Ever snowpeful: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we (roller)skate through another mild workweek in the Winter That Winter Forgot – though, is that a snowy Winter Recess for Long Island schools in the long-range forecast? Stay tuned.
Top of mind (and heart): Here on Feb. 15, we open with International Childhood Cancer Day, an annual mission of awareness, support and compassion for patients and families.
Drop in: Color yourself lucky on National Gumdrop Day.
To our Neighbors to the North, may your Canadian Agriculture Day and National Flag of Canada Day celebrations be joyous and warm and free of aerial dogfights with invading unidentified objects.
Enjoy a few: Meanwhile, we rebound from Valentine’s Day with National Single Awareness Day, all about the benefits of being romantically unattached, and National Gumdrop Day, good for a few chews every Feb. 15.
Historical arch: Happily married (by all accounts) to Margaret of Provence was French King Louis IX, a.k.a. Saint Louis and namesake of St. Louis, Mo., which was founded – by French traders, naturally – on this date in 1764.
Feeling stuffed: Other historical leaders associated with this date – at least, in plush form – include U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, immortalized as the “Teddy bear” for the first time 120 years ago today by Brooklyn shopkeeper Morris Michtom.
(Synthetic) diamonds are forever: Many teddy bears likely changed hands yesterday, and more than a few diamonds – recalling the Feb. 15, 1955, announcement that General Electric scientists had developed a replicable process for turning graphite into diamonds.
Golly genome: Filling in the gaps of human DNA.
The end of the beginning: Setting the diamond standard for scientific research – almost – was the first draft of the human genome, published on this date in 2001 by the science journal Nature (while phenomenal, the “complete” DNA sequence was actually more of a working draft).
Beginning of the end? And it was Feb. 15, 2013, when a flaming meteor exploded in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia – bigger than a nuclear blast, with shock waves felt all the way to Antarctica.
A decade after the startling wakeup call, humanity has made several innovative strides in the detection of near-earth objects.
Moving tribute: Expert in heavenly objects both near and far was Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei (1564-1642), who emerged from a faith-vs.-fact battle with the Catholic Church as the father of modern science and would be 459 years old today.
In the cards: Seymour played a soothsayer in “Live and Let Die.”
Also born on Feb. 15 were American inventor and entrepreneur Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884), who reaped the rewards of his innovative mechanical harvester; American social reformer Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), who embraced equality at an early age; American industrialist Robert Wood Johnson (1845-1910), one of three brothers who founded Johnson & Johnson; American author and cartoonist Norman Bridwell (1928-2014), who raised “Clifford, the Big Red Dog” from a pup; and late, great funnyman Chris Farley (1964-1997) – fearless, tragic and so damned funny.
Acting royalty: And take a bow, Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg! The award-winning English actress and fashion designer – known best as sultry Bond girl Solitaire and rugged medicine woman Dr. Quinn (and by “royal” stage name Jane Seymour) – turns 72 today.
Why “royal?” Because Joyce Frankenberg renamed herself after Queen of England Jane Seymour, third wife of King Henry VIII and mother of King Edward VI – a fact you’re welcome to comment on at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events rule.
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
Water bills: Albany has opened the tap on tens of millions of dollars in funding for statewide water-infrastructure projects, with $11 million-plus following into Nassau County.
Three Nassau-based projects soaked up the lion’s share of the $40.3 million in low-cost financing and previously announced grants floated this week by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp., including a $5.4 million grant for new contaminant-treatment equipment in the Plainview Water District, $5.3 million for the same at the Village of Garden City’s Clinton Road Plant and $3 million for a “packed tower aeration system” in the Jericho Water District.
The Plainview and Garden City grants are the second- and third-biggest individual stipends in this water-infrastructure funding round – part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $500 million clean-water commitment – behind only a combined $7.9 million in grants and short-term financing addressing water-quality issues in upstate Ontario County’s Town of Gorham. “[The funds] will … help ensure that financial barriers don’t prevent communities from undertaking vital projects that protect public health and the environment,” noted Environmental Facilities Corp. President and CEO Maureen Coleman.
