Egg-cellent: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the very last Friday of Winter 2022 – Spring arrives in our beautiful Northern Hemisphere on Sunday, and not a moment too soon.
Equi-not: You don’t need an equinox to balance an egg.
Before we get into the growing season (and the rest of our well-earned weekend), we have one more workday to get through, so let’s do it – and for the record, while you can indeed stand up a raw egg at the exact moment of the Spring Equinox (11:33 a.m. EDT on March 20), you can really do that anytime, so no biggie.
Give it up: It’s March 18 out there – National Supreme Sacrifice Day, when we honor those who died for a good cause and try to remember there are worse things than facemasks and expensive gas.
Take a moment: Today is also National Awkward Moments Day, when the uneasy, the clumsy and the tongue-tied earn a pass.
Much more comfortable is National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day, an annual March 18 celebration of the thin, ice cream-covered oatcakes.
That’s NICE: It’s no Nassau Inter-County Express, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
First stop: While awkwardly munching your cookies, raise a glass of milk to public transportation – specifically, to bus service – which became a thing in Paris on this date in 1662, hundreds of years before motor vehicles were invented.
The idea, hatched by French mathematician/physicist/inventor Blaise Pascal, involved horse-drawn coaches carrying up to eight passengers each along set routes.
Buzzworthy: Also clearing a path for future innovations was the world’s first electric razor, which was invented by gold prospector Jacob Schick and sold for the first time on March 18, 1831.
If at first you succeed…: Speaking of laying the groundwork for future successes, titanic American entrepreneurs Henry Wells and William Fargo launched American Express on March 18, 1850.
The partners would strike it big – again – two years later, when they founded Wells Fargo and Co.
Big top: Turning to future failures, the now-defunct “Greatest Show on Earth” premiered in NYC 141 years ago today, when Phineas Barnum and James Bailey combined their rival traveling exhibitions into the Barnum & Bailey Circus (the Ringling Brothers came later, for those keeping score).
Star walk: And tethered Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov floated outside of his Voskhod 2 space capsule for about 10 minutes on March 18, 1965, marking humanity’s first-ever spacewalk.
Before his time: American businessman and philanthropist Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), who founded California’s E & J Gallo Winery – now the world’s largest winemaker, with more than 100 million bottles produced annually – would be 113 years old today.
In the midnight hour: Pickett, soul brother.
Also born on March 18 were 22nd and 24th U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908); French-born German engineer Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), who ruled on land but died at sea; German-born entrepreneur Lillian Vernon (1927-2015), the “Queen of Catalogs” and creator of the first woman-founded company listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange; American novelist, poet and art/literary critic John Updike (1932-2009), one of a select few to snag multiple Pulitzer Prizes for fiction; and American singer/songwriter Wilson Pickett, a major player in the rise of soul music.
Raking in the cookie dough: And take a bow, Bennett Cohen! The American businessman, activist and philanthropist – co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Holdings, parent of America’s largest ice cream company by revenue (and a subsidiary of British conglomerate Unilever, as of 2000) – turns 71 today.
Give the Chubby (ex-)Hubby (he’s divorced) your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we Phish (Food) for your news tips and your calendar events fulfill our Americone Dream (and the S’Mores the merrier, even if they’re Half Baked).
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Setting the microwave: Pasternack continues to increase Farmingdale State College’s frequencies.
Keeps on giving: A Farmingdale State College graduate has gifted $1.4 million to help the college create a cutting-edge radio frequency/microwave technology laboratory.
Class of 1960 alum Murray Pasternack – who graduated from Farmingdale State’s Electrical Technology (now Electrical Engineering) program – made the largest donation in Farmingdale State’s history to upgrade the school’s RF and microwave-tech equipment and support new Electrical Engineering Technology Department courses. The $1.4 million stipend will facilitate the purchase of “industry-leading equipment” including vector network analyzers, RF signal generators, mixed-domain oscilloscopes and more, according to the college.
This is not the first time Pasternack, founder of California-based RF/microwave technology innovator Pasternack Enterprises, has supported his alma mater; he’s made two other $500,000 donations, including a 2021 gift to help Farmingdale State establish an engineering scholarship program. “Murray Pasternack’s (latest) gift is unparalleled in our college’s history,” College President John Nader said this week. “This gift will help us modernize and expand a program that addresses the needs of today’s high-technology firms.”
Moral victory: One of Long Island’s cornerstone corporations ranks among the world’s most ethical companies, according to a global monitor of corporate behavior.
Ethisphere, a worldwide watchdog defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, has announced its World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2022, and for the fifth straight year counted Melville-based Canon USA among them. The offshoot of Japanese multinational Canon joined 135 other honorees – spanning 22 countries and 45 industries – and was the lone company in Ethisphere’s Imaging Technology category.
Leveraging its proprietary Ethics Quotient formula, Ethisphere considered environmental efforts, social practices, compliance activities, corporate governance and corporate diversity to craft its annual list. “To have Ethisphere once again recognize our business practices is a testament to our continuing commitment to corporate social responsibility,” noted N. Scott Millar, Canon USA senior vice president of human resources. “Our goal is to develop solutions and provide the highest quality of support in an ethical manner.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Network news: Stony Brook University will lead a major-league regional R&D network pursuing a full spectrum of biomedical breakthroughs.
Love train: With spring break here, summer vacation coming and gas prices soaring, Discover Long Island and the LIRR are promoting car-free destinations across Nassau and Suffolk.
Playback is a switch: A week after Spark: The Innovate Long Island podcast welcomed talk-show host Donna Drake, the Long Island Multimedia Crossover Virtual Extravaganza comes full circle with “The Donna Drake Show” plugging our podcast.
ICYMI
Retracing the past with King Kullen; exploring the future with Esther Takeuchi.
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 Texas: Austin-based artificial intelligence developer Modern Intelligence secures funding to prepare AI-based maritime surveillance solution for naval-warfare exercises.
From Georgia: Atlanta-based medical device manufacturer BioCircuit Technologies teams with Virginia-based Smithfield BioScience for next-generation nerve-repair.
From New Mexico: Rio Rancho-based energy innovator Quantus Innovatus announces advanced “power gathering” tech that draws energy from the surrounding environment.
ON THE MOVE
Joseph Ng
+ Joseph Ng has been promoted to associate medical director at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. He previously served as assistant vice president for medical affairs and chief medical information officer.
+ Woodbury-based D&B Engineers and Architects has promoted engineers/project managers Brittany Gaddy, Daniel Root and Carl Schmidlapp to associates in the Environmental Remediation and Multimedia Environmental Compliance divisions.
+ Bruce Mawhirter has been hired as a senior project manager at Melville-based Nelson + Pope. He previously held the same position at New Hyde Park-based M&J Engineering.
+ Efram Mitrani has been promoted to vice president at Plainview-based HUB International Northeast. He was previously a senior marketing representative.
+ Sabrina Hyland has been promoted to cosmetology teacher at Nassau BOCES Tech in Levittown. She was previously a teacher’s aide.
+ Michael Beccaris has been hired as an associate at Westbury-based DSJCPA. He is a recent graduate of Long Island University.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Sahn Ward). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
In the moment: Now’s the time to light it up, entrepreneur.
Lessons from the past: What yesteryear tells us about today’s tech bear market.
No time like the present: There’s never been a better moment to start a business.
Exploring corporate futures: Survey predicts a steady rise in “hybrid work strategies,” though most businesses aren’t ready.
Timeless: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward, where long experience and new thinking define your business’ next exciting epoch. Check them out.
