Looking ahead: Eyes up, dear readers! It’s Wednesday and we’re hurdling the hump of another vision quest with innovation in our hearts (and a not-so-distant weekend already in sight).
There’s lots of creative eye-candy to choose from today – let’s see what we can see.
Sovereign scoop: Fancy flavors are great — so’s vanilla — but straight-up chocolate ice cream is king of the cone (cone optional).
Booooone: It’s June 7 out there, and a hearty hello to our many readers in Kentucky, where regional holiday Daniel Boone Day is in full swing – not celebrating the famous frontiersman’s birthday (Nov. 2, for those keeping score), but the date in 1769 when he first laid eyes upon the present-day Bluegrass State.
Taking a more global perspective is World Caring Day, promoting donations, volunteerism and other random acts of selflessness in Kentucky and everywhere else.
We all scream (for ice cream!): Meanwhile, early-summer staples June Bug Day (an annual salute to the creepy crawlers, who spend three years as underground larvae, then get about a month to eat and mate) and National Chocolate Ice Cream Day (’nuff said) both deliver June 7 chills.
Know it all: Still documenting the creation of chocolate ice cream (and other highlights from the entirety of human cultural history), the British Museum – currently the world’s oldest public national museum – was established by an act of English Parliament on June 7, 1753.
Hear them roar: Lions Clubs International boasts a global legacy of compassionate service.
Don’t really know: Chocolate ice cream was also on the menu in Chicago on this date in 1917, at the organizational meeting that created global service group Lions Clubs International. (Well, it could have been.)
Private property: Maybe it was chocolate gelato on June 7, 1929, effective date of the Lateran Treaty, through which the Catholic Papacy recognized Italy (with Rome as its capital) and Italy recognized papal sovereignty over 109-acre Vatican City.
By air, by sea: In-flight ice cream? Probably not, although Boeing’s Clipper Model 314 seaplane – the famous “flying boat” later christened the Honolulu Clipper – was a marvel of innovation when it made its maiden flight 85 years ago today.
Sun worshipping: And the first government-owned U.S. solar power plant, a photovoltaics farm at Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument, was officially dedicated on June 7, 1980.
The slightly dated PV system is still pumping out solar juice – roughly 50 kilowatts of electricity, enough to cover the power needs of the surrounding national park.
Asleep at the switch: Scottish obstetrician Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870) – an early founder of gynecology, strong proponent of hospital reform and the physician credited with bringing anesthesia to medicine – would be 212 years old today.
Hardly knew the guy: Candidate Pence is attempting to distance himself from his former boss.
Also born on June 7 were English novelist and journalist Amelia Blanford Edwards (1831-1892), a true globetrotter and renowned Egyptologist; American educator Susan Blow (1843-1916), remembered as the “mother of the kindergarten”; American singer, actor and comedian Dean Martin (1917-1995), the undisputed “king of cool”; American singer, songwriter and record producer Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016), the artist known posthumously as Prince; and former U.S. Vice President Michael Pence (born 1959), who’s officially (delusionally, according to some) running for president.
She’s a lady (he’s a singer): And take a bow, Sir Thomas Jones Woodward! The Grammy-winning Welsh baritone and longtime Las Vegas standard – known best by stage name Tom Jones – turns 83 today.
Wish the Boy From Nowhere well at editor@innovateli.com, where It’s Not Unusual for readers to share news tips and we don’t know What’s New, Pussycat without your calendar events (whoa, whoa, whoa-oooaaa-oooaaa).
About our sponsor: Stony Brook University Economic Development collaborates with regional innovators, supports startups and facilitates early-stage enterprise by leveraging the resources of a SUNY Flagship University and partner Brookhaven National Laboratory. Combining state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, the world-class expertise of 900-plus scientific investigators and best commercialization practices, Economic Development and its partners have the collective imagination and ability to attain exciting new heights for the Long Island innovation economy. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Reading all about it: Hundreds of donated books are heading to Greater New York’s page-deprived, thanks to imaging giant Canon USA.
Employees at the Melville-based headquarters of the multinational conglomerate recently donated 15 boxes of gently-used books – roughly 470 pounds, for those who weigh their words carefully – to The Book Fairies, a nonprofit that redistributes reading materials to under-sourced communities across Long Island and beyond. The literacy-focused, Freeport-based 501(c)3, which has distributed roughly 4 million books since launching in 2012, stakes a claim as the largest book-distribution charity in New York.
