Everyone’s a winner: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and welcome to Spring, which sprung Thursday morning – making this both the end of another busy workweek and the start of everyone’s favorite season (well, maybe not everyone, but it’s close).
For about 100 million Americans, at least, that’s a solid win-win. And even if you prefer Summer (understandable), Fall (the colors sure are pretty) or even Winter (what’s wrong with you?!?), you can still celebrate another well-earned weekend. Just one more workday to go – and to kick it off, this engaging week-in-innovation review.
Pass the Old El Paso: Or whatever hard-shell taco brand you prefer — you really can’t miss on National Crunchy Taco Day.
Race disgrace: Today is March 21, known best as the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination – an annual U.N. counterattack against BS like this and this.
Don’t forget – it’s also National Memory Day, celebrating tried-and-true methods for improving your powers of recollection. (The jury is still out on the efficacy of ginkgo biloba, for those keeping score.)
Mixed menu message: Fresh from the oven today is National French Bread Day, buttering up crisp-crust loaves, and National Crunchy Taco Day, munching on the hard-shelled Mexican standards.
But you’ll want to enjoy those sparingly on National Healthy Fats Day, reminding us that fats and carbs should always be consumed in moderation. Thank goodness it’s also National California Strawberry Day, swimming in juicy (and healthful) fruitiness every March 21.
New zoo review: From California to Pennsylvania, where the Zoological Society of Philadelphia was chartered on this date in 1859, roughly 15 years before it opened America’s first zoo.
Ignorance, on the books: From Pennsylvania to Tennessee, where the Butler Act – a state statute making it illegal to teach Darwinian evolution, and anything else that countered the Biblical story of creation, in public schools and state universities – became law on March 21, 1925. (The anti-science law was repealed in 1967, though boneheaded reductive rhetoric is now making a comeback across the nation.)
Glowing description: From Tennessee back to California, where University of California chemists Glenn Seaborg and Arthur Wahl – about 18 months after they discovered it – renamed Atomic Element No. 94 “plutonium” (for then-planet, now-dwarf planet Pluto) 82 years ago today.
Get a piece of The Rock: Many ideas were floated for the island after Alcatraz closed as a federal prison (Native American heritage site? Shopping mall?), but it’s done just fine as a U.S. National Park site.
Rock steady: Just off the California coast, Alcatraz Prison – known alternately as “The Rock,” a former U.S. Army citadel-turned military prison-turned federal prison floating in the middle of San Francisco Bay – closed on March 21, 1963. (At least, as a prison.)
X factor: And back on the mainland, it was this date in 2006 when San Francisco-based technology entrepreneur Jack Dorsey sent the very first “tweet,” marking the unofficial birthdate of Twitter (Twitter Inc. actually launched in 2007).
Under new management, the once-great social media tool has devolved into a divisive cesspool of unfiltered hate speech, blighted by bottomless lies, racism and misogyny.
Henry Flipper: Soldier, engineer, pioneer.
Flipper-ing the script: American soldier, mining engineer, author and former slave Henry Ossian Flipper (1856-1940) – the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point – would be 169 years old today.
Also born on March 21 were American astronomer Antonia Coetana de Paiva Pereira Maury (1866-1952), who was aced out by institutional sexism but developed a stellar-classification system later adopted by the International Astronomical Union; French aircraft designer and manufacturer Maurice Farman (1877-1964), a champion bicyclist and racecar driver who greatly influenced early aviation; Austrian American biologist Paul Weiss (1898-1989), who showed real nerve; American vintner and industrialist Julio Gallo (1910-1993), who along with brother Earnest revolutionized the U.S. wine industry; and British actor Timothy Dalton (born Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett, 1946), an accomplished TV, stage and screen performer who made for a particularly gloomy 007 in two James Bond adventures.
Yes, for God’s sake, we will build a snowman! And take a bow, Kristen Anderson-Lopez! The American songwriter – an Academy, Emmy and Grammy award-winner who wrote the songs for “Frozen” (2013) and “Frozen II” (2019) alongside husband Robert Lopez – turns 53 today.
Give the talented lyricist – who also wrote the Oscar-winning song “Remember Me” for Pixar’s “Coco” and the hit “Agatha All Along” for Marvel’s “WandaVision” – your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we make your news tips sing (and always remember to publicize your calendar events).
About our sponsor: Whether it’s helping in site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Fish story: The Long Island Seafood Cuisine Trail is ready to get mouths watering – and possibly tip the scales on regional tourism.
Part of New York State’s Blue Food Transformation initiative, the South Shore Trail – the first of two “fish crawls” planned for Long Island – officially opened Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Snapper Inn in Oakdale. State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball joined representatives of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, as well as state and local elected officials, local business owners and other partners, to cast off the South Shore Trail, which runs from Bay Shore to Montauk and features 20 locations featuring local seafood and copious information about regional fishing industries.
