Wonder If They Read His Email Too
NORAD Marks 50th Year of Tracking Santa

According to NORAD lore, the tradition began in 1955 when Sears-Roebuck placed an ad in The Gazette in Colorado Springs telling kids to dial a number if they wanted to talk to Santa.

But the number was one digit off. When the first call came to NORAD's predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command, Col. Harry Shoup told an eager child he would check the radars for Santa.

They even have a a website for this:

http://www.noradsanta.org/

Don't you dare say, "Bah, humbug." I can think of few better uses of tax dollars.

It is raining and gray and ugly out, and it all may freeze later on. Those reindeer better be wearing galoshes.

For a different culture's take on Santa, elves, etc., head on over to Carolyn Zick's Studio Notebook. She's doing a residency in Iceland, and blogging profusely.

A reminder: the nicest Christmas or Hanukkah gift all we computer literate types can give our newbie friends and relatives this year is to make sure they have firewalls and anti-virus software in place from the first minute they wander online and immediately head to the .mp3 and porn sites. Make sure they have a pop-up blocker too (tho can be problematic if sites they need to visit, like banks and crossword puzzle venues, use pop-ups that must be temporarily disabled. Try explaining it to your 80 year old mom.)
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:57 PM | | | Link |