Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year from the Wet Noodle Posse! We hope 2005 was good to you, and that 2006 will be even better!

Anyone have any special plans? I always go to a friend's house, where she has tamales and we drink champagne at midnight and ring in the new year with those important to us. It's a family deal, so everyone goes.

What about traditions? Other than eating black-eyed peas for good luck (YUM), I don't have any. My mother in law was asking about the Times Square ball. Do you know they've been dropping the ball since 1907, except during the "dimout" years of WW2? The concept of dropping a ball goes back to 1833 in England, where the ball would drop at 1 PM every day to allow ship captains to set their chronometers. We still have one like that in DC, at the Naval Observatory.

The Times Square Ball started out as irons and wood, with 25 lightbulbs. It was 700 pounds. It was replaced by an iron ball weighing only 400 pounds in 1920, and that one was replaced by a 150 pound aluminum ball in 1955. In the 80s, they added a stem to Now it's made of Waterford crystal, since 2000. What's special this year? 72 of the crystal triangles in the geodesic dome have a "Hope for Fellowship" design that link, symbolizing fellowship and community. The 1,070 pound ball is computer controlled, and has lightbulbs made especially for it by Phillips!



Now, who knows when fireworks became part of NYE? They're supposed to scare off "bad forces" from entering the New Year.

posted by MJFredrick @ 9:47 AM