Wednesday’s event also included sneak peeks at the forthcoming North Shore Trail, slated to run from Oyster Bay to Greenport, and the coming-soon Long Island Seafood Cuisine Trail digital app. “We are proud to have partnered on the Long Island Seafood Cuisine Trail, a project that aligns with our mission by highlighting the region’s aquaculture and seafood industries,” noted CCE Suffolk Executive Director Vanessa Lockel. “[These] industries are critical to both our economy and the health of our environment.”
The touch: Zucker School second-years work on their precision with the da Vinci 5 Surgical System.
The art of science: Cutting-edge robotic surgical technology is in play at one of Long Island’s leading medical schools.
In February, students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead enjoyed hands-on training with the da Vinci 5 Surgical System, an innovative tool designed to enhance minimally invasive laparoscopic surgeries. Manufactured by California-based medical-device maker Intuitive, the da Vinci 5 – which replicates a surgeon’s hand movements in real time, allowing for greater precision during bariatric surgery, hernia repair, surgical oncology and other complex internal procedures – has become an integral part of the Surgical Skills Training Course required of second-year Zucker School students.
Students at the Hofstra/Northwell institution were among the first in the nation to train on the da Vinci 5 system, setting “a new standard for undergraduate medical education,” according to Zucker School Dean David Battinelli. “Because robotic surgery eliminates direct tissue contact, the surgeon loses a natural source of tactile information,” added Zucker School Assistant Professor of Science Education Brian Pinard. “The da Vinci 5 addresses this by providing haptic feedback, allowing the surgeon to sense force and pressure through the instrument.”
TOP OF THE SITE
That’s a keeper: Stony Brook University scientists are part of an international team that have translated the earliest-ever images of the universe — 13 billion-year-old “baby pics” from just after the Big Bang.
Easy does it: Thank you for forwarding this educational and entertaining newsletter to your entire innovation team – but wouldn’t it be easier if they all had their own easy-and-free subscriptions? Yes … yes it would.
ICYMI
Twenty-eight affordable-housing projects across New York State have earned federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, including two on Long Island – creating a much-needed $24 million boost for regional workforce-housing initiatives.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
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 Massachusetts: Somerville-based advanced-substance spearhead Adept Materials introduces a premium paint/primer product with next-gen moisture-control tech.
From California: Los Angeles-based digital art authority XPPen redefines digital handwriting with a versatile color note pad for commercial, educational and artistic uses.
From Florida: Miami-based beverage baron Euroky introduces the world’s first physician-approved, evidence-based multifunctional vitality drink.
ON THE MOVE
Katie Stockhammer
+ Katie Stockhammer has been named the first-ever assistant director of Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts. She has previously served as the center’s development director and director of finance and operations, and as financial and executive director of the Friends of Staller.
+ Brian Tully has been hired as an associate at Uniondale-based Ruskin Moscou Faltischek. He was an associate at Mendes & Mount in Manhattan.
+ Kristen Fallon has been hired as a social media manager at Hauppauge-based Austin Williams. She was a senior campaign strategist at Net Natives in Brooklyn.
+ Sareena Sawhney has been promoted to partner at Garden City-based BST & Co. CPAs. She was director of forensic accounting and litigation support.
+ Michael Balboni has been appointed chairman-elect of the Adelphi University Board of Trustees. The Adelphi alumnus is founder and managing director of RedLand Strategies.
+ Steven Kent has been appointed chief economist of the Long Island Association Research Institute. He is an associate professor at the Molloy University School of Business.
+ Bohemia-based P.W. Grosser Consulting has announced several hires:
- Field Hydrogeologist Deborah Teran was a natural gas detection technician at Storti Quality Services-Con Edison in the Bronx.
- Field Hydrogeologist Robert D’Albora was an animal caretaker and therapy coordinator at Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial in Yonkers.
- Senior Engineering Technician Josh Wessel was a senior engineering technician at Nelson & Pope Engineers and Surveyors in Melville.
- Senior Engineer Nicholas Diers was a project engineer at Hayduk Engineering in Ronkonkoma.
+ GianCarlo Salerno has been hired as an SEO strategist at Hauppauge-based Austin Williams. He held the same position at Prescription PR in Northport.
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 Town of Islip). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Spring Cleaning Edition)
Clean sweep: Spring cleaning is as psychological as it is hygienic.
So, don’t clean in Fall? Of course you should – but Spring cleaning is more of a biological imperative.
Toxic avenger: Breathe easier with fragrance-free, certified nontoxic cleaning products.
You missed a spot: But you won’t, with this handy Spring cleaning guide.
Clean living: Please continue supporting the awesome agencies that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, which keeps it clean – and productive – when it comes to business success. Check them out.
