Keeps on giving: Welcome to Wednesday, intrepid innovators, as we hurtle into the month of dads and grads – and hurdle the hump of another busy workweek.
Before we hurtle/hurdle any further/farther, a quick thank-you to everyone who’s generously responded to the first-ever Innovate Long Island Reader Pledge Drive – and an even quicker plea to faithful readers who haven’t responded yet.
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Roll with it: Today is a great day for a bike ride.
Repeat performance: It’s June 3 on Long Island and around the world, and we’re kicking off this edition with a doubletake for National Repeat Day, when repetition resonates and replication rules.
It’s also National Repeat Day, when repetition resonates and replication rules.
Wheels on meals: All righty … well, it’s also the World Health Organization’s World Bicycle Day, an annual homage to the benefits (personal and environmental) of pedal power.
After working up an appetite on your velocipede, enjoy some fine dining: National Egg Day (frying, scrambling, hard-boiling, poaching, etc.), National Stuffed Shrimp Scholars Day (encouraging healthier recipes for the classic seafood dish), National Chicken Salad Day (turning leftovers into something special), World Cider Day (washing it all down sweetly) and National Chocolate Macaroon Day (completely undoing all the healthful gains you made with bike riding, smarter shrimp and apple juice) are all served on June 3.
Cautious: Eager to defend America’s new and hard-won freedom, Congress established the First American Regiment – the nation’s first post-revolution military unit and the official granddaddy of the United States Army – on this date in 1784.
Ingenious: Also taking early steps was African American inventor Granville Woods, who earned his very first U.S. patent (for his “Steam Boiler Furnace”) on June 3, 1884. (Woods, a self-educated tinkerer, would earn about 60 more patents – and the nickname “Black Edison”).
In space, no one can hear you walk: Just ask Edward White II, the first American astronaut to stroll among the stars.
Calamitous: Dashing the hopes of fictitious fans – but winning generations of supporters for American poet Ernest Thayer (via his pen name, “Phin”) – the famous baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” was first published by the San Francisco Examiner on this date in 1888. (Spoiler alert: It does not end well for the Mudville Nine.)
Adventurous: It was 59 years ago today when NASA astronaut Edward White II performed America’s first spacewalk, floating in space for about 23 minutes during the Gemini 4 orbital mission.
Ravenous: And it was June 3, 1969, when one of history’s most endearing and enduring children’s book characters – American author Eric Carle’s “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” – first chomped its way through apples, pears, Swiss cheese, chocolate cake and much more.
Featuring a hidden mouse on every page, the beloved book has been translated into 60-plus languages and sold more than 50 million copies around the world. (True story: Carle used masculine pronouns – “he built a small house, called a cocoon” –but international translations switch up their grammatical genders.
Beat it: American writer and beat poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) – a counterculture icon who vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression – would be 100 years old today.
CBS you later: Cooper has quit “60 Minutes,” but still mans his CNN anchor desk.
Also born on June 3 were Scottish geologist, agriculturalist, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, physician and literal rock star James Hutton (1726-1797), the “Father of Modern Geology”; American automobile magnate Ransom Olds (1864-1950), who lent his genius (and his name) to the Oldsmobile; American physician Charles Drew (1904-1950), who overcame racial stereotypes to become the “Father of the Blood Bank”; American French dancer, singer, actress and World War II resistance fighter Josephine Baker (1906-1975), who faced down the Nazis and stood up for American civil rights; and American actor Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz, 1925-2010), a Hollywood favorite who appeared in 100-plus films over six decades (and fathered fan favorite Jamie Lee Curtis).
Flew the Coop(er): And take a bow, Anderson Hays Cooper! The American broadcast journalist and political commentator – a liberal-leaning CNN staple who quit his correspondent gig on the CBS Television Network cornerstone “60 Minutes” last month (and may be replaced by conservative rabble-rouser/unabashed conspiracy theorist Joe Rogan) – turns 59 today.
Send birthday wishes for Gloria Vanderbilt’s kid to editor@innovateli.com, where we keep the political commentary to a minimum (mostly) – and we fill our minutes with your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: New York & Atlantic Railway is the primary freight railroad for New York City and Long Island and has operated the Long Island Rail Road’s freight lease since 1997 on tracks shared with the nation’s busiest commuter rail system. Through its service connections, NYA links Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk to every major North American freight railroad – moving goods efficiently and affordably while reducing congestion and emissions across the region. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Data Wars: Thousands of Long Island residents are demanding a permanent ban on artificial intelligence data centers in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Responding to rumors that an AI data center was being planned for somewhere in Brookhaven Town (perhaps in Yaphank, not far from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory), the Brookhaven Town Board on May 28 unanimously approved a proposed 18-month moratorium on all AI data-center applications in the town. Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico has indicated that the Long Island Power Authority and New York Independent System Operator – an independent not-for-profit corporation that monitors the state’s power system – have been working with an outside entity on a potential application for regional data centers.
