Holiday card: Here we go, dear readers – it’s Dec. 1 out there, midpoint of this workweek but the start of the very last leg of testy, tumultuous 2021.
Of course, this particular workweek is nestled in the bosom of the bustling holiday season – Thanksgiving has gone, Christmas is coming and we’re smack-dab in the middle of the Festival of Lights (a joyous and peaceful Hanukkah to all). Before we celebrate, we’ve got some innovating to do, so let’s … um, light this candle.
Wearing of the red: Today is all about AIDS awareness.
Red ribbon: We start with a less-than-festive but very important note on World AIDS Day, an annual Dec. 1 observation of an ongoing pandemic that’s killed 35 million people and currently sickens 38 million around the world.
Worth noting: When it was founded in 1988, World AIDS Day became the first global health day.
Light it up: On a brighter note, Dec. 1 is also National Christmas Lights Day, when decked halls are greenlighted, and National Eat A Red Apple Day, which is fairly self-explanatory.
New heights: This should also lift your spirits – the first-ever manned hydrogen balloon soared over Paris on this date in 1783, with famed French inventor Jacques Charles at the controls.
Get me the President: The first White House telephone was installed on Dec. 1, 1878, plugged in by none other than Alexander Graham Bell himself.
Everything on the line: Master innovator Henry Ford initiated the first moving assembly line for automotive mass production 108 years ago today, reducing assembly time for a complete Model T from 12 hours to about 90 minutes.
Get in line: The dusk sky during the first week of December 1997 (Pluto, not pictured, was in the queue, too).
Everything on the line 2: A rare planetary alignment occurred on Dec. 1, 1997, when eight Solar System planets – including dwarf planet Pluto – formed a straight line visible from Earth.
You needed a telescope to see Pluto and good binoculars to see Uranus and Neptune, but they were all there. And if you missed it, don’t worry – you’ll get another chance in December 2097.
Contact lost: And speaking of astronomical observations, it was one year ago today when the Arecibo Observatory – Puerto Rico’s famous radio telescope – met its destructive end, when a suspended equipment platform collapsed and crashed through the giant dish.
The circa-1963 National Science Foundation observatory – which starred in “GoldenEye,” “Contact” and other films, and provided decades of radar- and radio-based astronomical discoveries – had already been decommissioned and scheduled for demolition.
Holmes run: American Renaissance man William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) – an anthropologist, geologist, ethnologist, artist and museum curator credited with establishing professional archaeology in the United States – would be 175 years old today.
You Bette: Midler (right) yucks it up with Michael Richards on a classic “Seinfeld.”
Also born on Dec. 1 were German chemist Martin Klaproth (1743-1817), who founded analytical chemistry; French artist Marie “Madame” Tussaud (1761-1850), who waxed nostalgic; Irish physician Sir Dominic Corrigan (1802-1880), who authored several influential papers on heart diseases; American scientist and logician Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930), who overcame sexism to make major psychological discoveries; and American physicist Stephen Benton (1941-2003), a pioneer of medical imaging and fine-arts holography.
From a distance: And take a bow, Bette Midler! The American singer, songwriter, actress and comedian – a frequent Golden Globe, Tony, Emmy and Grammy award-winner – turns 76 today.
Say happy birthday (and toss The Rose) to the Divine Miss M at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are the Wind Beneath [Our] Wings and your calendar events put the Boogie Woogie (in our) Bugle, Boy.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 52 years by bringing together government economic–development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Diversity rising: National Grid has become the third major-league organization to partner with Ascend Long Island, an academia/industry effort designed to help a diverse entrepreneurial base land subcontracts with big-time service providers.
Ascend Long Island – a collaboration of Hofstra University’s Center for Suburban Studies, Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Scott Skodnek Business Development Center, working with BOC Capital and JPMorgan Chase’s national Ascend program – will now help prepare minority-owned businesses eyeing subcontracts from National Grid’s sustainability-focused Home Weatherization program. Twenty-five energy efficiency-based regional entrepreneurs have joined the first cohort of the three-year initiative, according to the university.
