Times and dates may vary: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we blaze through this latest Springtime workweek and the entire month of April – just one week to go until May!
Speaking of which, this important notice from Innovation Command: Your favorite newsletter is scheduled for some seasonal recalibrations at the end of the month, so please enjoy this Friday’s regularly scheduled week-in-review and next week’s Monday and Wednesday editions – after that, we’ll be on a short break, returning full strength with the Friday, May 9 edition. More reminders to follow.
Invention intervention: Hug an innovator today … it’s International Creator Day!
Hey! Speak-a de English? Back here on April 23, we open up with a warm and wordy welcome to English Language Day, the UN’s annual homage to the world’s third-most spoken language. (Why today, of all days? Read on. And what are the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 most-spoken languages? No Googling, answer below.)
Some of humanity’s greatest novels, poems, songs, speeches and political documents have been crafted in English – a workable segue into International Creator Day, embracing artists, inventors and makers of all kinds from all over the world.
Moveable feast: This might be a tough one to pull off on a workday Wednesday, but it’s also National Picnic Day, encouraging us to grab a blanket, pack a basket and chow down out in nature somewhere.
Whether you head out or dine in, don’t forget dessert – not on National Cherry Cheesecake Day, tangy and sweet every April 23.
Nothing to beer: Any warm-weather picnic is made better by a cold beer, requiring a tip of the cap to the German Beer Purity Law – issued by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria on this date in 1516 and commanding that “beer” was only beer if it was brewed from three basic ingredients: water, barley and hops. (A 19th Century amendment added yeast to the required mix.)
To the letter(s): Raise a frosty one today – or the cocktail of your choice – to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which formed on April 23, 1904, and is now a 300-member national honor society denoting excellence in literature, music and art.
Leak peak: Displaying excellence in science was American engineer Herman Anthony, who earned a U.S. patent for a leak-proof battery casing on this date in 1940, officially assigned to the Ray-O-Vac Co. (which sold a billion of the things over the next decade).
Moon AND bust: It experienced plenty of problems along the way, but the Ranger IV did ultimately reach the Moon.
Successful failure: Also leaking a bit was NASA’s Ranger IV space probe, the first American spacecraft to reach the Moon, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral 63 years ago today. (Cascading system failures nixed the probe’s data-gathering mission, though it did successfully crash into the lunar surface.)
Beat the Mets, beat the Mets: And while they’re looking pretty solid these days, it was that same date – April 23, 1962 – when the then-hapless New York Mets, after a miserable 0-9 start, notched their first-ever regular-season win, a 9-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Few victories would follow – the Metropolitans finished their inaugural season a dismal 40-120.
Bard none: English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) – arguably the greatest writer in the English language and certainly the standard to which all others are compared – would be 461 years old today.
Shirley you can be serious: Temple played it straight later in life, but those chubby cheeks packed theaters when she was a precocious kid.
Also born on April 23 were 15th U.S. President James Buchanan Jr. (1791-1868), who also served in Congress and as U.S. Secretary of State and was the only bachelor President; American inventor Granville Woods (1856-1910), the most-recognized (and patented) African American mechanical engineer in the years after the U.S. Civil War; German theoretical physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), who earned a Nobel Prize for originating quantum theory; American actress, singer, dancer and diplomat Shirley Temple Black (1928-2014), a No. 1 box office draw who later served as U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia and as chief of protocol of the United States; and American filmmaker, author, activist and podcaster Michael Moore (born 1954), still speaking power to truth.
Better, stronger, faster: And take a bow, Lee Majors! The American actor and producer – born Harvey Lee Yeary and known best as both “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Fall Guy” – turns 86 today.
Give the 1970/80s heartthrob hero your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events give us superhuman strength and speed (tcht-tcht-tcht-tcht-tcht-tcht!)
…and ye shall be heard: For the record, Chinese (specifically Mandarin Chinese) and Spanish are the world’s Nos. 1 and 2 most-spoken languages.
About our sponsor: The Long Island Business Development Council has helped build the regional economy for 56 years by bringing together government economic development officials, developers, financial experts and others for education, debate and networking.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Grid bids: Albany is looking for a few good electric-grid technological innovations.
