Brake time: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the last Friday of April (already!), as wild, wacky 2024 continues full speed ahead.
We’re tapping the brakes just long enough to share this quick innovation review – and hopefully get you in the weekend mood. Pour yourself a steaming cup of joe and enjoy!
I think that I shall never see: It’s National Arbor Day, when we’re encouraged to keep the planet going by planting some saplings.
Get a shovel: Today is April 26, and being the last Friday in April we dig into the traditional celebration of National Arbor Day, an annual bouquet to branches and leaves and a critical cornerstone of American conservation efforts.
Holidays tied to this actual date – whatever day of the week it falls on – include one of our favorites: World Intellectual Property Day, spotlighting IP and its unparalleled ability to amplify innovation.
Ripley, believe it or not: Today is also “Alien” Day, a 4/26 observation that has nothing to do with real-life galactic neighbors and everything to do with the fictitious xenomorphs haunting Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 sci-fi horrorfest and its James Cameron-helmed 1986 sequel – both set on planet LV-426. (Get it?)
If you think that’s twisted, you’re going to love National Pretzel Day, an annual celebration of the baked, knotted bread treats that hail from Germany’s Bavarian region (or do they?).
Online: Speaking of twisted facts, email became a thing on this date in 1884 – kinda – when The New York Times reported on very-early-stage Post Office Committee of the House plans to establish an electronic postal telegraph service.
On board: Less twisted – in fact, much flatter – was the improved ironing board patented on April 26, 1892, by Connecticut dressmaker Sarah Boone, among the first African American women to earn a U.S. patent.
From the Accunews Weather Center: Weather forecasts were not this accurate when the first was broadcasted in 1921.
On the air: Also leaving room for improvement was the first-ever U.S. radio weather report, broadcasted on this date in 1921 by St. Louis University President William Robison, who was launching the university’s first radio station.
On dancers: Leaving room for the Hip Bump, the Booty Pop and other iconic disco-dance moves was legendary Midtown Manhattan nightclub Studio 54, which opened to the public 47 years ago tonight (remaking a building that originally opened in 1927 as the Gallo Opera House and later served as a CBS Television Network production studio).
On top: And it was April 26, 1994, when scientists at Illinois’ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced the first experimental evidence for the subatomic particle known as the “top quark.”
Proving the existence of the elusive top quark solidified the Standard Model of particle physics, the prevailing theory of the nature of all matter in the universe.
Shakeup: American seismologist and physicist Charles Richter (1900-1985) – whose famous earthquake-magnitude scale was actually supplanted in the 1970s by more accurate scales, though “Richter scale” remains common terminology – would be 124 years old today.
Lest ye be Judged: How can you possibly boo this man?
Also born on April 26 were American landscape architect, journalist, social critic and public administrator Frederick Olmsted (1822-1903), known best for designing Central Park; Austrian surgeon Christian Albert Theodor Billroth (1829-1894), remembered as the father of modern abdominal surgery; American anthropologist and geologist Erminnie Smith (1836-1886), the first woman to specialize in American Indian ethnology; British geneticist Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren (1927-2007), who spearheaded human in vitro fertilization; and American comedian, actress and singer Carol Burnett (born 1933), a true television pioneer.
All rise: And take a bow, Aaron James Judge! The phenomenal baseball talent, 2017 American League Rookie of the Year and five-time Major League Baseball All-Star – who is actually being booed by fickle Yankee Stadium fans this season – turns 32 today.
Show the larger-than-life slugger (6’7”, for those keeping score) a little more respect at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips only earn cheers – and your calendar events are always home runs.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Happy birthday, LIRR: The “busiest commuter railroad in the world” turned 190 years old this week.
Governor Kathy Hochul joined Metropolitan Transportation Authority representatives Wednesday to mark the 190th anniversary of the Long Island Rail Road, which was founded by New York State charter on April 24, 1834. Originally built to connect the Brooklyn waterfront and Greenport, the railroad – a major contributor to the development of Brooklyn, Queens and the LI suburbs – today services 200,000-plus daily weekday passengers, with record on-time performance of 93 percent in 2023 (and rising throughout 2024), according to the MTA.
