Slow, but steady: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers as we muscle our way through one of the year’s slowest workweeks – except for Thanksgiving week and Christmas week, arguably the most sluggish of them all.
Yes, with Long Island’s collegians back to their dorms, regional K-12 schools set to open next week and a holiday weekend on final approach, even the most intrepid innovators have eased off the gas this week. Which reminds us…
As easy as 1, 2, 3: The basic, unforgettable rules of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Something to look forward to: No newsletters this Friday or Monday, as Innovate Long Island also soaks up the final days of Summer 2025. Enjoy today’s hump-day edition, then have a long, safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend – we’ll be back next week to resume our chronicle of the innovation economy (and to begin the countdown to Newsletter Issue No. 1,000, packed with big-time announcements from Innovation Central Command … exciting!).
Is everything a game to you? Back here on Aug. 27, with the goings a little slow and some idle time to burn, we’re opening up with World Rock Paper Scissors Day, a real holiday (celebrating the most-peaceful form of hand-to-hand combat) brought to you by the professional-grade World Rock Paper Scissors Association.
Speaking of simplistic-but-engaging gaming, it’s also National Tug-of-War Day, a last-Wednesday-of-August competition honoring feats of strength that date back nearly 3,000 years (and a completely different thing than Feb. 19’s International Tug-of-War Day and July 21’s National Tug-of-War Tournament Day).
Don’t call it pudding: A fairly light menu today is highlighted by National Pots de Crème Day, dishing up the classic French custard that’s as simple as it gets – egg yolks, cream, sugar and semisweet chocolate (or vanilla bean, if that’s your thing), baked in individual-serving ramekins.
Some chefs add fruit to their “pot of cream” mix – a perfect segue to National Banana Lovers Day, yellow and sweet and always a-peeling on Aug. 27.
Pretty slick: Also putting skin in the game was Pennsylvania entrepreneur Edwin Drake, who dug the first commercial oil well in the United States and struck oil on this date in 1859.
Pretty bright: From petroleum energy to candlepower, as 20 arc lights – each illuminating at 137,000 candlepower – lit up the field for the first-ever night baseball game, played Aug. 27, 1910, in Chicago.
Part ape, all man: In more recent versions, John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, never misses ab day at Planet Fitness.
Pretty strong: From candlepower to brute strength, as The All-Story magazine presented the debut of Tarzan the Ape Man 113 years ago today. (The issue kicking off Tarzan’s first serialized adventure was dated October 1912 but actually hit shelves on Aug. 27, for those keeping score.)
Pretty fast: From brute strength to gas turbines and afterburners, as jet airplanes – soon to revolutionize warfare, air travel and global politics – became a thing on this date in 1939, during a secret test flight in Germany.
Pretty far: And from jets to rockets, as NASA space probe Mariner 2 – with Venus in its sights – blasted off from Cape Canveral on Aug. 27, 1962, marking the start of humanity’s first successful planetary science mission.
Our first closeup of another planet turned out to be a real eye-opener.
Big adventure: American comedian, actor and screenwriter Paul Reubens (1952-2023) – known best as childlike alter ego Pee-Wee Herman, a truly original construct of 1980s pop culture – would be 73 years old today.
Concrete jungle: Eduardo Miret changed the way we design and construct our buildings.
Also born on Aug. 27 were Italian mathematician and glottologist Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932), who founded the science of symbolic logic and developed a formal symbolic language; German industrial chemist Carl Bosch (1874-1940), who shared a Nobel Prize for synthesizing ammonia via high-pressure chemical methods; British motoring and aviation pioneer Charles Rolls (1877-1910), who made history with Royce; Spanish structural engineer Eduardo Torroja Miret (1899-1961), who pioneered the use of concrete shell-structures; and 36th President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), the fourth chief executive to take over following an assassination.
Tuesday child: And take a bow, Tuesday Weld! The retired American actress (born Susan Ker Weld) – who springboarded from childhood stardom into a prolific career on the small and big screens, fighting rampant misogyny all the way – turns 82 today.
Give one of “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips springboard us to the top – and we love your many calendar events.
About our sponsor: Whether it’s helping in site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Security, granted: A Long Island security star and a global leader in professional public-safety solutions are teaming up to help schools, local governments and mass-transit agencies solidify their security protocols – and land lucrative grants to offset the costs.
Arrow Security has announced a new collaboration with Texas-based i-PRO Americas aimed at delivering enhanced camera-security systems to organizations across key national sectors, while providing comprehensive grant-support services to help make it happen. The win-win alliance combines the grant-identification and -application talents of i-PRO – a 2019 Panasonic Corp. spinoff that’s helped clients land more than $47 million in outside funding since 2023, according to Arrow – with the topnotch technological chops of the Smithtown-based private-security stalwart, including body-worn cameras, cutting-edge surveillance systems, advanced access controls and more.
