A little clarity…: Welcome, friends, to the end of a slightly confusing workweek, as work and school schedules vary during this high holy season.
Whether you’re wrapping up some down time, kicking off a break or just finishing a standard five-day sprint, whether you praise this faith or that, we encourage you to embrace innovation along the way – this nifty newsletter should help!
Large, semiaquatic and in charge: The big rodent has its day.
…goes a long way: It’s April 7 out there, known best as World Health Day, the World Health Organization’s annual spotlight on a single planet-wide problem (diabetes one year, depression the next … this year, observing the WHO’s 75th anniversary).
Dam it: Also spanning the globe today are International Snailpapers Day (celebrating print newspapers), World Marbles Day (celebrating the colorful spherical playthings) and International Beaver Day (celebrating beavers).
And if you’ve still got room (and you’re still standing) after today’s National Beer Day festivities, join us for dessert – National Coffee Cake Day also crumbles on April 7.
Analog: They probably didn’t celebrate with beer, but there might have been coffee and cake about on this date in 1795, when France adopted the metre as its basic measurement of length – essentially creating the metric system.
Digital: They measured distances in miles (not kilometers) when Stanford University astronomers bounced a radar beam off the sun for the first time on April 7, 1959 – a 16-minute round-trip that delivered some baffling returns.
The real-to-real deal: The IBM System/360 changed office environments forever.
Mainframed: Among the computers deciphering the data in that Stanford experiment was the IBM 797, a number card-punching ancestor of IBM’s game-changing System/360, which transformed corporate America on this date in 1964.
Networked: Happy anniversary, Internet! An unprecedented Request for Comments published on the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network – a.k.a. ARPANET, famous as the first public packet-switched computer network – makes April 7, 1969, the World Wide Web’s symbolic birthday.
Tech triumph: And happy anniversary Mars Odyssey! The workhorse NASA probe – packing thermal-emission imagers, gamma-ray spectrometers, advanced radiation sensors and the requisite IT to beam its data back to Earth – blasted off 22 years ago today.
Odyssey continues to investigate Martian environments and topography, providing critical information for future human missions.
Cereal entrepreneur: American industrialist and philanthropist William Keith Kellogg (1860-1951) – who leveraged brother John Harvey Kellogg’s accidental invention at the Battle Creek Sanitarium into a breakfast-cereal empire and all-world grant-making foundation – would be 163 years old today.
Long way down: Dazzling performer Chan lost his grip on Hollywood stardom.
Also born on April 7 were adventurous American botanist David Fairchild (1869-1954), who bore fruit and lots more; Polish-British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942), the recognized founder of social anthropology; American journalist, author suffragist and conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998), a staunch defender of the Florida Everglades; American jazz and swing great Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan, 1915-1959), the legendary “Lady Day”; and American film auteur Francis Ford Coppola (born 1939), also un capo del vino.
Action figure: And take a bow (and a good, hard look at yourself), Jackie Chan! The dynamic actor, filmmaker and martial artist from Hong Kong – revered for his innovative stunts, reviled for his pro-China politics – turns 69 today.
Wish the complex action star well at editor@innovateli.com, were your news tips spur the action and we don’t play politics with your calendar events.
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
Results oriented: Students from numerous SUNY Old Westbury science, business, public policy and arts programs will strut their most innovative stuff later this month.
The State University of New York at Old Westbury 2023 Student Research Day – subtitled “Rights and Responsibilities” – is scheduled for April 18 at the campus Student Union. The day shines a spotlight on student curiosity and creativity, based on an annual central theme; for 2023, the focus is on individual rights and responsibilities, with projects centered on emerging ChatGPT technologies, natural cognitive-enhancement supplements and other hot-button topics explored by student research.
Featuring oral presentations, poster exhibitions and a special presentation on the Bard Prison Initiative by Bard College Vice President Max Kenner, Research Day is a “showcase for the intelligence, interests and viewpoints of our students,” according to event organizer Betty Berbari, assistant dean of SUNY Old Westbury’s School of Arts and Sciences. “We challenged [students] to question the world around them, to explore what has gone on before and, in some cases, to surmise what might happen as we go forward.”
Do you know me: Get out of Manhasset’s H20, perfluoroctanoic acid.
Water works: Albany has greenlighted more than $18 million in grant funding for Long Island water-improvement projects.
Among the $70 million in low-cost financing programs and previously announced grants approved this week by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. Board of Directors were 11 Water Infrastructure Improvement grants for the Suffolk County Water Authority, earmarked for the construction of advanced oxidation-process systems – targeting nefarious chemical compound 1,4-dioxane – in the towns of Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Smithtown. The EFC also approved a $2 million grant for a perfluoroctanoic acid-removal system in Nassau County’s Lakeville Water District.
The “significant resources” committed this week – including $12 million in interest-free financing for a Saratoga County wastewater treatment plant and millions more for statewide infrastructure and operational upgrades – underscore Albany’s commitment to helping local communities complete critical water-improvement projects, according to NYS Environmental Facilities Corp. President and CEO Maureen Coleman. “We are making strategic, life-saving improvements to our state’s water infrastructure,” Coleman added. “These investments will benefit New Yorkers for generations to come.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Wage against the machine: The Manufacturing Consortium of Long Island thinks another New York State minimum-wage hike is a terrible idea — and it’s not alone.
Chow down, smarten up: A smorgasbord of success strategies and best practices, served up by the leaders of the regional innovation economy – whatever you’re hungry for, it’s on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast’s menu. Fill your plate.
ICYMI
The U.S. Department of Education brings compassion home at SUNY Old Westbury.
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 New York City: Healthcare software spearhead 5 Point App launches intuitive mobile app that leverages acupuncture for restless cancer patients.
From Pennsylvania: Philadelphia-based medical-device master Therapeutic Articulations flexes NSF funds in enhanced joint-mobility device.
From Arizona: Phoenix-based professional-coaching champion Exos pumps up modern corporate cultures with groundbreaking Readiness Culture Code.
ON THE MOVE
Eva Badowska
+ Eva Badowska has been appointed dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Hempstead-based Hofstra University. She was previously dean of Fordham University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
+ Jennifer Ramthun has joined Brentwood-based Parkell Inc. as distribution director. She was a national account manager for TIDI Products in New York City.
+ Lynda Nicolino has been named chairwoman of the Deer Park-based United Way of Long Island’s Board of Directors. She is the chief legal counsel of Bethpage Federal Credit Union.
+ Christine Velia has been promoted to senior legal counsel at Medford-based Concern Housing. She previously served as development director.
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
Before we was fab: The earliest-ever recording of a Beatles show — at an all-male boarding school — has surfaced.
Debut album: Rediscovering the earliest-ever Beatles recording.
Greatest hits: Is the jukebox making a comeback?
Easy listening: Chill steps for improving daily life.
On the record: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, straight-up rock stars of regional healthcare and scientific innovation. Check them out.
