Stay cool: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the midpoint of a freakishly warm autumnal workweek.
The thermometer might say spring, but the calendar says fall – and so does the regional innovation activity, always brisk this time of year. Let’s review.
Pump’d up: Take your pick today.
Come on out: It feels like May but it’s Oct. 26 out there, known best as National Transgender Children Day, encouraging all to open their hearts and arms and embrace kids hiding “in the closet.”
Fortunately, the spectacular daily buffet is gender-neutral – Oct. 26 is National Chicken Fried Steak Day (savoring the creamy fried fowl), National Mincemeat Day (celebrating 500 years of tossing diced fruit and meat with booze) and National Pumpkin Day (possessing any number of dishes and drinks, like an unstoppable fruity demon).
Putting asses in the seats: And it’s National Mule Day, an annual Oct. 26 observance sharing the load with the half-horse, half-donkey beasts of burden.
Spin cycle: Speaking of burdensome loads, the rotary washing machine was patented on this date in 1858 by Philadelphia-based inventor Hamilton Smith.
Step on it: Also spinning in place is the “getaway car,” a phrase that was (allegedly) first used in an Oct. 26, 1901, Paris police report, after robbers eluded the cops.
Full Voice: The phrases were flying on this date in 1955, when The Village Voice – the country’s first alternative newsweekly – published its first issue.
As I get on the 707: Pan Am (and Boeing) mainstreamed transatlantic flight in 1958.
Cleared for takeoff: Also flying was the Boeing 707, the transatlantic workhorse of the nascent Jet Age that made its commercial debut 64 years ago today, connecting Idlewild (now JFK) with Paris (via Newfoundland).
Introducing Zonker: And the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic strip “Doonesbury” debuted on this date in 1970, thrusting American counterculture – and title character Michael Doonesbury, who’s aged through the decades from college student to senior citizen – into the funnies.
Once a staple of daily newspapers, the strip – still written and penciled by creator Garry Trudeau – continues to premier new content in Sunday syndication.
Cereal entrepreneur: American breakfast-cereal manufacturer and prepared-food pioneer Charles William “C.W.” Post (1854-1914) – a complex figure who introduced Grape Nuts, battled labor unions and mental illness and was the namesake of Long Island University’s first residential college – would be 168 years old today.
Soul heir: Mahalia Jackson, undisputed Queen of Gospel.
Also born on Oct. 26 were Italian aeronautics pioneer Gaetano Crocco (1877-1968), who became Italy’s leading space scientist; American mathematical physicist Charles “Max” Mason (1877-1961), who invented World War I-era submarine-detection devices; American self-help guru Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), among history’s most-read (and most controversial) life coaches; American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972), among the 20th Century’s most influential vocalists; and American alternative-rock standout Natalie Merchant (born 1963), who did just fine without 10,000 Maniacs.
I’d like to buy an escape clause: And take a bow, Pat Sajak! The American gameshow host – still cornered by consonants, vexed by vowels and stuck in the perpetually spinning “Wheel of Fortune,” 41 long years later – turns 76 today.
Wish the TV personality well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events always help solve the puzzle.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 53 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
The shows must go on: Pardon their appearance at the iconic Jones Beach Theater, which will remain open during an ambitious five-year makeover.
California-based Live Nation Entertainment – a global entertainment company, venue manager and concert promoter formed by the 2009 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster – is making an undisclosed multimillion-dollar investment in the 14,500-seat amphitheater. Visitors to the stadium, which turned 70 this year and is now known officially as Northwell Health Theater at Jones Beach, will benefit from a new entrance, upgraded concourses, remodeled restrooms and storm-resistant seawalls, among other ambitious improvements Live Nation is planning over the next half-decade.
The comprehensive facelift is part of a 20-year operating agreement between the Beverly Hills-based promoter and New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, which oversees Jones Beach State Park. “Experiencing a live show at Jones Beach is a rite of summer for Long Islanders,” noted Live Nation Northeast Regional President Geoff Gordon. “We are excited to work closely with our partners at Jones Beach State Park to enhance the fan experience further and continue to create memorable experiences for our fans and their favorite performers.”
