In an attempt to make Ukraine more real for all of us, this country on the far side of Europe, I am including the information below that was taken from Wikipedia on the internet. I hope it helps us visualize what the situation is there.
Ukraine is an important agricultural country and can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
• 1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
• 3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world’s volume);
• 1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
• 2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
• 3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
• 4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
• 5th largest rye producer in the world;
• 5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
• 8th place in the world in wheat exports;
• 9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
• 16th place in the world in cheese exports.
It is the second-largest country by area in Europe and has a population of over 40 million — more than Poland.
Ukraine ranks:
• 1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
• 2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
• 2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world’s reserves);
• 2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
• 2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
• 3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
• 4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
• 7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)
Ukraine is an important industrialized country and ranks
• 1st in Europe in ammonia production; Europe’s 2nd’s and the world’s 4th largest natural gas pipeline system;
• 3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
• 3rd in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
• 3rd in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
• 3rd largest iron exporter in the world
• 4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
• 4th largest manufacturer of rocket launchers, in clay exports and in titanium exports
• 8th in exports of ores and concentrates;
• 9th in exports of defense industry products;
• 10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).
Ukraine matters.
These are some reasons why its independence is important to the rest of the world.
The percentage of positive COVID-19 tests in Suffolk County continues to plummet, raising expectations of more mask-optional or mask-free options for businesses and public places in the weeks and months ahead.
The percentage of positive tests, which the Omicron wave caused to crest in the mid to high twenties in the first few weeks after the start of the year, continues to plunge into the low single digits.
Indeed, as of Feb. 20, the seven-day average for positive tests was down to 2.2%, which is considerably lower than the mid to high 20% tests in the first few weeks of January, according to public information from the New York State Department of Health.
“The data are very promising and supportive of the idea that masks may not be necessary in social settings,” Sean Clouston, associate professor in the Program in Public Health and the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, explained in an email.
A spring and summer that lifted some pandemic rules would relieve the strain of a public health threat that claimed the lives of community members, shut down businesses, altered school learning environments and created a mental health strain.
Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, explained that the decline in positive tests was “expected” and that it was “reassuring that the predictions held.”
The Health Service Commissioner is hoping, unless new, more virulent variants develop that “we will enter into a period of respite from COVID-19.
Pigott, however, added that Suffolk County hospitals still had COVID patients. People over 65 have seen the greatest decrease in hospitalizations. The senior age group had accounted for 65 to 70% of hospitalizations last January.
That rate has steadily declined amid a high rate of vaccinations and boosters.
The most recent surge caused by the Omicron variant has elevated the levels of hospitalizations among younger age groups, especially for those who are not vaccinated, Pigott explained.
On the positive side, hospital stays have likely generally been shorter than in the earlier days of the pandemic as the “medical profession has learned over the course of time what interventions work best,” Pigott added.
Monoclonal antibodies and antiviral medications such as remdesivir have reduced the likelihood of significant illness when people with positive tests receive these treatments soon after diagnosis, Pigott explained.
As for boosters, Pigott didn’t anticipate the broad need for additional shots in the immediate future.
“Recent studies are showing the booster shot to hold up quite well over time, so perhaps a booster will not be needed, at least not for a while,” he wrote.
Although doctors have identified a new subvariant of Omicron called BA.2 that the county is monitoring carefully, the World Health Organization has not classified it as a variant of concern.
Mental health
Even as the physical threat from COVID-19 may be receding, health care professionals suggested that the mental health toll from the pandemic may require continued monitoring and support.
Pigott cited two new CDC studies that indicated the children’s mental health crisis has gotten worse during the pandemic.
Adam Gonzalez, associate professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, explained that young adults, in particular, have been struggling with increased rates of anxiety and depression.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Household Pulse Survey, which is a 20-minute online survey, 39.2% of people nationally aged 18 to 29 had indicators of anxiety or depression between Jan. 26 and Feb. 7 of this year.
The group with the lowest percentage of such indicators was 80 years and above, with 9.3% of that age experiencing these indicators.
“The elevated rates of mental health problems highlight the need for mental health screening, referral and treatment — incorporating mental health as part of one’s overall health and well-being,” Gonzalez added.
Stony Brook Medicine is screening for depression throughout its practices to identify people who need mental health care support, Gonzalez wrote.
Cognitive behavioral therapy in particular is effective in helping improve mental health, with a group format proving just as effective as individual therapy, Gonzalez explained.
Gonzalez added that even a single session can help improve mental health, putting people back on a healthier path.
Gonzalez has been partnering with Jessica Schleider, assistant professor in Clinical Psychology at Stony Brook University, to teach people “how to break down problems into manageable steps. Our overall goal is to help get people the skills they need to effectively manage their mental health.”
Huntington Station luge competitor Matt Mortinson, on top, competes with teammate Jayson Terdiman in the Winterberg, Germany November 2017. Photo from USA Luge
After athletes from around the world raced across and flew over ice and snow in Beijing, much of it manufactured, some Olympians are likely to need to adjust to a return to their everyday life.
India Pagan, right, at last year’s summer Olympics opening ceremony. Photo Pagan
Two-time Olympian Matthew Mortensen, who competed in Sochi, Russia, in 2014 and in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018 in the luge, suggested that the competitors coming back needed to give themselves time to settle back into their routines.
