So fast, it’s spooky: Endings and beginnings, dear readers, as another workweek whips by and we race into the month of flamboyant foliage, Bavarian beer festivals and, of course, Halloween.
It’s Friday, Oct. 1, and we’re here to help you finish the week in style. So bundle up, innovators – it’s chilly out there! – and let’s wrap it up.
Make a note of it: It’s International Music Day, a real toe-tapper.
Setting a proper tune: Here’s a good place to start – today is International Music Day, encouraging us to appreciate the songs and melodies we take for granted most days.
And the bald need not apply, but everyone else can enjoy National Hair Day, when we brush up on the products, tools, styles and stylists keeping America coiffed.
Garden variety: Today is also World Vegetarian Day, which is fairly self-explanatory and, if you’re careful, shouldn’t interfere with National Homemade Cookies Day, also celebrated each Oct. 1.
Big news: On the topic of half-baked ideas, the News of the World – the first celebrity-gossip newspaper, focused on titillation, crime and populist fodder – debuted on this date in 1843.
The London rag hung on for an impressive 168 years, finally doing itself in with the infamous phone hacking scandal of 2011.
Making something: Visionary Werner von Siemens.
Those Werner the days: Other successful innovations from across the pond include technology giant Seimens AG, which was founded 174 years ago today by German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens.
The multinational conglomerate – focused on infrastructure, transportation and healthcare – now ranks among Europe’s largest industrial manufacturers.
Long-range forecast: Also sticking around is the U.S. Weather Bureau, created on this date in 1890 when President Benjamin Harrison signed a bill transferring the meteorological division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps to civilian control with U.S. Department of Agriculture oversight.
Manufacturing model: Gone but not forgotten is the Ford Motor Co.’s Model T, which completed its first production run on Oct. 1, 1908.
Blast off: And NASA rocketed into the zeitgeist on this date in 1958, when the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was reorganized as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Winging it: Speaking of fanciful flights, American business magnate William Edward Boeing (1881-1956) – who launched a lumber business in 1902 before founding The Boeing Co. in 1916, forever changing the aviation industry – would be 140 years old today.
Poppins star: Julie Andrews has won an Oscar, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmys, three Grammys and six Golden Globes.
Also born on Oct. 1 were American psychologist Jerome Bruner (1915-2016), who made outstanding contributions to the study of perception and cognition; popular Hollywood curmudgeon Walter Matthau (1920-2000); American astrophysicist George Carruthers (1930-2020), principal inventor of the spectrograph space camera; English actress, singer and author Dame Julie Andrews (born 1935), who’s filled her trophy case nicely; and Right Honourable Lady Theresa Mary May (born 1956), the second woman to serve as British prime minister.
Elder statesman: And take a bow, James Earl Carter Jr.! The 39th President of the United States – far more popular as a post-presidential philanthropist and human-rights activist than he was in office – turns 97 today.
Wish the U.S. Navy veteran, author and former peanut farmer well at editor@innovateli.com, where you’d be nuts not to share your news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Hydrogen bond: The National Science Foundation is backing Long Island researchers looking to shift U.S. energy infrastructures from natural gas to hydrogen-based fuels.
The NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future program has awarded a $1.8 million grant to Stony Brook University scientists investigating and developing hydrogen-resistant materials for energy storage and transportation applications. The work – in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University, MIT, New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratories and industrial partners National Grid and Exxon Mobil – could result in “a highly flexible carrier [with the] potential to store more dispersed renewable energy at a lower cost,” according to project lead T.A. Venkatesh, an associate professor in SBU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Stony Brook’s Institute of Gas Innovation and Technology is also integrally involved in the effort, which could ultimately “complement traditional energy-storage methods such as electrochemical batteries, particularly at grid-scale,” according to Venkatesh, a member of the university’s Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering. “Venkatesh and his team are developing highly relevant hydrogen-resistant materials … that have the potential to help create a robust, new hydrogen economy,” noted interim CEAS Dean Jon Longtin. “This collaboration will make a real impact toward exploring new materials and applications for clean-energy alternatives.”
Safe house: The federally funded Environmental Education and Resiliency Center in Hempstead Lake State Park will also be a base of operations in case of emergency.
River rising: With an eye on reduced flooding and improved regional water quality, Albany has cut the ribbon on a new Environmental Education and Resiliency Center in Nassau County.
Located at Hempstead Lake State Park, the $8.3 million, 8,000-square-foot center is part of a $35 million park-wide project – funded by the federal Rebuild By Design competition, part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force – designed to reduce flood risks and enhance recreational access to the Mill River corridor. The EERC offers hands-on learning opportunities focused on storm resiliency and environmental management, provides space for community-outreach programs and will serve as an emergency-coordination center during future disasters, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Noting “climate change is something we all take seriously here,” the governor noted a “sense of urgency” behind the new education/resiliency center. “We could have another hurricane every 10 days now, instead of every hundred years or 500 years,” Hochul said during the Sept. 23 grand opening, which coincided with Climate Week NYC. “I’m not trying to scare anybody. I’m just saying it is real … and I’m so proud that our state is taking major, major steps to build our resiliency.”
TOP OF THE SITE
On the edge: The National Science Foundation is backing a New York Tech scientist’s deep dive into edge computing, where technology is outpacing experimentation.
Drug bust: With prescription prices soaring, a Hofstra University labor expert is frustrated by Congressional Democrats who don’t back Medicare negotiation legislation.
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ICYMI
A Nevada holding company buys in to a Stony Brook-based electric-vehicle pioneer; a Long Island nonprofit moves in to its new Garden City headquarters.
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 Massachusetts: Cambridge-based software specialist MetaCell launches a cloud-hosting platform specifically for life-science and healthcare organizations.
From Illinois: Chicago-based multinational manufacturer Mars Wrigley and partners announce a climate-smart venture focused on sustainable cocoa-bean farming.
From Canada, eh: Montreal-based analytics and connectivity connoisseur Flinks flips the switch on an updated data-enrichment engine for financial institutions.
ON THE MOVE
John Gordon
+ John Gordon has joined Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana as an associate in the Real Estate and IDA practice groups. He was previously as counsel at Lake Success-based Vishnick McGovern Milizio.
+ The Long Island Council of The Navy League of the United States has announced new leadership for its Board of Directors: Roger Noakes, president of Setauket-based Voyages of Discovery, will serve as president, and Owen Watford, business development manager at Ronkonkoma-based Retlif Testing Laboratories, will serve as vice president.
+ EGC has announced three new hires: Social Media Manager Shannon Duer was previously communications manager at Gary Zarr and Associates in New York City; Digital Account Manager Max Ross is a recent graduate of Florida International University; and Controller Jacqueline DiPreta was previously a senior accountant at Colorado-based Jones Media Radio.
+ Discover Long Island has welcomed three new team members: Director of Marketing Danielle Ahmed previously held marketing positions at Douglas Elliman Real Estate in New York City; Media Relations Manager Marisa Losciale was previously senior e-commerce writer for the Daily Dot and its parent company, Clarion Media Group; and Visitor Relations Coordinator and new Partner Chris Beletti was previously media director for FM radio station 106.1 WBLI.
BELOW THE FOLD (Time Travel Edition)
Looking back: The distant past, now playing in deep space.
Back from the future: In the digital age, work backward from where you want to be.
The next regeneration: Scientists are turning back the clock on damaged heart cells.
The way we were: How telescopes are like celestial time machines.
Past perfect: Please continue supporting the amazing agencies that support Innovate Long Island, including Brandtelling, where a decade-and-a-half of marketing excellence defines your best tomorrow. Check them out.
