Going to the chapel: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we race through May’s penultimate workweek and straight toward Memorial Day – and the unofficial start of Summer 2024.
Some of us are also racing up the aisle, headlong into our matrimonial destinies – and on those notes, a brief reminder that Innovate Long Island will be taking a few days off to enjoy three-day weekends and tie some nuptial knots. Watch for our ceremonious return with your May 29 newsletter; until then, enjoy the holiday and absolutely celebrate responsibly!
Dark day: But in a good way, as Goths take center stage.
The power of the dark side: Today is May 22, known best as World Goth Day, celebrating the born-in-the-UK, post-punk subculture that shuns the mainstream and embraces the night.
Here in the States, we brighten things up with National Maritime Day, a boatload of appreciation for waterborne industries and commerce.
Going it alone: If you can’t find a merchant marine to hug today, surely you can scrounge up a deck of playing cards. Perfect! That’s all you need for National Solitaire Day.
And if you find solitaire to be a little bland, you’ll probably feel the same about National Vanilla Pudding Day – though a dollop of whipped cream and some chocolate shavings might change your mind, this and every May 22.
Roll with it: Certainly changing minds was Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Charles Shanks, who introduced the French word “automobile” to the American lexicon on this date in 1899, part of a series of articles extolling the virtues of horseless carriages.
A wing and a patent: How the Wrights planned it out.
Wing it: Soon to change minds about human flight were the famous Wright brothers, who patented their “flying machine” 118 years ago today.
Blast it: Flying even higher was the first U.S. rocket to leave Earth’s atmosphere, the WAC Corporal, which blasted off from New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range on May 22, 1946, and reached an impressive altitude of approximately 50 miles.
Transmit it: Back at ground level, Robert Metcalfe – a scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California – coined the term “ethernet” on this date in 1973, describing the transmission of data between personal computers and related devices.
Dot’s it: And it was May 22, 1980, when dot-munching, ghost-dodging videogame icon “Pac-Man” first a-mazed players in a busy Tokyo arcade.
Forty-four years later, some estimates place the value of the entire Pac-Man franchise – including arcade machines, spinoff games and licensing rights – upwards of $500 billion.
Act naturally: English actor and director Sir Laurence Kerr Olivier (1907-1989) – considered the greatest actor of his generation (and pretty much any other), from his Shakespearean skills to his stirring turns in modern classics including “Rebecca” and “Wuthering Heights” – would be 117 years old today.
About Time: Campbell made history when she graced Time magazine’s cover in 1991.
Also born on May 22 were German composer, conductor and theater director Willhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883), whose operas and symphonies revolutionized Western music; American paleontologist Oliver Hay (1846-1930), master cataloguer of North American fossil vertebrates; British physician and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), most famous for thinking up Sherlock Holmes; Belgian comic strip artist Georges Prosper Remi (1907-1983), the “Adventures of Tintin” creator known best as Hergé; and Austrian British astronomer Thomas Gold (1920-2004), who championed the universal “steady state” theory.
Queen of the catwalk: And take a bow, Naomi Campbell! The late-20th Century English supermodel, actress and media personality – the first Black model to appear on the covers of Time, British Vogue and French Vogue magazines (with a fiery temper as famous as her face) – turns 54 today.
Wish the groundbreaking glamour girl well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips become cover stories – and our model relies heavily on your calendar events.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s University has provided 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 university provides strong academic and value-oriented undergraduate and graduate educations, preparing each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual rigor, social responsibility, spiritual depth and service. Through its Long Island, Brooklyn and online campuses, the university offers degrees in 60 majors, special course offerings and certificates and affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
(Levi)ton of support: The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency will help a major-league manufacturer with global operations renovate its Melville headquarters, retaining 400-plus local jobs in the process.
The IDA has preliminarily approved an eight-year Payment In Lieu of Taxes program benefitting Leviton Manufacturing Co., which is planning a $2 million renovation of its 156,000-square-foot headquarters facility. Final approvals are pending, but the IDA is already projecting the retention of 414 full-time positions (with average salaries exceeding $133,000) and an annual regional economic benefit (including operational spending by Leviton) of $727,000, with the circa-1906 manufacturer expected to extend its Melville lease though 2033.
