Hot off the press: Welcome to another warm Wednesday, sweaty readers, as we steam into the sticky second half of this sweltering summer workweek.
Today is July 10 and yes, it’s been a humid stretch on Long Island – but with the Atlantic hurricane season cranking up early, record high temperatures baking Las Vegas and the global climate otherwise changed for the worse, a hot spell in the Northeast United States seems relatively tame. Conditions here are expected to worsen through the end of this century, so for now, let’s just turn up the AC and be grateful.
Pineapple express: National Piña Colada Day is the perfect time to find your beach.
Change your mind: Your logical side understands that fossil fuels like coal (a finite resource, as you know) are the primary cause of climate change, making July 10’s Global Energy Independence Day – an annual homage to renewable sources – all the more important.
Mind made up: There’s less mental wiggle room when it comes to felines – you’re either a cat person or you’re not. Though it’s hard not to be on National Kitten Day, the annual resistance-melting overload of cuddly cuteness.
More melting in your mouth is National Piña Colada Day, the creamy combo of pineapple, coconut milk and rum pleasing palates every July 10.
Equal time: In Cheyenne and neighboring towns, you’ll probably want to raise a Wyoming Whiskey to toast the Equal Rights State, which joined the Union as the 44th U.S. State on this date in 1890.
Red alert: Vodka will suffice in Moscow, where the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union – known best as TASS and enjoying the “exclusive right to gather and distribute information outside the Soviet Union, as well as the right to distribute foreign and domestic information within the Soviet Union” – began disseminating all the news that fit (the Kremlin’s agenda) on July 10, 1925.
Coin of the realm: More suited to Downing Street’s agenda were the first British parking meters, which became a thing 66 years ago today, about two decades after they debuted in the hometown of Oklahoma City-based inventor Carl Magee.
Radio-inactive: Artist’s rendition of the Telstar 1 satellite, which ran into trouble in the Van Allen radiation belt.
Small victories in spaaaaace: Broadening AT&T’s agenda (temporarily) was the Telstar 1, the world’s first active communications satellite, which was orbited by NASA on this date in 1962. (It functioned for less than a year, for those keeping score.)
If it ain’t broke Coke…: And speaking of high-profile backfires, it was July 10, 1985, when Coca-Cola announced it was bringing back its original formula, following the “New Coke” fiasco.
“Coca-Cola Classic” would be marketed alongside New Coke (later “Coke II”) for nearly two decades, until production of the super-sweet sequel finally ended in 2002.
Short stack: Canadian short story master Alice Ann Munro (1931-2024) – who’s credited with revolutionizing the art of the short story, leading to her 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature – would be 93 years old today.
Net loss: Ashe contracted human immunodeficiency virus through a tainted blood transfusion.
Also born on July 10 were French theologian, pastor, statesman and reformer John Calvin (1509-1564), who conceived Calvinism during the Protestant Reformation; German engineer Carl Culmann (1821-1881), whose graphic representations of structural analyses widely influenced modern mechanical engineering; Serbian American futurist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), the historically huge electrical and mechanical engineer who did some of his most inventive work right here on Long Island; American newscaster David Brinkley (1920-2003), who anchored for both NBC and ABC during his award-winning five-decade career; and American tennis professional Arthur Ashe Jr. (1943-1993), the only Black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open and a pioneering AIDS educator.
Love you forever: And take a bow, Jessica Simpson! The American singer, actress and businesswoman – who did just fine as a turn-of-the-millennium pop star, but whose Boots Were Made for Walkin’ as a fashion-focused entrepreneur – turns 44 today.
Come On Over to editor@innovateli.com, where you can wish the “Dukes of Hazard” starlet well and share your Irresistible news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Sax appeal: Peter Hoss will continue studying the tenor saxophone in college, thanks in part to the Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship.
Curtain call: The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame brought down the house with its annual scholarship program.
Not only did the Stony Brook-based LIMEHOF set a record for the number of scholarships awarded – 11, including its second-annual Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship – but the hall expanded the scope of its competitive scholarship program, awarding not only graduating high school seniors pursuing musical studies but students planning to study other performing arts in college. The DeRosa Scholarship, named for the longtime performer and music teacher (“The World’s Oldest Professional Saxophone Player,” according to the 2018 Guinness Book of World Records), went to tenor saxophone player Peter Hoss, now a graduate of Greenlawn’s Harborfields High School.
