Lend us your eyes: Friends, Romans, dear readers – welcome to Wednesday, and not just any Wednesday, of course, but the Ides of March.
A wary day for Julius Caesar, perhaps, but just another hump day for us intrepid innovators. We Shakespearian types have never stood on ceremonies, countrymen, so words before blows – cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of innovation!
Do you mind?: Give telepathic communications with aliens a whirl today.
Say something: With them ides and all, today must be March 15, known best as World Speech Day, which promotes public speaking and idea-sharing in 100-plus nations.
Speaking of speaking, today is also World Contact Day, founded in 1953 by the International Flying Saucer Bureau (yep) to encourage global enthusiasts to attempt telepathic communication with extraterrestrials.
Wrong again: In case you thought you were right, remember it’s also Everything You Think Is Wrong Day, which sucks, but Weird Al will make you feel better.
It’s Latin for “I lead”: With one of the more obscure state mottos in tow – Dirigo! – Maine became the 23rd state to join the union on March 15, 1820.
Think higher: Also rising from relative obscurity was the moving staircase known best as the “escalator,” patented on this date in 1892 by New York City innovator Jesse Reno, who thought he’d invented an amusement park ride.
Hard-pressed: The first presidential press conference was not a pleasant experience, at least for the reporters.
Next question: Unmoving President Woodrow Wilson presided over the first-ever U.S. presidential press conference 110 years ago today – a tense experience for attending journalists.
Nuclear family: Almost as tense was the ignition of the first nuclear reactor constructed specifically for medical research, which reached criticality on March 15, 1959, right here on Long Island (at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where it remained continually operational until December 2000).
Enjoy the skins: And definitely taking the edge off was the very first TGI Fridays restaurant, which opened on this date in 1965 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Forget the family-friendly chain (850 colorful eateries in 55-plus countries) you think you know: The original was a swinging singles club.
Brooklyn’s own: American lawyer and jurist Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) – a liberal lioness who overcame gender discrimination and other hardships to serve 27 years on the U.S. Supreme Court – would be 90 years old today.
Cover story: And about 3,000 more just like it.
Also born on March 15 were seventh U.S. President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), who championed the common man but left a trail of tears; American anthropologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838-1923), a pioneer of Native American rights whose passions sometimes backfired; German physiologist Emil von Behring (1854-1917), the Nobel Prize-winning “savior of children” who defeated diphtheria; American heiress, businesswoman and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), the one-time richest American woman who built Mar-a-Lago; and Italian-American model and actor Fabio (born Fabio Lanzoni, 1959), cover fantasy stud of more than 3,000 romance novels.
Trans America: And take a bow, Katherine Vandam Bornstein! The celebrated transgender trailblazer – a non-binary author, playwright, performance artist, gender theorist and two-time cancer survivor – turns 75 today.
Wish the “queer and present danger” well at editor@innovateli.com, where we don’t care if you’re a he, a she or a they, as long as your news tips and calendar events bring the innovation.
About our sponsor: SUNY Old Westbury empowers students to own the future they want for themselves. In a small-college atmosphere, as part of a dynamic and 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 more than 70 degrees available, a SUNY Old Westbury education sets students on a course toward success. Own your future.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Transfer ticket: Adelphi University is rolling out the red carpet for tri-state transfer students – actually, the green carpet.
Trumpeting “the only program of its kind in New York,” the Garden City-based university has announced a tuition cap for students transferring from other colleges and universities in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – $10,000 or less annually for up to four years of coursework leading to a bachelor’s degree. The Transfer Tuition Guarantee requires a 3.5 cumulative GPA for prior post-high-school college-level classwork, full-time spring or fall enrollment and certain financial benchmarks, but can be applied in concert with New York State resident-aid programs that could lower Adelphi tuition and fees below $10,000.