Dead and loving it: Vampires are right at home across New York State.
Monster of the week: Halloween is upon us, and the good folks at Lawn Love want New Yorkers to know they should be very, very afraid.
While no Long Island towns made the cuts (mostly because of population limitations), the California-based lawn-care news and service aggregator ranks nearby New York City as the best of 2022’s Best U.S. Cities for Vampires. Using a proprietary formula that calculates hordes of potential victims, regional blood banks, the percentage of dwellings with basements and other bloodsucker-friendly metrics, Lawn Love also ranked Syracuse (38th), Rochester (44th), Buffalo (69th) and Yonkers (82nd) among the nation’s 200 most vampire-friendly places.
If that doesn’t spook you, consider that Lawn Love also ranks New York State fourth in its ranking of 2022’s Best States for UFOs (behind only California, Texas and Florida). And while the horrifying horticulturists haven’t updated their mathematically calculated list of Best U.S. Cities for Witches for 2022, New York City wore the crown (or the pointed black hat) in 2021, with the usual Empire State suspects – Yonkers (38th), Rochester (107th), Buffalo (136th) and Syracuse (148th) – also spicing the witch’s brew.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 13: Cardinuto, ghost of Halloween past.
Pair our most recent episode (featuring “The Macabre Sessions” creator and producer Christian Gonzalez) with last year’s classic Episode 13 (featuring Long Island Paranormal Investigations co-founder Michael Cardinuto) and you’ve got yourself a spine-tingling Halloween double feature – and those are just two of the 30-plus amazing conversations making Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast so frighteningly good.
TOP OF THE SITE
It’s all in the wrist: GE Healthcare and the New York Institute of Technology are teaming up to protect Esports athletes from potentially serious injury.
Structural integrity: An international energy-infrastructure agreement bounds from Italy to France to Connecticut, with powerful potential for Long Island.
Subscription scalper: Remember the old shampoo commercial – you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on…? Let’s do that with Innovate Long Island’s always easy, always free newsletter subscriptions!
VOICES
The need for adolescent mental-health services has never been greater – and Long Island schools and healthcare providers have never been more on top of it, according to former Northwell Health Senior VP and Voices healthcare anchor Terry Lynam.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Measured movement: Steady on with “Slow Productivity,” a methodology that taps the brakes on a fast-paced world. Forbes throttles down.
Mandatory movement: Moving, even when your brain says no, is essential to physical and mental health. Vox gets going.
Mocha movement: How unionized Starbucks baristas rekindled a national labor crusade. The Hill organizes.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Chip City Cookies, a New York City-based cookie brand, raised $10 million in funding. Enlightened Hospitality Investments made the commitment.
+ Freebee, a Florida-based on-demand transportation app, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by bp ventures and Tensile Mobility.
+ Limber Health, a Washington-based in-clinic and digital musculoskeletal care provider, raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Blue Venture Fund, Sandbox and Glenview Capital.
+ Anthro Energy, a California-based energy-storage innovator, raised $7.2 million in seed funding co-led by Union Square Ventures and Energy Revolution Ventures, with participation from Nor’Easter Ventures and the Stanford President’s Venture Fund, among others.
+ Hello Divorce, a California-based “complete divorce” platform, raised $3.25 million in seed funding led by The Artemis Fund, Pitbull Ventures, Chaos Ventures and Sand Hill Angels, among others.
+ Wilkinson Baking Co., a Washington State-based robotics innovator presenting a fully automated commercial bread-baking robot, closed a $3 million seed funding led by Ken Peterson of Columbia Ventures Corp., along with Rich Product Ventures.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask the LIBDC). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Apple Season Edition)
Recent history: Maybe not the backstory you expected.
Hearty harvest: New York’s apple crops are enjoying a bounce-back year.
Hard case: Apple cider has been boozing it up for 3,000 years.
Cake walk: The unexpected history of the apple cider donut.
Pie in the sky: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which is actually quite grounded when it comes to regional socioeconomics – although they always aim high. Check them out.