A final Town Board vote on the proposed moratorium is scheduled for July 16, but a year-and-a-half pause is not enough for many Islanders, nearly 6,000 of whom have signed a Change.org petition calling for a permanent ban on regional data centers. Launched May 24, the petition cites the potential for environmental, water and noise pollution, along with concerns about overburdened local power grids and negative effects on residential property values – and notes that “other municipalities in New York currently have moratoriums preventing data center permitting.”
Full circle: Graduate David Schiffer has returned to Stony Brook University to help the next generation of computer scientists battle cybercrime.
Data Wars 2 – Best Defense: Stony Brook University and a well-known cyber-defense specialist are teaming up to arm students to fight cybercrime.
The Ethos Lab – part of the Department of Computer Science inside Stony Brook’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences – has announced a collaborative partnership with Mineola-based RevBits, a cybersecurity services provider founded in 2018 by SBU alum David Schiffer. The collaboration will integrate RevBits’ full suite of cybersecurity solutions into Ethos Lab classrooms to advance student education and “equip them to face modern threats in a realistic, contained environment,” according to the university.
The Department of Computer Science – recently designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Research by the National Security Agency – will reshape its cybersecurity curriculum around the RevBits solutions suite, which simulates major threat landscapes including deception technology and zero trust networks. “We are incredibly proud to participate in the educational process … to help the next generation of cybersecurity professionals develop the necessary skill sets to battle the growing threat landscape,” Schiffer noted. “As one of Stony Brook University’s first graduates of the Computer Science Department, I am honored to return in a collaborative and educationally enriching way.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Western union: Central Islip’s Touro Law Center is about to welcome a new sibling, as the American Bar Association greenlights Touro University’s ambitious plans for a satellite law school in Montana.
To summit it up: Innovate Long Island always has an interesting podcast, op-ed or Debrief Q&A at the ready – this week, the Innovate Long Island Debrief zeroes in on the first-ever Long Island Tech & Innovation Summit, coming next week to Uniondale.
VOICES
Thanks to AI and social media, “cheat codes” – once a hard-earned shortcut to videogame superiority – are public infrastructure these days, along with tons of other “insider” information. So how do clever communicators differentiate themselves, their companies and their clients? Just ask ZE Creative Communications Executive Vice President and Voices Media Anchor David Chauvin, who knows the secret.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Thanks for the help: Embracing innovation irony, Trump’s AI chip chokehold is actually strengthening China. The Global Times explains it for stable geniuses.
They’re just semantics: And when it comes to innovation, they couldn’t be more important. Neuroscience News explores cognitive creativity.
Won’t be fooled again: Demanding more – lots more – from “fintech innovation.” Forbes sees through the smoke and mirrors.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ ZeroDrift, a New York City-based AI compliance firewall platform, raised $10 million in Seed funding led by a16z speedrun, Reign Ventures, PitchDrive Ventures, U&I Ventures, Active Capital, Geek Ventures, Converge Ventures, Atlas SGR and Founders Future.
+ Tavo Biotherapeutics, a California-based developer of novel therapies for glaucoma and retinal disease, raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Pureos Bioventures, with participation from Polaris Partners and Tau Capital.
+ Board, a New York City-based tabletop game console and creator platform, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from Adjacent, BoxGroup, Coalition Operators, First Round Capital, Josh Duyan, Kevin Twohy, Lerer Hippeau, IRL Ventures, Metrodora Ventures, Nabeel Hyatt, Patron, SV Angel, Twelve Below, Haystack and multiple angel investors.
+ Findigs, a New York City-based AI-native residential leasing decisioning and underwriting platform, raised $32 million in Series C funding led by RPM Ventures, with participation from Nyca Partners, Frontier Venture Capital and Western Technology Investment.
+ Subtle Medical, a California-based developer of AI-powered medical-imaging software, raised $33 million in growth capital/Series C funding led by funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from Shinhan Venture Investment, Fusion Fund, EnvisionX, BRV and Samsung Ventures.
+ Mach Industries, a California-based defense contractor developing advanced unmanned defense systems and related manufacturing infrastructure, raised $300 million in Series C funding led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital and Khosla 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 – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask New York & Atlantic Railway). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Monorail Edition)
Mono a mono: Cairo’s cutting-edge monorail system is one of a kind.
Get in line: Monorails may be in Long Island’s future – and are certainly part of its past.
Jewel of the Nile: Cairo unveils the world’s longest driverless monorail.
Sing it, Simpsons: That time Springfield (almost) got a monorail.
Also on track: Please continue supporting the creative companies that support Innovate Long Island, including New York & Atlantic Railway, an old-school logistics leader carrying the load of Long Island’s freight-transportation future. Check them out.
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