The 13 steps: Another workweek in the can, intrepid innovators, and another weekend in the offing – but first, a slightly supernatural Friday to wrap up this latest winter workweek.
Yes, it’s Friday the 13th out there – the first of two in 2023, with another coming in October. (For the record, every calendar year has at least one, but no more than three.)
Peachy keen: A sweet reward for a busy Friday the 13th.
Busy day: Triskaidekaphobia notwithstanding, there’s lots of cool stuff going on today – Jan. 13 is the home of National Gluten-Free Day, National Rubber Ducky Day, National Poetry Break Day, National Sticker Day and National Peach Melba Day.
It’s also a big one for go-getters who make their own luck and ne’er-do-wells who don’t – today is both Make Your Dreams Come True Day and Quitters Day (plus National Blame Someone Else Day, for good measure).
Weird stuff: Speaking of measures (and beats), the instantly recognizable accordion – which wouldn’t meet its ultimate master for another century-plus – was patented on Jan. 13, 1854 (although maybe it wasn’t).
Sister act: More certain was the launch of Delta Sigma Theta, the world’s largest sorority for Black women, founded 110 years ago today at Washington’s Howard University.
Screen test: Delta Sigma Theta is one of the world’s most active sororities – less so are couch potatoes, invented on this date in 1928 when three prototype television sets were installed in private homes in upstate Schenectady (a joint experiment by General Electric and RCA).
Yester-ears: Mickey took flight 93 years ago today.
M-I-C…: Before TVs tuned into “The Mickey Mouse Club,” there was the first-ever Mickey Mouse comic strip, which debuted on this date in 1930.
Now hear this: And before audiobooks changed everything, there was the Kurzweil Reading Machine – the first device capable of translating printed materials into spoken words, unveiled by inventor Raymond Kurzweil on Jan. 13, 1976.
Kurzweil, an artificial intelligence pioneer, had already carved 15 minutes of fame as a guest on the 1965 gameshow “I’ve Got a Secret,” where the then-teenager introduced a computer capable of composing original music.
Statistical anomaly: American statistician Gertrude Mary Cox (1900-1978) – the uber-influential mathematician recalled as the “first lady of statistics” – would be 123 years old today (and, statistically, the oldest person ever recorded, topping actual record-holder Jeanne Louis Calment, who reached 122 years and 164 days).
Broad appeal: Tucker, risqué-taker.
Also born on Jan. 13 were Scottish astronomer and social reformer John Pringle Nichol (1804-1859), whose popular 19th Century texts delicately balanced science and religion; American author Horatio Alger Jr. (1832-1899), whose rags-to-riches formula championed honesty, courage and hard work; Australian industrialist Essington Lewis (1881-1961), a mining, automotives, aerospace and munitions magnate who girded his country for WWII; American singer, comedian and actress Sophie Tucker (1887-1966), the outrageous “last of the red-hot mamas”; and current red-hot mama Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus (born 1961), the award-winning American actress and producer enjoying new adventures in the MCU.
McDreamy: And take a bow, Patrick Galen Dempsey! The American actor – sex-starved goof in 1980s teen flicks, all-growed-up stud in “Grey’s Anatomy” – turns 57 today.
Give the dreamy doc (also a real-life racecar driver) your best at editor@innovateli.com, where news tips and calendar events always set our hearts racing.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
New barn: Sands wants to raise a hotel-casino on the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum site.
Place your bets: Years of licensing, planning and approvals await, but a multibillion-dollar hotel-casino may land on Long Island.
Answering the New York State Gaming Commission’s Request for Applications for downstate gaming licenses, Las Vegas Sands announced Thursday it has reached an agreement to lease 80 acres surrounding the aging Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum – and revealed plans for a flagship hospitality/entertainment/casino project featuring five-star hotel rooms, world-class performance venues, celebrity restaurants, luxury spas and “high-quality casino gaming,” currently slated to occupy “less than 10 percent of the project’s total square footage,” according to the official release.
