Erin go bragh: Welcome to Friday, lasses and lads, and not just any Friday but March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day, of course, the annual wearing of the green (and wearing out of the Irish stereotypes).
In the spirit of the day, may the road rise up to meet you and may the wind always be at your back – and in the spirit of socioeconomic development, may you reach the gates of commercialization an hour before your competitor knows you’ve launched!
Panes us to say it: Hello, Patrick … if that’s your real name.
Patron-izing: First, a few facts – St. Patrick was not named Patrick (he was born Maewyn Succat), he was not Irish (he was a Roman-British Christian missionary), he was never actually canonized and today is not his birthday (though it is his guesstimated death date).
And please keep this important fact near and dear: Except for maybe New Year’s Eve, tonight is the most-amateur of amateur drunk-driving nights. Please celebrate responsibly – and watch out for those who don’t.
The rubber band man: We wrap up the workweek (tightly) with amateur English inventor Stephen Perry, who went pro on this date in 1845 with a British patent for the rubber band.
Partial control: Also snapping to it was Great Britain’s first birth-control clinic, which debuted on March 17, 1921, free and open to all married women.
Pardon our appearance: The Empire State Building rose in an astounding 13 months.
Cue the big monkey: Construction began on the Empire State Building, the world’s first 100-plus story building, on this date in 1930 – and was completed in a remarkable one year and 45 days, allowing the novel skyscraper to star in the 1933 classic “King Kong.”
Light touch: Reaching even higher was NASA’s Vanguard satellite, the world’s first solar-powered orbiter, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral 65 years ago today.
Forward arch: And it was this date in 1973 when Queen Elizabeth II opened the current London Bridge, the third stone span across the River Thames to bear the name.
For the record, the previous London Bridge was purchased by American businessman Robert McCulloch (officially, the largest antique ever sold) and painstakingly reconstructed in Arizona.
Best Hess: Swiss physiologist Walter Rudolf Hess (1881-1973) – who shared a Nobel Prize (with Portuguese neurologist and lobotomy pioneer António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz) for mapping the areas of the brain involved in controlling internal organs – would be 142 years old today.
King cool: Nathanial Adams was a master baritone.
Also born on March 17 were German engineer and industrialist Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900), a pioneer of internal combustion and automobile manufacturing; American inventor and businessman Charles Francis Brush (1849-1929), whose electric arc lamp beat Edison’s incandescent bulb to market; American zoologist and educator Cornelia Maria Clapp (1849-1934), who earned the first biology PhD awarded to an American woman; American civil rights influencer Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), who advised MLK and lead movements promoting nonviolence and gay rights; and American pianist and pop vocalist Nathanial Adams Coles (1919-1965), the jazz great known best as Nat King Cole.
The long way: And take a bow, Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston! The British sailor – who between June 1968 and April 1969 completed the first solo nonstop global circumnavigation, a 312-day journey from and to Falmouth, England – turns 84 today.
Wish the aging seaman well at editor@innovateli.com, where we navigate innovation by your news tips – and your calendar events present nonstop opportunities.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Hey buddy, why the long neck? New research by a Stony Brook University paleontologist extends science’s knowledge of the Jurassic period, literally.
Published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed Journal of Systemic Paleontology, a new analysis of the sauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum – a 162-million-year-old resident of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, discovered in 1987 by the China-Canada Dinosaur Project – reveals the classic example of “quadrupedal gigantism” (four squat legs, big body, long neck) likely had the longest neck of them all. Led by SBU paleontologist Andrew Moore, an international research team has “reconstructed evolutionary relationships” via computed-tomography scanning and other biomechanical studies to determine your average Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum boasted a 15-meter neck, longer than any other sauropod (or a full-sized school bus).
Actual “world records” ranking 160-million-year-old necks are difficult to verify, but this tale of the tape is critical because Mamenchisaurids “pushed the limits on how long a neck can be,” according to Moore, an assistant professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine’s Department of Anatomical Sciences. “It looks like Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum might be a record-holder,” the paleontologist added. “At least, until something longer is discovered.”
