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Showing posts with label New year in New York. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New year in New York. Show all posts
New York (Profile Facts) -- An estimated 1 million people marked the passing of one year and the beginning of another in New York's Times Square with the descent of an iconic ball.
With the help of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta, the dazzling crystal ball began its 70-foot drop at 11:59 p.m. Friday to the harmonious chants of New Year's Eve revelers counting down the final seconds of 2010.
More than one ton of confetti was released at midnight, with personal individual wishes written in more than 25 languages, a tradition from the past three years.
Weighing in at 11,875 pounds with a diameter of 12 feet, the sparkling sphere is covered with 2,668 triangular crystals and is powered by 32,256 LED lights. By mixing red, blue, green and white light elements, the ball's lighting system is capable of producing a kaleidoscopic array of 16 million hues and colors, and billions of patterns, the event's website says.
Each giant New Year's numeral making up "2-0-1-1" will stand seven feet high and the numerals will use a total 453 9-watt LED bulbs. As in the past three years, the numerals were designed to be more energy efficient, as Duracell Batteries set up a lab in which visitors rode stationary bikes to provide the stored battery power that will light the numbers on the ball Friday night.
More than one ton of confetti will be released at midnight, with personal individual wishes written in more than 25 languages, a tradition from the past three years.
Times Square has served as one of the most popular sites of New Year's festivities since 1904, though the New Year's Eve ball made its inaugural drop down the flagpole at One Times Square in 1907. That first ball, built with iron and wood, featured one hundred light bulbs and was designed by Jacob Starr, a young immigrant metalworker.
The New Year's Eve ball has beamed and dropped every year since with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, when the United States was embroiled in World War II and New York City observed a city-wide "dim-out" to cut energy costs.
According to New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, this New Year's Eve celebration, like years in the past, is a product of a lot of hard work and planning by many people.
"We don't ever take it for granted," Kelly said. "The situation changes somewhat, we have sort of a core plan but we always add to it or change it -- we don't want to get stuck in a rut where we simply take a plan off the shelf."
As in previous years, security will be tight. Times Square will be closed to traffic at approximately 3 p.m. on Friday. Backpacks and alcohol are prohibited at the event and party-goers can expect a beefed-up police presence, according to the statement from the New York Police Department.
"It is a big complex operation and you know you always breathe a sigh of relief when it's over," Kelly said.
HUNDREDS of thousands of revelers, many dressed in bulky coats and hats, descended on Broadway and Seventh Avenue to celebrate the year's end and watch the ball drop from a flagpole atop One Times Square.
Carrie Graham, 33, of Texas came with her husband, James, 34, a banker, and son Alden, 6, to celebrate their daughter Ashley's 16th birthday. Ashley opened up the plane tickets for a present on Christmas-morning and cried, Carrie Graham said.
"She always wanted to come here, or own a horse," James Graham said.
Of her first trip to New York City, Ashley said, "I love it."
The family arrived in midtown at 3 p.m. and were standing right next to the stage in Times Square until the crowd grew too overwhelming and then moved further back.
"I feel like the security is safe," James Graham. "I feel good about that."
The police department deployed a "counterterrorism overlay" in Times Square, including thousands of uniformed and undercover officers, hand-held and vehicle-mounted radiation detectors, helicopters and observation towers, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
"Anyone who comes will have to go through magnetometers, perhaps as many as three times," to get to viewing areas, Kelly said Friday.
He said officers also were deployed to other events in the city, including a concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, fireworks in Brooklyn and fireworks at the Statue of Liberty.
"We always do things a little bit differently," Kelly said. "We don't want to get stuck in a rut, so some of our deployments will change."
The celebration will be the first since Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on the evening of May 1. Shahzad pleaded guilty to the bombing attempt in June and was sentenced to life in prison.
Backpacks, large bags and alcohol were prohibited in Times Square and pocketbooks were inspected as revelers entered fenced-in viewing zones.
Just before 5 p.m., the closest many onlookers could get to the action was 49th Street.
Dawn Borchardt, 34, a registered nurse from St. Louis, came with her daughter Cassie Miller, 16, and Dawn's friend Jamie Seitz, 29, a labor and delivery surgical technician. They were far back in the crowd on Seventh Avenue between 49th and 50th streets.
To prepare for the night they wore long underwear and brought handwarmers and snacks.
