Short and sweet: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we wrap up the abbreviated workweek – just one more day of socioeconomic innovation between us and another well-earned weekend.
It’s June 3 out there, and we’re here to lead you home – let’s get ’er done!
That’s nuts: But they cost less dough on National Donut Day.
The breakfast (and dessert) of champions: We crack it fresh with National Egg Day, an annual June 3 scramble highlighting the sunny side of everyone’s favorite breakfast staple (no dinner slouch, either).
Speaking of tonight, we can finish strong (just like famed Olympian John Belushi) with everyone’s favorite cakes, thanks to National Donut Day.
Can you repeat that? Somewhere in the middle – and at various other points, one imagines – we pause to honor the annual National Repeat Day, when repetition reverberates.
Screw it: One big fan of doing things over and over (with exacting precision) was Rhode Island inventor Cullen Whipple, who patented his revolutionary screw-making machine on this date in 1856.
“Black Edison”: On the topic of historically successful tinkerers, prolific African American inventor Granville Woods earned his very first U.S. patent – covering his “Steam Boiler Furnace” – 138 years ago today.
Woods, who mostly self-educated through books and on-the-job training, ultimately earned more than 60 patents, focused mainly on railroad operations and electrical flow.
“Bat” man begins: Also going with the flow was American poet Ernest Thayer, whose famous “Casey at the Bat” first disappointed fictitious fans (but thrilled real-world poetry buffs) in the June 3, 1888, edition of The San Francisco Examiner.
Cliff hanger: The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, part of the expansive Gila Wilderness.
Stop right there: The Gila Wilderness – a 558,014-acre tract in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest – was established by the U.S. Forest Service on this date in 1924.
The designation – preserving the acreage as a storehouse of natural diversity and a living laboratory for ecology research – marked the first of its kind anywhere in the world.
Floating in spaaaaace: And NASA astronaut Edward White II stepped out of his Gemini IV capsule and into the history books on June 3, 1965, executing for the first American spacewalk.
The spy we loved: American-born French dancer, singer, actress and World War II resistance fighter Josephine Baker – who was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur by General Charles de Gaulle, before going on to battle U.S. segregation – would be 116 years old today.
Tough racket: For now, Nadal has won more Grand Slam singles events than anyone.
Also born on June 3 were British artillery officer Henry Shrapnel (1761-1842), credited as the inventor of the loaded “shrapnel shell”; American automobile magnate Ransom Olds (1864-1950), who lent his name to the Oldsmobile (and his initials to the REO Speed Wagon); American physician Charles Drew (1904-1950), the “father of the blood bank”; American beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), known to “Howl”; and Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal (born 1986), who owns a record 21 Grand Slam singles titles.
Cause and effects: And take a bow, John Charles Dykstra! The American special-effects pioneer – a three-time Academy Award-winner known for lighting up the original “Star Wars” and for pioneering the use of digital effects – turns 75 today.
Wish the eye-candy king well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are truly special and your calendar events effect real change.
About our sponsor: Farrell Fritz, a full-service law firm with 15 practice groups, advises startups on entity formation, founder and shareholder agreements, funding, executive compensation and benefits, licensing and technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. The firm’s blog, New York Venture Hub, discusses legal and business issues facing entrepreneurs and investors.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Century ’22: A $5 billion cornerstone of high-end Long Island real estate is celebrating 100 years of handshakes.
Cold Spring Harbor-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, a leading national realtor and well-known Long Island luxury real estate services provider, hosted a 100th birthday bash last month, welcoming several hundred guests – including retired staffers, clients, friends and family – to the shiny new UBS Arena in Elmont. Founded in 1922 as Daniel Gale Real Estate (a real estate and insurance office) in then-rural Huntington, the agency now moves billions of dollars in properties annually across Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens), with 950 real estate advisors and 100 sales managers and administrative staffers populating 30 regional sales offices.