While he cautioned that he couldn’t speak for all athletes, he described how “you are going so hard for so long during any season. One capped by the Olympic Games brings even more adrenaline and mental stress. Once it was over for me, I just felt emotionally and mentally drained.”
Mortensen, who grew up in Huntington Station and now lives in Connecticut, spent March and April of each Olympic year focusing on his physical and mental recovery.
As with each Olympics, the 2022 Games in Beijing had its own storylines and challenges, as American athletes traveled across the world without support networks who couldn’t attend because of strict COVID rules.
“With COVID restrictions and protocols, lack of spectators, a diplomatic ban, differences in how long athletes could stay at the games after their [events] had finished, etc., I couldn’t help but feel like the athletes at this Olympics were not getting the ‘full experience,’” Mortensen explained in an email. “That being said, I’m sure it was still wonderful for them.”
Indeed, Stony Brook University graduate student India Pagan, who is a stand-out starting basketball player and is earning her master’s degree, attended her first games in Tokyo as a representative of the first Puerto Rican basketball team to compete in the Olympics last summer.
“It crossed my mind, what would these [games] be like if we didn’t have all these COVID restrictions, how much more fun it would have been,” she said.
Still, Pagan, who had routine COVID and temperature tests and had to show her badge regularly, called the experience a “blast.”
While Pagan said she, too, was “sad” when the Olympics were over, she said she was “thankful” she got to participate and appreciated the reception she received when she returned, which included a parade in her native New London, Connecticut.
“I’m an Olympian now,” she said. “It’s a different life. People see the tattoo on my leg, and they say, ‘Can I take a picture with you?’”
Russian skater
Mortensen and Pagan said they both were well aware of some of the storylines that dominated the Beijing games.
One of the biggest narratives involved 15-year-old Russian skating sensation Kamila Valieva. After the team event, in which the Russian Olympic Committee won a gold medal while the United States earned a silver, Valieva tested positive for a banned substance.
The International Olympic Committee allowed her to compete in the individual skating event, where she was first after the short program, but fell in the long program and finished in fourth, behind two of her teammates.
Luge competitor Matthew Mortensen, on right in photo, with teammate Jayson Terdiman in 2018. Left photo from USA Luge
Like many other athletes and commentators, Mortensen believed Valieva shouldn’t have been competing after her positive test.
“There has to be a hard line on doping, especially when it comes to the Olympic Games,” Mortensen wrote. “The adults around her let her down and the Court of Arbitration for Sport made the wrong decision.”
He said he couldn’t imagine competing knowing that her competitors felt like she was a cheater. He expected that the mental trauma she experienced would be “long lasting.”
Pagan said Team USA officials warn athletes to be careful about anything they take that might lead to a positive drug test.
“You never know what type of substances could be illegal,” Pagan said. “You have to be very careful.”
Love for the Games
Mortensen said he watched the Games every day, getting up early to support his former teammates live.
“I still love the Olympics and everything that the Games represent,” he wrote in an email. He finds them “fascinating” and enjoys cheering on Team USA.
In addition to lasting memories, Mortensen and Pagan both appreciate the camaraderie and friendships that came from participating in a marquee athletic event on the world stage.
“In our sport, we find ourselves competing against most of the same athletes for our entire career,” Mortensen wrote. “We travel together, hang out together, play sports together and just spend a lot of time around each other in general over the years,” which helps build enduring friendships.
Just hours after the competition, Pagan said she and other Olympians interacted in the game room.
“We do everything we can for our country” and then they connect with other people who are doing the same, she said.
Pagan said she has stayed in touch with several members of the South African track team and with a wrestler from Australia.
One of her new friends asked her if she thought she’d be able to see each other in person again.
“Maybe life will bring us back together,” Pagan said. “It’s cool that we’re still friends.”
Miller Place Superintendent Marianne Cartisano. Photo from MPSD
A beloved superintendent will be retiring from Miller Place school district, effective June 2022.
Marianne Cartisano said that the retirement has been in the works for years so she can focus on the next chapter in her life.
“I’m going to sleep,” she joked. “I’ve been in administration for the entire 31 years of my career. So, it’ll be the first time probably, since I’m about 16 — even when having my children — that I will have an extended period of time just to do an appropriate decompression.”
She plans on spending time with her family, and will continue to mentor.
“I had spoken to the board a couple of years ago when we were planning a succession plan for Miller Place,” she added. “Mr. Lipshie has been my right-hand person for 10 years so that has made the transition a little bit easier.”
Deputy Superintendent Seth Lipshie will be taking on the role of superintendent of schools
“I’m super excited, I’m motivated,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for me to continue my service in Miller Place.”
Lipshie said he is in his 32nd year in the district and he’s done a bit of everything while working there. From 1990 to 2001, he was a social studies teacher and in 2001 he became assistant principal at North Country Road Middle School. From 2002 to 2010 he served as principal of Miller Place High School before being appointed as assistant superintendent in 2010 and deputy superintendent in 2014.
Deputy Superintendent Seth Lipshie. Photo from MPSD
“I’ve either hired or interviewed almost probably a good majority of the staff that now works in the workplace,” he said. “One of the things I think that I’ll bring to the table is some stability, something familiar.”
