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Tech History Behind New York's New Year's Eve Ball
Toe, The writes "A perennial icon of New Year's Eve is the geodesic ball which first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Over the past century, there have been seven iterations of this ball. The first one, made out of iron and wood, weighed 400 pounds and sported one hundred 25-watt bulbs. The current ball weighs almost six tons and uses 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDs. The designers expect there to be more tech improvements to the ball soon. What do you think of the ball and the bizarre status it holds in our culture? How would you change it for years to come?"
So what happened to the other 512?
Are they on a private network?
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
Growing up in Idaho, nobody particularly cared about the ball. Is this just an East Coast thing?
In the future, the ball should float in the air just like my hover car.
Very little. Are there really no better stories to post at the moment?
So the current ball is... much lighter? Or is it heavier? If you're not going to use the metric system, at least use consistent units.
Yes yes, get off my lawn. Happy new year.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
It should drop and explode and 500 zerglings should pop out. It would be cool, because I live far away, and im sure our marines would have teched by then.
Most traditions are stupid and pointless from an outsider's viewpoint.
But to answer the question posed in TFS, "How would you change it for years to come?", I would have it spray viscous white fluid all over the assembled masses at the stroke of midnight.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
"Foley says it's a team of about six people who operate and take care of the ball year round."
They must be members of the Ball Handlers Union.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I'm more surprised by How much weight the ball has gained in the past 30 years. The ball used through 1980 weighed only 150 pounds. Our newest iteration weights over eleven thousand pounds. I know plenty of people who have put on some weight lately, but I don't know anyone currently over the age of 30 who saw their own weight increase one-hundred fold in the past 30 years.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What do you think of the ball and the bizarre status it holds in our culture?
None. It's a Dick Clark thing.
How would you change it for years to come?
For the exception of this comment, I have never thought of it nor will I ever. I don't give a shit. Of all the shit happening in my life, this low tech ball with light bulbs (LEDs? BFD!) is completely meaningless to me. Jan 1 is just another fucking date on the calendar.
Tonight, I'll watch a movie with my wife and then go to bed at 10PM and wake up tomorrow with the same fucking problems I have today. Valentines Day means more to me than this holiday.
Watching a dropped ball was a historical way of setting a marine chronometer up and until the advent of radio signals. Pre 1920 watching a dropping ball was essential tech.
from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_chronometer
It was common for ships at the time to observe a time ball, such as the one at Greenwich, to check their chronometers before departing on a long voyage. Every day, ships would anchor briefly in the River Thames at Greenwich, waiting for the ball at the observatory to drop at precisely 1pm.
Nothing worse than in the Midwest where we're only delayed an hour and yet we watch the ball go down in NY and then wait through an hour of more after-ball-dropped third string acts to see the ball drop again. God it's painful.
... a Death Star!
That's no moon!
Have gnu, will travel.
What would I do to improve it?
Drop the damn thing. It's boring as hell watching it slowly slide down a big pole. Actually drop it like a gallows drop or a bungee jumper diving off.
Nothing worse than in the Midwest where we're only delayed an hour and yet we watch the ball go down in NY and then wait through an hour of more after-ball-dropped third string acts to see the ball drop again. God it's painful.
What kind of twisted masochist are you that watches that stupid thing more than once? Don't you have anything else on the TV where you live? Gillagan's Island reruns? Hell man, you could log into Slashdot. Even that would be better. You need help.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!