See? Saw: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as October rises and this latest week of busy socioeconomic innovation dips into its latter half.
We’re teeter-tottering over the hump with another engaging and entertaining innovation newsletter. Hold on tight!
Mohandas Gandhi: Resistance is not futile.
Peace maker: Today is Oct. 2, and our ride begins with the International Day of Non-Violence, which is less about not hurting our opponents and more about nonviolent resistance to injustice and oppression – and if you’re wondering why it should be held today of all days, read on.
Also doing no harm is Guardian Angels Day, a largely (but not exclusively) Catholic observation – known alternately as the Feast of the Guardian Angels and/or the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels – saluting the invisible forces watching our backs.
Name game: Several really cool ones are taken – “Lightning McQueen,” “The Bluesmobile,” “The Mystery Machine,” “Herbie” and so on – but that’s just an invitation to be even more creative on National Name Your Car Day.
And for the creative culinarian, it doesn’t get much tastier than National Fried Scallops Day, a bivalve-mollusk sizzler dipped in butter and lemon every Oct. 2.
Can can: We can’t in good conscience recommend canned scallops (fresh is always better), but if you go that way you’ll be thrilled that New York City-based inventor J. Osterhoudt patented his can opener – combining tin cans with a specially made key – on this date in 1866.
Tesla trio: Other innovators shining on this date include Serbian American mastermind Nikola Tesla, who scored three vital patents – protecting his System of Electric Distribution, Dynamo Electric Machine and Dynamo Electric Motor – on Oct. 2, 1888.
Rabbit stew: Potter cooked up something special with the original “Tale of Peter Rabbit.”
Bunny hop: Also putting the carrot before the horse was English writer, illustrator and natural scientist Beatrix Potter, who kickstarted a $500 million-plus retail empire when she published “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” 122 years ago today.
You’re a new creation, Charlie Brown: Also making illustration history was the first “Peanuts” comic strip, a reworking of creator Charles Schultz’s “Li’l Folks” strip that debuted in seven nationwide newspapers on Oct. 2, 1950. (“Li’l Folks” had run exclusively in the Saturday Evening Post, for those keeping score.)
Monster of the week: And two of the greatest anthology series in television history premiered on this date on the CBS Television Network, starting with 1955’s “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” which showcased weekly standalone mysteries introduced by the Master of Suspense himself.
Then, in 1959, the curtain raised on “The Twilight Zone,” the senses-shattering sci-fi omnibus created by screenwriter/producer Rod Serling.
Passive pioneer: Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) – the hunger-striking master of non-violent resistance who led the successful campaign for Indian independence from British rule and inspired civil rights activists around the world – would be 155 years old today.
Lights, camera, action: Owen led an exceptional life, in front of the camera and behind it.
Also born on Oct. 2 were African American carpenter, preacher and rebel Nat Turner (1800-1831), who led the only successful slave rebellion in U.S. history; Scottish biologist, sociologist, geographer and philanthropist Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932), who incorporated environmentalism, conservation, education and quality of life into his cutting-edge town-planning portfolio; American politician, diplomat and filmmaker Ruth Bryan Owen (1885-1954), who served as a U.S. Representative and America’s first woman ambassador to a foreign country, and was also a trendsetting filmmaker; British biochemist Baron Alexander Robertus Todd (1907-1999), a Nobel Prize-winner who studied the structure of nucleotides; and American portrait photographer Anna-Lou “Annie” Leibovitz (born 1949), beloved for her soulful celebrity portraits.
Wrapped around your finger: And take a bow, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner! The English musician and actor known best as Sting – frontman, bassist and principal songwriter for new-wave rockers The Police, with a super-successful solo career to boot – turns 73 today.
De Do Do Do send a Message in a Bottle to the Englishman in New York (he lives in Wiltshire, actually) at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re the King(s) of Pain when you don’t share news tips – and we’re So Lonely without your calendar events.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for more than 55 years by bringing together government economic-development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Center stage: The controversial Melville Town Center project was thoroughly vetted at a Sept. 25 panel discussion hosted by the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island.
