Super-duper: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday, an unofficial national holiday if ever there was one.
With a full slate of expensive commercials ($7 million a 30-second pop, and that’s just for the airtime!), Usher’s halftime-show extravaganza and the culmination of the Taylor Swift Deep-State Liberal Plot, the big game itself actually seems like a distraction. But the Chiefs and Niners are going to play anyway.
Lox it up: And cream cheese and red onion, too … if you’re going to enjoy National Bagel and Lox Day, enjoy it right.
Sink your teeth: Sunday, of course, will be a good day for bad food – the average American will consume somewhere around 10,000 calories – but there are plenty of tasty treats on our Feb. 9 menu, too, starting with National Bagel and Lox Day and ending with National Pizza Day.
Today is also Chocolate Day, a third-day-of-Valentine’s Week tradition queued up alongside Kiss Day, Propose Day and others – and with all the junk food about (chazerai, Grandma Helen used to call it), is it any wonder Feb. 9 is also National Toothache Day, a not-so-subtle reminder about proper dental care?
Weather man: Speaking of weekly forecasts, the National Weather Service was founded on this date in 1870, when President Ulysses S. Grant authorized the secretary of war to launch a federal meteorological bureau.
Farmer’s market: Other federal firsts associated with this date include the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a former division of the U.S. Patent Office that was promoted to Presidential Cabinet level on Feb. 9, 1889.
Runneth over: The Davis Cup ranks among the sports world’s most prestigious trophies.
Net gain: From the Back 40 to center court, where we find the Davis Cup – now the International Tennis Federation’s premier international team event – becoming a thing on this date in 1900.
Doctors in spaaaaace: From sports to space, where the Department of Space Medicine – a branch of the Air Force Medical Service – was inaugurated Feb. 9, 1949. (Actually, that happened in Washington, not space).
Ladies and gentlemen … the Beatles! And let’s just continue across the universe, with the Fab Four making their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” 60 years ago tonight.
With an estimated 73 million Americans tuned in (about 63 percent of the number of viewers who caught last year’s Super Bowl) and the in-studio audience on the edge of hysteria, the Beatles performed three songs in their U.S. introduction (none of which was “Across the Universe”).
In control: Dutch physician and suffragist Aletta Henriette Jacobs (1854-1929) – the Netherlands’ first female college student and first woman doctor, who became a women-in-STEM pioneer and founded the world’s first birth-control clinic – would be 170 years old today.
Green with envy: Hiddleston, star of stage and screen and all the Nine Realms.
Also born on Feb. 9 were ninth U.S. President William Henry Harrison (1773-1841), who served the shortest presidency in American history (just 31 days); English engineer and meteorologist Guy Callendar (1898-1964), the scientist who “discovered” global warming; American surgeon Norman Shumway (1923-2006), the “father of heart transplantation” who performed the first U.S. heart transplantation; American novelist Alice Walker (born 1944), author of “The Color Purple” (one of America’s most-banned books, naturally) and the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and English thespian Tom Hiddleston (born 1981), known best for playing The Mighty Thor’s scheming little brother.
Where You Lead: And take a bow, Carole King! The four-time Grammy-winning American singer, songwriter and pianist – ranked among the most successful songwriters of the 20th Century, with 100-plus pop hits to her credit – turns 82 today.
Wish the Natural Woman well (Now and Forever) at editor@innovateli.com, where our Tapestry is never complete without your news tips and I We Feel the Earth Move when you share calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Grid irons: Long Island has many irons in offshore-wind fires, with obvious implications for the regional electricity grid – and to keep it all straight, the Long Island Association’s Offshore Wind Committee hosted a Feb. 6 panel discussion featuring several regional power players.
The roundtable featured New York Independent System Operator President/CEO Richard Dewey, New York Transco VP of Capital Investments Paul Hearing and New York Power Authority VP of Projects and Business Development Girish Behal. The NYISO is the independent not-for-profit managing New York’s electric grid; NY Transco develops bulk power-transmission facilities across the state and has collaborated with NYPA on Propel NY Energy, an innovative transmission system designed to pump clean energy into the statewide grid beginning in 2030.
Discussions covered various alternative-generation technologies and future grid capacities, but largely focused on the multiple wind farms in various stages of development off Long Island. “Incorporation of offshore wind in the electric-supply mix is critical to meeting New York State’s aggressive environmental goals,” noted LIA Offshore Wind Committee Chairman Robert Catell. “It will require new electric transmission and the oversight and management of the NYISO to ensure its reliability and affordability.”
