You certainly earned it: Welcome to Friday, intrepid innovators, and not just any Friday but the fifth Friday – and very last day, finally – of January 2025.
We’re wrapping up the busy workweek (and the long month) with a snappy week-in-innovation review, designed specifically to help you finish strong. Bring on February – and, of course, a well-earned weekend!
Do the Brussels: Not a fan? You don’t know what you’re missing!
Thanks for your support: We open this Jan. 31 with Appreciate Your Social Security Check Day, an annual homage to government support that takes on added umph, with the federal funding that so many rely upon suddenly tenuous at best.
If you really want to know how funding freezes and other new White House priorities will affect the national economy, ask leading economists – at a minimum, show those numbers-crunchers some love and respect today, since it’s also Hug An Economist Day.
Sprout ahead: Remember to eat your vegetables today – you’ll want to on Eat Brussels Sprouts Day, an annual celebration of the tiny cabbages with the mighty nutritional punch. (So tasty when grilled with onions, honey and a little bacon. Mmmmm!)
Not your veggie of choice? Well, wash it down with everyone’s favorite winter beverage – it’s also National Hot Chocolate Day, warming mugs and hearts every Jan. 31.
Milking it: Also sweetening your cup is condensed milk, introduced to the world by American inventor and manufacturing pioneer Gail Borden on this date in 1851.
According to the script: Other well-known drinkables associated with this date include Coca-Cola, which trademarked its famous cursive logo – already in use for several years and already quite famous – on Jan. 31, 1883.
More science than art: Also drinking in the glory is the Wizard of Menlo Park – master innovator Thomas Edison patented the “Art of Generating Electricity” (all about positive and negative electrodes and decomposable dry compounds and stuff) 132 years ago today.
Magic touch: The transparent tape that started it all.
And you thought it meant “whiskey”: Also sticking with it was the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (you know it as 3M), which first marketed Scotch tape on this date in 1930. (For the record, the company branded its tape products “Scotch” because early prototypes of its masking tape were stingy with the adhesive … “Scotch,” of course, is a pejorative term meaning “cheap or flimsy.”)
“All My Children” came later: And it was Jan. 31, 1949, when “These Are My Children” – memorialized as the very first daytime soap opera – premiered on the NBC Television Network’s Chicago affiliate.
Penned by future “Queen of the Soaps” Irna Phillips (who later created “Guiding Light,” “As the World Turns,” “Days of Our Lives” and other daytime hits) – the melodramatic tale of Irish widow/boarding house operator Mrs. Henehan lasted only 24 days.
Actually, it’s sei-i taishōgun: Japanese warrior and statesman Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) – founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns and one of the three Great Unifiers of Japan – would be 482 years old today.
Major score: The talented and brave Jackie Robinson changed the game — and American society — forever.
Also born on Jan. 31 were Austrian Classical and Romantic era composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), who produced 600-plus secular vocal works, seven complete symphonies and a vast portfolio of operas, piano concertos and chamber music during his short but remarkable life; French bicycle racer and sports journalist Henri Desgrange (1865-1940), the crusty curmudgeon who founded the Tour de France; and an all-star lineup of Major League Baseball greats: Jackie Robinson (1919-1972), Ernie Banks (1931-2015) and Nolan Ryan (born 1947).
Get down tonight: And take a bow, Harry Wayne Casey! The American musician, songwriter and record producer – known best by the stage name KC, frontman of disco/funk band KC and the Sunshine Band – turns 74 today.
Give the boogie man your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we Keep it Comin’, Love, thanks to your news tips and calendar events (and That’s The Way, uh-huh uh-huh, we like it).
About our sponsor: Sahn Ward Braff 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
Footing the tuition bill: Artistic students on the autism spectrum once again have a chance to win a sizeable college scholarship – and see their best sock-design ideas mass-produced on actual footwear.
Melville-based John’s Crazy Socks, which has leveraged co-founder John Cronin’s Down syndrome into a successful business with a progressive social message (most employees have a differing ability), is accepting applications through March 15 for its seventh-annual Autism Can Do Scholarship program. Open to U.S. high school graduates and current HS seniors diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, the contest is easy to enter (a simple application form, brief personal statement and original sock design, no graphic-arts skills required) and offers first-, second- and third-place prizes ($5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 scholarships, respectively), with the top winner’s designs added to the company’s multitude of sock selections.