Even as federal forces conspire to stymie alternative-energy development, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is pressing ahead with plans to introduce new renewable sources to statewide electricity stores and otherwise reduce New York’s carbon emissions. This week, NYSERDA’s Grid Enhancing Technologies program announced a fresh $12 million fund for new product-development projects, demonstration projects or research studies with the potential to improve the delivery of clean, renewable energy to New York customers, with a maximum grant of $3 million awaiting the right ready-to-rock pilots and a per-study prize of $400,000 standing by to support promising research.
Proposals focused on transmission upgrades, smarter inverter-based resource integration and improved situational awareness move straight to the front of the line, with all bids due by July 15. “Ensuring New Yorkers can increasingly rely on renewable energy as part of an expanding electric grid requires us to develop new, innovative ways to transfer electricity to homes and businesses,” noted NYSERDA President and CEO Doreen Harris. “With this funding, we will continue to foster public-private partnerships that drive toward the adoption of cutting-edge products and solutions.”
Deductible receptacle: Rain barrels are among the nifty anti-stormwater runoff ideas that can earn homeowners a nice rebate from the Long Island Regional Planning Council.
Greenbacks for green thumbs: The Long Island Regional Planning Council is once again partnering with state and interstate partners to urge Island homeowners to join the fight against stormwater runoff.
As extreme weather events pile up and heavy rainfall pours off rooftops, driveways, streets, parking lots and construction sites – carrying harmful nitrogen into local groundwater and disrupting natural habitats – the LIRPC and friends have reintroduced the annual Long Island Garden Rewards Program. The initiative reimburses property owners up to $500 for implementing eco-friendly solutions to stormwater runoff, including rain barrels, native plantings and rain gardens (shallow depressions dug in strategic runoff locations and planted with deep-rooted native plants and grasses).
The effort – announced on Earth Day in conjunction with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Long Island Sound Study and the Massachusetts-based New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Council – aims to reduce fish kills, harmful algae blooms and other unfortunate consequences of nitrogen-heavy runoff events. “The quality of our surface waters, and of our drinking water beneath us, is threatened by excess nitrogen pollution created by stormwater runoff,” noted LIRPC Chairman John Cameron. “Garden Rewards is a way to encourage homeowners to become a part of the solution.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Mother load: The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation is backing a Riverhead-based nonprofit’s mission to support Long Islanders with emotional and intellectual disabilities – especially good news for the Island’s fast-growing Latino populations.
Don’t wait, act now: New episodes of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” are coming soon … but you can be educated and entertained right now by dozens of A-list guests sharing their inspirational success stories and frontline perspectives. Find your spark.
VOICES
Voices Law Editor Michael Sahn, managing member of Uniondale law firm Sahn Ward Braff Coschignano, examines the extremely risky rise in the use of artificial intelligence by government agencies – as a predictor of crime, an arbiter of social funding, even the logic behind new laws.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
STUFF WE’RE READING
History in the making: Move over, Taylor Swift – there’s a new youngest self-made billionaire on the board. Entrepreneur introduces Lucy Guo.
Billions in the balance: With its federal funding slashed, Harvard University is suing the Trump Administration. NBC News reviews the legal wrangling.
Treasures in spaaaaace: Celebrity vanity trips aside, there’s a fortune waiting to be made in the final frontier. Quartz handicaps the new space race.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Electra.aero Inc., a Virginia-based advanced aerospace company, secured $115 million in Series B funding led by Prysm Capital.
+ Cosmic Robotics, a California-based startup developing robotic construction solutions, raised $4 million in funding led by Giant Ventures
+ Chapter, a New York City-based Medicare-navigation platform, raised $75 million in Series D funding led by Stripes.
+ Attovia Therapeutics, a California-based clinical-stage biopharma focused on immune-mediated diseases, raised $90 million in Series C funding led by Deep Track Capital.
+ Caban, a Texas-based manufacturer creating sustainable energy-storage solutions, raised $50 million in funding led by Ember Infrastructure Management.
+ Loti AI, a Washington State-based likeness-protection technology innovator, closed a $16.2 million Series A funding led by Khosla 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 the LIBDC). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Kind-Hearted Edition)
Progressive Pope: Francis orchestrated sometimes radical departures from traditional Catholic tenets.
Kind of important: The significant differences between being nice and being kind.
Kind of connected: As American happiness declines, blame the “kindness recession.”
Kind of awesome: A pope like no other, Francis softened the Catholic Church’s image.
One of a kind: Please continue supporting the outstanding organizations that support Innovate Long Island, including the Long Island Business Development Council, which for nearly six decades has stood apart as a steward of regional socioeconomics. Check them out.
