May never end: It’s still May? Strange but true, dear readers, as we reach the kinda midpoint of this abbreviated workweek and the overdue end of this elongated month – and charge into an extended summer of innovation.
Growth stunt: Instead of contributing to this, perhaps tobacco farmers might consider growing much-needed food.
Growth mode: It is indeed May 31 out there, known best as the World Health Organization’s World No Tobacco Day, an annual observance that leverages a basic theme (tobacco kills) with a focused yearly message (for 2023, “Grow Food, Not Tobacco”).
Old equipment: Speaking of healthier choices, today is also the 30th annual National Senior Health & Fitness Day, promoting physical activity and good nutrition at your local Bristal Assisted Living community and beyond.
It’s also one of our favorites grammatically (and a true 160-characters-or-less challenge): National Speak in Complete Sentences Day, a self-explanatory exercise properly conjugating, and sometimes compounding, every May 31.
Pages of history: Other challenges (to authors’ and mapmakers’ rights, specifically) were addressed 233 years ago today (in complete sentences), when President George Washington signed into law the Copyright Act of 1790, the first federal copyright act.
Smooth operator: Also paving the way was Belgian chemist Edmund DeSmedt, who earned a U.S. patent for sheet pavement – known best by the stage name French asphalt – on May 31, 1870.
Corny, we know: But this is how Kellogg’s depicts founder John Harvey inventing flaked cereal.
A little flakey: Adding a little crunch was Battle Creek Sanitarium Superintendent John Harvey Kellogg, who patented his “flaked cereal” on this date in 1884.
Magic garden(s): New York City’s Gilmore Garden arena was renamed Madison Square Garden on May 31, 1889 – already the building’s third (or fourth) name, and the first of four official MSGs at three different NYC locations.
Eye in the sky: And it was this date in 1941 when the “electric eye” debuted as a high-jump judge, at a track meet sponsored by the upstate Schenectady Patrolmen’s Association.
The GE innovation ignored the height of the horizontal pole and accurately measured each jumper’s flight using rudimentary light-beam technology.
Mall of fame: American poet, essayist and journalist Walter Whitman Jr. (1819-1892) – Huntington’s favorite son, heralded as both a modern-day Homer and a contemporary Shakespeare – would be 204 years old today.
Parental guidance suggested: Shields (right, with “Blue Lagoon” costar Christopher Atkins) grew up before our eyes.
Also born on May 31 were Irish inventor Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817), an ambitious tinkerer and inspirational muse for his more famous daughter; German microbiologist Richard Petri (1852-1921), who liked to dish; American social worker Emily Bissell (1861-1948), who created Christmas Seals; American actor and filmmaker Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born 1930), who’s starting to worry his friends; and American country music singer Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle, 1938-2003), history’s most famous quitter.
Toughest model: And take a bow, Brooke Christa Shields! The American actress, model and author – a Princeton University graduate and oversexualized child star who survived a difficult journey, and wants to help others survive theirs – turns 58 today.
Wish the beast-tough beauty well at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re only as tough as your news tips – and our behavior is modeled on your calendar events.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, 750 outpatient facilities and 70,000-plus employees. We’re making research breakthroughs at the Feinstein Institutes and training the next generation of medical professionals at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Visit Northwell.edu.
BUT FIRST, THIS
All the world’s a screen: The 2023 Stony Brook Film Festival will showcase work from 26 countries.
Screen test: Pop your corn and get your tickets now, cinephiles – the curtain rises soon on the exciting Stony Brook Film Festival.
With nary a galaxy guardian or time-traveling archeologist in sight, the 28th annual festival – running July 20-29 at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts – offers an international marquis (26 countries!) of 36 feature-length and short films. The 2023 slate adds to a nearly three-decade vault containing more than 1,000 multinational movies, including 53 world premieres and a growing list of festival award-winners, with filmmaker Q&As and other special events on tap.
