Rush job: Welcome to Wednesday, intrepid innovators, as we navigate another warm workweek in the muggy Summer of 2023.
If you’ve had it with the heat and humidity, keep cool – the Perseids have peaked, the sun is setting off Long Island before 8 p.m. and Halloween Season (it’s a whole season now?) has arrived. Pumpkin spice can’t be far behind.
On the rum: Top billing for America’s No. 3 booze.
Wild ride: Before we preempt the rest of Summer and dive into Fall, let’s take a moment to appreciate National Roller Coaster Day, which is easy to misinterpret during these times of political crisis but actually rides a more traditional innovation track.
Make it a double: Today is also National Rum Day (raising a glass to America’s third-most-popular spirit, behind vodka and whiskey) and National Tell a Joke Day (made easier for tellers and listeners alike by National Rum Day).
And did you hear the one about the successful solopreneur? It’s no joke on National Independent Worker Day, an annual Aug. 16 salute to the contractors, consultants and other self-employed dynamos that do their thing on their own terms.
Give him a big hand: Speaking of successful solopreneurs, Italian artist and architect Michaelangelo signed a contract with the Office of Works of Florence Cathedral to sculpt the famous statue “David” 522 years ago today.
PM me: Also carving a place in history was the first transatlantic telegraph line, which came to life on Aug. 16, 1858, with a private message from England’s Queen Victoria to U.S. President James Buchanan.
Hope floats: History took to the skies on this date in 1940, when the 48 volunteers of the U.S. Army Parachute Test Platoon performed the first official U.S. military parachute jump.
Now batting: Sports Illustrated flopped at first.
It’s not how you start…: More crashing down to Earth was the first issue of Sports Illustrated, which was poorly received when it debuted on Aug. 16, 1954. (For the record, SI become the first magazine with 1 million subscribers and reigns today as America’s leading sports magazine).
…it’s how you finish: And it was this date in 1988 when IBM publicly introduced several new computer programs collectively labeled “artificial intelligence software,” designed to provide users expert-level assistance with engineering work, financial projects and more.
Shortly thereafter, the unwittingly enslaved human race was transferred into a computer-generated simulation and has been existing there ever since.
You know … of Arabia: British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat and writer Thomas Edward “T.E.” Lawrence (1888-1935) – known best for his World War I exploits – would be 135 years old today.
Pretty in pink: Madonna, at her most materialistic.
Also born on this date were English mathematician Arthur Cayley (1821-1895), who founded modern British mathematics; Luxembourgish American inventor and publisher Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967), who basically invented science fiction; American ringmaster Robert Ringling (1897-1950), who gave up a successful opera career to co-manage the family circus; American actress, dancer and singer Julie Newmar (born 1933), a star of stage and screen who exuded feminism as the circa-1960s Catwoman; and needs-no-further-introduction American singer, songwriter, actress and producer Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone, 1958).
Titanic success: And take a bow, James Francis Cameron! The Canadian screenwriter, producer and director – one of post-New Hollywood’s most innovative filmmakers and the most financially successful director of all time, except for Spielberg – turns 69 today.
Wish the “Avatar” auteur well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips save us from tumbling into The Abyss and its Judgement Day without 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
College credits: The world’s longest-serving business school accrediting body has punched SUNY Old Westbury’s ticket.
The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (known globally as AACSB International) has accredited the SUNY Old Westbury School of Business, which boasts 11,000-plus alumni and 700-plus current undergraduate and graduate students in pursuit of marketing, accounting, business administration and other business-focused degrees. The carefully vetted accreditation – a voluntary, nongovernmental process that includes rigorous reviews of a business school’s mission, faculty and curriculum – has been earned by less than 10 percent of worldwide schools offering business-degree programs.
Shalei Simms, acting dean of the SUNY Old Westbury School of Business, noted an “intensive review process” and credited “the commitment and expertise of our faculty” with the important win. “Only the strongest business schools in the world have earned AACSB accreditation,” Simms added. “We are proud to be able to say that AACSB recognizes that we deliver on our promise to prepare the next generation of business leaders.”
