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07 December 2013

Frozen In Time: Abandoned East German Ski Resort (Photo Essay)


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By Ted Thornhill 

With old ski boots piled high on the floor; this was once a place full of fun and laughter.

But, 20 years after it was abandoned, the guests at this ski resort have been replaced with dust and mould.

Located in the mountainous Erzgebirge region of Saxony, Germany, this forgotten building was captured by German photographer Stefan Dietze, 31.


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Snow joke: Old skis and ski boots lie abandoned inside Pension Sachsenruh Hotel, located in Saxony, Germany

Snow joke: Old skis and ski boots lie abandoned inside Pension Sachsenruh Hotel, located in Saxony, Germany


Bleak: TVs lie forgotten inside the abandoned Pension Sachsenruh Hotel

Bleak: TVs lie forgotten inside the abandoned hotel


The images were taken by German photographer Stefan Dietze

Grim: This photograph of a bedroom corridor could be a scene from a horror film and would be unrecognisable to the guests that once stayed here


‘I decided to visit the Pension Sachsenruh Hotel after I found an old postcard on the internet, and that piqued my interest,’ explains Stefan, of Leipzig, Germany.


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‘The hotel looked very glamorous from the outside and I wanted to find out how much of that old glory was still left inside.

‘I started researching the building and discovered that during the summer people would arrive at the hotel, ready to enjoy hiking holidays and in the winter it was used by skiers.


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Socialist heritage: The hotel was abandoned in 1992 and was located in former East Germany

Socialist heritage: The hotel was located in former East Germany and its once luxury looks have been replaced by peeling wallpaper and rotting wood


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Haunting: Some parts of the hotel are still arranged as guests might have left them

Haunting: Some parts of the hotel are still arranged as guests might have left them


Former glory: The hotel looked very glamorous from the outside, Mr Dietze said

Food for thought: The labels on the draws and cupboard give away that this is the hotel kitchen, with mehl meaning flour, salz translating as salt, starke as starch and zucker means sugar


Halcyon days: The hotel would once have been a place of fun and laughter

Dangerous: Lots of foodstuffs still reside in the hotel, but probably aren't fit for consumption anymore


‘In one of the many adjoining buildings there was a big pile of skis and boots lying in piles on the floor.

‘This gave me the impression that a group had just returned from their cross country skiing trip and had hurried into the attached restaurant to warm up with a nice cup of tea.’

After being abandoned in 1992, this 20th century hotel is still home to old ski equipment, kitchen appliances and broken TVs, which have lain still for over 20 years.


Sheer chance: Mr Dietze discovered the hotel on an old postcard that had been uploaded to the internet

Light fantastic: The sunlight beaming through this partially stain-glassed window serves to illuminate the dilapidated state of the hotel


Left to rot: Many people are surprised that building such as this are abandoned, said Mr Dietze

Left to rot: The door in the foreground is labelled 'admission' and the sunlight being admitted through it into the corridor lights up the hotel's dirty interior


Reaction: Mr Dietze says that most people find his pictures beautiful and romantic

Stairway to heaven: You can imagine children gleefully running down these stairs, eager to reach the snowy slopes outside 
 


Mr Dietze said: ‘For GDR (Geman Democratic Republic) standards the place was very well equipped, with all the state of the art technology of the time.

‘I saw lots of old TVs, a huge kitchen and many well-spaced rooms.

‘Most people who see my photos are astonished by the fact that seemingly intact buildings are just left to rot and people always seem to wonder why these places couldn't have been saved.


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‘Usually, people think my pictures are emotional and romantic, as they give most people the notion that everything is bound to end. 

‘When they look at my pictures they do see the beauty that was once there and how nature it slowly reconquering.’

For more of Stefan's urban exploring photographs visit facebook.com/urbexleipzig.

Impeachment Lessons






The Nineties taught us it’s not guilt that matters; it’s political will. 


By Andrew C. McCarthy 

Well whaddya know: The topic of impeachment reared its head at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. 

Jonathan Strong’s report here at NRO noted the wincing consternation of GOP-leadership aides at utterances of the “i-word” during the testimony of prominent legal experts. For the Republican establishment, it seems, history begins and ends in the 1990s: No matter how times have perilously changed, any talk of shutdowns or impeachment is bad, bad, bad. Yes, the Obama “uber-presidency,” as left-of-center law professor Jonathan Turley called it, has enveloped the nation in what he conceded is “the most serious constitutional crisis . . . of my lifetime,” but GOP strategists would just as soon have us chattering about immigration “reform” and bravely balancing the federal budget by, oh, around 2040. 

