Mayday! Mayday! This is not a red alert, dear readers, though it is a red-letter date as the new month begins and we hurdle the hump of this busy springtime workweek.
Yes, today is Wednesday the first – and the first of five Wednesdays in what promises to be a momentous May for moms, former presidents and humble newsletter editors (more on that later in the month).
Youth movement: Get those little muscles moving today, kids!
Coming up ACES: For now, we present ACES Day, a first-Wednesday-in-May observation that has nothing to do with sitting down at the card table – quite the opposite, in fact, with the noble and heart-healthy goal of “All Children Exercise Simultaneously.”
Of course, it’s also May Day, known alternately as International Workers’ Day, a multinational salute to laborers of every stripe that dates back to the Industrial Revolution.
Why so serious? If that rubs you the wrong way, you’re a perfect candidate for the Great American Grump Out – although the annual effort is more about eliminating bad moods than embracing them.
This will turn that frown upside down: Today is both National Rotate Your Beer Day, encouraging pubs and retailers to maintain a fresh stock, and National Chocolate Parfait Day, layering the custard, cream and chocolate pudding every May 1.
Higher education: Also combining White and Black into layers of excellence is Washington-based Howard University, the beacon of African American higher education whose student body was comprised exclusively of white women when it opened on this date in 1867.
High hopes: Also reaching higher was the “world’s first skyscraper,” the 10-story (about 138 feet) Home Insurance Building in Chicago, where construction began on May 1, 1884. (Completed in 1885 – and raised to 12 stories in 1891 – the “tower” would loom over the Windy City skyline until its 1931 demolition.)
Tall order: Even without its iconic antenna tower, the Empire State Building shattered height records in 1931.
Higher hopes: That’s the same year the king of all skyscrapers, the 1,250-foot Empire State Building, opened in New York City (with President Herbert Hoover officially inaugurating the then-world’s tallest building 93 years ago today).
High flying: From Chicago to New York to Gotham City, where the one-and-only Batman first swooped into action on this date in 1939, gracing historic Detective Comics Issue No. 27.
High fiber: And it was May 1, 1939, when General Mills introduced the iconic cereal brand Cheerios.
Known first as “Cheerioats,” the champion of breakfasts – which sold 21.6 million boxes in its first year – was created using a proprietary “puffing gun” that puffed its dough (75 percent oats, with corn and rye added for flavor) into the classic “O” shape.
Mother lode: Irish American labor organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1830-1930) – a former schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a fearless union leader and prominent political activist – would be 194 years old today.
Making news: Robinson was the story when he manned the “World News Tonight” anchor desk in 1978.
Also born on May 1 were American painter and inventor Rufus Porter (1792-1884), who founded Scientific American magazine, the oldest continuously published U.S. magazine; Swiss mathematician Johann Jakob Balmer (1825-1898), who unlocked atomic theory and spectroscopy with his breakthrough formulations; French Jesuit and Catholic Priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), also a paleontologist, theologian and philosopher who tried to reconcile Darwinian evolution and faith; American broadcast journalist Maxie Cleveland Robinson Jr. (1939-1988), the first African American television network news anchor; and American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor Samuel Timothy “Tim” McGraw (born 1967), a.k.a. Faith Hill’s husband.
Tik it up a notch: And take a bow, Charli D’Amelio! The American social media influencer – considered TikTok’s biggest star, grossing about $17.5 million a year for her videos and product testimonials – turns 20 today.
Rethink your life choices, then wish the uber-successful brand ambassador well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are the stars of our show – and we’re always influenced by your calendar events.
About our sponsor: Whether it’s helping with site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to answer 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
SURC du SUNY: An annual State University showcase has brought some of New York’s brightest young minds to Long Island.
Part 2 of the 10th annual SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference – Part 1 was held earlier in April at the University at Buffalo – attracted hundreds of students and mentors from nearly two-dozen statewide schools to Brentwood-based Suffolk County Community College last week. The April 26 event included a Graduate School Career Fair, professional-development workshops for students and faculty and a keynote by SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development Fatemeh Shahedipour-Sandvik, also an oft-published professor of nanoscale engineering at the University at Albany.
