The 101-Year History of the Times Square Ball Drop

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	The 101-Year History of the Times Square Ball Drop

mmcnatt

1-31-2009 2:57 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/b00aabbb-514b-4193-acfd-347f68e8c2d6/7F855A94-1B6A-4F08-B85A-FA8322BB500D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt" href="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt" style="font-size: 11px;">www.divinecaroline.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt"><H1 class="title">The 101-Year History of the Times Square Ball Drop</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.divinecaroline.com/img/0696CBA8-4BB2-4711-BE64-5BBB6E22EB6B" alt="The 101-Year History of the Times Square Ball Drop" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt"><P>If you had to guess at the origins of the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve, I doubt you would think it had a nautical beginning, but that’s exactly where it comes from. A time ball is a large, painted ball made from metal or wood. Situated on the top of observatories or time stations, it was dropped at a precise time so that sailors could check their marine chronometers and determine their longitude, which helped with navigation. The first ball was erected in 1829 in Portsmouth by its inventor Robert Wauchope. The first principal time ball was installed atop England’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833 and was lowered daily at 1 p.m. After radio time signals were established in 1924, the balls became obsolete. However, at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington  DC, a time ball descends from a flagpole at noon each day.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt"><B>Interesting Ball-Dropping Facts</B></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22360/63068-101-year-history-times-square-ball?CMP=ILC-MoreFromWdgt"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">In      1907, the first year the ball dropped, it was one second late</LI></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/7F855A94-1B6A-4F08-B85A-FA8322BB500D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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