Fully recharged: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and the first edition of our second 1,000 newsletters.
Full disclosure: We were emotionally drained after Wednesday’s big Newsletter Issue No. 1,000 and its dramatic revelations (at least for us). Fuller disclosure: The many congratulations and well-wishes we received via email and social media immediately refilled our tanks.
So with you at our side, intrepid innovators, off we go into the exciting future – starting with this jam-packed (yet pithy) look back at the week in innovation.
Rock on: We’re not playing favorites (but National Video Game Day is a great day to do it).
Something nice to say (and play): Today is Sept. 12 and after some thought, we’re leading off with the well-considered combo of World Mindfulness Day (teaching us to live in the moment) and the National Day of Encouragement (inspiring us to uplift family and friends).
Here’s an uplifting thought: It’s also World Video Game Day, encouraging us to log some time with that “Asteroids” arcade machine, the ColecoVision version of “Donkey Kong” or your favorite rendition of “Tetris.” (For the record, today is one of several dates laying such a claim, though Sept. 12 is the majority favorite.)
Brings all the boys to the yard: We’re also saluting National Police Women Day, spotlighting the selfless service, dangerous dynamics and often heroic actions of women police officers. (Why today? You have the right to keep reading.)
Spring for a sweet treat for the female flatfoot walking your local beat – least you can do on National Chocolate Milkshake Day, indulging the calorically carefree every Sept. 12.
Unarmed and dangerous: Locking the date for policewoman posterity – and perhaps enjoying the occasional chocolate shake, we don’t know – was Alice Stebbins Wells, who became the first American-born woman police officer on this date in 1910. (No gun, though she did wear a uniform, carry a badge and make arrests.)
Oldies but goodies: Dating back more than 150 centuries, the Lascaux cave drawings are among the oldest ever discovered.
Paint job: Also adding historical significance to Sept. 12 – like, 17,000 years’ worth of significance – were the four French teenagers poking around the Grotte de Lascaux 85 years ago today, when they discovered cave paintings dating back to 15,000 BC.
Circuit city: Not too shabby himself, insofar as making history, was Texas Instruments electrical engineer Jack Kilby, who successfully demonstrated the integrated circuit for the first time on this date in 1958.
Go western: Meanwhile, back at the ranch, “Bonanza” – the Wild West saga of the Cartwright family and their sprawling Ponderosa property – premiered on the NBC Television Network on Sept. 12, 1959.
Back-and-forth in spaaaaace: And this date brings a unique tit-for-tat between the United States and the Soviet Union, focused on the final frontier.
In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 probe, later to become the first spacecraft to strike the Moon; in 1962, President Kennedy responded by promising we’d put a man on the Moon “in this decade”; in 1970, the Soviets shrugged off the Apollo successes and launched the Luna 16, the first unmanned probe to return lunar samples to Earth; and America got the last word in 1992, when astronaut Mae Jemison became the first Black woman in space.
Real American: Despite a lifetime of racist hatred at home, Owens stood up for the United States in Nazi Germany.
What did J.C. do: Speaking of influential African Americans, Olympian James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (1913-1980) – who went by “J.C.” until a teacher mispronounced his name, suffered racial discrimination from Alabama to Ohio and faced down Nazi bigotry to dominate the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin – would be 112 years old today.
Also born on Sept. 12 were American inventor and manufacturer Richard March Hoe (1812-1886), who designed and built the first successful rotary printing press; American inventor Richard Gatling (1818-1903), who cranked out the first operational machine gun; German astronomer Georg Friedrich Julius Arthur von Auwers (1838-1915), among the first to accurately calculate and catalogue planets, comets and stars; American publisher Alfred Knopf (1892-1984), a literature fan who attracted top writers as one of the 20th Century’s most influential publishers; and British American mathematician Dorothy Maud Wrinch (1894-1976), who did the math on protein structures.
Pound-for-pound: And take a bow, Sydney Bernice Sweeney! The American actress and producer – who landed on President Trump’s radar after a sexy jeans ad and packed on 30 pounds for an upcoming boxing biopic – turns 28 day.
Give your best to the hot-topic superstar at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are always on our radar – and your calendar events are worth their weight in gold.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Underwriting undergrads: Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business has welcomed its inaugural class of Frei Scholars.
