Mud in your eye: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we wrap up another busy workweek and look toward another well-earned weekend – though unfortunately, it’s looking like a rainy mess for Long Island.
Hey, they don’t call it “mud season” for nothing – and remember, these April showers will pay off, florally, in May. So, grab your slickers and let’s finish off Friday on a high (and dry) note.
Carrot tops: Crunch your way to better health on International Carrot Day.
Still Watters: Today is April 4 and we open with one of our absolute favorites – National Hug a Newsperson Day (which used to be National Hug a Newsman Day, but now it’s woke, and so nobody will be hugging you, Jesse Watters, you lickspittle embarrassment to your profession).
Although, it is also World Rat Day, so even you might get a little love, you blowhard muttonhead.
Fruits and veggies: On happier and healthier notes, you can learn to love orange again on International Carrot Day, an annual homage to the health benefits of the globally popular root vegetable.
And speaking of healthfulness (and oranges), chase all that beta-carotene with a nice Valencia or a guava – it’s also National Vitamin C Day, applauding ascorbic acid (and fighting off the common cold) every April 4.
We love L.A.: For those keeping score, most American oranges are grown in California – which wasn’t even a state on this date in 1850, when Los Angeles was incorporated as a city. (With that, please put your hands together for the one-and-only Randy Newman!)
We love Argonia: Back east, Susanna Salter became the first woman to hold a U.S. political office on this date in 1887, when she was elected mayor of Argonia, Kans. (Salter was not the first woman to win a U.S. election, however – that would be Nancy Smith, who in 1862 was elected mayor of Oskaloosa, Iowa, but chose not to serve.)
Cliffhanger: The serialized “Perils of Pauline” always ended on a nail-biting “to be continued” note, to bring theatergoers back the following week.
We love Pauline: Before there was Indiana Jones, there was Pauline Marvin, title heroine of “The Perils of Pauline,” which featured a remarkably resourceful heiress –racing horses, flying airplanes, escaping burning buildings, fighting off kidnappers and murderers, etc. – and debuted 111 years ago today as the first serialized melodrama.
We love Windows: But we wouldn’t have our favorite graphical operating system without Microsoft, which was founded on this date in 1975. (More on this below.)
We love(d) Navigator: And not to be outdone, two other technology titans were also founded on April 4 – Netscape (as Mosaic Communications, in 1994) and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (in 1999).
Netscape dominated the web-browser world until it was defeated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, acquired by AOL (in 1999) and ultimately re-coded out of existence – but Alibaba is still kicking (2024’s ninth-largest global retailer, in fact, ranked by annual revenues).
Uncaged, still singing: American poet, memoirist, singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson, 1928-2014) – who ran with Martin Luther King. Jr. and Malcolm X, performed for (and counseled) multiple U.S. Presidents and collected dozens of awards (and more than 30 honorary degrees) – would be 97 years old today.
The man in the iron mask(s): Downey is trading his heroic facade to embody the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next devious archvillain.
Also born on April 4 were American nurse, educator, reformer and activist Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), a forthright champion of the mentally ill; German British electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (1823-1883), an iconic inventor and patent-holder who founded the multinational conglomerate bearing his name; American composer Elmer Bernstein (1922-2004), a Hollywood heavyweight who scored 200-plus motion pictures; American electrical engineer Steven Sasson (born 1950), who invented the digital camera; and American actor and producer Robert Downey Jr. (born 1965,) currently transitioning from the heroic Iron Man to the fiendish Dr. Doom.
Blaine dealer: And take a bow, David Blaine! The American magician, mentalist and endurance performer (born David Blaine Black) – whose magic is so spooky it forced Harrison Ford to throw him out of his house – turns 52 today.
Give the magic man your best at editor@innovateli.com, where the only tricks up our sleeve are your news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
All heart: Just weeks after New York State greenlighted its program, Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center has performed its first pediatric heart transplantation.
The successful operation went down March 28 in the Damaghi Family Pediatric Surgical Operating Complex, featuring a young patient from Queens who came to the Glen Oaks-based hospital earlier in March with acute heart failure. After stabilizing him with a heart-lung bypass machine, the hospital’s Pediatric Heart Transplant Team determined he needed a new heart to survive – a massive and time-sensitive undertaking that involved identifying a donor match, packing the new heart for transport and flying it to Cohen Children’s, with surgeons beginning the procedure while the heart was in transit (it’s survival window, once removed from the donor, was extremely limited).
