan, Gustavus Adolphus Day in Sweden, Arbor Day in the Republic of Congo  (where you’d think they already have enough trees, but there you go) and the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the…

Newsletters June 12, 2019

No. 413: Spacemen in Garden City, pharma/nutra in-depth and sweet somethings from a cider insider

  Wednesday’s child: Full of woe? Of course not, dear friends – we are a focused and forward-thinking workforce on the road to socioeconomic greatness, no matter what day it is! It happens to be Wednesday, June 12 to be precise, and as we hurtle the hump of another busy workweek, we wish our many readers in Paraguay a joyous and peaceful Chaco Armistice Day. Loving it: In a double entendre for the ages, today…

Newsletters June 7, 2019

No. 412: On Prince, Pence, Columbia, clams and Northwell Health’s new ‘ranch’ dressing

  Finishing what you started: Another busy workweek ends, dear readers, and another warm weekend dawns. It’s Friday, June 7, out there, and you’ve completed yet another hard-run marathon of socioeconomic progress. Well done. Here’s the scoop: As a reward, please enjoy National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. Here, them roar: You know who likes chocolate ice cream? Many of the 1.7 million members of Lions Club International, the world’s largest service organization, which launched in…

Newsletters June 5, 2019

No. 411: In which Voder speaks, the Apple II arrives, iTunes departs – and the Avengers assemble!

  Half full: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we reach the midpoint of another exciting week of socioeconomic innovation. Before we dive in, a warm welcome to new newsletter subscribers Michael, Kathleen, Josh, Frank, Tim, Wayne, Elizabeth, Warren, Eddie, Cliff, Noel, Micaela, Paige and Gary. Let us be the first to wish you a healthy and safe World Day Against Speciesism. Ecologically logical: That must mean it’s June 5 out there, and most of…

Awards and Events June 4, 2019

Science meets fiction at inspirational Cradle-Con 2019

By GREGORY ZELLER // The Cradle of Aviation became the Cradle of Creation this weekend, as one of Long Island’s brightest museums hosted one of the region’s hottest cultural conventions. Cradle-Con 2019 lit up Garden City’s Cradle of Aviation Museum Saturday and Sunday, splashing an interdimensional spotlight on classic comics, cult cinema and the coolest innovations in modern pop art. The museum, of course, is knee-deep in its 50th anniversary observances of the Apollo 11…

Space May 30, 2019

Moon shot: Recalling the bid that changed Long Island

By GREGORY ZELLER // On an island populated by Mets, Jets and Knicks fans, it can be easy to forget what winning feels like – and with constant chatter about creating an “economic identity” for Long Island, it’s somewhat surprising to remember that it actually happened once. But it did. When the Bethpage-based Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. (now part of Northrop Grumman) won a 1962 National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract to design and construct…

Newsletters May 17, 2019

No. 406: Building Bridgeworks, accentuating AI, big bucks in Bethpage – and only Applied DNA could go to China

  Finish line: The end of another busy workweek is upon is, dear readers, and the start of another well-earned weekend. It’s May 17 out there, and if you had the hometown Wallachians driving the invading Ottoman Empire out of southern Romania on this date in 1395’s Battle of Rovine, kudos – 150 silver groschen have been credited to your account. You say potato: Today is IDAHO, but it has nothing to do with Gem…

Newsletters May 15, 2019

No. 405: On Farmingdale State’s new feeder, Stony Brook’s super switch and Adelphi’s major minor upgrade

  Cold open: Beware the Ides of March, dear reader – oh, wait, it’s the Ides of May. It only feels like March. But it’s actually May 15 out there, midpoint of the month, two-thirds of the way through spring and halfway home in this latest (chilly) week of socioeconomic innovation. For the record, as of Tuesday afternoon, the Weather Channel was forecasting that high temperatures on Long Island wouldn’t exceed 70 degrees until the…

Space May 13, 2019

As Apollo anniversary nears, mission time at CoA

By GREGORY ZELLER // Unless you’re hiding under a moon rock, you know that humankind’s first stroll on the lunar surface was 50 years ago this July – and as the golden anniversary approaches, excitement at the Cradle of Aviation Museum is reaching escape velocity. The Garden City museum’s “Countdown to Apollo at 50” – which kicked off 16 months ago – reaches its climax July 20, the exact date when NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong…

Awards and Events March 27, 2019

Breakfast of champions

Hundreds turn out to honor LI’s brightest innovators (photos by Bob Giglione) In a rare breakfast networker that delivered all the feels, Innovate Long Island saluted its 2019 Innovators of the Year Tuesday at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. More than 200 guests turned out to honor two dozen of Long Island’s brightest and boldest researchers, inventors, entrepreneurs and executives, including 2019 Master of Innovation Mitch Maiman and Stony Brook University Vice President…

Newsletters March 22, 2019

No. 391: Kirk lives, rockets blast, lasers fire – and it’s a water world after all

  Welcome to Friday: You’ve done it, dear reader – the end of another busy workweek is upon us, and the first weekend of spring has sprung. Well played. It’s March 22 out there, marking the United Nation’s annual World Water Day, which reminds us that clean, potable water is “a human right.” (They take this to heart at Adelphi University, as you’ll see below.) More Power to you: With Saturday’s national Powerball jackpot soaring…

Newsletters February 27, 2019

No. 384: Inventing aspirin, Novocain and heroin – and fighting opioid addiction with feeling

  All downhill from here: Over the hump we go, dear readers, as we slide into the second half of another busy week of socioeconomic innovation here on Long Island and around the world. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 27, and the second day of Ayyám-i-Há for followers of the Bahá’í faith. (Of course, this observance only falls on this date on the Gregorian calendar if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which doesn’t always happen,…