Middle march: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we march into the second half of February’s first workweek – and the back half of Winter 2025, which officially passed its midpoint (halfway exactly between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox) on Monday.
Unlike the past few years, Long Island has so far endured (enjoyed?) a more traditional winter season, with weather prognosticators predicting more cold air and snowfalls coming this week and next. If you’re a seasonal purist, you gotta love it. If not, well, hang tough – Spring is only 44 days away.
Sky queen: Former LSU standout Angel Reese is now lighting it up for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky.
Long-range forecast: Today is Feb. 5 and speaking of meteorology, we’re kicking things off with National Weatherperson’s Day, a nod to all the Al Rokers and Mr. Gs out there with extra special meaning this year, as dozens of small-market television stations replace their local weather reports with centralized national feeds. (Why honor weatherpersons today? See below.)
Turning to the sports desk, today is also the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 39th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, celebrating the hard-fought rise and continuing success of gender equality in U.S. sports programs.
I due: Chocoholics, rejoice – it’s World Nutella Day, dipping deep into the globally popular sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread.
Not enough of a chocolate commitment for you? Then say “I do” to National Chocolate Fondue Day, a decadent dedication to cocoa and cream also melting hearts every Feb. 5.
By the numbers: Not nearly as sweet – but arguably more useful – was the world’s first push-button calculator, patented on this date in 1850 by upstate New Paltz-based inventor Dubois Parmelee.
Moving tribute: Other famous patents associated with Feb. 5 include the kinematoscope, an early spin on motion pictures (imagine a coin-operated flipbook) locked up in 1861 by Pennsylvania-based inventor Coleman Sellers.
Sneak preview: Speaking of motion pictures, the first “movie” shown to a theater audience lit up the Philadelphia Academy of Music 155 years ago today, when inventor Henry Heyl’s “phasmatrope” – combining glass transparencies and a light projector – beamed images of a waltzing couple onto a large screen.
United they stand: (From left) Pickford, Griffith, Chaplin and Fairbanks changed Hollywood forever when they formed United Artists.
United they film: Movies were a much bigger thing by this date in 1919, when Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith and Mary Pickford launched the United Artists film studio (to “protect the exhibitor and the industry from itself,” according to the articles of incorporation).
The short version: And it was Feb. 5, 1922, when self-publishers DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Acheson Wallace introduced the first issue of The Reader’s Digest, abridging 31 national magazine articles across its 64 pages.
The anthology publication – later shortened to just Reader’s Digest – would eventually surpass 10 million monthly subscribers.
Weather, or not: American physician, scientist and military surgeon John Jeffries (1744-1819) – a meteorologically minded researcher remembered as America’s most pioneering weather observer – would be 281 years old today.
Islanders in spaaaaace: Cleave had a distinguished career as a scientist and NASA astronaut.
Also born on Feb. 5 were British Conservative statesman Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), a two-time UK prime minster remembered as the “Father of Modern Policing”; Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921), a veterinary surgeon by trade who developed the world’s first practical pneumatic tires (or did he?); American tennis champion Elizabeth Ryan (1892-1979), who amassed 659 singles, doubles and mixed-doubles titles in her amazing career, including a record 19 Wimbledon doubles titles; Swiss artist and designer Hans Rudolf “H.R.” Giger (1940-2014), a biomechanical visionary recognized globally for his fantastic (and often terrifying) realism; and Long Island’s own Mary Louise Cleave (1947-2023), a Southampton-born American environmental engineer, NASA administrator and astronaut who crewed two Space Shuttle flights.
Game on: And take a bow, Nolan Bushnell! The American electrical engineer and industrialist – who invented “Pong,” established Atari Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese chain and is an inductee of both the Video Game and Consumer Electronics Association halls of fame – turns 82 today.
Wish the “Father of Electronic Gaming” well at editor@inonvateli.com, where we don’t play games with your serious news tips – but your calendar events always bring us joy(sticks).
About our sponsor: Farmingdale State College is the largest college of applied science and technology in the State University of New York system, with nearly 10,000 students and 46 degree programs focused on relevant high-demand careers. More than half of our students graduate debt-free and 82 percent are employed six months after graduation or enrolled in graduate school. Nearly 80 percent of FSC graduates stay and are working on Long Island six months after graduation. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Stars of stage and screen: A first-of-its-kind movie marathon celebrating musical documentaries from around the world will light up screens (and speakers) this summer at the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
The museum has announced the inaugural Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame Music Documentary Film Festival, slated to run Aug. 8-10 at the Stony Brook-based institution. The hall will accept nominations of films to include in the exclusive series now through May 1 (there is a $40 entry fee), with two categories – shorts and feature-length films – focusing specifically on biographies and concert movies, as well as motion pictures exploring the history, technology and cultural significance of music.