The idea is to offer “access and affordability” to students who might not otherwise pursue private-school education, according to Adelphi University Assistant Vice President and Chief Enrollment Officer Shawana Singletary. “Adelphi’s small classes and big opportunities are now a reality for students who may have thought a private school education was out of reach,” Singletary added.
Encouraging development: Regional builders stand behind the governor’s ambitious housing plan, according to John Durso.
Patchogue pitch: Referencing a “shining example” of a mixed-use community, Gov. Kathy Hochul toured Patchogue recently to plug the New York Housing Compact.
Long Island is friendly grounds for the governor’s ambitious plan, which calls for 800,000 new statewide homes over the next decade. Among those joining Hochul’s March 2 stump were Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who applauded a housing affordability and accessibility strategy that incentivizes local municipalities to work closely with Albany, and Long Island Federation of Labor President John Durso, who said his membership is “encouraged by … Hochul’s commitment to addressing this multigenerational housing problem.”
Village of Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri thanked the governor for recognizing Patchogue’s mixed-use workforce-housing efforts (“We have done a lot to address the housing crisis on Long Island”), while Long Island Builders Institute Chief Executive Officer Michael Florio congratulated Hochul for disrupting the housing status quo. “By providing resources and incentives … we can develop a transformational plan that benefits Long Islanders now and for future generations,” Florio added.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 17: Renee Flagler, throwing like a girl.
Inventor, executive, educator, crimefighter, entertainer, volunteer, entrepreneur, legend … and brilliant innovators, each and every one.
It’s awesomeness by the earful on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, featuring three-dozen intimate, enlightening and entertaining one-and-one conversations on the road to regional innovation. Pick a driver and let’s ride.
TOP OF THE SITE
Social call: Two years of virtual competitions were fine, but there’s nothing quite like holding Stony Brook University’s three-day Hack@CEWIT competition in person.
Step one: The New York Housing Compact is overdue and just one step toward ending housing discrimination – but it’s a critical one, according to ERASE Racism President Laura Harding.
Don’t make me come over there: D’ya like that thing in Monday’s Calendar Newsletter about the … you didn’t get it? You don’t have a subscription? An always easy, always free subscription? Daaaaa hell?
VOICES
Long Island Bio Executive Director and Voices historian Tom Mariner takes flight with Ronkonkoma-based manufacturer East/West Industries, where entrepreneurial spirit and decades of aerospace-industry success have blossomed from deep family roots.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Worth a shot: “Prebunking” psychologists are creating a mental “vaccine” against misinformation. Scientific American inoculates.
Worth a taste: Dairy-free milk and cheese? Technology to the rescue, once again. Yahoo News ferments.
Worth a read: Hey, Boomer – better learn the lingo before you text with your grandkids. HuffPost deciphers.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ ClearFlame Engine Technologies, an Illinois-based manufacturer of heavy-duty engines, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by Mercuria Energy Group, Rio Tinto and WIND Ventures.
+ Cubist, a New York City-based security-focused Web3 developer, raised $7 million in seed funding led by Polychain Capital, dao5, Amplify Partners, Polygon, Blizzard and Axelar.
+ Tiamat Sciences, a North Carolina-based, female-owned biotech startup, raised a seed extension of $2 million led by 8090 Industries, Portfolia, Alexandria and Exponential Impact.
+ Viridos, a California-based algae-biofuel pioneer, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Chevron U.S.A. and United Airlines Ventures.
+ SOCRadar, a Delaware-based cybersecurity platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding led by 212.
+ DexMat, a Texas-based climate-tech startup, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Shell Ventures, Overture Ventures and Climate Avengers.
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 SUNY Old Westbury). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
Very disappointed: The Academy dissed some major stars who passed away in 2022.
Life: Biochemists have identified the precise beginning of life on Earth.
Death: The Oscars’ “In Memoriam” segment dropped the ball, as usual.
Life after death: It’s just not scientifically possible, warns this pessimistic professor.
Living the dream: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including SUNY Old Westbury, where they live and die by the academic and personal development of each student. Check them out.
