Pigskin prize: Welcome to Friday, football fanatics, as we run out the clock on a short-field Labor Day workweek and kick off the new National Football League season.
Thursday Night Football got the ball bouncing last night, but for New York rooters the real fun begins Sunday, when the Giants host the Cowboys (and continues Monday, when the Jets host the Bills). Yes, football weekends are back – a weekly reward for your amazing socioeconomic progress!
Pardon my French: But this is America — and everyone who thinks they’re above the law gets what’s coming, even f-ing presidents.
Never ask a lady her age (or add 60 years): Just one more workday before we huddle up for Week 1 – and before we get to all that Sept. 8 innovation, props to the calculating readers who caught a math error in our Sept. 6 newsletter, wherein we erroneously saluted American social worker Jane Addams’ 223rd birthday.
Born in 1860, Addams would have been 163 on Wednesday. We’ve replaced the Casio’s batteries.
We beg your…: We can’t imagine a better day to correct a factual error than Pardon Day, a Sept. 8 tradition with a heartfelt message (don’t hold grudges against your loved ones) and a dubious origin (see below).
It’s an otherwise busy day: International Literacy Day (a UNESCO production), National 401(k) Day (encouraging nest-egg reviews), National Dog Walker Appreciation Day (self-explanatory), National Iguana Awareness Day (also self-explanatory) and National Ampersand Day (for the record, it’s a logogram and not an official punctuation mark).
Scottish dowry: Also busy (almost 600 years ago) were the court attendants planning the wedding of the future king of Scotland, James III, and Princess Margrethe of Denmark – including Denmark’s gift of the 567-square-mile Shetland archipelago to Scotland, sealing the matrimonial deal on this date in 1463.
Scotch tape: It became a thing on Sept. 8, 1930, thanks to the innovative 3M company.
This dog ain’t gonna hunt: OK, so, not every bit worked … but “Star Trek” innovated television forever.
Scotty, beam us up: Promising viewers a “‘Wagon Train’ to the stars,” genre-defining sci-fi classic “Star Trek” premiered on the NBC Television Network on this stardate in 1966.
Scot-free: The franchise is still boldly going nearly six decades later, but the original “Trek” was long canceled by this date in 1974, when freshly minted President Gerald Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor (sparking today’s aforementioned Pardon Day).
Great Scott! And it was two years ago today when the Biden administration released a U.S. Department of Energy report predicting that 45 percent of domestic electricity could come from solar sources by 2050.
As of February 2023, solar still trailed natural gas (43.9 percent), wind/nuclear/hydro (34 percent) and coal (17 percent) as the fuel of choice for America’s 1.3-million-megawatt capacity (that’s about 1,300 gigawatts, for those keeping score).
Micro-manager: American physiologist Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857-1945) – known best for inventing the micro-electrode, establishing the Kansas University Department of Physiology and encouraging other women scientists – would be 166 years old today.
Play misty for me: The Great Kabuki lets it fly.
Also born on Sept. 8 were American engineer and inventor Canvass White (1790-1834), who patented Rosendale cement, among other accomplishments; American singer-songwriter James Charles “Jimmie” Rodgers (1897-1933), remembered as the “father of country music”; German scientist Marthe Louise Vogt (1903-2003), a leading 20th Century neuroscientist; English actor and comedian Peter Sellers (1925-1980), forever Clouseau; and American politician Bernard Sanders (born 1941), the senior U.S. Senator from Vermont who’s all-in on standardizing 32-hour workweeks.
Spitting image: And take a bow, Akihisa Mera! The retired professional wrestler – known best as The Great Kabuki, a standout “heel” who tormented Japanese and American “faces” for decades, and is credited with being the first to spew disorienting “green mist” on his opponents – turns 75 today.
Give the squared-circle legend your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we body-slam news tips and pin down calendar events. (No spitting, please.)
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 54 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Grab life by the horns: Melur Ramasubramanian will make the most of his dual appointments.
Guts. Glory. Ram: Melur Ramasubramanian is going to be a busy man.
The former University of Virginia vice president for research – a mechanical and aerospace engineer by trade, “Ram” to friends – has been selected by the State University of New York Board of Trustees as SUNY’s next provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. Ramasubramanian has also been appointed president of the Albany-based SUNY Research Foundation, the bustling benefactor backing elite State University research across dozens of disciplines, with both gigs set to start in November.
