Religious experience: A blessed Wednesday upon you, dear readers, as we give thanks for innovation and praise another relatively mild January workweek here on Long Island.
Snow fans, have faith – there may be some wintery weather heading our way next week. Everyone else, count your blessings.
Brew crew: Fill it to the rim on Gourmet Coffee Day.
For Christ’s sake: Why so spiritual? To mark the start of the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a 100-year-old-plus ecumenical tradition – running Jan. 18-25 annually, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere – that urges Christians of different stripes to put aside their differences.
Good to the last drop: Forget the Folgers, cancel the K-cups and ignore the instants – we go for the good stuff on National Gourmet Coffee Day, no regular cup of joe brewed fresh every Jan. 18.
And whatever you’re trying to say, find a better way to say it – you really should, on National Thesaurus Day. (Why today? Don’t be beguiled by presentiment … it will be axiomatic soon.)
Hawaiian rolls: Historical better-word-for-that references associated with Jan. 18 include the Sandwich Islands, reached on this date in 1778 by English explorer James Cook and known best as the Hawaiian Islands.
I am iron man: Tasker’s undersea super-suit.
Scuba before scuba was cool: Philadelphia inventor Stephen Tasker patented his “armored diving suit” – essentially, a 19th Century self-contained underwater breathing apparatus – on Jan. 18, 1880.
Tower of power: Speaking of unique patents, Serbian-American genius/mad scientist/master innovator Nikola Tesla patented his “Apparatus for Transmitting Electrical Energy” – towering nearly 200 feet over his Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham – on this date in 1902.
By air and by sea: Aircraft carriers became a thing 112 years ago today, when daring wingman Eugene Ely conducted the first successful landing on – and takeoff from – a naval vessel, behind the stick of a primitive Curtiss Pusher prop plane.
Paris accord: And it was Jan. 18, 1919, when the Paris Peace Conference – the international meeting that set peace terms after World War I – formally opened in France.
The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities, led by the “Big Four” – Prime Ministers Lloyd George of Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and Vittorio Orlando of Italy, along with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.
Pooh Pooh it: English author Alan Alexander “A.A.” Milne (1882-1956) – a playwright and children’s poet who invented some of the most beloved children’s book characters of all time – would be 141 years old today.
He will come: Unless there are floods.
Also born on Jan. 18 were British physician, theologian, lexicographer and librarian Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), a true man of words; American engineer and industrialist Thomas Watson (1854-1934), a National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee who helped Alexander Graham Bell create the telephone; English aviation pioneer and industrialist Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith (1888-1989), who made Camels fly; American engineer Ray Dolby (1933-2013), who invented noise-reduction systems and helped develop the videotape recorder; and American actor, producer, film director and musician Kevin Costner (born 1955), who just won a Golden Globe but couldn’t make it to the show.
Broadway legend: And take a bow, Mark John Douglas Messier! The National Hockey League legend – who collected six Stanley Cups, including a historic streak-breaker for the New York Rangers – turns 62 today.
Give “Moose” your best at editor@innovateli.com, where our cup overflows when you share news tips – and your calendar events always find the back of the net.
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
Nursing them through it: Adelphi University’s College of Nursing and Public Health has been tapped as a test school for an elite national training program.
Adelphi is one of 10 nationwide nursing schools (and the only New York State school) selected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing for participation in the Spring 2023 pilot, which adds new content – focused on leadership skills and personal health and well-being – to baccalaureate nursing programs. Adelphi was selected from an “overwhelming number of responses” to the AACN’s call for pilot participants, according to the Garden City-based university.
Specifically, the AU College of Nursing and Public Health was picked for a study on helping nursing students and less-experienced nurses handle stress, led by Adelphi faculty members Marilyn Klainberg and Deborah Ambrosio-Mawhirter. “This prestigious grant from AACN provides us with the support we need to heavily infuse skills like self-care, leadership and resilience into our nursing curriculum,” noted Ambrosio-Mawhirter, a clinical associate professor who nominated Adelphi for the pilot program.
A round of inks: Tattoo vs. tattoo, for a good cause.
