WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Do We Drop a Ball on New Year's Eve?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel Bomb here with a special holiday classic for you.

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<v Speaker 1>In this one, we go into the traditions behind the

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<v Speaker 1>New Year's Eve ball drop. I mean, countdowns seem natural,

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<v Speaker 1>but why the drop? Plus how the ball drop led

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<v Speaker 1>to celebrants dropping all kinds of other things to ring

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<v Speaker 1>in the new year. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel Bomb Here.

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<v Speaker 1>Every December thirty first, wrongs of revelers eager to ring

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<v Speaker 1>in a new year crowd into New York City's Times

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<v Speaker 1>Square in the final minutes of the year. As the

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<v Speaker 1>clock ticks away seconds towards midnight, an opulent, oversized ball

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<v Speaker 1>descends from above, and when it reaches its destination, the

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<v Speaker 1>crowd cheers. The current Times Square ball is the seventh

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<v Speaker 1>version to perform the duty of ringing in the new year.

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<v Speaker 1>The tradition began in nineteen oh seven, when a ball

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<v Speaker 1>made of iron and wood covered in one hundred light

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<v Speaker 1>bulbs descended a flagpole. The latest version of the ball

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<v Speaker 1>boasts two thousand, six hundred and eighty eight crystal triangles

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<v Speaker 1>and thirty two two hundred and fifty six led modules.

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<v Speaker 1>The new Year's ball drop has its roots in naval history,

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<v Speaker 1>inspired by the time balls introduced in the early eighteen hundreds.

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<v Speaker 1>These devices were affixed to towers and coastal towns and

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<v Speaker 1>would drop a ball at a precise moment of the

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<v Speaker 1>day to alert nearby ship's captains when to precisely set

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<v Speaker 1>their navigational tools called chronometers. The current New Year's tradition

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<v Speaker 1>is a particularly American affair, and the times square ball

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<v Speaker 1>drop has inspired numerous imitators around the country and even

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<v Speaker 1>around the world. So today, which is New Year's Eve,

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<v Speaker 1>if you're listening on the day that this episode comes out,

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to share some of the weirdest, most wonderful

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<v Speaker 1>things people drop to ring in the New year. For

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<v Speaker 1>more than two decades, a city in central Pennsylvania has

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<v Speaker 1>celebrated the turn of the calendar by dropping a mass

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<v Speaker 1>of bologney. The spiced tube meat is popular in the region,

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<v Speaker 1>and Lebanon, Pennsylvania, is home to several producers. Plus there's

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<v Speaker 1>an annual balooney festival every January. For the first twenty

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<v Speaker 1>years of the New Year's event, a single two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>pound bloony that's about ninety kilos would be lowered by

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<v Speaker 1>an industrial crane right before midnight. In twenty sixteen, though,

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<v Speaker 1>the tradition shifted from one massive boloone to twenty individual

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<v Speaker 1>blocks of bolony weighing in at ten pounds or four

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<v Speaker 1>and a half kilos each. The reason for the change

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<v Speaker 1>the organizers of the annual event donate the meat to

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<v Speaker 1>charity after the drop, and it took too long in

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<v Speaker 1>the hours after midnight to slice up one gigantic baloney. Apparently,

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<v Speaker 1>for twenty twenty, a disco ball will be attached to

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<v Speaker 1>the bolony. Let's go next to Saint George's, Bermuda, where

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<v Speaker 1>revelers don't just get to celebrate a few hours before

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<v Speaker 1>most of the rest of the Western Hemisphere. They get

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<v Speaker 1>to watch a gigantic onion drop at the stroke of

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<v Speaker 1>midnight as musicians, artists, performers and street food vendors liven

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<v Speaker 1>up King's Square. Saint George's, founded in sixteen twelve, was

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<v Speaker 1>Bermuda's first English settlement, and the island became a major

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<v Speaker 1>producer and exporter of onions. A glittering golden onion covered

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<v Speaker 1>in light bulbs descends above the square, which overlooks Hamilton

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<v Speaker 1>Harbor and a laser show and fireworks traditionally follow the event,

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<v Speaker 1>but back to Pennsylvania. In addition to the Beoloni that

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<v Speaker 1>drops in Lebanon, a less than two hours away, the

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<v Speaker 1>city of Bethlehem celebrates with an enormous peep drop that

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<v Speaker 1>wraps up a two day celebration known as Peep's Fest.

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<v Speaker 1>This sugary and divisive marshmallow confection is generally produced in

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<v Speaker 1>the shape of a bird, and it's most commonly found

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<v Speaker 1>in the US around the Easter holiday. Just Born. The

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<v Speaker 1>Bethlehem based candy company responsible for Peeps also makes Mike

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<v Speaker 1>and Ikes and Hot Tomali's. The giant peep dropped on

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<v Speaker 1>New Year's Eve weighs four hundred pounds that's about one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and eighty kilos. And finally, let's head to sunny

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<v Speaker 1>Arizona and the city of show Low. This locale gets

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<v Speaker 1>its unique name from its days as a frontier town

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<v Speaker 1>without a name. The story goes that two rival cowboys

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<v Speaker 1>and ranch co odors were playing an extended game of poker,

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<v Speaker 1>and the loser would vacate the city, leaving the other

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<v Speaker 1>with hundreds of acres of land. The deciding hand in

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<v Speaker 1>who would stay and who would go, according to city lore,

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<v Speaker 1>would belong to whichever cowboy could show Low by holding

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<v Speaker 1>the lowest value card possible, and the winner turned over

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<v Speaker 1>a two of Clubs. These days, not only is the

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<v Speaker 1>city's main street named Deuce of Clubs, but show Low

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<v Speaker 1>drops a colossal illuminated playing card every December thirty first.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just a block away from where a statue commemorating

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<v Speaker 1>the card game once stood Once stood. Because the original

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<v Speaker 1>fiberglass statue accidentally burned down during a candlelight vigil in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen, it's being replaced by a bronze one. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>to a safe and flame free New Year's Eve. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article for totally random things

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<v Speaker 1>people drop on New Year's Eve on how stuffworks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Christopher Hasiotis. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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<v Speaker 1>favorite shows.