Out of your gourd: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the midpoint of this very busy workweek – not to mention the first day of autumn here in our beautiful Northern Hemisphere.
Yes, you can run but you can’t hide – it’s Sept. 22, it’s fall and pumpkin spice season is officially upon us.
Trunk club: Show a little appreciation for elephants today.
Never forget: Pumpkin-based atrocities aside (pumpkin spice water, really?!?), surely you remember that it’s National Elephant Appreciation Day.
Slightly more forgettable is World Rhino Day, also celebrated this and every Sept. 22.
Sweet combination: For dessert, consider a (pumpkin-less) confectionary combo – today is both National Ice Cream Cone Day and National White Chocolate Day.
Darwinian discovery: There were no pumpkins in sight when the HMS Beagle stopped at Punta Alta – a coastal region of Argentina – on this date in 1832, though famous English naturalist Charles Darwin did discover his first batch of fossils.
The thinker: Lincoln gave U.S. slave owners three months to free their captive laborers.
Free guy: President Abraham Lincoln delivered his first Emancipation Proclamation 159 years ago today, announcing that 3 million U.S. slaves would be freed the following Jan. 1 – and effectively declaring the Civil War a war on slavery.
Know your Xaviers: Xavier University, the United States’ first Black Catholic college, opened on Sept. 22, 1915, in New Orleans.
More than a century later, the relatively small Xavier University of Louisiana – not to be confused with Cincinnati’s much larger Xavier University – is a model of STEM and health-science education.
Paving the way: Women were encouraged to join the workforce while their men fought World War II – then unceremoniously dumped when the troops came home.
That is, until Sept. 22, 1949, when the American Business Women’s Association formed in a Kansas City coffeeshop, and the scales began tipping toward balance.
They’ll be there for you: And the NBC star-maker “Friends,” consistently ranked among history’s most popular sitcoms, debuted on this date in 1994.
Graphic content: Scottish engineer and economist William Playfair (1759-1823) – who invented bar graphs and pie charts and otherwise pioneered the graphical representation of statistics – would be 262 years old today.
Coffee, tea, or shall I fly the plane?: Ellen Church, the world’s first stewardess, had many talents.
Also born on Sept. 22 were English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), who discovered benzene, liquified carbon dioxide and spearheaded the study of electromagnetism; British tennis star Charlotte Cooper (1870-1966), the first woman to win Olympic gold; American zoologist Victor Ernest Shelford (1877-1968), his generation’s foremost animal ecologist; Canadian-American physiologist Charles Huggins (1901-1997), who earned a Nobel Prize for demonstrating the relationship between hormones and certain cancers; and American nurse and licensed pilot Ellen Church (1904-1965), the world’s first stewardess.
The voice: And take a bow, Andrea Bocelli! Completely blind since age 12, the Italian multi-instrumentalist and powerfully voiced opera singer – renowned as the “world’s most beloved tenor” – turns 63 today.
Wish the virtuoso vocalist well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events always hit the high notes.
About our sponsor: SUNY Old Westbury empowers students to own the future they want for themselves. In a small-college atmosphere and as part of the dynamic, diverse student body that today is 5,000 strong, Old Westbury students get up close and personal with the life and career they want to pursue. Whether it’s a cutting-edge graduate program in data analytics, highly respected programs in accounting and computer-information sciences or any of the 70-plus available degrees, a SUNY Old Westbury education will set students on a course toward success. Own your future.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Survey says: Assisted-living residences still have plenty of fans in New York State.
Big assist: A new survey by the Empire State Association of Assisted Living – which represents numerous facilities on Long Island and across New York – offers valuable insights on a sensitive subject: nursing homes and the pandemic.
Designed to gauge public perception of assisted-living facilities in the Age of Coronavirus – a particularly hot topic following what many consider the brutal negligence of the Cuomo Administration – the survey covers several non-COVID points and largely conveys support for assisted-living arrangements. For instance, 83 percent of respondents say they’re concerned their elderly loved ones feel isolated living alone, 92 percent believe their loved ones would benefit from more socialization and 81 percent wish they had more help caring for their elderly charges.
