Stay in your lane: Welcome to Wednesday, racing readers, as we hurdle September’s fourth and final hump and sprint toward the Friday finish line.
Your favorite innovation newsletter is here to keep you on track, and add some pep to your step, with humor and knowledge. Around the turn we go – try to keep pace!
Page-turners: The global comic book market is projected to reach $26.9 billion by 2032.
Protection racket: Today is Sept. 25 and if you’re blessed with a girl-child, rejoice – it’s National Daughters Day, when loving and appreciating our daughters (and protecting them, at least until they’re old enough to protect themselves) is Job No. 1.
Of course, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, She-Hulk and other women superheroes mostly do the protecting – so let’s give them a round of applause on National Comic Book Day, the annual homage to an art form that traces its roots to ancient cave drawings, became more powerful than a locomotive in the 1930s and continues soaring to new heights today.
Rock lobster: Also coming out of its shell is National Lobster Day, encouraging us to feast on the bottom-dwelling crustaceans that are a fine-dining delicacy now, but were once the rubbish that fed the poor.
If bisque or a lobster roll just isn’t your thing, enjoy National Quesadilla Day, digging into the cheese-filled Mexican tortillas every Sept. 25. (Though this serendipitous combination does call to mind the amazing lobster quesadillas they sometimes serve at Mattituck’s Love Lane Kitchen. Scrumptious!)
Making amend(ments): With nary a lobster or quesadilla in sight, the inaugural U.S. Congress proposed the first 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution on this date in 1789. (All 12 didn’t make the cut, but 10 of them – known now as the Bill of Rights – were ratified in 1791.)
By unpopular demand: Speaking of Constitutional revisions, the 12th Amendment – which reconfirms that the Electoral College, not the popular vote, determines the winners of U.S. presidential elections – was officially ratified on Sept. 25, 1804.
Old field: The Green Monster is the most distinguishing characteristic of what currently stands as Major League Baseball’s oldest stadium.
Permit shmermit: Also making changes was Boston Red Sex owner John Taylor, who – without even bothering to apply for a City of Boston building permit – broke ground on hallowed Fenway Park 113 years ago today.
Oldie, but goodie: Elsewhere on the diamond, Kansas City Athletics hurler (and longtime Negro League standout) Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige set what is likely a forever Major League Baseball record on this date in 1965, when he pitched three scoreless innings against those same Red Sox – at age 59.
Day in court: And it was this date in 1981 when Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first woman associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
During her U.S. Senate nomination hearing earlier that month, O’Connor – a moderate Conservative – laid out a philosophy some say the current SCOTUS has abandoned: “[The Supreme Court] is the body to which all Americans look for the ultimate protection of their rights,” O’Connor noted. “It is to the U.S. Supreme Court that we all turn when we seek that which we want most from our government: equal justice under the law.”
In the zones: Russian German geographer, meteorologist, climatologist and botanist Wladimir Köppen (1846-1940) – who made notable contributions to several branches of science, but none so influential as the Köppen Climate Classification System, still used to divide terrestrial regions (based on local vegetation and other factors) into Tropical, Arid, Temperate, Continental and Polar zones – would be 178 years old today.
Blade runner: Hold on to your nostalgia … Luke Skywalker turns 73 today!
Also born on Sept. 25 were Italian bacteriologist Agostino Bassi (1773-1856), the pioneering “Father of Insect Pathology”; American inventor and industrialist Melville Bissell (1843-1889), who created and mass-produced the carpet sweeper; American novelist and short-story writer William Faulkner (1897-1962), a giant who earned a Noble Prize in Literature; American baseball player-turned-beloved broadcaster Philip Francis “Phil” Rizzuto (1917-2007), a seven-time world champion and five-time All Star known forever as “the Scooter”; and American broadcast journalist and television personality Barbara Walters (1929-2022), remembered primarily as a uniquely effective interviewer.
The Force will be with him, always: And take a bow, Mark Richard Hamill! The American actor – the one-and-only Luke Skywalker, of course, but also an accomplished voice actor – turns 73 today.
Wish the “Star Wars” icon well at editor@innovateli.com, where only your news tips and calendar events can restore freedom to the galaxy…
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Hot wheels: Circuit Transit’s ADA-compliant electric vans will now roll through Brentwood.
