Bright beginning: Welcome to Friday, friends, and not just any Friday but the first official Friday of the Summer of 2022 – school’s out, the sun’s shining and family vacations are afoot
Innovation, of course, never takes a break, well-earned weekends notwithstanding. With that, we’re here to wrap up this latest socioeconomic sprint – let’s finish strong, and please remember your sunscreen!
Working it out: Do we take our dogs to work … or vice-versa?
Wag the dog: We start this June 24 with an annual tradition that’s become a lot easier, if not redundant, in the Remote-Work Age – National Take Your Dog to Work Day, which might just as well be known now as National the Dog Begrudgingly Allows You to Work in His Space Day.
Middle ground: Today is also the nature lovefest known internationally as Midsummer, which seems weird on the first Friday of summer, but there it is (it’s some whacky Julian Calendar thing).
If the confusion wigs you out, calm down with National Cream Tea Day, a domestic adaptation of British tradition replete with finger sandwiches, cakes and clotted cream (better than it sounds).
The Twain shall meet: American author and tinkerer Samuel Clemens earned his second of three patents on this date in 1873, covering his “Improvements in Scrap-Books” (the “pre-pasted” books were coated with layers of sticky mucilage, also better than it sounds).
Am I blue: “Casagemas in His Coffin,” an early work of Picasso’s deeply depressed Blue Period, was displayed in Paris 121 years ago today.
A real Picasso: Other master innovators surfacing on this date include genius Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso, who exhibited in Paris for the first time on June 24, 1901.
On Target: Speaking of names you know, the mighty Minnesota-based Target Corp. – now the second-largest U.S. retailer, behind Walmart – was founded on this date in 1902 as Goodfellow Dry Goods.
Cow about that: Also exploding onto the scene – on June 24, 1938, over Chicora, Pennsylvania – was a huge fireball, pelting the countryside with meteorites and even killing a cow, according to eyewitnesses.
That otherworldly cause of death, however, was never confirmed – officially, the first cow to suffer death-by-meteorite bought the farm in a 1972 strike just east of Valera, Venezuela.
Play that back: And the home video recorder made its public debut 59 years ago today, in a demonstration at the BBC’s London studios.
Priced around $650, the Nottingham Electronic Valve Co.’s innovation only recorded in black-and-white, and only for about 20 minutes at a time.
Pearl Witherington: The spy who set France ablaze.
James who? British sharpshooter, paratrooper and secret agent Cecile Pearl Witherington Cornioley (1914-2008) – a World War II superspy who faced constant Nazi peril after parachuting into occupied France to aid the resistance – would be 108 years old today.
Also born on June 24 were French-American chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771-1834), an all-time industrialist; American inventor Thomas Blanchard (1788-1864), who greatly advanced machine tools; Austrian-American physicist Victor Hess (1883-1964), the Nobel laureate who discovered cosmic rays; English astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), who named the “Big Bang” theory but wasn’t a fan; and American physicist Martin Perl (1927-2014), who went subatomic for his Nobel Prize.
Rock on: And take some bows, rock guitarist Jeff Beck and rock drummer Mick Fleetwood! The all-time English greats turn 78 and 75 years old today, respectively.
Give the legendary rockers – 24 Grammy nominations between them, with 10 combined wins – your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we happily tune up your news tips and your calendar events are our driving beat.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 53 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Pay watch: New York State has raised pay scales for qualified lifeguards.
Everyone into the pool! But only if there’s a trained lifeguard on duty – which invokes a new recruiting play by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who’s offering a hefty pay hike to rescue summer from a qualified-lifeguard shortage.
The governor on Wednesday ordered across-the-board raises for lifeguards patrolling beaches and pools operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and at NYS Department of Environmental Conservation campgrounds, with starting pay rates at upstate facilities increasing 34 percent (to $20 per hour) and starting rates at downstate facilities increasing 21 percent (to $22 per hour). Rates for lifeguards with more than two seasons of experience are also rising – between 5 and 30 percent, depending on location and experience – with all hikes taking immediate effect.
New York Parks has also engaged a new lifeguard-centered digital-recruitment campaign, set to run through July 4 on multiple social media platforms, and is offering on-demand Lifeguard Certification Courses. “All New Yorkers deserve the opportunity to safely enjoy our public beaches and pools this summer,” Hochul said Wednesday. “With a lifeguard shortage threatening access to swimming facilities, we are aggressively recruiting more lifeguards to ensure safe access to outdoor recreation.”
