After these messages: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we reach the midpoint of another midwinter workweek.
Before we dive in, this commercial break: Several epic ads set to air during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI – featuring a who’s-who of Hollywood talent – have already leaked online, and there are some doozies.
The chosen: Lox is key.
S’aint so: It’s Feb. 9 out there, which is – or used to be – the gŵyl mabsant, a forgotten festival of rural Wales celebrating the local parish saint (common from the 1400s through the 19th Century).
It’s also National Bagel and Lox Day, which is also moderately parochial but crosses cultures easily enough.
Pie-eyed: Speaking of delicacies without borders, pizza – which was not invented in Italy, for those keeping score – slices life on National Pizza Day, enjoyed this and every Feb. 9.
Extended forecast: Maybe they celebrated with pizza, maybe not, but either way, the National Weather Service became a thing on Feb. 9, 1870, when President Ulysses Grant signed a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress.
Mild by comparison: Speaking of the weather, not too much to complain about this Southern New York winter – consider that the lowest temperature ever recorded in New York City, a frigid -26 degrees Fahrenheit, was recorded on this date in 1934.
Today also marks the anniversary of the lowest temperatures ever recorded in Wyoming (-66 degrees Fahrenheit in 1933), Idaho (-57 degrees F in 1933) and Michigan (-51 degrees F in 1934).
The kung fu grip came later: But GI Joe first swung into action on this date in 1964.
A real American hero: Billed as “the first doll for boys,” Hasbro’s G.I. Joe action figure made its public debut 58 years ago today at the American International Toy Fair.
Really big show: It was that same day – Feb. 9, 1964 – when The Beatles first brought down the house on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the Fab Four’s first American TV appearance.
Walking the walk: And it was this date in 1995 when two historic firsts occurred outside the Space Shuttle Discovery, with NASA astronauts Michael Foale and Bernard Harris becoming the first British-born and African American astronauts, respectively, to walk in space.
The pair spent about four hours floating in Discovery’s open cargo bay – including long stretches in its darkest, coldest corners, testing the insulation of a new NASA spacesuit.
Small achievement: American innovator and entrepreneur Garnet Carter (1883-1954) – a Tennessee hotelier who one-putted his way into the history books as the inventor of miniature golf – would be 139 years old today.
Alice’s wonderland: Walker, the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Also born on Feb. 9 were ninth U.S. President William Harrison (1772-1841), who served just 32 sickly days; Dutch physician, suffragist and activist Aletta Henriette Jacobs (1854-1929), an international leader in pacifism and women’s rights; American novelist, poet and social activist Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born 1944), who earned a Pulitzer Prize with “The Color Purple”; beloved New York Mets outfielder William Hayward “Mookie” Wilson (born 1956), who teed it up for Buckner; and retired American astronaut Peggy Whitson (born 1960), the first woman to command the international space station.
The queen of Kings: And take a bow, Carole King Klein! The American singer-songwriter – counted among history’s most significant and influential musicians, with an armful of Grammy Awards to prove it – turns 80 today.
Wish the oft-honored musician well at editor@innovateli.com, where You’ve Got a Friend in the news business, We Believe in Humanity and your news tips and calendar events are Beautiful (we always go Where You Lead).
About our sponsor: Presberg Law P.C. is Long Island’s premier “IDA” and business-law firm for businesses locating, relocating and expanding on Long Island. Founded in 1984, this multigenerational practice focuses on the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and industrial real estate, SBA and other loan transactions, construction projects and business sales and acquisitions.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Keystone addition: New York State’s network of Small Business Development Centers has a new boss – the first woman (and first African American) to take charge in the New York SBDC’s four-decade history.
Sonya Smith, a veteran of Pennsylvania small-business development with a strong reputation for innovative public-private partnerships, officially took the reins in December, according to a recent State University of New York announcement. She arrived after long stints with Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, where she was associate director of programs and policy, and Pennsylvania’s Kutztown University, where she served as director of grants and special projects and was assistant director of the public university’s SBDC chapter.
Smith’s “wealth of experience” will benefit the New York SBDC network – including chapters at Stony Brook University and Farmingdale State College – during “a critical time for small businesses,” according to Interim SUNY Chancellor Deborah Stanley. “In the last 21 months, New York’s 22 SBDCs helped small businesses reimagine the services they provide, reopen and thrive,” Stanley noted. “Sonya’s tenure with the Pennsylvania SBDC was marked by her collaborative style of leadership, focus on results and innovative approach to engaging with communities who most need the services provided by SBDCs.”