But as we discussed in this August column — back when the first anniversary of the Benghazi massacre loomed, back when many Americans still believed that if they liked their health-insurance plans, they could keep their health-insurance plans — it is not crazy to talk about impeaching President Obama. And if you’re going to have a congressional hearing about systematic presidential lawlessness, it is only natural that the word “impeachment” gets bandied about. Not only is impeachment the intended constitutional remedy for systematic presidential lawlessness; it is, practically speaking, the only remedy. 

It is beyond cavil that the president is willfully undermining the constitutional system that he swore to preserve, protect, and defend. He presumes to rewrite, and dramatically alter, the laws he vowed to execute faithfully — not once in a blue moon but as a deliberate scheme of governance. 

Before he took office, Obama boldly promised supporters that he would “fundamentally transform the United States of America.” That is just what he is doing. There is fraud in the uber-presidency, but no mystery: Most of Obama’s unconstitutional usurpations are happening in broad daylight. He brags that his “waivers” — i.e., his unilateral amending, repealing, or non-enforcement — of statutory provisions show him to be far-seeing and pragmatic, not lawless. That, of course, is the standard dictatorial self-image. Obama is the answer to Tom Friedman’s China-envying prayers. 

Just as there is no mystery in Obama’s disregard for the Constitution, there is no secret about the Constitution’s answer to executive imperialism. The Framers recognized that presidential abuse of power carried the greatest potential to wreck the republic. Adamant that the presidency they were creating must not become a monarchy, they carried on debates over the Constitution that were consumed with precluding this very real possibility. In the end, the Framers armed Congress with two responsive weapons: the power of the purse and the power of impeachment.

As we have seen through the years, the power of the purse is not a practical check on Obama. In the main, this is because the Framers, notwithstanding their prescient alarm over the problem of factions, did not anticipate the modern Left.

The Constitution assumes that the different branches of government will protect their institutional turf. That is, the Framers calculated that, faced with a Democratic president who usurps legislative prerogatives, a Democratic congressman would see himself, first and foremost, as a congressman. Valuing the duties of his office over party loyalty, he would join with other legislators to rein in executive excess.

Today’s Democrats, however, are less members of a party than of the movement Left. Their objective, like Obama’s, is fundamental transformation of a society rooted in individual liberty and private property to one modeled on top-down, redistributionist statism. Since statism advances by concentrating governmental power, Democrats — regardless of what governmental branch they happen to inhabit — rally to whatever branch holds the greatest transformative potential. Right now, that is the presidency. Thus, congressional Democrats do not insist that the president must comply with congressional statutes. Laws, after all, must be consistent with the Constitution to be valid, and are thus apt to reflect the very constitutional values the Left is trying to supplant. Democrats want the president to use the enormous raw power vested in his office by Article II to achieve statist transformation. If he does so, they will support him. They’ll get back to obsessing over the “rule of law” if, by some misfortune, the Republicans someday win another presidential election.

While Democrats quite intentionally defy the Framers’ design, Republicans frustrate it by aggressive passivity. The Constitution divides power by subject matter, not percentage of governmental control. The party that controls the House has full primacy over taxing and spending, every bit as much as the party that controls the executive branch has plenary control over prosecution decisions. Constitutional authorities are not contingent on how much, if any, control the party in question has over the rest of government. In theory, then, nothing in government can happen unless the House, with ultimate power over the purse, agrees to fund it. If a corrupt administration uses the IRS as a partisan weapon to audit and harass its detractors, the House can refuse to fund the IRS — or other parts of the executive branch — to quell executive overreach.

Nevertheless, Republicans incessantly tell supporters that, since they control only the House (just “one-half of one-third of the government,” as the tired refrain goes), they are impotent to rein in Obama’s excesses. And when conservatives in the House or Senate urge that Republicans use their command over the purse to stop Obama’s excesses — just as congressional Democrats have historically used the power of the purse to stop Republican presidents from prosecuting the Vietnam War and aiding the Nicaraguan Contras — Republican leadership turns on those conservatives with a ferocity rarely evident in their dealings with the president.

