Will this never end? Yes, it will, dear readers! Not only does this latest wintry workweek wrap up today, but the snow does, too – and, lo and behold, warmer temperatures are forecast for the next several days.
And with that, welcome to Friday – Feb. 19, to be exact – and the precipice of another well-earned weekend. Let’s rock!
A little fishy: Let the fools have their “tar-tar” sauce.
Two great tastes: We’re not sure how great they go together, but go ahead and dig in – today is both National Tartar Sauce Day (always the first Friday after the start of Lent) and National Mint Chocolate Day (always Feb. 19).
And in one of the many “national day” salutes adding heft in the Age of Coronavirus, today is also National Caregivers Day, honoring healthcare professionals who provide long-term and hospice care.
Put that in your pipe: The first pipeline running from an oil field to a refinery was completed in Pennsylvania on Feb. 19, 1863.
Stretching two-and-a-half miles from a private farm to the Humboldt Refinery, the 2-inch-wide conduit was quickly shut down due to multiple leaks.
The sound of music: Edison’s triumph
Phono call: One state over, Menlo Park legend Thomas Edison patented his famous phonograph on this date in 1878.
Other U.S. patents issued on Feb. 19 include one in 1901 for sharp Keystone State inventors Frederick Taylor and Maunsel White, who crafted a unique “Metal-Cutting Tool.”
Bowled over: Before there was Snap, Crackle and Pop there was the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., which launched 115 years ago today (but wouldn’t become known as the famous Kellogg Cereal Co. until 1922).
Boxed in: For the first time ever, The Cracker Jack Co. inserted a prize into boxes of its eponymous junk food on Feb. 19, 1913.
By the Pound: And still awarded bi-annually to leading American poets by Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the very first Bollingen Prize was awarded on this date in 1949 to expatriate Ezra Pound.
Future winners would include E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost and other names you know.
Herman Snellen: Chart topper.
Try the next line down: Inventive Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen (1834-1908) – whose everlasting legacy, the block-lettered Snellen Eye Chart, is still adorned to walls in most eye doctors’ offices – would be 187 years old today.
Also born on Feb. 19 were Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the “father of modern astronomy,” among the first to suggest the Earth actually revolves around the sun; Scottish strongman William Fairbairn (1789-1874), who pioneered wrought-iron construction; American anthropologist, folklorist and linguist John Swanton (1873-1958), the leading ethnologist of his day; American-British neurophysiologist and cybernetician William Grey Walker (1910-1977), who built early brain-topography machines and significantly advanced robotics; and American writer Amy Tan (born 1952), celebrated author of “The Joy Luck Club.”
Viva la astronauta: And take a bow, NASA astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela! The first Mexican in space turns 69 today.
Wish Snellen and all the other Feb. 19 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where your story tips and calendar events are always crystal clear (and off the charts).
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Legacy win: A stalwart of Long Island’s legacy manufacturing community is staying put, with a big assist from Albany’s main economic-development engine.
Headquartered in Suffolk County for more than 40 years, CPI Aerostructures has committed to investing more than $5.7 million in new equipment and physical upgrades at its Edgewood facility, where it will retain 300 full-time jobs and add 85 new ones in the next five years. In exchange, the Empire State Development Corp. has awarded CPI Aero up to $2.7 million in Excelsior Jobs tax credits, as well as a $1.05 million ESD capital grant.
With the assistance secured, CPI Aero has extended its current Edgewood lease to 2023, when it’s expected to re-up or “relocate to a newly constructed and leased building adjacent to Islip’s MacArthur Airport,” according to the ESD. “CPI Aero’s decision to expand its manufacturing facilities in Suffolk County … is a vote of confidence in New York State,” said ESD Acting Commissioner and CEO-designate Eric Gertler. “By doing so, the company will continue to contribute to Long Island’s historic role in aerospace innovation, supported by a skilled 21st century workforce that will support its future growth and success.”
Tunnel vision: Brookhaven National Laboratory’s National Synchrotron Light Source II.
SCCC you at BNL: Thirteen Suffolk County Community College science students are about to get their hands on some of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s most cutting-edge equipment and experiments.
The brilliant baker’s dozen has been awarded prestigious internships at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Upton laboratory, where they will work directly with renowned scientists on advanced and emerging research projects. The 10-week program will see the students – who each earn a weekly $600 stipend – working in the National Synchrotron Light Source II facility, BNL’s Superconducting Magnet Division and other space-age departments, advancing IT network designs, quantum systems, electron-cooling techniques (for superior particle-beam collisions, of course) and other next-level sciences.
Future BNL employment is also on the table, making the internships an even more exciting get for the 13 Suffolk students. “Securing a BNL internship is a highly competitive process,” noted SCCC Interim President Louis Petrizzo. “Our success here proves that a Suffolk County Community College education allows our students to compete and succeed against anyone.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Second front: A startup King’s Park biotech with a nonconventional approach and major-league talent is weighing a unique COVID defense.
In site: Advanced thermodynamics is never a light read – but ThermoLift’s new user-friendly website explains the future of energy efficiency quite nicely.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: The four most important words Long Island parents have heard in 14 months: Summer camps will open. Behold, the glory that is your one-and-only pandemic primer.
ICYMI
NYSERDA’s three-year energy strategy billows with promise for Long Island.
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 Florida: Jacksonville-based services aggregator BHPH.com presents a comprehensive online resource for used-car dealerships.
From Nevada: Reno-based K-5 distance-learning accelerator PILLARZ partners with U.S. libraries and museums to “Fast Track” math and ELA.
From California: Carlsbad-based fitness gear/training equipment innovator SKLZ unveils app-enabled, brain-and-body interactive training platform.
ON THE MOVE
Judy Murrah
+ Judy Murrah has been promoted to chief operations officer at Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences. She previously served as chief information officer.
+ Jonathan Cohen has been promoted to chief operations officer at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset. He previously served as vice president of strategic and external affairs.
+ Alina Ladyzhinskaya has been hired as a tax law clerk at Melville-based Tenenbaum Law P.C. She previously held the same position at Baldwin-based Greenberg & Merola LLP.
+ Hassan Abdulhaqq has been hired as director of human resources at Plainview-based AHRC of Nassau County. He previously served as senior director of talent acquisition at the FedCap Group in Manhattan.
+ Craig Pinto has been hired as vice president for strategic advancement and chief development officer at the Garden City-based Family and Children’s Association. He was previously executive director for Melville-based Man Cave Health.
+ Zachary Kon has been hired as surgical director of advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation and advanced lung failure and lung transplantation at Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital at Manhasset’s North Shore University Hospital. He was previously surgical director of the lung transplantation program at NYU Langone in Manhattan.
BELOW THE FOLD
When life gives you lemons: The breakfast of champions?
Game face: Get tough, buttercup, and eliminate these bad morning habits.
About face: With a touch of compassion, this can be the winter of your self-content.
Bitter-lemon face: Jack Dorsey starts each day with a glass of salted lemon-water – should you?
Face it: The New York Institute of Technology, one of the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI, is the face of technological and instructional innovation on Long Island. Check them out.