The scholarship competition is co-sponsored by the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism and empathy-first global talent firm Rangam, which sees the contest as the embodiment of its core beliefs, according to CEO Nish Parikh. “We believe in creating opportunities that celebrate and empower neurodiverse talent,” Parikh noted. “The Autism Can Do Scholarship is an important initiative that aligns with our mission to promote employment for everyone.”
Eager engineers: FIRST Long Island’s rookie roboteers always learn on the fly — and this year, they’ll literally be wet behind the gears.
Let’s get ready to rumble (robotically): With first-round competitions looming in late March, FIRST Long Island has kicked off its 2025 season with the distribution of robotics kits to participating high school teams.
Robo-students picked up their parts, donated by suppliers from numerous regional industries, in early January at Schenck USA Corp.’s Deer Park offices. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) has scheduled its Long Island regional competition for March 19-22 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex, with this year’s theme – “Reefscape,” presented by California-based machine-tool company Haas Automation – requiring teams to build submersible automatons that can score coral, harvest algae and attach to a barge, all before time expires.
FIRST Long Island students will work with coaches and industry mentors to apply math and engineering concepts to their creations, with science, fun and collaboration among competitors all part of the machining mix. “The FIRST Robotics Competition is not just about the design and build of sophisticated robots,” noted former Northrop Grumman software engineer Larry Toonkel, longtime co-director of the FIRST Long Island regional competition. “Our students will also learn important concepts such as teamwork, problem-solving and healthy competition.”
TOP OF THE SITE
To the Batcave! Albany has significantly expanded the Suffolk Crime Analysis Center, a high-tech, multi-departmental crimefighting hub that’s already proven valuable to Long Island public safety.
Love, innovation-style: We love it when you forward this educational and entertaining newsletter to your entire innovation team – they’ll love it when you create their own individual subscriptions. Always easy, always free, always a click away.
ICYMI
Ralph Benzakein, the new president of the Commercial Brokers Industrial Society of Long Island, marks the triumphant return of the Innovate Long Island Debrief, our in-depth Q&A feature – focused this time on the short- and long-term futures of the region’s critical real estate sector.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
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: Charlotte-based franchising facilitator Franzy streamlines the business-buying process with entrepreneur-enabling financing system.
From California: Santa Monica-based “clean luxury” beauty broker Oak Essentials announces brand-building expansion into nationwide Ulta Beauty stores.
From New York City: Innovative health-tech ScribeAI emerges from stealth with time-saving, patient-protecting clinical-documentation platform.
ON THE MOVE
Keith Gurnick
+ Keith Gurnick has been promoted to senior associate partner at Melville-based N&P Engineering and Land Surveying. He was a senior associate.
+ Kevin O’Connor has been hired as market president of Valley Bank in Jericho. He was chief executive at Dime Community Bank in Hauppauge.
+ Christopher Milano has been hired as interim director of facilities and operations in the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools. He was director of facilities and operations in the Levittown Public Schools.
+ Ronkonkoma-based Sasserath & Co. has announced the hiring of two new accounting professionals, both formerly of Centerport-based boutique firm Bruce A. Rosen PC:
- Bruce Rosen has joined the firm as a partner.
- Eric Galantini has joined the firm as a tax manager.
+ Michael Webb has been promoted to partner in the Real Estate Practice Group at Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz. He was counsel.
+ Desmond Mullins has been promoted to partner at Jericho-based Premier Commercial Real Estate. He was a senior director.
+ Anthony Cancellieri has been elected to the Healthcare Trustees of New York State’s Board of Governors. He is co-chairman of the Oceanside-based Mount Sinai South Nassau Communities Hospital Advisory Board.
+ Damian Racanelli has been promoted to partner in the Real Estate Practice Group at Uniondale-based Farrell Fritz. He was an associate.
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). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Retirement Party Edition)
No old Kentucky home: Do NOT retire here, according to Quartz.
Pension apprehension: And Social Security insecurity, too … fortunately, there are new rules for retirement savings.
Seventy-three is the new 66: Why the national retirement age may soon jump by seven years or more.
Old-age homes: The five best (and five worst) U.S. States for retirees.
Just getting started: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward Braff Coschignano, where decades of experience – and youthful exuberance – inform every issue. Check them out.