With Democrats energized by Obama’s lawbreaking, and Republicans paralyzed by the prospect of government shutdowns, there is no realistic prospect that Congress will starve Obama of funding. That leaves impeachment as the sole remaining constitutional safeguard against executive imperialism.

There is nothing else.

Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing was enlightening. To the extent that members needed educating on impeachment standards, the experts affirmed the principles we outlined in August. “High crimes and misdemeanors,” the Constitution’s standard for impeachment, are the misdeeds of high officials — what Hamilton referred to as abuses of the “public trust,” violations of a “political” nature in the sense that “they relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself.”

Hamilton’s emphasis on “political” is salient. It is the point that Republican leaders, still licking their wounds 13 years after Bill Clinton left the Oval Office, must grasp if they are ever to take the right lesson from the Nineties.

Impeachment is a political remedy, not a legal one. Thus the quasi-legal component — proving high crimes and misdemeanors — is the easy part. As a practical matter, fundamental transformation cannot occur without high crimes and misdemeanors being committed against the constitutional order that is being transformed. That’s the whole point.

So, as one would expect, President Obama is intentionally and sweepingly violating his oath of office. He is not faithfully executing federal law — he picks, chooses, “waives,” and generally makes up law as he goes along. He has willfully and materially misled the American people — his Obamacare and Benghazi lies being only the most notorious examples. He has been woefully derelict in his duty to protect and defend Americans overseas. His administration trumped up a shameful prosecution (under the guise of a “supervised release violation”) against a filmmaker in order to bolster the “Benghazi massacre was caused by an anti-Muslim video” charade. His administration has used the federal bureaucracy to usurp Congress’s legislative powers and to punish political enemies. Obama has presumed to make recess appointments when Congress was not in recess. His administration intentionally allowed firearms to be transferred to Mexican drug cartels, predictably resulting in numerous violent crimes, including the murder of a Border Patrol agent. His administration — and, in particular, the Justice Department — has routinely stonewalled lawmakers and frustrated their capacity to perform agency oversight, to the point that the attorney general has been held in contempt of Congress. The Obama Justice Department, moreover, has filed vexatious lawsuits against sovereign states over their attempts to vindicate their constitutional authorities (and, indeed, to enforce federal immigration laws), while the Justice Department itself adheres to racially discriminatory enforcement policies in violation of the Constitution and federal civil-rights laws.

This is not an exhaustive list of Obama abuses, but you get the idea. If the only issue were commission of high crimes and misdemeanors, the Constitution requires only one for impeachment — not the Obama pace, which is more like one per week.

But here is the important thing: High crimes and misdemeanors are a subordinate consideration. In an impeachment case, they are necessary but they are not close to being sufficient. Because impeachment is a political remedy, its most essential component is the popular political will to remove a president from power.

The charges against Bill Clinton plainly satisfied the “high crimes and misdemeanors” threshold, and he was clearly guilty of them. But the American people obviously did not want Clinton removed over them. That is the lesson of the Clinton impeachment. It doesn’t matter what can be proved. You can have a hundred articles of impeachment; what counts is what Americans think of their president. The question is not whether the president has done wrong — that will rarely be in dispute. The question is how convinced the public is that a president’s continued hold on power profoundly threatens their safety, prosperity, and sense of what kind of country we should be.

As things now stand, the public is not convinced. There is no political will to remove the president.

Could things change? Of course they could. Richard Nixon won a landslide reelection in 1972 — prevailing by 503 electoral votes and 18 million popular votes — and resigned to avoid certain impeachment and removal less than two years later. Obama, by contrast, won a fairly close reelection (in which his popular-vote tally dropped by about 4 million from his initial election), and his approval ratings are now tanking. Yet, he remains defiant about his agenda — desperately pivoting this week from the Obamacare debacle to that old class-warfare favorite, U.S. “income inequality.” He has signaled every intention to plow ahead for the next three years with unpopular edicts. As he does so, the hard truths about his legacy health-care “reform” will be visited on tens of millions of Americans. Concurrently, his stewardship is making the world an increasingly unstable place. Obama is causing pain, and pain can change people’s minds.

Two things, however, are certain. Absent the political will to remove the president, he will remain president no matter how many high crimes and misdemeanors he stacks up. And absent the removal of the president, the United States will be fundamentally transformed.