Ink about it: A born-on-Long Island competition that’s made a global mark has inked a new contest for folks with their own marks, with proceeds benefitting a progressive nonprofit.
Already a unique international showcase of innovative design, the fourth-annual Craft Beer Marketing Awards has introduced a new Best Beer/Brewing-Related Tattoo competition, with 100 percent of entry fees from the new category benefitting the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling. The Brooklyn-based nonprofit grant-maker funds technical education and career advancement for non-White employees throughout the craft-beverage industries, focused on advanced brewing techniques, sophisticated packaging technologies and related sciences.
The foundation is named for late English journalist Michael James Jackson, who literally wrote the book on beer and whisky – and “tattoos and craft beer are synonymous,” according to CBMAs Co-founder Jim McCune, craft beverage executive director at Melville’s EGC Group. “Tattoos are empowering, they look awesome and they just make life cooler,” McCune added. “The CBMAs brand is covered in ink, from our judges to our graphics.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 35: Robert Zimmerman, gloves off.
The Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives who lost to Republican disgrace George Santos is educated, eloquent, inventive, successful, compassionate, productive – and plenty pissed off.
ZE Creative Communications Co-founder and Co-president Robert Zimmerman joins Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast to discuss decades of innovative business growth, his ongoing advocacy of critical human-rights issues and his best guess about the fate of serial liar Santos – plus the simple joys of family, community service and Häagen-Dazs.
TOP OF THE SITE
Right man for the job: Georgia-based 100 Black Men of America has chartered a new Eastern New York chapter, with a well-known Long Island leader out front.
As real as it gets: Northwell Health’s new artificial-intelligence chatbots can help lead pregnant moms and babies to healthier outcomes.
Really show them something: Thank you for sharing this educational and entertaining newsletter with your entire innovation team – now share your dazzling talent for executive decision-making. Individual subscriptions always easy, always free.
VOICES
With Gov. Kathy Hochul promising statewide action on New York’s housing crisis, the time has come for Long Island to create a plan that balances suburban settings with the need for new and varied housing, according to Voices legal anchor and Sahn Ward Managing Member Michael Sahn, who notes the governor’s housing wave is coming – one way or another.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Quiet riot: Behold, “quiet hiring” – just the latest in a long line of useless corporate terminology. Vox sounds off.
Micromanagement 101: Myriad project-management apps can simplify your life – but should they? Vice endorses DIY.
Testament: Her kids, her ex-nanny and a mystery guest divvy up Ivana Trump’s $34 million estate. Forbes wills it.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Ferrum Health, the California-based developer of an AI healthcare platform, raised $6 million in funding led by Urban Innovation Fund, Cercano Management and Singtel Innov8.
+ Quantum Temple, a Florida-based Web3 platform focused on cultural heritage, raised $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Borderless Capital, Algorand Foundation, Outliers Fund, Shima Capital, New Moon Ventures and NxGen.
+ Oula, a New York City-based pregnancy and childbirth clinic, raised $19.1 million in Series A funding led by 8VC with Chelsea Clinton’s Metrodora, the Female Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund and Alumni Ventures.
+ ModifyHealth, a Georgia-based food-as-medicine platform and tailored-meal distributor, raised $10 million in Series B funding led by RC Capital and Nashville Capital Network.
+ Medix Infusion, a Texas-based infusion-therapy provider for underserved markets, raised $35 million in Series B funding led by Echo Health Ventures, Pittco Direct Investments II and Noro-Moseley Partners.
+ SpiderOak, a Washington-based cybersecurity-solutions provider for space systems, raised $16.4 million in Series C funding led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, Method Capital and OCA Ventures.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Farrell Fritz). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Beast Mode Edition)
If looks could Kilimanjaro: Watch your step in Tanzania.
Herd mentality: Why group fitness – and only group fitness – works for you.
Annum-al: Is it the Year of the Rabbit or the Year of the Cat? (Answer: Yes!)
Animal planet: Neighbor’s dog barking? Deer munching your mums? Be glad you don’t live in Tanzania.
Leader of the pack: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Farrell Fritz, a true Alpha of the corporate-law world. Check them out.
