Santa started his long journey from the North Pole and searches on the Web are heating up on the jolly fellow’s journey.
TRACK SANTA HEREe
Enter the North American Aerospace Defense Command , aka NORAD, the U.S.-Canadian military organization that watches over the air and water 364 days a year for security threats. But on Christmas Eve, the command center switches to Santa mode, and operation Santa Tracker is in full force.
Some can’t wait till then. Impatient searches on “where is santa right now” have already stormed Yahoo! over 2,500% in the last seven days. Eager lookups on 2010 Santa Tracker” “live santa tracker,” and “norad santa tracker 2010” are also popular.
The live tracker incorporates radar, satellites, “Santa Cams,” and yes, even fighter jets, to follow Father Christmas on his goodwill gift-giving tour. You can read a detailed explanation here.
But trust us, Santa cannot possibly go undetected with the help of, say, infrared sensors that can seek out Rudolph’s red nose, digital cameras that are used but once a year to capture images of that elusive sleigh rider, and CF-18s to accompany Santa once he hits North American airspace.
Why in the world would NORAD do such a thing? According to the official website, this all goes back to 1955, when a Sears catalog mistakenly printed the number to reach Santa.
Calls instead came through to the command center’s hotline. The director at the time, Colonel harry Shoup, knew the call to service when he heard it, and directed his staff to give updates of Santa’s movements from North to South Poles, to any kid who called in. A tradition was born.
These days, the Santa Tracker has gone high-tech. Along with the website, there’s a Facebook page, a mobile app, and even a Twitter account (@noradnorthcom). Typical Tweet: “@Noradnorthcom has spotted toys, toys and more toys.”
Santa’s coming to town! Ho, Ho, Ho…
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