Fractional forward: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we check off one-quarter of March and one-half of another busy workweek.
We’re here to nuance your numerators by the most common denominator (innovation) and multiply your productivity with some creative calculations (and a few whole numbers).
The Z Files: From your humble editor’s personal files, to mark National Proofreading Day.
Tempting fate: We begin this March 8 with an in-house favorite – National Proofreading Day, wherein we perfect punctuation, glorify grammar and target typos (and let us apologize in advance for any errors missed in today’s missive).
Equal time: Now well into Women’s History Month, we also celebrate International Women’s Day, promoting a gender-equal world free of stereotypes and discrimination.
We’ll drink to that – and so will observers of International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, an annual March 8 toast to women in craft-beverage industries.
Taking stock: They certainly raised a few glasses on this date in 1817, when the famous Buttonwood Agreement was formalized as the New York Stock & Exchange Board – and the Manhattan brokers behind it moved into new digs at 40 Wall St.
Don’t keep us in suspension: The double-decked Niagara Suspension Bridge made history, more than once.
Suspension invention: Also making New York/global history was the world’s first railway suspension bridge (later an important Underground Railroad crossing into Canada), which opened over the Niagara River on March 8, 1855.
Short leash: New York scored again on this date in 1894, when Albany legislators passed the state’s first dog-licensing law (which was also the first U.S. domestic animal-control law).
Give me liberty, or…: Speaking of unpopular laws, with the 16th Amendment kicking in, the Internal Revenue Service began collecting personal income tax 110 years ago today (“fundamentally eroding personal liberty,” according to some, though technically, Lincoln introduced the first federal income tax in 1861).
Get on the bus: And the Volkswagen Type 2 van – flat-faced favorite of 1960s hippies and decades of other counter-culturists – officially entered production on March 8, 1950.
The Type 2 (known alternately as the VW Bus and the VW Camper) actually remained in production (in Brazil!) until 2013.
Dish-topian: American inventor and industrialist Josephine Garis Cochran (1839–1913) – a posthumous National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee who built the first successful hand-powered dishwasher, and spun it into a commercial empire – would be 184 years old today.
Ink and volt: Master tattooist Kat Von D has drawn up some shockers.
Also born on March 8 were German surgeon Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe, (1787-1840), who helped mold modern plastic surgery; American inventor and astronomer Alvan Clark (1804-1887), a middling portrait-painter but expert telescope-maker; American jurist and 30-year U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935); American inventor and mathematician Howard Aiken (1900-1973), who foreshadowed the modern digital computer; and American actor, musician and producer George Michael “Micky” Dolenz (born 1945), last of The Monkees.
Kat’s meow: And take a bow, Katherine von Drachenberg! The Mexican-born American tattoo artist, model, singer and entrepreneur – a classically trained pianist known best for her stint on “LA Ink” and her Kat Von D Beauty line – turns 41 today.
Wish the multitalented Mexican well at editor@innovateli.com, where we see the beauty in your news tips – and your calendar events always get some ink.
About our sponsor: New York Institute of Technology’s 90-plus profession-ready degree programs incorporate applied research, real-world case studies and professors who bring decades of industry knowledge and research into the classroom, where students and faculty work side-by-side researching cybersecurity, drone design, microchips, robotics, artificial intelligence, app development and more. Visit us.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Coins in the fountain: More than $7.4 million will flow to Long Island ecological endeavors through the 18th funding round of Albany’s Water Quality Improvement Project.
The competitive reimbursement-grant program – which supports regional projects that directly improve or protect aquatic habitats or drinking-water sources – is disbursing $108 million to 51 statewide projects this funding round, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced Monday. Among the stipends: $6.02 million for the Nassau County Department of Public Works’ Bay Park Conveyance Project, $320,000 for a new fish passage at Wantagh’s Mill Pond Dam and $233,332 for a City of Glen Cove salt-storage shed, critical to protecting local groundwater.
Two Suffolk County projects – covering stormwater-mitigation infrastructure in the villages of Northport ($654,577) and Southampton ($220,285) – also made the WQIP Round 18 cut. “New York continues to provide historic levels of financial support to ensure all New Yorkers have access to clean water for generations to come,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “We will continue upgrading New York’s aging infrastructure and strengthening our water security.”
