Brrrrr: Bundle up, dear readers – our latest workweek completes its snowy course today, but the blustery Winter of 2021 keeps on keeping on.
It’s Feb. 12 out there, and this might warm you up: pitchers and catchers, five days.
For your thoughts: The U.S. mint lost $69.7 million making pennies in 2019 — roughly $1 per coin.
Lost in translation: Why they called it Lost Penny Day is way beyond us, but today is indeed National Lost Penny Day, marking the Feb. 12, 1909, release of the Lincoln Penny, which honored Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday.
It’s also International Darwin Day, held annually on this date to commemorate famed naturalist Charles Darwin’s 1809 birth – yes, he hatched the very same day as Honest Abe. (More birthday boys and girls below.)
PPE, the early days: Speaking of pitchers and catchers, Harvard University Baseball Club captain Frederick Thayer patented one of the most anti-injury innovations in his sport’s history – the catcher’s mask – on Feb. 12, 1878.
Don’t make ’em like they used to: Pioneer Packard.
It’s kinda Graff-ic: American physicist Robert Jemison Van de Graaff patented his Electrostatic Generator, which generated direct-current voltages much higher than the contemporary state of the art, on Feb. 12, 1935.
Other U.S. patents issued on this date include the very first automobile patent for industrialist James Packard, who locked up an improvement to hydrocarbon engines.
Taking their shot: The first injection into a human test subject of the antibiotic penicillin was conducted on Feb. 12, 1941, by Oxford physicians Ernst Chain and Howard Walter Florey.
Hard news: American chemist Robert Wentorf announced his invention of borazon, a compound hard enough to scratch diamond, 64 years ago today.
For the record, borazon is now ranked the world’s fourth-hardest substance overall, and third-hardest artificial substance.
Didn’t add up: And four highway signs showing distances in kilometers (in addition to miles) were erected along Ohio’s portion of Interstate 71 on this date in 1973.
The first U.S. road signs to speak metric were part of a national campaign to encourage a voluntary public switch to the metric system, which failed spectacularly.
A real Schwinger: American theoretical physicist Julian Schwinger (1918-1994) – who shared a Nobel Prize with physicists Richard Feynman and Shin-Itiro Tomonaga for quantum-electrodynamic work reconciling quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of special relativity – would be 103 years old today.
Great story: Torrence, masterful teller.
In addition to aforementioned autodidacts Lincoln (1809-1865) and Darwin (1809-1882), also born on Feb. 12 were American inventor, manufacturer and philanthropist Peter Cooper (1791-1883), who established New York City’s Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; American paleontologist Barnum Brown (1873-1963), who discovered numerous dinosaur species, including the T-Rex; Flemish astronomer Marcel Gilles Jozef Minnaert (1893-1970), who blazed new paths in solar study; beloved American author Judy Blume (born 1938); and enthusiastic American raconteur Jackie Torrence (1944-2004), remembered internationally as “The Story Lady.”
Double oh: And take a bow, Maud Solveig Christina Adams! The Swedish actress – still the only two-time “Bond girl” (in 1974’s “The Man With the Golden Gun” and 1983’s “Octopussy”), excluding actresses who recirculated as longtime assistant Miss Moneypenny – turns 76 today.
Wish the bombshell, the storytellers and all the other Feb. 12 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where we live to tell your story – news items and calendar events always gratefully accepted.
About our sponsor: SUNY Old Westbury empowers students to own the future they want for themselves. In a small-college atmosphere, and as part of the dynamic, diverse student body that today is 5,000 strong, Old Westbury students get up close and personal with the life and career they want to pursue. Whether it’s a cutting-edge graduate program in data analytics, highly respected programs in accounting and computer information sciences or any of the more than 70 available degrees, a SUNY Old Westbury education will set students on a course toward success. Own your future.
BUT FIRST, THIS
It’s the economy, stupid: Or, more accurately, the Biden Administration’s proposed “American Relief Plan” – the freshman president’s COVID-19 stimulus plan, which is first and foremost on the minds of American executives.