Noting “federal and state grants are a critical part of the funding landscape for nearly every public-sector agency,” Arrow Security CEO A.J. Caro praised the potential of the high-tech team-up. “We’re not just helping organizations identify funding opportunities,” Caro noted. “We’re actively supporting them in developing strong project ideas and expanding technology-rich initiatives that enhance safety, modernize infrastructure and increase their ability to serve their communities.”
I’ve Loved These Days: But all good things must end, including the LIMEHOF Billy Joel exhibit.
Say Goodbye to Stony Brook: The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame’s first-ever Billy Joel exhibit is Movin’ Out.
“Billy Joel: My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey,” which has graced the Stony Brook-based LIMEHOF for The Longest Time (actually, since November 2023), is scheduled to end its successful run this Fall. The retrospective – which has welcomed “record numbers of tourists … from across the country and even from overseas,” according to the hall – is jam-packed with concert memorabilia, personal possessions, historic footage, rare recordings and other bits chronicling the career of Long Island’s favorite Entertainer.
If you haven’t seen it yet, the Pressure is on to catch the exhibit before it closes on Oct. 26. Don’t Ask Me Why LIMEHOF would pull the plug on its popular exhibition – though the Big Shot will still be a big part of the museum, according to LIMEHOF Chairman Ernie Canadeo. “We have been honored to have been the home of the exclusive authorized exhibition for the first-ever Billy Joel exhibit,” Canadeo noted. “The response has been overwhelming, and we hope to continue to feature several items from his archives in the future.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 56: Jaci Clement, news that’s fit to print.
American news media are on the ropes, and nobody understand just how far the fourth estate has fallen better than Jaci Clement, CEO and executive director of the Fair Media Council.
Jaci joins Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast to discuss her friendship with Innovate Long Island founder John Kominicki and her long career as a journalist, speechwriter and multimedia watchdog – and to map out the long road back as your small-town weekly newspaper, your favorite cable infotainment channel and every news outlet in between struggle to regain credibility.
TOP OF THE SITE
Construction ahead: Albany has commenced the next phase of the $250 million State Route 347 modernization effort around Smith Haven Mall – just in time for the busy holiday shopping season.
The good fight: Fall is almost here, and with it, the innovation economy’s busiest season of the year. Give your innovation team a fighting chance – subscriptions to this punch-packing newsletter are always easy, always free.
VOICES
From ambitious 1970s startup to Motorola subsidiary to vital cog in Zebra Technologies’ mobile-computing master plan, Long Island-based Symbol Technologies has certainly been around the block – giving Voices historian Tom Mariner, executive director of Long Island Bio, plenty of juicy material as he relives a half-century of criminal controversies and technological breakthroughs.
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
Pig candy: Chinese scientists have announced the first pig-to-human lung transplant. National Geographic explores xenotransplantation.
Pie chart: How the Domino’s pizza tracker spiked online sales – and conquered the business world. The Hustle tracks the dough.
Word salad: Ensure/insure? Principal/principle? Behold, the most frequently Googled “word pairs.” Mental Floss words up.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Nest Health, a Louisiana-based in-home care provider for families on Medicaid, raised more than $12.5 million in Series A funding co-led by 8VC and Blue Venture Fund.
+ Luna Diabetes, a California-based manufacturer focused on insulin pumps, raised $23.6 million in Series A funding led by Vensana Capital.
+ Dirac, a New York City-based assembly automation software maker, raised $10.7 million in funding backed by Founders Fund and Coatue.
+ Grid Aero, a California-based aerospace company focused on cargo-drone manufacturing, raised $6 million in Seed funding backed by Calibrate Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures.
+ Kromatid, a Colorado-based a genomic structural-analysis innovator focused on gene and cell therapies, raised $8 million in Series C funding led by BroadOak Capital Partners.
+ Cascala Health, a Massachusetts-based health-tech creating AI-enabled health intelligence, raised $8.6 million in Seed financing co-led by Flare Capital Partners and Eniac Ventures.
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 Town of Islip). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Internet In-Depth Edition)
Will you marry me?: Imagine the Internet response if she’d said “no.”
Hyperlinked: With 11 million “likes” in one hour, the Swift-Kelce engagement announcement basically broke the Internet.
Processing: How you conduct online searches can accidentally create a personal echo chamber.
Backup: When the ’net goes down – and it will, experts predict – will you be ready?
Run program: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, the data-rich, pro-business bedrock always processing the best opportunities for your ambitious enterprise. Check them out.