Ten other $1,000 scholarships were spread among flutists, pianists, percussionists, singers and other performers from across Suffolk, Nassau, Queens and Kings counties. “Supporting the next generation of music students as they embark on their college journeys is at the heart of our mission,” noted LIMEHOF Educational Programs Director Tom Needham. “These scholarships not only recognize their hard work and passion, but also reinforce our commitment to nurturing musical talent and education within our community.”
Energetic effort: Also empowering future collegians is the Caithness Long Island Energy Center, which recently awarded $25,000 in scholarships to 28 science-focused graduates from three Long Island high schools.
Caithness Energy – a New Jersey-based, privately held independent power producer specializing in the development, acquisition and operation of renewable-energy and natural-gas projects – has once again supported seniors graduating from Bellport, Longwood Senior and Patchogue-Medford high schools, each located within a stone’s throw of the Yaphank-based Long Island Energy Center. The competitive scholarships are based on the winners’ scholastic achievements and their plans to pursue scientific studies in college, with award recipients selected by each school’s faculty.
Since the regional scholarship program launched in 2007, Caithness Energy’s Long Island subsidiary has provided $475,000 in financial support to 443 graduates of the three Suffolk County high schools, including this year’s awards. “We’re happy to support the education of future engineers, scientists and other professionals,” noted Caithness Long Island President Ross Ain, adding the Class of 2024 standouts “may contribute to finding solutions to today’s challenges in energy production and environmental protection, as well as other pressing societal issues.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Package deals: Extended-stay hotels, revitalized retirement communities and sorely needed rental units are all on the board, thanks to Long Island’s busy industrial development agencies.
They said it: And you heard it on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, the only podcast that sits down with the executives, entrepreneurs, inventors, investors, lawmakers and rule-breakers fueling the Long Island innovation economy. New episodes coming soon … check out these classic conversations.
VOICES
Every business owner has questions about technology, law, government, social media, healthcare, intellectual property, even the historical precedents that created the modern business environment. Innovate Long Island’s impressive Voices library has the answers, straight from the top of the regional innovation economy. Seek and ye shall find.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Hot tempered: In homes across the nation, the Thermostat War rages on. Vox keeps its cool.
Summer cold? Nope … it’s COVID, FLiRTing with another national surge. Forbes sounds the alert.
Hot and cold: Trump doesn’t know the former staffers behind Project 2025, doesn’t agree with “some” of it and wishes them luck. The BBC plays both sides.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Apriori Bio, a Massachusetts-based biotech innovating against viral threats, raised $1.1 million in funding. CEPI made the investment.
+ Uncaged Innovations, a New York City-based biomaterial pioneer creating sustainable leather from grains at scale, raised $5.6 million in seed funding co-led by Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Fall Line Capital.
+ ZeroEyes, a Pennsylvania-based, AI-powered gun-detection video analytics platform, raised $53 million in Series B funding led by Sorenson Capital.
+ EvolutionaryScale, a NYC-based biotech using AI to broaden biological understanding, raised $142 million in seed funding led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Lux Capital.
+ Ario, a California-based AI parenting assistant, raised $16 million in seed funding. Backers included Wing Venture Capital, Floodgate, Bain Capital Ventures and Moxxie.
+ Travertine, a Colorado-based manufacturer scaling carbon-negative, zero-waste solutions for electrolytic chemical upcycling, no-waste critical element extraction and permanent carbon dioxide removal, raised $8.5 million in funding led by Holcim MAQER Ventures.
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 (What’s Right Is Rights Edition)
High toll: The Liberty Bell has had a rough life.
Life: Across the cosmos, maybe not as common as we thought.
Liberty: The long and difficult road of the nation’s most symbolically patriotic bell.
The pursuit of happiness: Re-interpreting the most misunderstood unalienable right.
Independent thought: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC, where the smartest minds in business and real estate law declare their allegiance to you. Check them out.
