You asked for it: Admit it, dear readers – you griped about last winter’s lack of snow and the little tyke buried deep in your pragmatic soul is tingling with excitement.
Or maybe you hate snow. Either way, get your milk and bread, ’cause here it comes.
Be elsewhere: Not today, princess.
The parents strike back: It’s Wednesday, Dec. 16, and as we await Long Island’s first significant snowfall in nearly two years, we’ll issue a heartfelt apology to our youngest readers.
Not only do kids lose out on traditional “snow days” – in most districts, an unanticipated victim of innovation – they must also tolerate Barbie and Barney Backlash Day, a very real annual observation wherein parents are permitted (encouraged, actually) to cut the cartoons, ditch the dolls, barter for different bedtime stories and otherwise take a break from the endless audio/visual assault of modern cartoonery.
Got you covered: Coinciding with this blessed event is Chocolate-Covered Anything Day, also held this and every Dec. 16. Let’s keep it … you know, edible. Just celebrate responsibly, OK?
Kind of overdue: Still an active volcano with a 100,000-year history of blowing its top, Mt. Fuji – Japan’s highest peak, looming just 62 miles southwest of Tokyo – last erupted 313 years ago today.
Kind of overlooked: Not for its historical significance, which is immense, but its sheer criminality, which embarrassed many Colonists, the Boston Tea Party went down on Dec. 16, 1773.
Beverage Bill: Minnesota bottled-water innovator William Fruen patented the first coin-operated liquid vending machine on this date in 1884.
Moderately deep dive: The Argonaut – the first U.S. submarine with an internal combustion engine – made its public debut on Dec. 16, 1897, carrying passengers about 20 feet beneath the surface of Maryland’s Patapsco River.
True story: The 10 passengers cooked a light lunch with an onboard gas stove while submerged.
By sea: The Great White Fleet steams around the globe.
Teddy Roosevelt’s idea: Meanwhile, on the surface, the Cruise of the Great White Fleet – ranked among the U.S. Navy’s greatest peacetime achievements – embarked on Dec. 16, 1907.
In a global display of modern muscle, the 16-ship battle fleet carried 14,000 sailors and marines to 20 international ports of call during its 14-month, 43,000-mile circumnavigation.
Diamonds are forever: And synthetic diamonds became a thing on this date in 1954, in a General Electric laboratory in Schenectady.
Extreme Prejudice: Groundbreaking English author Jane Austen (1775-1817) – who created the modern novel and scored some of history’s biggest literary hits by focusing on regular people in everyday life – would be 245 years old today.
Space knight: Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, Commander of the Order of the British Empire and futurist.
Also born on Dec. 16 were history’s most famous Ludwig, the one-and-only Beethoven (1770-1827); German bacteriologist Hans Buchner (1850-1902), who obsessed over the little things; American celestial photographer Edward Barnard (1857-1923), who preferred the big picture; flamboyant English playwright Sir Noël Peirce Coward (1899-1973), a witty pen who could also sing and dance; transcendent sci-fi scribe Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008), who tackled the big ideas; and social media stars Ethan and Grayson Dolan (born 1999), the multimedia funnymen who’ve amassed millions of followers and logged nearly 2 billion YouTube views, and are now reconsidering Internet fame.
Test of time: And take a bow, Bruce Nathan Ames! The prize-winning American biochemist and University of California, Berkeley professor emeritus – creator of the Ames test, which measures different chemicals’ cancer-causing potential – turns 92 today.
We daresay Bruce Ames and the Dolan Twins mark the widest wish-them-well disparity in this newsletter’s history – prove us wrong at editor@innovateli.com, where story tips and calendar events always close the gaps.
About our sponsor: Farrell Fritz, a full-service law firm with 15 practice groups, advises startups on entity formation, founder and shareholder agreements, funding, executive compensation and benefits, licensing and technology transfer, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. The firm’s blog, New York Venture Hub, discusses legal and business issues facing entrepreneurs and investors.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Picking up the Pace: Promising a “seamless academic transition” for students, Pace University and Suffolk County Community College have announced a new joint-admission agreement.
The collaboration, announced Monday by the presidents and provosts of both schools, allows students who maintain a 2.5 grade-point average while earning associate’s degrees in more than 30 SUNY Suffolk programs to matriculate as juniors into Pace University, which maintains campuses in New York City and Westchester County.
