Half-sprung: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers – not just the hump day of this busy workweek, but the spring season’s mathematical midpoint in our lovely Northern Hemisphere.
Zaragoza’s day: Bigger than margaritas and nachos, south of the border.
That cinco feeling: That makes it May 5 out there – Children’s Day in Japan and South Korea, Liberation Day in Denmark and the Netherlands and Cinco de Mayo, of course, in Mexico.
It’s also Cinco de Mayo in the United States, where suddenly Mexicans aren’t so bad (for one day, at least).
Americans in spaaaaace: Today is also National Astronaut Day in the States, recalling Alan Shepard Jr.’s May 5, 1961, flight aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule – making him the first U.S. spaceman.
Presidential plot: In a less-stellar example of American innovation, the U.S. Congress enacted the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832 on May 5, authorizing smallpox vaccines for 50,000 Native Americans and throwing tens of thousands of dollars (millions, today) at the cause.
Far from a compassionate crusade, the act is remembered now as an Andrew Jackson scheme to remove natives from their lands.
Winging it: Aviatrix Johnson, fearless innovator.
Sky queen: English aviator Amy Johnson took off from Croydon in a single-engine De Havilland Gipsy Moth on this date in 1930, determined to become the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
Nineteen days and 11,000 miles later, she landed in Darwin.
Screw it: The first U.S. patent for a bottle with a screw-top cap was issued May 5, 1936, to Illinois inventor Edward Ravenscroft.
Speaking of getting screwed, it took until May 5, 1809, for the United States to issue a patent to a woman – inventor Mary Kies, who protected her method of weaving straw and silk.
ZIP it: And predating its nationwide five-digit Zone Improvement Program code system by two decades, the U.S. Postal Service introduced a one- and two-digit Postal Zone System on this date in 1943.
Move over, Indiana Jones: English archeologist Dorothy Garrod (1892-1968) – a Paleolithic period expert who directed numerous Near East excavations, staffed the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II and was the first woman to hold a Cambridge University chair – would be 129 years old today.
On your Marx: Manifesto destiny.
Also born on May 5 were moderately influential German philosopher Karl Marx (1818-1883); English-American chemist John Draper (1811-1882), who pioneered the science of photochemistry; Canadian natural historian Elkanah Billings (1820-1876), remembered as “Canada’s first paleontologist”; American electrical engineer Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921), who significantly advanced electrical lighting with the mercury-vapor lamp; and “Monty Python” original Michael Palin (born 1943).
Hello: And take a bow, Oscar-, Emmy- and just about every other award-winning English singer/songwriter Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 1988), who needs just the first name.
Give the all-world entertainer your best at editor@innovateli.com, where Rumour Has it that Someone Like You can also Send [Your] Love, in the form of news tips and calendar events (we Take It All).
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BUT FIRST, THIS
You’re thinking what they’re thinking: A new report by a Melville-based digital marketing agency reveals intriguing changes in the mind of the post-pandemic consumer.
The EGC Group’s proprietary research report “Psychology Behind the Post-Covid Consumer” combines retailer data, key trends and a host of consumer-based analytics to offer insights on what customers across various industries are thinking in the latter days of the COVID-19 crisis – particularly, new consumer attitudes and behaviors fostered by the pandemic itself. Among the headlines: Browsing at brick-and-mortar retail locations is down 80 percent and online customers are “converting” faster, with less time between first visits and first purchases, and fewer “brand interactions” before they take the plunge.
“Revenge spending” (wherein the liberated consumer makes up for lost time with a big vacation or other splashy purchase) is also set to spike – all part of a consumer journey that’s “changed quite a bit,” according to EGC Group President Nicole Penn. “As the world begins to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, consumer optimism is on the rise,” Penn added. “It is extremely important for brands to rethink their own consumer journey … and new mindset of the post-COVID consumer.”
David Heymann: Southern strategist.
Southern exposure: Add three experienced legal professionals and one new jurisdiction to the rolls at Mineola-based Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone, which has opened its first out-of-state office.