That’s according to the latest CEO Survey from accounting giant Marcum LLP and Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business, which emerged this week with a whopping 78 percent of respondents supporting Biden’s plan as a necessary driver of the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery. Surveying 267 mid-market chief executives, the poll is conducted, in conjunction with Marcum, as part of the Zarb School’s MBA curriculum, and its Winter 2021 edition indicates “American businesses are still struggling to survive the impact of the pandemic,” according to Marcum Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Weiner.
Among the key findings were the 48 percent of respondents rating their business outlook 5 or higher (on a 10-point scale), up from 35 percent in the Fall 2020 CEO Survey. About 60 percent expect to require a COVID vaccine for workplace-returning employees, with technology access and talent availability remaining key challenges (full survey here). “While less than half of CEOs rated their economic outlook in the positive range of the scale, there was a definitive improvement in the upper ratings since our last poll,” Weiner noted. “This is an indicator of the resilience of the middle-market that hopefully will strengthen in the months to come.”
Economic Lyft: More than half of Nassau County’s Lyft passengers say accessing essential services would be impossible without the ride-sharing service.
That’s one of several eye-opening statistics included in Lyft’s 2021 Economic Impact Report, an annual survey of the San Francisco-based ride-share stalwart’s passengers and drivers. Skewed by the COVID-19 crisis – nationwide rides to and from medical offices and grocery stores doubled at the height of the pandemic, according to Lyft – the report includes a section highlighting Nassau County Lyfters (the company has operated in both Nassau and Suffolk since 2017).
Among the Nassau numbers: 97 percent of Lyft drivers also work other jobs or are students; 58 percent of passengers call on Lyft when public transit is down; 17 percent of drivers drove more after being furloughed or laid off from other jobs; and 16 percent of passengers increased their Lyft usage during the pandemic. “We’re proud to be here for the residents of Nassau County when they need it most,” said Jen Hensley, Lyft’s government relations liaison. “The need for access to supplemental income and affordable transportation, especially in underserved communities, has been compounded during the pandemic.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Model behavior: As the pandemic reshapes their industry, two New York Tech architecture professors are tapping next-level design tech, both in and out of the classroom.
A real prize: Hofstra has added a hefty award for creative post-pandemic thinking to its annual Venture Challenge competition.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: It’s the rise of the vaccination clinics (both “mass” and “pop-up”) on Long Island and beyond – keep track with LI’s one-and-only pandemic primer, 250 stories deep and still going strong.
ICYMI
Move-it-yourself innovator Red Rover is based in Florida, but its critical expansion effort – and its heart – are on Long Island.
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 New York City: Macabre auction site MorbidAuctions.com puts a real human skull and other eerie items on the virtual block.
From California: Oakland-based Conscious Girlfriend Academy presents a “proven and affordable roadmap” to true lesbian love.
From Oregon: West Linn-based videogame visionary Drop-In Gaming creates a world-class platform welcoming everyday amateurs into high-stakes tournaments.
ON THE MOVE
Brian Doyle
+ Brian Doyle has been promoted to partner at Uniondale-based Margolin, Winer and Evens. He previously served as an audit senior manager.
+ Melissa Manna, a member of Garden City-based Cullen & Dykman’s General, Tort and Insurance Litigation Department, has been promoted to partner.
+ James Zervas has been appointed director of mathematics for the Herricks Union Free School District. He previously served as the department chairman for mathematics, business, technology and science in the East Rockaway School District.
+ Sarah Cirelli has been promoted to chief marketing officer at Jericho-based Grassi & Co. She previously served as Marketing Practice leader.
+ Aaron Rupper has been promoted to partner at Jericho-based Grassi & Co. He previously served as an audit principal in the Construction Practice.
+ Robert Sventora has joined St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip as director of admissions. He was previously chairman of the guidance department and administrator to the registrar at St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset.
BELOW THE FOLD
Lasting impression: He’s been dead 13 years, but Paul Newman would still remember how to ride a bike.
Did not see that coming: An annual State of Remote Work survey like never before.
The hills are alive: A U.K. startup is turning hillsides into giant batteries.
Memory muscle: Why we never forget how to ride a bike.
On the path: The future of your choice is always within reach at SUNY Old Westbury, one of the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI. Check them out.