The high-level roundtable – moderated by Farrell Fritz partner Peter Curry, with VHB Engineering Principal/Managing Director Louis Bekofsky, Long Island Builders Institute CEO Michael Florio, Tritec Real Estate Vice President/Partner Kelly Coughlan Heck and Cushman & Wakefield-Long Island Executive Managing Director David Pennetta offering expert opinions – discussed the challenges and opportunities of the Town of Huntington’s proposal to create a new overlay district around Melville’s Maxess Road neighborhood, replacing outmoded industrial and office uses with a vibrant mixed-use residential/retail community. Tens of thousands of new rental units (and as many as 100,000 new Melville residents) would be in play.
Dissecting the broader implications of such comprehensive proposals – including Melville Town Center’s potential as a blueprint for other Island municipalities – is a big part of the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society’s mission, according to Pennetta, who is also the CIBS co-president. “As Long Island continues to evolve, it’s essential that we remain proactive in addressing the challenges and opportunities of major development projects like Melville Town Center,” Pennetta added.
Beachhead: Activists from both sides of Long Island Sound are uniting to protect it.
Coast to coast: A new interstate coalition will work to advance the Long Island Sound’s coastal resiliency and ecological integrity.
Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut and multiple National Audubon Society chapters form the backbone of the new Coastal Restoration Coalition, which also boasts support and contributions from half-a-dozen other grassroots groups in New York and Connecticut – all focused on the health and conservation of salt marshes, sand dunes and estuaries lining the Long Island Sound’s northern and southern shorelines. The organizations will work together to coordinate myriad conservation efforts, many of which currently operate independently from each other.
With climate change and its deleterious effects rapidly intensifying, the new coalition will focus first on forming a three-year work plan, establishing preservation priorities and identifying shared-resource opportunities. “Just this year, we have experienced increased storm events, flooding and the continuation of warming waters in the Sound,” noted Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito. “A coordinated coastal-resilience coalition will be able to plan, strategize and partner to ensure we are implementing projects that protect our communities, our coastlines and our natural resources.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Mass effect: First-year students at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell completed eight weeks of mandatory Emergency Medical Technician training with an intense Mass Casualty Incident Training Day.
Special guests: Did somebody mention Adrienne Esposito? She’s one of the nearly four-dozen amazing innovators who’ve made Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast a must-listen for entrepreneurs and executives working hard to succeed on Long Island. Success secrets spilled here.
VOICES
The IP rights of indigenous peoples have always been a slippery legal slope (ever wear moccasins? Well, there you go). And after so many years of inappropriate and illegal appropriations, says Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo attorney and Voices IP/Patents Anchor Allison Singh, a legal-system overhaul better protecting Native American IP rights is long overdue.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Travel alert: After a summer of protests at popular European destinations, how does the travel industry move forward? The BBC sets the itinerary.
The rich get richer: Elon Musk reigns, again, among the 400 wealthiest Americans of 2024. Forbes browses bottom lines.
Hard to port: Americans brace for the worst as port workers walk out. Time Magazine works the docks.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ HungryPanda, a New York City-based overseas Asian food-delivery platform, closed a $55 million refinancing and fund-raise led by Mars Growth Capital.
+ Ensemble, a California-based enterprise machine-learning startup, raised $3.3 million in Seed funding led by Salesforce Ventures.
+ C2N Diagnostic, a Missouri-based biotech developing Alzheimer’s disease-specific fluid biomarker tests, received a $15 million program-related investment from the GHR Foundation.
+ AmpUp, a California-based electric-vehicle charging platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Touchdown Ventures.
+ Prepared, a NYC-based, AI-powered emergency communications platform, raised $27 million in Series B funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.
+ Highfive, an Indiana-based edu-tech developing empathy-based discipline strategies for teachers, raised $250,000 in Seed funding led by Roosh X and LearnLaunch Accelerator.
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 (Looking Deeper Edition)
Color, by the numbers: There’s a scientific reason why fall foliage is peaking early this year.
Deep impact: Your once-in-80,000 years chance to glimpse comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Deep fake: Eyeing campaigns and kids, California wages war against AI deepfakes.
Deep hues: Why fall colors have arrived early across New York State.
Deep thinkers: Please continue supporting the out-front organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which has smartly led regional economic-development efforts for the better part of six decades. Check them out.
