Tracking Santa The NORAD Way Christmas 2009

Illustrators’ Visions of Santa Claus - Over the years, great illustrators have created and shaped the popular vision of Santa Claus. Clockwise from top, left: Thomas Nast, who gave Santa Claus a form almost like the modern idea in the mid-1800’s, with his clay pipe and arm full of toys (including a sword). You can see some of his visions of Santa here. /// J. C. Leyendecker, who really created the modern vision of Santa, and painted a number of memorable Saturday Evening Post covers featuring the jolly elf over the years. You can find them in the SEP cover archive. /// Norman Rockwell, along with Leyendecker, provided numerous SEP covers with images of Santa, often with clever takes on the vision of his traditional role. The SEP cover archive has a section devoted to Rockwell Christmas covers. /// Haddon Sundblom was an American illustrator who became noted for his yearly portrayals of Santa Claus for the Coca-Cola company. There is a section on the Coca-Cola site, and an album of Sundblom Santas here. Image Credit: Charley Parker

Tracking Santa The NORAD Way Christmas 2009

Christmas is a time we come together to celebrate forces that are beyond our own experience.

On December 25, the birth of the son of God is the source of the excuse for additional forces we know are beyond our own experience to come to life.

The one force that creates the most wonder and awe is the force of Santa Claus and his amazing journey around the world as he drives his Reindeer powered Sleigh. The Sleigh, loaded with gifts, stops at every home throughout the world where Santa knows people believe in giving and the amazing grace of God and his power.

Santa is even known to stop and leave a gift where some people are not even aware they actually believe in him and/or God’s power because he knows what resides deep in all people who wish for a better world but have not found a conscious way to its understanding.

Technology and the internet were made for times like these.

This from the How Stuff Works website -

How Santa's Sleigh Works
by John Fuller – How Stuff Works

On Christmas Eve, millions of children around the world will settle uneasily into bed, hardly able to contain themselves. What vision could possibly dance through their heads, turning them into twitchy, restless insomniacs for just one night? Is it the Sugar Plum Fairy from Tchaikovsky's ballet "The Nutcracker" or the sugarplums from Clement Clarke Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas"? Can sugarplums really do such a thing?

Chances are the children are thinking about toys, Santa Claus and his team of reindeer -- if the children have been nice this year, jolly old St. Nick should be landing his sleigh on their roofs sometime late in the night.

Everyone has their own traditional image of Santa's sleigh, but could there be more to it than just a sled and a team of reindeer? Although no one may ever know for sure just how Santa operates, we at HowStuffWorks have what we think are the most logical explanations for how the big guy accomplishes all that he does: science and technology.

Sure, demystifying Santa's modus operandi puts us at risk of getting nothing but coal in our stockings this year, but it's all for the noble pursuit of yuletide knowledge. After all, have you ever wondered how Santa's sleigh flies? What about the reindeer? And how does Santa fit all of those presents into one bag? In the next section, we'll look at the possible technology behind Santa's sleigh.­

Rustic on the outside and state-of-the-art on the inside, Santa's sleigh would have to be a marvel in engineering. These are the main parts of the sleigh that would be needed to get Santa across the world in one night.

The Sleigh's Interior

The front of the sleigh's dashboard would be dominated by Santa's own GPS navigator -- the elves would map out millions of destinations before Christmas Eve, just to make sure Santa doesn't miss anyone. The device would also have a built-in Naughty-or-Nice sensor that keeps Santa updated on children's activities. This is important, as even the most minor of naughty deeds committed within the last few hours of Dec. 24 can determine whether or not a child receives a shiny lump of coal.

A speedometer on the far left of the dashboard would allow Santa to monitor his flying speeds. On the far right would be a radio communicator -- Mrs. Claus sends broadcasts, and the elves update Santa with weather reports and toy inventory.

For in-flight entertainment, we'd like to the think that the elves would have installed an iPod dock -- perhaps even a red-and-green iPod, which would come with enough memory to play Christmas songs for the entire year through. There would also be a hot cocoa dispenser in the middle of the console, and fuel for the reindeer (in the form of carrots) in a compartment located on the left side of the sleigh.

Transdimensional Present Compartment (The Bag)

Ever wonder how Santa fits all of those presents into one bag? Think of a transdimensional present compartment in the form of a traditional gift sack, which would act as a portal between the sleigh and the North Pole. However, we'd also like to think that Santa may have harnessed the power of nanotechnology and found a way to miniaturize millions of presents into one large bag. But this information remains unconfirmed.

The Stardust Antimatter Propulsion Unit

What is antimatter? Is it some kind of magical substance Santa uses to power his sleigh?

Antimatter is the opposite of regular matter -- the mirror image of normal particles that make up everything we can see or touch. The big draw to antimatter is the amount of energy it helps create. When antimatter and matter come into contact, they annihilate each other -- breaking apart into tons of smaller particles -- and 100 percent of their masses convert into energy.

Although antimatter propulsion rockets are mainly used in science-fiction shows to allow spaceships to travel at warp speed, the possibility of designing one is very real -- NASA is currently developing one that would get us to Mars within a matter of weeks. [source: NASA]

Santa's would have to be way ahead of the game, however, and we'd like to imagine that he has his own custom Stardust Antimatter Rocket. It would be small enough to install in the back of his sleigh and fast enough to deliver every present to all good children across the globe. Of course, if the rocket ever malfunctions, the reindeer would be there to back Santa up.
References Here>>

Track Santa Claus across the globe as he performs his amazing task and journey -

Santa maintains a huge list of children who have been good throughout the year. The list even includes addresses, ZIP codes and postal codes. The list, of course, gets bigger each year by virtue of the world's increasing population. This year's population right now is 6,634,570,959!

