The***OFFICIAL***Weekend Singles' Thread-(December 22-25, 2006)Christmas Stories ~ Christmas Weekend

December 22, 2006 | DollyCali and Snugs

[DollyCali]

CHRISTMAS
STORIES

Tim Burton's holiday classic, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993), makes a return to the big screen each holiday season.The dazzling new make-over of the musical-fantasy was led by writer/producer Tim Burton and the technical wizards at Industrial Light + Magic.

Audiences will get closer than ever to Halloweentown's beloved Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, as he attempts to take over the Christmas holiday. Against the advice of Sally, a lonely rag doll who has feelings for him, Jack enlists three mischievous trick-or-treaters – Lock, Shock, and Barrel – to help him kidnap Santa Claus. Jack eventually realizes his mistake but has to contend with the evil Oogie Boogie before he can make things right and restore the Christmas holiday. Fueled by an unforgettable soundtrack featuring ten ghoulishly delightful songs by Danny Elfman who also provided the singing voice for Jack.

A CHRISTMAS STORY (1985) is humorist Jean Shepard's vignette-laden, nostalgic view of Christmastime in Indiana during the 1940s.

The main story involves nine-year-old Ralphie, who desperately wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas -- and is waging an all-out campaign to convince his reluctant parents that the toy will be safe in his hands. Meanwhile, Ralphie prepares for the big day with his rather idiosyncratic family. For example, his brother has a strange relationship with food, and his dad is obsessed with a crossword puzzle contest. But the most important question of all is...when Christmas Day arrives, will Ralphie be the proud (and careful) owner of a Red Ryder BB Gun?

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all - and it's Christmas ! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn't been for all his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget about suicide ?

[DollyCali]

whoa!

what a great surpise on my comments page.

Thank you sweet devolve and a wonderful Christmas to you & yours!

[DollyCali]

Not to mention the vet bills!

well, peeps..momma dolly is aheading for the tub..

music, candles, more music, herbs, oils..... yea man!

have a peaceful night.. and may santa be good to you all!

[PhilDragoo]

Click Truck & Come Out For a Coke

[pcottraux]

South America, maybe. I'm pretty sure he's covered Europe and Africa by now.

[pcottraux]

I'm betting his sled gets good mileage.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Could be, but I still see the physics not adding up (yes, I putzed around with some calculations)...

[potlatch]

Ahh, thank you devolve - the most lovely of posts!!

[potlatch]

Thank you Phil, that is a very neat graphic 'under' there!

[ilovew]

Well, it's officially December 25th on the east coast so...Merry Christmas, everyone! :)

[pcottraux]

You probably forgot to include Christmas magic in the equation.

Of course.

[devolve]

Thanks -

Another yet to post/link now

[Rca2000]

As was said in the 1973 version of Miracle on 34th street(my favorite)::


"I see that the Santa Claus delusion knows no age boundaries".

[rzeznikj at stout]

Er, no, I don't think so...

The laws of physics would still take that into account...

[pcottraux]

You also have to factor the Spirit of Children Believing or whatever.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Still, these do not override the laws of physics.

In other words, it is impossible (both mathematically and otherwise).

For Santa to lug around presents for the whole world, he'd have to:

-Assuming each child receives roughly two pounds worth of presents and 500 million stops worldwide (from people and cultures who believe in Santa--and each of these having at least one good child), he'd have to lug around over 500,000 tons of presents (about 4.8 times the weight of the Queen Mary 2--the largest cruise ship currently in service).

Eight reindeer wouldn't suffice; if a single reindeer can haul, say, 500lbs on a sled (which evenso is probably stretching it), that puts the amount of reindeer (which weigh a couple hundred pounds a piece) up to at least 2,000,000.

500,000 tons plus the weight of the reindeer (200,000 tons) plus the weight of the actual vehicle (unknown, but for thee purposes let's figure 100,000 tons), plus the weight of Santa himself (overweight but less than 3/8 ton). So, we're looking at least 860,000 tons of weight to be carried to start.

-This is, of course notwithstanding the space issue...

-That 860,000 tons is going to cause a lot of atmospheric friction. Meaning that as Santa travels, the reindeer, sled, presents, and Santa himself will burn up in the atmosphere on re-entries. Why? To travel that fast without any direct force would require a vacuum (e.g. space).

-Cover the entire world in 31 hours (counting changes for timezones and the Date Line). The Earth rotates around its axis roughly 15 degrees every hour. This means that Santa has to travel nearly 700 miles a second (3,500 times the speed of sound) to meet this target (with an assumption of 500 million stops), and the average stop time is no more than one fifth of a millisecond.

The Ulysses solar space probe by contrast travels at roughly 30 miles per second, and the Apollo spacecraft cruised at 5 miles per second.

-Couple the last two points. Why do you think it's necessary for spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere to have a full heat shield? Any heat shield around the reindeer would kill the reindeer and thus render the whole system null.

Santa would never make it to Australia, much less the U.S. His spacecraft would burn up under all that friction.

[pcottraux]

Dude.

[darkangel82]

Lots of time on your hands?

[rzeznikj at stout]

Told you I could be a nerd...8^)

[ilovew]

Hey, you're still up. Merry Christmas :)

[rzeznikj at stout]

Actually, yes.

I've kinda blown off Christmas (at least this year, anyhow). So, I figured I have roughly 32 hours to kill...