By having all this experience, Lipshie said that he has developed “some very strong ties with staff and the unions in terms of making sure that we can serve the students as best we can without any issues.”
He has also been adviser for the AV Club as well as spearheaded the Mock Trial Club. He coached soccer at both the middle school and the high school, was the varsity basketball coach for nine years and has been an umpire for high school baseball for the last 17 years.
Cartisano said that promoting Lipshie to the role of superintendent was a no-brainer — it was important to keep things consistent.
“Having been here now 10 years, that’s a long stretch of the superintendency, especially with the last two COVID years,” she said. “It’s been so rewarding, and the work is so purposeful and meaningful — it just has been a great run.”
But Cartisano said that Lipshie is not a carbon copy of her.
“It’s a marriage made by workplace, and we probably agree on 85% of the time,” she said. “The other 15% we don’t, and that has allowed this district to move forward because we don’t have one mindset, we have different perspectives. That’s the way we lead. It’s not that Seth is a mirror image of me nor me of him. That would not be good leadership.”
She added that there is nobody that could have been a better fit.
“This is an organization that has 500 staff members that show up every day and educate our children, we have 2,500 customers who get off buses every single day for us, and it’s important that the school district stays consistent,” Cartisano said. “We’re very excited.”
Members of the research team include: Daniel Mazzone (formerly of Brookhaven Lab, now at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland), Yao Shen (Brookhaven Lab), Gilberto Fabbris (Argonne National Laboratory), Hidemaro Suwa (University of Tokyo and University of Tennessee), Hu Miao (Oak Ridge National Laboratory—ORNL), Jennifer Sears* (Brookhaven Lab), Jian Liu (U Tennessee), Christian Batista (U Tennessee and ORNL), and Mark Dean (Brookhaven Lab). *Photo Credit: DESY, Marta Mayer
Scientists identify a long-sought magnetic state predicted 60 years ago
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a long-predicted magnetic state of matter called an “antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator.”
“Broadly speaking, this is a novel type of magnet,” said Brookhaven Lab physicist Mark Dean, senior author on a paper describing the research just published in Nature Communications. “Since magnetic materials lie at the heart of much of the technology around us, new types of magnets are both fundamentally fascinating and promising for future applications.”
The new magnetic state involves strong magnetic attraction between electrons in a layered material that make the electrons want to arrange their magnetic moments, or “spins,” into a regular up-down “antiferromagnetic” pattern. The idea that such antiferromagnetism could be driven by quirky electron coupling in an insulating material was first predicted in the 1960s as physicists explored the differing properties of metals, semiconductors, and insulators.
“Sixty years ago, physicists were just starting to consider how the rules of quantum mechanics apply to the electronic properties of materials,” said Daniel Mazzone, a former Brookhaven Lab physicist who led the study and is now at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland. “They were trying to work out what happens as you make the electronic ‘energy gap’ between an insulator and a conductor smaller and smaller. Do you just change a simple insulator into a simple metal where the electrons can move freely, or does something more interesting happen?”
The prediction was that, under certain conditions, you could get something more interesting: namely, the “antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator” just discovered by the Brookhaven team.
Why is this material so exotic and interesting? To understand, let’s dive into those terms and explore how this new state of matter forms.
In an antiferromagnet, the electrons on adjacent atoms have their axes of magnetic polarization (spins) aligned in alternating directions: up, down, up, down and so on. On the scale of the entire material those alternating internal magnetic orientations cancel one another out, resulting in no net magnetism of the overall material. Such materials can be switched quickly between different states. They’re also resistant to information being lost due to interference from external magnetic fields. These properties make antiferromagnetic materials attractive for modern communication technologies.
Next we have excitonic. Excitons arise when certain conditions allow electrons to move around and interact strongly with one another to form bound states. Electrons can also form bound states with “holes,” the vacancies left behind when electrons jump to a different position or energy level in a material. In the case of electron-electron interactions, the binding is driven by magnetic attractions that are strong enough to overcome the repulsive force between the two like-charged particles. In the case of electron-hole interactions, the attraction must be strong enough to overcome the material’s “energy gap,” a characteristic of an insulator.
“An insulator is the opposite of a metal; it’s a material that doesn’t conduct electricity,” said Dean. Electrons in the material generally stay in a low, or “ground,” energy state. “The electrons are all jammed in place, like people in a filled amphitheater; they can’t move around,” he said. To get the electrons to move, you have to give them a boost in energy that’s big enough to overcome a characteristic gap between the ground state and a higher energy level.
An artist’s impression of how the team identified this historic phase of matter. The researchers used x-rays to measure how spins (blue arrows) move when they are disturbed and were able to show that they oscillate in length in the pattern illustrated above. This special behavior occurs because the amount of electrical charge at each site (shown as yellow disks) can also vary and is the fingerprint used to pin down the novel behavior.
In very special circumstances, the energy gain from magnetic electron-hole interactions can outweigh the energy cost of electrons jumping across the energy gap.
Now, thanks to advanced techniques, physicists can explore those special circumstances to learn how the antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator state emerges.