"It's kind of overwhelming at first, kind of easy to get turned around but exciting," Borchardt said.
National security officials in Washington, from the Department of Homeland Security to the FBI, focused their attention on New York City and Times Square, where local law enforcement finalized preparations for the annual New Year's Eve bash.
For now, however, there is no credible, specific terror threat timed to the celebration, federal and local intelligence and counterterror officials told ABC News.
"We have no specific threats against the city on New Year's Eve," New York City's Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. "Anytime large numbers of people come together, we put in our counterterrorism overlay. We have other events going on: We have a four-mile run in Central Park at midnight; a fireworks display at Prospect Park in Brooklyn; fireworks by the Statue of Liberty. ... So it's not just Times Square.
"But I can assure you we looked at all of these events closely. We will have several thousand police officers deployed. ... We have every indication that it will be a safe and happy event. "
The New York Police Department put the finishing touches Thursday on the "ring of steel" it uses to protect revelers: a security screen consisting of 17-plus miles of barricades; entrance point searches; video feeds; and uniformed officers spaced every few yards.
"I can tell you that we have more cameras focused on this area now, we're monitoring more cameras than we've ever done in the past," said Kelly as he showed an ABC News team around Times Square.
There will also be numerous security measures not quite so apparent to the untrained eye that include chemical sniffers, biological sensors and handheld radiation wands and pagers.
A few fun facts for revelers to contemplate as they stand with noisemakers, hats and masks, bodies pressed against barricades, huddled against the cold and in some cases perhaps with their knees held close together to prevent nature's urges from getting the best of them:
The ball weighs 6 tons and is 12 feet in diameter.
It begins its 60-second count to 2011 from a stanchion 400 feet above Times Square.
The ball consists of 32,000 lightbulbs.
90,690 feet of aluminum and wooden police horses have fenced the area in years past.
That 17.18 mile-protective fence weighed in, when last tallied by ABC News, at more than 355,000 pounds.
Times Square’s New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Countdown – Nothing can stop the New Year’s eve at Times Square.
One of the biggeset New Year’s eve celebration that will welcome the year 2011 will be held in Times Square in New York. Times Square has the center of the world’s New Year’s Eve celebration for 106 years, since the owners of One Times Square hosted rooftop celebration in 1904.
The Countdown will start at 6:00 PM ET on which the the lighting and raising of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball at the top of One Times Square. Event organizers Tim Tompkins and Jeffrey Straus together with the representatives of the Philips Lighting Company will turn on the giant switch that will light the New Year’s Eve Ball
The Lighting Science Group, that is based in Brevard County, designs and manufactures LED lighting systems. Philips, Lighting Science and the city of New York help together to recreate the famous ball, and give it pizazz using light-emitting diode (LED) technology.
“There will be lots of special effects. The ball can do anything,” said Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting North America. Crawford lit the Times Square ball since the millennium celebration in 2000.
The Times Square ball’s lights are able to emit 16 million different colors. A dry run was held Thursday to ensure the safety and to prepare the 11,875-pound Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball.
Different performances will be showcase in the night. Ryan Seacrest and the singer Kesha were among the celebrities to appear on the nationally televised countdown to the ball drop at Times Square. Singer Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas will headline the Los Angeles portion of the show.
MOSCOW — Russian police on Friday detained several opposition leaders among nearly 120 protesters during New Year's Eve rallies held in central Moscow and Saint Petersburg, news reports said.
Moscow authorities allowed the opposition to stage a traditional end-of-month demonstration to assert their right to gather under the Russian constitution.
The 300-strong crowd chanted slogans in support of the jailed Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose jail term was extended by six years Thursday, and called for broader political freedoms, news reports said.
But several opposition leaders, including former first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, broke through police lines, prompting their immediate arrest, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Nemtsov, a key leader of Russia's liberal opposition, was to be kept in police custody until Sunday, opposition activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva told the Interfax news agency.
Police also detained Eduard Limonov, an opposition writer and leader of the radical National Bolshevik Party, near his Moscow home about an hour before he and his supporters were to hold an unsanctioned rally alongside the authorised one.
Shortly after his arrest, a court sentenced Limonov to 15 days in prison for insulting police during his detention, a court spokesman, Pyotr Chenik, was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
"They wrote in the police report that I made rude remarks and violated the public order law," Limonov told Moscow Echo radio, calling the allegation "a lie".