With several major milestones achieved over the last few years – including the completion of a 13-mile second track along the Ronkonkoma Branch, a 10-mile “third track” between Floral Park and Hicksville and the opening of the new Grand Central Madison terminal beneath Manhattan’s Grand Central Station – the LIRR is a testament to mass-transit ingenuity, according to the governor. “The founding of the Long Island Rail Road … marked a new beginning of travel and regional connectivity,” Hochul said Wednesday. “It shows the importance of continuing to expand transit throughout our state.”
Payback, with interest: “Shared interests” in scientific discovery will propel SUNY Old Westbury and Brookhaven National Laboratory to new heights, according to SUNY Old Westbury President Timothy Sams.
If memorandum serves: The student-centric relationship uniting SUNY Old Westbury and Brookhaven National Laboratory continues to deepen.
A delegation of 40-plus BNL leaders visited the Old Westbury college this week to kickstart a new Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions, designed to create “collaborative and mutually beneficial programs and activities” for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Upton-based laboratory and SUNY’s rising liberal-arts school. The big picture involves “shared research interests” in physics, data science and the natural sciences and highlights “the organizations’ common goal of building a pipeline for future generations of scientists and technicians who hail from communities with widely diverse backgrounds,” according to SUNY Old Westbury.
The collaboration will also expand the institutions’ mutual involvement in the college’s OW-STEM (shorthand for the Old Westbury STEM Center for Engagement, Entrepreneurship & Inclusion) and LEAP-UP (for The Long Island High Energy and Astrophysics Undergraduate Pathway) programs, including LEAP-UP physics experiments leveraging a $1.15 million Department of Energy grant. SUNY Old Westbury President Timothy Sams called the burgeoning partnership “necessarily significant, powerful, ethical and authentic” and predicted “transformational work … dedicated to improving the human condition.”
TOP OF THE SITE
I’ve got a Crushie on you: The 2024 Craft Beer Marketing Awards proved to be the toughest battle to date, with contestants from around the world collecting “Crushies” for their ingenious marketing and packaging efforts.
Scrooge vs. The Serial Killer: “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” lays down the law with audacious Long Island attorney John Ray – champion of justice, star lacrosse goalie, bona fide clotheshorse, accomplished thespian and, at age 75, still as audacious as they come.
ICYMI
Long Island environmental-law attorney John Parker sees progress on the long road to a sustainable climate future – although mandating emissions transparency across corporate America remains a substantial challenge.
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: Walnut Creek-based water-engineering expert Carollo Engineers marks a paradigm shift in purification with new ion exchange-based technology.
From New York City: Hair-care pioneer Wavytalk irons things out with deep-penetrating, damage-repairing Ionic Hair Straightening Brush.
From California: Los Angeles neighbors Chamberlain Coffee and 818 Tequilla kick up espresso martinis with cold-brew singles and a fancy espresso martini kit.
ON THE MOVE
Courtney Riley
+ Courtney Riley has been appointed to the United States Green Building Council-Long Island Chapter’s Board of Directors. She is a principal/director of land development at Hauppauge-based VHB.
+ Alexa Neo has been hired as midday host at 103.1 The Wolf in Farmingdale. She was an on-air personality at WBAB/WBLI in West Babylon.
+ Lance Burke has been appointed to the Glen Cove-based YMCA of Long Island’s Board of Directors. He is the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Hanover Bank in Mineola.
+ Marilyn Pignataro has been hired as an outreach relationship manager for Farmingdale-based PALS SkyHope. She was head of marketing and publicity for the Freeport Memorial Library.
+ Michael Zapson has been appointed chairman of the League of Conservation Voters’ Long Island Chapter. He is a partner at East Meadow-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman.
+ Michael Presti has been elected to the Uniondale-based Long Island Children’s Museum’s Board of Trustees. He is director of customer experience and marketing at PSEG Long Island in Melville.
+ Justin Lundbye has been hired as president of Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip. He was chief executive at Waterbury Health in Connecticut.
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 (Seeing Red Edition)
Cut me, Mick: Hollywood’s fake-blood recipe hasn’t changed much over the years.
Red hot? No, even hotter, according to science’s new color-coded heat-risk scale.
“Read” alert: Yes, red states are threatening to imprison librarians.
Blood red: How Hollywood makes fake blood.
Red-blooded: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where colorful attorneys and good old American ingenuity always create the best legal outcomes. Check them out.