A collaborative team worked with a material called strontium iridium oxide (Sr3Ir2O7), which is only barely insulating at high temperature. Daniel Mazzone, Yao Shen (Brookhaven Lab), Gilberto Fabbris (Argonne National Laboratory), and Jennifer Sears (Brookhaven Lab) used x-rays at the Advanced Photon Source—a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne National Laboratory—to measure the magnetic interactions and associated energy cost of moving electrons. Jian Liu and Junyi Yang from the University of Tennessee and Argonne scientists Mary Upton and Diego Casa also made important contributions.
The team started their investigation at high temperature and gradually cooled the material. With cooling, the energy gap gradually narrowed. At 285 Kelvin (about 53 degrees Fahrenheit), electrons started jumping between the magnetic layers of the material but immediately formed bound pairs with the holes they’d left behind, simultaneously triggering the antiferromagnetic alignment of adjacent electron spins. Hidemaro Suwa and Christian Batista of the University of Tennessee performed calculations to develop a model using the concept of the predicted antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator, and showed that this model comprehensively explains the experimental results.
“Using x-rays we observed that the binding triggered by the attraction between electrons and holes actually gives back more energy than when the electron jumped over the band gap,” explained Yao Shen. “Because energy is saved by this process, all the electrons want to do this. Then, after all electrons have accomplished the transition, the material looks different from the high-temperature state in terms of the overall arrangement of electrons and spins. The new configuration involves the electron spins being ordered in an antiferromagnetic pattern while the bound pairs create a ‘locked-in’ insulating state.”
The identification of the antiferromagnetic excitonic insulator completes a long journey exploring the fascinating ways electrons choose to arrange themselves in materials. In the future, understanding the connections between spin and charge in such materials could have potential for realizing new technologies.
Brookhaven Lab’s role in this research was funded by the DOE Office of Science, with collaborators receiving funding from a range of additional sources noted in the paper. The scientists also used computational resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov. [https://www.energy.gov/science/]
The following incidents have been reported by the Suffolk County Police:
Centereach
■ Harbor Freight on Middle Country Road in Centereach called the police on Feb. 11 to report that a man allegedly stole a 3500 Watt Inverter Generator valued at approximately $850.
■ Ocean State Job Lot on Middle Country Road in Centereach reported a petit larceny on Feb. 10. A woman allegedly stole four backpacks, two Apple device chargers and two couch protectors. The items were valued at approximately $170.
Commack
■ Walmart on Crooked Hill Road in Commack reported a petit larceny on Feb. 6. A man and woman allegedly stole two TI-84 calculators, two webcams and miscellaneous household items valued at $380.
■ Ulta Beauty on Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack reported that a man allegedly stole $1200 worth of fragrances on Feb. 8.
■ A resident on Meadow Lark Drive in Commack reported that someone stole a wallet, debit cards and cash from a center console in their unlocked vehicle parked in the driveway on Feb. 7. Someone attempted to use the debit cards at a 7-Eleven but were unsuccessful.
■ Home Depot on Jericho Turnpike in Commack reported a shoplifter on Feb. 10. A man allegedly stole wire worth approximately $1200.
■ Famous Footwear on Jericho Turnpike in Commack called the police on Feb. 9 to report that a man and a woman allegedly worked together to steal three pairs of shoes worth approximately $350.
East Northport
■ A resident on Ketcham Court in East Northport reported the theft of a 2019 BMW X5 worth $70,000 on Feb. 9. The vehicle had been parked on the driveway and had been locked.
Fort Salonga
■ CVS on Fort Salonga Road in Fort Salonga reported a petit larceny on Feb. 9. Two men allegedly stole assorted over the counter medications valued at approximately $250.
Halesite
■ Juniors Pizza on New York Avenue in Halesite reported a burglary on Feb. 11. A man allegedly pried open the back door and stole cash from the register.
Hauppauge
■ A resident on Lincoln Blvd. in Hauppauge called the police on Feb. 7 to report that someone cut the lock off of their garage door and stole two rims and two tires and two ATVs. The items were valued at approximately $14,000.
■ Dunkin Donuts on Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge reported a burglary on Feb. 7. The front glass door was broken by a large rock and an undetermined amount of cash was stolen from three registers.
Head of the Harbor
■ A resident on Wicks Lane in Head of the Harbor called the police on Feb. 8 to report that someone stole a 2021 Mercedes Benz G63 valued at $280,000 from their home.
Huntington Station
■ Bloomingdales on Walt Whitman Road in Huntington Station reported that two men allegedly stole 12 men’s polo shirts valued at approximately $1500 on Feb. 8.
■ A food delivery driver reported being held up by two men on Leyden Street in Huntington Station who displayed a firearm on Feb. 11. An iPhone, wallet, cash and bank cards were stolen. The victim was not injured.
■ Marshalls on New York Ave. in Huntington Station reported a petit larceny on Feb. 8. A man allegedly stole a shopping cart filled with assorted clothing valued at approximately $900.
Kings Park
■ A resident on Cypress Drive in Kings Park called the police on Feb. 7 to report that items including cash and credit cards were stolen from an unlocked vehicle in front of their home.
Lake Grove
■ Macy’s at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove reported a petit larceny on Feb. 9. Two unknown suspects allegedly stole assorted clothing valued at approximately $680.