Ilya Yashin, the leader of the youth wing of the liberal Yabloko group, was also detained during the Moscow protest, news reports said.
Russian police said they detained 68 people in Moscow and 50 in Saint Peterburg during two unsanctioned rallies.
Opposition leaders call regular demonstrations on the 31st day of the month in honour of Article 31 of the constitution, granting Russians freedom of assembly.
Moscow authorities have until recent months refused to sanction such rallies, prompting frequent scuffles with the police.
There were no initial reports of violence during Friday's demonstrations.
Chicago - Once again the CTA will be offering penny rides on all trains and buses the night of New Year’s Eve.
Penny rides will start at 8 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. on Saturday.
Several bus and train routes will also have later service hours to accommodate for the holiday and offer a safe option for travelers.
If you’re still looking for some ideas for how to celebrate New Year's Eve, one of the best places to ring in the New Year will be the North State Street outpost Pops for Champagne. It's offering a light menu until 8:30 p.m., with the Jason Ellis Quartet on deck to play from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
If you're looking for a bit of music -- and emo-punk at that -- you might want to head down to Reggie's Rock Club on South State Street and catch the Smoking Popes.
For a campy way to bring in the New Year, there's the film being screened at the Music Box Theatre on Southport. Chicago personality Richard Knight, performing as his Dick O'Day sleazy lounge host character, will emcee a screening of The Poseidon Adventure, the water-logged film about an ocean liner sinking on New Year's Eve.
A much more traditional way to greet 2011 will be at Navy Pier to check out the annual fireworks display.
There will be two shows. One is at 8:30 p.m. for those not wanting to wait until midnight, plus a second fireworks extravaganza carefully scheduled to start at exactly 11:59 p.m.
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011.
Auckland, New Zealand, was the first major city to celebrate the New Year before Australia, Singapore and China followed suit later today.
The iconic towers in Kuala Kumpa were lit up as fireworks went off at midnight - temporarily banishing the misery of extreme weather which has struck countries across the world.
Roads were due to be cordoned off in London as the capital prepared itself for its own fireworks display tonight.
Australia has welcomed 2011 with a spectacular fireworks display over Sydney Harbour. Despite losing the Ashes this week, thousands of party-loving Aussies had camped out for hours at parks alongside the Sydney Harbour Bridge to win the best view of today's spectacular New Year's Eve fireworks.
As the clock ticked closer to 2011, Europeans were looking forward to celebrations that could help them forget their economic worries.
Japan and South Korea both celebrated New Year at 3pm GMT - and India was readying itself for it's celebrations in the next few hours.
In New York City, nearly a million revellers were expected to cram into the streets around Times Square to watch the traditional midnight ball drop several hours after the UK has marked the start of 2011. The 20-inch snowstorm that blanketed the city will be just a memory thanks to work crews and warmer temperatures.
At least 1.5 million people lined the harbour in Sydney, the first major city where the new year arrives after 2011 hit New Zealand. Celebrations begin with aerial displays by vintage aircraft and a parade of boats around the harbour.
In Christchurch, New Zealand, two minor earthquakes Friday did not shake plans for all-night celebrations.
'There is more reason than ever for people to get together and celebrate the beginning of a New Year,' Christchurch's acting mayor Ngaire Button said, urging residents to celebrate in the central Cathedral Square, where workers were removing loose masonry after the quakes.
A powerful 7.1-magnitude quake wrecked thousand of buildings in Christchurch on September 4, but nobody was killed.
This year marks the first time Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, officially celebrates the new year with a countdown blow out, complete with a light show and foreign DJs in front of the city's elegant French colonial-style opera house.
Vietnamese in the past paid little attention to the changing of the calendar, instead holding massive celebrations during Tet, the lunar new year that begins on Feb. 3. But in recent years, the Western influence has started seeping into Vietnamese culture with teens, who have no memory of war or poverty and are eager to find a new reason to party in the Communist country.
In South Korea, up to 100,000 people went to a bell-ringing ceremony in central Seoul, with officials and citizens striking the large bronze bell hung in the Bosingak bell pavilion 33 times at midnight.
Some South Koreans also go to the mountains or beaches on early Saturday to watch the first sunrise of the new year.