With new locations opened in the outer boroughs and in Rockville Centre, Great Neck, Long Beach, Smithtown, Bay Shore and Westhampton Beach, the last decade has been one of tremendous growth through all economic circumstances, according to Chief Executive Officer Deirdre O’Connell. “Even a pandemic didn’t stop us,” the CEO told party guests. “We are 100 years strong, 100 years wise and 100 years resilient – over the decades, there is not a market condition that we have failed to successfully navigate.”
Booze clues: The language in Facebook posts can reveal alcohol-abuse cases.
Toasts in posts: Alcoholism can be difficult to diagnose – but a new scientific study suggests victims of Alcohol Use Disorder frequently spill their secrets in Facebook posts.
Published in May by the scientific journal Alcoholism Clinical & Experimental Research, “Using Facebook Language to Predict and Describe Excessive Alcohol Use” – by Stony Brook University Department of Computer Science Associate Professor H. Andrew Schwartz and six co-authors – shows how the language people use in Facebook posts can help identify those at risk for hazardous drinking habits. The researchers used an artificial-intelligence application to interpret Facebook-post language in context; this “contextual embedding” produced a 75 percent chance of correctly identifying high- and low-risk drinkers, according to SBU, easily besting traditional alcoholism risk assessments.
Leveraging Facebook data from more than 3,600 adult volunteers (mostly White, average age 43), researchers noted more frequent references to religion and family – and better grammar – among low-risk drinkers, with more references to partying, more profanity, more slang language and more negative commentary (“miss,” “hate,” “lost,” etc.) among likely binge-drinkers. “What people write on social media and online offers a window into psychological mechanisms that are (otherwise) difficult to capture in research or medicine,” Schwartz noted.
TOP OF THE SITE
Wind-win situation: A former U.S. Department of Energy honcho will take the reins of an ambitious Stony Brook-based consortium promoting national offshore-wind interests.
“Grand” gesture: The Long Island Rail Road’s new midtown terminal has an official name – and it will open on time this year, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Speed listening: Season 3 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast is currently in production – catch up quick on two seasons’ worth of entertaining and enlightening conversations with Long Island’s socioeconomic leaders. Sounds great.
ICYMI
Investments made in Long Island’s battle against Alzheimer’s disease; investments needed in Long Island’s battle against food insecurity.
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 Washington State: Seattle-based research mecca the Allen Institute of Immunology creates an open-access portal focused on human-disease data and tools.
From Michigan: Grand Rapids-based workspace architect Steelcase partners with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to reinterpret the master designer for modern settings.
From Florida: Miami-based Florida International University gets inventive to reveal the secret lives of Mexican great white sharks.
ON THE MOVE
Mark Grossman
+ Mark Grossman has been elected Communications Department representative to the Adjunct Faculty Association of Nassau Community College. He is the principal of Medford-based Mark Grossman Public Relations and an adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College.
+ Domenick Chieco has been appointed to the New York Institute of Technology Board of Trustees. He is co-chairman of Manhattan-based Milrose Consultants’ Board of Directors.
+ Bryan McCrossen has joined Garden City-based Jaspan Schlesinger as a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group. He was previously a partner at Manhattan-based Donovan LLP.
+ Laura Heckman has been hired as a senior social media strategist at Hauppauge-based Austin Williams. She was a marketing assistant and website administrator at Hauppauge-based Peerless Electronics.
+ Robert White has been hired as assistant executive director of human resources and talent management for Garden City-based Life’s WORC. He was previously senior director of human resources at AHRC Nassau in Brookville.
+ Nadia Campbell-Mitchell has been hired as director of development at Hope for Youth in Amityville. She was previously interim executive director at Elders Share the Arts in Brooklyn.
+ Christopher Yadron has been elected chairman of the board of the Maryland-based National Association for Children of Addiction. He is chief executive officer of the Calverton-based Wellbridge Addiction Treatment and Research Center.
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 Farrell Fritz). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Nighty Night Edition)
Sleep on it: Science gives it a rest.
Dream on: Interpreting the psychology of dreams.
Sleep well: Science finally dissects a good night’s rest.
Wake up: These morning habits are ruining tonight’s sleep.
No doze: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Farrell Fritz, where they’re always conscious of their client’s best interests. Check them out.
