Weather … or not: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as yesterday’s severe storms give way to another oppressive heatwave on Long Island – par for the course in a climate-changed season where 5,000 U.S. heat and rainfall records have already fallen.
Bah, that’s too doomy and gloomy for an inspiring innovation newsletter like this … here to lighten the load, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome jazz-fusion greats Weather Report!
You’ve got aunts: And probably some uncles, too — give them a buzz on National Aunt and Uncle Day.
The sibling or the egg? Whilst tapping our toes to that, we open with National Aunt and Uncle Day, which focuses on our parents’ brothers and sisters – and seems slightly out of order, following Monday’s National Cousins Day observation.
Whatever … just make sure you and Uncle Bob and Aunt Gloria take a moment to honor saltwater mangrove forests today – the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem.
…that go great together: Hey, you got your coffee in my milkshake! No, you got your milkshake in my coffee! Good thing it’s National Coffee Milkshake Day, also whipped up every July 26.
Mulder and Scully came later: Freeze, federal agents! The FBI officially began investigating on this date in 1908. (This also came later.)
Hoover deluxe: Young J. Edgar rose quickly through the ranks.
Big promotions came later: Freeze, J. Edgar Hoover! The bureau’s future boss joined the Department of Justice on July 26, 1917. (He’d be appointed acting FBI director just seven years later, for those keeping score.)
The Department of Homeland Security came later: But it was this date in 1947 when President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act, a post-war homeland overhaul creating the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among other critical posts and departments.
Tremendous improvements came later immediately: Other presidents inking important laws include George H.W. Bush, who signed the historic Americans With Disabilities Act 33 years ago today, marking the world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for the differently abled.
Massive disappointment came later: And it was July 26, 1993, when NASA’s Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter, an ambitious robotic probe dispatched to observe Martian weather, returned its only photo of the Red Planet – a high-resolution monochromatic image taken 5.8 million kilometers from the surface.
The doomed (?) probe known best as the Mars Observer went silent three days before entering Mars orbit and hasn’t been heard from since.
Jung at heart: Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) – the Sigmund Freud frenemy who founded analytic psychology and has guided a century’s worth of religious, philosophical and literary thought – would be 148 years old today.
Golden girl: Hamill, just 19 at the time, killing it in Innsbruck.
Also born on July 26 were Nobel Prize-winning Irish playwright, critic and activist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), still influencing Western culture; American vaudevillian, singer and actress Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie “Gracie” Allen (1895-1964), perfect comedic foil for straight man/husband George Burns; American physicist, engineer and entrepreneur Joseph Engelberger (1925-2015), the father of robotics; English singer/songwriter Sir Michael Philip “Mick” Jagger (born 1943), still rolling; and English actor Jason Statham (born 1967), a hard-to-kill Hollywood hunk back this summer for another round with Meg.
It figures: And take a bow, Dorothy Stuart Hamill! The retired American figure skater – who captured gold (and hearts) at the 1976 Olympic Games in Austria – turns 67 today.
Wish the twizzling world champion well at editor@innovateli.com, where we double-jump on your news tips and triple-jump on your calendar events (which always send us into a Biellmann Spin).
About our sponsor: Farrell Fritz, a full-service law firm with 15 practice groups, advises startups on entity formation, founder and shareholder agreements, funding, executive compensation and benefits, licensing and technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. The firm’s blog, New York Venture Hub, discusses legal and business issues facing entrepreneurs and investors.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Charged up: With new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in New York State required to be zero-emission by 2035, Albany is doubling down on New York’s electric-vehicle infrastructure.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office this week announced a $29 million bump for EV-charging infrastructure projects, including a fresh $15 million for the Charge Ready NY 2.0 program – which incentivizes property owners to install Level 2 EV-charging stations at private workplaces, multi-unit dwellings and public facilities – and another $14 million for NYSERDA’s Drive Clean Rebate program, which offers point-of-sale discounts up to $2,000 for qualified buyers on qualified vehicles at participating statewide dealerships.
