Transitional phase: Welcome to the first Friday of Spring, dear readers!
Yes, it’s surprisingly cold out there, and a wet and windy weekend is on tap for Long Island – but it’s a weekend nonetheless, and a well-earned one at that. Let’s wrap up this season-shifting workweek in style.
Water world: Enjoy a cool glass of clean water today — and be grateful you have it.
Hope floats: Today is March 22, and we begin by dipping our toes into World Water Day, the UN’s yearly notice that clean water – the world’s most precious resource – can foster peace or spark conflict, with the former strongly recommended.
Work out: On a less serious note, to the chagrin of bosses everywhere, today is also National Goof Off Day, a perfect Friday observation when we’re literally supposed to do nothing about it.
That pairs nicely with As Young As You Feel Day, an annual March 22 reminder that age is just a number and a few fun diversions can help keep us youthful.
Seed round: Recognizing that healthy hobbies also help keep us young, the New York Horticultural Society was officially incorporated on this date in 1822. (Sadly, it would die on the vine during the economically challenged 1830s, eventually supplanted by the New York Botanical Garden.)
Presidential pardon: Roosevelt, who oversaw the end of Prohibition, enjoyed the occasional cocktail.
Drink up: More ripening on the vine were the U.S. beer and wine industries, when FDR – nine months before the 21st Amendment officially ended Prohibition – signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act on March 22, 1933, levying a federal tax on all alcoholic beverages and giving states the option to further regulate the legalized sale of suds and vino.
High beam: Also seeing the light was the first U.S. patent for a laser – officially, an “optical maser” system incorporating rubies and alkali metal vapors – issued on this date in 1960 to inventors Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow.
Flop disc: Not speaking of lasers, RCA’s short-lived SelectaVision videodisc system – a vinyl video product that went head-to-head with laserdisc and VHS formats, and lost soundly – spun into stores 43 years ago today.
Five above: And it was March 22, 1993, when Intel’s game-changing Pentium processor first shipped out, boasting four gigabytes of addressable memory, 66 megahertz speed and 3.1 million transistors.
Referring to Intel’s fifth-generation microarchitecture, the “Pentium” branding came from “pente,” the Greek word for “five.”
Nobody’s perfect: Iranian astronomer, mathematician and Sultan Ulūgh Beg (born Mīrzā Muhammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrukh, 1394-1449) – an exceptional scientist but lousy ruler, eventually overthrown by his own family – would be 630 years old today.
Mother of all piano teachers: Waterman set the standards.
Also born on March 22 were German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander (1799-1875), who catalogued the position and magnitude of more than 300,000 stars; British pianist and academic piano teacher Dame Fanny Waterman (1920-2020), who founded the Leeds International Piano Competition; American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021), among the most important innovators of 20th Century musical theater; prolific American author James Patterson (born 1947), master of mystery (and not too shabby in the fantasy, romance and young-adult genres); and English composer and theatrical producer Andrew Lloyd Webber (born 1948), another musical theater all-timer.
UnXplained popularity: And take a bow, William Shatner! The Canadian actor, singer, author, producer and director – forever “Star Trek’s” Captain Kirk, though he’s done so, so, so much more (including setting the record as the oldest person to fly in space) – turns 93 today. (More Shatnerifics below.)
Show off your (Denny) Crane technique and give T.J. Hooker your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we hold the Priceline with your news tips and suffer a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet without your calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Healthy start: Rising national tides addressing the health disparities facing women have inspired Northwell Health to establish an endowed professorship in Women’s Health Research.
The Iris and Saul Katz Professor in Women’s Health Research, which leverages another generous gift from the longtime Northwell boosters, is a first for the health system and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell’s R&D mecca. Feinstein Institutes Vice President of Health Equity Elizabeth Cohn – a distinguished nurse leader and 25-year veteran of Manhasset’s North Shore University Hospital, expert in precision medicine and community-engaged research – is the endowed professorship’s first recipient.
