Here’s the kicker: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and welcome to December, as we finally kick out November and kickstart 2023’s final month.
To celebrate, we’re kicking up a little dust – and kicking the tires of a well-earned weekend – with this high-kicking innovation review. We’re confident you’ll get a few kicks out of it.
Remember and commit: The 35th annual World AIDS Day doubles down on the millions still living with the late-stage HIV infection — and its unwarranted stigma.
Going viral: It is indeed Dec. 1 out there, and we’re kicking off with World AIDS Day, which sounds like a downer but is actually about erasing stigmas and marching proudly toward a cure, once and for all.
Light touch: On a brighter note, today is also National Christmas Lights Day, when you can no longer be mocked for decorating too early (although yuletide enthusiasts probably decorated the day after Thanksgiving and the Rockefeller Center tree has been blazing since Wednesday, for the record).
Snack-wise, we roll with National Peppermint Bark Day, combining chocolate and crushed candy canes, and National Eat a Red Apple Day, keeping the doctor away every Dec. 1.
One ringy dingy: Apple phones would come later – but it was this date in 1878 when the first telephones in Washington were connected to a central office, with lines to the White House, the Capitol, the Treasury Department, Gallaudet College and the Associated Press’ D.C. office.
One-hundred percent solution: Basil Rathbone’s portrayal came later, but Sherlock Holmes came to life 136 years ago today.
Elementary: Uber-deductive detective Sherlock Holmes debuted on Dec. 1, 1887, when London magazine Beeton’s Christmas Annual published the short story “A Study in Scarlet” by medical practitioner Arthur Conan Doyle.
Fill ’er up: Also hitting the gas was the world’s first drive-in service station, which opened in Pittsburgh 110 years ago today.
Sit on it: It was Dec. 1, 1955, when African American seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Ala., for refusing to give up her bus seat, sparking the most influential civil rights case in American history.
Everyone into the Chunnel! And it was this date in 1990 when British and French engineers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries finally met in the middle.
The “Chunnel” would later serve as one of the most memorable fake flicks on “Seinfeld” (alongside “The Pain and the Yearning,” “Deathblow,” “Prognosis Negative” and the immortal “Rochelle, Rochelle.”)
Waxing nostalgic: French artist Anna Maria “Madame” Tussaud (1761-1850) – known best for her lifelike wax sculptures and the London museum she created to house them – would be 262 years old today.
Bette, Bette: Midler (playing herself) gives George Constanza the business. (She’d pay.)
Also born on Dec. 1 were American explorer, anthropologist, archaeologist, artist, scientific illustrator, cartographer, mountain climber, geologist and museum curator William Henry Holmes (1846-1933), the modern Renaissance Man; American media mogul Anne Cox Chambers (1919-2000), who also served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium; American actor, screenwriter and director Heywood “Woody” Allen (born 1935), a gifted filmmaker forever tainted by sexual abuse allegations; American funnyman and actor Richard Pryor (1940-2005), among history’s most influential stand-up comedians; and American singer, actress, comedian and author Bette Midler (born 1945), who headlined the faux Broadway adaptation of the aforementioned “Rochelle, Rochelle.”
Hofstra pride: And take a bow, Peter Kalikow! The American real estate developer – a Hofstra University alumnus, former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, ex-Port Authority of New York & New Jersey commissioner and past owner/publisher of the New York Post – turns 81 today.
Wish the New York icon well at editor@innovateli.com, where we develop your news tips and publish your calendar events (with pride).
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 54 years by bringing together government economic development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
One down, 11 to go: The installation of South Fork Wind’s first gigantic wind turbine is complete.
Just three weeks after prefabricated towers, an enormous nacelle and three turbine blades (each longer than a football field) sailed out of Connecticut’s Port of New London, the first of 12 Siemens Gamesa wind-turbine generators is ready to rock roughly 35 miles east of Montauk Point. It’s a small step for South Fork Wind, a project of international partners Ørsted A/S and Eversource Energy, and a giant leap for the regional electrical grid, which will ultimately soak up 130 megawatts of wind-generated power – enough juice to energize 70,000 Long Island homes, without all the nasty carbon emissions of traditional electricity generation.