But the COVID-related questions cut right to the heart, with respondents – roughly 200 New York women ages 45 and up who help care for an elderly person – showing confidence in assisted-living facilities during COVID and adopting an overwhelming pro-vaccination stance. Sixty-nine percent say they believe the facilities provide safe environments during the pandemic and 84 percent say high vaccination rates among assisted-living employees (76 percent at the time of the survey) and residents (95 percent) provide comfort. “Assisted living communities across New York State have worked tirelessly over the past year to reinvent processes to protect the health and safety of our residents and staff,” noted ESAAL Executive Director Lisa Newcomb.
Inclusion infusion: Long Island’s future economy takes center stage Thursday morning at Greybarn in Amityville, where the Babylon Industrial Development Agency has scheduled a special “economic inclusion” seminar.
Kicking off at 8 a.m., the event – targeting small-business owners – centers on a panel discussion moderated by Babylon IDA Compliance Officer Bill Lindsay, featuring NAACP Long Island Regional Director Tracey Edwards, Minority Millennials founder and President Dan Lloyd and McBride Consulting & Business Development Group Partner and Senior Vice President Luis Montes. The panel is slated to discuss economic decisions regional leaders can make today to positively affect future generations, with particular attention paid to across-the-board racial inequalities and the benefits of registering with New York State as a Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise.
Those interested in attending the breakfast networker should RSVP by close of business Sept. 22 to info@babylonida.org. “As the region is rapidly diversifying, this discussion will help Long Island leaders make decisions with inclusion in mind,” said Lloyd, adding the panel would focus on “regional struggles such as high-income inequality and persistent racial gaps in health, employment and education.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 9: Kenneth Bowes, on sites.
Favorable winds are blowing across Long Island, which is well-positioned in the nation’s burgeoning offshore wind-power industry. Kenneth Bowes, VP for siting and permitting at New England-based mega-utility Eversource Energy, believes in Long Island. Learn why here – and with Season 2 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast now in production, catch up quick with all of Season 1’s amazing conversations!
TOP OF THE SITE
Rise of the machines? Probably not … though artificial intelligence will control the national power grid, if Stony Brook University and several partner institutions have their way.
Feinstein first: Northwell Health’s research-and-development mecca is taking the lead on yet another national COVID-vaccine study.
Couldn’t be easier (or free-er): Please forward this engaging and entertaining newsletter to everyone in your innovation circle, and remind them that their own subscriptions to this thrice-weekly gem are always easy and always free.
VOICES
This week, Innovate Long Island is proud to add another star to our megawatt Voices lineup – new food-and-beverage boss Nancy Pak, CEO of Tate’s Bake Shop, who serves up a fresh take on the lasting changes COVID has created for restaurateurs and food-focused supply chains.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Home loan: You can’t just throw money at innovation and expect results. Axios invests.
Home field: Blockchain is rapidly changing the fantasy sports playing field. Forbes calls an audible.
Home of the brave: A resilient national economy requires classic American risk-takers. The Boston Globe dives in.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Altana AI, a New York City-based Global Supply Chain visibility platform, secured $15 million in Series A funding led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), with participation from Floating Point, Ridgeline Partners and existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners and Schematic Ventures.
+ Deep Vision, a California-based tech firm developing an AI processor and software-development suite for edge-computing applications, raised $35 million in Series B financing led by Tiger Global, with participation from Series A investors Exfinity Venture Partners, SiliconMotion and Western Digital.
+ Sophie’s Kitchen, a Nevada-based plant-based food company, raised $5.6 million in funding led by Billy Goat Brands.
+ Brunt Workwear, a Washington State-based apparel brand serving the construction, installation, maintenance and repair industries, raised $8.4 million in Series A funding led by TF Cornerstone, with participation from Andrew Rosen and Ben Fischman.
+ PetFriendly, a Nebraska-based subscription pet-care company, raised $6 million in seed funding led by an affiliate of McCarthy Capital, with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Emil Capital Partners and Invest Nebraska.
+ EnerVenue, a California-based manufacturer of metal-hydrogen batteries, raised $100 million in Series A funding led by Schlumberger New Energy, with participation from Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and others.
BELOW THE FOLD (From The Sports Desk Edition)
Team sport: The Manning brothers have become the Martin & Lewis of “Monday Night Football.”
Own it: Why Mets fans are booing the wrong people.
Manning the booth: Eli and Peyton are killing it on “Monday Night Football.”
Plenty of good seats still … actually, no seats are available: The Islanders sold out their first-ever UBS Arena home opener in mere minutes.
All-stars: The student body is small – but destined for greatness – at comprehensive SUNY Old Westbury, one of the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island. Check them out.
