Holy Friggatriskaidekaphobia! Or is that paraskavedekatriaphobia? Either way, welcome to Friday, dear readers – and not just any Friday but Friday the 13th, the first since October 2023.
For those keeping score, Friday the 13ths occur, on average, once every 212.35 days and 1.72 times per year (meaning there’s at least one in every calendar year, but no more than three). So buck up, little campers – today marks the first of two spooky Fridays in 2024, with the second coming in December.
Feeling lucky: Friday the 13th or not, this is a great day to break the superstition cycle.
Fingers crossed: Coincidental to it being Friday the 13th, today is also National Defy Superstition Day, an annual Sept. 13 rebellion against fantastical fears that encourages us to step under ladders, embrace black cats and otherwise ignore the spurious sorcery that commonly vexes us.
Two great tastes…: Looks like your luck is already turning around – National Peanut Day (honoring the ubiquitous legume also known as the groundnut, the goober or the monkey nut, among other alternate identities) and International Chocolate Day (celebrating cocoa-centric creations that mix especially well with peanuts) are both enjoyed on Sept. 13.
Cold start: Chocolate arguably peaked with the invention of chocolate ice cream, and you can’t have ice cream without ice, and you didn’t have ice in India until this date in 1833, when the first shipment of frozen freshwater – transported from Boston in a specially insulated hold aboard the clipper ship Tuscany – arrived in Calcutta.
Lewis Latimer: Lightbulb moment.
Carbon dating: Other bright ideas associated with this date include New York City-based inventors Lewis Latimer and Joseph Nichols’ “Improvements in Incandescent Electric Lamps” – more specifically, carbon-filament lightbulbs – patented 143 years ago today.
Mrs. Smith goes back to Washington: Also shining brightly was Maine Republican Margaret Chase Smith, who served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate on Sept. 13, 1948 – thereby becoming the first woman elected to both houses of Congress.
Hard news: In a shining example of digital innovation, the IBM 305 RAMAC – the first supercomputer with a hard-disk drive, weighing more than a ton and boasting a then-whopping, now-miniscule 5 megabytes of data storage – debuted on this date in 1956.
It’s-a me, Mario! And it was Sept. 13, 1985, when Nintendo released iconic videogame “Super Mario Bros.”
Progenitor of dozens of multi-system sequels, the pivotal scrolling platformer elevated mustachioed “Donkey Kong” hero Mario (known originally as “Jumpman”) to leading-man status and introduced several stalwart videogame legends, including Mario’s brother Luigi, damsel-in-distress Princess Peach and boss-baddie Bowser.
Moll’s mole: English novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) – who lived many adventures, but is most famous for penning the fictitious exploits of adventurer “Robinson Crusoe” (or maybe the sordid tale of “Moll Flanders”)– would be 364 years old today.
Madea in the USA: Tyler Perry hit his stride as a mad Black woman.
Also born on Sept. 13 were American chocolatier, manufacturer and philanthropist Milton Hershey (1857-1945), who literally raised the bar on candy; Canadian war hero Laura Secord (1775-1868), who secured a major victory in the War of 1812 (but had nothing to do with Laura Secord Chocolates); American Army physician Walter Reed (1851-1902), an influential pathologist and bacteriologist who lent his name to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center; American actor Richard Kiel (1939-2014), who chewed up the scenery as towering Bond villain Jaws; and retired Major League Baseball All-Star and Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (known best as Yankees great Bernie Williams, born 1968).
Madea man: And take a bow, Tyler Perry! The American actor, filmmaker and playwright (born Emmitt Perry Jr.) – whose stories invoke religious wisdom, personal triumph and fearless humor, especially those featuring alter ego/tough grand-ma-ma Mabel “Madea” Simmons – turns 55 today.
Give the successful screenwriter/producer/director your best at editor@innovateli.com, where our wisdom and triumphs are based largely on your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: Farmingdale State College is the largest college of applied science and technology in the State University of New York system, with nearly 10,000 students and 46 degree programs focused on relevant high-demand careers. More than half of our students graduate debt-free and 82 percent are employed six months after graduation or enrolled in graduate school. Nearly 80 percent of FSC graduates stay and are working on Long Island six months after graduation. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Royal audience: King Mouhammad-Nabil Mforifum Mbombo Njoya (left), leader of the Bamoun Kingdom, chats it up with SUNY Old Westbury History Professor Sylvie Kande.
Coming to America: He wasn’t looking for a wife and there are no reports of a stop at a Queens barbershop, but an African monarch did visit SUNY Old Westbury on his first trip to the United States.