With all 12 turbines slated to be operational by early 2024, the first installation marks “a significant step in New York’s clean-energy journey,” according to Long Island Power Authority Chief Executive Officer Thomas Falcone. “The installation of New York’s first offshore wind turbine represents concrete action,” Falcone added. “LIPA is proud to be supporting this project on behalf of our 1.2 million customers on Long Island and in the Rockaways.”
Hot stuff: Stony Brook University researchers will try to mitigate global-warming crises with the help of a NOAA supercomputer.
Baby, it’s hot outside: Don’t be fooled by this week’s frigid winter preview – the globe is warming, extreme heat events are increasing and Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences is on the case.
A three-year, $500,000 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant will give SoMAS researchers access to NOAA’s Seamless System for Prediction and Earth System Research, a next-gen computer-modeling system that leverages past data to simulate ongoing climate change and project global-warming impacts. With heat waves becoming more common, the idea is to mitigate future wildfires, crop failures and other human-population dangers, with models anticipating the frequency and intensity of dangerous temperature spikes straight through 2030.
In addition to better understanding the relationships between extreme heat events and factors like jet streams and near-surface winds, researchers hope to develop broader applications focused on U.S. and European water resources and marine ecosystems – important questions in need of immediate answers, according to SoMAS Research Associate Professor and principal investigator Ping Liu. “Why have extreme heat event hotspots over the U.S. and Europe occurred in the recent past?” Liu said. “And how will such hotspots evolve in the coming years and decades?”
TOP OF THE SITE
Collaborative effort: Promising a new generation of genius engineers, New York Tech, Stony Brook University and other top Northeast schools have formed a unique “doctoral consortium.”
Sock it to them: Your innovation team works hard all year long – reward them with their very own Innovate Long Island Newsletter subscriptions. Always easy, always free, always fits nicely in stockings.
ICYMI
A devastating fire has reset the clock at Shoreham’s Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe – but won’t stop dedicated supporters from bringing Serbian genius Nikola Tesla back to life.
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: Detangling dynamo Wet Brush stylizes its hairbrush collection with exclusive customization feature.
From Illinois: Oak Brook-based smart-access specialist myQ locks down homeowners’ peace of mind with advanced smart garage app.
From New York: Purchase-based PepsiCo helps gamers enjoy their snack of choice – sans the game-disrupting crunch – with “Doritos Silent.”
ON THE MOVE
Alex Arso
+ Alex Arso has been hired as director of programs at the Melville-based Long Island Association. She was a government relations and advocacy manager at Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares.
+ The Melville office of Nixon Peabody has announced the addition of three legal professionals:
- Marissa Espinoza Icochea is an associate in the Corporate, Healthcare and Litigation practice groups. She was previously Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Long Island representative.
- Tom Caruso is an associate in the Labor & Employment Practice Group. He recently completed a clerkship for Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby and was a member of the U.S. Navy JAG Corps.
- Jared Kaiman is a legal intern supporting the Government Investigations & White-Collar Defense practice. He previously worked as a legal intern at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
+ Lindsay Maleson has been selected to lead Nixon Peabody’s Healthcare Practice. She is a partner in the firm.
+ The Melville-based Long Island Association has added three new Board of Directors members:
- Felicia Tucker, office managing partner/Long Island at KPMG in Melville
- Toranosuke Matsuoka, co-founder of Seasoned Hospitality in Manhattan and East End of Long Island
- Kara Cannon, chief executive of Enzo Biochem in Farmingdale
+ Jamie Rosen has been hired as a partner and chairwoman of the Mental Health Law Group at Jericho-based Meister Seelig & Fein. She was a partner at Lake Success-based Abrams Fensterman.
+ Robert Cannon has been hired as a senior associate attorney at Burner Prudenti Law in East Setauket. He was managing attorney and project director of the Robert and Priscilla Livingston Center for Children, Families and the Law in Hempstead.
+ Patricia Cosmadelis has been promoted to sales manager at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in Cutchogue. She was a real estate advisor.
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 (Henry Kissinger Edition)
Secretary of love: Kissinger (here charming Elizabeth Taylor) was known as “Washington’s greatest swinger.”
Love/hate relationship: Even in death, Kissinger polarized the world.
Secret mission: Only Nixon could go to China – but Kissinger went first.
Ladies’ man: He wasn’t one to Kissinger and tell, but women adored Henry.
Diplomacy at its finest: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which has been brokering regional economic-development deals for the better part of six decades. Check them out.
