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Why Santa is Being Tracked By an Aerospace Defense Agency You better watch out. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT.
Every year, the rogue present giver — code name “Santa Claus” — travels the world spreading holiday cheer. Thankfully, a military aerospace group is on the case, tracking Santa’s every move.
Starting on Sunday at 2:01 a.m. Eastern, the public can tune in and watch online as the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) monitors Santa’s whereabouts. Using various “SantaCams,” the organization — which is tasked with overseeing aerospace warning in the United States and Canada — is able to “track” Santa’s location along his journey, and approximately how many gifts he’s delivered.
Of course, there aren’t really cameras, and the live feed is an animation, but folks can still call 1-877-HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to talk to NORAD “trackers,” who are actual military personnel.
Sure, the whole thing is a publicity stunt, but NORAD’s Santa Tracker is a tradition that’s existed in some form for over 60 years. According to CNN, the “program” first started in 1955 because of a “mistake in a Colorado Springs newspaper advertisement from Sears Roebuck & Co.” The department store printed a number for kids to call Santa, but messed up and listed the number for the commander in chief’s operations hotline at NORAD’s predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). An air force colonel spent Christmas Eve answering phone calls from local children who were eager to know about Santa’s whereabouts, and the tradition has stuck ever since.
On Sunday, over 1,500 NORAD volunteers in Colorado Springs will field phone calls and emails asking about the jolly man’s whereabouts. In the past, NORAD has been assisted from folks outside the agency, including former First Lady Michelle Obama. The result is extremely wholesome and good.
Every year, Michelle Obama would talk to kids on Christmas Eve as part of the NORAD Santa Tracker program and the transcripts are all extremely adorable https://t.co/DKTACHQD0N pic.twitter.com/ALja4ceMJk — laura olin (@lauraolin) December 24, 2017
True believers can watch NORAD’s live stream here, or follow updates on Twitter and Facebook.
Happy holidays and be good for goodness sake — or a military organization will monitor your every move and display it to the world!
Patman64 on December 25th, 2017 at 17:19 UTC »
Oh man I remember being all pumped up to track santa with my dad when I was younger. He'd pull up the website and every couple of minutes they would post an update of him flying over wherever in the world was hitting midnight at that time. Then to get us to go to bed he'd say, " Santa only comes if you're in bed and he's getting close!" So our mom would take us up to bed, so they could finish up the Christmas stuff for the next morning.
Thanks for the nostalgia trip OP!
reddit455 on December 25th, 2017 at 16:52 UTC »
if you're stuck on base for the holidays..
this has got to be a great way to kill time..
Today, NORAD relies on volunteers to make the program possible.[9] Each volunteer handles about forty telephone calls per hour, and the team typically handles more than 12,000 e-mails and more than 70,000 telephone calls from more than two hundred countries and territories. Most of these contacts happen during the twenty-five hours from 2 a.m. on December 24 until 3 a.m. MST on December 25.[7][9] A website called NORADSanta.org was established to allow project access for Internet users.[10]
Google Analytics has been in use since December 2007 to analyze website traffic. As a result of this analysis information, the program can project and scale volunteer staffing, telephone equipment, and computer equipment needs for Christmas Eve.[11] Volunteers include NORAD military and civilian personnel.[12]
In 2014, NORAD answered more than 100,000 phone calls. In 2015, more than 1,200 U.S. and Canadian military personnel volunteered to staff the phone lines.[4]
TheTobleronly on December 25th, 2017 at 16:47 UTC »
This sounds hilarious. Commander and Chief of operations is in the war room mulling over the facts and figures when he gets an urgent phone call and its some kid telling him what he wants for Christmas hahaha