Last leg: Welcome to Friday, dear readers! You’ve conquered another busy workweek and earned another restful weekend – almost.
Just one last sprint to go! So dig deep, intrepid go-getter, and here’s a little innovation boost to help carry it home.
Mammo mia: It’s Oct. 15 out there, and as we reach the middle of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we mark National Mammography Day, always emphasizing prevention and early detection on the third Friday of October.
Pure magic: Non-psychoactive mushroom varieties add texture and flavor to many fine dishes.
Holy shitake: Today also delivers a unique flavor combination – both National Mushroom Day (celebrating portobellos, truffles and all the rest) and National Cheese Curd Day (when Wisconsin cheddar gets its groove on).
And if none of that cheers you, then you’re the target audience for National Grouch Day, also begrudgingly acknowledged every Oct. 15.
Light touch: In a much better mood, at least on this date in 1878, was Thomas Edison, who flipped the switch on the Edison Electric Light Co.
Essentially a shell corporation, the New Jersey-based company controlled the master innovator’s patents, while funding his ongoing electric-light experiments.
Plane spoken: La Guardia Airport has changed quite a bit since New York City took the stick in 1939.
Final approach: It wouldn’t open to commercial traffic until Dec. 2 of that year, but New York Municipal Airport – known now as La Guardia Airport – was officially dedicated on Oct. 15, 1939, after New York City assumed control of the former North Beach Airport.
Beeper keeper: Aircall of New York City, the first American paging service, sent its historic first page on this date in 1950, reaching a doctor who was playing golf 25 miles away.
Play Ball: “I Love Lucy,” one of the most beloved and influential sitcoms in television history, debuted on the CBS Television Network 70 years ago tonight.
For those keeping score, leads Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz would become history’s first millionaire TV stars.
Welcome to the club: And any has-been nonagenarian actor can blast off into the final frontier now, but spaceflight was still a big deal on Oct. 15, 2003, when People’s Liberation Army Lt. Colonel Yang Liwei became China’s first man in space.
The astronaut (or yuhangyuan, meaning “universe travel worker”) orbited the Earth 14 times during his historic 21-hour flight, before parachuting down to Inner Mongolia.
Carving his Nietzsche: German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, writer and philologist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) – who’s still having a profound effect on modern intellectualism – would be 177 years old today.
L train: Penny Marshall rode her “Laverne & Shirley” popularity straight to Hollywood.
Also born on Oct. 15 were controversial British paleobotanist and author Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (1880-1958), who strongly supported both eugenics and women’s rights; American astronomer Jesse Greenstein (1909-2002), who co-discovered quasars; American automobile executive Lido Anthony “Lee” Iacocca (1924-2019), who developed the Ford Mustang before saving the Chrysler Corp.; American bestselling author, screenwriter and journalist Mario Puzo (1920-1999), who wrote the book on “The Godfather”; and American actress, director and producer Carole Penny Marshall (1943-2018), who rose to fame as Laverne DeFazio (Shirley Feeney’s roommate) before directing major Hollywood hits.
Bam! And take a bow, Emeril John Lagassé III! The award-winning American celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author – who re-entered the public eye this year as a guest judge on the reality TV series “MasterChef” – turns 62 today.
Give the spicey philanthropist, 1998 GQ Magazine Chef of the Year and two-time James Beard Foundation Award-winner your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events are key ingredients in our innovation stew.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 52 years by bringing together government economic–development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Nonstop advocacy: A new survey by one of the region’s top business-advocacy organizations suggests that more nonstop flights into and out of Long Island MacArthur Airport could push the airport’s annual revenue past $1 billion.
The Fly Islip Survey – sponsored by the Hauppauge-based HIA-LI and conducted between Aug. 3 and Sept. 6 by Ronkonkoma law firm Campolo, Middleton & McCormick – queried executives at 504 Long Island businesses with annual travel budgets up to $20,000. Respondents indicated they currently spend about 36 percent of their travel budgets at LIMA, but would bump that up to nearly 79 percent if more nonstop travel options were available to and from the Town of Islip-owned aerodrome.
