Easy does it: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we dawdle our way through the unofficial last week of summer – officially, one of the slowest workweeks of the year.
Makes sense, with the Labor Day holiday super-sizing this coming weekend – and on that note, a reminder that your favorite innovation newsletter is taking a short blow to salute the American working class. Please enjoy today’s midweek review and have a safe and happy holiday weekend; we’ll return with all-new stuff Sept. 3.
Red hook: Enjoy a snort of your favorite dark-colored vino today.
Red alert: Here on Aug. 28, we open with a fruity salute to our many friends in Buñol, Spain, home of the annual food-fight festival La Tomatina – a messy affair attracting thousands of participants from around the world, who battle it out with 100-plus metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes.
Bottle of red: Continuing the colorful theme, today is National Red Wine Day here in the States, uncorking your favorite merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir … the wine list goes on.
And speaking of things that are red and delicious, let’s not forget National Cherry Turnover Day, adding some seasonal pop art to your pop tarts every Aug. 28.
High steaks: Also delicious is Lea & Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce, introduced on this date in 1837 not by a pair of chefs but by English chemists John Lea and William Perrins. (Still based in Worcester, England, Lea & Perrins Inc. is now a subsidiary of international condiment king Kraft Heinz, for those keeping score.)
Sweet science: Also aiming high was American inventor and landscape painter Rufus Porter, who promised to explore “new inventions, scientific principles and curious works” when he published Vol. 1, Issue 1 of Scientific American magazine on Aug. 28, 1845.
Special delivery: The American Dream lives in international logistics giant United Parcel Service, which was founded – as the American Messenger Co. – 117 years ago today by Seattle-based 19-year-olds James Casey and Claude Ryan.
Crowd size: King spoke before more than a quarter-million listeners in Washington.
King sized: The American Dream was defined on this date in 1963, when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the greatest speech of the 20th Century – his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, enthralling more than 260,000 people gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington (and the rest of the world).
Eat fresh: And it was Aug. 28, 1965, when 17-year-old Fred DeLuca and his lone investor – medical doctor Peter Buck, who sunk $1,000 into the startup – opened the very first Subway sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Conn.
Known originally as “Pete’s Super Submarines,” the business was renamed Subway in 1972 and began franchising in 1974; it now boasts 37,000-plus stores in 100-plus countries.
Image-conscious: British electrical engineer Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield (1919-2004) – a biomedical and neuroimaging ace who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for co-creating computerized axial tomography, known best as the CAT scan – would be 105 years old today.
Shining Shania: No woman — and very few men — have grossed more country-music dollars than Twain.
Also born on Aug. 28 were French engineer and physicist André-Eugène Blondel (1863-1938), who invented the electromechanical oscillograph to measure the intensity of alternating currents; British automotive and aviation pioneer Charles Rolls (1877-1910), famous co-founder of Rolls-Royce Ltd. and the first aviator to fly back-and-forth nonstop across the English Channel; American naturalist, conservationist, ornithologist, illustrator and educator Roger Peterson (1908-1996), the “Father of the Modern Field Guide”; American artist Jacob Kurtzberg (1917-1994), the comic book icon – credited with creating or co-creating Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man and more – known best as Jack Kirby; and Canadian singer-songwriter Eilleen Regina “Shania” Twain (born 1965), the best-selling female artist in country music history.
Long program: And take a bow, Scott Scovell Hamilton! The retired American figure skater – a four-time world champion, 1984 Olympic gold medal winner, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame inductee, long-term cancer survivor and generous philanthropist – turns 66 today.
Show the Olympic champion (and founder of the Scott Hamilton Cancer Alliance for Research, Education and Survivorship) lutz of love at editor@innovateli.com, where we flip your news tips and double-jump your calendar events.
About our sponsor: At Nixon Peabody, we deliver sophisticated legal services to our clients and our communities by combining high performance, entrepreneurial spirit, deep engagement and an unwavering commitment to a culture of collaboration, diversity and humanity. Visit NixonPeabody.com.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Show of hands: The charitable arm of Long Island’s most popular amusement park is reaching out to regional families.
