Let there be light: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and the first full day of Summer 2024 – the Summer Solstice graced our Northern Hemisphere late Thursday afternoon, meaning today is just a tick off the “longest” day of the year, with sunset officially scheduled for 8:28 p.m.
Our long day (and bright, here on Long Island) concludes an abbreviated workweek (for some) and sets up another well-earned weekend – but first, a few loose ends and a snappy week-in-innovation review to tie them all up.
Make a note: Today is World Music Day, when your personal playlist sets the tone(s).
Let there be music: We begin with a salute to one of humanity’s most innovative art forms – today is World Music Day, which tuned up in France in 1982 (as “Fête de la Musique”) and invites us to enjoy our favorite jam, from Beethoven to Taylor Swift.
That also includes soul-soothing yoga music, an essential ingredient on International Yoga Day, which strikes a pose for physical and spiritual prowess.
Be yourself: Also focused on the self is National Selfie Day, an annual celebration of smartphone technologies, social media and rampant narcissism.
And treat yourself right on National Cookie Dough Day, trading the oven for a big spoon every June 21.
12,500 per day: Trading manual labor for machinery was Massachusetts-based inventor Russell Hawes, who patented his innovative envelope-folding machine – capable of rolling out that impressive daily number – on this date in 1853.
5 and dime: Never afraid of a hard day’s work was entrepreneur Frank Woolworth, who rebounded from a retail failure in upstate Utica to open a new store in Lancaster, Penn., on June 21, 1881 – symbolic cornerstone of a massive brick-and-mortar retail empire that lasted more than a century.
4 1/2 metric tons: Literal cornerstones associated with this date include the large foundation stone for London’s Tower Bridge, laid 138 years ago today by Edward, Prince of Wales.
Wheely big deal: The first Ferris Wheel climbed 25 stories into the sky.
250 feet: Also reaching new heights were Pittsburgh-based civil engineer George Washington “Gale” Ferris Jr. and his famous Ferris Wheel, which reached that daunting height at its apex when it debuted on this date in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.
33 1/2 RPM: And it was June 21, 1948, when Columbia Records introduced the first “long playing microgroove,” marking the birth of the vinyl LP.
The demonstration disc included a 45-minute symphony – the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York performing Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto in E minor,” for those keeping score – that played out over both sides of the album.
Self-sustaining: French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer and literary critic Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (1905-1980) – a driver of 20th Century French philosophy and big fan of existential thought – would be 119 years old today.
Target on her back: Brave and brilliant Bhutto shattered Islamic norms before her (predictable) assassination.
Also born on June 21 were Italian physicist Carlo Matteucci (1811-1868), who paved a path toward modern bioelectricity; German astronomer Maximillian Wolf (1863-1932), an asteroid hunter and astrophotography pioneer; Iranian lawyer and human-rights advocate Shirin Ebadi (born 1947), the first Iranian Muslim woman to earn a Nobel Prize; Pakistani politician and stateswoman Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), Pakistan’s 11th and 13th prime minister and the first woman to lead a democratic government in a Muslim country; and Chinese major general, military pilot and taikonaut Yang Liwei (born 1965), China’s first man in space.
The “Ties” that bind: And take a bow, Elyse and Steven Keaton! American actors Meredith Ann Baxter (formerly Meredith Baxter Birney) and Michael Gross – who played those proud parents on 1980s NBC sitcom “Family Ties” – both turn 77 today.
Wish the ex-Keatons well at editor@innovateli.com, where you’re like family to us – and we’re inexorably tied to your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals, 900 outpatient facilities and 85,000 employees. We’re making research breakthroughs at the Feinstein Institutes 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
Group dynamic: Veteran attorney Laureen Harris (front row, in yellow) has joined Forchelli Deegan Terrana’s impressive Tax Certiorari Practice Group.
Merge ahead: A full-service law firm has added the attorneys, staff and experience of a neighboring Uniondale law office to its Tax Certiorari Practice Group.
Marking the latest high-profile merger of Long Island law firms, Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP has absorbed Cronin, Harris & Associates PLLC. The addition of two attorneys, three paralegals, three legal assistants, one law clerk and one office assistant swells Forchelli Deegan Terrana’s roster past 150 attorneys and staffers, with Cronin Harris Senior Partner Laureen Harris retaining that role under the new flag.
