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A child calling Santa reached NORAD instead.
WaPo ^ | December 24th,2018 | Steve Hendrix

Posted on 12/24/2018 3:18:29 PM PST by LouieFisk

It was not a place of fun and games. And when that red phone rang — it was wired directly to a four-star general at the Pentagon — things got real. All eyes would have been on Shoup when he answered. “Col. Shoup,” he barked. But there was silence. Until finally, a small voice said, “Is this Santa Claus?”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: child; christmas; norad; santa; wargames
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To: LouieFisk

Skynet will not let you get very far from you car.


41 posted on 12/24/2018 5:13:46 PM PST by Ronniesque
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To: Freedom4US

“My parents phone # was one digit off from the big grocery store. About once a month we’d get a misdial. In my more uncharitable moments I would play along. “Oh yes ma’am, we’ll send one out right away.”

That’s funny, but I think I can one up you on it. My family had a number that was very close to that of a quite famous politician (whom shall remain nameless). Every once in a while someone would mis-dial, asking for comment on this or that. Being a smartass teen, I played along being fairly good at imitating the politico.
I dunno if anything was ever used in the news, though. But I had my laughs, that’s all I cared about anyway. Being a typical teenager I didn’t care much about the news.


42 posted on 12/24/2018 5:16:36 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: Ronniesque

“Skynet will not let you get very far from you car.”

“We have a runner!”
(Logan’s Run)


43 posted on 12/24/2018 5:18:52 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

Oh yeah!!!!!!!<: <: <:


44 posted on 12/24/2018 5:31:52 PM PST by xrmusn (6/98"Getting rich as a Politician means doing something illegal''(trunc) HS Truman)
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To: LouieFisk

Heh, daughter is volunteering on the phones there tonight.

Good stuff.


45 posted on 12/24/2018 5:32:39 PM PST by KitJ (Shall not be infringed...)
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To: KitJ

“Heh, daughter is volunteering on the phones there tonight.”

That’s sweet, good for her.


46 posted on 12/24/2018 5:37:02 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: KarlInOhio

I have this.


47 posted on 12/24/2018 5:59:21 PM PST by ebshumidors
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To: LouieFisk

A few movies in the ‘80s blew my pre-teen mind. WarGames, Karate Kid and Terminator were at the top of that list.


48 posted on 12/24/2018 6:16:55 PM PST by Rastus
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To: ZOOKER

Http://www.ladyofthecake.com/mel/saddles/sounds/playchss.wav


49 posted on 12/24/2018 6:26:50 PM PST by lightman (Obama's legacy in 13 letters: BLM, ISIS, & ANTIFA. New axis of evil.)
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To: LouieFisk

Very cool.


50 posted on 12/24/2018 6:28:43 PM PST by GnuThere
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To: LouieFisk

I love this story. Thanks for posting it!


51 posted on 12/24/2018 6:40:16 PM PST by katnip
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To: Rastus

“A few movies in the ‘80s blew my pre-teen mind.”

You’re a young pup!

“WarGames, Karate Kid and Terminator were at the top of that list”

Liked Wargames since I had been into computers a few years when it came out and it’s a just good, fun movie. “Karate Kid” was kid’s film stuff (tho you were the pup so it’d be normal for you), so I never have seen it.

Saw “Next Karate Kid” with Hillary Swank when it was on cable, tho, back when cable tv was worth watching.

Although I think I could explain the entire plot and recite many of the lines from Terminator, I’ve never seen it. But it’s been interwoven into culture so much, I feel like I have seen it!

I just got around to watching “Taxi Driver” last week after all these years, so I’m still catching up on some 20th century classics.


52 posted on 12/24/2018 6:45:56 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: katnip

“I love this story. Thanks for posting it!”

Your welcome! It was news to me, I knew NORAD did the “Santa Tracking” every year ever since I can remember, but I never knew the story and the man behind it all.


53 posted on 12/24/2018 6:48:01 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk; All

Here’s a better source (and no paywall):

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/child-calling-santa-reached-norad-instead-christmas-eve-was-never-the-same-1.561941


54 posted on 12/24/2018 7:27:23 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: logi_cal869

Thanks for the extra link!
Does the WaPo link have a paywall or some other popup screen-nag?
My adblock blocks most nags, so I usually don’t see them.
If I run into a story behind a paywall or with a lot of annoying popups, I paste the address into outline.com so the story can be “read in peace”. For example for the WaPo, you get this:
https://outline.com/dvCcRC

Though sometimes outline.com also strips out some images from a story along with the ads,nags and paywall.


55 posted on 12/24/2018 7:36:17 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

It does have a paywall. They sometimes have good content, but I just always try to find an alternate reference when sharing. When I saw your post, I had just seen the S&S post on social media and it was the same. So I shared.

When I use them for reference and want to read the article, you can quickly hit Ctrl-A and copy the text before the paywall slams down.

I’ve saved many articles by pasting them that way into an editor.


56 posted on 12/24/2018 8:08:20 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: logi_cal869

“It does have a paywall.”

Okay, after searching around a bit, I think this may be what you’ve experienced - you can correct me if my thinking is incorrect.

From what I understand the WaPo, like the NYT, allows a certain amount of “free” page views per month (with adverts) and, after exceeding that amount, a user is 86ed from accessing any more views.

It may be that you’ve exceeded your monthly free views limit. Since I rarely read the WaPo or NYT, I probably would only rarely go beyond the allotted amount of free page views.

Also, I completely clean out my browsers of any/all records every time I close them - so if the WaPo is checking my “cookies” to determine if I’ve “over-read” I’m going to appear as a new visitor each time.
Although they may go by IP address, which goes by your device/actual location. But even that is easy enough to get by.

If a person have another good source, such as you shared here that’s helpful to have, too. Sometimes I’ve posted an article here at FR only to get the message that the source can’t be used, so I have to dig the same story (sometimes a word-for-word twin) from another source/news outlet.


57 posted on 12/24/2018 8:41:34 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

I know the NYT is like that, but I didn’t know about WaPo. I do far too much research. Still, I can get around it when I need it. Thanks!


58 posted on 12/24/2018 10:03:33 PM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: logi_cal869

Another option, if you can do it, may be to disable javascript when on a page, as suggested here -
https://ittutorials.net/computer-repair/optimization/how-to-easily-bypass-the-new-york-times-washington-post-pay-wall

(I have a special button to easily click on that disables/javascript on a page if I want)


59 posted on 12/24/2018 10:26:10 PM PST by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

“Hello, do you have Sir Walter Raleigh in the can? Well let him out he can’t breathe”


60 posted on 12/25/2018 1:31:32 AM PST by stockpirate (TYRANNY IS THY NAME REBELLION IS OUR ANSWER. HANG THEM ALL!)
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