Stress test: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as the Christmas 2021 countdown continues and we plow through another busy week of socioeconomic innovation.
It’s Wednesday, Dec. 8, and there are now just 16 shopping days left until Christmas. No pressure, just saying.
Tomorrow is yesterday: Rod Taylor’s H.G. Wells goes for a spin in “The Time Machine.”
Time tunnel: If you’re stressed over the looming holiday, perhaps you’d like to turn back the clock a few weeks – fair game on Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day, which flexes its flux capacitor this and every Dec. 8.
In this space-time continuum, today is also National Brownie Day, an annual celebration of the beloved baked blocks.
Labor intensive: Other innovations plucked from our timeline include what is arguably the most successful labor alliance in American history – the American Federation of Labor, which formed on Dec. 8, 1886.
Ready, willing and cable: Opening the door to undersea telephone lines, cable television and (eventually) broadband Internet, the coaxial cable was patented on this date in 1931.
Call to arms: President Roosevelt asks Congress to declare war on Imperial Japan in 1941.
This means war: Less than 24 hours after the devastating Pearl Harbor sneak attack, FDR delivered his “Day of Infamy” speech on Dec. 8, 1941, thrusting the United States into World War II.
Speaking of influential Presidential addresses, Dwight Eisenhower delivered his “Atoms For Peace” speech before the U.N. General Assembly 68 years ago today, flipping the switch on commercial nuclear power and proposing the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
You have some ’splaining to do: Pregnancy became a thing on Dec. 8, 1952 – at least on television, with the Ricardos learning they were going to have a baby on a very special episode of “I Love Lucy.”
The revelation was downright scandalous – Lucy and Ricky slept in twin beds, remember – and for the record, the word “pregnant” was never actually spoken.
Cheese in spaaaaace: And with a secret payload stashed inside its Dragon space capsule – a giant wheel of Le Brouere cheese (a nod to “Monty Python”) – SpaceX became the first private company to launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft on this date in 2010.
Gin and bear it: American inventor, mechanical engineer and manufacturer Eli Whitney (1765-1825) – who invented the cotton gin and pioneered the mass production of interchangeable machine parts – would be 256 years old today.
The candy man: Beloved entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. was born 96 years ago today.
Also born on Dec. 8 were tragic Reformation Era queen Mary Stuart (1542-1587), known best as Mary, Queen of Scots; German botanist Johann Hedwig (1730-1799), a moss master remembered as the father of bryology; Dutch-English physician Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799), who discovered photosynthesis; English chemist Sir Thomas Thorpe (1845-1925), who detected arsenic in beer, perfected pottery glazes and otherwise advanced inorganic chemistry; and American stage and screen icon Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990), an original Rat Packer.
Gets her Irish up sometimes: And take a bow, Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor! The Irish singer/songwriter and lightning-rod political activist – recognized more for her controversies than her chart-topping music – turns 55 today.
Regards for one of the first mainstream celebrities to be “canceled” welcomed at editor@innovateli.com, where nothing compares to your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s College has been providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. The independent and coeducational college provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, preparing each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. Through SJC Long Island, SJC Brooklyn and SJC Online, the college offers degrees in 50 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Wind power: Super-advanced testing assays and cutting-edge vaccines are fine and all that – but the best defense against COVID-19 may be a windy day.
That’s the word from Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, where a new study conducted during the height of the pandemic reveals a clear connection between lower wind speeds and higher rates of virus transmission. Led by Associate Professor Sean Clouston of the Renaissance School’s Program in Public Health, the study – published in November in the scientific journal BMC Infectious Diseases – traced Suffolk County COVID-19 incidence between March 16 and Dec. 31, 2020, ultimately combining public health data from more than 96,000 cases with daily weather reports by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Clouston et al found that days where temperatures were 61 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit and wind speeds were less than approximately 5 mph had significantly increased COVID-19 incidence – as much as 45 percent higher than cooler, windier days. “The issue is really about an increased danger of infection spread in the presence of stale air, as opposed to indoor versus outdoor settings,” Clouston noted. “The findings imply we are all safer when air flow is more significant.”
