Worth it, in the end: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we muscle through this latest busy week of socioeconomic innovation with a glorious three-day weekend waiting in the wings.
In the fold: Glide rules on National Paper Airplane Day.
Plane spoken: Speaking of wings, it’s May 26 out there, a great date for flights of fancy – today is National Paper Airplane Day.
It’s also National Cherry Dessert Day, which offers many possibilities, and National Blueberry Cheesecake Day, which seems unnecessarily restrictive, but there it is.
Young at heart: The last Wednesday in May also marks the 28th annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day, which is actually bifurcated this year (part two is in October) to allow extra COVID flexibility.
Bank shot: It was the last Saturday in May when the Continental Congress chartered the Bank of North America, America’s first national commercial bank, on this date in 1781.
Oro y Plata: It wouldn’t become the 41st U.S. State until 1889, but it was May 26, 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln created the Territory of Montana.
Count on it: Many have tried, but none have brought Bram Stoker’s creation to life (kinda) quite like Bela Lugosi.
Bloody good: Here’s one you can sink your teeth into – “Dracula,” author Bram Stoker’s influential gothic horror novel, was first published 124 years ago today in England.
Technically not the first novel about vampires, Stoker’s masterwork become the model for the undead-bloodsucker genre.
The last Tin Lizzie: With maker Henry Ford on hand, the 15 millionth – and last – Model T Ford rolled off its Michigan assembly line on May 26, 1927.
Rewriting the code: And it was May 26, 1981, when computer programmer/attorney Satya Pal Asija landed the first U.S. patent for computer software, locking up his natural-language-interface program Swift-Answer.
Asija, who actually wrote the program years before, wanted to challenge a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against software patents, so he studied patent law, passed the bar exam and represented himself in an ultimately victorious seven-year legal battle.
Ride of her life: Houston, we have a woman.
Ride Sally Ride: American physicist and astronaut Sally Kristen Ride (1951-2012) – the first American woman in space and third woman overall, behind USSR cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya – would be 70 years old today.
Also born on May 26 were American civil engineer Washington Roebling (1837-1926), who took over for his deceased father and completed construction of the Brooklyn Bridge; French aviation pioneer Henri Farman (1874-1958), who improved lateral flight control by installing ailerons on wings; “mother of modern dance” Isadora Duncan (1877-1927); iconic American movie star Marion Robert Morrison (1907-1979), known best as John Wayne; and American entrepreneur David Edgerton Jr. (1927-2018), who co-founded Burger King.
There once lived a writer: And take a bow, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya! The Russian novelist and playwright, who overcame Soviet censorship to become an international sensation (and New York Times bestselling author), turns 83 today.
Wish the Russian writer, the burger baron and all the other May 26 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where we enjoy news tips, calendar events and other whoppers.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Beaming with pride: Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling (third from right) joins donors at last week’s Petrocelli Advanced Surgical Pavilion beam-placement ceremony.
Beam up: After a decade of planning and 13 months of construction, the $325 million Petrocelli Advanced Surgical Pavilion has been officially unveiled at North Shore University Hospital. At least, part of it.
The pavilion is not yet open for business; begun in 2020, construction isn’t slated to be completed until 2023. Nonetheless, the Manhasset-based Level I trauma center and teaching hospital held a “steel beam topping off ceremony” last week to mark the PASP’s progress, with Northwell Health executives, donors and hospital staffers autographing a beam that was then hoisted up seven stories and placed atop the 280,000-square-foot, under-construction pavilion.
When completed, the PASP – named for primary benefactors Attilio and Beverly Petrocelli – will feature 18 operating rooms, 44 intensive-care beds and a host of advanced-imaging capabilities, among other next-gen bells and whistles. “We are incredibly grateful to Attilio and Beverly for their generosity,” noted Brian Lally, Northwell’s senior vice president and chief development officer. “Philanthropy is critical to Northwell Health, and helps us to take better care of more people.”
Hall of fame: Farmingdale State College will rename one of its original campus buildings in honor of a Long Island community activist and civil rights pioneer.
