Since all will be watching their clocks tonight, (except in Australia where the Blogger’s Apprentice has already rung in the New Year), here’s a fitting video, we thought, of how clocks are made.

Click here to see it, and Happy New Year!

Well, after a few close encounters with some Dingos, all is well in the mobile Australia bureau of the Manufacturers Blog.

Before I write anything more, I should say, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

But its not New Year’s, you say? Ah, but it is in Brisbane, Australia, where we currently find ourselves writing.

Brisbane and Sydney are the first major cities to celebrate New Year’s.

Thanks to our media partner at SixApart who has helped bring attention to the fact that this is the first blog posting of the New Year.

Manufacturers have been on the cutting edge of innovation; often the early adapters–and inventors–of new technology. For this reason, it’s fitting that the first blog entry of 2006 should come from us.

2005 might accurately be described as “the year of the blog” when the number of bloggers soared to some 23 million. The Pew Internet study estimates that about 11%, or about 50 million, of Internet users are regular blog readers.

We’re staying at the Holiday Inn Brisbane, and in a few moments off to South Bank for the festivities. This being New Year’s and all, we took some time to find the ideal manufacturer to profile for part four of our “Manufacturers & New Year’s” edition. We understand from the Blogger-in-Chief that this company is also the subject of today’s “Video of the Week” as part of Cool Stuff Being Made.

So, without further adieu, here is our profile of a very fitting American manufacturer that we wrote earlier in the day:

Some will savor every last minute of 2005 while others will be anxious for this year to conclude. Whatever the interest in watching those last few minutes of 2005 pass, as you ring in the New Year, consider the craftsmanship that goes into a Howard Miller clock. The Zeeland, Mich. based company was founded by its namesake, Howard C. Miller, back in 1926. Mr. Miller was schooled in the fine art of clockmaking by his father, Herman, in the Black Forest region of Germany.

In the 1960s, the company turned its attention to grandfather clocks, eventually earning the company the title of “World’s Largest Grandfather Clock Manufacturer.” Over the years, the company has added new product lines and including collectors cabinets and adding The Hekman Furniture Company, The Woodmark Company and The Kieninger Company of Germany, which makes the moving clock parts, to its corporate portfolio.

Like many manufacturers, they also answered the call of duty during wartime. During World War II, Howard Miller joined forces with the Ford Motor Co. to produce anti-aircraft covers.

If you’re in the market for a new clock, you’ll be pleased to know that the company sells clocks in prices ranging from $5 to $15,000. And, on their Web site, they even have a “lock personality quiz” that will help match up your interests with a clock that they sell based on your answers to questions like “how many times do you look at a clock each day?”

This year, if one of your resolutions is to buy a new clock, remember this fine American manufacturer and NAM member which has a rich tradition and history.

Come back tomorrow for our final look at “Manufacturers & New Years”

Today finds the Apprentice in Hervey Bay in route to Fraser Island. for the morning/afternoon 4WD trip to check out where the Dingo’s roam wild. Do you know where the line, “The Dingo Ate Your Baby?” actually came from? (Hint: Its not from Seinfeld).

In any event, as we sat down to write today we thought about all the upcoming partying we plan on doing tomorrow. Should one need relief following the New Year’s festivities, you may want to take a few Aspirin, a registered trademark of Bayer Corporation. Founded as a manufacturer and seller of synthetic dyestuffs in 1863 in Barmen, Germany, by Friedrich Bayer, today the company employs 113,600 people around the world, including 22,800 in North America with U.S. operations headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The story of Aspirin dates back to 1897 when a young chemist working for Bayer, Dr. Felix Hoffmann, synthesized for the first time in a chemically pure and stable form, a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis that was plaguing his father.

Today, scientists all over the world are discovering new facts of Aspirin all the time. The annual “International Aspirin Award,” which was created in 1995, is Bayer’s appreciation of the discovery of new modes of action and therapeutic uses of acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient of Aspirin.

Be sure to come back on the 31st to view The First Blog Entry of the New Year and stay tuned to find out where we’ll be blogging from on New Year’s Eve.

We had a slight change of plans and today finds us again in Noosa. We took to the beach today to chill out after two very long days of driving.

We got some great surfing lessons from a company called WaveSense and then later on we went jet-skiiing. As this was a slight change of plans, we don’t have a full profile of a manufacturer today, but as we were paddling up to some nice waves and then clocking 60 km/h on the Pacific Ocean with a jet ski, it occured to us, and it bears emphasizing that surf boards and jet-skiis don’t just fall out of the sky for people to enjoy…someone’s gotta make them…and if you’re wondering who, look no further than America’s manufacturers. In fact, one member of the NAM, the National Marine Manufacturers Association represents companies that do just that…so if you’re enjoying the beach this holiday season, remember to thank a manufacturer for making it all possible.

Most importantly, as that famous commencement speech would say: don’t forget to wear sunscreen. Oh, and we make that too!

Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out where in Australia we will be blogging next

Thanks to the NAM’s Marissa Gandelman for this on Hanukah:

Ah, it’s that time of year again. Kids dust off their dreidels, the menorah gets one last de-waxing, the elusive latke makes its annual appearance on the dinner table and families around the world prepare for Hanukah.

I’m not a religious person, but I do celebrate Hanukah. Not for the presents (those stopped coming years ago), but for the memories. Hanukah commemorates how the Jews fought against their oppressors and won. And, like every other Jewish holiday, we celebrated it as a family.

