The Ball that falls in Times Square and is aired around the world on TV has fallen for 100 times as of this year. The ball itself has been changed and updated, however the routine is the same years after year.
The new ball is lighted with 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs that use about the same amount of electricity as it takes to power a single kitchen oven.Philips Lighting, which created the light-emitting diodes, or LED bulbs, for the event, says they are more than twice as bright as the lights on last year’s ball, which were a mix of more than 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs.
The new lights can create more than 16 million colors against 672 Waterford crystal triangles arrayed in stylized, radiating sunbursts that cover the ball’s surface.
That is rather impressive considering the insane amount of power I would have assumed a ball of lights that size would have to consume.
Dick Clark looks great for his age, however his voice is certainly failing. I honestly don’t know if he will be doing this much longer. He seriously is struggling to get out a whole coherent sentence. He suffered a stroke in 2004 and obviously there were some side effects. It still pleases me to see him there year after year despite his complications. He is just as much a part of the traditions as the ball itself.