On a roll: A regional pioneer of pollution-reducing electric micro-shuttle services is expanding its clean-transportation services on Long Island.
New York City-based “micro-transit” specialist Circuit Transit – founded in 2011 by East Hampton natives Alexander Esposito and James Mirras and a 2022 winner of a $7 million New York Clean Transportation Prize from the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority – is formalizing a service route it soft-launched nine months ago in the Rockaways, while soft-launching new on-demand services in the Brentwood area. The new Brentwood route will offer free rides, by request via downloadable app, between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, while the formerly free Rockaway routes (running seven days per week, times vary) will now transition to a flat $2.50 per-ride fee.
Circuit Transit already operates its all-electric, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant vans along seasonal routes in East Hampton, South Hampton and Montauk, with established operations in New Jersey, California and several other states. “The community partners have been incredibly supportive and our whole team is thrilled to improve access and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the Rockaways and now Brentwood,” Esposito said in a statement.
Manufacturers assemble: One of Long Island’s most influential business boosters recently got a jump on National Manufacturing Month with a mini-summit focused on the regional manufacturing workforce.
The Long Island Association’s Manufacturing and Trade Committee welcomed regional manufacturers, not-for-profits, educational institutions and government agencies to a Sept. 18 strategy session where hiring/retention challenges, expanded partnerships with K-12 and higher-learning institutions and the cultivation of funding opportunities to support manufacturing-industry progress were all on the table. The summit gave participants a running start on National Manufacturing Month – always a busy stretch on Long Island, with headline events scheduled for Oct. 24 at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City and Oct. 30 at Suffolk Credit Union Arena in Brentwood.
The special attention is worthy of a sector that’s virtual legend across Long Island and still employs about 70,000 people regionally, according to the LIA. “Long Island has a legacy of a booming manufacturing sector, and while it is still thriving, the LIA realizes that the manufacturers face significant challenges with hiring and having a stable workforce,” noted Long Island Association President and CEO Matt Cohen. “Partnerships are critical to ensure their continued growth.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Dorm life: It’s a major upgrade for regional collegians as the New York Institute of Technology ceremoniously welcomes its new Long Island student-residence facility.
What do they think? You’d know if you listened to Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, the only interview show that sits down for intimate one-on-ones with the brightest leaders of the regional innovation economy. Hear their thoughts.
VOICES
It’s been quite a run for Enzo Biochem, the generations-spanning Farmingdale-based life sciences firm leading Long Island along the bustling biotech industry’s cutting edge – a successful saga of innovation, manufacturing genius and a couple hundred-thousand proprietary products, notes Long Island Bio Executive Director and Voices Historian Tom Mariner.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Bunk: Nine decades after his death, Will Rogers is still schooling the masses on American politics. The Conversation embraces horse sense.
Sunk: Archeologists recover parts of an ancient warship lost in the 241 B.C.E. Battle of the Aegates. Smithsonian Magazine dives deep.
Junk: Why Americans love to hate chicken nuggets. Vox straddles the food fence.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ David Energy, a New York City-based smart-electricity innovator, raised $23 million in funding led by Cathay Innovation.
+ MetOx International, a Texas-based developer and manufacturer of high-temperature superconducting wire, raised $25 million in Series B extension funding led by Centaurus and New System Ventures.
+ GC Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biopharma advancing cell-therapy techniques, raised $65 million in Series A funding led by Cormorant Asset Management.
+ Tidal Metals, a New Jersey-based energy pioneer focused on extracting primary magnesium metal from seawater, closed an $8.5 million Seed funding round led by DCVC.
+ Rebelstork, a NYC-based baby gear recommerce marketplace, raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Maveron Ventures.
+ Hemi Labs, an Illinois-based Web3 infrastructure developer, raised $15 million in funding led by Binance Labs, Breyer Capital and Big Brain Holdings.
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 (Bake It Till You Make It Edition)
Tractor bull: Economists are baffled by candidate Trump’s tariff threat against John Deere, delivered during a stump speech at a Pennsylvania farm.
Half-baked: Why enormous tariffs are a really bad idea.
Fully baked: Marijuana use among U.S. seniors has doubled in just three years.
Perfectly baked: Election burnout? Good news … the Great British Bake Off is back!
Fresh from the oven: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Town of Islip Office of Economic Development, where they’re always cooking up brilliant strategies to help local businesses thrive. Check them out.
