The holiday season is coming to a close, and as usual, it's gonna go out with a bang (or a whisper, depending on your celebration style). As of this moment, the handy new year's countdown ticker has informed me that there are approximately 14 hours and two minutes left until midnight. Meanwhile, I have informed myself that I have approximately six hours left until I get off work.

Seeing as it is the last day of 2008, I thought I'd bust out a few stats on the beloved New Year's Eve Ball that drops each year like clockwork (ha ha) in Times Square. Since 1904, the year of the inaugural drop, the New Year's Ball has gone through many makeovers. This year, they've made it bigger and brighter than ever before.

So get ready for some fascinating factoids about this iconic sphere:

• The new 2009 Times Square New Years's Eve Ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere making it twice the size of previous Balls.
• It weighs 11,875 lbs (compared its original 200 lbs).
• Decorated in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 LEDS, this ball is capable of producing a palette of more than 16 million colors and billions of different patterns, sure to entrance and mystify bystanders and the world at large.
• The Ball is 10--20% more energy efficient than last year and uses the same amount of energy per hour as it would take to power two home ovens.
• $5 million was spent building a permanent perch for the Times Square Ball, so it could be displayed year round.

If you can't make it to NYC tonight or find something better to do that sit in front of a TV at midnight, don't fret. You will still have ample opportunity to witness the greatness that is the Times Square Ball. Starting this year, it will become a permanent attraction for all to revel in. That's all for now, folks. Happy New Years!

–Erin

The photo is taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.

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