New York remains on-target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85 percent by 2050 – and supporting EV-charging installations is a big step toward that critical goal, according to Hochul. “Providing cleaner air in communities that face high vehicle traffic … is an essential step to improving the state’s quality of life,” the governor added.
Sounds good: Music can have enormous wellness benefits, and interactive Health and Harmony will help users tune in.
Perfect harmony: A regional healthcare provider and Long Island’s celebrity center-point have united to educate New Yorkers on music’s positive health effects.
Rockville Centre-based Catholic Health and the Stony Brook-based Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame have tuned up Health and Harmony, an interactive-programming slate designed to promote wellness through music. Supported by Catholic Health’s “certified music therapy team” and the LIMEHOF’s immense musical wealth, the multifaceted effort – announced during a benefit concert featuring Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and Taylor Dayne, held Sunday at Bald Hill’s Catholic Health Amphitheater – offers tailored playlists based on psychological self-assessments, links to the latest music-based therapies and other melodious resources.
Music is a “valuable self-care tool” and Health and Harmony sounds like a winner, according to LIMEHOF President Ernie Canadeo. “Though [music] is shared, it is also a very personal art form, which makes it … part of your overall wellness journey,” Canadeo noted. “We’re proud to partner with Catholic Health on this unique program and look forward to helping it evolve.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 41: Social justice, the Harding way.
Season 4 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast gets real with ERASE Racism President Laura Harding, who reflects on her first year as president of the progressive Syosset-based nonprofit and her decades as a lawyer, social worker and committed activist on social justice’s front lines.
Laura joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss the unique challenge of reversing centuries of institutional racism – and her deep faith in the immensely inspiring, rapidly maturing leaders of tomorrow.
TOP OF THE SITE
Healthy returns: New name, same tuition-free mission (only longer) for NYU Langone’s Long Island medical school after titanic $200 million donation.
And share alike: Thank you for sharing this fun and functional newsletter with your entire innovation team – now share your wisdom by giving them each an always easy, always free subscription.
VOICES
What government sources say and how they say it are two completely different things, according to ZE Creative Communications Executive Vice President and Voices Media Anchor David Chauvin, who notes the delicate balance between government messaging and public trust – and the critical importance of maintaining it.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Steamy: Extra grumpy on hot and humid days? Welcome to the club. Vox earns 100 degrees.
Dreamy: All-in on pre-sleep fantasizing, perchance to dream better. Huffpost catches 40 winks.
Creamy: Cold clash pits ice cream vs. gelato vs. sherbet vs. sorbet. MasterClass aggregates spoon scores.
RECENT FUNDING
+ Voltpost, a New York City-based electric-vehicle charging-station pioneer, raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by RWE Energy Transition Investments, Twynam Funds Management, Exelon Foundation, Good News Ventures and Climate Capital.
+ Vibrant, a New Mexico-based nondestructive testing-technology innovator, raised $3.5 million in funding led by Advantage Capital and previous investors.
+ GlobalComix, a Pennsylvania-based digital comics platform, raised $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Point72 Ventures and Endeavor.
+ UpLift, a NYC-based behavioral health platform, raised $10.7 million in Series A funding led by Ballast Point Ventures, Kapor Capital, Front Porch Ventures and B Capital.
+ Aeroseal, an Ohio-based climate-tech startup, raised $67 million in Series B funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Climate Investment, Beazer Homes and Aramco Ventures.
+ Smile Doctors, a Texas-based orthodontic-support organization, raised more than $550 million in funding. The investments were made by healthcare providers and domestic and international healthcare investors.
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 Farrell Fritz). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Watch The Language Edition)
Kung fu grip: Not exactly, but Margot “Barbie” Robbie has very expressive hands.
Body language: Non-English-speaking international sensations Messi and Ohtani do their talking on the field.
Undead language: How AI easily translated hundreds of previously indecipherable 5,000-year-old tablets.
Sign language: That time Barbie spontaneously signed with a deaf fan.
Strong language: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Farrell Fritz, where top professionals in 15 practice groups are fluent in the legal precedents your company needs most. Check them out.