Maria Rossi: Social working.
Is there a doula in the house: An Adelphi graduate’s unique mental-health program – combining traditional social work services with pregnancy/delivery/postpartum care – has gained international attention.
Maria Rossi, who earned her master’s degree from the Adelphi University School of Social Work this year, traveled last month to Dublin, Ireland, to discuss her innovative ideas at the World Association for Infant Mental Health’s 18th Annual World Congress. In 2014, working with colleagues in Vermont’s Washington County Mental Health Services, Rossi co-founded The Doula Project – a first-in-state clinic designed to provide emotional, physical and informational support to pregnant women and their families during and after pregnancies – and has subsequently added more conventional social work services to the mix.
Doula work and social work are intrinsically related, according to Rossi, who earned her bachelor’s degree in human development/family studies from the University of Vermont and is also the owner of Montpelier-based Sweet Nellie Childbirth Services. “I have really learned over the years – and I believe this so strongly – that doula work is social work,” Rossi added. “And that birth work is done best when it’s done in advocacy.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 24: John Wallace, off-court presence.
Coming soon: The second half of Season 4 of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” featuring all-new one-on-ones with the ingenious leaders of the regional innovation economy.
Available now: Three-and-and-a-half seasons of educational and entertaining conversations highlighting socioeconomic issues you recognize, frontline perspectives you don’t and innovative solutions you might not have considered.
TOP OF THE SITE
Delicious directions: Nonprofit advocacy group East End Food has produced print and digital guides to help day-trippers find the best food-and-beverage producers – and enjoy the tastiest events – across Eastern Long Island.
Campfire song: All together now – sign, sign, sign your team, sign them up today, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, our newsletter subscriptions are always easy, easy free. (OK, second group! Sign, sign, sign your team…)
VOICES
Voices Legal Anchor Michael Sahn is done issuing warnings about climate change – the climate has already changed and extreme weather events are piling up around the globe. Now, with global warming directly threatening Long Island’s shores, the Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC managing member wants to know what local lawmakers are going to do about it.
STUFF WE’RE READING
The (weight-loss) revolution has begun: Turns out those potent anti-obesity drugs also (profoundly) improve heart health. Nature weighs the ramifications.
The revolution will be televised: Georgia law requires cameras in the courtroom and permits criminal-trial simulcasts. Axios channels the importance.
The revolution will be well-lit: The LED light, heir to incandescence, is just getting started. Vox brightens the future.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Olis Robotics, a Washington State-based R&D firm focused on industrial robotics remote monitoring, control and error-recovery technologies, raised $4 million in funding led by PSL Ventures.
+ Zetagen Therapeutics, a New York City-based clinical-stage biopharma, raised $9.79 million in Series B funding led by New York Ventures, Consolidated Capital Investments and private investors.
+ Basys.ai, a Massachusetts-based health-tech startup, raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding led by Nina Capital, Lilly Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Two Lanterns Venture Partners, Asset Management Ventures and Chaac Ventures.
+ Native Pet, a Missouri-based pet-supplement manufacturer, raised $11 million in Series B funding led by CAVU Consumer Partners.
+ BioFlyte, a New Mexico-based biothreat-detection pioneer, raised $5.4 million in funding led by Scout Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund and New Mexico Vintage Fund.
+ SkyCool Systems, a California-based sustainable cooling technologies manufacturer, raised $5 million in seed funding led by Nadel and Gussman Ventures, D3 Jubilee Partners and other private and institutional 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 Northwell Health). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Virtual Assistant Edition)
Zoom out: Virtual meetings (and the billion-dollar industry built to support them) have lost their mojo.
Virtual gouging: Computers are changing prices from consumer to consumer, based on predictive algorithms.
Virtual bust: With billions in the wind, the air has come out of the virtual-meeting bubble.
Virtual savings: Don’t pay for extra digital storage – ever again.
Actual progress: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, where real-world thinking and hands-on experimentation always promote innovation. Check them out.