His Majesty Mouhammad-Nabil Mforifum Mbombo Njoya – the sultan king of the Bamoun Kingdom, a pre-colonial African state now part of northwest Cameroon – met with SUNY Old Westbury representatives Tuesday, part of a diplomatic visit aimed at strengthening cooperative relations between the Bamum and U.S. academic and governmental organizations. King Njoya, a 2015 graduate of St. John’s University, was interviewed by History Professor Sylvie Kande in a public event attended by faculty, students and other special guests.
The king and his delegation also met privately with SUNY Old Westbury President Timothy Sams and other school leaders, with potential student-exchange programs and innovative faculty-research opportunities on the table. “We are all different, so we need to learn and know each other,” King Njoya told students. “You have to make efforts in trying to see and understand why people are the way they are … When you come to Africa and people see you eating with them, wearing their clothes, speaking like them, they grow more comfortable.”
Coming to Hauppauge: One of Long Island’s busiest economic-development boosters is helping one of the Island’s cornerstone manufacturers relocate its headquarters – and simultaneously enhance the regional economy.
The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency has approved a Payment In Lieu of Taxes package that will help Nationwide 360, a designer and manufacturer of custom trade-show displays, move its headquarters from Central Islip to Hauppauge. Specifically, the tax-abatement deal will help Nationwide 360 – which launched in Brooklyn in 1956 as Westley Displays, relocated to Westbury in 1975 and subsequently operated out of Bay Shore and Ronkonkoma before moving into its current 40,000-square-foot HQ – purchase and renovate a 75,000-square-foot building on 4.25 acres on Adams Avenue.
The $18.8 million purchase/renovation project is expected to retain 33 full-time jobs and create 10 new positions, lifting the company’s annual payroll past $3.7 million – a socioeconomic score that “align(s) directly with the Suffolk IDA’s objectives,” according to Executive Director/CEO Kelly Murphy. “They not only prioritize expanding their business and offering job opportunities to Long Islanders, but also provide services that aid other Suffolk County businesses in enhancing their operations and promotions,” Murphy noted. “[The IDA] looks forward to witnessing their ongoing success across the region.”
TOP OF THE SITE
History in the making: New research tracing millions of years of bacterial evolution has energized the quest for new Lyme disease detection and treatment protocols.
The smart move: We always appreciate it when you share our educational and entertaining newsletters with nonsubscribers. But you really should share your wisdom instead – their own subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
Food insecurity in Western Nassau County is soaring, and Long Island Cares Inc.-The Harry Chapin Food Bank – with a tip of the cap to local government officials – is doing something about it.
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 New York City: With scholarships on the line, the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers calls on teens to enter the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
From Washington: D.C.-based lifetime-learning leader The Competency-Based Education Network develops “skill-based pathways” to help adults learn algebra.
From South Carolina: Greenville-based economic-development organization SCbio announces the first cohort of oncology and neuroscience startups for new accelerator effort.
ON THE MOVE
Christopher Martin
+ Christopher Martin has been hired as associate vice president for campus planning, design & construction at Stony Brook University. He was vice president for integrated real estate & facilities and assistant vice president for facilities infrastructure, projects & compliance at MedStar Health System in Maryland.
+ Mikayla Renton has been hired as an administrative assistant at Jericho-based Full Spectrum Financial Solutions. She is a recent graduate of SUNY Old Westbury.
+ Nancy Farinola has joined Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick as a paralegal.
+ Kaitlyn Connor has joined Rivkin Radler in Uniondale as an associate in the firm’s General Liability Group. She is a recent summa cum laude graduate of Albany Law School and was a 2023 Rivkin Radler summer associate.
+ Joseph Niczky has joined Rivkin Radler in Uniondale as an associate in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group. He was an insurance-coverage litigation associate at Hunton Andrews Kurth in New York City.
+ John Sears has been promoted to government relations and advocacy manager at Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares Inc. He was a mobile coordinator.
+ Rose Ward has been appointed vice president of the Garden City-based Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors. She is the founder and chief executive of Uniondale-based NFocus Management Group.
+ Syosset-based ERASE Racism has elected four new members to its Board of Directors:
- Wilma Holmes Tootle, president of Freeport-based W.H. Tootle Consulting Services
- Roberta Schroder, adjunct professor at Garden City-based Nassau Community College
- Lauren Furst, founder and managing partner of Roslyn Heights-based Pathways to Wealth
- Dia Bryant, partner at New Jersey-based Context Matters Strategy Group
+ Silvia Cota has been hired as chief executive at Northport-based Visiting Nurse Service & Hospice of Suffolk. She was director of patient care services at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore.
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 Farmingdale State). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Time Is On Your Side Edition)
Dial it back: Time might to be exactly what we think.
Moon time: With more missions planned, NASA is officially setting the lunar clock.
Personal time: Why children perceive time slower than adults.
Tablet time: What is an iPad doing in a 1941 photo?
About time: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, which takes its time preparing well-rounded graduates to enter Long Island (and global) workforces. Check them out.
