Wicked Wednesday: Boo!
Trick of the light: Scary treats await.
Didn’t mean to scare you, dear reader, though today is the day before Halloween – and, of course, the midpoint of this ghoulish week of socioeconomic innovation.
Slim pickings: Perhaps in anticipation of tomorrow’s candied costumery, there are very few “holidays” to highlight this (and every) Oct. 30.
Today is National Checklist Day, which is as exciting as it sounds (though it started with a bang), and National Text Your Ex Day, which we cannot in good faith endorse.
Biz before pleasure: Before we begin, our apologies to genius Romantic era composer Georges Bizet, who according to Friday’s newsletter died in 1975 at the ripe old age of 137. Bizet bit it in 1875.
Going to the chapel: Predating the Declaration of Independence by a decade, St. Paul’s Chapel – an Episcopal chapel at Broadway and Fulton Streets and the oldest church building in Manhattan – was consecrated on Oct. 30, 1766.
George Washington prayed there after assuming the U.S. presidency.
Write it Loud: The first U.S. patent for a ballpoint pen was issued to Massachusetts innovator John Loud on this date in 1888.
Other patents attached to Oct. 30 include one in 1894 for New York inventor Daniel Cooper and his punch-card time clock.
Pre-peacock: What is now WNBC (Channel 4 in New York), the flagship of the NBC Television Network, traces its history to experimental station W2XBS, which was founded by the Radio Corporation of America and began transmitting on this date in 1931.
Fake news: National newspapers jumped on, and quickly recanted, the “War of the Worlds” story.
“War” and peace: It was Oct. 30, 1938, when Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast had some listeners running for the hills.
Not as many as you might think, though.
La Bomba: And it was this date in 1961 when the Soviet Union test-detonated Tsar Bomba, a 50-megaton hydrogen bomb, six miles above the Arctic Circle – still the largest nuclear device ever detonated.
The 27-ton bomb ignited a 5-mile fireball, sent a mushroom cloud 100 miles into the atmosphere and shattered windows 550 miles away.
He did sail the ocean blue: But colonizer, regional governor and somewhat aggrandized Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), who would have been 568 years old today, never set foot in North America.
Coolidge: Gifted musician, musical gifter.
Also born on Oct. 30 were second U.S. President John Adams (1735-1826), who did; American pianist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1863-1953), a great patron of chamber music, medical research and other noble causes; Indian physicist Homi J. Bhabha (1909-1966), the “father of Indian nuclear power”; and former businesswoman turned presidential advisor Ivanka Trump (born 1981).
Aaayyy: And take a bow, Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli – New York City-born actor Henry Winkler turns 74 today.
Don’t be a nerd – wish The Fonz and all the other Oct. 30 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, and give us a thumbs-up with a story tip or calendar item. Is that cool? Correctamundo.
From our sponsor: Whether it’s helping with site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Of concourse: Gov. Cuomo announces Terminal C’s arrival.
Now boarding: Delta Air Lines’ new Terminal C is ready to fly at LaGuardia Airport, which still looks (and drives) like it’s in the midst of an $8 billion renovation, but is slowly rounding into shape.
Delta’s new concourse, the first of four Delta concourses slated to open through 2021, includes seven gates and is expected to begin servicing 60 daily flights to and from Boston, Chicago and Washington on Nov. 4. It’s the second passenger terminal to open during the difficult live-action renovation project, following last December’s debut of Terminal B and its then 11 (now 18) new gates.
On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo trumpeted progress at what his office calls “the first new U.S. airport in 25 years,” calling the arrival of Terminal C a major milestone for the difficult – but not impossible – renovation effort. “Every engineer, every consultant, everyone told us it is impossible to rebuild LaGuardia Airport while you operate LaGuardia Airport,” Cuomo said. “But the only thing in life that is impossible is what you believe is impossible.”
Motherload: Don’t get mad, working moms juggling an unfair share of domestic duties – get to Adelphi University, where a newly published alumna is exposing the “myth of equal partnership.”
That will be the focus of a Nov. 4 book-signing and discussion featuring bestselling author Darcy Lockman (PhD, clinical psychology, Adelphi 2008) and her book, “All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers and the Myth of Equal Partnership” (HarperCollins 2019), which investigates the causes of a “pervasive inequity” in many households where both parents work full time – specifically, why household management and childcare still tend to fall more heavily on mothers.
The Nov. 4 event includes a lecture in the Garden City university’s Performing Arts Center beginning at 7 p.m., followed by a reception and book-signing. Lockman’s appearance is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. More information here.
TOP OF THE SITE
Ciao, Mirabella: The Long Island Business Development Council’s veteran co-chairman is stepping down – but not entirely stepping away.
Identity Tech: The New York Institute of Technology has rebranded with new colors, a new nickname and a “bold new identity.”
Pass it on: If you love reading this newsletter as much as we love writing it, share it with your fellow innovators – and encourage them to subscribe for free.
VOICES
Long-distance dedication: The national teacher shortage hits rural and inner-city districts hardest – but “virtual classroom” technology can successfully fill in the gaps, according to Voices columnist and K-12 education expert Harry Aurora.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Live it up: The nonprofit American Planning Association has named Downtown Patchogue one of the four best residential spots in the nation. Newsday moves in.
Bring it down: Seven-hundred-eighty days later, NASA’s robotic space plane lands in Florida, with all of its mysterious “mission objectives” complete. NPR wings it.
Keep it level: Home Depot’s annual Innovation Awards are a DIY paradise. Forbes drills deep.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ PierianDx, a Missouri-based clinical genomics informatics company, closed a $27 million Series B funding round led by ATW Partners and SJF Ventures, with participation from existing investors Health Catalyst Capital, Inova Health Systems, RTI International and ARUP Laboratories.
+ Shiru, a California-based provider of molecular-design proteins for food applications, raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Lux Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, S2G, CPT Capital, PeakState, SGH Capital, Twenty Two VC, Aera VC, XFactor Ventures and Climate Capital.
+ Avia, an Illinois-based digital health consultant, raised $22 million in funding led by First Trust Capital Partners, with participation from Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Ziegler, Cedars-Sinai Health System, MemorialCare, St. Luke’s University Health Network and The University of Kansas Health System, among others.
+ Aurora Insight, a Colorado-based company providing insight into the 5G radio spectrum, raised $18 million in funding led by Alsop Louie Partners and True Ventures, with participation from Tippet Venture Partners, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Promus Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, ValueStream Ventures and Intellectus Partners.
+ 410 Medical, a North Carolina-based medical-device company, closed on an $8 million Series A financing round led by Hatteras Venture Partners, with participation from OSF Ventures and existing investors including Sovereign’s Capital.
+ IonQ, a Maryland-based quantum computing company, raised $55 million in funding led by Samsung Catalyst and Mubadala, with participation from ACME Capital, Airbus Ventures, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Tao Capital Partners, Correlation Ventures, A&E Investment, Osage University Partners, New Enterprise Associates, GV and Amazon.
Fashion police: Good luck at your trial, Liz.
BELOW THE FOLD (All Hallows Eve Edition)
That’s some great pumpkin: National retailers anticipate $8.8 billion in Halloween-related economic activity this year.
Up to her neck: Disgraced ex-billionaire Elizabeth Holmes is now ruining Halloween, too.
Face-off: Love jack-o-lanterns? Thank the Irish, who ran out of turnips.
Scary good: The Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, one of the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI, can turn your tricky corporate relocation into a business-growth treat. Check them out.