■ A resident on Laurelton Ave. in Lake Grove called the police on Feb. 10 to report the theft of a 2005 Yamaha ATV chained to a camper on the driveway. The vehicle was valued at approximately $2000.
Lake Ronkonkoma
■ Lake Liquors on Hawkins Ave. in Lake Ronkonkoma reported that a man entered the store on Feb. 7 and allegedly hid a bottle of Jack Daniels in his jacket before walking out. The item was valued at $31.
Melville
■ Two men entered AT&T on Walt Whitman Road in Melville on Feb. 9 and allegedly stole three iPhone 13s. The merchandise was valued at approximately $2,900.
Port Jefferson Station
■ A resident on Piedmont Drive in Port Jefferson Station reported that an Amazon package had been stolen from their doorstep on Feb. 5. The value of the items was approximately $150.
■ A resident on Grove Street in Port Jefferson Station called the police on Feb. 9 to report the theft of a catalytic converter from a 2001 Honda Accord that was parked in front of the house. The stolen item was valued at approximately $800.
Rocky Point
■ A resident on Dawn Road in Rocky Point reported that someone stole an American flag from their porch on Feb. 9.
Smithtown
■ A car parked at St. Catherine Medical Center on Route 25A in Smithtown was broken into on Feb. 5 by an unknown suspect who stole a wallet and keys.
■ A 2005 Jeepparked at the LIRR station in Smithtown was reported stolen on Feb. 10. A spare key had been left in the center console. The vehicle was valued at $2000.
South Setauket
■ Home Depot on Pond Path in South Setauket reported a shoplifter on Feb. 8. A woman allegedly stole two Milwaukee grinders and a Makita circular saw. The items were valued at approximately $275.
■ Target on Pond Path in South Setauket reported a petit larceny on Feb. 5. A man and a woman entered the store, went to the video game section, used a special magnet key to open the cabinet and allegedly stole 13 various video games valued at approximately $700.
Stony Brook
■ The theft of road and field equipment from a job site on Oxhead Road in Stony Brook was reported on Feb. 10. Stolen items included a Ground Penetrating Radar and highway construction materials valued at $1,000. The items had been left on the side of the road while a crew was measuring underground utilities.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about these incidents can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS.
Rocky Point High School students helped create this mural of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photo from Seth Meier
“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that’s where it’s at.” — Jesse Owens
After years of training and dedication, American athletes have been competing on the world stage in Beijing, China, through the Winter Olympics in front of a communist regime that is openly competing with the United States — not only in athletics, but for social, economic, political and military prowess — to be the top superpower.
Eighty-six years ago, during the beginning of German aggression in Europe, Jesse Owens, an African American track-and-field standout athlete competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In front of fascist powers that were bent on expanding their national power, this Alabama native was a highly regarded runner for the United States. In front of Adolf Hitler, Owen received cheers and along the way he shattered the myth of the Aryan race and the racial superiority of the Nazi regime.
Known as the Buckeye Bullet from his competitive days running at Ohio State, Owens won four gold medals and gained the respect of the global community that was on the brink of World War II. During the games, a fatigued Owens was told with Ralph Metcalfe to replace Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller in the 400-meter relay race.
At first, Owens was reluctant to run, he was tired, and believed that these men had the ability to win this race for America. While he continued to succeed at these games, he believed in the ability of these runners that had faced anti-Semitism at home and during these games. The American track-and-field athletes won 11 gold medals, six of them were earned by African American athletes.
Owens confidently represented the character and pride of the United States in front of the Germans, whose government sponsored racism and hatred toward minority groups. But when he arrived home, through the long-standing policy of segregation he was unable to gain the same rights as white citizens until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed.
Rosa Parks
Another native of Alabama that changed the scope of civil rights was Rosa Parks. While she was traveling home by bus in 1955 from her job at the Montgomery Fair Department Store, several Black people were told to leave their seats to make enough room for white riders. Parks refused to stand with the other Blacks, where she defiantly remained seated to oppose the unfairness of segregation. Like other Black citizens who lived in Alabama, she observed the fire department use of hoses to push back civil rights demonstrators, the police using German Shepherd dogs to assault crowds of protesters, and the use of force to physically carry away Blacks who were engaged in sit-ins that were waged at segregated areas such as restaurants, park benches and local businesses.
By refusing to leave her seat, Parks broke the Jim Crow segregationist laws, was photographed as she was arrested, fingerprinted and sent to jail. Her name has become synonymous for people of all backgrounds to oppose widespread civil rights abuses that have been seen within the United States.
In 2012, at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, President Barack Obama (D) sat in the original bus seat and reflected on the strength of this little woman who was a giant toward the cause of civil rights.
Thurgood Marshall
In 1908, Thurgood Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a railroad porter. At an early age, his father took him to local courtrooms to observe the legal procedures for the defense and the prosecution of local cases.
As he grew older, Marshall was concerned about the high death rate of African Americans within the streets of Baltimore and how Blacks were defended in the court of law. He was an outstanding student in high school and attended the African American equivalent to Princeton University at Lincoln University near Oxford, Pennsylvania.
While he was a brilliant student, Marshall enjoyed his social life and saw some trouble through a hazing incident within his fraternity. He realized the necessity of being more dedicated to his studies, as he joined the debate club and began to see law as his future calling.