National Grid is the latest organization to hitch its wagon to Ascend Long Island, following Northwell Health and PSEG; to date, the prep program has trained 56 early-stage businesses from Nassau, Suffolk and the five boroughs on how to navigate the often-choppy waters of professional contract procurement. “We share the goal of increasing procurement opportunities for diverse local entrepreneurs,” noted Sharon Goldsmith, Hofstra’s acting executive dean of entrepreneurship and business development. “And (we) admire National Grid’s commitment to an inclusive path to clean energy.”
In charge: Tens of thousands of new EV charging stations are coming to New York State, with nearly 5,000 slated for Long Island.
Powering up: The New York State Public Service Commission has greenlighted the installation of tens of thousands of electric-vehicle charging stations across the state.
By approving existing accounting rules, the commission has ensured that major investor-owned utilities – including the Long Island Power Authority, Consolidated Edison Company of New York and others – can continue implementing EV Make-Ready, an electric-vehicle infrastructure program. Before EV Make-Ready launched this year, there were only 4,571 public-access charging stations across the state, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office; the government- and industry-funded program aims to deploy more than 50,000 additional Level 2 charging ports by 2025, increasing the statewide allotment of public charging ports by tenfold in just four years.
The Long Island Power Authority and its service provider, PSEG Long Island, have announced a goal of 4,745 new EV charging ports on the Island by 2025, with a proposed investment of $89 million in related EV Make-Ready infrastructure. “[The Public Service Commission decision] brings us one step closer to a greener, emission-free future,” Hochul said Monday. “The EV Make-Ready program is designed to help electrify our transportation sector and support our mandate that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state by 2035 be zero-emission.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 14: Hamilton, the non-musical.
From Long Island’s most influential networking groups to its most progressive college campuses, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast continues to round up the leaders of the regional innovation economy and round out your professional development.
Sponsored by energy-efficiency pioneer ThermoLift, Season 2 shares unique executive experiences and invaluable innovator perspectives, 25 minutes at a time. Listen to this!
TOP OF THE SITE
Detection redirection: A Stony Brook-based biotech on the cutting edge of COVID testing is preparing a next-generation assay that can spot the dangerous Omicron variant.
Where it hurts: The Business Council of New York State thinks raising corporate tax rates would have disastrous consequences for Long Island socioeconomics.
Stocking stuffer: What to get for the innovation team that has everything? Their own Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions, the gift that keeps on giving! Always easy, always free.
VOICES
Thanksgiving is over, but the struggle never ends – ’tis the season for family, and difficult discourse is always on the table. Voices media master David Chauvin shows how family gatherings are like tough press conferences, and shares the key interpersonal skills required to survive both.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Splitting the atom: We could be at the dawn of the nuclear age – again. HuffPost ponders.
Splitting the Atomium: The Atomium rule can increase productivity while prioritizing mental health. Inc. investigates.
Splitting the difference: Is separating Johnson & Johnson into two companies the best move for investors? Seeking Alpha seeks answers.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Portl, a California-based tech firm developing a plug-and-play “holoportation platform,” raised $12 million in Series A funding led by True Capital Management, with participation from Tim Draper, Marshawn Lynch, Quavo, Robert Griffin III and Structure Capital, among others.
+ Sermonix, an Ohio-based biopharma developing female-specific oncology products, raised $40 million in Series A3 funding led by Perceptive Xontogeny Ventures Fund II.
+ Mosaic Foods, a New York City-based producer of plant-based frozen foods, raised $6 million in seed funding led by Gather Ventures, with participation from Greycroft and Alleycorp.
+ Allorion Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech focused on oncology and autoimmune diseases, completed a $40 million Series A financing led by Qiming Venture Partners, IDG Capital, Octagon Capital and others.
+ Sword Health, a NYC-based clinical digital musculoskeletal innovator, raised $163 million in funding led by Sapphire Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Willoughby Capital, ADQ and Localglobe, among others.
+ TheDrop.com, a Nevada-based youth-lifestyle marketplace, raised $4.6 million in Series A funding led by Continental Investment Partners and Rimrock Venture Partners.
BELOW THE FOLD (Toy Story Edition)
Piece maker: Lego still leads as the titan of toys.
Fun with technology: Tech rules in Time’s Best Toys of 2021.
It just clicks: How LEGO remains the world’s most popular toy company.
Tickle me Unabomber: How the inventor of an all-time most-popular toy became a prime domestic-terrorism suspect.
Building blocks: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which brings together all the pieces needed to construct a strong regional economy. Check them out.
