Talking turkey: Let’s get real, intrepid innovators – it’s Wednesday out there, and that means just one week to go before Thanksgiving. If you haven’t started food shopping yet, better get cracking.
Before we celebrate, we’ve got this exciting workweek – and a half-one next week – to get through, so let’s get to it. (Quick reminder: Innovate Long Island will be baking and roasting and all that good stuff next week. Watch for your regularly scheduled Nov. 19 newsletter, and we’ll be back at you Nov. 29 with fresh newsletters, podcasts and website content.)
I dough: Do you take this homemade loaf?
Almost like they planned it: Today is Nov. 17, which is both National Homemade Bread Day (an annual homage to DIY bakers) and the first-ever National Butter Day (a debut celebration of Julia Child’s favorite indulgence).
Walk it off: For the carbohydrate-conscious, today is also National Take a Hike Day, which is less about telling off people than taking off pounds.
Survey Suez: There was less walking and more sailing beginning on this date in 1869, when the Suez Canal ceremoniously opened, connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas through Egypt.
Good form: The Daily Racing Form, riding high through history.
Handicap zone: The Daily Racing Form – a bible to bettors and now a dominant multimedia platform – was introduced as a broadsheet newspaper on Nov. 17, 1894.
Today, the statistical service for horseracing enthusiasts sells more than 4 million print copies annually and boasts upwards of 625,000 unique website visitors.
Drive my cahhh to the gahhhden: Speaking of sports and their fans, the original, legendary Boston Garden opened on this date in 1878, doubling the capacity of any other Boston venue.
Big bangs: When China detonated its 21st nuclear bomb 45 years ago today, it was the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated – a 4 megaton yield, some 300 times larger than the Hiroshima blast. (For those keeping score, it’s not even a top-10 detonation anymore).
In other weapons of mass destruction news, during a Nov. 17, 1978, visit by U.S. senators and journalists, General Secretary and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet Leonid Brezhnev bragged that the USSR had test-detonated neutron bombs years earlier.
Eek! A mouse! And it was little more than a wired wooden shell with two metal wheels – but Douglas Engelbert’s clunky invention nonetheless qualifies as the first computer mouse, patented on this date in 1970.
Civic award: Japanese engineer, racer and industrialist Soichiro Honda (1906-1991) – innovative founder of iconic car and motorcycle manufacturer Honda Motor Co., now the world’s sixth-largest automaker – would be 115 years old today.
Drag racer: Ru Paul, still out-standing.
Also born on Nov. 17 were British antiquarian Sir John Evans (1823-1908), credited as the founder of prehistoric archeology; German physician Carl Gassner (1855-1942), an inventive fellow remembered best for the dry-cell battery; Canadian astronomer John Plaskett (1865-1941), a spectroscopic pioneer who facilitated Canadian astrophysics; American biochemist Stanley Cohen (1922-2020), who shared a 1986 Nobel prize with Italian neurobiologist Rita Levi-Montalcini for groundbreaking work on biological growth factors; and American actor, author and media personality RuPaul Andre Charles (born 1960), best dressed as drag queen RuPaul.
The king of Queens: And take a bow, Martin Charles Scorsese! The Flushing-born Oscar-, Golden Globe-, Grammy- and Emmy-winning film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and cornerstone of the New Hollywood Era turns 79 today.
Wish the Goodfella well at editor@innovateli.com, where we brave the Mean Streets with your news tips and cut through the Raging Bull with your calendar events (and The Color of Money is our very Last Temptation).
About our sponsor: Presberg Law P.C. is Long Island’s premier “IDA” and business-law firm for businesses locating, relocating and expanding on Long Island. Founded in 1984, this multigenerational practice focuses on the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and industrial real estate, SBA and other loan transactions, construction projects and business sales and acquisitions.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Water sign: For the third consecutive year, the Long Island Regional Planning Council is inviting middle and high school students to jump into the water – or at least make it safer to do so.
The LIRPC has announced its third-annual Long Island Water Quality Challenge, a science, technology, engineering, art and math challenge designed to encourage STEAM students to create innovative solutions to nitrogen-pollution problems on their school grounds. Open to any state-accredited Nassau or Suffolk school serving grades six through 12, the challenge is split into two categories – Low-Input Landscaping and Stormwater Treatment – and will award grant funding to the winning schools for implementation of the student-designed projects.