During his college years Marshall lived through the tribulations of segregation, where he helped desegregate a local movie theater. Once he graduated, he began his pursuit of attending law school, but he was denied his first choice of University of Maryland Law School.
Through the unjust racial policies of this prominent school, he was refused admission to attain this degree, since he was Black. As a married student, Marshall graduated as a valedictorian at Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and later turned down the chance of attending Harvard University to begin his own law office in East Baltimore.
This emerging legal icon was interested in gaining positive changes to the civil rights laws that prevented the growth of rights for African Americans. Marshall was known for his devotion to fight against police brutality, unfair practices of landlords, and he also supported labor organizations and businesses.
Always with an eye toward helping others, he had two key cases that saw him fight for the rights of Blacks against segregation. First, he opposed the unfair “separate but equal” parts of the GI Bill that limited the rights African American veterans that served within every component of the Armed Forces at home and overseas during World War II.
In 1952, he fought against the government to overturn the segregationist policies that were established within the American educational system.
After excelling within many government legal positions, in 1967 President Lyndon Johnson (D) nominated Marshall to become the first African American associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a legal pioneer who always looked forward to change, through the positive beliefs that all Americans were able to get ahead in the United States, where they should receive all of the rights of the constitution.
Aretha Franklin
All I’m askin’ is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
The legendary lyrics of “Respect” were sung by trailblazer Aretha Franklin in 1967. Born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, her father the Rev. C.L. Franklin was a famous Baptist minister and her mom Barbara was a gospel singer.
By the time Aretha was 14 years old, she had already recorded her first gospel single, in Detroit. In 1960, she was scouted for Columbia Records by New York’s John Hammond, who also signed Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to professional contracts. But it would take a few years before Franklin hit fame in the late 1960s through her association with Atlantic Records and its music savvy heads, Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler.
This was the beginning of her pursuit to consistently earn top 10 hits and gold records. Along the way, as the Queen of Soul, she sold millions of records such as with “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Respect,” a No. 1 hit. Her music was adored by people of all races, as her records made it through the tumultuous moments of the 1960s. Franklin’s success was felt during this trying decade that saw major Vietnam anti-war and civil rights protests. After the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, ironically in her birthplace of Memphis, Franklin sang at his service in honor of this noted leader.
Many fans noticed the soulful feeling of sincerity when listening to the words of Franklin that always struck a chord with people that enjoyed music. Into the early 1970s, she gained big hits with “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Spanish Harlem” but at this moment soul music tastes began to change with disco and hip-hop.
Her popularity never wavered on the national level as she performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton (D) and Obama, and she was given the Presidential Medal of Honor by George W. Bush (R) in 2005.
The musical grace and strength of Franklin was also recognized in 1987 when she was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1994, she was honored at the Kennedy Center and was given the National Medal of Arts in 1999.
Franklin represents the countless examples of African American accomplishments that added to the national character and pride of the United States during all periods of time.
Rich Acritelli is a history teacher at Rocky Point High School and adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College.
U.S. Congressman Tom Suozzi at a press conference on Feb. 10. Photo by Julianne Mosher
When Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) talked about increasing affordable housing options across New York during her recent State of the State address, it was something that most residents could agree with. Then the State of the State book came out with more details.
Local legislators paused when they saw that a proposed plan would allow residents to build an accessory dwelling unit without seeking approval from their local zoning board, essentially eliminating single-family zoning laws. While most Long Island elected officials believe that our area needs more affordable housing, the majority are not on board with Hochul’s proposed plan.
It seems as if she has good intentions. Such a plan would enable a homeowner to create an apartment. One hope is that grown children can live at home longer and have more time to save for their own house. Or, it could provide a space for aging parents who can’t afford the cost of living in New York or keep up with all the things that a household needs. Being able to transform a basement, attic or garage into an apartment sounds better than families flying back and forth to another state to see their parents or children.
As it becomes more and more challenging to buy a home, living with one’s parents longer sometimes is the more affordable option. And while there was a time that people lived at home longer simply by sleeping in their childhood bedrooms, now with more teenagers going away to college, when they come back home, they crave their own space and don’t want to explain to mom and dad why they are just leaving the house at 10 p.m. to meet up with friends. They would like to have company over and not worry about their parents coming into the living room and joining the conversation or embarrassing them.
And older parents crave their freedom, too. Gone are the days when grandma and grandpa would come to live with the family and sleep in the guest room. As houses have become larger in the last few decades, people have become accustomed to having a good amount of personal space.
It should also be noted that in Brookhaven and Huntington, the towns allow accessory apartments on premises with specific regulations, including that the owner of the lot upon which the accessory apartment is located must reside within the dwelling that contains the ADU, and only one accessory apartment is permitted on the premises. Smithtown has limited exceptions.
Of course, we understand why many elected officials are dubious. This proposed Hochul plan has to be thought out thoroughly. Many areas of Long Island are overpopulated or are becoming so. While keeping our parents and children close to us is nice, it can be aggravating when cars are parked all over our streets and roadways are congested. We know not everyone will build an apartment for family members to have more affordable living conditions, but many will. And some will add them to their homes, not to help out family members but to collect rent from strangers.
Our infrastructure is not able to attract or keep people on the Island even though we want our children and parents to stay here.