The highlight of the full-day program was a bevy of student exhibitions including oral and poster presentations, performances and artistic displays – a wide-ranging demonstration of the “dynamic power of the SUNY system,” according to Suffolk County Community College President Edward Bonahue. “Through this conference, our community college successfully partnered with SUNY’s four-year institutions to demonstrate that research matters and that discovery has an impact that can positively affect communities locally, nationally and beyond,” Bonahue added.
Jonathan Weinstein: Right man, right place, right time.
Heart of gold: A Stony Brook Medicine cardiologist has earned a heartfelt award for saving a Long Island soccer referee from a potentially fatal cardiac arrest.
Jonathan Weinstein, a cardiologist at North Suffolk Cardiology, part of the Stony Brook Medicine Community Medical Group, received the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation’s Heart Saver Award during an April 27 ceremony at Northport High School. Weinstein sprung into action March 9 when 60-year-old Dix Hills resident Chris Baars collapsed at Central Islip’s SUSA Orlin & Cohen Sports Complex – and was able to revive Baars with a portable defibrillator and about 20 minutes of chest compressions.
Named for 14-year-old Louis Acompora, who died in 2000 after going into sudden cardiac arrest during a lacrosse game, the Acompora Memorial Foundation helped pass Louis’ Law, requiring all New York State public schools to be equipped with automatic external defibrillators – saving “countless lives,” according to humble hero Weinstein. “Although I am honored by the recognition, the true heroes … are individuals like the Acomporas,” the cardiologist said in a statement. “They have devoted so much time and effort to garner the necessary awareness to such an important mission.”
TOP OF THE SITE
To be continued: Bioscience cornerstones Northwell Health and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have extended an “affiliation agreement” that brings cutting-edge laboratory research directly to patients.
Off and running: Season 5 of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” enjoys a fast start with audacious attorney John Ray – and he’s just one of dozens of engaging one-on-ones ready to enlighten and entertain you.
VOICES
An exclusive, unmatched rotation of dedicated experts sharing their unique perspectives and best advice on the media, law, healthcare, social, technology, entrepreneurism and other hot-button issues directly affecting you and your business – that’s Innovate Long Island’s amazing Voices library. What will you learn today?
STUFF WE’RE READING
Baked: Following the hottest year ever recorded, North America is poised for another record-setting summer. CNET heats up.
Wasted: Northrop Grumman remediates as more chemical barrels are found buried beneath a Bethpage park. NBC news digs deep.
Stoned: Behold, New England’s iconic stone walls – bigger than the Great Wall of China and Pyramid of Giza combined. Atlas Obscura rocks on.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Radical, a Washington State-based manufacturer of high-altitude, solar-powered aircraft, raised $4.5 million in seed funding, led by Scout Ventures with participation from Inflection Mercury Fund and Y Combinator.
+ Chemix, a California-based EV-battery developer, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Ibex Investors, with participation from Mayfield Fund, Berkeley SkyDeck, Urban Innovation Fund, BNP Paribas Solar Impulse Venture Fund, Global Brain’s KDDI Open Innovation Fund III and Porsche Ventures.
+ Nagomi Security, a New York City-based security and threat-exposure management platform, raised $30 million in funding led by TCV, with participation from CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and Okta Ventures.
+ Summer Health, a NYC-based digital-health enterprise focused on round-the-clock pediatric support, raised $11.65 million in Series A funding led by new investor 7wire Ventures and returning investor Lux Capital.
+ HighByte, a Maine-based industrial software maker, raised $12 million in Series A funding led by Standard Investments, with participation from Exposition Ventures and the Maine Venture Fund.
+ AccessHope, a California-based employee cancer-benefits platform for employers, raised $33 million in Series B funding led by City of Hope.
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 (Insectoid Edition)
Double trouble: A co-emergence of cicada broods not seen since the Thomas Jefferson presidency is creeping out the East Coast.
Don’t mean to be brood: A 221-year “double-brood” of emerging cicadas has invaded the Eastern Seaboard.
Latest buzz: In climate-changed 2024, mosquitoes will be more than a simple nuisance.
Bugs-be-gone: How videogame hackers might save the software industry.
Pest control: Please continue supporting the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, which has a knack for exterminating business-growth nuisances big and small. Check them out.