The challenge is part of the Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan, a multiyear New York State Department of Environmental Conservation/LIRPC nitrogen-reduction effort – especially important on the Island, where aging septic systems, stormwater runoff and tons of fertilizer all threaten surface and groundwaters. “The [Water Quality Challenge] informs and empowers our students to … realize that they have the ability to be a part of the solution locally,” noted LIRPC Chairman John Cameron. “By creating and implementing nitrogen-reduction projects on their own campuses, this STEAM challenge provides students with a valuable lesson about one of our region’s most critical issues.”
Panel show: Solar power companies are rallying against LIPA’s proposed “solar tax,” a potential deterrent to residential installations.
Sunny disposition: A high-wattage assemblage of solar-power supporters will gather today in Farmingdale to protest a new Long Island Power Authority solar-power surcharge.
LIPA has announced a Nov. 29 public hearing and a Dec. 15 vote on its proposed “Customer Benefit Contribution Charge,” which would affect all new solar installations after Jan. 1, 2022. The so-called “solar tax” would decrease projected first-year savings for new solar customers by as much as 50 percent, according to a statement from the New York Solar Energy Industries Association, presenting a significant hurdle to an industry that “provides green-energy jobs and economic benefits” – and a real deterrent to potential customers who might choose to stick with carbon-emitting fossil fuels instead.
Joined by environmental advocates and regional lawmakers, multiple Long Island solar businesses are scheduled to rally at noon at the New York State Solar facility on Dubon Court; the consortium is expected to announce a legal petition filed with the Public Service Commission and share details of presentations planned for the Nov. 29 public hearing. “Solar delivers direct financial and environmental benefits to all ratepayers and is a promising regional job [creator],” said David Schieren, NYSEIA president and CEO of Island Park-based EmPower Solar. “LIPA has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and find ways to harness all the benefits of distributed solar.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 12: Terri Alessi-Miceli, industrial revolutionary.
Sponsored by energy efficiency pioneer ThermoLift, Season 2 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast is just a few weeks old and already raising the bar on inspiring conversations from across the regional innovation economy.
From busy college campuses to high-powered networking organizations to the Island’s scariest haunted houses, Spark follows the innovation – and brings it straight to you.
TOP OF THE SITE
Mind reader: Northwell Health is backing an augmented-reality tech that turns brainwaves into real-world commands, a game-changer for the physically challenged.
Eastbound and up: When the eastbound platform of the Long Island Rail Road’s Elmont Station opens Saturday, it will mark the first new LIRR station in 50 years.
Forward thinking: Please copy this engaging newsletter to your entire innovation team, then share the gift of foresight – their own subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
With socially minded Millennials leading the way, cryptocurrency-based charitable donations are soaring – but most Long Island charities aren’t taking advantage of the e-generosity, much to the chagrin of Voices nonprofits anchor Jeffrey Reynolds, president and CEO of the Garden City-based Family and Children’s Association.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Hidden crisis: Thousands of U.S. military families are struggling with food insecurity. The Associated Press digs deep.
Live feed: How Elon Musk’s $6 billion could dent global hunger. NPR digs in.
Off menu: What we get right (and wrong) about soul food and other Black culinary traditions. Vox digs it.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ PathologyWatch, a Utah-based digital-pathology platform for dermatologists, raised $25 million in Series B financing. Backers included Ceros Capital Markets, Rock Creek Capital, SpringTide, Spark Growth Ventures, Blueprint Health, Blackbrook Management Group and existing investors.
+ Knowify, a New York City-based construction business-management software provider, closed a $5.45 million Series A funding led by MassMutual Ventures, Companyon Ventures, Dreamit Ventures and existing investors.
+ Kodiak Robotics, a California-based self-driving trucking company, raised $125 million in Series B funding. Backers included SIP Global Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others.
+ Rad AI, a California-based radiologist-led artificial-intelligence company, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by ARTIS Ventures, OCV Partners, Kickstart Fund and Gradient Ventures.
+ Augmentir, a Pennsylvania-based, artificial intelligence-powered connected-worker software provider, secured $7.5 million in Series A financing led by Gardner Lewis Asset Management, Lerer Hippeau, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and HOLT Ventures.
+ Helion Energy, a Washington State-based, fusion-focused, zero-carbon clean energy company, closed a $500 million Series E funding led by Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz, Mithril Capital and Capricorn Investment Group.
BELOW THE FOLD
Stress test: ‘Tis the season for sudden headaches.
Calm down: Essential steps for a low-anxiety holiday season.
Hold it together: How to control the brain’s response to sudden stress.
So dramatic: Do the overemotional secretly hold the key to happiness?
Steady and ready: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg Law, the steady hand on your business-development wheel. Check them out.