A little history on the holiday: In 165 B.C.E., Palestine was under Syrian power, and the Syrian emperor decreed that the Temple in Jerusalem, the national house of Jewish worship, would become a temple to the Greek god, Zeus.

A small band of soldiers led by Judah Maccabee staged a successful rebellion against the Syrians and rededicated the Temple. Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of religious freedom and the preservation of Jewish customs, as well as the traditional Jewish worship service.

While not a particularly important religious holiday, Hanukah is a time for celebration. The “Festival of Lights” refers to the miracle that occurred during the rededication of the Temple. When the Jews sought to rekindle the menorah in the Temple sanctuary, they found only enough purified oil to last one day, yet miraculously, the small portion of oil burned for eight days — the length of time required to purify new oil.

Peace and goodwill take on deeper meaning this time of year, so take some time to reflect on the spiritual and historical significance of the holiday season — and spread the love. Chag Sameach!

We zipped up the coast from Sydney to Brisbane (with two others, it wasn’t that bad a drive, but it was long). In Brisbane, we visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where you can get your picture taken hugging a Koala. We planned on also visiting the XXXX Brewery but they were closed.

So, we then drove another 90 minutes or so to to Noosa, Australia, and went and hiked in the Noosa National Park, which was fun (and free!).

So, the drive over the last day and a half was quite long and we had a lot of time to start thinking: What’s a New Year’s celebration without fireworks?

As the sun sets on New Year’s Eve, one NAM member begins to shine, Zambelli Fireworks Internationale. Proudly known as the “First Family of Fireworks,” Zambelli is one of the oldest and largest American fireworks companies. Founded by Antonio Zambelli who emigrated from Italy in 1893 and set up shop in New Castle, Pa.,, where George R. Zambelli, Sr. built the company to where it is today as it enters the fourth generation of family ownership in Pa., which has become a center for America’s fireworks industry.

Zambelli Fireworks produces programs in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas and many high profile events in the United States, including the World Series and the FedEx Orange Bowl. Among their notable achievements, Zambelli has been cited in the Guinness Book of World Records for launching fireworks at the highest altitude off Pittsburgh’s U.S. Steel Building, and met the challenge of illuminating Mount Rushmore and lit the entire Manhattan skyline for the Statue of Liberty anniversary.

Come back tomorrow for part three of our special “Manufacturers & New Years” edition and check out where in Australia the Blogger’s Appprentice will be!

Even though we at the NAM got our cards out on time, the blogger-in-chief was a little late. So here’s the NAM Holiday card for those of you who have not yet received it, or who are just not lucky enough to be a manufacturer.

Happy Holidays!

All the presents are opened and no sooner is Christmas over but we begin gearing up for the next holiday: New Year’s. With 2005 rapidly coming to a close, we thought we’d provide reader’s a special New Year’s treat: all this week, the Apprentice will be providing updates to readers from the first place that celebrates New Years: Australia. Today’s finds the Apprentice just got off the plane at Sydney Airport, and planning to head north to Birsbane & Noosa. Along the way, we’ll do the Opera House Tour thingy and hopefully taste some great wine.

While few know the words to “that song they play on New Year’s Eve” (Auld Lang Syne) the Manufacturers blog hopes that everyone will remember the impact that manufacturers have in making New Year’s festivities possible so all this week, we will also be profile of different manufacturers who make this once-in-a-year festivity possible.

In America, celebrating New Year’s is often incomplete without watching the televised activities in Times Square, or being there in person. For that, we turn to the makers of the famous Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball, Waterford Crystal. The Waterford Crystal story can be traced back to 1783 when two brothers, George and William Penrose, founded their crystal manufacturing business in the busy port of Waterford, Ireland. Less than 100 years later the initial company failed due to lack of capital and excessive taxation. In 1947, while Europe was still in ruins after World War II, a small glass factory was set up in Waterford just 1 1/2 miles from the site of the original glass factory.

The Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball weighs 1000 pounds and is approximately 6 feet in diameter and contains over 650 lights. Its outer surface is covered with 504 Waterford Crystal panels specially designed and cut to insure that they can survive the extraordinary extremes in temperature that exist at the top of One Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Seventy-two of the 504 panels are replaced each year with a new theme; this years theme being “the Hope for Peace.”

Today, Waterford Crystal employs 9,000 people worldwide and is leading brand of premium crystal. They don’t just make “the ball,” but also are involved in other high profile events, producing the World Series and Super Bowl trophies and the Stanley Cup.

Come back tomorrow for part two of our special “Manufacturers & New Years” edition and check out where in Australia the Blogger’s Appprentice will be!

Along with most of the rest of the country, the blogger-in-chief will be off this week, adding stuff as his goat gets gotten. We’ll be posting every day, not to worry, but at a slightly reduced output. (Hey — who was that who just breathed a sigh of relief….?!?)

However, all is not lost. The Blogger’s Apprentice will be blogging live from Australia on New Year’s Eve, the first US blog post. Stay tuned for that — should arrive some time around 9 a.m. EST on December 31.

We invite you to check back throughout the week, or just go back down memory lane, to read any of the various rants, see the videos of cool stuff being made, the posters of the week or the ever-popular Friday Follies.

For those of you not in snowy climes today, here’s a site that will let you not only make your own snowflake, but you can make it as your own, add it to the nearly two million that are already there and attach your own personal message. So if it’s not snowing where you are, this may be the next best thing.

Yes, you can even manufacture snowflakes. Who knew….?

Let it snow!