Well deserved: Pro Housing Community Mineola has worked hard to focus on smart growth, according to Mayor Paul Pereira.
Pro found: A Long Island leader in transit-oriented development is among New York’s first 20 certified Pro-Housing Communities.
The Village of Mineola and 19 other statewide cities, towns and villages have received official Pro-Housing Communities designations, earning them “priority consideration” for some $650 million in state discretionary development funds. Designed to address New York’s housing shortage, the Pro-Housing Communities effort was launched in 2023 (via executive order) by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is now considering certification as a prerequisite for municipalities to access stipends offered through Albany’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, Empire State Development’s Long Island Investment Fund and other state treasure chests.
To date, 81 municipalities have filed Pro-Housing Communities applications or started the application process, according to the governor’s office. “The Village of Mineola is proud to be recognized by New York State as a pro-housing community,” Mineola Mayor Paul Pereira said in a statement. “Mineola has been leading the way on Long Island in smart growth and transit-oriented development for nearly two decades … [and] is looking forward to working with our partners in state government to continue to grow in a manner that makes sense for the community.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Bit by qubit: With help from abroad (and from Brooklyn), Stony Brook University scientists have taken a significant step toward a super-advanced “quantum Internet.”
Free and easy: Our rich and entertaining Newsletter Archive is always open, but our subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletters aren’t archived. Don’t miss a thing – subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
With virtual and in-person gambling opportunities proliferating around Long Island, the nonprofit Family & Children’s Association is opening two Gambling Support and Wellness Centers to help Islanders overcome ruinous gambling addictions.
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 Utah: Salt Lake City-based fintech/gaming platform Gamepick combines online sports betting and responsible investment practices on new innovative platform.
From Michigan: Detroit-based multichannel merchant/distributor Hit Notion increases overnight comfort and support with shoulder-hugging Wife Pillow.
From Idaho: Boise-based early-childhood brand Lovevery introduces The Tricky Topics Books to help parents ease kids through common challenges.
ON THE MOVE
Johanna David
+ Johanna David has joined Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana as a partner in the Tax, Trusts & Estates Practice Group. She is an adjunct professor at Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law and was an associate at Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP.
+ Cory Kindelmann has been hired as director of K-12 student data and instructional technology in the West Babylon School District. He was director of instructional technology in the Glen Cove City School District.
+ Jason Aaron has been promoted to managing partner at Melville-based Fullerton Beck. He was a partner at the firm.
+ Brian Cordes has been hired as senior manager of transportation services at Nassau BOCES in Garden City. He was transportation coordinator at Bayport-Blue Point Union Free School District.
+ Melville-based Canon Solutions America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon USA, has announced two executive promotions:
- Steven Giuliano has been promoted to executive vice president of administration. He was senior vice president of finance, accounting and general affairs.
- Stephen Frank has been promoted to senior vice president/general manager for business operations/IT and business process reengineering. He was vice president of central zone operations.
+ Jason Belle has been elected chairman of the Melville-based Long Island Water Conference’s Board of Directors. He is superintendent of the West Hempstead Water District.
+ Jaime Stojanowski has been elected to the Deer Park-based United Way of Long Island’s Board of Directors. She is consumer region executive for Bank of America Metro New York.
+ Antonios Gasparis has joined Northwell Health as the system chief for venous disease. He was a professor of surgery and director of the Stony Brook Vein Center at Stony Brook University Medical Center.
+ Paul O’Brien has been hired as counsel at Burner Prudenti Law in East Setauket. He was a partner at Falcon Rappaport & Berkman in Rockville Centre.
+ Catherine Wallack has joined Northport-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty as a licensed sales professional. She was a licensed salesperson at Lucky to Live Here Realty in Cold Spring Harbor.
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 (LVIII Edition)
Numbers game: Friends, Romans … there’s actually a very simple rationale.
No. 1 reason: Why the big game uses Roman numerals.
Puppy bowl: The first Super Bowl halftime show was truly for the dogs.
Bowl them over: Amaze your party guests with these year-by-year Super Bowl trivia questions (and answers).
Super friends: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including longtime sponsor Presberg Law, top teammates for tackling regional land-use issues. Check them out.
