p2pnet - rss feed: The truth about Santa Clause
p2pnet.net News:- Christmas is THE holiday event of the year for hundreds of millions of kids (and their parents 
around the world.
It’s the time when Santa Clause, or St Nicholas, der Weihnachtsmann, Father Christmas, Gwiazdor, Pere Noel, Kris Kringle, Sinterklaas, Jultomten, Sing dan lo ian, Aghios Vassilis, and a host of other names, depending in where in the world you happen to be, travels the world delivering gifts.
Some Bah Humbug skeptics claim he doesn’t even exist! But if that were true, would NORAD go to all the trouble of tracking him like it’s been doing for more than half a century?
Nahhh. In fact as we posted this (12:20 pm Pacific) NORAD was estimating Santa would be leaving the North Pole in 15 hours, 39 minutes and 36 seconds. The pic on the right shows NORAD (short for North American Aerospace Defense Command ) techs tracking Santa in 1960.
And for anyone who’s still not convinced, here’s how they do it:
Detecting Santa all starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system has 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
The moment our radar tells us that Santa has lifted off, we use our second mode of detection, the same satellites that we use in providing warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America. These satellites are located in a geo-synchronous orbit (that’s a cool phrase meaning that the satellite is always fixed over the same spot on the Earth) at 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can detect heat. When a rocket or missile is launched, a tremendous amount of heat is produced - enough for the satellites to detect. Rudolph’s nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. The satellites can detect Rudolph’s bright red nose with practically no problem. With so many years of experience, NORAD has become good at tracking aircraft entering North America, detecting worldwide missile launches and tracking the progress of Santa, thanks to Rudolph.
The third detection system we use is the Santa Cam. We began using it in 1998 - the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the Internet. NORAD Santa Cams are ultra-cool high-tech high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many places around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year - Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images of Santa and the Reindeer as they make their journey around the world. We immediately download the images on to our web site for people around the world to see. Santa Cams produce both video and still images.
The fourth detection system we use is the NORAD jet fighter. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland to intercept and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa. While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or F-16 get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. About a dozen NORAD fighters in Canada and the United States are equipped with Santa Cams.
So how long has he been doing what he does? Since 1689 at the least. That’s when Spanish-German explorer Santa Claus discovered the North Pole and established a small base camp, states the Santa Claus Timeline.
So what about the physics involved? How can Santa do it all, and how come he doesn’t burn up while he’s circling the globe?
A Phsyorg post quoting Norwegian Net magazine forskning.no dates back to 2004, but it’s still relevant.
Among other things, “Santa Claus doesn’t travel in our four dimensions (remember that time is the fourth dimension), but makes use of some 11 dimensions,” explains astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard in the story. “These dimensions make it quite easy to pick up gifts from his warehouse at the North Pole,” emphasises Oedegaard.
But it goes further, even, than that.
Nils Lid Hjort and Gaute Einevoll believe recent string-theory allows for the use of at least 26 dimensions: “The more dimensions, the easier to deliver gifts ……”
So what about flying reindeer, especially since they don’t have wings? No worries, says Einevoll, because, “Santa Claus of course uses vacuum energy. The sleigh and reindeer use repulsive energy to compensate for the force of gravity and therefore can fly.”
Of course.
And what about the theory that Santa is just Dad in fancy dress?
“There are quite a few flippant and speculative assertions about Santa Claus,” says forskning.no. “The most ridiculous of these is that Santa Claus is just papa who has dressed up in the garage.” It adds:
“This is the worst I have heard,” says Nils Lid Hjort. He is a professor and knows what he’s talking about.
Although Hjort admits that a visit from Santa Claus often happens while pappa is out shovelling snow, there are many examples in which both Santa and pappa are in the same place at the same time, which weakens the argument that there is some connection between the two.
“I want to comment on the alternative situations: Of course you can find many trivial and sometimes fake Santas out there. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t find some real Santas,” says Einevoll, who adds:
“If I lived alone at the North Pole and were to visit children and their mothers, I would want to do it when their father was out, he says, and suggests that this is the source for the socially realistic popular song ‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’.”
All together the panel agrees without doubt that Santa Claus not only makes use of advanced physics, but he is also a brilliant organiser.
“Santa lives at the North Pole and there isn’t so much happening aside from the occasional polar explorer. So he can use the whole year for self improvement,” points out Gaute Einevoll.
Therefore, all children of all ages can relax: The laws of physics assure us that Christmas will come this year as usual!”
So there you go : )
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
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December 23rd, 2006 at 8:54 pm
…I can’t believe how much time you spent on this crap.
December 23rd, 2006 at 9:00 pm
For someone so uninterested in the goings on here, I am amazed that you have the time for comments for a site you so proclaim to dislike.
I guess you’re just a glutton for punishment and even a bit of holiday cheer is beyond your scope. Must be a bitch to live in such a self-defined world.
