Go! (Before you stop): You’ve done it again, intrepid innovators! The first full week of August 2025 is just about in the books, with only one more workday standing between you and another well-earned weekend.
It’s looking like a warm and sunny one, too, at least on Long Island – so let’s not waste any time wrapping up the workweek. This quick-and-clever innovation review will help get you going in the right direction.
Betcha can’t eat just one: But you better take it easy on National CBD Day.
Gummies galore: Today is Aug. 8, and certain to get you going (if you’re so inclined) is National CBD Day (a.k.a. National Cannabidiol Day), spreading awareness of the positive capacities of a hemp-based compound known to relieve pain, ease anxiety, help with cognitive disorders and otherwise bring a smile to users’ faces.
Not entirely coincidentally, it’s also National Happiness Happens Day, encouraging us to simply enjoy the moment.
Kitten heels heals: Many will find happiness with a purring furball curled up on their lap – a terrific way to spend International Cat Day, celebrating the love and companionship offered by felines.
If you’re just not a cat person – you know who you are – perhaps you’ll find some joy in National Frozen Custard Day, dishing out a sweet treat that’s not quite ice (no water in the recipe) and not exactly ice cream (not with eggs in the mix) every Aug. 8.
Dollar general: When you lay down a few bucks to buy your frozen custard, remember to thank the United States Congress, which established the U.S. monetary system on this date in 1786.
Steamed: Also raking in the dough was the Stourbridge Lion, which became the first steam locomotive to operate commercially in the United States on Aug. 8, 1829.
Cool beans: And not doing too badly himself was Massachusetts-based inventor Albert Marshall, who patented the modern refrigerator 126 years ago today – decades after electrified refrigeration technologies first evolved and centuries after humankind first efforted to keep the cool side cool.
Where no teacher had gone before: A decade after the Challenger disaster claimed fellow educator Christa McAuliffe, Idaho elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan made it all the way to the International Space Station.
Teaching moment: Also keeping her cool was Idaho elementary school teacher Barbara Morgan, who became the first educator to safely reach space on this date in 2007, traveling to the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor. (Morgan’s trip came roughly nine years after Christa McAuliffe – the “first teacher in space” – and her crewmates died in the Challenger disaster.)
It also extended Daylight Savings Time by four weeks, as a matter of fact: And it was Aug. 8, 2005, when President George W. Bush signed into law the U.S. Energy Policy Act, a bipartisan effort to create a balanced, long-term national energy strategy.
In stark contrast to scientifically stupefying, politically puerile and galactically greedy insanities like this, this and this, the law aimed to reduce fossil-fuel dependence by incentivizing both traditional energy production and newer, cleaner, more efficient production methods, including wind and solar generation.
As an antimatter of fact: English mathematician and theoretical physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-1984) – who laid out the basic dynamics of quantum mechanics, theorized (correctly) about the existence of electrons and antimatter, shared a Nobel Prize (with Austrian wave-mechanics mainstay Erwin Schrödinger) and claimed immortality as one of history’s greatest physicists – would be 123 years old today.
Make it rain, man: Hoffman has played average Joes, heroes and everything in between.
Also born on Aug. 8 were British biologist William Bateson (1861-1926), credited with founding the science of genetics; American physician and surgeon Robert “Dr. Bob” Smith (1879-1950), who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill W.; American actor Dustin Hoffman (born 1937), an award-winning New Hollywood standout known for his remarkable versatility; British mathematician, physicist and philosopher Sir Robert Penrose (born 1938), a Nobel Prize laureate who used math to calculate the nature of black holes; and retired Russian aviator and cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya (born 1948), the first woman to walk in space.
Melodrama master: And take a bow, Donald Paul Bellisario! The American television producer and writer – whose impressive credits include the creation of smash hits “Quantum Leap,” “Airwolf,” “NCI” and “Magnum, P.I.,” and screenwriting several classic episodes – turns 90 today.
Give the prolific pen your best at editor@innovateli.com, where our action/adventure begins with your news tips – and your calendar events always provide vital clues.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 56 years by bringing together government economic development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Tour de force: A Long Island stop has been added to a statewide business-development tour designed to plug Empire State producers into international markets.
Long Island, in fact, is the first stop on the Global NY Export Promotion Tour, which will bring representatives from Global NY – an Empire State Development effort designed to facilitate international funding, logistics and marketization opportunities – to all 10 of New York State’s economic development zones. The tour is slated to kick off Sept. 3 in Melville, where Global NY will hold court during a five-hour seminar at the Hilton Long Island-Huntington.
At each event, Global NY representatives will offer insights into global market trends and multinational exporting opportunities, while attendees engage them in public Q&A sessions and pre-scheduled one-on-one consultations. “New York companies are ready to compete and thrive in the global marketplace, and the Global NY Export Promotion Tour is a powerful way to help them get there,” noted Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight. “By bringing our international representatives directly to businesses across the state, we’re making it easier for companies to explore new markets, grow their customer base and create jobs at home.”