MicroMester manager: Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue gives partial credit for SCCC’s enrollment increase to the school’s seven-and-a-half-week mini courses.
Enroll with it: By one metric, at least, Suffolk County Community College has returned to pre-pandemic form, recording its first enrollment increase in nearly five years.
In preliminary Spring 2023 census data reported to the State University of New York system, the Selden-based college recorded a 3 percent increase in year-over-year spring-semester enrollment (367 students), compared to Spring 2022. With total enrollment now standing at 14,349 students, the college’s “full-time equivalent” – a conversion of all enrollment categories into a common, SUNY-wide standard – also increased 1 percent, according to SCCC records.
Among other advantages, Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue credited low tuition, a welcoming campus environment and the school’s unique seven-and-a-half-week MicroMester programs, while Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Munsch noted a specific uptick in students sticking around between the fall and spring semesters. “More students chose to continue their studies from the Fall 2022 semester to the Spring 2023 semester as compared to last year,” Munsch said. “The real story is the shift in persistence of students we’re seeing.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Safe bet: Long Island government and community leaders will join a nationwide safety-technology trailblazer for the Island’s first-ever School Bus Safety Summit.
Business-building buffet: FuzeHub’s latest manufacturing forum unites New York’s busy food and beverage industries at Farmingdale State College.
Quick, into the pod! The clock is ticking toward entrepreneurial doom … fortunately, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast offers life-saving entrepreneurial wisdom in breathe-easy 30-minute doses. Strap in and blast off.
ICYMI
Hack@CEWIT (literally) comes together, New York housing (figuratively) moves forward.
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 Utah: Salt Lake City-based health-supplement pioneer Solaray gets out in front of probiotic health with digestion-friendly Prebiotic Powder.
From Massachusetts: Boston-based event-management mainstay Tripleseat streamlines hotel group bookings with digital multi-events grid.
From Arizona: Scottsdale-based athletics app-maker Signing Day Sports boosts college athlete recruitment platform with former collegiate coach.
ON THE MOVE
Karina Contti
+ Karina Contti has been hired as director of human resources for Catholic Charities of Long Island in Hicksville. She held the same position at the Mental Health Association of Nassau County in Hempstead.
+ Brian Stolar has been hired as senior counsel at Uniondale-based Harris Beach. He previously was of counsel at Garden City-based Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein.
+ Leo Farrell has joined Melville-based Avison Young as a principal. He was managing principal at Islandia-based NAI Long Island.
+ Mackenzie Smith has joined Melville-based EGC Group as an account manager. She previously was a digital accounts manager for WebMD.
+ Deborah Kashanian has joined Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty as a sales associate in its Great Neck office. She was previously a salesperson with Compass Real Estate and Edna Mashaal Realty.
+ Magdalonie Paris-Campbell has been promoted to director of external affairs for AT&T Long Island. She previously served as an area manager.
+ Edward Pidgeon has joined Melville-based Avison Young as senior director. He was a principal at Islandia-based NAI Long Island.
+ Lori Sullivan has joined Mineola-based Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone as a partner in the Trust & Estate Litigation and Trusts & Estates practice groups. She was counsel in the Trusts & Estates Practice Group at Seward & Kissel.
+ Marie Mulligan has been hired as chief nursing officer at Huntington Hospital. She previously held the same position at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
+ Paul Farrell has joined Melville-based Avison Young as an associate. He previously held the same position at Islandia-based NAI Long Island.
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 Nixon Peabody). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Acronym Edition)
We were shocked: Then again, we read Marvel.
Shorthand: Behold, the abbreviated, sometimes confusing world of initialisms.
OK: How an intentional misspelling became America’s most-ubiquitous word.
Wait, “SHAZAM” is an acronym? Yeah, it’s this whole Greek god thing.
Letters of credit: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where top business-law experts know all the right words – and the best strategies to meet specific client needs. Check them out.
