Holiday in: Down, set, hike, dear readers! It’s Friday out there, and not just any Friday but the kickoff of Super Bowl weekend – among the most universally celebrated holidays on America’s annual schedule, right up there with Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.
Big score: Americans will spend more than $17 billion on Super Bowl parties this Sunday.
Not really a holiday, you say? Well, consider this: Bean-counters rank it the nation’s second-biggest day for food consumption (after Thanksgiving), with the National Retail Federation estimating Americans will spend $17.3 billion this year on big game snacks, drinks and niceties like football-shaped paper plates.
That pales compared to the estimated $964.4 billion Americans spent making Christmas 2024 merry (including feasts and gifts), but it dwarfs the amount spent last year on Thanksgiving turkeys ($983.3 million, sans side dishes). And the Super Bowl, of course, lacks any sort of religious or historical significance (T-Swizzle notwithstanding) – but we say it’s a holiday nonetheless.
Whether or not it actually is, millions will be partying Sunday. Please do so responsibly and enjoy the game … and for criminy sake, go easy on the nachos!
Still struggling: Today is Feb. 7, and before we get to the football festivities, there’s one more workday to work through – and a somber pause to acknowledge National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which reinforces that human immunodeficiency viruses still disproportionately affect African American communities.
Much lighter on its feet is National Ballet Day, a vibrant celebration of one of the most elegant, theatrical and respected dance forms.
Au naturale: Hey, you know that dream where you get to work and you’re not wearing any pants? It’s all good on National Working Naked Day, an annual homage to working from home (nudity optional).
Need to tone up before stripping down? Then you’ll likely want to skip dinner tonight, since it’s also National Fettuccini Alfredo Day, dishing up the delectable, calorie-rich pasta plate every Feb. 7.
Acquitted: Also taking it all off was Madame Bovary, title character of Gustave Flaubert’s sensational 1856 novel, earning obscenity charges for the progressive author – but he was exonerated by a French court on this date in 1857, clearing the way for Europe’s Realist Movement.
Tabled: Also embracing bare facts was British chemist John Newlands, who published his “Laws of Octaves” on Feb. 7, 1863, distinguishing known elements by their atomic weights and predating by six years Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev’s more refined framework for the modern Periodic Table of Elements.
Monopolized: Postdating earlier versions, according to ongoing debates, was master gamesman Charles Darrow, who first marketed the popular board game/cultural phenomenon Monopoly – based on the streets of Atlantic City, NJ – 90 years ago today.
Plenty of space: Daring astronaut Bruce McCandless II stretches his legs 41 years ago today.
Packed: There’s no debate over who took history’s first untethered spacewalk – that would be NASA Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, who jet-packed some 300 feet from the Space Shuttle Challenger on Feb. 7, 1984.
Diversified: And it was this date in 2021 when National Football League official Sarah Thomas became the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl game, serving as down judge in Super Bowl LV.
Thomas, a standout college basketball player and mother of three, became the NFL’s first woman official in 2015 and was also the first woman to officiate a college bowl game. (Between on-field assignments and the league replay booth, nine woman officials worked NFL games this season, for those keeping score).
That’s more like it: American businessman, philanthropist and politician Herbert Hiken Kohl (1935-2023) – who was a U.S. senator from Wisconsin for 24 years, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks for 19 years and president of the Kohl’s Corp. department-store chain for 10 years, and donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other organizations – would be 90 years old today.
Party on, Garth: Brooks remains one of the most popular figures in Country Music’s long history.
Also born on Feb. 7 were a plethora of amazing writers, including English author, lawyer, judge, social philosopher and theologian Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), who invented “Utopia” and was executed for choosing God over king; English novelist and social critic Charles Dickens (1812-1870), arguably the greatest writer of the Victorian era; American author and frontierswoman Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), who actually grew up in a little house on the prairie; American novelist, playwright and social critic Harry “Sinclair” Lewis (1885-1951), the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and British farmer, conservationist, journalist and author Ralph Whitlock (1914-1995), who published more than 100 books, including rural histories and children’s books.
Cowboy Bill Garth: And take a bow, Troyal Garth Brooks! The American singer and songwriter – known best for integrating Pop and Rock elements into the Country Music genre – turns 63 today.
Give the Much Too Young country king your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re grateful for Friends in Low Places (and high places and medium places, too) and It’s Your Song (especially when you share news tips and calendar events, the answers to our Unanswered Prayers).
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
Northern disclosure: Stiff tariffs threatened on Canadian imports, then invoked, then rescinded, then set to return in 30 days – the White House’s reckless, chaotic bluster has left citizens, governments and entire U.S. industries worried and confused.