Conklin Hall – which houses student-government offices, a high-tech media lounge and other student activities – will become Delores Y. Quintyne Hall in a special ceremony slated for June 15. Quintyne, a longtime Amityville resident, is a social-justice trailblazer who led a 1960s-era campaign to improve deplorable living conditions for migrant workers at Long Island duck farms; she also is a certified life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a co-founder, along with her husband, Irwin, of the Suffolk County chapter of the Congress of Racial Equity.
Already a recipient of the Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award, among other honors, Quintyne was the perfect pick for the hall’s new namesake, according to Farmingdale State College President John Nader. “When the college embraced the idea of naming a campus building in honor of a local activist and civil rights leader, Delores was a clear and inspiring choice,” Nader said Tuesday. “The college is honored to recognize Ms. Quintyne for her tireless and effective advocacy for equality and justice.”
Mitch Pally
POD PEOPLE
This week on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, Long Island Builders Institute CEO Mitch Pally discusses the socioeconomic crisis exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the critical traits of effective leadership and … “Singin’ in the Rain”?!? Episode 7, not just another song and dance!
TOP OF THE SITE
Around the world in 80 tests: Not quite, but a Stony Brook startup is putting its cutting-edge batteries through their paces in multiple international collaborations.
On the roads again: Touting a true economic driver, Albany will pour $30 million-plus into new Long Island road repairs.
Spread the love: You love this newsletter (we love you for that) and your entire innovation team will, too. Subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
The pandemic is waning – but things only get harder for business owners, who must now answer critical questions about workforces and physical space. Healthcare anchor Terry Lynam, former senior vice president/chief public relations officer for Northwell Health, examines Corporate America’s future.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Reality check: Decrying broken promises, a bummed-out workforce rebels as employers pull the plug on the remote-work era. Fast Co. cuts through the BS.
Bezos bounce: Hours after losing the title of World’s Richest Person, Jeff Bezos made a quick billion (not a typo) to reclaim the throne. Forbes tries to keep up.
Rocket man: Equipped with SpaceX rocket boosters, Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster will go from zero to 60 in about 1 second. Popular Mechanics straps in.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Plus One Robotics, a Texas-based provider of vision software for logistics robots, raised $33 million in Series B funding co-led by McRock Capital and Translink Capital, with participation from Perot Jain, Ironspring Ventures, CEAS, Lerer Hippeau, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Zebra Ventures, among others.
+ Arkose Labs, a California-based provider of online fraud and abuse-prevention software, raised $70 million in Series C funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and previous investors M12 and PayPal Ventures.
+ Pretred, a Colorado based recycled-materials manufacturer, raised $3 million in funding led by HG Ventures, The Heritage Group’s corporate-venture arm.
+ Educative, the Washington State-based provider of an interactive skill-development platform for software developers, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Backers included Matrix Partners, Trilogy Equity Partners, Kevin Mahaffey, Mercury.com founder Immad Akhund, Segment founder Ilya Volodarsky and other angel investors.
+ Beta Technologies, the Vermont-based developer of an integrated electric-aviation ecosystem, raised $368 million in funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Co.
+ Cynerio, a New York City-based provider of healthcare-focused IoT, cybersecurity and asset-management solutions, secured $30 million in Series B funding led by Alive Israel HealthTech Fund, Accelmed, RDC, MTIP, CBG and an unnamed UAE-based investment group.
BELOW THE FOLD (Innovation in Spaaaaace Edition)
Filmed on location: Russian moviemakers are going where no motion-picture crew has gone before.
Escape velocity: After completing a crucial test flight, Virgin Galactic’s space plane is rocketing toward a 2022 commercial debut.
Space jam: As commercial spaceflights sell out, debate intensifies on who, exactly, gets to call themselves an astronaut.
Film, stars: Russia has selected the cast and crew for the first movie shot in space.
Exploring new worlds: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI, including SUNY Old Westbury, where students and faculty expand the final frontiers of achievement – and always reach for the stars. Check them out.
