Last, but not least: Friday at last! Welcome to the end of another busy workweek, dear readers, and the precipice of another Autumnal weekend.
You sure earned this one, but before we sleep in and rake leaves and tune into the World Series, there’s one more workday to work through. Let’s kick it off – and reward your hard work – with a dash of socioeconomic creativity. (It’s the least we could do!)
Something to smile about: Appreciate some fine art today.
Let’s get visual: Today is Oct. 25, and we’re kicking off your week-ending innovation review with International Artist Day and National Fine Art Appreciation Day, a multipronged multimedia homage to painting, sculpture, photography and other visual arts. (Hmmm … might any famous artists have a birthday today, by coincidence? Glad you asked! Read on.)
…and called it macaroni: We’ll walk it off at the museum later, so let’s carb up – Oct. 25 is World Pasta Day, after all, celebrating the myriad forms of unleavened dough (usually wheat flour mixed with water or eggs) that’s boiled or baked to taste.
We’ll raise a glass to that – especially since it’s also Global Champagne Day, an annual fourth-Friday-of-October salute to sparkling wines produced in France’s famed Champagne region.
Charge it: A solemn toast, also, honoring the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, a disastrous British cavalry attack staged on this date in 1854 against heavily fortified Russian troops in the Crimean War’s Battle of Balaklava.
Book it: Coast-to-coast air service became a thing on Oct. 25, 1930, when Transcontinental and Western Air – “TWA,” before the carrier changed its name to Trans World Airlines in 1950 – initiated a 36-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles (with an overnight layover in Kansas City).
Nuke it: The first microwave oven – a 6-foot-tall, 750-pound monstrosity that ran a cool $3,000 (around $20,000 in 2024 dollars) – went on sale 69 years ago today (and, as you might expect, failed spectacularly).
Remember it: With the premature end of the New York Mets’ 2024 Cinderella story still stinging, it might help to recall that glorious Game Six – which was not particularly innovative (except for one fan’s daringly inventive attempt to rally the Metropolitans, and the Boston Red Sox’s creative extension of the nefarious “Curse of the Bambino”) but may be the greatest World Series game of all time – was played on this date in 1986.
Loading…: Windows XP first opened up on desktops 23 years ago today.
Install it: And it was Oct. 25, 2001, when Microsoft released the Windows XP operating system, successor to the popular Windows ME and Windows 2000 systems.
Billed as the first specifically consumer-oriented OS, Windows XP (which stands for “experience”) would sell more than 400 million copies before being supplanted by Windows Vista in 2007.
It’s a Picasso: Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theater designer Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) – cofounder of the Cubist movement, coinventor of the collage and one of the 20th Century’s most influential artists – would be 143 years old today.
Mrs. C: Marion Ross, here mothering the Fonz, was America’s Mom for more than a decade.
Also born on Oct. 25 were Scottish judge, philosopher, deist and linguistic scholar Lord James Burnett Monboddo (1714-1799), a pioneering anthropologist who got a jump on Darwinian evolution; French composer George Bizet (1838-1875), a Romantic era standout remembered best for composing the masterpiece “Carmen”; American physicist William Higinbotham (1910-1994), who helped develop the nuclear bomb and also created the first videogame (as a staffer at Long Island’s own Brookhaven National Laboratory); American actress and author Marion Ross (born 1928), known best for her Emmy-nominated run as Marion Cunningham on the classic sitcom “Happy Days”; and American novelist, short story writer and literary critic Anne Tyler (born 1941), who wrote “The Accidental Tourist” and dozens of other bestsellers.
Dark Horse: And take a bow, Katy Perry! The American singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and television personality (born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson) – ranked among history’s best-selling music artists and the undisputed “Queen of Camp” – turns 40 today.
Wish the once (and future?) “American Idol” judge well at editor@innovateli.com, where we Unconditionally love your news tips and always Smile when you share calendar events (unless we Roar, which also happens).
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 55 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
First on your dial…: Two Emmy winners and a National Public Radio veteran were among the seven new members inducted Oct. 19 into the Hofstra University Radio Hall of Fame.
