To: SandRat; windcliff; onedoug
For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santas flight.
The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chiefs operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.
In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, which then took on the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to phone calls and emails from children all around the world. In addition, we now track Santa using the Internet. Millions of people who want to know Santas whereabouts now visit the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide updates on Santas journey.
33 posted on
12/24/2011 7:16:49 PM PST by
stylecouncilor
(Some minds are like soup in a poor restaurant...better left unstirred.-PG Wodehouse)
To: stylecouncilor
34 posted on
12/24/2011 10:31:35 PM PST by
CainConservative
(Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy Newt Year!)
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