The official lineup is scheduled to be revealed June 7, but tickets – including Early Bird and Flex Pass packages, with all kinds of “gold pass” bennies and five-day combos – are available now. “For me, the best part of the Film Festival is getting to meet and interact with the filmmakers, directors and cast and crew from all over the world,” noted Festival Coordinator and Co-programmer Kent Marks. “And, of course, the all-encompassing storylines in these films are so powerful … they stay with you forever.”
This is your PILOT: The Town of Hempstead IDA is helping a large-scale residential construction project reform a well-known West Hempstead eyesore.
The Industrial Development Agency on May 23 authorized an economic-incentives package for 111 Hempstead LLC, an affiliate of Commack-based Heatherwood Luxury Rentals investing $212 million in a transit-oriented residential/retail complex on Hempstead Turnpike, about a quarter-mile from the Long Island Rail Road’s West Hempstead station. Replacing an aging, three-story commercial building, the new construction is projected to create 428 rental apartments, 5,575 square feet of retail space, 250-plus construction-phase jobs and seven permanent positions, with a 20-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes plan collecting an annual average of $2.1 million in property taxes.
Heatherwood is seeking further exemptions from mortgage recording taxes and construction-material sales taxes, but the PILOT is a strong start for an “excellent good-growth project,” according to Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency CEO Frederick Parola. “It will replace … a dilapidated building, bring much-needed rental housing to the town close to public transit, create jobs and generate increased revenues for our taxing jurisdictions,” Parola added.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 37: Marc Alessi, innovation through time.
What do Nikola Tesla, cutting-edge PET technologies, the guy who invented the Internet, famous children’s authors and every business incubator in New York State have in common? They’re all part of Marc Alessi’s day-to-day … which means they’re all part of the Season 4 premiere of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast!
The attorney, entrepreneur, double-duty CEO, former state assemblyman and executive director of the Business Incubator Association of New York brings your favorite innovation-economy podcast back in style. Return to the cutting edge!
TOP OF THE SITE
Offshore, on-target: Long Island’s Offshore Wind Training Institute has issued its first round of competitive grants, with $4 million flowing toward a trained-and-ready workforce.
Offshore, on-schedule: An enormous piece of the region’s energy future is (very slowly) making its way from the Gulf of Mexico to Long Island waters.
Help us help you: Thanks for checking out this engaging and educational newsletter … remember, subscriptions are always easy, always free and really useful for us.
VOICES
Artificial intelligence-powered technologies like ChatGPT are coming for lots of jobs – but professional communicators just might hold out the longest, according to ZE Creative Communications Executive Vice President and Voices Media Anchor David Chauvin, who knows the human touch still sets the standard in PR and marketing.
STUFF WE’RE READING
From the tech desk: AI meets IP at the crossroads of innovation. Forbes refreshes intellectual property protocols.
From the sports desk: The Mets are mediocre, but wow, what a scoreboard. Sports Illustrated gets the big picture.
From the weather desk: A looming El Niño could mean big trouble. Vox has your local forecast.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Zageno, a Massachusetts-based life-science online marketplace for researchers, raised $33 million in funding led by General Catalyst, Grazia Equity, OakRidge Management Group, Capnamic Ventures and HighSage Ventures.
+ Artelon, a Georgia-based medical device manufacturer, raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Vensana Capital.
+ Pluton Biosciences, a Missouri-based ag-tech startup, raised $16.5 million in Series A funding led by Illumina Ventures, RA Capital, Fall Line Capital and The Grantham Foundation.
+ Figure, a California-based AI robotics company, raised $70 million in Series A funding led by Parkway Venture Capital, Brett Adcock and Aliya Capital.
+ Accelergen Energy, a Texas-based solar-power and energy-storage developer, raised $30 million in funding. Leyline Renewable Capital made the investment.
+ Kustomer, a New York City-based conversational CRM platform, raised $60 million in funding co-led by Battery, Redpoint and Boldstart.
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 Northwell Health). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (House-Hunting Edition)
Lots of light: Home, sweet home?
Flex space: Kids leaving for college? Great ideas for empty bedrooms.
Curb appeal: Creating the best front yard on the block.
Water view: Why your next home could be a lighthouse.
Home team: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, where New York State’s largest private workforce works to keep us safe and healthy. Check them out.
