Friday, December 28, 2007

New Year's Eve at Times Square, going green

No, they aren't going to get rid of the tons of confetti; however, the ball is going high-tech. This year's 100 Anniversary ball was made out of L.E.D.'s (light-emitting diodes). Very super cool. :) (FYI - the celebration started in 1904, but 1908 was the first time they dropped the ball.)

To quote from the NY Times regarding how much power the ball is going to save:
"...The new ball will use about 15,000 watts compared to the old ball’s 30,000 watts....Power up 10 toasters, keep them toasting for six hours — the length of time the ball is lighted — and that will be the equivalent amount of electricity. “With half the amount of power, you’re getting twice the amount of light, so it’s four times more efficient,” said Brett Andersen, general manager of Focus Lighting."

I have family in town for the weekend, we're planning to watch the ball drop from 7th Avenue and Central Park South, and then stroll through Central Park to watch the fireworks. :)

What are you doing for New Year's Eve?

-Bitter

For information regarding the New Year's Eve Celebration at Times Square, click here.

4 comments:

  1. How is the crowd on 7th and Central Park South? Can I just show up at 11pm and expect to see something? Happy New Year.

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  2. I "think" that you can show up at 11:00 and be fine. If it's frigid outside, you should be fine. :) But if it's warm, then I think you'd better show up a little earlier.

    Two years ago, I showed up at 11:50 w/ my cousin and if we'd arrived 20-30 minutes earlier we would have been able to see the ball drop. As it was, we missed the ball, but got to see the crowd and Times Square.

    Report back to us, and let us know what time you showed up and if you could see. :)

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  3. As requested--

    My friends and I went down to 7th and Central Park South around 11 last night. It was moderately crowded, but not too bad. We got a spot in the park just north of 7th Ave and had a great, albeit distant, view of the ball dropping. Then, we got to see the central park fire works to our north. It was definitely a good spot and I recommend it for next year.

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  4. I hear you had fun dancing and watching fireworks after the ball dropped. Maybe we'll have to plan a trip out to visit you for New Years. Wouldn't that be a blast? Of course, we'd have to leave the boys home. We did let them stay up until midnight this year--eastern time. Ha, Ha. I think they'll figure our next year that staying up until 9:00 isn't much of a treat. We'll see.

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