Mortgaging the future: Better save up (or get a promotion) if you want to buy a house in Nassau County.
Seller’s market: Income needed to afford a median-priced home in Nassau County has risen to record heights – and blows away the national average, according to a new report.
So say our friends over at Redfin, a Seattle-based subsidiary of international brokerage Rocket Companies offering a range of buying, selling and mortgage services. Redfin’s recent study of median home prices in the nation’s 50 most-populated metropolitan areas (including Nassau County but not Suffolk County, which has 100,000 more residents but is too far from New York City to qualify as “metro”) revealed that, as of June, an annual income of $207,386 was required to afford a median-priced Nassau home – up 5.2 percent year-over-year and $95,254 above the national average.
Lamenting a prolonged period of record-low affordability nationwide, the report also notes that only 12.4 percent of Nassau homes are rated “affordable to median-income” (compared to the national share of 34.6 percent), while Nassau buyers need to spend 41.8 percent of their income to buy a median home (2.8 percentage points above the national average). For the record, the largest year-over-year drops in income required to afford a median-priced home were calculated in Oakland, Calif. (down 4.6 percent) and West Palm Beach, Fla, (down 3.7 percent).
TOP OF THE SITE
Dialogue coach: Stony Brook University’s Office of Research and Innovation will head up a SUNY-wide effort to help leading researchers better communicate their cutting-edge work to the communities they will ultimately benefit.
You gotta be there: Check Monday’s subscriber-only Calendar Newsletter for a complete rundown of Long Island’s newest and best professional networking events – but first, make sure you and your entire innovation team have newsletter subscriptions! (Always easy, always free.)
ICYMI
A new book by Family and Children’s Association President and CEO Jeffrey Reynolds reveals the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of IRONMAN triathlon training – key to his victory over two deadly cancers.
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 Texas: Frisco-based telehealth leader DialCare partners with Boston-based tech-solutions provider Zelis Healthcare to modernize medical financials.
From Texas: Austin-based better-for-you ice-treats trailblazer GoodPop teams with Canadian candy king SmartSweets on limited-edition frozen sour pops.
From Texas: Muenster-based agave ace Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka introduces an artificial intelligence-powered online mixologist to help amateurs craft cocktails at home.
ON THE MOVE
Syed Raza
+ Syed Raza has been hired as chief medical officer at Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip. He was vice president of medical operations and chief medical officer at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Texas.
+ Debra Ferry has been hired as director of health, physical education and athletics in the Shoreham-Wading River Central School District. She was director of athletics at Half Hollow Hills Central School District.
+ Galen Leung has been hired as chief of advanced endoscopy at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola. He was an assistant professor of clinical medicine and director of endoscopy continuous quality improvement at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
+ Cold Spring Harbor-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty has announced two new hires:
- Valerie Rosenblatt has joined the firm’s Syosset office as a real estate advisor.
- Tanya Fuchs has joined the firm as a licensed associate real estate broker.
+ Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler has announced the hiring of two new partners:
- Brian Guntherhas joined the firm’s Construction Practice Group and will co-lead its new Surety Practice Group. He was a partner at Jericho-based Torre, Lentz, Gamell, Gary & Rittmaster.
- Michael Prisco has joined the firm’s Construction Practice Group and will co-lead its new Surety Practice Group. He was a partner at Jericho-based Torre, Lentz, Gamell, Gary & Rittmaster.
+ Bohemia-based Cerini & Associates has announced three promotions:
- Austin Harvey is now a senior auditor.
- Anthony Martino is now a senior auditor.
- Thomas Lettich is now a senior tax accountant.
+ Lidia Szczepanowski has been elected chairwoman of the Legal Services of Long Island Advisory Council in Islandia. She is the founding attorney at the Law Office of Lidia Szczepanowski in Commack.
+ Matthew McDonough has been appointed chairman of Westbury-based Jovia Financial Credit Union’s Board of Directors. He is an attorney and founding member of Babylon-based McDonough PLLC.
+ Ramin Rak has been appointed to the Roslyn Heights-based North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center’s Board of Directors. He is director/liaison of neurosurgical trauma at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside and director of the NSPC Brain & Spine Tumor Center in Commack, Lake Success and Rockville Centre.
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In the bag: No need to carry on — but if you do, try these cases.
BELOW THE FOLD (Don’t Panic Edition)
Keep calm…: What not to do when your plane is making an emergency landing.
…and carry on: How a popular WWII slogan became a divisive modern meme.
Keep calm (with these carry-ons): The best field-tested, passenger-approved luggage money can buy.
Steady hand: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, a calming influence on volatile regional socioeconomics for the past six decades. Check them out.
