APIA, Samoa ? Cheers erupted in the streets of Samoa on Sunday as New Year's Eve revelers on the South Pacific island nation greeted the start of 2012 with extra excitement: For once, they were the first in the world to welcome the new year, rather than the last.
The celebrations had really begun a full 24 hours earlier, when Samoa and neighboring Tokelau hopped across the international date line, skipping Friday and moving instantly from Thursday to Saturday. The time-jump revelry that began as 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 31 spilled into the night, with Samoans and tourists crowding around beaches and pools to toast the start of the new year.
Samoa and Tokelau lie near the date line that zigzags vertically through the Pacific Ocean, and both sets of islands decided to realign themselves this year from the Americas side of the line to the Asia side, to be more in tune with key trading partners.
"Everyone is happy right now," said Mao Visita, who was celebrating the beginning of the new year at the popular Aggie Grey's hotel in the capital, Apia. "The party is still going on with plenty of music."
Things were slightly less festive in New Zealand, the next major country to welcome 2012, where torrential rains and thunderstorms canceled fireworks displays in the capital, Wellington, the North Island city of Palmerston North and at the popular Mount Maunganui beach area. Aucklanders had better luck, with thousands crowding the city to watch a glittering fireworks display over Sky Tower.
Elsewhere across the globe, people prepared to say goodbye to a year that was marked by upheaval and mass protests in several Arab countries, economic turmoil and a seemingly endless string of devastating natural disasters.
World leaders evoked the year's events in their New Year's messages. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who starts his second term on New Year's Day, said he wants to help ensure and sustain the moves toward democracy protesters sought in the Arab Spring.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the new year would be more difficult than 2011 but that dealing with Europe's debt crisis would bring the countries closer. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wished well-being and prosperity to all Russians "regardless of their political persuasion" after large-scale protests against him.
In Australia, more than a million people were crowded along the shores of Sydney's shimmering harbor, awaiting the midnight fireworks extravaganza over Harbour Bridge. The display was designed around the theme "Time to Dream," a nod to the eagerness many felt at moving forward after the rough year.
Some of the fireworks were expected to explode in the shape of clouds ? "Because every cloud has a silver lining," said Aneurin Coffey, the producer of Sydney's festivities. Colorful lights will be beamed onto the center of the bridge forming an "endless rainbow" meant to evoke hope.
Many were eager for a fresh start.
"I've had enough this year," said 68-year-old Sandra Cameron, who lost nearly everything she owned when her home in Australia's Queensland state was flooded to the ceiling during a cyclone in February. "It's gotta be a better year next year."
For Japan, 2011 was the year the nation was struck by a giant tsunami and earthquake that left an entire coastline destroyed, nearly 20,000 people dead or missing and the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in meltdown.
At the year's end, many were reflecting on the fragility of life, while quietly determined to recover.
"For me, the biggest thing that defined this year was the disaster in March," said Miku Sano, 28, a nursing student in Fukushima city. "Honestly, I didn't know what to say to these people, who had to fight sickness while living in fear about ever being able to go back home. The radiation levels in the city of Fukushima, where I live, are definitely not low, and we don't know how that is going to affect our health in the future."
People in Japan were expected to spend Saturday visiting shrines and temples, offering their first prayers for the year. The giant hanging bells at temples will ring 108 times to purify the world of evil and bring good luck.
University student Kouichi Takayama said 2011 was a year he would never forget.
"It was a year I felt the preciousness of life with a passion," he said. "But I was also able to catch a glimpse of the warmth of human relations, and reconfirm my gratitude for family, community and everyday life. I hope I can connect meaningfully with more people next year to create a Japan that truly endures toward the future."
In the southern Philippine city of Cagayan de Oro, people were still coping with the aftermath of a tropical storm and flash flooding that killed more than 1,200.
For Ana Caneda, a disaster relief official in the badly hit city, the new year "offers a new ray of hope."
"It's going to be a relief to write the date 2012, not 2011," Caneda said.
In Hong Kong, more than 400,000 people were expected to watch a 4-minute, $1 million display of fireworks that will shoot off from 10 skyscrapers, lighting up Victoria Harbour.
Raymond Lo, a master of feng shui ? the Chinese art of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck ? said he wasn't surprised that 2011 was such a tumultuous year because it was associated with the natural elements of metal and wood. The year's natural disasters were foreshadowed, Lo said, because wood ? which represents trees and nature ? was attacked by metal.
2012 could be better because it's associated with ocean water, which represents energy and drive and the washing away of old habits, Lo said.
"Big water also means charity, generosity," Lo said. "Therefore that means sharing. That means maybe the big tycoons will share some of their wealth."
___
Gelineau reported from Sydney. Associated Press writers Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Philippines, Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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Source: Pwinsider
On the coldest days in Wisconsin, my toes? best chance at avoiding numbness lie in a thick pair of wool socks. Wool keeps out the cold because it is an excellent insulator. Crimped and crisscrossed woolen fibers create tons of little air pockets. The tiny air masses within my socks have difficulty moving in and out of the fabric. Without convective heat transfer and contact with air of other temperatures, the spaces between wool fibers maintains a steady temperature. That temperature is warmer than winter?s, allowing wool to form a welcoming cocoon with warm, stagnant air.
Sometimes a snowflake drifts down from the sky and lands on my coat sleeve as a symmetrical, stunning surprise. But other times it seems as though the sky is simply dropping softly frozen clumps. Of interest for centuries, the delicacy and variability of frozen precipitation was even studied by the likes of Johannes Kepler and Ren? Descartes. In 1954, a Japanese physicist, Ukichiro Nakaya, classified types of snowflakes for the first time. The current system for making sense of snowflake formation is based on two factors: temperature and humidity.
The science of snowflakes is fascinating and to learn more (or just to see some awesome images) I have a couple recommendations. If you?re interested to see a graphic representation of various crystals forming at different temperature and humidities, I recommend page 860 of ?The physics of snow crystals.? Or check out old-school sketches of 80 simple but fascinating snow crystals by Magono and Lee in a modification of Nakaya?s classification system: ?Meteorological classification of natural snow crystals.?
"...is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." Or, no matter how much you work, it won't mean anything if you weren't heading toward something. 
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