All systems green: Outstanding work, dear readers – another Friday arrives, and with it, the start of another well-earned springtime weekend.
Bend at the knees, gardeners, and remember to drink lots of water.
A real prince: Happy birthday, Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole.
Hauʻoli lā Hānau! It’s March 26 out there, and to our many readers in the great State of Hawaii, a very happy Prince Kūhiō Day, marking the 1871 birth of the Hawaiian hero, royal heir and political reformist.
Across the rest of the United States (and Canada, too), today is also Purple Day, when epilepsy – the brain disorder challenging 3.5 million Americans and 50 million around the globe – takes center stage.
Be creative: If you can’t innovate on Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, held this and every March 26, you’re just not trying – and no, we’re not making it up.
Most illogical: On the topic of making things up, the ghost planet Vulcan – later proven nonexistent – was “discovered” on this date in 1859 by amateur French astronomer Edmond Modeste Lescarbault. (Actual Vulcans below.)
You’ll see right through this: The first American radiological society – the Roentgen Society of the United States, dedicated to emerging X-ray technologies – formed in Missouri on March 26, 1900.
Cool aid: Salk, vaccination hero.
Salk of the earth: American virologist Jonas Salk took to the airwaves on this date in 1953 to announce he’d beaten poliomyelitis – the virus behind the crippling disease polio – with an experimental vaccine.
Other healthcare heights associated with March 26 include the Band-Aid, which was (kinda, sorta) patented in 1845.
Picky, picky: And an amendment to existing immigration laws – colloquially, The Immigration Act of 1910 – tightened U.S. borders considerably when it passed Congress 111 years ago today.
Among those suddenly denied U.S. entry: “all idiots, imbeciles [and] feeble-minded persons,” as well as paupers, polygamists, potential prostitutes and “persons who have been insane within five years previous,” according to the congressional act, which goes on for quite a while.
Lived long, prospered: Just days after his captain and friend, William Shatner, kicked off his ninth decade with a stab at AI immortality, the late, great Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) offers a Vulcan salute from the great beyond, on what would have been the beloved Mr. Spock’s 90th birthday.
Solemnly sworn: Sandra Day O’Connor makes history in 1981.
Also born on March 26 were four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), a modernist marvel; baking baron Duncan Hines (1880-1959), who cut his teeth as a traveling restaurant reviewer; mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), a force behind “Star Wars”; dramatist Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), ranked among the foremost U.S. playwrights of his day; and retired attorney, politician and U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (born 1930), forever the first woman on the big bench.
Page views: And take a bow, Lawrence Edward Page! The Internet entrepreneur – a Stanford University PhD candidate when he cofounded Google in 1997, now weighing in around $94 billion – turns 48 today.
Wish these and all the other March 26 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where your story tips and calendar events always populate our pages.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, more than 830 outpatient facilities and 70,000-plus 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
People of substance: A dozen Long Island-based service groups will share a hefty seven-figure grant from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports.
The Long Island Network, an unofficial alliance of 12 Nassau- and Suffolk-based human-service and behavioral-health organizations, has landed a $5.7 million OASAS grant, earmarked for addiction prevention, treatment and recovery programs. The grant – designed to “directly impact the lives of Long Islanders by supporting a broad continuum of care for those facing the obstacles of engaging in addiction treatment,” according to the award-winners – was awarded as part of the federally supported New York State Opioid Response Grant program.
Jeffrey Reynolds – president and CEO of the Garden City-based Family & Children’s Association, one of the dozen groups combining to land the grant – said his organization was “thrilled” to share in the anti-substance abuse funds. “At a time when overdose fatalities are again on the rise and alcohol use is skyrocketing, we are … laser-focused on boosting efforts Island-wide,” Reynolds said Tuesday. “Our unified, coordinated regional approach will harness the use of technology, evidence-based practices and people with lived experience to increase access to services and care, especially for underserved communities.”
Air guard: The Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park returns in May, with COVID-19 protocols flying high.
A wing and a prayer: With vaccinations proliferating and statewide COVID cases in steady decline, a classic Long Island Memorial Day weekend attraction is angling for a triumphant – if cautious – post-pandemic return.
Mixing with the roaring jets, adrenaline-pumping stunts and eardrum-popping audio at this year’s Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach State Park will be copious anti-COVID protocols, as determined by the New York State Department of Health (and enforced by State Park Police, backed up by state troopers). The popular outdoor show, sponsored annually by Bethpage Federal Credit Union, returns after a one-year pandemic hiatus with a range of military and civilian performers and reduced crowds, including 50 percent parking-lot capacities.
Despite the crowd limits, the May 28-30 show – which won’t affect Jones Beach-based COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites, official said – marks a welcome return to normalcy “after a challenging year,” according to Bethpage Federal Credit Union CEO Wayne Grosse. “Bethpage is proud to work with [New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation] to ensure air show fans of all ages can enjoy a beautiful day at the beach and honor our nation’s military,” Grosse said in a statement.
TOP OF THE SITE
Strangely familiar: With IDA assistance, Amazon is planning significant expansions on Long Island – and once again, political winds are blowing.
Get on it: Sharing is swell, but is there a good reason why everyone on your innovation team doesn’t have a free Innovate LI newsletter subscription? No, there isn’t.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: Major milestones, progressive pop-ups and seriously scary stats – another busy week in Long Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer.
ICYMI
A decade of success at CEBIP; three decades of success in the Nassau County Film Office.
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: San Francisco-based “digital trust ecosystem” TrustGrid securely bridges government, private organizations and everyone in between.
From Maryland: Silver Springs-based pet-service tech innovator Pet Connect unleashes client-engagement software for service providers.
From Canada, eh: Toronto-based SaaS provider Predictiv AI partners with commercial-trucking ace Propel IT to enhance real-time road data for drivers and dispatchers.
ON THE MOVE
Maxine Carrington
+ Maxine Carrington has been appointed senior vice president and chief human resources officer at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health. She previously served as the health system’s deputy chief human resources officer.
+ Joseph Moscola has been appointed executive vice president of enterprise management at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health. He previously served as the health system’s chief human resources officer.
+ Andrew Berner, president of Arkansas-based Jetton General Contracting and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, has been appointed to New York Tech’s Board of Trustees.
+ Alexander Kerzhner has joined Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana as a partner in the Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group. He was previously a partner at Manhattan-based Fox Rothschild.
+ Michael Sapraicone has been appointed to Oceanside-based Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital’s Board of Directors. He is the founder and owner of Uniondale-based Squad Security.
+ Andrew Levine has been appointed chief legal officer for Port Washington-based BEB Capital. He previously served as senior counsel in the Real Estate Department at Manhattan-based Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson.
+ S.J. Yun has been promoted to senior director of digital strategy for Cold Spring Harbor-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. He previously served as the firm’s digital marketing manager.
BELOW THE FOLD
Smarter than you look: Behold, the Baby Mop.
That’s new: Here’s how office work has changed forever.
That’s unusual: Here’s why Big Pharma is bracing for big changes.
That’s just weird: Here are 20 strange inventions crazy enough to work.
That’s incredible: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate LI, including Northwell Health, a tireless pandemic warrior with more than 163,000 COVID patients treated over the past year. Check them out.
