What the hectic: Well done, intrepid innovators – another workweek conquered, another weekend queued, and all that at the height of the hectic holiday season.
With Friday upon us, you can finally dial down the frenzy. And what better way to chillax than with an informative and entertaining innovation review? We agree completely.
Wwho kknew?: Turns out 31,000 of 32,000 global llama owners are in the United States.
Round of a-paws: It’s Dec. 9 out there, a fine one for our furry friends – the International Day of Veterinary Medicine, when dog docs, cat caregivers and other pet-focused providers take a bow wow.
Speaking of beastly besties, today is also National Llama Day. (Don’t laugh – there are more llama owners in the United States than any other country).
Cake walk: After digesting that stat, wash it down with a flaky strudel or creamy puff – sweet rewards on National Pastry Day, also baked fresh every Dec. 9.
Man of words: Pastry-loving (sure, why not) Federalist Noah Webster – known best for his dictionaries and spelling books – launched The American Minerva, New York City’s first daily newspaper, on this date in 1793.
Light touch: Speaking of wordsmiths, English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” – memorializing a brave Crimean War assault by 600 overmatched British soldiers on a heavily defended Russian position – was first published by The London Examiner on Dec. 9, 1854.
Patents on wheels: Rolling out 138 years ago today was inventor L.M. Richardson’s roller skates with ball bearings, a quantum design leap that transferred wheeled footwear from novelty gags to mass-produced sporting goods.
Eat lead: How GM knocked out knocks.
Don’t knock it: Other innovators focused on wheeled things include the General Motors engineers who introduced tetraethyl lead to gasoline – increasing octane and reducing engine “knock” – on Dec. 9, 1921.
Hello, computer: And also rolling into history on this date was the world’s first computer mouse, demonstrated in 1968 by the Stanford Research Institute’s Augmentation Research Center.
Dubbed “the mother of all demos,” the presentation featured a wired, wheeled block of wood with a single red function button. (Computer mouses, of course, were never better employed than right here.)
“Lost,” and found: English poet and intellectual John Milton (1608-1674) – known best for “Paradise Lost,” an epic blank verse poem that characterized the religious and political upheaval of his day – would be 414 years old today.
A million faces: But only one John Malkovich.
Also born on Dec. 9 were German art historian Johann Winckelmann (1717-1768), the “father of modern archeology”; American inventor, entrepreneur and naturalist Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956), who fired up modern frozen food; English biochemist and historian Joseph Needham (1900-1995), who deciphered centuries of Chinese scientific development; American mathematician Grace Hopper (1906-1992), a computer-science pioneer who rose to U.S. Navy Rear Admiral; and English actress Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 1934), who’s collected seven Oscar nominations and one win, but none for bossing Bond.
Being there: And take a bow, John Gavin Malkovich! The American actor and producer – known best for his eclectic choices, including twice (!) playing fictionalized versions of himself – turns 69 today.
Wish the Emmy-winner well (no Oscar? That’s criminal!) at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips top the bill and your calendar events are all award-winners.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, 750 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
Bug off: Long Islanders have had it up to here with COVID, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus.
That’s the word from the latest installment of the Mount Sinai South Nassau Truth in Medicine Poll, which notes that regional residents don’t much care that all three conditions are spreading fast across Long Island and New York City (a “tridemic,” according to the Oceanside-based flagship of the New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System). Only 61 percent of poll respondents (600 adult Long Island and NYC residents, quizzed by phone in mid-November) reported receiving a flu vaccine this season, while only 56 percent have updated with the bivalent coronavirus booster – and a whopping 93 percent said they’d stick with their holiday plans, whatever COVID, the flu and RSV do.
The waning vaccination urgency, low public recognition of the tridemic threat and determination to see through holiday plans all concern Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital President Adhi Sharma. “This fall and winter, the flu is highly contagious, along with COVID-19 and RSV,” Sharma said Wednesday. “I strongly urge people to take action now and get vaccinated.”
Unbreakable: Don’t make it TOO hard, now.