SoRo: I am not presently calling for the impeachment of Barack Obama.  I am conflicted on the matter.  On the one hand, it will go nowhere because there are not 67 votes in the Senate to convict and remove the nation's first black President.  Recall that, even when the Republicans controlled the Senate, there were only 45 votes to convict Clinton of perjury and 50 for a conviction of obstruction of justice.  On the other hand, the Office of the Presidency has become increasingly imperial and autocratic.  Barack Obama has just taken it to such an extreme level of lawlessness that it bodes dire consequences for the nation.  It's not just him.  Bush took many actions unilaterally.  Obama has taken Bush's expansion of executive power and put it on steroids. 

Regardless of how one feels about either Bush or Obama, the imperial presidency is anti-American and anti-constitutional.   Some may not be concerned about what their guy does because the ends justify the means, but they should imagine the future.  Their 'guy' will not always be in office and, in modern times, Presidents have a way of building on the excesses of their predecessors.  If Obama is allowed to continue, what will the next President of the United States do?  Or the one after that?

Just consider this:  Obama has, unilaterally and illegally, issued waivers and carve-outs to his clientele.  What if a future President decides to issue an Executive Order directing the Internal Revenue Service not to collect taxes from his cronies on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley?   What if a future President instructs the EPA to enforce laws against one industry, but not another?  What if a future President - say the first Hispanic President of the United States - directs the Department of Justice to only enforce civil rights laws when they favour Latinos?  What if the first Muslim President decides to make it a requirement that companies with governmental contracts refrain from charging interest on the accounts of other customers?  What if the first woman President directs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give interest-free mortgages to women only regardless of means?

In America, all citizens are supposed to be treated equally under the law and the government is supposed to obey the laws that it imposes on everyone else.  Without the rule of law and equal protection under the law, we will become just another corrupt, lawlessness, and bankrupt Banana Republic.

Despite what Richard Nixon said, if it is illegal, when the President does it, it is still unlawful.  Being President (or holding any office) does not put one above the law.  And, ALL citizens should demand that their elected officials obey the laws and eschew corruption and cronyism.  After all, if our leaders don't have to obey the law, why should we?




06 December 2013

Through The Years: Christmas At Rockefeller Center (Photo Essay)



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By James Gordon 

For more than 80 years, people from around the world have flocked to see the dazzling lights of the Christmas tree at New York's Rockefeller Center. The first time New Yorkers put up a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center was in 1931.

The Depression-era workmen building the center were so grateful to have jobs that they decorated a spruce tree with strings of cranberries, paper garlands, and a few tin cans. 82 years later, the tree stands almost 80 feet tall, is fitted with 45,000 LED lights and weighs 12 tons.

A New York institution now in its 82nd year, some 40,000 LED lights (all energy efficient) on five miles of wire are wrapped around a giant Norway spruce.

Live broadcasts of the event began in 1946, according to NBC, and as the decorations have become more elaborate over the years, so has the lighting ceremony.

Millions come to see the spectacle each season, just as they have been doing for generations.

The holiday season has well and truly begun!


Lights on! Weighing 12 ton, standing 9.5 foot wide, almost 80 foot tall and travelling 70 miles from Connecticut, this year's tree certainly impressed the masses that turned out for the traditional lighting ceremony

Lights on! Weighing 12 ton, standing 9.5 foot wide, almost 80 foot tall and travelling 70 miles from Connecticut, this year's tree certainly impressed the masses that turned out for the traditional lighting ceremony


How it all began: Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York in 1931. St. Patrick's Cathedral is visible in the background on Fifth Avenue

How it all began: Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York in 1931. St. Patrick's Cathedral is visible in the background on Fifth Avenue


Tradition: With a flick of the switch, a 76-foot Norway Spruce from Connecticut officially became the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree on Wednesday night, in a ceremony that¿s been held since 1933

Tradition: With a flick of the switch, a 76-foot Norway Spruce from Connecticut officially became the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree on Wednesday night, in a ceremony that's been held since 1933 


Hark the herald angels sing: Some 45,000 energy efficient LED lights adorn the 76-foot tree (seen in the background) while angels made of wire and lights frame the Rockefeller Center

Hark the herald angels sing: Some 45,000 energy efficient LED lights adorn the 76-foot tree (seen in the background) while angels made of wire and lights frame the Rockefeller Center 


Getting bigger: Just three years in and this was the Christmas tree on the Plaza in 1934

Getting bigger: Just three years in and this was the Christmas tree on the Plaza in 1934


The way it was: No ice rink and no crowds in 1934. New York looks positively peaceful!

