Cold start: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and while it doesn’t quite feel like it, welcome to the second day of meteorological summer, which began June 1 (as opposed to astronomical summer, which begins June 20).
That makes today June 2, of course, and however you season your calendar, you’re already knee-deep in this latest week of socioeconomic innovation. Let’s get you all caught up.
The first first: In honor of Martha Washington’s birth on this date in 1731, June 2 is National First Ladies Day.
Not what you think: Don’t get excited, but today is International Sex Workers Day, when health- and human-rights advocates spotlight the legal needs of prostitutes (who are routinely demonized, detained and deported, often illegally).
If ladies of the evening don’t interest you, perhaps National First Ladies Day – saluting the amazing wives of our many U.S. Presidents – is more to your taste.
Dinner and dessert: Hungry? Good … June 2 is also National Rotisserie Chicken Day and National Rocky Road Day.
Prize possession: Known best for awarding the annual Nobel Prizes, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – inspired by the Royal Society of London and l’Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris – was founded on this date in 1739.
Tune in: Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi applied for a British patent for his new invention – the radio – on June 2, 1896 (he got it).
Protections actually issued on this date include an 1878 U.S. patent for an “Improvement in Phonograph or Speaking Machines,” one of Thomas Edison’s many phonograph-related patents.
Block it out: Velveeta, in all its foil-wrapped glory.
Beyond cheesy: Still embodying everything wrong with American food, Kraft’s “prepared cheese product” Velveeta was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting public 93 years ago today.
The queen’s English: Then-27-year-old Elizabeth II – now history’s longest-serving British monarch – was crowned queen of the United Kingdom on June 2, 1953.
Straight up: And it was this date in 1954 when a Convair XFY-1 Pogo made a vertical takeoff and landing, a milestone in the wonky history of VTOL aircraft.
Using stolen Nazi designs, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force contracted now-defunct Convair to build the prototype, which sat on its tail, lifted off under propeller power and soared on jet engines.
Got the lead out: American geochemist and Caltech standout Clair Cameron Patterson (1922-1995) – who successfully battled against lead poisoning and was the first to divine the Earth’s true age (about 4.5 billion years) – would be 99 years old today.
Moon man: Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad, out for a stroll.
Also born on June 2 were French nobleman, philosopher and erotic writer (“perverse,” at the time) Donatien Alphonse François (known best as the Marquis de Sade, 1740-1814); English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), who invented Wessex; English engineer and early radio pioneer Henry Joseph Round (1881-1966), who worked closely with the aforementioned Marconi; American innovator and industrialist Edwin Shoemaker (1907-1998), who designed the recliner chair and co-founded the La-Z-Boy company; and American astronaut Charles Peter Conrad Jr. (1930-1999), third to walk on the moon.
Get your kicks: And take a bow, Mary Abigail “Abby” Wambach! The American soccer star – a two-time Olympic gold medalist, National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee and, as of 2015, one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world – turns 41 today.
Wish the all-time athlete well at editor@innovateli.com, where story tips and calendar events are always our goal.
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
Adventure time: A thrilling summer of fun is shaping up for the COVID vaccinated – and nowhere is the excitement more palpable than on Old Country Road in Westbury, where a new entertainment/shopping mecca is rising.
Family entertainment center Empire Adventure Park has signed a 10-year, 35,572-square-foot lease at Samanea New York, a retail/dining/entertainment destination combining food, shopping and play. Empire Adventure Park won’t be ready in time for this summer’s amusement renaissance, but will feature trampolines, “ninja” obstacle courses, climbing walls, augmented-reality games and more when it swings into action in 2022.
When it does open, the indoor amusement park will join arcade-themed eatery Dave & Buster’s, The Cheesecake Factory and several brand-name retail tenants at Samanea New York, which has now leased 60 percent of its 750,000 square feet on Old Country Road, on 38 acres formerly occupied by Fortunoff Mall at the Source. “There is currently a strong demand for landlords to create new, immersive experiences,” noted Dominic Coluccio, Samanea New York’s leasing and development chief. “The team … is excited to continue to expand our tenant base and repurpose this iconic Westbury property to create a lifestyle destination that offers selective retail, entertainment and international cuisine.”
