Knock, knock, knocking on weekend’s door: Knock-knock, intrepid innovators! You’ve stepped through the portal of this latest busy workweek and reached the gates of another springtime weekend – well done!
You’ve also swung open this week-wrapping innovation review, a sort of door prize for all your hard work. Down the hatch!
Gagarin reflex: He might have been a tool of an evil communist regime, but Yuri Gagarin was a true hero.
Yuri gonna love it: It’s April 12 out there, and we begin by noting the International Day of Human Space Flight, the UN’s annual salute to the science, technology and courage that inaugurated the era of human space travel – beginning with the 108-minute flight of Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first (known) person to fly in space, on this date in 1961.
That makes tonight Yuri’s Night, a.k.a. The World Space Party, a more festive international celebration of that historic Vostok 1 mission 63 years ago.
Nothing fancy: For lunch, we get a real treat today – it’s National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day, embracing the simple delights of buttered bread and American cheese friend to a golden brown (though any cheese is fair game, really, and tomatoes and bacon never hurt).
And chew on this: Today is also National Licorice Day, with the sweet, aromatic European/Asian herb Glycyrrhiza glabra – and its many candied forms (though none better than an original strawberry Twizzler) – doing the twist every April 12.
Attitude adjustment: Adding a twist to the saga of Nobel Prize namesake Alfred Nobel, who got rich from inventing dynamite, was a French obituary published on this date in 1888 incorrectly reporting his demise. (The obit, which should have noted the passing of Alfred’s brother Ludwig, called Alfred “a merchant of death” – inspiring him to change his public image and ultimately dedicate his vast estate to rewarding good science.)
Type A personality: Also banging away was Connecticut-based inventor George Blickensderfer, who patented the first truly portable typewriter on this date in 1892.
Theater arts: The Hippodrome was a bona fide star of stage and screen.
Showtime: Other extroverts associated with this date include showmen Fred Thompson and Skip Dundy, who’d already created Coney Island’s historical Luna Park amusement park before opening New York City’s famous Hippodrome Theatre – a 5,700-seat house that raised the bar on movies and later vaudeville – 119 years ago today.
Go time: Ending a six-year hiatus in American space flight, the Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981, christening the Space Shuttle era with historic mission STS-1.
Yo time: And if you thought Gagarin’s unprecedented feat and the launch of the first space shuttle were impressive, consider that the first yo-yo in space soared into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on this date in 1985.
As part of NASA’s Toys in Space project, astronauts discovered that the plaything followed the same physical rules as it did on Earth, only slower, gracefully moving up and down its string – although it refused to “sleep” in the zero-g environment.
A word with you: American computer designer Evelyn Berezin (1925-2018) – a data-transmission expert who designed the first computer-driven word processor – would be 99 years old today.
List of grievances: They could be crude, crass, insulting and inane … but Letterman’s Top 10 Lists were frequently hilarious.
Among the April 12ers putting Berezin’s invention to good use: American author Beverly Cleary (1916-2021), one of history’s most successful children’s/young-adult authors; English playwright Alan Ayckbourn (born 1939), a prolific Olivier Award- and Tony Award-winner; American playwright Charles Ludlam (1943-1987), an influential Floral Park-born avant-garde writer/performer known best for breaking conventions (and his historic New York Times Page 1 obituary, the first to name AIDS as a cause of death); American author Tom Clancy Jr. (1947-2013), master of the technically detailed espionage thriller; and American author Scott Turow (born 1949), a practicing attorney (until his 2020 retirement) and legal-thriller virtuoso.
Top 10 reasons David Letterman was the best: And take a bow, David Michael Letterman! The American late-night talk-show host, comedian and producer – whose popular “Top 10 Lists” (straight from the “home office”) were the stuff of comedy legend – turns 77 today.
Give the 33-year veteran of the late-night talk wars your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we eschew monologues for dialogues – in fact, we really enjoy talking about your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC is one of the region’s most highly regarded and recognized law firms. Our attorneys are thought leaders, dedicated to achieving success through excellence. With our broad experience in land use, development, litigation, real estate, corporate and environmental law, we have the vision and knowledge to serve our clients and our communities. Please visit sahnward.com.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Optimum plans: A leading Long Island business booster and the region’s top cable-television provider are teaming up to bolster Island-wide small businesses.
Optimum Business – which supports small and medium-sized business customers as a subsidiary of Long Island City-based Internet, cable TV, phone and mobile services provider Altice USA – has joined with the LIA Foundation, charitable arm of the Long Island Association, to launch the LOCAL Small Business Grants program. Announced Thursday, the program aims to distribute $5,000 grants to 50 small businesses across Nassau and Suffolk counties, with grant applications due by May 1 and the winners slated to be announced in June.