Just joking: Martling (left) and Bales yuck it up with “Stand-Up Memories.”
Tie one on: A veteran Long Island marketing agency is breaking new ground with a fresh comedy podcast featuring a longtime collaborator of radio and television bad boy Howard Stern.
Circa-2016 creative agency Tiedin Media has raised the curtain on “Stand-Up Memories,” a weekly podcast co-hosted by veteran Stern sidekick Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling and comedian Peter Bales, recorded at Tiedin Media’s Plainview multimedia studios. In each weekly episode, the duo offers retrospectives of their early comedy shows and the eclectic characters that made them famous, with 20 episodes – released each Wednesday – on tap for Season 1.
The podcast – available on Spotify, Apple Podcast and other major podcasting platforms – is the first “show business” venture for Tiedin Media, a branding and communications ace known best for marketing the PinkTie Charities cancer-awareness events created by founders Mike and Rich Cave. “We are excited to see where ‘Stand-Up Memories’ will take listeners as Jackie and Peter explore their personal stories and fascinating times in the comedy industry,” Mike Cave said in a statement. “We can all use a laugh more than ever right now, and this duo knows how to deliver just that and more.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 1: Michael Dowling, scenes from a pandemic.
High-profile executives, university presidents, media masters and more – learn from the best with the only podcast that gets up close and personal with Long Island’s innovation influencers.
Sponsored by clean-energy trailblazer ThermoLift, Season 2 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast is chronicling regional socioeconomics one amazing conversation at a time.
TOP OF THE SITE
Pay it forward: Long Island economic-development officials are keeping their eyes on the long-term prize with multiple major-league tax breaks.
Goal-oriented: Jovia Financial Credit Union will try to attract new members by sponsoring youth hockey programs at the Northwell Health Ice Center.
Join the party: We celebrate regional science and entrepreneurism with three weekly bashes, and you’re invited – subscriptions to this engaging and entertaining newsletter are always easy, easy free.
VOICES
Experts in law, healthcare, media, education, workforce development, food & beverages, nonprofits and more – our amazing Voices library is stocked with unique genius from the front lines of the Long Island innovation economy. You’ve got a lot to learn.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Image problem: Corporate innovation must go beyond buzzwords and hype. Deloitte studies up.
Location, location, location: Big-city innovation must embrace local characteristics. Bloomberg finds its place.
Satisfaction guaranteed: The secret of happiness is wanting less. The Atlantic samples the simple life.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Intimately, a New York City-based lingerie brand designed for disabled women, raised $1 million in seed funding led by Venrex and the British Fashion Council, with participation from Steph Korey, Michelle Kennedy, Alexandra Fine and Sarah Drinkwater.
+ Modern Electron, a Washington State-based sustainable heating and power tech company, raised $30 million in Series B funding led by At One Ventures, Extantia, Starlight Ventures, Valo Ventures, IRONGREY and Wieland Group.
+ CoinLedger, a Texas-based cryptocurrency and web3 tax-reporting platform, raised $6 million in funding led by CMT Digital, DRW Venture Capital, FinTech Collective, Volt Capital, Voyager Digital, Adam White and Mike Dudas.
+ Dewpoint Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech, completed a $150 million Series C financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, General Catalyst, Mubadala Capital, 3E Bioventures, Mirae Asset Capital and NS Investment.
+ Phylos, an Oregon-based crop-science innovator focused on cannabis and hemp genetics, raised $7.6 million in funding led by Merida Capital Holdings, Accomplice and Entourage Effect Capital.
+ Resonant Link, a Vermont-based developer of wireless charging technologies for medical devices and electric vehicles, raised $9.3 million in seed funding led by The Engine, Volta Energy Technologies, Emerson Collective, Scout Ventures, Urban Us and FreshTracks 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 Presberg Law). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
Gu do you think you are: Little China girl (from California).
Rings of fire: Is Chinese-American Olympian Eileen Gu an ungrateful jerk?
Don’t make ’em like they used to: Hard to believe we were once paid for these jobs.
Place your bets: About 31 million Americans will wager on Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Experience preferred: Please continue supporting the impressive firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg Law, where four decades of experience safeguard your corporate interests. Check them out.