Canon USA’s book drive followed the ecologically minded company’s recent Earth Day observances, in which employees at the Melville HQ collected nearly 2,000 pounds of electronic waste for proper recycling. “Book Fairies is grateful to Canon and its employees for their commitment to community service,” noted The Book Fairies Executive Director Eileen Minogue. “We appreciate this collaboration and commend Canon for merging purpose with profit.”
Salad days: The Fat Boys, at the height of their weight (and popularity).
Fat chance: Genre-bending rappers of 1980s renown will join the party when the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame celebrates 50 years of hip-hop music this weekend.
Represented by last surviving member Damon Wimbley (a.k.a. Kool Rock-Ski), The Fat Boys will be inducted into the LIMEHOF during the Hip Hop 50th Anniversary Event, scheduled for Sunday at the Stony Brook-based museum. Hailing from Brooklyn, The Fat Boys – a memorable upgrade over “The Disco 3,” their original billing – were among rap’s earliest success stories, with seven studio albums (four gold), popular duets with The Beach Boys and Chubby Checker that helped mainstream the genre and even a brief movie career.
Highlighted by live performances and a heavyweight panel discussion (featuring Son of Bazerk, DJ Jazzy Jay, Johnny Juice and other greats representing decades of hip-hop music), Sunday’s Hip Hop 50th Anniversary Event is free with general museum admission. Tickets and more information available here.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 29: Andrew Parton, Wright man for the Cradle of Aviation.
That’s 37 “in the can!” Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast kicked off Season 4 in style with regional rainmaker Marc Alessi, the influential innovator on a time-tripping mission to incubate LI innovation.
Episode 38 drops next week – until then, get to know Marc and 36 other master innovators defining regional socioeconomics.
TOP OF THE SITE
Nursing it: A visionary leader has stepped down from the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies – and another has stepped up to succeed her.
Digital dynamo: State and federal funding – and a bounty of new tech – will help Stony Brook University upgrade its already impressive supercomputing abilities.
Choose wisely: Thanks for sharing this educational and entertaining newsletter with your entire innovation team! Now share your wisdom – individual subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
Hybrid work environments are here to stay … or are they? Commercial Industrial Brokers Society of Long Island Co-president and Voices Commercial Real Estate Anchor David Pennetta lists remote-work concerns from both employers and employees – but believes the two sides can work it out.
STUFF WE’RE READING
“Always take the money”: Fans and players come out swinging after the stunning PGA Tour/LIV Golf League merger. ESPN tees up the tweets.
Endless summer: Twenty-six states, six Canadian provinces, one 13,000-mile road trip with nonstop 70-degree weather. The Washington Post warms up the car.
Dead wrong: Unknown cave-dwelling protohumans may have buried their dead – 100,000 years earlier than science thought. National Geographic digs up the past.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Chamberlain Coffee, a California-based sustainable organic coffee brand, raised $7 million in funding led by Blazar Capital, Emma Chamberlain and United Talent Agency.
+ Realta Fusion, a Wisconsin-based fusion-energy startup, raised $12 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy Fusion Development Program.
+ Nexamp, a Massachusetts-based clean-energy pioneer, raised more than $400 million in funding led by U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance and Mitsubishi UFJ Finance Group.
+ Hyro, a New York City-based plug-and-play conversational AI platform, raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Macquarie Capital, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Black Opal Ventures.
+ CleanJoule, a Utah-based manufacturer of sustainable aviation fuels, received a $50 million investment led by Indigo Partners, GenZero, Cleanhill Partners, Frontier Airlines, Wizz Air and Volaris.
+ Strive Health, a Colorado-based kidney-care specialist, raised $166 million in Series C funding led by EA, CVS Health Ventures, CapitalG, Echo Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, Ascension Ventures and Redpoint.
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 Stony Brook University). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Need A Hero Edition)
Doubling down: Swift’s titanic popularity only multiplies.
Anti-Hero: Taylor Swift’s latest smash is flirting with Grammy history.
Local Hero: A prescient pro-environment flick 40 years ahead of its time.
Don’t be a hero: How to deal with the unruly airline passenger in the next seat.
Hero academy: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island – including our newest sponsor, Stony Brook University Economic Development, a super-squad of brilliant researchers and powerful partners bringing some of science’s greatest origin stories to light. Check them out.