The dual appointments more closely align the SUNY system and its loosely connected research foundation, which already ranks among the nation’s largest and most comprehensive – and figures to funnel even more funding in a future filled with biotechnology, AI applications and other life-changing research. “This is an exciting opportunity to have a direct impact on upward mobility for students and the growth of research at this tremendous scale,” Ramasubramanian said. “I am ready to get started with … senior leaders, faculty and staff to make SUNY the best system of higher education.”
Surf’s up: A unique surfing club with Long Island ambitions is channeling student services (and building its brand) with the help of a Hollywood-powered youth-empowerment group.
Coming-soon Crest Surf Clubs – the “world’s first private surf club,” angling to open in Shirley in 2024 –teamed with Ambassadors of Compassion, an innovative (and star-studded) emotional-resiliency program founded by filmmaker Eric Hannah, for an Aug. 30 “kickoff event” at East Islip High School. The event introduced the Ambassadors (and the private surf club) directly to 2,000-plus students from 22 Long Island school districts, with former NFL running back Spencer Tillman and Hofstra University graduate Gregg Giannotti, a veteran of New York sports-talk mainstay WFAN, among the dynamic speakers.
Crest Surf Clubs co-founder and CEO Brett Portera noted imported similarities between the new-to-Long Island organizations. “(Ambassadors of Compassion) helps young people get back up when they’re down, just like surfers do,” Portera said. “Crest is dedicated to building the community around us, and there is no better way … than through an organization that has already made a significant, demonstrated impact in the lives of students across the country.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Agriculture aggregate: With a $225 million regional industry in the spotlight, the new ”interactive walkway” at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center is way more than a day-trip destination.
Leading roles: Academic all-stars, C-suite standouts, social-justice champions and other leading innovators have something to tell you – and they’re waiting patiently on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast. Pick a role model and start learning.
ICYMI
Albany is preaching preparedness – and taking action – as the Atlantic hurricane season surges.
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 California: San Mateo-based commerce and customer-engagement platform Firework revolutionizes online shopping with exclusive one-to-one video chats.
From Washington: Seattle-based videogame producer Victura taps real-life U.S. Marine to authenticate gripping first-person tactical shooter.
From Arizona: Phoenix-based synthetic-grass pioneer US Grass and Greens helps Arizona high school save resources with evergreen baseball diamond.
ON THE MOVE
T. Simeon Ananou
+ T. Simeon Ananou has been hired as chief information officer and vice president for the Division of Information Technology at Stony Brook University. He was chief information officer at the University of Vermont.
+ John Pohlman has been promoted to chief operating officer of Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. He will continue as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
+ Ken Long has been promoted to chief clinical integration officer of Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. He will continue as senior vice president for administration.
+ Magdalonie Paris-Campbell has been appointed to the board of trustees of the Garden City-based Family & Children’s Association. She is director of external and legislative affairs at AT&T Services.
+ Beverly Wolgast has been appointed executive director of quality and cGMP programs at Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences. She was most recently director of CleanCap GMP manufacturing at California-based TriLink BioTechnologies.
+ Brianne Chidichimo has been promoted to vice president of marketing at Melville-based Allied Physicians Group. She was director of marketing.
+ Joshua Goldberg has been hired as an insurance and litigation attorney at Melville-based Hurwitz Fine. He was deputy general counsel/senior attorney at American Transit Insurance Company in Freeport.
+ Emily Fackelman has been hired as an elder care advocate at Smithtown-based Futterman, Lanza & Pasculli. She was a social worker at White Oaks Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Woodbury.
+ Kristy Gulotta has been hired as director of rehab at Surge Rehabilitation and Nursing in Middle Island. She was a behavioral health occupational therapist at Northwell Syosset Hospital.
+ Timothy Sorrell has joined Central Islip-based McGuire, Peláez & Bennett P.C. as an associate. He was the supervisor of the Nassau County Legal Aid Society’s Family Court Bureau.
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 LIBDC). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Are You Ready For Some Football Edition)
You betcha: Calculating NFL longshots is big business.
First and goal: The NFL’s first openly gay player has announced his retirement.
Second and short: Why 15,000 short-term NYC rentals just vanished from Airbnb.
Third and long: This season’s best Super Bowl longshots? Ask the experts gamblers.
Touchdown! Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which has been moving the ball on regional socioeconomics for more than 50 years. Check them out.
