Have a happy new year guys !


From Sydney :

1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqimecWFJeg


2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDyljCOohrI

Looks like you beat me to it, Rovira. Happy new year, everyone. I'll formally wish you all once it's midnight Eastern time, but the new year is not too far away from you, Rovira. I always enjoy the Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks celebrations - they're so beautiful and breathtaking in the way they're concocted. I guess that I also enjoy them even more because it's Summer over there at this time.

Ever heard the saying "once in a blue moon"? Well, a blue moon will actually appear in the sky this evening (the last time a blue moon appeared on New Year's Eve was 1990) and can be seen over North America, as was the case in both Australia and New Zealand. A "blue moon" occurs when a full moon appears twice in a given month. The time it takes for the moon to make one complete revolution around the Earth is about 29 to 29.5 days, so for approximately every three years does a full moon appear twice in a month - this year just so happened to be on New Year's Eve (and in time for bringing in the next decade to boot), an occurrence that surely fits perfectly into the saying, "once in a blue moon"! In addition, a partial lunar eclipse will also be greeting folks in Africa, Europe and Asia for their New Year's Eve, so it seems that much of the globe has already or will be treated to some form of a lunar spectacle. A blue moon in the literal sense is an optical effect that is generated by the atmosphere - this often happens following a large volcanic eruption emitting copious amounts of dust and other volcanic debris into the air, but that is not the case for tonight's moon phase.

The only problem is that the weather isn't so much cooperating due to periods of flurries and overall overcasted conditions, but if we're fortunate enough, we may see some clear breaks in between this evening.

Edit: Be sure to keep an eye out for the celebrations, in general, where 2010 has already arrived.

Trav.

Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy new year and all the best for 2010. Not only a new year has arrived, but the starting of another decade as well. I just can't believe that 10 years have come and gone already.

Best wishes,

~Travis.~

Excellent display from London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdU-YUSzkUI

Not a bad finale, too.

Trav.

I heard that the New Year's display in Sydney possessed approximately $5 million worth of fireworks. Has the figure gone up over the years? Either way, that's just phenomenal.

Now that New Year's is over, we must endure January - this month is so...bleak. Well, for me at least! I guess that I shouldn't complain too much, though, as the days are getting slowly longer and temperatures, overall, haven't been too bad as compared to the last few years in the November to early January period. Snow amounts are, so far, less as well.

Trav.