World Events Live: 12/02/11

Friday, December 2, 2011

Miami New Year's Eve 2012 Fireworks Live Stream, Party Bayfront Park Online Feed

Downtown Miami plays host to the biggest and most spectacular display of fireworks on the water in South Floridaas 2011 makes way for the New Year 2012. Yachts from all over Miami anchor around the fireworks platform while surrounded by the ever expanding and brightly lit skyline of Downtown Miami and Brickell in the near background. New Year’s Eve in Miami Beach will be a dazzling spectacle of fireworks, music and magic attracting people from all over the world who are determined to celebrate in a city where the weather, the people and the party spots are always hot.

For the largest free New Year’s party in south Florida, head to Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. There you’ll be joined by around 250,000 others to witness the ascent of the 35-ft smiley-faced neon icon ‘Big Orange’, as it creeps up the side of the Intercontinental Hotel over a six hour period, followed by a massive fireworks display over Biscayne Bay. Bayfront Park is a 32-acre (13 ha) public, urban park in Downtown Miami, Florida on Biscayne Bay.

The Bayfront Park Amphitheater has a seating capacity of 10,000 people: 2,672 fixed benches and 7,328 in the lawn. The Tina Hills Pavilion is an open air pavilion with a seating capacity of 1,000 people: 200 fixed seats and 800 in the lawn. Bayfront Park is bordered on the north by Bayside Marketplace and the American Airlines Arena, on the south by Chopin Plaza, on the west by Biscayne Boulevard and on the east by Biscayne Bay. Bayfront Park is host to many large events such as the New Year's ball drop, Christmas celebrations, concerts, the Bayfront Park Amphitheater, the Tina Hills Pavilion, as well as boat tours around Biscayne Bay.

Vancouver Santa Claus Parade 2011 Live Stream, Rogers' Parade Online Feed

Santa Claus parades or Christmas pageants are parades held in some countries to celebrate the official opening of the Christmas season with the arrival of Santa Claus. The parades usually include themed floats, dancing or marching groups and bands playing Christmas songs. They are moving pageants that typically end near the center of a city. Often sponsored by department stores, they may reinforce the store's brand recognition during the important Christmas shopping season.

It is a direct descendant of late Medieval and Renaissance revivals of Roman Triumphs, which had music and banners, wagons filled with the spoils of war, and climaxed with the dux riding in a chariot, preferably drawn by two horses, and thus called the biga. (A quadriga such as surmounts the Brandenburg Gate is drawn by four horses.) Similarly, the climax of a Santa Claus parade is always Santa in his sleigh, drawn by eight reindeer (an octigia). Roman Triumphs were themselves consciously modeled on ceremonies honoring the gods, and Santa Claus himself is the descendant of Saint Nicholas. The Santa Claus parade directly corresponds to the modern triumphal entry of Santa Claus.

In Vancouver, the Rogers' Santa Claus Parade has also grown to be one of the largest, with 65 floats and bands. A special train also comes around in the parade, collecting donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. In 2005, the parade collected over 4,300 kg of food and 2,300 toy donations.

Berlin New Year's Eve 2012 Live Stream Fireworks, Brandenburg Gate NYE Events

Germans call New Year's Eve Silvester because 31 December is the feast day of St. Sylvester. Since 1972, each New Year's Eve, several German television stations broadcast a short comedy play in English (recorded by West German television in 1963) entitled Dinner for One. A line from the comedy sketch, "the same procedure as every year", has become a catch phrase in Germany.[8] Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in all of Europe which is attended by over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate and the fireworks at midnight are centered on that location. Germans have a reputation for spending large amounts of money on firecrackers and fireworks, and so fireworks are to be seen all over the country on this night. When the clock strikes midnight on Silvester, Germans toast the New Year with a glass of Sekt (German sparkling wine) or champagne. 'Bleigießen' is another German New Year's Eve custom, which involves telling fortunes by the shapes made by molten lead dropped into cold water.

New Year's Eve or Old Year's Night is observed on December 31, the final day of the Gregorian year, the day before New Year's Day. New Year's Eve is a separate observance from the observance of New Year's Day.

Rock n Roll Las Vegas Marathon 2011 Live Stream, Web Cam Feed in Vegas

The Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon & 1/2 Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race run in and around Las Vegas, Nevada. The race is one of the oldest marathons in the United States, having been run since 1967.

The marathon was organized by Al Boka since 1983, who sold the marathon in 2005 to Devine Racing, a Chicago-based race organization company that is responsible for several other races, including the Los Angeles Marathon. Zappos.com will be the title sponsor for this event through 2009.

Devine redubbed the race as "The Zappos.com Las Vegas Marathon", and updated the course to include the Strip. Introduced on December 4 2005, the new course marks one of the rare occasions that the Strip is closed to traffic. Prior to that, the course had run on the old Los Angeles Highway, beginning in the community of Jean, Nevada, and ending outside of the City of Las Vegas in the county's Sunset Park.

Additionally in 2005, the date of the marathon was changed from January to December to help ensure better weather.

In 2009, the Las Vegas Marathon was acquired from Devine Racing by the Competitor Group and incorporated into its successful Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. Zappos.com and the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) have signed on as official partners for this event and the official name of the event was changed to Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and ½ Marathon powered by Zappos.com for the benefit off Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.