Hofstra alumni, students, faculty and administrators gathered at the Hofstra University Club in Hempstead to celebrate the inductees, each part of the 65-year legacy of WRHU-88.7 FM (previously WHCH and WVHC), which has collected four National Association of Broadcasters awards for College Radio Station of the Year. This year’s inductees included Danielle Dellilo (Class of 2021), promotions director for WLTW and iHeartRadio Broadway; Shannan Ferry (2014), an Emmy-winning journalist with Spectrum News NY1; Jared Greenberg (2005), a professional-basketball studio and sideline reporter for TNT and NBA TV; and Shawn Novatt (2000), the faculty director of “The Voice of Nassau Community College.”
National Public Radio’s Stu Rushfield (1989), 35-year veteran of the radio news industry, and Damon Mock (2000, awarded posthumously), a longtime writer/editor for the Westbury Times and WCBS-AM, were also inducted, alongside John Santucci (2011), an Emmy-winning producer currently heading investigations for ABC News. “WRHU is singlehandedly responsible for my career,” Santucci noted. “I am forever grateful to Hofstra and honored to join the incredible Hofstra Radio Hall of Fame.”
“The dean”: Longtime administrator Jane Shearer’s love for Suffolk County Community College will live on.
…first in their hearts: Suffolk County Community College has rechristened its nursing school to honor the memory of a longtime faculty member.
The Selden-based college has proudly introduced the Jane F. Shearer School of Nursing, immortalizing a 30-year SCCC administrator who served decades as the Eastern Campus dean for academic affairs and president of the college’s Guild of Administrative Officers. Shearer (nee Vidovich), who passed away in 2019 after a bout with cancer, is also the namesake of an endowed scholarship that supports SCCC nursing students, while proceeds from the first-annual Jane F. Shearer School of Nursing Luncheon – held Oct. 4 at the Watermill in Smithtown – will help defray the costs for students taking the National Council Licensure Exam, required to become a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse in New York State.
Renaming the nursing school for the beloved administrator is “a meaningful way to signify a valued connection between the namesake and the college,” according to Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue. “Jane’s passion for education and her unwavering support for our students will continue to inspire future generations of nursing leaders,” Bonahue added. “The college community is grateful to the entire Shearer and Vidovich families.”
TOP OF THE SITE
News for you: Even with technological innovation soaring, trust in the national news media is at an all-time low – but it’s not too late for media outlets to regain America’s faith, if We the People demand it.
Forward thinking: Thank you for sharing this insightful and exciting newsletter with your entire innovation team – but don’t you have better things to do than forward emails? Their own subscriptions are always easy, always free and always a click away, you know.
ICYMI
A massive Empire State Development Corp. investment will spark New York BioGenesis Park – a 700,000-square-foot, $430 million Lake Success research mecca aiming to become the center of the Cell and Gene Therapy Universe.
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 Albany: Upstate plant-based food fabricator Whole Moon launches new nut-based beverage lineup aiming to elevate the alternative-milk market.
From California: San Diego-based aerospace modernizer Natilus debuts its first carbon emission-reducing, blended wing-body commercial passenger aircraft.
From California: San Jose-based sleep-science pioneer Hatch joins with Kentucky-based chicken king KFC Corp. to create custom “fried chicken” soothing-sound channel.
ON THE MOVE
Diana Martin
+ Diana Martin has been hired as vice president and chief of staff at Family and Children’s Association in Garden City. She was managing director at Smile Farms in Jericho.
+ Maximilian Trunz has been hired as assistant principal of the Nassau BOCES Rosemary Kennedy School in Wantagh. He was a behavior-management specialist and school-based, board-certified behavior analyst at The Riverview School 277Q in Queens.
+ Kristin Bendy has been hired as facilities project coordinator at Suffolk County Water Authority in Oakdale. She was a project manager at BAE Systems in Greenlawn.
+ Karen Fasano has been hired as chief nursing officer for St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown and vice president of nursing patient experience for Catholic Health Services. She was vice president of patient care services at Central Region Hartford Healthcare in Connecticut.
+ Joshua Bozek has been promoted to chief medical officer St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown. He previously served as chairman of the hospital’s Emergency Department.
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BELOW THE FOLD (For The Birds Edition)
Bird brains: Seagulls are smarter than you might think.
Feeling better: U.S. bird flu cases are slowly increasing, but the news isn’t all bad.
Trimmings: Your Thanksgiving turkey will cost significantly less this year.
Gull-able: Seagulls get no respect – although they should.
Flight plan: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, the wind beneath the regional economy’s wings for nearly six decades. Check them out.