Log off: Security alert from our friends over at NordPass – your digital passwords are weak!
But if your passwords are “password” or “123456”, you probably knew that already – they’re two of the Top 200 Most Common Passwords, a global review from 2019 Panamanian startup NordPass. Aside from those repeat offenders (which leapfrog atop the oft-updated list, with millions of lazy, clumsy or imagination-challenged users regularly selecting each), painfully obvious passwords most often entered by actual users include “guest”, “qwerty” and “111111”, with the slightly cleverer trying “abc123”, “password1” and “iloveyou”.
NordPass, which provides digital-security services including an encrypted password vault, also estimates the amount of time it takes hackers to crack these egregiously easy codes. For instance, “guest” takes your average cyberattacker 10 seconds to break, while “password” is deciphered in less than 1 second – bad news for more than 4.9 million global users, according to NordPass.
TOP OF THE SITE
First glance: A “pre-incubation” proposal by Stony Brook University’s clean-energy business incubator has advanced in a prestigious national business-acceleration contest.
Party at the IDA: The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency’s new CEO has a hard-to-quantify professional record — but a long history of political donations and appointments.
What’s ours is yours: Great stories, solid advice and lotsa laughs, courtesy of world-famous scientists, living legends of regional socioeconomics and other inspirational innovators. Season 3 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast has it all … and it’s all yours.
ICYMI
The Innovate Long Island Debrief returns with Canon USA Vice President Shinya Fukuda, who credits post-pandemic, made-on-Long Island collaboration-tech breakthroughs to visionary CEO Kazuto Ogawa – and the will of the people.
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 Georgia: Athens-based infection-prevention tech developer ByoPlanet fires up Jet H2 Ultra, a handheld, induction-charging electrostatic germ zapper.
From North Carolina: Charlotte-based chemical king Albemarle Corp. unearths breakthrough mercury-removal treatment for soil and mining waste.
From Virginia: Alexandria-based aid organization St. Vincent de Paul Disaster Services opens Kokua Survivor Wallet, leveraging blockchain for disaster-relief disbursement.
ON THE MOVE
Jada Macharie
+ Jada Macharie has been hired as a field hydrogeologist at Bohemia-based P.W. Grosser Consulting. She was a research assistant at Martha Schwartz Partners in Manhattan.
+ Jill Braunstein has been named a partner in the Corporate and Securities Law Group at Lake Success-based Abrams and Fensterman. She was a partner at Garden City-based Moritt, Hock & Hamroff.
+ Stanfort Perry has been elected second vice chairman of the Washington-based National Conference of Executives of The Arc. He is CEO of AHRC Nassau in Brookville.
+ Richard Lind has been named to the Rockville Centre-based Family & Children’s Association Board of Trustees. Lind is area vice president of retail and consumer goods at Salesforce.
+ The Bethpage-based ACLD Foundation has appointed a new slate of executive officers:
- Jamie Engel, vice president of sales at School Family Media, has been appointed foundation president.
- Shashi Patel, a retired internal medicine specialist, has been appointed foundation vice president.
- Michael Mosscrop, an attorney with Franklin, Gringer and Cohen, has been appointed treasurer.
- Jay Berfas, former director of integrated media for Scientific American, has been appointed secretary.
+ Daniel Cassagne has been hired as an assistant principal at Robert Moses Middle School in North Babylon. He was a science teacher at Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in Forest Hills.
+ Karla Cangelosi has been promoted to deputy superintendent of the Copiague School District. She previously served as executive director of instructional support.
+ Kyle Moeller has been hired as a relationship manager/director at Capital One in Melville. He was a relationship manager at Citibank in Hauppauge.
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 Northwell Health). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
Low light: ’Tis the Seasonal Affective Disorder.
SAD story: How to beat the winter blues, according to science.
Happy returns: Half of America is planning to return holiday gifts purchased online.
Neutral feelings: The U.S. Army may implement gender-neutral standards in its fitness tests.
Strong emotions: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, where scientific genius meets unbridled creative enthusiasm. Check them out.