A maximum of 68 credits will be applied toward relevant bachelor’s degree programs at the university, which will also offer scholarships up to $25,000 to eligible transfer students who amass GPAs of 3.2 or higher. “This initiative is about providing Suffolk students with all the possibilities an outstanding university has to offer,” noted SUNY Suffolk Interim President Louis Petrizzo. “We could not be more pleased that Pace University has agreed to allow our students this opportunity.”
Open slots: The play’s the thing at the Arcade Age Exhibit.
Great Scott! This is heavy: The Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center will travel back in time during the holiday break, as a recurring exhibit focused on classic video games goes full ’80s.
A socially distanced version of the popular Arcade Age Exhibit is scheduled for Dec. 26 to Jan. 3 at the Garden City museum, which is shipping in more than 50 classic (and playable) arcade cabinet machines – everything from Space Invaders and Ms. Pac-Man to Galaga and Donkey Kong – along with a nerd-shattering collection of 1980s movie memorabilia: a full-size F-14 Tomcat and two authentic F-14 cockpits (as populated by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun”), an authentic DeLorean automobile (as driven by Michael J. Fox in “Back to the Future”) and much more, all piled atop the museum’s regular collection of 75-plus airplanes and spacecraft.
The Arcade Age Exhibit will welcome limited numbers of guests in 90-minute sessions. Masks are required at all times, as are gloves (which will be provided by the museum), and the hands-on exhibits will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between sessions. “We’re thrilled to go back in time and celebrate the ’80s,” said Cradle of Aviation Museum and Education Center President Andrew Parton. “Combine that with the return of our very popular Arcade Age Exhibit, and you have the perfect way to say goodbye to the year 2020.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Opening shots: Vaccinations have begun across America and on Long Island, with healthcare workers getting first dibs.
According to plan: It’s commercialization by the book as low-carbon crusader ThermoLift “graduates” from Stony Brook University’s clean-energy business incubator.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: Dwindling hospital beds, lung-repair breakthroughs and other COVID-flavored ups and downs, as Long Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer presses on.
VOICES
All eyes are on COVID-19’s immediate threat – but climate change is actually the bigger challenge to our health and economy, according to legal anchor Michael Sahn, who offers some save-the-world suggestions.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Silicon Valley asks: Does remote work kill innovation? The Mercury News considers.
Greek to them: Greece is wooing Big Pharma. The Greek Reporter explains why.
Musk method: Innovation is simple, according to Elon Musk. Inc. breaks it down.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Blueprint, an Illinois-based software company providing measurement-based care for mental health clinicians, raised $3.4 million in seed funding led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation from Lightbank and other angel investors.
+ Squire Technologies, a New York City-based tech platform designed to grow barbershops, secured $59 million in Series C funding led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from Tiger Global, Charles River Ventures, Trinity Ventures, New General Market Ventures and SoftBank Opportunity Fund, as well as Stephen Curry, Trevor Noah, Quincy Jones, Pharrell Williams and others.
+ SeeTree, a California-based, AI-powered, end-to-end service that provides growers with health-focused intelligence on trees and tree clusters, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by the International Finance Corp., with participation from Citrosuco, Orbia Ventures, Kubota and Hanaco Ventures.
+ TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based recycling specialist with operations in 20 countries, completed a $25 million Series A “founding investors” capital raise. Investors included P&G, Nestlé, SUEZ, Aptar, Sky Ocean Ventures, ImpactAssets and Quadia.
+ Cityblock Health, a NYC-based healthcare provider for lower-income communities, closed a $160 million Series C funding round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Wellington Management, Kinnevik AB, Maverick Ventures, Thrive Capital, Redpoint Ventures and others.
+ FLEx Lighting, an Illinois-based battery-power innovator leveraging an ultra-thin light-transmission technology, raised $9 million in funding led by venture capital firm Anzu Partners.
BELOW THE FOLD
Handle with care: The delicate art of talking to the boss.
Managing up: How to more effectively manage your manager.
Managing to cope: Good leaders must avoid compassion fatigue this difficult holiday season.
Managing yourself: Self-care is not a sign of weakness – it’s essential to strong leadership.
They’ll manage: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate LI, including Farrell Fritz, where a dozen-plus key practice groups can conquer any corporate conundrum. Check them out.
