Fun in the sun: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we hurdle the hump of this early-Summer workweek.
Sure, sure – Long Island students are still in school and Summer doesn’t technically begin in our lovely Northern Hemisphere until June 20. But with the sun shining and Island temperatures rising nicely this week, we’re willing to skip ahead if you are.
Good luck with that: Take your kitty — and maybe your life — in your hands on National Hug Your Cat Day.
Lock and … yeah, just lock: Seasonal technicalities aside, today is June 4 and we’re opening with National SAFE Day, an annual firearms-safety observance that encourages gun-loving Americans to Secure their firearms, Ask about unsecured firearms in homes their kids visit, Frequently discuss gun violence with children and Educate others about the dangers. (For those keeping score, about 42 percent of U.S. households are packing at least one gun.)
Dogs and cats living together: It’s not mass hysteria, as Bill Murray might suggest, but the annual confluence of International Corgi Day (celebrating the small herding dogs that originated in Wales) and National Hug Your Cat Day (an all-breed feline snugglefest, assuming your cat is so inclined).
If you survive that embrace without a scratch (or with), indulge in National Cheese Day (which commemorates curds of all kinds and should be a big hit in these parts, with the average American now consuming 42 pounds of cheese per year) and National Cognac Day (sipping the fine French brandy every June 4).
Louis Louis: Speaking of pasteurized food products (and French spirits), the Institut Pasteur was established on this date in 1887, following founder Louis Pasteur’s celebrated development of a rabies vaccine (and a highly successful international fundraising campaign).
Money money: Also raising funds, sorta, was the first U.S. minimum-wage law, which focused mainly on women and children – in Massachusetts, specifically – when it was adopted on June 4, 1912.
Go, carts: Inventor Sylvan Goldman’s original models were larger — and wildly unpopular, at first.
To market, to market: Wheeled shopping carts became a thing 88 years ago today, when innovative Oklahoma City grocer Sylvan Goldman introduced them in his Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain. (For the record, they flopped at first.)
Slow slow: Also taking a while to catch on was the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. (Approved by Congress on this date in 1919, it wasn’t ratified until August 1920.)
Money money (again): And it was June 4, 1973, when American inventors Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain received a U.S. patent for the automatic teller machine.
Although he shared the glory with Barnes (a mechanical engineer) and Chastain (an electrical engineer), the original idea for the ATM is credited to Wetzel, a product-planning executive at a company that manufactured automatic airport baggage-handling machines.
Late bloomer: English-born Australian nurse, saleswoman, tutor and writer Monica Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007) – who didn’t publish her first book until she was 53, but finished with 15 published novels, four short-story collections, three non-fiction tomes and heaps of critical acclaim – would be 102 years old today.
Dr. Noah: No TV doctor was on call longer than Noah Wyle’s Dr. John Carter.
Also born on June 4 were English metallurgist Benjamin Huntsman (1704-1776), a manufacturing quantum-leaper who invented crucible (a.k.a. “cast”) steel; German chemist Heinrich Wieland (1877-1957), a Nobel Prize-winner who decoded bile acids, defined steroids and defied the Nazi Party; English poet and journalist Winifred Emma May (1907-1990), an inspirational versifier who wrote under the pan name Patience Strong; English engineer Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-1999), a radio/radar specialist hailed as the “Father of the Hovercraft”; and German-born American sex therapist, radio/TV personality, author and newspaper columnist Karola Ruth Westheimer (1928-2024), the Holocaust survivor and former Israeli paramilitary sniper (true story) remembered best as “Dr. Ruth.”
Scrub: And take a bow, Noah Strausser Speer Wyle! The American actor, producer, writer and director – who set a record for the longest run playing a doctor in a prime-time medical drama (as Dr. John Carter on “ER”) and is now back in scrubs as Dr. Michael Robinavitch in the streaming medical drama “The Pitt” – turns 54 today.
Give the five-time Emmy Award nominee (and surprisingly versatile performer, for all that doctoring) your best at editor@innovateli.com, where our long run has relied heavily on your news tips and 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 a strong academic and values-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare 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 100 majors, special course offerings and certificates and affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Charles Vorkas: Vaccination investigation.