At midnight in Taipei, Taiwan, fireworks will form a spiraling dragon climbing up the city's tallest skyscraper. Some 50 dancers will beat drums in the freezing cold river in a dance to underscore how people should live with nature in harmony.
In Japan, New Year's Eve is generally spent at home with family but those who venture out go to temples to pray for good luck in the new year. At Zojoji, a 600-year-old Buddhist temple in central Tokyo, thousands were expected to release balloons at midnight carrying notes with their hopes for 2011.
In Beijing, about 500 people were expected to gather at the Ancient Bell Museum for the chance to ring in the new year on the 46-ton bell. The city is also trying to start a new tradition, with an orchestra playing a 'Hymn to China' at the China Century Monument just two minutes before midnight.
While many Asian countries famed for their firework displays were planning to light up the night skies, Myanmar's military government banned all fireworks for New Year's Eve and said severe action would be taken against anyone selling or using them.
A local news journal, Modern, noted that last year 62 people were given 6 to 12 month prison terms for violating this ruling.
The government gave no reason for the ban but in the past has said that it feared "unscrupulous persons" might take advantage of the fireworks to create disturbances.
In Europe, many people will be partying simply to forget their economic woes after a year that saw Greece and Ireland needing financial bailouts and others, such as Spain and Portugal, battling speculation that they will need similar aid.
If not at home or at private parties, Spaniards traditionally gather in their main town squares to eat 12 grapes one by one as the bell in the square marks the countdown to 2011.
In the Irish capital of Dublin, people will flock to the Christchurch cathedral to listen as the bells chime in the new year.
In London, thousands will witness a musical and firework display at the 135-meter high London Eye, located on the southern banks of the Thames River. The Eye, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, lies almost opposite the Big Ben clock tower at Parliament that will chime in 2011.
In Paris, tens of thousands are expected to pack the Champs Elysees and the area around the Eiffel Tower for dazzling light and firework displays.
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011
Spectacular: Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers during new year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore: Fireworks explode over Marina Bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort during a pyrotechnic show
2011: Hong Kong joins in the celebrations - eight hours before the UK
Ready for 12: Revellers in Hong Kong, China, prepare for the New Year
Kicking off the world's celebrations: A curtain of fireworks cascades over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the display that began at 9pm
Fireworks: The sky above tall Sydney city buildings light up as the country prepares to take the rest of the world into 2011
Happy New Year! Sydney Bridge is lit up as Australia becomes the first country to welcome 2011
Enthusiastic: Crowds gathered early at the naval base on Garden Island in anticipation of the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display over Sydney Harbour
Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpa as the world celebrates the start of 2011
Spectacular: Fireworks light up the sky near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers during new year celebrations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore: Fireworks explode over Marina Bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands casino and resort during a pyrotechnic show
2011: Hong Kong joins in the celebrations - eight hours before the UK
Ready for 12: Revellers in Hong Kong, China, prepare for the New Year
Kicking off the world's celebrations: A curtain of fireworks cascades over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the display that began at 9pm
Fireworks: The sky above tall Sydney city buildings light up as the country prepares to take the rest of the world into 2011
Happy New Year! Sydney Bridge is lit up as Australia becomes the first country to welcome 2011
Enthusiastic: Crowds gathered early at the naval base on Garden Island in anticipation of the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display over Sydney Harbour
In Paris, tens of thousands are expected to pack the Champs Elysees and the area around the Eiffel Tower for dazzling light and firework displays.
LANSING, Mich. — Some Michigan bar owners plan to protest the state's 8-month-old smoking ban by allowing partygoers to light up after 9 p.m. Friday.
Organizers won't reveal the names of participating bars.
"They're not necessarily promoting it, but rather they're not going to prevent people from smoking," said Steve Mace, spokesman for the protest being organized by Bloomfield Hills-based Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan.
The ban went into effect May 1. It prohibits smoking in workplaces, public buildings, bars and restaurants.
Mace said each bar will handle the protest as it sees fit. Some may simply put out ash trays for the first time since May; others may go further to encourage smoking.
The goal: to let lawmakers know that banning smoking is bad for business, according to some industry advocates.
"Of the calls I'm getting, 60% are from businesses saying it has hurt their business and ... they're barely able to survive now," said Ed Deeb, president of the Michigan Food and Beverage Association. "I don't know if the protest will be effective, but maybe it will draw some attention and cause legislators to change the law."