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Let me get this straight! As far back as 1960, NORAD has been sighting some guy in a red suit flying some kind of a vehicle from the direction of the North Pole, and invading Canadian and US airspace without having filed a prior flight plan or making a prior request for permission. I thought it was their job to protect us from this sort of thing. “Santa Claus”, me arse! He’s obviously some kind of a commie! They should shoot the b_ _ _ _ _d down! (Good cheer to all! Ho! Ho!)
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:25 pm
of course Santa is a real fact!
As real as the fact that RIAA “owns” music!
Oh, you don’t believe that Santa is real?
I guess then RIAA has a Problem!
–
Alter_Fritz
December 23rd, 2006 at 11:33 pm
thats just because NORAD has plausible evidence that the guy’s fat stomach is real harmless fat and not some dynamite.
So he is not dangerous and only changed his cloth colors to red because Coke the friendly american company sponsored him.
Rudolph, known to be the real brain in that organisation, originally told him because of his own red nose that Santa should use “a kind of blue colored”-suit.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:10 am
If I saw some fat douchebag trying to smuggle his ass down my chimney, I’d shoot him and piss all over him.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:23 am
you are so hardcore and funny
December 24th, 2006 at 1:27 am
You do realize it’s Santa Claus, not clause.
You basing the name from the movie. If so, note the detail on the title of said film, the e is unique, standing from the fact that it is a pun “The Santa Clause”
clause:
Grammar. A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence.
A distinct article, stipulation, or provision in a document.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:30 am
Oh yeah, like *you’d* let somebody just wander into your house. It’s not about being hardcore or funny. It’s about that two hundred pound buffalo stealing the milk and cookies my forgot to put in the fri dge.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:43 am
Hi,
I’m one of those kids who are confused about Santa Clause. I saw a ”To” and ”From” card that said,”To: MY NAME” ”From:SANTA!!!!” WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!!!!!!!!!Did Santa sneak into my door and stuff a thing like that into it? PLEASE HELP I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE!!!!!!!!
December 24th, 2006 at 1:46 am
That was your father. Just before the event he had sex with your mother.
Also, it’s Claus, not clause.
December 24th, 2006 at 2:04 am
Yes, of course. But another truth is that St. Nick lived in a Christian land (what is now Turkey) & His remains were stolen to be taken back to Rome some centuries ago. The terrible thing is the turks want the remains brought back as a tourist attraction, & to add insult to injury they”re not a Christian people.
December 24th, 2006 at 2:13 am
Hey, you leave Grammar out of this. She din’t do anything except wipe a booger on the tree.
December 24th, 2006 at 4:49 am
It’s Santa CLAUS - not Clause.
A clause is a sentence or paragraph in a contract.
Geesh!
December 24th, 2006 at 8:43 am
You’re the third person to mention that.
Maybe you should read what other people have said before you jump the gun.
In in relation to “Christmas will come this year as usual” — what about all those starving children who will die tomorrow … when will “Christmas” come for them?
December 24th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
I Feel Sad
The news that NORAD have been tracking Santa for 50 years, makes me really sad and worried. Those powerful 47 radar stations emit lots of high frequency radio signals. This is the main reason you don’t see any birds and wild animals around those installations. Because of the hazardous nature of high frequency radio signals, any known life form is greatly reduced in the vicinity of radar stations. Those who have committed themselves to making a living out of working (or serving) there, suffer from mental and body disorders. The most common mental disorder being paranoia. I am worried that someone who is taking decisions there, may at some point push a wrong button, that will send a signal to jetfighters to fire their missiles. For the sake of all the children on this planet and their parents, NORAD should immediately stop tracking Santa. Evidently, NORAD have not been doing this on their own. Any political forces behind this shameful act should be brought to light. FBI, or any other similar agency should disclose any information they may have collected on Santa.
December 24th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
“Must be a bitch to live in such a self-defined world.”
Whoa. Let’s not turn this into a name-throwing contest. After all where would the “holiday cheer” be in that.
December 25th, 2006 at 1:05 am
i think he is not raell because how could he deliever all the toys in one night.
December 25th, 2006 at 8:31 am
What’s the matter, been too naughty to get anything off Santa huh?
December 25th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
or anyone else, i’ll wager
December 25th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
“A top Canadian space scientist has calculated how Santa Claus manages to deliver presents to almost a billion children around the world – at least the ones who haven’t been naughty – during Christmas Eve.
“All it takes is precise orbital mechanics, fast-working elves, multiple time zones and a helping hand from NASA’s shuttle, says Andrew Yau at the University of Calgary. It also requires a sleigh longer than two football fields that orbits the Earth at 23 times the speed of sound.”
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/164682
September 6th, 2007 at 11:08 am
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October 15th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
maybe santa the one in south pole doesn’t exist but almost every little kid has two santas in their homes so think about it because somehow we all got a chrismas present from santa