The way it was: No ice rink and no crowds in 1934. New York looks positively peaceful!


The tree in 1934: 79 years ago the tree was down in the pit where the ice rink is located

The tree in 1934: 79 years ago the tree was down in the pit where the ice rink is located


2002, Manhattan, New York City, New York State, USA --- Rockefeller Center's Christmas Tree --- Image by Paul Colangelo/CORBIS


Star attraction: Swarovski has provided the star for the top of the tree for 10 years. These pictures show how the tree appeared in 2004


01 Dec 2004, New York City, New York State, USA --- The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is illuminated with more than 30,000 lights shortly after a lighting ceremony at Rockefeller center. --- Image by Richard cohen/Corbis


Variety: Christmas trees in Rockefeller Center have ranged from 50-foot Pines to 100-foot Norway Spruces, Rockefeller Center says, the largest of Rockefeller Center¿s trees was the 100-year-old, 100-foot-tall, ten-ton Norway Spruce erected in 1999

Variety: Christmas trees in Rockefeller Center have ranged from 50-foot Pines to 100-foot Norway Spruces, Rockefeller Center says, the largest of Rockefeller Center¿s trees was the 100-year-old, 100-foot-tall, ten-ton Norway Spruce erected in 1999


Christmas Shopper: New York's Rockefeller Center is decked out for Christmas-and so is actress-singer Liza Minnelli, newly overwhelmed by Christmas packages in 1970

Christmas Shopper: New York's Rockefeller Center is decked out for Christmas-and so is actress-singer Liza Minnelli, newly overwhelmed by Christmas packages in 1970


December 1967: Hundreds gather to watch the lighting of the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. In the foreground is part of the decorations in the center's promenade

December 1967: Hundreds gather to watch the lighting of the giant Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. In the foreground is part of the decorations in the center's promenade


18 Dec 1956 --- Original caption: This unusual photo has three ingredients common to Christmas time in New York; Santa Claus, a Salvation Army Cadet and the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a must for tourists


The fifties: All the ingredients common to Christmas time in New York; Santa Claus, a Salvation Army Cadet and the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, a must for tourists


08 Dec 1955 --- Original caption: The world's most famous Christmas tree was lighted in Rockefellar Plaza tonight for the 23rd consecutive year, heralding the Holiday season.

How it was in 1989: What started as a seemingly simple gesture of celebration during one of the roughest times in the nation's history turned into a symbol of the start of the Christmas season in NYC

How it was in 1989: What started as a seemingly simple gesture of celebration during one of the roughest times in the nation's history turned into a symbol of the start of the Christmas season in NYC


Valerie Clarebout, English sculptor is shown putting finishing touches to her heroic wire angels, sculptured for Rockefeller Center's Christmas display and the Saks Fifth Avenue facade, before they were sent from her studio for wiring and welding
 

Angel of mine: Glittering angels lining the promenade at Rockefeller Center frame more of the celestials brightly ornamenting the facade of Saks Fifth Avenue, across the street. Many such elaborate Christmas decorations along fashionable Fifth Avenue have turned it into a wonderland of light.


Glittering angels lining the promenade at Rockefeller Center frame more of the celestials brightly ornamenting the facade of Saks Fifth Avenue, across the street.


Santa's coming to down: Santa Claus skates with some children at the Rockefeller Center rink in 1981

Santa's coming to down: Santa Claus skates with some children at the Rockefeller Center rink in 1981


Sent from above: An angel decoration, illuminated at night during the holiday season, in the Angel Garden at Rockefeller Center in 1995

Sent from above: An angel decoration, illuminated at night during the holiday season, in the Angel Garden at Rockefeller Center in 1995


01 Dec 1952 --- Original caption: 12/1/1952-New York, New York- Rockefeller Center's 1952 Christmas tree, an 85-foot Norway spruce, is jockeyed into position under the watchful eyes of a trio of interested youngsters at Rockefeller Center Plaza.


