Come September: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and not just any Wednesday but the first Wednesday of September – yes, the school year has begun and the seasons, they are a-changin’ (blistering late-summer heatwaves not withstanding).
Here to help us welcome the new season and the new month … please put your hands together for the one-and-only Natalie Imbruglia!
Show a little spine: And take your pick on National Read a Book Day.
Hire purpose: Today is Sept. 6, and Innovate Long Island is back on the beat just in time for Global Talent Acquisition Day, a first-Wednesday-of-September salute to recruiters, HR professionals and others who work hard to find the right person for the job.
Reading all about it: It’s also National Read a Book Day, so when you’re done perusing here, go find yourself a page-turner.
And it’s not hard to book yourself a tasty time on National Coffee Ice Cream Day, celebrating humankind’s two greatest achievements every Sept. 6.
Rough trip: Other impressive human achievements associated with this date include the first global circumnavigation, completed Sept. 6, 1522, when the Victoria – minus captain Ferdinand Magellan and a few others – sailed into the Spanish port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
Tough ship: Fairing much better were the crew and passengers of the Mayflower, which departed Plymouth, England, and sailed into history 403 years ago today – and despite several dangerous adventures, recorded only one tragic death before arriving at Cape Cod 66 days later.
Super power: Everything changed when this little Piggly went to market in 1916.
Fluff skipped: The first “supermarket” – removing let-me-get-that-for-you clerks and putting shopping in the shopper’s own hands – opened in Tennessee on this date in 1916. (Why “Piggly Wiggly”? Accounts vary.)
Gruff clips: Canadian television became a thing on Sept. 6, 1952, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. finally went on the air. (First up: an upside-down test pattern and a still photo of two wanted bank robbers).
Bluff slip: And it was this date in 1975 when Czechoslovakian high-schooler Martina Navratilova requested and received political asylum in the United States.
The 18-year-old defected in New York City after competing in the U.S. Open tennis tournament. (She finished third, losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Chris Evert).
Feminist force: American social worker Laura Jane Addams (1860-1935) – a Nobel Prize-winning sociologist, philosopher, public administrator and activist who led a two-front progression campaign championing social work and women’s suffrage – would be 163 years old today.
Dark turn: Lamenting global racism, Elba’s backed out of the Bond-stakes.
Also born on Sept. 6 were American businessman, philanthropist and politician Joseph Kennedy Sr. (1888-1969), known best for siring Teddy, Bobby and JFK; Austrian American engineer Ernst Weber (1901-1996), a pioneer of microwave communications; English physicist Louis Essen (1908-1997), who nailed lightspeed and changed time; Panamanian American nurse and educator Ildaura Murillo-Rohde (1920-2010), who founded the National Association of Hispanic Nurses; and English actor Idris Elba (born 1972), who soured on playing Bond when it devolved into a race war.
Shine on: And take a bow, George Roger Waters! The English musician – known best as a co-founder and the eventual frontman of all-time rock band Pink Floyd – turns 80 today
Hey You! Wish You Were Here – but either way, you can wish Waters well at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re Learning to Fly with your news tips and your calendar events always leave us Comfortably Numb.
About our sponsor: Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC is one of the region’s most highly regarded and recognized law firms. Our attorneys are thought leaders, dedicated to achieving success through excellence. With our broad experience in land use, development, litigation, real estate, corporate and environmental law, we have the vision and knowledge to serve our clients and our communities. Please visit sahnward.com.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Federation acceleration: A Long Island social wellness agency has earned Albany’s support in its battle against opioid addiction.
The West Babylon-based Federation of Organizations has landed a $660,000 grant through New York State’s Opioid Settlement Fund, part of a $5.8 million funding round dispersed this summer to treatment and education programs throughout the state. The Federation of Organizations, a circa-1972 community-centered nonprofit providing housing and wellness services to Long Island and New York City residents, will use the grant to beef up its comprehensive outpatient opioid-treatment programs.
State Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Hauppauge), who helped secure the grant from the Office of the New York State Attorney General, lamented that “Long Island continues to be in the midst of a severe opioid crisis” and applauded the Federation of Organizations’ multifaceted counterattack. “Integrating treatments and centralizing these programs makes them more easily accessible and increases their success rate,” Martinez said in a statement. “We need programs … that guide those suffering from substance use disorders toward their road to recovery.”