State officials say their own studies show the ban has had no major effect on bar sales.
A report released Dec. 21 by the state Department of Treasury showed a slight increase in sales taxes collected at bars, taverns, nightclubs and restaurants in the past year.
State health officials say they don't plan to monitor the protest but will investigate all complaints, said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health.
Bars that violate the ban face a $100 fine for the first offense and a $500 fine for subsequent violations, McCurtis said.
"Businesses that willfully break the law and allow smoking in their establishment are risking fines and potentially being shut down," he said.
Individual smokers or customers cannot be cited for violating the ban.
Saturday is New Year’s Day. It is a federal holiday. The state holiday is observed today in New Jersey.
Post offices will be open today and there will be mail delivery. Post offices will be closed Saturday and there will no regular mail delivery.
State and local government offices and courts will be closed today.
Financial markets and stock markets will be open today and Monday.
Banks have the option to close.
NJ Transit trains will operate on a weekend schedule. Today, most rail lines will be on a modified weekday schedule with additional New York-bound trains between 10 a.m. and noon on the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast and Morris & Essex lines. Due to expected light ridership, some early-morning trains will not operate today. Bus schedules vary by route. After mid-night, special late-night trains will operate on most rail lines, and expanded bus service will be provided from the Port Authority Bus Terminal between midnight and 5:30 a.m. on selected routes. For details, refer to timetables or check the agency’s website at www.njtransit.com, or call (973) 275-5555.
PATH trains will be operating on a regular Saturday schedule. Tonight: PATH will operate a regular weekday schedule during the evening hours, with frequent service after midnight to accommodate passengers returning from events in New York City. Train service on the Journal Square-to-33rd Street line via Hoboken will operate every 10 minutes after midnight. Service between Newark and the World Trade Center will operate every 15 minutes.
First Night is an artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors by organizations in the city, such as churches and theaters. Since it happens on New Year's Eve, First Night celebrations are actually held on the last night of the old year. The real first night occurs on New Year's Day. First Night celebrates a community's local culture, often featuring music, dance, comedy, art, fireworks and, in some cities, ice sculptures and parades.
First Night began in Boston in 1976 by a small group of artists who sought an alternative way of celebrating New Year's Eve, creating an event where the consumption of alcohol is banned. Soon other surrounding communities started their own First Night celebrations. By the 1990s the First Night Boston event was attracting works by over a thousand artists, and in 2006 more than a million visitors were in attendance.
During the Late 2000s Recession, several First Night celebrations faced financial difficulty, being scaled back or canceled, while others found the funding to continue. Alternatively, other celebrations have sprung up. For example, in 2003, First Night Providence announced they would not be able to continue their celebration which had been continuing for 19 years. A group of local artists banded together to create Bright Night Providence,[6] an artist-run New Year's Eve celebration based on the idea and spirit of First Night.
Despite changing economic conditions the First Night model continues to evolve and thrive as a positive force in the arts not only in Boston but throughout the United States. First Night USA is the national off-shoot of the parent organization, tasked with engaging stakeholders, opening up communications and creating networks that share ideas and best practices with the numerous First Night licensed events spread throughout the United States.
In addition to the New Year's festival, First Night is deeply involved in Boston's art and culture communities via the Neighborhood Network. Started in 1994, the Neighborhood Network partners First Night with 25 community organizations throughout Boston's neighborhoods- including Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain and South Boston- to engage young people and families in creative workshops with artists and educators. In 2000 First Night launched Summer Beat, a series of summer camp like dance and music workshops spread around the city of Boston.
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama returns to a transformed Washington next week, with empowered Republicans bristling for a defining budget fight and the calendar relentlessly pointing to the 2012 election.
President Obama will swap the peace of his Hawaii vacation for a stormy new political season, looking more resilient and self-confident than many thought possible with his political stock replenished by year-end victories.
But the rare period of bipartisanship between Democrats and Republicans which produced those gains -- dubbed by Obama a "season of progress" -- may be fleeting as his presidency enters a challenging new narrative arc.
Though Obama got his way or compromised with his foes on taxes, a Russia nuclear treaty and on allowing gays to serve openly in the military, political fissures are evident on funding the government and the huge deficit.
Still, Obama, who concluded after the Republican rout in mid-term elections in November that voters want an honest attempt to forge bipartisan solutions, is positioning himself in the political center.