Closing time: With a new residential/retail project rising in Uptown Port Jefferson Village, the PJ Lobster House will be shelled.
Port can-do: The ongoing revitalization of uptown Port Jefferson Village has received a big boost from the Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency.
The IDA announced this week that it’s finalized a tax-abatement deal that will help Port Development LLC construct a mixed-use development – including 1,800 square feet of commercial/retail space and 36 new apartments – at the intersection of Main Street and North Country Road. A three-story, 48,660-square-foot building will replace the 4,400-square-foot PJ Lobster House restaurant and an adjacent 1,800-square-foot space that was most recently a florist shop, according to the IDA.
Port Development is an affiliate of Port Jefferson-based developer The Gitto Group, which has constructed two other mixed-use projects in the village with Brookhaven IDA assistance. This latest 18-month effort is projected to create 133 construction jobs and five full-time-equivalent permanent jobs, while addressing the “high demand for rental housing in the Town of Brookhaven and the Port Jefferson area,” according to Brookhaven IDA Chairman Frederick Braun III. “This development will make a positive, long-term economic impact on the village and further the revitalization of Upper Port.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 16: Brian Fried, inventor mentor.
Brian Fried is an innovator in the truest sense – not just devising his own amazing products, but creating tools and resources that help other makers achieve commercial success.
Sponsored by inventive clean-energy pioneer ThermoLift, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast tinkers with Long Island’s foremost garage-based inventor – and learns the good-as-gold secrets he’s discovered on the road to innovation success.
TOP OF THE SITE
Flight plan: Startup airline Breeze Airways has selected Long Island MacArthur Airport as its first official New York airport – a big win for regional leisure and business travelers.
The insider: After requiring an MRI exam herself, a patient and her husband donated $1 million to help Northwell Health’s Glen Cove Hospital buy its own MRI machine.
The gift of innovation: The clock is ticking on those 16 shopping days – fortunately, subscriptions to this engaging and entertainment newsletter are always easy, always free.
VOICES
Affordable housing remains a critical challenge in these parts – and with dramatic changes coming to federal housing laws, legal anchor Michael Sahn warns that Long Island officials have one last chance to proactively retain local control before Washington tells them what to do, and where to do it.
STUFF WE’RE READING
If you’re gonna do it: …do it right, says a new nonprofit promoting “responsible” innovation. Fast Co. owns up.
Room with a view: What can tourists expect from the first generation of commercial space stations? TNW boldly goes.
Copy that: Imitation really is the sincerest form of innovation. Bloomberg shares impressions.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Hometap, a Massachusetts-based alternative home-loan platform, raised $60 million in new operating capital led by American Family Ventures, with participation from Bain Capital, ICONIQ Capital, G20 Ventures, Pillar and General Catalyst.
+ Shiftsmart, a New York City-based-labor management platform, raised $95 million in Series B financing led by D1 Capital, with participation from Imaginary Ventures, Spieker Partners and S12F, among others.
+ Halio, a California-based “smart windows” manufacturer, raised an additional $100 million in financing led by SK and Capricorn Investment Group.
+ Clever Real Estate, a Missouri-based real estate agent hub, raised $8 million in Series B funding led by Cultivation Capital and The Mortgage Collaborative Emerging Technology Fund.
+ Massive, a NYC-based remote platform that facilitates trades of idle computer-processing power for digital apps and services, raised $11 million in seed funding led by Point72 Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, BlockTower Capital and CoinShares Ventures, among others.
+ Stride Funding, a Massachusetts-based education fund, closed a $12 million Series A financing round led by Firework Ventures, with participation from Juvo Ventures, Graham Holdings, GSV Ventures, Slow Ventures and Sinai Ventures.
BELOW THE FOLD (Breakfast Edition)
Spreading the news: A cream cheese shortage is plaguing the Big Apple.
Rising fast: Wendy’s has quickly kicked Burger King’s breakfast butt, and is now menacing the McMuffin.
Mad scramble: How a shipment of extra-large eggs helped create “Trader Joe.”
Schmear campaign: New York City is running out of cream cheese.
The most important meal of your life: Please continue supporting the world-class institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s College, where they nourish both minds and souls. Check them out.