Through the Katz Institute for Women’s Health and other initiatives, Northwell has been addressing the new “national priority” for quite some time, noted Stacey Rosen, the KIWH director and the health system’s senior vice president of women’s health. “We’re at the beginning of a new era of growth that will elevate our women’s health research expertise and improve clinical care, thanks to the collaboration of the Feinstein and Katz institutes, the leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Cohn and the visionary generosity of Iris and Saul Katz,” Rosen added.
Better smile when you say that: Did you call me a pansy?
Pansy tough: Spring sprung across East Meadow’s Eisenhower Park this week, as landscapers planted more than 1,700 colorful pansies around The Lannin, one of the park’s three hospitality venues.
Delivered by Emma’s Garden of Melville, “Jewels Mix” pansies – combining red, yellow, orange and purple flowers – were installed by Syosset-based Terra Verde Landscape Architecture & Design around two large fountains and the entranceway to the venue, which is owned by Manhasset-based Trahanas Hospitality Group (along with The Union, an upscale American bistro, and The General, a members-only cigar club/steakhouse). The pansies “bring you back to life,” noted Terra Verde owner Daniel Greller. “It’s hopeful, it’s spring … the winter is behind us, and we’ve got this great season upon us.”
And don’t worry about this week’s post-planting deep freeze: Viola x wittrockiana – a.k.a. the “extra-large-flowered pansy,” one of more than 300 pansy varieties known to exist – is remarkably resilient, with sturdy stems and a “hardiness degree” rated to minus-10 Fahrenheit. Canadian plant pro Ball Seed Co., among North America’s largest wholesale horticultural distributors, notes pansies can even freeze solid and then “bounce back with vigor” in warmer weather.
TOP OF THE SITE
Hot wheels: Long Island-based electronics manufacturer Orbic is rolling into the electric bicycle realm – and redefining it – with its tricked-out, AI-enabled 5G eBike.
All in: You gotta love our jam-packed Newsletter Archive, where there’s loads to learn and lots of laughs … but remember, our subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletters aren’t archived! Don’t miss a lesson or a lark – subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
Despite the gloomy prospect of another deceptive and mean-spirited election season, regional business executives are feeling fairly optimistic about the next 12 months, according to 2024’s first Marcum-Hofstra CEO Survey.
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 North Carolina: Charlotte-based battery-materials mainstay Cirba Solutions announces new collaboration enhancing its lithium-ion battery-recycling business.
From New Jersey: Nutley-based sustainability spearhead Modern Meadow teams with Italian apparel ace to introduce patented Bio-Alloy men’s coats.
From New York City: Corporate payment-security standout Trustmi upgrades Payment Flows module to address clients’ financial pain points.
ON THE MOVE
May Theobalt
+ May Theobalt has joined Riverhead-based Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo as an associate. She was a summer associate with the firm’s Trusts and Estates Department.
+ Eric Hofmeister has been hired as director of business development at Enviroscience Consultants in Ronkonkoma. He was previously commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works in Yaphank.
+ Isabelle Panza has been promoted to marketing and communications coordinator at Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares Inc. She was a communications specialist.
+ Thomas Huszar has been hired as a partner in the Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Group at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana. He was a partner at Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf in Manhattan.
+ Cheryl Katz has been appointed as a member of the New York State Surrogate’s Court Advisory Committee. She is a partner in the Estate Litigation Practice Group at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana.
+ Christian Centurion has been hired as a project structural professional at Huntington Station-based GEI Consultants. He was a structural project engineer at Massapequa Park-based Reilly Tarantino Engineering.
+ Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares Inc. has announced two new hires: Theresa Redlein, previously administrative travel coordinator at Guide Dog Foundation/America’s Vet Dogs in Smithtown, is now community development coordinator, and Mary Pat Beirne, previously director of athletic alumni relations at St. John’s University in Queens, is now an individual philanthropy manager.
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 Farmingdale State). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Shatnerverse Edition)
Warped: “Evil” Captain Kirk phasers fans to ashes on “Saturday Night Live.”
Keep on trekking: Why Old Man Shatner is still boldly going.
Top Billing: The man himself reviews the best Shatner impressions.
Get a life! The Shat hits the fans in this classic, hilarious 1986 SNL sketch.
Strange, new worlds: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, preparing the next generation of leaders to thrive in the changing world they’ll inherit. Check them out.