There’s granite in them thar hills: But scientists aren’t really sure what it’s doing on the Moon.
Interplanet granite: Anyone with a granite countertop knows the stuff is relatively rare and doesn’t come cheap – though new Moon-based science suggests granite isn’t as rare as previously thought.
A new research paper co-authored by Stony Brook University Department of Geosciences Professor Timothy Glotch suggests a large granite system is present on the Moon – a “phenomenon previously documented only on Earth,” according to Glotch and nine co-authors of “Remote Detection of a Lunar Granitic Batholith at Compton-Belkovich,” published this summer by the science journal Nature.
Facilitated by orbital microwave radiometry, next-generation gravity measurements and other remote methods, the findings suggest a 50 kilometer-plus granite block under a dormant dark-side-of-the-Moon volcanic complex – contradicting Apollo-era Moon samples (indicating only a smidgeon of granite in the lunar makeup) and opening a huge can of astrophysical worms, according to Glotch. “Typically, granites require either plate tectonics or water-bearing magmas to form,” the scientist noted. “This discovery of the granitic complex (on the Moon) … points to some not-yet-understood process.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 38: Fresh spin with “DJ Johnny Juice” Rosado.
Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast continues to raise the bar on intelligent, enlightening and entertaining conversation, with bite-size bits of genius straight from the region’s top innovators.
Another great Season 4 conversation coming soon – catch up quick with David Battinelli, Laura Harding, DJ Johnny Juice and the other amazing guests that have made Spark shine!
TOP OF THE SITE
Chance favors the prepared: With predictions for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season growing darker and Long Island in the crosshairs, Albany is gearing up for storm-response action.
Come September: Monotone leaves colorize, jet streams dip, store décor changes weekly and pumpkin spice runs amok – is there a more innovative season than Autumn? Or a better time for an always easy, always free Innovate Long Island Newsletter subscription?
VOICES
Former Northwell Health Executive VP and longtime Voices Healthcare Anchor Terry Lynam highlights the worst of current “Best Hospital” rankings – great marketing tools, not always the best guides for millions of patents who rely on them – and suggests a modernized national hospital-ratings system.
Terry’s learned observations add new intelligence to our brilliant Voices library, where shrewd leaders of the Long Island innovation economy dissect the top socioeconomic issues of our day – and propose the smartest paths forward. Fill your mind.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Single: And looking in Russia, where single-parent predominance may greenlight online dating. Firstpost swipes right.
Double: The federal deficit will increase 100 percent this year – but don’t buy the political hype. The Hill explains clearly.
Home run: Major League Baseball’s controversial rule changes have proven to be a blueprint for innovation. Vox steals signs.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Beta Bionics, a Massachusetts-based med-tech focused on diabetes management, raised $100 million in Series D funding co-led by Sands Capital, Omega Funds and Marshall Wace.
+ Speak, a California-based startup focused on AI-based language instruction, raised $16 million in Series B-2 funding led by Lachy Groom, OpenAI Startup Fund and Dropbox.
+ Sortera Technologies, an Indiana-based material sorting and recycling platform, raised $30.5 million Series C funding led by RA Capital Management-Planetary Health, T. Rowe Price Associates, the Mineral Resources Group and Macquarie GIG Energy Transition Solutions.
+ Datavations, a New York City-based market-research software pioneer, raised $4.3 million in seed funding led by Sage Venture Partners and Erik Brue of Nevcaut Ventures.
+ Redwood Materials, a Nevada-based closed-loop, domestic supply chain for lithium-ion batteries, raised $1 billion in Series D funding co-led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and T. Rowe Price Associates.
+ Group1, a Texas-based startup developing potassium-ion battery technologies, raised $250,000 in funding. Discovery to Impact at The University of Texas at Austin made the investment.
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 Sahn Ward). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Take Me To Your Leader Edition)
French toast: Convicted in two corruption cases, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is appealing his prison sentence.
C the future: The changing face of corporate leadership.
Geopolitical gold: The immense importance of this week’s G20 Leaders’ Summit.
Mighty, fallen: The long list of former kings, prime ministers and presidents sent to the big house.
Fearless leader: Please continue supporting the strong firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz PLLC, a land-use leader with decades of unparalleled expertise. Check them out.