Looking to soothe understandably ruffled nerves, Gov. Kathy Hochul sat down this week with Canadian Consul General Tom Clark to discuss the unique economic relationship between Canada and New York State. Neither the governor nor the consul general has direct influence over potential tariffs or other international-trade regulations, though the Consulate General of Canada to the United States does provide quality-of-life services to Canadian citizens living in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Bermuda, and Hochul has made everyday affordability a cornerstone of her latest gubernatorial term.
That made Tuesday’s dialogue “critically important,” according to the governor, who told the consul general “the price of gas, the price of lumber, the price of every product that affects New Yorkers is … something we have to stay focused on and work through with you.” Clark, meanwhile, cited $50 billion in annual trade between Canada and New York and called his country’s relationship with New York “one of our most important relationships anywhere in the world.”
Pet projects: Alex and Elisabeth Lewyt were heavy into humane causes.
Animal attraction: A $20.5 million agreement with a generous family trust will rename Long Island University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Introducing the LIU Lewyt College of Veterinary Medicine, the new monicker for a veterinary institution that welcomed its first students in 2020 and graduated its first cohort last May. The 33,000-square-foot Veterinary Medicine Learning Center – which includes a state-of-the-art Animal Simulation Suite, where students perform examinations, surgeries and medical imaging on virtual patients – is being rechristened in honor of the Alex & Elisabeth Lewyt Charitable Trust, which will also provide scholarships for select LIU veterinary students beginning this August.
The trust is the namesake of philanthropists and animal rights advocates Alex (a successful inventor and entrepreneur known best for the Lewyt vacuum cleaner) and Elisabeth (a champion of no-kill animal-rescue groups), who were foundational supporters of the Port Washington-based North Shore Animal League, the world’s largest and longest-running no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization. “The Lewyt name is synonymous with humane and compassionate care for all animals,” noted LIU President Kimberly Cline. “Long Island University is honored to have their name on the College of Veterinary Medicine.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Chief among them: The Debrief gets to know first-ever Stony Brook University Chief Innovation Officer Michael Kinch – and details his plans for a more innovative and collaborative SBU commercialization system.
Sustained: A long and distinguished career as a prosecutor, family-law specialist and chief administrative judge has convinced the Hon. A. Gail Prudenti there’s no justice without compassion and diversity – points she reinforces on the latest episode of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast. Another brilliant conversation, now in session.
ICYMI
The owner of a successful Long Island business with a long and proud history of DEI hiring says President Trump has a lot to learn about diversity.
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.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From California: San Francisco-based business-transaction digital facilitator Docusign addresses critical needs with remote Notary On-Demand platform.
From California: San Francisco-based smart-nutrition source Alma personalizes proteins and vitalizes veggies with artificial intelligence-fueled nutrition companion app.
From California: San Francisco-based guest-management motivator Canary Technologies streamlines hospitality operations with AI-powered, voice-enabled hotel staffers.
ON THE MOVE
Lauren Sheprow
+ Lauren Sheprow has been appointed treasurer of the Huntington-based Suffolk County Village Officials Association’s Executive Board. She serves as mayor of the Village of Port Jefferson.
+ Camila Morcos has been promoted to associate in the Tax Certiorari Practice Group at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana. She was a law clerk at the firm.
+ Anna Ivanenko Gavrysh has been hired as an associate at Futterman Lanza in Garden City. She was a paralegal/legal assistant at Abraham Mazloumi & Associates in Great Neck.
+ Rob Lovergine has been promoted to director of facilities for the Wantagh School District. He was head custodian.
+ Brandon Check has been hired as a legal assistant at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick in Ronkonkoma. He was a legal assistant at Walker & Mackenzie in Bohemia.
+ Dan Schaefer has been hired as public affairs manager at Winters Bros. Waste Systems in Babylon. He was a senior account manager at ZE Creative Communications in Garden City.
+ Benjamin Hatz has been hired as chief operating officer at B2K Development in Jericho. He was managing director of capital markets at Franconia Capital Consultancy in Manhattan.
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). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Super Bowl LIX Edition)
Wet bet: Put some green on orange?
Spoiler alert: Can’t wait until Sunday? Check out this year’s most anticipated Super Bowl commercials right now.
Place your bets: About $1.4 billion will be wagered on the big game – and that’s just through legal sportsbooks.
Make a splash: You can even bet on the color of the traditional Gatorade victory shower.
Moving the ball: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg law, which has mastered the playbook on Long Island land deals. Check them out.