Chief concerns: The EGC Group’s Chris Canadeo will strengthen the marketing industry’s future as a member of Tribe Global.
PR, the next next generation: A Long Island marketing agency’s second-generation analytics ace will join a multinational mission to develop future communications professionals.
Chris Canadeo, director of analytics at Melville-based The EGC Group, has been inducted into Tribe Global, an international network of independent communications agencies collaborating for the sake of mutual growth. As part of the first-ever Tribe Global Rising Stars program, Canadeo – son of EGC Group founder Ernie Canadeo – will focus on tactical training priorities across the marketing industry, while helping to plan the TribeOpen 2023 Conference, scheduled for Oct. 19 in New York City.
Canadeo the Younger joins teammates from Texas, Oregon, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates in the inaugural Rising Stars lineup, which is slated to spend 24 months or longer shaping the marketing industry’s future. “It is an honor to be inducted into the Tribe Global Rising Stars Program,” the analytics director noted. “I am excited to contribute my own ideas and perspectives and to work alongside other talented professionals to make a real impact on our industry.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 10: Matt Cohen, lifeblood of the LIA.
If there’s a blurry Bigfoot video, caught-on-camera paranormal presence or hirsute ancient UFO theorist anywhere on TV, you’ve seen it – but have you heard Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast’s annual supernatural-themed episodes, featuring a frighteningly convincing investigator of regional paranormal phenomenon and a darkly inventive radio producer channeling an “X Files” vibe?
And those are just two of the spine-tingling episodes making Spark such an entertaining and educational find! Catch up now on dozens of engaging conversations with leading Long Island innovators.
TOP OF THE SITE
The old ways: The Nature Conservancy is backing a women- and Indigenous Peoples-led effort to save Shinnecock Bay with millennia-old aquafarming science.
Heart-starting: New York Tech’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and St. Francis Hospital are putting top students on the cutting edge of cardiac research.
You’re welcome: Thank you (today) for forwarding this great newsletter to your fellow innovators. (They’ll thank you tomorrow for their always easy, always free individual subscriptions.)
VOICES
The struggle for control against the dark side of artificial intelligence begins now – and it begins in the courtroom, according to Sahn Ward Managing Member and Voices legal anchor Michael Sahn, who urges lawmakers to act quickly on AI regulation.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Rising rates: The Federal Reserve may squeeze the economy to combat inflation. The Financial Times shows some interest.
Lowering chances: The Department of Justice has sued to block the $3.8 billion JetBlue/Spirit Airlines merger. Axios breaks it down.
On the levels: Lowest-ever Antarctic ice levels could indicate dangerous surges in global sea levels. The Guardian skates on thin ice.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Lonestar Data Holdings, a Florida-based space-exploration startup, raised $5 million in seed funding led by Scout Ventures, Seldor Capital, 2 Future Holding, The Veteran Fund, Irongate Capital, Atypical Ventures and KittyHawk Ventures.
+ Rubi Labs, a California-based developer of carbon-negative textiles, raised $8.7 million in seed funding co-led by Talis Capital, Tin Shed Ventures and H&M Group, with participation from Collaborative Fund and Necessary Ventures.
+ PteroDynamics, a Colorado-based aircraft designer and manufacturer, raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Kairos Ventures, Lavrock Ventures and CS Venture Opportunities Fund.
+ SafKan Health, a Washington State-based med-tech focused on earwax removal, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Unorthodox Ventures.
+ BlocPower, a New York City-based climate-tech startup focused on greening America’s buildings, received more than $154 million in funding led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Goldman Sachs.
+ Thymmune Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech developing thymic cell therapies, secured $7 million in seed financing led by Pillar VC, with participation from NYBC Ventures and other investors.
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 New York Tech). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Get There However You Can Edition)
Speeding your way: Laser blasters not included.
By speeder bike: “Star Wars”-inspired flying bikes are real and on the way.
By bus: How the humble transportation form can save U.S. public transit.
By VTOL: Cars soar to futuristic cities in Trump’s utopian vision.
Already there: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including the New York Institute of Technology, a cutting-edge vehicle to students’ brightest futures. Check them out.