Universal soldier: The modern American warrior needs a portable power supply.
Gear up: A longtime Long Island innovator is one of four nationwide businesses sharing a $1.25 billion Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract from the U.S. Army, which is looking for a few good Conformal Wearable Batteries.
The modern warrior packs a payload of advanced, wearable technology facilitating navigation, communications and combat – critical gizmos that require CWBs to make them tick. Commack-based Bren-Tronics, which has designed and manufactured military-focused portable power solutions since 1973, has been drafted (so to speak) to produce CWBs for the Nett Warrior suite of electronic devices – an “integrated situational awareness” system combining next-generation weaponry and visual-augmentation tech, a killer combo in modern combat scenarios.
Bren-Tronics Senior Vice President Doug Petito said the company’s proprietary CWBs – which meet exacting MIL-PRF-32383/4X specifications – can be immediately integrated into Nett Warrior systems and other technologies employed by America’s modern military. “Soldier power demands have continually increased, requiring centralized, rugged and wearable power solutions,” Petito noted. “Bren-Tronics stands ready to meet the U.S. Army’s power requirements today and in the future.”
POD PEOPLE
This week on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, master publicist Arthur Germain steps out of the studio and into the spotlight, sharing his unique insights on podcasting, modern marketing and the monumental challenge of staying true to your creative vision when everything around you has changed. Episode 8 … what a story!
TOP OF THE SITE
With (less) sugar on top: A more-nutritious “functional beverage” has found its sweet spot – just what its creator wanted, though not how he expected it would go.
Weather report: A new Stony Brook University study says artificial intelligence can do a much better job with long-range meteorological forecasts.
Don’t miss it: Did you hear about those clever people who did that really cool thing? You would’ve, if you subscribed to this free, thrice-weekly newsletter. Get on it.
Reynolds: The same old solutions won’t work anymore.
VOICES
The pandemic reversed years of progress on the nation’s opioid crisis. Now, with fatal overdoses spiking again, innovative solutions are required more than ever, according to nonprofits ace Jeffrey Reynolds, who has some solid ideas.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Supply, by demand: The COVID crunch sparked innovation across medical-product supply chains. Forbes keeps things flowing.
…or hang separately: As China surges, America and its allies must hang together on technology innovation. The Hill calls for collaboration.
Brain trust: Columbia University neuroscientists want to protect your brain’s inalienable rights. Gizmodo straps on the thinking cap.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Torus Biosystems, a Massachusetts-based health-tech focused on infectious-disease diagnostics, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Northpond Ventures, with participation from prior investors including David Walt.
+ Bowery Farming, a New York City-based vertical-farming company, secured $300 million in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Co. and individual investors Lewis Hamilton, Chris Paul, Natalie Portman, José Andrés and Justin Timberlake, among others.
+ Airspace Link, a Michigan-based commercial and government airspace-solutions provider focused on drone integration into communities, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Altos Ventures.
+ LifeQ, a Georgia-based biotech focused on health management through wearable devices, secured $47 million in funding. Backers included Invenfin, 4Di Capital, Allectus Capital, Mogul Capital, Tenhong Holdings, Analog Devices, Hannover Re, Convergence Partners and Stellar Capital Partners, among others.
+ Noom, a NYC-based digital-health platform focused on behavioral changes, raised $540 million in Series F funding led by Silver Lake, with participation from Oak HC/FT, Temasek, Novo Holdings, Sequoia Capital, RRE and Samsung Ventures.
+ Material Security, a California-based cybersecurity company focused on admin visibility, account-takeover prevention, data-leak prevention and anti-phishing protocols, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by angel investor Elad Gil.
BELOW THE FOLD (Wonderful Workplace Edition)
Thrilled to be here: A happy workplace is a productive workplace.
Win, place: Counting down America’s best places to work.
Best shot: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updates its guidance on workplace vaccinations.
Attention graduates: Behold, the unspoken workplace rules nobody mentioned in college.
Your place, their work: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, where your best workplace is their first priority. Check them out.