The procedure, performed by Cohen Children’s Surgical Director of Pediatric Heart Transplant Timothy Martens, took seven hours to complete. “Pediatric organ transplants are some of the most difficult, and most rewarding, things we do,” Martens noted. “The complexity of these procedures is matched by the profound impact they have – not just on the young patients, but on their families and the wider community … being able to give children a new lease on life is a gift.”
All in the pharm-ly: A&Z Pharmaceutical (and friends) mark the manufacturer’s 30 years (and counting) in Hauppauge.
Pharma fanfare: A leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of premium pharmaceuticals with critical Chinese connections is marking a major milestone in Hauppauge.
Launched in 1995, primarily to produce over-the-counter pharmaceutical products and nutritional supplements for customers in China and other Asian and European markets, A&Z Pharmaceutical is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025 with year-long observations and big plans for future expansions. Billing itself as New York State’s “first Chinese-invested manufacturing facility,” the company has grown from a four-person shop to a global player with 600-plus employees – 200 of whom work in its 175,000-square-foot Hauppauge headquarters – thanks largely to consistent support from the Empire State Development Corp. and the HIA-LI.
Now a mainstay of generic prescription-drug manufacturing, the company is focusing on diversifying its portfolio and increasing its U.S. presence, according to founder, Chairwoman and CEO Emma Li Xu. “We remain committed to maintaining [our] growth, advancing healthcare, delivering new products and helping people worldwide enjoy active and healthy lifestyles,” the founder said. “We will continue to expand and innovate with a focus on the U.S. market, and I am confident that we will replicate the success we’ve had overseas here at home.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Wage into battle: The Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island is part of a broad coalition warning Albany not to expand New York’s prevailing wage laws – a gut punch, they say, to statewide socioeconomics.
Never again: Here’s what you missed in the last subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletter: A transgender bouquet, crayons, clams on the half shell, the rise of the Eiffel Tower, the invention of the eight-cylinder engine, a Carla Tortelli cameo and Bach’s birthday, not to mention an exclusive rundown of the best business-building events on Long Island and beyond. Never miss another – Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
A Native American-themed mystery-thriller and a 90s-style slasher flick will kick off the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame’s new Island-centric Local Filmmaker Series.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
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 Maryland: Baltimore-based lending leader Dominion Financial Services aids RE investors and mortgage brokers with artificially intelligent assistants Harvey and Donna.
From California: Los Angeles-based agricultural ace Todd Agriscience reverses over-farming and synthetic-fertilizer damage with regenerative seeds.
From Virginia: Blacksburg-based pet-product pro Spectrum Brands cleans up bathtime with squeezable, spill-proof dog-shampoo delivery system.
ON THE MOVE
Jennifer Carpenter Low
+ Jennifer Carpenter Low has been hired as senior director of development and public affairs at the Developmental Disabilities Institute in Smithtown. She was vice president of marketing and communications at the United Way of Long Island in Deer Park.
+ Ruth McLeod has joined Ronkonkoma-based Sasserath & Co. as office manager. She was a tax professional for Intuit.
+ Joseph Bongino has been hired as president of strategic growth strategies at Smithtown-based Arrow Security. He was vice president of portfolio security and risk management at Texas-based Howard Hughes Holdings.
+ Thomas Flaherty has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of Triangle Building Products Corp. in Medford. He was executive vice president.
+ Douglas Das has been elected president of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Metropolitan Section and of Westchester and Rockland counties. He is an assistant to the regional director and deputy regional emergency manager at the New York State Department of Transportation’s Hauppauge office.
+ Gregory Babino has been elected president of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Long Island Branch. He is a project manager at Greenman-Pedersen in Babylon.
+ Gábor Balázsi has been named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is the Henry Laufer Professor of Physical and Quantitative Biology in Stony Brook University’s Laufer Center.
+ Shadi Arzanipour has been appointed to the Sales Management Team at Cold Spring Harbor-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. She will head sales operations at the agency’s Manhasset, Port Washington, Wheatley Plaza, Sea Cliff and Great Neck offices.
+ Lorenz Neuwirth has been named a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a faculty innovation fellow of the Business Higher Education Forum. He is a professor of biopsychology, developmental behavioral neuroscience and neuropsychology at SUNY Old Westbury.
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BELOW THE FOLD (Big Picture Edition)
Xbox marks the spot: Microsoft’s popular gaming platform is just one of the tech giant’s major innovations over the last 50 years.
Big: Celebrating Microsoft’s golden anniversary.
Bigger: About a third of the world’s 3,000-plus billionaires are in the United States.
Biggest: “Liberation Day” is the largest tax hike on Americans since WWII, according to economists.
The little things: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where diversity, collaboration, entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to excellence always set the tone. Check them out.