An awards ceremony is scheduled to close out the festival, honoring the best participating films and motion-picture artists. “This Music Documentary Film Festival is the perfect way to extend the mission of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame,” noted LIMEHOF Vice Chairman Tom Needham, adding the festival would help to “preserve the past, celebrate the present and ignite a love for music in future generations.”
Cell out: School hours are “precious,” according to Stony Brook University Professor Lauren Hale, and adolescents should not be wasting them on their cellphones.
Wrong numbers: A new study by public-health researchers finds that adolescents spend roughly 90 minutes per day on their smartphones – during school hours.
Published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed medical journal produced by the American Medical Association, the research letter Adolescent Smartphone Use During School Hours reveals that kids (ages 13-18) spend nearly a quarter of the typical six-and-a-half-hour school day texting, scrolling and otherwise staring at their phones – and that’s just the average, with more than a quarter of sampled students spending better than two hours engaging their palm-sized pals.
You can take these unsettling estimates to the bank, according to senior author and Stony Brook University Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine Professor Lauren Hale, who notes that unlike most cellphone studies (which leverage self-reported data), her team – with a nod to international survey-research firm Ipsos – was “able to objectively assess smartphone use, enabling a much more granular understanding of timing and content.” The bottom line, according to the mother of two middle schoolers: “Too many kids are missing out on both learning and in-person social opportunities during the school day.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 49: Gail Prudenti, leading the people’s court.
Few American jurists can boast a résumé as comprehensive or influential as the Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, partner at East Setauket-based Burner Prudenti Law and longtime Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York State.
The internationally educated former prosecutor, frequent legal lecturer and freshly minted chairwoman of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s Judicial Screening Committee joins Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast to discuss her storied career, the critical importance of family law and her highest hopes for the future of the county, state and federal judiciaries.
TOP OF THE SITE
Common sense: A Long Island entrepreneur who’s leveraged DEI hiring into a commercial (and social) success urges the ill-informed President of the United States to bone up on the contributions of people with intellectual developmental disabilities.
What’s your sign? Three educational and enlightening innovation newsletters every week – including our can’t-miss, subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletter – delivered right to my inbox? For free? Where do I sign?!? (Right here!)
VOICES
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts are critical to the future of American medicine, according to Voices Healthcare Anchor and former Northwell Health Vice President Terry Lynam, who details how racial integration creates better patient outcomes – and challenges anyone who just doesn’t get it.
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
Broken promises? The president vowed to lower grocery prices “on Day One”; his VP now says it will take “a bit of time.” Newsweek pays up.
Broken records? History is on the line with several prominent Super Bowl records poised to fall in Sunday’s big game. Sportsbook Review studies stats.
What becomes of the broken hearted? Can you really die of a broken heart? It’s called takotsubo syndrome, and yes, you can. Science News grades grief.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Omnitron Sensors, a California-based innovative micro-electromechanical systems fabricator, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Corriente Advisors.
+ Kode Health, a Michigan-based on-demand medical-coding platform, raised $27 million in Series B funding led by Noro-Moseley Partners.
+ Jump, a Utah-based provider of artificial intelligence-based solutions for financial advisors, raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Citi Ventures, Sorenson Capital and Pelion Ventures Partners.
+ Paxton, an Oregon-based AI platform for the legal industry, raised $22 million in Series A funding led by Unusual Ventures.
+ UVeye, a New Jersey-based AI-driven vehicle-inspection technology, raised $191 million in funding led by Woven Capital.
+ Tradeverifyd, a Montana-based supply chain risk-management solutions provider, raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Silicon Road VC and Bread & Butter 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 Farmingdale State). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Under The Influence Edition)
Did you see what she said on Instagram?: That’s SO Vicky.
Over-sized: Questioning Elon Musk’s unchecked influence as he upends the federal bureaucracy.
Super-sized: New York is one of several states ramping up DUI patrols before Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Queen-sized: A century before social media, Queen Victoria became the world’s first influencer.
Perfect size: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, the largest college of applied science and technology in the SUNY system – and a major influencer of regional socioeconomics. Check them out.