Do you Feil me?: Mount Sinai South Nassau’s coming-soon Feil Family Pavilion.
Name that pavilion: Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital’s new patient-care pavilion won’t open for another year at least, but it already has a name.
The Oceanside-based flagship of the New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has anointed the four-story, 100,000-square-foot building – scheduled for completion in Spring 2024 – the Feil Family Pavilion, following a $5 million pledge from The Louis Feil Charitable Lead Annuity Trust. Generations of Feils have supported Mount Sinai South Nassau (and South Nassau Communities Hospital before that), including millions in foundational and support funding for the Gertrude & Louis Feil Cancer Center.
With seven-figure donations in 2011, 2018 and 2019, the Feil family has now donated a combined $17 million to the hospital and its patients. “Mount Sinai South Nassau is our local hospital, and we are grateful for the expert care it provides to our communities on the South Shore,” Jeffrey Feil, CEO of New York City-based real estate developer The Feil Organization, said in a statement. “We are so fortunate to have an outstanding medical center right in our backyard.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 27: Part mom, part cop, all Dawn Smallwood.
Police pioneers, museum masters, renowned researchers, ace social advocates … how do they do it? The best of the best share secrets, perspectives and lots of laughs on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast. Learn someone new.
TOP OF THE SITE
DNA test: Employment-related tax credits will help Stony Brook biotech Applied DNA Sciences create a couple dozen new jobs – and maybe change healthcare forever.
Makes sensory: A New York Tech study exploring autism spectrum disorder and the sense of smell raises several important questions – and creates intriguing research opportunities.
Forget something? Don’t forget to forward this engaging and educational newsletter to everyone on your innovation team – and don’t forget to sign them up for their own always easy, always free subscriptions, so you can stop all the forwarding.
VOICES
Americans love a good con, when we’re not the victim – but elect too many grifters to government, and it won’t be all fun and games and entertaining Netflix documentaries, warns ZE Creative Communications Executive Vice President and Voices media master David Chauvin.
STUFF WE’RE READING
It tolls for TV: The death bell knells for linear television, once again. CNBC calculates the demise.
Blind cluck: Clucky break, or a stroke of cluck? Either way, the chicken on your plate is a total accident. Vox ruffles some feathers.
Re-classified: Federal legislators want to create bipartisan reforms for the handling of classified documents. The Hill hears their case.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Quino Energy, a California-based energy-storage startup commercializing water-based battery technology licensed from Harvard University, raised $1.25 million in seed funding led by Energy Revolution Ventures, Doral Energy Tech Ventures and TechEnergy Ventures.
+ Via Transportation, a New York City-based transit-tech trailblazer, raised $110 million in funding led by 83North, Exor N.V., Pitango, Janus Henderson, CF Private Equity, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, Riverpark Ventures and ION Crossover Partners.
+ Stratus Materials, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer developing new cathode-active materials for lithium-ion batteries, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DNS Capital.
+ Marker Learning, a NYC-based remote-learning and attention-disability services provider, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, Virgin Group, Primary Ventures, Difference Partners, Operator Partners, Night Ventures, Danny Green and Jewell Loyd.
+ Mattiq, an Illinois-based unique-materials design-and-development innovator, raised $15 million in seed funding led by Material Impact.
+ Tuned, a NYC-based digital-hearing developer, raised $3.5 million in funding led by Distributed Ventures, Idealab NY and Elements Health 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 the Town of Islip). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Why Can’t We Be Friends Edition)
Tone deaf: Has U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) misinterpreted Jesus’ message?
Love your enemies: “Fascism” in Jesus’ Super Bowl ads? Hell no, congresswoman.
Buddy system: Fighting our way out of the “friendship recession.”
Best frenemies: Share your insights on friendships gone wrong.
Friends in high places: Please continue supporting the chummy (and progressive) organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, best friend of entrepreneurs and established executives. Check them out.
