End run: It’s Friday, intrepid innovator, and you’ve done it again – another workweek conquered, another well-earned weekend on tap. Well played, as usual!
Before we clock out, just one more day to get through – and we’re here to help you get through it in fine form. Let’s innovate!
Banana republic: Animals have legal rights, too. (Photo: New York Times)
Giving you your due: It’s Dec. 10 out there, best known as the United Nations’ annual Human Rights Day, commemorating the UN General Assembly’s 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a milestone document proclaiming worldwide entitlements regardless of race, color, religion, sex or any other status.
Tool use, complex symbolic languages, cultural evolution, moral sensibilities and opposable thumbs are swell and all, but Dec. 10 is also International Animal Rights Day.
Toast with the most: Raise a frosty mug today to the inalienable rights of human and beast – December 10 also brings us National Lager Day, an annual celebration of the world’s third-most popular beverage (behind water and tea).
Encyclopedic knowledge: Other Dec. 10 toastables include the Encyclopedia Britannica – the first pages of the first edition were published in Scotland on this date in 1768.
Virtute et Armis: Happy anniversary, Mississippi – the 20th U.S. State, and the only one with “triple-double” letters in its name, was admitted to the union on Dec. 10, 1817.
For a larf, what are the only two English language words with consecutive triple-double letters? Answer below – no Googling.
Prized possession: The Nobel Prize became a thing 120 years ago today.
Prize patrol: The first-ever Nobel Prizes – for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace – were awarded on this date in 1901 by the king of Sweden.
Doom patrol: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – which would later introduce the infamous “Doomsday Clock,” an unflinching countdown to human extinction – published its first issue on this date in 1945.
World beaters: And while dreamers from Dante to George Lucas have long hypothesized what now seems so obvious, the detection of the first likely exoplanet was announced by NASA 37 years ago today.
Despite the hoopla, interstellar debate rages about who actually discovered the first planet outside our Solar System.
She computes in beauty: English mathematician Ada Lovelace (officially Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, 1815-1852) – the daughter of poet Lord Byron, remembered as the “first computer programmer” for writing the earliest computing-machine algorithms – would be 206 years old today.
Could not stop for death: Dickinson, largely unknown in life, posthumously revered.
Also born on Dec. 10 were American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), ranked among the most important U.S. lyricists; American librarian Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), who invented the Dewey Decimal System but was otherwise a pretty awful dude; German/Swedish poet/playwright Leonie “Nelly” Sachs (1891-1970), who gave a poignant voice to Nazi brutalization (and won a Nobel Prize); Scottish surgeon Ross Taylor (1932-2003), a kidney-transplant pioneer; and American chef, restaurateur, author and TV personality Robert William “Bobby” Flay (born 1964).
String theory: And take a bow, Sara Chang! The Korean American classical violinist and one-time child prodigy – who debuted at age 8 with the New York Philharmonic and has subsequently performed with most of the world’s major orchestras – turns 41 today.
Wish the wunderkind well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips pluck our heartstrings and your calendar events always rosin our bow.
Trivial pursuit: On those triple-double words … those would be bookkeeper and bookkeeping.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, 750 outpatient facilities and 70,000-plus employees. We’re making research breakthroughs at the Feinstein Institute and training the next generation of medical professionals at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra/Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Visit Northwell.edu.
BUT FIRST, THIS
In memoriam: The Violet Loy Adair Endowed Scholarship Fund targets first-generation collegians.
Generosity, the first generation: A six-figure gift from a longtime faculty member will help first-generation collegians achieve their academic dreams at Farmingdale State College.
The college announced this week that Professor Charles Adair, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, has donated $100,000 to establish the Violet Loy Adair Endowed Scholarship Fund. Adair, a 46-year veteran of the Farmingdale State community, said he wanted to leave a lasting legacy for students who are the first in their immediate family to attend college – just like his late wife Violet, who earned an associate’s degree in biotechnology-horticulture from FSC (known then as the Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute) and went on to earn degrees at Cornell University and the University of Hawaii.
Adair added his hopes that the new scholarship fund “can be transformative for students for whom the opportunity to earn a college degree would have been unavailable or out of reach,” while Farmingdale State College President John Nadar applauded the dean’s “truly moving” generosity. “This is a gift that will keep Violet’s spirit alive on campus for a very long time,” Nadar said Wednesday. “We are deeply grateful Dean Adair has chosen to give back to the community and the college in this way.”
Play it again, Northwell: New York’s largest healthcare system and a multimedia SaaS provider have engaged a new collaboration that aims to build deeper, more meaningful connections between providers and patients.
Following a successful pilot program at Glen Cove Hospital, New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health has announced a partnership with New York City-based Playback Health that will launch Playback’s proprietary patient-engagement platform at select Northwell locations. Playback – co-founded by David Langer, chairman of neurosurgery at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan – provides a host of medical information in video, audio, image and text form, all of which can be repeatedly viewed and shared to help patients fully understand their conditions and treatment plans and “more fully engage with their care,” Northwell noted.
The software technology – which boasts “rich user interface and robust integration,” according to the health system – also facilitates telehealth consultations, helping clinicians directly connect with patients and other specialists on a patient’s care team. “We understand that many of the most troublesome problems in healthcare come down to lack of communication,” noted Richard Mulry, president and CEO of Northwell Holdings and Ventures, the health system’s entrepreneurial arm. “We are excited … to develop and roll out this innovative, scalable technology that takes doctor-patient communication to a new level.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Investigation simulation: SUNY Old Westbury Forensic Accounting students busted the bad guys this week, with the help of the IRS Adrian Project.
Carbon copy: There are plenty of opportunities for carbon-conscious Long Island businesses to support the net-zero movement, according to Bank of America’s Bob Isaksen.
Fried, not half-baked: Long Island inventor deluxe Brian Fried joins Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast to discuss his ascension to national inventor mentor – and spill the secrets of product commercialization.
ICYMI
Breeze Airways lands at Long Island MacArthur Airport; MRI exams take off at Glen Cove Hospital.
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 California: The Ridgecrest-based California Welcome Center, delayed two years by COVID, finally greets brave souls daring to cross Death Valley.
From South Carolina: Greer-based health-tech Hoy Health eyes remote patient-monitoring – and reduces user errors – with unique colorblind recognition system.
From New York City: Cryptocurrency trading and strategy hub Quadency completes major overhaul of its fully integrated automation platform.
ON THE MOVE
Anthony Peterson
+ Anthony Peterson has been promoted to vice president of business development at New York Cancer and Blood Specialists. He was previously a regional director.
+ Patricia Pfeifer-Rongo has joined Kings Park-based St. Johnland Nursing Center as director of development. She was previously a community relations liaison for New York-based ProHEALTH Dental.
+ Brittany Rhoden has been named Title IX coordinator for student issues at Hempstead-based Hofstra University. She most recently worked in New York University’s Office of Residential Life and Housing Services.
+ Michael Borger has joined Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff as an associate in the Trusts and Estates Practice Group. He was previously an associate practicing estate litigation and planning at Garden City-based McCoyd Parkas & Ronan.
BELOW THE FOLD (A Caroling We Go Edition)
Megamouth: Joel Osteen, person of interest.
Baby, it’s warm outside: Winter is coming, but thanks to La Niña, you wouldn’t know it.
All ye faithful: Was the “large amount of money” found hidden in Joel Osteen’s megachurch actually stolen from the church?
May your days be merry and bright: How to handle the holiday season’s extra stress.
Amazing grace: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, which always delivers skill and compassion when it’s needed most. Check them out.