Adventureland’s Helping Hands Foundation – launched in 2013 by the Gentile family, owners and operators of the Farmingdale-based fun-land – has scheduled its annual VIP Night for Sept. 6. The yearly event raises funds for the not-for-profit foundation, which provides college scholarships for Long Island high school graduates (including 13 Vivian and Tony Gentile Scholarships of $5,000 each, to be awarded during VIP Night), issues grants to regional food pantries, donates to holiday toy drives and otherwise supports local community-focused organizations (including a $50,000 gift to Commack-based Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism, also slated to be presented during VIP Night).
Event tickets are $175 apiece and corporate packages (15 or 30 tickets) are also available, with tickets good for unlimited rides and unlimited food between 6 and 10 p.m. “Adventureland is part of Long Island’s history,” noted Adventureland President Steve Gentile. “We are proud to give back to the community through the work of our Adventureland’s Helping Hands Foundation.”
Terri Alessi-Miceli: Shadow play.
The shadow knows: One of Long Island’s busiest business boosters has created a comprehensive shadowing program designed to give regional high-schoolers a taste of the real world.
In conjunction with the Smithtown Industry Advisory Board – and in partnership with dozens of member and nonmember businesses – the HIA-LI has launched the Setup for Success Shadowing Program, aiming for stronger industry-academia partnerships and addressing Long Island’s ongoing workforce-development challenges. One of 300-plus industry/education partnerships in the Smithtown IAB’s portfolio, the innovative program invites regional companies and organizations to host Smithtown High School students for a day (during school hours), allowing them to observe and engage in potential careers.
The program – which has issued an open invitation to Island organizations interested in participating – is part of HIA-LI’s broader workforce-development initiatives. “We continue to hear … that filling the talent pool here on Long Island is more than difficult,” noted HIA-LI President and CEO Terri Alessi-Miceli. “This program is a direct response to the recommendations from our 2023 workforce development report and aims to bridge the gap between education and industry.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Equal signs: Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce President Phil Andrews closes Black Business Month with a strong call for equality in government programs and lending practices targeting minority-owned businesses.
Chat room: Everyone has a podcast these days – but only Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast chats up the biggest brains in regional innovation, from lawmakers, lawyers and academicians to inventors, investors and entertainers. Make room for their brilliant insights (just 30 minutes at a time!).
VOICES
You are what you eat – and in America, we sure eat a lot of it, according to Voices Food-and-Beverage Anchor Zelory Gregler, who returns from an international culinary adventure with fresh perspectives on gourmet dishes, portion control and less-is-more dining.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Going down: Debris from NASA’s 2022 asteroid-smashing mission may rain down on Earth in the next decade. Live Science forecasts meteor showers.
Going somewhere: Innovation simply for the sake of innovation doesn’t accomplish much. Fast Company has a plan.
Where are you going? The one thing American coffee drinkers do that shocks the world. HuffPost mugs it up.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ GovWell, a New York-based gov-tech software platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Work-Bench.
+ TS Conductor, a California-based manufacturer of advanced electric-power lines, closed a $60 million growth funding round led by Wellington Management.
+ Sora Fuel, a Massachusetts-based startup producing sustainable aviation fuel, raised $6 million in seed funding led by The Engie Ventures.
+ Outpace Bio, a Washington State-based cell-therapy innovator, raised $144 million in Series B financing led by RA Capital Management.
+ Home Run Dugout, a Texas-based entertainment provider featuring indoor soft-toss baseball, raised $22.5 million in Series A funding led by Lagniappe Capital Partners.
+ Graphyte, an Arkansas-based leader in the durable carbon-removal industry, closed a $30 million Series A funding round co-led by Prelude Ventures and Carbon Direct Capital.
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 Nixon Peabody). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Then/Now/Coming Soon Edition)
Future imperfect: In the mid-1970s, the best scientific minds figured humans would have colonized Mars by now.
Past: A mystery time capsule was discovered in a Virginia church.
Present: How the leading intellectuals of 1974 envisioned life in 2024.
Future: From cancer cures to robot uprisings to global peace, “AI Nostradamus” foresees the next 100 years.
All-time: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, one of the all-time greats of Long Island (and international) jurisprudence. Check them out.
