The USNO Millennium Time Ball
Tonight, many will watch in person, online, or on television, as a jeweled ball drops in Times Square in New York City at exactly midnight to mark the arrival of the New Year, 2022. In past years, the crowd in Times Square numbered up to a million people. This year, as a result of the pandemic, there will be only a few thousand in attendance.
Nevertheless, the ball will still drop at midnight. The six-ton Waterford crystal ball covered in 32,276 LED lights will not actually be “dropped” but lowered from a flag pole on the roof of One Times Square. In New York City, the tradition dates back to 1907. But where did the tradition of dropping a ball to mark the time originate?
The practice dates back to 1829 and was related to helping sailors calculate their position at sea. Here is an updated repost.
We recently posted about how on the 80th anniversary of the
Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (
Kites may be returning to provide wind-assisted propulsion to commercial ships. In January of next year, the 5,200 dwt 
Seventeen years ago, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil-production platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The wells associated with the platform have been leaking ever since and may be one of the largest and longest-running offshore spills in US history. 
An interesting article from the 
An updated holiday season repost.
Last Tuesday, 
In 2014, we 
On June 21, 1898, 
In early November,