…cool new year’s facts

heres some cool new years facts you might not know...

ancient history! the first ever recorded new year was celebrated 4,000 years ago by the ancient babylonians.

drivers beware!! the two biggest days of the year for car theft are new year's eve and new year's day!  more vehicles are stolen on new year’s day than any other holiday!

go red! in italy, people wear red underwear on new year’s day to bring good luck all year long.

lucky vs yucky foods!  on new years day eat black eyed peas, ham and cabbage. they’ll bring you good luck. don’t eat lobster ‘cause they move backwards or chicken ‘cause they scratch backward and eating them will cause reverse and that's bad luck.

kiss me!…ack! according to old english and german forklore, the first person you come across and how you greet him/her in the new year will set the tone for the next 12 months. so…be sure to give him/her/it a HUGE HUG and a BIG SMOOCHEROO!! and, for couples…if you don’t lock lips at midnight your relationship might not be so bright the rest of the year. ugh!

numero uno!!   the first place on earth to ring in the start of 2015 is the island of kiritimati (aka christmas island) in the pacific. “kukurei boou rikiri!” that’s happy new year in gilbertese, the language of the island.

waaaa it’s past my bedtime! using a baby to signify the new year began in ancient greece around 600 B.C.

watch it!  the most-watched new year's eve broadcast in the world is "dick clark's new year's rockin' eve." it started in 1972 with just a couple cameras and a skeleton crew and still keeps on rocking to this day.

crystal ball!  in 1907 (3 years after the first times square new year’s celebration) fireworks were banned and instead, officials lowered a 700 pound iron and wood ball from a flagpole. today’s ball weighs 11,875 pounds, has 32, 256 led lights and 2,688 crystals.

keep your eye on the ball!  over one billion people worldwide watch the times square ball drop every year.

scare 'em away! noise making and fireworks on new year's eve is believed to have originated in ancient times when noise and fire were thought to dispel evil spirits and bring good luck.

the BIG BANG!  dubai holds the record for the world’s largest ever new year’s fireworks display. 479,651 shells were fired off in just six minutes at a rate of almost 80k shells per minute and 1,332 fireworks per second. the world record was broken within the first minute.

you can do it! well…maybe not.  the most popular new year’s resolution is to lose weight.  sadly, by march, or even before, most everyone has given up. UGH!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

…hugs from lenny