Thar she blows: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we batten down the hatches, tie up the deck furniture and otherwise deal with the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/multistate soaker Elsa.
For those keeping score, she’s the first tropical system to reach Long Island since the remains of Hurricane Eta brought a rainy night on Nov. 13 of last year – and an early contender in what looks like another unusually active hurricane season.
Goody Báb: Sayyed ʻAlí Muḥammad Shírází, a central figure of the Baháʼí Faith.
The Báb and weave: It’s July 9 out there, the 190th day of the year, at least on our Gregorian calendar – on the Baháʼí calendar, it’s the 112th day of the year and the Martyrdom of the Báb, a celebration of 19th century Iranian merchant/messenger of God Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad.
Stick to it: Unrelated to the Báb, today is also World Kebab Day, when humanity reveres skewered meats and veggies.
Here in the States, we top it off with National Sugar Cookie Day, honoring the relatively plain but undeniably delicious confections.
Kepler, cubed: You know who loved sugar cookies? German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler.
Actually, we can’t prove that – but we know Kepler had an epiphany on July 9, 1595, involving spheres and cubes and planetary orbits, forming the basis for his seminal 1596 book Mysterium Cosmographicum (“Mysteries of the Cosmos”).
Gas line: Back on Earth, the first U.S. natural gas well was (accidentally) discovered by salt miners in West Virginia 206 years ago today.
Center cut: Blondel’s circular logic.
Time to make the doughnuts: Long before there was Dunkin’, there was Maine baker John Blondel, who earned a patent on this date in 1872 for his “improved doughnut cutters.”
Other patents issued on July 9 include one in 1878 for American woodworker Henry Tibbe, who lit up the instantly recognizable corncob pipe.
Nobel effort: Sparking a decades-long scientific scrum over half-lives, unstable isotopes and copycat research, element 102 – known best as nobelium – was first announced by Swedish researchers on this date in 1957.
Wave as you go by: And it was July 9, 1979, when the Voyager 2 space probe made its closest approach to Jupiter, on its way out of the Solar System.
Launched in August of 1977, Voyager 2 is now hurtling through interstellar space at a peppy 34,000 miles per hour – and still doing its thing.
Microwave as you go by: American physicist Percy LeBaron Spencer (1894-1970) – the inventor of the microwave oven, a breakthrough he birthed after a chocolate bar melted in his pocket during magnetron-tube experiments – would be 127 years old today.
Shelf life: Koontz, scary good.
Also born on July 9 were American blacksmith Thomas Davenport (1802-1851), who constructed the United States’ first practical electric motor; American tinkerer Elias Howe Jr. (1819-1867), who invented the modern sewing machine; Swiss-German anatomist Wilhelm His (1831-1904), who fathered the science of histogenesis; American scientist James Pollack (1938-1994), a Long Island-raised NASA researcher who warned the world about “nuclear winter”; and beloved, much-honored American thespian Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born 1956).
The Dean of horror: And take a bow, Dean Ray Koontz! The best-selling American author – whose “suspense thrillers” veer regularly into horror, fantasy, science fiction, satire and other genres – turns 76 today.
Give the master scribe (who’s written under many nom de plumes but is not secretly Stephen King) your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we don’t care what name you use, as long as your news tips tell interesting stories and your calendar events reference this plane of consciousness.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Candle power: Tesla, birthday boy.
STEAMy summer: The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe will honor Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla’s 165th birthday on July 10 with two electrifying events.
The Tesla Birthday Expo, scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, and the Tesla Birthday Night Show, slated for 8-10 p.m. Saturday evening, will both take place live at the Shoreham science center, with remote celebrants invited to tune in to virtual simulcasts. The Expo is slated to feature robotics and ham-radio exhibits, a hands-on “Battlebot” competition, a maker space, a farm stand and a petting zoo. The Night Show will feature a music-and-light performance by electric entertainers ArcAttack – manning the center’s replica Tesla coil – as well as a food-and-beverage reception.
Both events will focus heavily on science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. Ticket discounts are available for Tesla Science Center members, seniors, veterans, older students and kids; proceeds will benefit the TSC’s nonprofit mission to turn Tesla’s last remaining laboratory into a transformative global science center. Tickets and more information available here.
Expensive steamy summer: Warmer weather is usually a welcomed boon for eastern Long Island – but for the East End Food Institute, not so much.
It seems as temperatures rise this season, the Southampton-based EEFI’s aging walk-in refrigerator and freezer units are struggling to keep up. And the institute – a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit focused on farm-to-table partnerships, promotion of regional food-and-beverage businesses and the creation of a long-term food plan for East End communities – is facing at least $15,000 in unanticipated repair bills to keep its cool.
To that end, the EEFI is seeking monetary contributions to cover the work. And it’s offering a free jar of its fairly famous tomato jam, a magnificent cheese or chocolate accompaniment trumpeted in Executive Director Kate Fullam’s latest Voices column, to everyone who donates $100 or more to the chilly cause. Click here to make a donation, or email kate@eastendfood.org for more information on how to help.
TOP OF THE SITE
It’s not over yet: In fact, COVID is getting smarter and stronger – but NYU Langone’s biggest Long Island brains are staying a step ahead with two important vaccine studies.
Cake walk: Helping legendary Cardinali Bakery remain on Long Island, and significantly expand its Nassau County operations, was another no-brainer for the Nassau IDA.
Listen up: Hear directly from the leaders of Long Island’s innovation economy – Season 1 of Spark: The Innovation Long Island Podcast is just a click away.
ICYMI
The TC3 goes to Canada; affordable housing comes to Glen Cove.
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 Indiana: The West Lafayette-based Purdue Research Foundation opens the Center for Tech Diplomacy, a cutting-edge think tank eyeing technology and foreign policy.
From California: San Francisco-based educational robotics trailblazer RobotLAB picks up where defunct Google Expeditions left off with a new app creating virtual reality field trips.
From Maryland: The Largo-based National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers presents a first-ever, month-long “virtual mini-conference” for members.
ON THE MOVE
Alexis Majano
+ Alexis Majano has joined Sahn Ward as an associate, focusing his practice on corporate, municipal and real estate law and transactions. He’s a graduate of Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law and Frank G. Zarb School of Business.
+ Dawn Medley has been named Stony Brook University’s vice provost for enrollment management. She was previously Wayne State University’s associate vice provost of enrollment management and chief enrollment/financial aid officer.
+ The Ronkonkoma-based Association for Mental Health and Wellness has announced two board appointments. Kristie Golden has been elected board president; she is Stony Brook Medicine’s executive administrator/associate director of operations. Andrew Garbarino has been elected board vice president; he is of counsel at Uniondale-based Ruskin Moscou Faltischek.
+ Susan Lee, Stony Brook University associate professor of clinical medicine, internist and medical director of Stony Brook Primary Care, has been elected governor of the American College of Physicians’ New York/Long Island Chapter.
+ Natalie Ryan has joined the Nature Conservancy in New York as its first Long Island community partnership manager. She was previously senior associate director of operations for Cornell University’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs.
+ Neil Carbone has joined Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz as a partner in the Trusts and Estates and Estate Litigation departments. He was a partner at Manhattan-based Katten Munchin Rosenman.
BELOW THE FOLD
So you think you can dance: That’s good, for mind and body.
Look smart: Augmented-reality eyewear is finally looking past the smartphone.
Work smart: Remote jobs are multiplying fast for workers without college degrees.
Smart moves: Behold, the physical and mental benefits of dancing.
Smart as it gets: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Mazars USA, where brilliant accounting and shrewd advice are always top of mind. Check them out.