Even Evergreen-er: A bilingual Long Island charter school is a step closer to a major construction effort, thanks to the Town of Hempstead Local Development Corp.
The LDC – best friend of educational institutions, hospitals, charities and other civic-minded organizations seeking low-interest financing – has issued preliminary authorization for the proposed sale of $72 million in tax-exempt and taxable bonds by the Hempstead-based Evergreen Charter School. The proposed bond sale, which is still subject to a public hearing and final Town of Hempstead approvals, would help the school construct an 85,000-square-foot classroom building on 1.41 vacant acres at the Laurel Avenue/Peninsula Boulevard intersection, slated for daily use by about 750 students.
The local economy needs the project, according to Hempstead LDC Chief Executive Frederick Parola, who counted hundreds of construction-phase jobs and 30-plus full-time positions to follow – and the charter school, set to expand from K-10 to K-12 in the 2023-24 school year, needs the space. “This bond sale will benefit hundreds of the children enrolled in the Evergreen Charter School by allowing the school to expand to accommodate its growing enrollment,” Parola said this week.
TOP OF THE SITE
Locking safeties: With national gun violence raging, Northwell Health and dozens of grieving parents are demanding stronger federal interventions.
Prevention intention: The Stony Brook Cancer Center is hoping LGBTQ+ Pride Month will encourage underserved populations to explore better cancer-prevention options.
Well-seasoned: We’re just days away from raising the curtain on exciting Season 3 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast – last chance to catch up on stimulating Seasons 1 and 2!
ICYMI
For young adults, a climate-change novel told in poetic verse; for Chinese imports, a DNA-based detector targeting slave labor.
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 Canada, eh: Calgary-based biopharma Boehringer Ingelheim and Edmonton-based innovation platform Plug and Play Tech Center team up to advance digital health.
From Canada, eh: Toronto-based outdoor-gear innovator Arctic Zone ices the competition with durable, feature-rich line of high-performance Titan coolers.
From Canada, eh: Ontario-based economic-development organization Invest WindsorEssex launches marketing campaign to attract midsized tech firms from across the U.S. north.
ON THE MOVE
Carlos Zapata
+ Carlos Zapata has been elected organized medical staff section councilor for the Westbury-based Medical Society of the State of New York. He’s an attending emergency-medicine physician at three regional Northwell Health hospitals.
+ Rosalia Baiamonte has been elected president of the Mineola-based Nassau County Bar Association. She’s a partner at Garden City-based Gassman Baiamonte Gruner.
+ Nina McCann has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Port Washington-based Social Media Association of Long Island. She’s the director of business development at Jaspan Schlesinger LLP in Garden City.
+ Jennifer Rush has been hired as associate director of the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center in Roslyn Heights. She was previously vice president of residential and clinical services at the Berkshire County ARC in Massachusetts.
+ Luke Ruderka has been hired as an operations and data specialist at Woodbury-based Vanderbilt Financial Group. He was previously an estimator at Hauppauge-based Liberty Doorworks.
+ Garden City-based Adelphi University has announced three appointments to its Board of Trustees:
- Kevin Goodman, global director of member and customer enablement at LinkedIn and a member of the Adelphi President’s Advisory Council.
- Kevin Mahony, senior vice president of Eagle View Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services and a member of the Adelphi President’s Advisory Council.
- Jose Singer, a 1973 Adelphi graduate who currently serves as an advisor to Dominican Republican President Luis Abinader.
+ Maureen Knott has been appointed to the Henry Schein Cares Foundation Board of Directors. She is vice president of product advertising for Melville-based Henry Schein Dental.
+ Daniel Seiden has been hired as a partner at Carle Place-based Seiden & Kaufman. He was an associate at Block O’Toole & Murphy in Manhattan.
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 (just ask the LIBDC). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (They, Robot Edition)
Iron giant: It’s impressive, but it can’t actually battle enormous kaiju … yet.
Latest buzz: MIT unleashes insect-sized robots for tracking and communication.
Gundam style: From Japan, a five-story robot warrior that walks and even levitates.
Sweeping with the fishes: Science filters oceanic microplastics with bionic robo-fish.
Flesh and blood: And the heartbeat of regional socioeconomics, too – that’s the Long Island Business Development Council, one of the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island. Check them out.