"I'm not naive. I know there will be tough fights in the months ahead," Obama said in a year-end press conference, previewing the likely tone of his State of the Union address in January, which will frame his strategy.
"But my hope heading into the New Year is that we can continue to heed the message of the American people and hold to a spirit of common purpose in 2011 and beyond."
The political environment in which Obama enacted most of his agenda in just two years was changed beyond recognition in November's polls.
Gone are wide Democratic majorities in Congress which speeded historic health care and finance reform, and an 800-billion-dollar stimulus plan.
Instead, Obama faces a Republican House of Representatives stocked with conservatives demanding spending cuts after a Tea Party grass-roots uprising, and a reduced Democratic hold on the Senate.
Key issues -- the 1.3-trillion-dollar budget deficit and a 2011 government budget blocked by Republicans -- tug at the doctrinal fault line between the parties, making confrontation certain.
Obama must also defend previous victories.
Republicans cannot repeal health reform while Obama has a presidential veto, but plan instead to block White House efforts to fund its implementation.
"We will do everything we can to drive a stake through the heart of Obamacare," Colorado House Republican Doug Lamborn told Fox News.
But the White House may prove a resourceful foe, as Obama and his administration appeared to confound criticisms that they were weak at wielding presidential power in the year-end flurry of legislation.
Inside the West Wing, thoughts are turning towards Obama's bid for a second term in 2012 -- several key aides are expected to decamp shortly to Chicago to fire up a reelection campaign machine.
Obama is vowing more domestic travel to reconnect with the US public.
The ticking political clock may also bear on legislative tactics.
With an 858-billion-dollar tax cut deal with Republicans, Obama may have infuriated core Democrats, but he courted independent voters he needs to win reelection.
And by repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military, Obama shored up his own base of disenchanted liberals.
Republicans meanwhile face a dilemma.
The strategy of obstruction that helped Republicans at the polls in November may now anger voters seeking results.
So, Republican speaker-elect John Boehner may have a motive for seeking some accommodation with the White House early in the new Congress.
However, Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, has already said his top priority is depriving Obama of a second term, and the unfolding Republican presidential race will likely pull the party to the right.
While much has changed in Washington, there is one constant: despite approval ratings just below a respectable 50 percent, Obama is still paying the political price of a slowly recovering economy.
Few Americans have felt much of a rebound from the worst recession since the 1930s and unemployment is nudging 10 percent.
Obama had a weak hand in November, telling voters things were getting better despite the evidence of their own lives.
Fighting a presidential election on similar ground could doom his hopes of the second term without which history judges few presidencies a success.
The coming year may also see a defining moment in Afghanistan policy, as US surge troops struggle to expand on modest progress reported in a strategy in December.
Obama may have to go forward without Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a key ally in the Pentagon and a master Washington powerplayer, who is expected to resume his retirement later this year.
New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2010, is two days away and counting down in Times Square in New York City, and in cities and towns across the United States and around the world. Many celebrations focus on time balls to calculate and welcome the New Year. Other localities drop pickles, acorns, and fish instead of time balls.
The 2011 Times Square "Let There Be Love" Ball
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The Times Square ball that will drop on December 31, 2010, measures 12 feet in diameter, weighs 11, 875 pounds and is covered with 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles of varied sizes. The crystals produce millions of vibrant colors and countless patterns.
Waterford Crystal designed 2,688 "Let There Be Love" crystal triangles arranged in a romantic pattern that blends hearts with diamond cutting. The 2,688 triangles are emblazoned with the 2010 "Let There Be Courage" design featuring a ribbon medal defining the triumph of courage over adversity. The 1,152 triangles sparkle with the "Let There Be Joy" theme designed by Waterford artisans in Ireland, of an angel with uplifted arms welcoming the New Year. The rest of the 960 triangles are the original "Let There Be Light" design featuring a radiating sunburst.
The 2,688 crystal triangles are bolted to 672 LED (Light Emitting Diodes) modules which are attached to the ball’s aluminum frame. The Ball is lit by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs . Each LED module contains 48 LEDs, 12 red, 12 blue, 12 green and 12 white for a total of 8,064 of each color.
Images
Jeff Straus, president of Countdown Entertainment and co-organizer of Times Square New Year’s Eve said that "The new Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball will be a bright sparkling jewel atop One Times Square entertaining New Yorkers and tourists from around the world not only on December 31, but throughout the year."