This isn’t the first time the IDA has assisted Leviton; the agency offered similar support in 2009, when the company invested $20 million to relocate its product testing, marketing, human resources and other operations to Melville. “Leviton is a household name,” noted Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency CEO and Executive Director Kelly Murphy. “We are excited to incentivize their lease extension and support the new investments … that will improve their operations and, more importantly, keep the company and its hundreds of employees here in Suffolk County.”
Upward mobility: The Long Island Rail Road’s Copiague Station now offers an Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant elevator.
All aboard: That’s not just a cliché – the Long Island Rail Road’s Copiague Station is now “accessible to all,” according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, with the May 16 opening of the station’s first-ever elevator.
Following standards set by the Americans With Disabilities Act, the busy Babylon Branch station – which welcomes 51 westbound and 50 eastbound trains on weekdays (42 and 41, respectively, on weekends) – has also been upgraded with new parking and electrical improvements, new communications and security systems, a new sidewalk and new LED lighting, along with useful Accessibility Help Points, through which riders can request boarding assistance and emergency services.
The commuter railroad’s Amityville and Lindenhurst stations are slated to introduce similar improvements in June, all part of a $169 million upgrade package targeting nine LIRR stations. “As both a wheelchair user and a mom, I cannot emphasize enough how increased accessibility for people with disabilities benefits everyone else, too,” noted New York State Chief Disability Officer Kim Hill Ridley. “Now, the disability community, parents with strollers and travelers with luggage … have increased access to enjoy all that our world-renowned metropolitan area has to offer.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Water cycle: A modest sales-tax increase funding new Suffolk County clean-water efforts has earned bipartisan support – and will likely flow to regional ballots this Election Day.
The secrets are out: Inventors, executives, lawmakers, entertainers, big thinkers and grand achievers – they’re all waiting to educate and entertain you on “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast.” Learn the secrets of their success.
VOICES
Nassau County could eventually enjoy major revenues from trademarking its new tourism slogan – but only if county officials follow up properly, according to Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo attorney and Voices Intellectual Property Anchor Allison Singh.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Bad career advice: Why “make yourself indispensable” doesn’t always work in your favor. HuffPost challenges clichés.
Good career advice: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy shares his best practices for professional success. Quartz climbs ladders.
Advice as a career: So, you want to become a business consultant – here’s the best way to do it. Forbes clears pathways.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ SmarterDx, a New York City-based clinical artificial-intelligence pioneer focused on revenue integrity and care quality, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Transformation Capital.
+ Orange Charger, a California-based EV charging solution, raised $6.5 million in seed funding led by Munich Re Ventures and Climactic.
+ Elevate K-12, an Illinois-based edu-tech company providing synchronous live teaching for K-12 classrooms, raised $25 million in growth financing. Trinity Capital provided the financial resources.
+ Elegen, a California-based biotech specializing in DNA synthesis and production, raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Triatomic Capital.
+ Ndustrial, a North Carolina-based software maker presenting an AI-powered energy-intensity platform for industrial applications, raised $18.5 million in Series B funding led by ABB and GS Energy.
+ GoodShip, a Tennessee-based platform for freight-network orchestration and procurement, raised $8 million Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
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 St. Joe’s). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (When The Moon Hits Your Eye Like A Big Pizza Pie Edition)
A little fishy: Hey, you got your sushi on my pizza! No, you got your pizza on my sushi!
And “apizza” for all: A Connecticut city is taking its U.S. “pizza capital” claim to the House of Representatives.
Hold the pepperoni: Frog legs or fried eggs? The weirdest pizza toppings from around the world.
Stuffed crust: Two pizzas … for $630 million? Behold, the cheesy math of Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Slice of life: Please continue supporting the incredible institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, where learning to live well is about more than mere academics. Check them out.
