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American History

underpants

(187,777 posts)

1. Very interesting

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Tue Dec 31, 2024, 11:26 AM

Dec 31

That harkens back to a longstanding maritime tradition of ports dropping a ball at a specific time every day, allowing ship captains to precisely adjust their navigational instruments. Famous examples include England's Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. — both of which still lower balls daily (at 1 p.m. and noon, respectively).

Time balls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_ball

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Why do we drop a ball on New Year's Eve? The Times Square tradition, explained [View all] mahatmakanejeeves Dec 31 OP

Very interesting underpants Dec 31 #1

"Why do we drop a ball on New Year's Eve?" sdfernando Dec 31 #2