Harris boasts extensive experience in real estate tax law – including work focused on office buildings, industrial parks, shopping malls, apartment complexes and more – and has “obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate tax refunds and savings for her clients,” according to a statement from Forchelli Deegan Terrana. “I have known Laureen for more than two decades,” noted Co-Managing Partner John Terrana. “She is a well-respected attorney with strong ties to the Long Island community … I am glad that she and her team have joined us.”
Cool runnings: A new refrigerated truck – loaded with fresh food from regional producers – will hit Long Island’s roads this Fall, with a nod to Bank of America.
A $250,000 grant from the financial institution to Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank will fund the purchase of a custom-designed Ford Transit 350HD cargo van, which will deliver produce purchased through Albany’s Nourish New York program to regional food pantries. The food bank – which in 2023 distributed 14 million pounds of food to its network of 300-plus food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters – expects to transport 1 million pounds of food annually in the new truck.
The quarter-million-dollar grant is the latest hunger-related gift from the North Carolina-based bank, which previously supported Long Island Cares satellite locations in Hampton Bays and Bethpage. “Bank of America is committed to improving Long Islanders’ access to nutritious foods,” noted BoA Long Island Community Relations Manager Jennifer Porti. “Combatting food insecurity in our communities and investing in hunger-relief efforts is essential as we help support Long Island Cares’ mission to feed our neighbors and address the root causes of hunger on Long Island.”
TOP OF THE SITE
TR8-ing up: New York State Department of Health approvals for Applied DNA Sciences’ cutting-edge pharmacogenomic testing service marks another win for next-gen precision medication.
Essential living: Innovate Long Island’s subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletters are essential reading for the busy businessperson on the go – and free subscriptions couldn’t be easier (the proverbial one click away).
ICYMI
Melville-based Canon USA subsidiary Canon Solutions America has lent its printing expertise to an artistic Drexel University community-outreach effort chronicling life in Philadelphia.
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: Santa Barbara-based, AI-powered real estate software maker Yardi adds new resident-services bundle to its property manager platform.
From Florida: Fort Lauderdale-based consumer-engagement energizer GalaxyCon brings fan-favorite “Animate!” and “Nightmare Weekend” events to five new cities.
From New York City: Sports-tech sparkplug Batting Challenge Holdings teams with major-league partners to expand playing field for mixed-reality Bat Around brand.
ON THE MOVE
William Wertheim
+ William Wertheim has been promoted to executive vice president at Stony Brook Medicine. He was interim executive vice president.
+ Marci Moreau has been named executive director of Southampton-based East End Food. She is the founder of the nonprofit Time for Life and the founder of private-label food brand Nature N Nurture.
+ Krystal Armstrong has joined Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler as an associate in the Commercial Litigation Group. She was an associate at Zumpano Patricios in New York City.
+ Louis Bekofsky has been promoted to managing director at Hauppauge-based VHB. He was director of environmental planning.
+ The Rev. Daniel Mathai has been appointed to the Glen Cove-based North Shore Soup Kitchen’s Board of Directors. He is pastor of Saint Andrew Malankara Orthodox Church in Glen Head.
+ Barry Carus has been hired as a partner at East Meadow-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman. He was a partner at Manhasset-based Cooperman Lester Miller Carus.
+ Gerard Joseph has been appointed to East Meadow-based EPIC Long Island’s Board of Directors. He is the chief financial officer at Hauppauge-based Advance Care Alliance of NY and LifePlan CCO NY.
+ Patrick McCormick has been installed as president of the Suffolk County Bar Association. He is a senior partner at Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick.
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 Northwell Health). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Heat Wave Edition)
Dome light: It’s bright and hot inside this powerful early-season heat dome.
Is it hot in here? What, exactly, is a “heat dome?”
Just getting started: The Summer of 2023 was the hottest in 2,000 years.
$100 billion per year, and counting: Calculating major economic losses wrought by extreme heat.
Hot stuff: Please continue supporting the creative corporations that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, where ingenuity and compassion light the fires of amazing healthcare innovations. Check them out.