Our planning and zoning boards work together to decide on what’s best for our areas and allow residents to speak up and express their concerns. To increase affordable housing units along the North Shore, elected officials will need to come together to brainstorm and identify the best areas to create less expensive housing options, such as being near train stations and major roadways. Options like these can keep additional cars off our local streets, so a quick run to the grocery store doesn’t turn into an hour-long ordeal.
Change can be good, but putting the responsibility of increasing affordable housing in the hands of residents who may not be experts on density and infrastructure is not a wise decision.
Abhay Deshpande with a group of students at Stony Brook University. Photo from SBU
By Daniel Dunaief
The American Association for the Advancement of Science recently named physicist Abhay Deshpande a Fellow.
Abhay Deshpande. Photo from SBU
Deshpande, who thinks big about small matter, has distinguished himself with his discoveries, ideas, leadership, innovation, and mentorship. The Director of Electron Ion Collider Science at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and SUNY Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University will become a fellow as part of an online ceremony on Feb. 19.
“I was really pleasantly honored” to be a part of a group that includes so many leaders in science, including actor and science advocate Alan Alda, who founded the eponymous Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook, said Deshpande.
Deshpande’s collaborators and scientific colleagues said Deshpande deserved the AAAS honor, which the society has given since 1874.
“Everything [Deshpande] has been doing is advancing science,” said Haiyan Gao, Associate Laboratory Director in Nuclear and Particle Physics at BNL.
Fundamental questions
A physicist who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Bombay, which is now called the University of Mumbai, his Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and his PhD at Yale University, Deshpande has put his academic and intellectual talents to work answering fundamental questions about atoms.
In his research, Deshpande studies protons in the nucleus.
Inside protons and neutrons are quarks and gluons, which are fundamental particles. Gluons have no mass and bind the quarks together, which suggests that the mass of protons must come from quarks — except that it doesn’t.
“The surprise is that all quarks together only account for about one percent of the proton’s mass,” Deshpande explained in an email.
Researchers don’t know how the components of quarks and gluons and their energies contribute to the proton’s mass. At the same time, Deshpande wants to know about the origin of a proton’s spin.
Quarks constitute about a quarter of a proton’s spin and gluon’s another quarter, which suggests that the remaining spin should come from their orbital angular momentum.
Deshpande never thought about the mass deficit until a few years ago because of his focus on a proton’s spin. “The same rotational motion of the quarks and gluons could not only explain the spin, but hopefully explain the mass,” Deshpande said. Such a solution to both unanswered questions would be “elegant,” he said.
EIC champion
A$2 billion Electron Ion Collider, which the Department of Energy awarded BNL in 2020, will take measurements that will study the origin of the remaining spin and mass. BNL will start building the EIC, which will take eight years to construct, in 2024.
Dmitri Kharzeev, Distinguished Professor and Director in the Center for Nuclear Theory at Stony Brook University, helped nominate Deshpande to become a AAAS fellow in part because of his work developing BNL’s EIC bid.
Deshpande “really played a major role in bringing this project to Long Island,” Kharzeev said. “It means a lot for BNL, and it also means a lot for Long Island as a whole. A lot of people will be hired to work on it.”
Kharzeev said Deshpande is the leader of the science effort at the EIC “precisely because of his status in the scientific community.”
Kharzeev said some of Deshpande’s papers are “among the highest-cited papers in experimental nuclear physics,” which is considered a reflection of the importance of the work.
Gao credited Deshpande and other key leaders in the community for preparing a “white paper which laid out the science in a very convincing and powerful way,” which helped make the EIC a reality.
In addition to Deshpande’s accomplishments as a scientist, Kharzeev lauded his colleague’s leadership. Deshpande brought together researchers from BNL and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Virginia, which were originally competing for the rights to build the EIC. He helps researchers “put science first and scientific politics second,” which is a “spectacular achievement,” Kharzeev said.
Throughout his career, Deshpande has sought to find complementary strengths among his colleagues.
He is the founding director of the Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science, which is a joint operation between BNL and SBU and is passionate about sharing the excitement of research with people who work outside science.
“The science we do, the excitement we feel, needs to be talked about to high school students, to college students, to their parents” and to others, Deshpande added.
Decision-makers in the government need to understand the benefit of the research, as well as the general public, whose taxes ultimately fund future discoveries, he said, and believes communicating science requires connecting with a range of audiences.
Science communicator
Deshpande’s colleagues gave him high marks for encouraging productive collaborations. He is “able to make very good, easy connections with people,” Gao said and is “approachable and easy to work with.”
Ciprian Gal, Assistant Research Professor at Mississippi State and Visiting Scholar at the Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science, was a graduate student in Deshpande’s lab from 2010 to 2014
While he appreciated Deshpande’s intellectual acumen and knowledge of physics, Gal admired his mentor’s accessibility and eagerness to share his passion for science.
“He’s always very open” to everyone, Gal said, including students of any age. During Summer Sunday events at BNL, Deshpande spoke at length with middle school students and their parents.
“He instills a desire to communicate in all of us,” said Gal, who also appreciated how Deshpande made himself available to the graduate students in his lab during off hours and on weekends.