New Year’s Eve in Times Square Is a 100 Year Old Tradition
People celebrated New Year’s Eve in Times Square as early as 1904, but it took until 1907 for the tradition of the New Year’s Eve Ball to begin. In 1907, the first New Year’s Eve Ball which measured five feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds descended from the flagpole on top of One Times Square. Jacob Starr, a young immigrant metalworker, built the ball from iron and wood and lit it with one hundred 25 –watt bulbs. For most of the Twentieth Century, the company that Jacob founded, Artkraft Strauss, lowered the ball every year.
The New Year’s Ball has descended every year since 1907 except for 1942 and 1943, when officials cancelled the ceremony because of the wartime dimming of New York City lights. Despite the absence of a ball, crowds still congregated in Times Square and welcomed the New Year with a minute of silence. After that chimes rang from sound trucks parked at the base of the tower, a continuation of earlier Trinity Church celebrations where crowds gathered to "ring out the old, ring in the new."
Ball Dropping Symbolizes Time Passing
The idea of a ball "dropping" to symbolize time passing goes back into the mists of time far distant from Times Square to Greenwich, England. The English installed the first time ball on top of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. The time ball would drop every afternoon at one o’clock so that the captains of nearby ships could accurately set their chronometers which were essential to navigation.
After the time balls had proven themselves at Greenwich, about 150 of them were installed around the world. The United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. carries on the tradition. Every day at noon a time ball descends from the flagpole. In Times Square every year a time ball descends on the stroke for midnight to symbolize the coming of the New Year for over one billion excited people around the world.
People Drop Everything from Pickles to Acorns to Welcome the New Year
Millions of people watch the time ball drop in New York’s Time Square and millions more watch more unusual items drop to welcome in the New Year before their eyelids close over the New Year.
Mount Olive, North Carolina, is celebrating its twelfth annual New Year's Eve Pickle Drop on December 31, 2010, at the corner of Cucumber and Vine Streets. The festival features live music by Samantha Casey and the Bluegrass Jam, free refreshments, and a canned food drive for the Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina. The festivities start at 6 p.m. The New Year's Eve pickle descends the Mount Olive Pickle Company flagpole at 7 p.m. midnight - that's 7 o'clock EST-which also happens to be midnight Greenwich Mean Time. Festival organizers say "that way we are official, we shout Happy New Year!, and we don't have to stay up until midnight!"
Since 1992, Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina, has earned its title, "The City of Oaks," by literally dropping an acorn as a symbol of new beginnings every New Year's Eve. The acorn weighs approximately 1,250 pounds and measures about ten feet , but instead of investing in a gigantic acorn storage unit 364 days of the year, the town of Raleigh proudly displays the acorn in Moore Square. Then on New Year's Eve, technicians transport the acorn by crane to participate in the midnight count down.
Eastport, Maine, is ringing in the New Year with its fifth consecutive year of New Year's Eve festivities with the Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop. To honor both the United States and Canada, two drops will take place, one at 11 p.m. U.S. time and the other at midnight on December 31, 2010. The first drop will be a Canadian maple leaf to honor Eastport's Canadian neighbors and then a giant sardine will be dropped at midnight to commemorate the regions historic sardine fishing and canning past. Celebrations and events take place all over Eastport, but the leaf and sardine drop are held downtown at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art at Bank Square.
MSNBC calls the Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop one of America's most offbeat celebrations.
Pittsburgh Raises the Ball
Pennsylvania has numerous towns and cities that drop a variety of objects to welcome in the New Year. Hummelstown drops a lollipop. Duncannon drops a sled, Richland drops a cigar, Steelton drops an entire steamroller and Frogtown, a frog.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a 1,000 pound ball titled "The Future of Pittsburgh," will ascend 74 feet at midnight on December 31, 2010, to the top of Penn Avenue Place as people count down the passing of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. Organizers of Pittsburgh's First Night Family celebration decided to raise the ball instead of dropping it as a symbol of Pittsburgh's revitalization and the hope of a Happy New Year and prosperous future.
References
Aveni, Anthony. Book of the Year: A Brief History of our Holidays. Oxford University Press, 2002
Jones, Lynda. Kids Around the World Celebrate!: The Best Feasts and Festivals from Many Lands. Jassey-Brass, 1999
