Since 1955, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has helped track Santa Claus’s movements on Christmas Eve. Now Google is joining in the search.
Google has developed a downloadable iGoogle gadget for Google Earth to help track Santa’s movements in conjunction with NORAD, according to Google. The tool, “an enhanced 3D Santa-tracking experience,” will be available at 4 p.m. EST on Christmas Eve at noradsanta.org, wrote Carrie Farrell on Google’s corporate blog.
Is He Real?
Based on historical data and more than 50 years of NORAD tracking information, we believe that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of children throughout the world.
Santa Claus is known by many names, including Saint Nick. Historians claim that the history of Santa starts with the tradition of Saint Nicholas, a 4th century Christian priest who lived in the Middle East in an area of present-day Turkey who became famous for his kindness. He was known for giving gifts to the less fortunate, sprinkling gifts of gold down people's chimneys or hiding surprises in their stockings.
It may be that the Santa we know today emerged from the legacy of Saint Nicholas. Clearly, Santa's basic approach to gift giving is strikingly similar. Could they be the same person? Only Santa Claus knows for sure.
Long before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane or the Montgolfier brothers launched the first hot air balloon, Santa had to find a way to travel from house to house at great speed. We know from our Santa Cam images that Santa’s choice for quick transportation was a herd of flying reindeer. Detailed information on these reindeer remains a elusive; we do know, however, that Santa enlisted the reindeer to help him with his worldwide mission of gift-giving. A veil of sweet mystery hides the rest.
http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html
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