Nevada-based Sands is a top global developer/operator of integrated resorts – essentially, casinos incorporating hotels, theme parks and other non-gambling attractions. “We strongly believe Long Island can be home to one of the region’s great entertainment and hospitality developments,” Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Robert Goldstein said Thursday. “Our announcement today is only the first part of this journey – our ability to put forward a compelling and competitive proposal will only succeed if we engage with the Long Island community and … develop a proposal that reflects the input of all those involved.”
Going for brokers: The Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island has announced its slate of 2023-2024 Executive Board members, including the association’s first-ever co-presidents.
Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Director David Pennetta, a two-time CIBS past president, will share the reins this time with Avison Young Managing Director and Principal Ted Stratigos. The two will gavel an Executive Board featuring Cresa Long Island Senior Executive Vice President Ralph Benzakein, Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Melissa Naeder, NAI Long Island Managing Principal Leo Farrell and United Realty Principal Gary Schacker.
Noting “myriad industry seminars and networking events,” Stratigos applauded “the resiliency of CIBS and its members as we continue to navigate our way out of the pandemic,” while Pennetta predicted an “incredibly exciting year” ahead. “CIBS represents the best and brightest of the Long Island brokerage community,” Pennetta added. “With a number of transformative projects on the horizon, it is crucial that professional organizations like CIBS support and advocate for our region’s future.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Real feel: With regional socioeconomics hanging in the balance, the Long Island Association dives deep into workplace mental-health issues.
Dream on: Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2023 spending plan is leaner and more focused – and still facing a barrage of questions and criticisms.
The secret is out: Corporate captains, academic all-stars, laboratory legends, ingenious inventors – inspiration awaits on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, where these and other innovation-economy leaders reveal how they did it.
ICYMI
New global parent for rough-and-tumble Janam; new Island destination for Duchenne MD patients.
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: Los Angeles-based energy industry disrupter Eco Wave Power unveils first “wave energy power station” at the Port of L.A.
From Arizona: Tucson-based education innovator Learning A-Z enhances advanced-learning solutions with reimagined Writing A-Z tool.
From Canada, eh: Vancouver-based clinical-stage trailblazer Sustained Therapeutics expands human trials for revolutionary non-opioid pain meds.
ON THE MOVE
Phil Andrews
+ Phil Andrews has been named president of Garden City-based 100 Black Men of Eastern New York. He is president of the Garden City-based Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce.
+ Douglas Gladstone has been named chief of hematologic malignancies at the New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health Cancer Institute. He was previously clinical director of the Outpatient Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
+ Donald Booth has joined Old Westbury-based New York Institute of Technology as vice president of capital planning and facilities. He was an assistant vice president at New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health, focused on central region capital projects.
+ Hauppauge-based HIA-LI has added three Board of Directors members: The Kulka Group CEO Devin Kulka, Suffolk County IDA Deputy Executive Director Kelly Murphy and Citrin Cooperman Managing Partner Michael Sabatini.
+ Mike Florio has been hired as CEO of the Islandia-based Long Island Builders Institute. He was chief of staff of former Congressman Tom Suozzi’s Huntington office.
+ Melissa Fana has been hired as director of women’s health for Suffolk County at NYU Langone Health and chief of service for breast surgery at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue. She was chief of breast surgery at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore and Plainview Hospital and director of breast services at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
+ Nicolette Fiore-Lopez has been appointed to the College Council of the State University of New York at Old Westbury. She is chief nursing officer at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson.
+ Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz has promoted Estate Litigation attorneys Edward Baker and Bret Cahn to counsel.
+ Robert Abiuso has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Wading River-based Little Flower Children and Family Services of New York. He is a partner at Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz focused on personal injury litigation, criminal law, municipal litigation and real estate.
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 (Simply The Best Edition)
Accord-able luxury: Alongside Porsches, Corvettes and BMWs, the 2023 Honda Accord makes Car and Driver’s annual cut.
Work: The best places to work this year.
Wear: The best clothes to wear this year.
Wheels: The best cars to drive this year.
Ward … and Sahn: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward, the best of the best in land use and environmental law. Check them out.
