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TUESDAY JAN 1, 2008, (News Locale) - The customary falling of an illuminated ball at the Times Square ushered in the New Year in New York witnessed live by about a million revelers and more than a billion others on television worldwide on Monday.
A mild winter coupled with cloud-less skies encouraged thousands of enthusiastic revelers to gather at the Times Square – the most popular New Year celebration site in the US, to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the renowned orb.
The countdown to the New Year celebrations at the Times Square began at 6 pm with the lighting and elevation of the New Year's Eve Ball above the One Times Square.
A new, energy-efficient ball, fitted with 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs that consume about the same amount of electricity that takes to ignite a single kitchen oven, was created to observe the 100th anniversary of the ball lowering celebration this year.
The 550-kg ball, studded with Waterford crystal and mirrors, descended its 23.5-meter flagpole at midnight with twice the brightness as 2007 at the dawn of 2008 amidst the ear-splitting cheers of a million revelers.
According to Philips Lighting, the company that created the light-emitting diodes or LED bulbs for the event said that they had put up more than twice as bright as the lights on last year's ball.
The new lights created more than 16 million colors against 672 Waterford crystal triangles displayed in stylized, glowing sunbursts that covered the ball's surface. On the other hand, the Times Square Alliance, the business group running the show, distributed thousands of balloons and mittens to the crowd that waited for hours in the chilly weather for the main event.
But the New Year celebrations had actually begun much before the countdown as thousands of spectators enjoyed an hours-long show that featured music stars like Kid Rock, Jordin Sparks, Carrie Underwood and The Bravery.
And at the stroke of midnight fireworks illuminated the sky and more than two tons of confetti, a multitude of small pieces of colored paper, rained down from the adjoining skyscrapers as the New Year was ushered in. Some of the confetti included wishes from people from around the world.
Incidentally, keep in view the alarming rise in terrorist activities around the world, the New Year celebrations were held amidst tight security arrangements and the visitors had to undergo strict security vigilance and checks. While the police patrolled the entire area with sniffer dogs, helicopters made frequent sorties above the Times Square and counter-terrorism forces as well as FBI agents were deployed at strategic points. Alcohol was strictly prohibited.
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