Engaging audiences
While he was interested in science during his formative years in high school in Mumbai, India, Deshpande also participated in several dramatic productions that were in Marathi, his native language. Typically, the plays tried to convey messages such as the importance of literacy and education or against blind faith and misinformation. Deshpande sees a benefit to using the techniques of drama to engage the audience.
He believes the EIC will provide precise knowledge of properties of the proton and the nuclei. “I promise that we will learn lots of new things,” he said.
Kindergarten connection
The celebrated physicist is married to Arati Deshpande, who works at American Health Pharmaceuticals. The couple, who met when they were in kindergarten and now live in Miller Place, have a daughter, Pooja, who is a graduate student at the Gillings School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, N.C. and a son, Ameesh, who is in high school.
As for his advice to students, Deshpande urges them to “identify a good scientific problem and pursue it no matter the cost or time.”
A sampling of Indian food for the restaurant’s lunch special. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The Curry Club officially has a new look, now with a water view.
Previously located in Setauket at 10 Woods Corner Road, the family behind several local eateries and venues has merged two favorites into one large palace of spice.
Indu Kaur, owner of SāGhar in Port Jefferson, said that when her family purchased the building located at 111 W. Broadway, the original plan was to eventually move The Curry Club in — but then COVID-19 happened and everything changed.
Kulwant Wadhwa, the family’s patriarch and owner of The Curry Club, kept his location the same, and everything they had planned stalled. The Wadhwa/Kaur family devoted their time to helping first responders from Riverhead to Manhattan by feeding them good, wholesome Indian cuisine as they renovated the former Harbor Grill and Schaffer’s into SāGhar — an Indian-American fusion restaurant, with a gorgeous upstairs bar overlooking the harbor.
SāGhar, translates to “Home of the Sea.”
The family is also behind The Meadow Club in Port Jefferson Station, which reopened last year after a fire devasted the catering hall back in 2018.
“So, we kind of took the challenge,” Kaur said. “And over the last year, we became well known in the community.”
Now, nearly two years after purchasing the new Port Jefferson village spot, the dream of integrating The Curry Club into SāGhar has officially become a reality.
“It’s all blended very well,” Kaur added. “It’s our story. We started from an authentic Indian restaurant, and now here we’re the next generation, adding a more modern fusion touch to the menu.”
And as of Tuesday, Feb. 8, The Curry Club at SāGhar was born.
The move
Indu Kaur (far left) with father Kulwant Wadhwa and family in Port Jefferson. Photo from Kiran Wadhwa
Practically overnight, Kaur said they finalized dinner in Setauket, and after sending their customers home they moved out.
Monday night, the family moved from the former location into the downstairs room. Wadhwa said that SāGhar has given them more space to cater to more people — roughly 75 seats upstairs, 55 in the Harbor Room up front, 35 in the Captain’s Room and 45 in the Schooner Room. The Curry Club at SāGhar is on the same lot where the famous Schooner Restaurant sat years ago.
The lease will officially be up at the old location on May 31, and until then the family will continue to operate The Velvet Lounge adjoining the restaurant.
But the two are excited for SāGhar’s new look. According to Kaur, a lot of it will look similar but now they will offer a full buffet — just like The Curry Club was famously known for.
“In Port Jefferson, there is nowhere where you can actually grab and go pick food, especially for nurses meaning to get out in two minutes who are only a mile away to the hospital,” she said.
She added that they will continue doing live music every weekend, and host other fun events for the community like psychic nights.
With the move came a whole renovation to their kitchen and an addition of a whole line of Halal wines — champagnes, reds and whites created with 0% alcohol.
And Wadhwa said there is something for everyone at the “new” Curry Club.
“We’ve got vegetarian options, vegan, nonvegetarian, gluten free … we thought of everything,” he said.
They’re also continuing their balanced lunches.
“Those are always very popular,” Kaur said. “This is a must-have.”
For just $20, the lunch portion includes eight samplings of different Indian dishes and a side of rice to try them with. It also comes with a side of naan bread for easy dipping.
Some history
Wadhwa was not always a restaurateur. In fact, the family originated in Afghanistan where he was a pharmacist.
“A lot of things happened with our country,” Kaur said, adding that the family eventually moved to India to escape.
As his children began getting older and started to marry, Wadhwa decided that moving to America would be the best option for his family. In the early 1990s, he came to Long Island, where his brother-in-law was a chef. Together, they decided to open what was believed to be the first Indian restaurant in Suffolk County — The Curry Club.
Wadhwa “started working in the kitchen,” Kaur said. “Dad didn’t even know how to pick up a glass of water, but now he’s running three bars.”
And just like that, he changed his career “because of family survivorship,” she said. “America has been a blessing that we were able to survive.”
The original Curry Club was actually located where Bliss is currently occupied.
Wadhwa said that at the time the only other well-known Indian restaurant was located in Hicksville and they were worried if it would work out.
“From the day we opened the door, we got busy,” he said. “We got so busy that a line was outside — people were waiting.”
Now, nearly 30 years later, the family is excited to continue bringing flavor to the North Shore.
“We want to bring color,” Kaur said. “And spice and happiness. That’s our goal, to just serve our community and see everybody happy with food.”
The daughter-and-father duo said that they can agree seeing people happy when they leave with full bellies keeps them smiling.
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