Multiplying those responses by the roughly 122,000 Nassau and Suffolk county businesses with travel budgets, the HIA-LI calculates an enormous revenue leap – exceeding $1.1 billion annually – for a busier LIMA. “This survey clearly demonstrates Long Island MacArthur Airport’s significant untapped value,” HIA-LI President and CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli said this week. “Long Island business, government and civic leaders need to join forces to expand the number of nonstop flights offered by the airport.”
Bioelectronic base: Famed researcher Kevin Tracey now does his thing in the Tatyana and Alan Forman Family Laboratory of Biomedical Science.
Keeps on giving: The home base of the Father of Bioelectronic Medicine has a new name, following an undisclosed gift from generous donors.
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research’s Bioelectronic Medicine Laboratory – run by Feinstein Institutes President and CEO Kevin Tracey, recognized globally as the leader of the emerging field – is now the Tatyana and Alan Forman Family Laboratory of Biomedical Science. While the amount of the Formans’ donation is hush-hush, Northwell Health’s R&D mecca labels it a “transformational gift” that will allow Tracey and friends to continue their cutting-edge research into the growing field of bioelectronic medicine, which eschews traditional pharmaceuticals to treat injury and disease throughout the body with tiny, nerve-stimulating electronic devices.
That represents “the future of healthcare,” according to Tatyana Forman, who believes strongly in Tracey and his colleagues and their work on the all-important vagus nerve and other parts of the central nervous system. “Our support will provide Dr. Tracey and his team of scientific innovators with the resources they need to make progress on new ideas,” she said in a statement, adding their research “holds the promise of transforming the lives of millions of patients across the globe.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Product rule: Some things never change, according to Smithtown-based MIDI Product Development, which is still leading medical-device innovation 50 years later.
Water signs: Albany is funneling more than $44 million into statewide clean-water projects, including $4 million for a critical Nassau County drinking-water effort.
Get smart(er): Season 2, Episode 1 drops next week – before it does, catch up with Season 1 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, where wisdom comes 25 minutes at a time.
ICYMI
Hofstra’s new president promises big changes for the university; worried scientists demand big changes in Long Island coastal waters.
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: Los Angeles-based automated-pizza pioneer Basil Street announces key partnership designed to bring pizza vending machines to nationwide airports.
From New York City: Edible ingredients innovator Azuca releases patent-pending Chocolate Activator to help food-makers quickly infuse slow-simmering sweets.
From Canada, eh: Vancouver-based virtual-world virtuoso Highstreet and Utah-based 3D avatar ace Tafi bring highly customizable avatars to new commerce-centric worlds.
ON THE MOVE
Tanya Palmore
+ Tanya Palmore has joined the Medford-based Suffolk Federal Credit Union’s Board of Directors. She is the executive director of the North Fork Housing Alliance.
+ Thomas Kline has been named vice president of university advancement and external relations at Garden City-based Adelphi University He is currently vice president for institutional advancement at Carthage College in Wisconsin.
+ Kevin Simmons has been named assistant superintendent for instruction and administration for the Smithtown Central School District. He was previously principal of Smithtown High School East.
+ Lauren Devine has joined Melville-based PrestigePEO as national director of human resource client services. She previously served as vice president of human resources for Connecticut-based Hudson RPO.
+ Deirdre Lunetta has been named assistant superintendent for business for the Babylon Union Free School District. She was previously the school district’s senior audit manager as an employee of Port Jefferson Station-based Cullen and Danowski.
BELOW THE FOLD (On The Job Edition)
Outta here: Almost like you’re trying to get fired.
Looking up: Finally, some good news on national employment.
Hire purpose: Everybody’s hiring, but nobody’s getting hired.
Didn’t think it through: The absolutely dumbest ways to get fired.
Working it out: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which has promoted constructive dialogue on regional socioeconomics for more than five decades. Check them out.