Funded entirely by Optimum Business, the LOCAL Small Business Grants program strengthens the LIA’s bonds with the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce and other organizations supporting Island-based entrepreneurs, according to LIA President and CEO Matt Cohen. “We encourage all eligible businesses from all sectors to apply,” Cohen said Thursday. “We look forward to seeing the innovative ways small businesses across Long Island will use this funding and watching the program’s impact across our region.”
Long term: It will be a few years before it’s ready, but The Beechwood Organization’s Ferncliff Hotel figures to redefine extended-stay hotels on Long Island.
Lap of luxury: A 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal will help The Beechwood Organization construct a 299-room luxury hotel in the Town of Huntington.
The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency has preliminarily approved a PILOT package assisting 125 Spagnoli LLC, a subsidiary of Jericho-based Beechwood, on its quest to build a four-story, 402,450-square-foot extended-stay hotel on Spagnoli Drive in Melville. Featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom suites (plus a fitness center, swimming pools, a restaurant, a dog park, a rooftop patio and more), the $137.4 million hotel is projected to generate nearly $12 million in property taxes during the 15-year PILOT program, while creating several construction-phase jobs and, eventually, 22 full-time positions.
The Ferncliff Hotel will also answer a regional need for upscale extended-stay lodging, drawing visitors away from New York City, boosting regional businesses and making the PILOT deal – which must undergo a final IDA vote – a wise investment, according to Suffolk County IDA Acting Executive Director Kelly Murphy. “The Ferncliff … satisfies an accommodation need in [an] area that has growing demand for all types of travelers,” Murphy noted. “This extended-stay concept, along with its unparalleled amenities and strategic location, is poised to be a significant destination for travelers.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Sit, stay, provide invaluable emotional therapy: Specially trained service dogs will be at this weekend’s Spring Candlelight Remembrance Vigil at Pinelawn Memorial Park & Arboretum to give the grieving a loving boost.
Always easy, always free: Remember, our subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletters don’t make it into our fantastic Newsletter Archive. (Fortunately, this problem has a super-simple solution.)
ICYMI
With a decade of new construction work in the offing, New York State’s $100 million contribution to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s $2.8 billion Electron-Ion Collider project provides another shot in the arm for Long Island socioeconomics.
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 North Carolina: Raleigh-based student-engagement energizer Element451 reimagines higher education with new AI-powered information-discovery platform.
From California: Los Angeles-based workplace equity engineer Trusaic helps international companies master multijurisdictional paydays with Global Pay Data Reporting solution.
From Colorado: Denver-based cannabis-cultivation king Rx Green Technologies supports healthy plants from cloning to harvest with simple Coco Grow Bags.
ON THE MOVE
Christopher Kelly
+ Christopher Kelly has been promoted to senior vice president of marketing at East Setauket-based TRITEC Real Estate. He was vice president of marketing.
+ Meghan Schlosser has been elected president of the Nassau Counselors’ Association in West Islip. She is a school counselor at Baldwin Senior High School.
+ Jason Huntsman has been hired as assistant superintendent for human resources in the South Country Central School District. He was previously assistant superintendent for administration in the Cold Spring Harbor School District.
+ Holbrook-based Covert Investigations has promoted two security consultants:
- Christopher Guiffre is now executive director; he is commanding officer of the New York Police Department’s Queens North Homicide Squad.
- Keith Macias is now assistant vice president of training; he is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and retired New York Police Department sergeant.
+ Bill Lucano has been hired as a multimedia account executive at Roslyn-based Blank Slate Media. He was an account consultant at Connecticut-based Media Framework.
+ Philip Butler has joined Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana as a partner in the firm’s Land Use & Zoning Practice Group. He was of counsel at Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz.
+ Kerri Doherty has been promoted to executive administrative assistant at East Setauket-based TRITEC Real Estate Co. She was an administrative assistant.
+ Robert Brown has been hired as a compliance and development executive at Holbrook-based Covert Investigations. He is a former Suffolk County Police Department chief of patrol.
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 Sahn Ward). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Speak The Lingo Edition)
Whale words: For the first time, scientists have “spoken” with a humpback whale.
Siberian connection: North America’s first spoken languages have an unexpected etymology.
Tongue-tied: Why an Arizona State Senate prayer group was speaking in tongues.
Fin tech: Scientists are celebrating their first conversation with a humpback whale.
Message received: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward, where clear communication is always key to the best land-use outcomes. Check them out.