The circa-1970 firm, which in 2020 opened a new Manhattan office (Park Avenue, thank you) and added new practice groups at its Nassau County mothership, has now expanded to Boca Raton, Fla., with a new office accommodating two trusts/estates attorneys and one paralegal. The “carefully considered” Sunshine State opening is part of a “coordinated expansion,” said Managing Partner David Heymann, and the new Floridian blood – paralegal Patty Gonzalez and attorneys Jennifer Einersen and Seth Kaplan, the new office’s managing partner, have all joined the firm – pumps Meltzer Lippe’s national standing among preeminent private-wealth and trusts/estates groups.
Supported by a Miami satellite office, the Boca Raton office also made geographic sense, according to the managing partner, who sees further expansions ahead. “Many of our clients have significant business interests in Florida, and many more have residences in the state,” Heymann noted. “While the Florida office will be staffed initially with Trusts and Estates professionals, we anticipate the office growing to include other practice areas.”
POD PEOPLE
Today on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, Applied DNA Sciences President and CEO James Hayward discusses his Stony Brook-based biotech’s unique journey from supply-chain authenticator to global supplier of one-of-a-kind DNA strands, key to all manners of bioscientific innovation. Episode 4 is streaming now!
TOP OF THE SITE
Australian open: A Long Island legacy company with a three-decade innovation history has been acquired by an Aussie media master with global intentions.
To swerve and protect: Small-business owners whose registered trademarks are poached can go straight to court – or pivot in other directions, suggests innovator Arthur Germain.
It’s a given: Struggling with those last-minute Cinco de Mayo gifts? Subscriptions to this engaging, one-size-fits-all-innovators newsletter are always easy, always free.
VOICES
The Derek Chauvin murder conviction is a turning point for U.S. social justice – but U.S. social justice is replete with turning points, notes legal anchor Michael Sahn, who wonders if this time, the Rule of Law has truly changed.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Optimism abounds: Innovative thinking will carry us from the pandemic to a better future. Fast Company awards its 2021 World Changing Ideas.
Pessimism destroys: Sure, times are tough, but that’s no reason to be cynical about the future. The Stanford Daily sees the bright side.
State of mind: From books to podcasts to TED Talks, “pop psychology” prevails. Is society doomed? The Conversation analyzes the issues.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Movia Robotics, a Connecticut-based collaborative robotics company focused on helping children with autism, held the first closing of its $5 million seed funding led by ZFC Capital Partners II.
+ Emvolon, a Massachusetts-based energy-tech company developing a platform to convert excess natural gas into usable chemicals, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by The Engine.
+ Solid Power, a Colorado-based producer of solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, raised $130 million in Series B funding led by the BMW Group, Ford Motor Co. and Volta Energy Technologies.
+ Solidia Technologies, a New Jersey-based low-carbon cement and concrete manufacturer, raised $78 million in funding led by Imperative Ventures and Zero Carbon Partners, with participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, OGCI Climate Investments, Bill Joy, Kleiner Perkins, BASF Venture Capital, Total Carbon Neutrality Ventures, Air Liquide Venture Capital and others.
+ Ceribell Inc., the California-based developer of a non-invasive brain monitor, completed a $53 million Series C financing co-led by Longitude Capital, The Rise Fund, RA Capital Management, Redmile Group, Red Tree Venture Capital and existing shareholders.
+ Paxos, a New York City-based regulated blockchain infrastructure platform, closed a $300 million Series D funding round led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from Declaration Partners, PayPal Ventures, Mithril Capital, Senator Investment Group, Liberty City Ventures, WestCap and others.
BELOW THE FOLD
Hear them roar: Will these 20s be like the last 20s?
Roaring redux: Did the 1918 pandemic influence the Roaring ’20s – and is it happening again?
Geothermal gem: Why governments and investors are warming up to geothermal energy.
Motherly menu: Sunday’s the big day – here’s a last-minute gift guide for moms of every type.
Classic consultancy: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Mazars USA, high-caliber independent affiliate of global accounting giant Mazars. Check them out.