Targeting tuberculosis: Scientists have determined that human “Natural Killer” cells could be a prime target for new immune-directed therapies – potentially, a giant leap toward a groundbreaking adult-strength vaccine against tuberculosis.
That’s the word from Renaissance School of Medicine infectious disease researcher Charles Kyriakos Vorkas, the MD who led the team of scientists that identified the novel population of immune cells as a potential TB-vaccine target. According to data gathered during a National Institutes of Health-funded three-year study in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Vorkas and friends demonstrated that Natural Killer cells expressing a certain cell-surface receptor usually associated with T cells – white blood cells that help the immune system resist germs and stave off diseases – are reactive to human tuberculosis exposure and infection.
This “specialized role” for the NK cells that express that key receptor could provide a roadmap to a long-sought tuberculosis vaccine, according to Vorkas – big news for the 10 million people sickened annually by the lung-attacking bacterial disease, which is curable but still kills 1.5 million victims each year. The findings were shared in April in the peer-reviewed medical journal Scientific Reports.
Nursing them through it: A $4 million grant from the New York City-based Mother Cabrini Health Foundation will support nurses – and improve patient outcomes – at Mercy Hospital.
Catholic Health’s Rockville Centre-based medical facility received the comprehensive funding through the Health Foundation’s new Nursing Initiative, a $51 million grant program designed to strengthen healthcare by supporting nurses at every stage of their careers. Mercy Hospital is one of 13 New York hospitals – and the only one on Long Island – funded through a competitive Nursing Initiative process that attracted applications from more than 50 statewide hospitals.
The Mother Cabrini Nursing Initiative is designed to help hospitals pursue American Nurses Credentialing Center accreditations and other key credentials that help new nurses transition smoothly into professional practice, promote virtual-nursing opportunities and otherwise empower nurses. “Our Nursing Initiative is designed to provide the resources needed to ensure they can thrive and deliver the highest quality of care,” noted Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, CEO of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation. “By supporting nurses, we are investing in better patient care and outcomes.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Plotting a new Orbic: As many as 1,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs could be circling Long Island as rapidly expanding electronics maker Orbic lands a lucrative tax deal from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency.
Driver’s seat: “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” kicks off its Summer session with Trellus Networks co-founder/CEO Adam Haber, a seasoned (and successful) angel investor whose last-mile logistics startup gives Island mom-and-pop retailers a fighting chance against Amazon and other e-commerce giants. Spark delivers for small business!
VOICES
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, notes Intelligent Product Solutions Vice President of Technology and Business Development Brad Carlson – and Long Island is prepared to pounce, according to the new Voices technology editor, who applauds the Island’s forward-thinking universities, cornerstone research laboratories and deep med-tech roots.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Top dogs: The U.S. Navy has officially banned “inhumane” experiments on dogs and cats. IHeartDogs puts its paws together.
Center cut: An ex-middle manager urges companies to cut middle managers. Business Insider eliminates excess.
Bottom line: Ditching budgets may be the best way to manage your money. Salon crunches numbers.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Heron Power, a California-based energy-infrastructure innovator, raised $38 million in Series A funding led by Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund.
+ Infleqtion, a Colorado-based quantum systems developer focused on improving sensing and computing applications, raised $100 million in funding. Backers included Glynn Capital, Counterpoint Global and S32.
+ Grammarly, a California-based, artificial intelligence-powered communications assistant, raised $1 billion in financing from General Catalyst.
+ Vima Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based clinical-stage biotech focused on oral therapies for movement disorders, raised $60 million in Series A funding led by Atlas Venture.
+ Acclaro Medical, a Rhode Island-based medtech developing novel solutions in the medical aesthetics and surgical fields, raised $23 million in Series B funding led by Accelmed Partners.
+ Superblocks, a New York City-based app-development studio, raised $23 million in Series A funding backed by Kleiner Perkins and Spark Capital.
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). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Coming And Going Edition)
The quiet part, out loud: Are you being “quiet fired?” There are some unmistakable signs.
Rent-an-exec: The pros and cons of hiring “fractional” executives to run your startup.
Comeback: As “boomerang” hiring booms, how you leave your job really matters.
The secret is out: How to tell if you’re being “quiet fired.”
Going places: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, which features comprehensive learning and development opportunities that prepare students for personal and professional success. Check them out.