Seven high-achieving, first-year, competitively selected students are being supported by scholarships and enhanced learning programs including leadership-cultivation curricula and fully funded Spring break study-abroad opportunities, all facilitated by a $35 million gift bequeathed by Hofstra University alumnus Charles Frei, who passed away in 2022. The Scholars Program’s goal is to best prepare the participants – who hail from across the nation and are studying for degrees in marketing, business analytics, accounting and other business-related fields – to take on demanding positions in increasingly busy sectors.
Zarb School of Business Dean Janet Lenaghan praised Frei – a Hofstra University Class of 1955 marketing graduate who founded successful asset-management firm Cascade Capital Management – for his “remarkable” generosity and foresight. “This empowers us to recruit and support the very best and brightest students,” Lenaghan noted. “Our inaugural Frei Scholars embody excellence, leadership and a commitment to learning beyond the classroom … Through scholarships and experiential-learning opportunities, we can deepen our students’ engagement with their education, foster innovation and prepare them to thrive as future business leaders.”
Big dig: A sample dug up in 2024 by the Perseverance rover may be key to confirming ancient life on Mars.
Ancient alien theorists: A study led by a Stony Brook University scientist may have discovered evidence of ancient life on Mars.
That’s the word from NASA, which announced Wednesday that a sample collected last year by the robotic rover Perseverance from a dry Martian riverbed could carry an “ancient biosignature” created by long-dead microbial life. The crater’s sediment is composed of clay and silt (on Earth, excellent microbial preservers) and is rich in organic carbon, sulfur, oxidized iron and phosphorous – a chemical combination that “could have been a rich source of energy for microbial metabolisms,” according to Joel Hurowitz, an associate professor in SBU’s Department of Geosciences.
Hurowitz, the lead of roughly 90 international authors who lent their expertise and names to a paper published this week by the open-access scientific journal Nature, notes this is not proof-positive of ancient aliens – though the paper details elements, molecules and other features in the Martian sample that seem to suggest past biological development. “We will need to conduct broader research into both living and non-living processes that will help us to better understand the conditions under which the collection of minerals and organic phases … were formed,” Hurowitz added.
TOP OF THE SITE
Yes, chef! One of Long Island’s top restaurant-management groups is teaming up with the Island’s best chefs and vineyards to support a busy regional food bank’s critical anti-hunger mission.
(Another) decade in the making: Only 999 newsletters to go until we reach Newsletter No. 2,000 (and that doesn’t include our brilliant Monday Calendar Newsletters)! Make sure you (and your entire innovation team) don’t miss a thing – Innovate Long Island Newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free and always a click away.
ICYMI
The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s first-ever promoted-content section, debuts with an important lesson on cryptocurrency-backed loans – a potential key to leveling the business-finance playing field for Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises.
Something to add? The Entrepreneur’s Edge is open for business! Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content platform provides a direct link to our innovation-focused audience – and your future clients. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Here’s your chance to shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between. Learn more here!
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 New Jersey: Saddle Brook-based fastening-solutions veteran Arrow Tool Group expands its repertoire with all-new line of professional-grade hand tools.
From Texas: Houston-based kolache king Shipley Donuts opens eyes with the “Cold Brew Donut” – the world’s first caffeinated donut.
From New York City: Post-purchase innovator ReturnQueen combines VR try-ons, resale options and other end-to-end marketplace services in reworked mobile retail app.
ON THE MOVE
William Doherty
+ William Doherty has been promoted to chief of the Suffolk County Police Department. The 30-year law enforcement veteran was the Suffolk PD’s chief of detectives.
+ The Hofstra University’s Men’s Basketball Program has announced two promotions:
- Mike DePaoli has been promoted to associate head coach. This is his fifth season with the Men’s Basketball Program.
- Antwon Portley has been promoted to assistant coach. This is his fifth season with the Men’s Basketball Program.
+ Lee Gerstman has been promoted to video and player development coordinator for the Hofstra University men’s and women’s basketball programs. He was the programs’ graduate manager.
+ Jerry Ward has been named managing partner of the Long Island office of Ernst & Young. He has been an EY partner since 2003.
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 – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Nixon Peabody). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (3I/ATLAS Edition)
Unidentified: Discovered in July, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (or is it?) is streaking through the Solar System at a stunning 130,000 miles per hour.
That’s no meteor: From trajectories to tails, understanding the “dirty snowballs” we call comets.
Well, that’s new: Why first-known interstellar object Oumuamua required its own classification.
Loeb and behold: It’s not just 3I/ATLAS – Harvard scientist Avi Loeb sees aliens everywhere.
Among the stars: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, which has achieved stellar recognition since forming a quarter-century ago. Check them out.