The set-up:  Rockefeller Center's 1952 Christmas tree (above), an 85-foot Norway spruce, is jockeyed into position under the watchful eyes of a trio of interested youngsters at Rockefeller Center Plaza. (Below) in 2007, the Swarovski star is placed atop the mighty tree


13 Nov 2007, New York City, New York State, USA --- Workers line up a crystal star on the top of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in New York City. --- Image by Justin lane/epa/Corbis


Sliding around the Christmas tree: Ice skaters skate near the large Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City - this was in 1995

Sliding around the Christmas tree: Ice skaters skate near the large Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City - this was in 1995


The trees of Christmas past: Shoppers and tourists ice skate in Rockefeller Center during the Christmas holidays

The trees of Christmas past: Shoppers and tourists ice skate in Rockefeller Center during the Christmas holidays


The iconic tree: To find the perfect, seven-story spruce each year, Rockefeller Center conducts aerial searches by helicopter

The iconic tree: To find the perfect, seven-story spruce each year, Rockefeller Center conducts aerial searches by helicopter


Grand entrance: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree as seen through a row of lighted angels in the Center's garden. In 2004 the tree was a 71-foot high Norway spruce

Grand entrance: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree as seen through a row of lighted angels in the Center's garden. In 2004 the tree was a 71-foot high Norway spruce 


Ceremonial switch on: Skaters skate through patterns of light below the statue of Prometheus, during the 2004 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting ceremony

Ceremonial switch on: Skaters skate through patterns of light below the statue of Prometheus, during the 2004 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting ceremony


The iconic Christmas scene: Illuminated and decorated Rockefeller center with snow capped ice rink, before Christmas in 2002

The iconic Christmas scene: Illuminated and decorated Rockefeller center with snow capped ice rink, before Christmas in 2002


Blowing their own trumpet: Spurred by the growing environmental movement, Rockefeller Center recycled its first Christmas tree in 1971, turning it into 30 three-bushel bags of mulch for the nature trails of upper Manhattan

Blowing their own trumpet: Spurred by the growing environmental movement, Rockefeller Center recycled its first Christmas tree in 1971, turning it into 30 three-bushel bags of mulch for the nature trails of upper Manhattan


Shining bright: Illuminated and decorated Rockefeller center, before Christmas in 2002

Shining bright: Illuminated and decorated Rockefeller center, before Christmas in 2002


A familiar site: The traditional tree is raised into place by crane in Rockefeller Center Plaza. It was an 85 foot Norway Spruce in 1961

A familiar sight: The traditional tree is raised into place by crane in Rockefeller Center Plaza. It was an 85 foot Norway Spruce in 1961


Energy efficient: The 75th tree marked the start of a new eco-friendly tradition in 2007. It was cut down with a two-person handsaw, and illuminated by 30,000 LEDs that used a fraction of the energy of normal bulbs

Energy efficient: The 75th tree marked the start of a new eco-friendly tradition in 2007. It was cut down with a two-person handsaw, and illuminated by 30,000 LEDs that used a fraction of the energy of normal bulbs


Chopped: In 2005, Habitat for Humanity used the heartwood to make doorframes for houses for the needy; and last year, about 15 percent of the tree went into making paper for a book called The Carpenter¿s Gift

Chopped: In 2005, Habitat for Humanity used the heartwood to make doorframes for houses for the needy; and last year, about 15 percent of the tree went into making paper for a book called The Carpenter's Gift


Institution: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit during the 80th annual lighting ceremony in New York in November 2012

Institution: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit during the 80th annual lighting ceremony in New York in November 2012


Ever-green: Since 2007, the spruce has been lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LEDs, which are powered by solar panels. Of course, the panels work best when it¿s sunny outside, so during New York City¿s cold, dark winters, they¿re mostly decorative, too

Ever-green: Since 2007, the spruce has been lit with 30,000 energy-efficient LEDs, which are powered by solar panels. Of course, the panels work best when it¿s sunny outside, so during New York City¿s cold, dark winters, they¿re mostly decorative, too 


Symbol of Christmas: The Christmas tree beneath the soaring towers of Rockefeller Center in 2011

Symbol of Christmas: The Christmas tree beneath the soaring towers of Rockefeller Center in 2011


30 Rock in 2001: Then First lady Laura Bush and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had the honor of lighting the tree during the 69th Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting ceremony

30 Rock in 2001: Then First lady Laura Bush and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had the honor of lighting the tree during the 69th Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting ceremony


Golden angels: Illuminated angels--in Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center frame brightly lit annual Christmas Tree in 1980

Golden angels: Illuminated angels--in Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center frame brightly lit annual Christmas Tree in 1980


Home for the holidays: Overlooking Rockefeller Center with fountains and a lighted Christmas tree in the plaza and rooftop gardens and pools, New York City

Home for the holidays: Overlooking Rockefeller Center with fountains and a lighted Christmas tree in the plaza and rooftop gardens and pools, New York City


Shining beacon: A Christmastime view of Rockefeller Center, showing the roof gardens on the buildings and the Christmas tree in the plaza in 1990

Shining beacon: A Christmastime view of Rockefeller Center, showing the roof gardens on the buildings and the Christmas tree in the plaza in 1990


Christmas spirit: Skater's whiz by at Rockefeller Center in front of the General Electric Building at Rockefeller Plaza, during the 72nd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 2004

Christmas spirit: Skater's whiz by at Rockefeller Center in front of the General Electric Building at Rockefeller Plaza, during the 72nd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 2004


03 Dec 2003 --- The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit in front of the General Electric building in New York's Rockefeller Plaza, during the 71st annual tree lighting ceremony.

Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States Of America; Rockefeller Center Decorated For Christmas --- Image by Stuart Westmorland/*/Design Pics/Corbis

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit in front of the General Electric building in New York's Rockefeller Plaza, in 2003


Whizzing around: Skaters in the Rockefeller Center during the Holidays in 2011

Whizzing around: Skaters in the Rockefeller Center during the Holidays in 2011


What a sight! Usually the tree comes from New Jersey or Connecticut. The farthest distance a tree has ever traveled was approximately 518 miles - from Ottawa, Canada

What a sight! Usually the tree comes from New Jersey or Connecticut. The farthest distance a tree has ever traveled was approximately 518 miles - from Ottawa, Canada


Time after time: The first nationally televised Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting was in 1951 on the 'Kate Smith Show'

Time after time: The first nationally televised Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting was in 1951 on the 'Kate Smith Show'


Tree laid bare: Workers install the new Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2010

Tree laid bare: Workers install the new Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 2010


Fascinating fact: It takes two dozen electricians on scaffolding to decorate the branches with 30,000 lights attached to five miles of wire

Fascinating fact: It takes two dozen electricians on scaffolding to decorate the branches with 30,000 lights attached to five miles of wire


Looking back: The tradition of the tree began in the Great Depression during the construction of the Rockefeller Center complex in 1931. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree tradition formally began in 1933 when a tree was strung with 700 lights

Looking back: The tradition of the tree began in the Great Depression during the construction of the Rockefeller Center complex in 1931. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree tradition formally began in 1933 when a tree was strung with 700 lights


Loud and proud: The 76th annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree stands after the lighting ceremony in New York City in 2008

Loud and proud: The 76th annual Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree stands after the lighting ceremony in New York City in 2008


As it ever was: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit in front of the General Electric building, as people skate on the ice in New York's Rockefeller Plaza in December 2005.

As it ever was: The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit in front of the General Electric building, as people skate on the ice in New York's Rockefeller Plaza in December 2005. 


Shining brightly: The lights of the 73rd Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree following the lighting ceremony in November 2005. The event marks the beginning of the holiday season in New York City each year

Shining brightly: The lights of the 73rd Annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree following the lighting ceremony in November 2005. The event marks the beginning of the holiday season in New York City each year


'Tis the season: The desired dimension for a Rockefeller Center Norway spruce is a minimum of 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide. A tree smaller than that will only be considered as a future candidate

'Tis the season: The desired dimension for a Rockefeller Center Norway spruce is a minimum of 65 feet tall and 35 feet wide. A tree smaller than that will only be considered as a future candidate


The tree in 2006: After the tree is cut, the head gardener for Rockefeller Center counts the stump rings to get a more accurate measure of its age. A Norway spruce typically lives about as long as a human, from 80 to 100 years

The tree in 2006: After the tree is cut, the head gardener for Rockefeller Center counts the stump rings to get a more accurate measure of its age. A Norway spruce typically lives about as long as a human, from 80 to 100 years


Top of the tree: The Rockefeller Center Gardens manager is always looking for the perfect tree. The top annual selections are flown over, critically inspected and the best tree picked. This was the selection in 2007 
Top of the tree: The Rockefeller Center Gardens manager is always looking for the perfect tree. The top annual selections are flown over, critically inspected and the best tree picked. This was the selection in 2007