Santa has had to adapt over the years to having less and less time to deliver his toys. If one were to assume he works in the realm of standard time, as we know it, clearly he would have perhaps two to three ten-thousandths of a second to deliver his toys to each child's home he visits!

The fact that Santa Claus is more than 15 centuries old and does not appear to age is our biggest clue that he does not work within time, as we know it. His Christmas Eve trip may seem to take around 24 hours, but to Santa it could be that it lasts days, weeks or months in standard time. Santa would not want to rush the important job of bringing Christmas happiness to a child, so the only logical conclusion is that Santa somehow functions on a different time and space continuum.

We believe, based on historical data and more than 50 years of NORAD tracking information, that Santa Claus is alive and well in the hearts of children throughout the world.

Santa Claus is known by many names, but his first recorded name was Saint Nicholas. Historians claim that the history of Santa starts with the tradition of Saint Nicholas, a 4th Century Christian priest who lived in the Middle East in an area of present day Turkey.

Saint Nicholas became famous throughout the world for his kindness in giving gifts to others who were less fortunate. Typically, he placed gifts of gold down people's chimneys - sometimes into stockings. It may be that the Santa we know and love emerged from the legacy of Saint Nicholas. Clearly, Santa's basic approach to gift giving is strikingly similar to that of Saint Nicholas. What we know from history is that the tradition of Santa Claus and Saint Nicholas merged.

Could they be the same person? Only Santa Claus can tell us for sure.

Long before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane or the Montgolfier brothers flew the first hot air balloon, Santa knew he had to find a way to travel quickly from house to house at great speed. We know from our Santa Cam images that Santa's choice for quick transportation was a herd of flying reindeer. Of course, to this day, detailed information on these reindeer remains a mystery. We do know, however, that Santa somehow found a way to get the reindeer to help him with his worldwide mission of gift giving. A veil of sweet mystery hides the rest.

Virginia's letter, written in December 1897, is the most famous example of a child wanting to know about Santa.

Editor’s Response>>

TRACK SANTA CLAUS's JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD HERE

We at LA Conservative Examiner & LA Motor Culture Examiner wish each and everyone a "Merry Christmas To All And To All A Good Night!"

More on the reason for the season ... Immanuel - God with us! (Matthew 1:18-25)

The day Democrats killed freedom with health care reform

Sunspots and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations - There appears to be a correlation between the rise and fall of civilizations with the rise and fall of radiation from the sun. The graph shows a long-term envelope of sunspot activity derived from the center graph of Carbon 14. More carbon 14 is absorbed in the growth rings of trees during the sunspot minima. Sunspot minima also correlates with mini-ice ages and a winter severity index based on a mean for Paris and London - for the period shown. The Maya disappeared during a sunspot minimum. Caption Credit: crystalinks.com /// Image Credit: Maurice Cottrell

The day Democrats killed freedom with health care reform

Shortest day leads to a shorter life in United States ... the day Democrats killed freedom of decision in America!

Early this morning ... 1:00am ET, December 21st, 2009, to be more precise, the Senate voted in a straight Democrat party vs Republican party vote to end debate on their version of "health care reform" which does little to repair a system under siege.

December 21st, 2009 is the Winter Solstice for the year and for those in the northern hemisphere, it is also the shortest day of the year with the longest hours of darkness. In the southern hemisphere it is the longest day of the year with the greatest number of daylight hours.

December 21st, 2009 is the official start of winter in the northern hemisphere.

Today marks the first day each and every American's freedom to choose how healthy they would like to be ... ends. The Democrats, through this bill on health care, authorizes the Government to make major decisions about the level of medical care citizens are allowed to have.

The Democrats, through this bill on health care, authorizes the Government to make major decisions about profits and the level of pay executives from a private market economy business enterprise can be allowed to have. This is fascism when the Government essentially manages the efforts of a private business.

The Democrats, through this bill on health care, authorizes the Government to make major decisions on which States will have the Federal Government pay for Medicaid and which States will not ... Federal favoritism.

The Democrats, through this bill on health care, authorizes the Government to take tax money (about one dollar per month per taxpayer) and spend it on ending the growth and development of future human beings (fetuses) - Abortion.

The Senate version of the Democrat party health care bill would pay for health reform through Medicare cuts, taxing high-cost insurance plans, increases in Medicare taxes for couples earning more than $250,000 a year, and fees on medical device manufacturers, health insurers, and pharmaceutical companies (which get passed through to the price of goods and services and becomes a tax on EVERYONE else).

So how did Claire McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Chris Dodd and others come around and feel good about saddling the American public with this effort of expanded Government CONTROL over every aspect of our lives based on health care?

This excerpted and edited from Michelle Malkin -

Cash for Cloture: Demcare bribe list, Pt. II
By Michhelle Malkin • December 21, 2009 02:48 AM

1. Sen. Ben Nelson’s “Cornhusker Kickback.” The CBO says the Nebraska Democrat sellout’s special Medicaid expansion subsidy will initially cost an estimated $100 million. The Hill reports that while Nelson credited Nebraska’s governor for giving him the idea to lobby for the government preference, Nebraska’s governor assailed the payoff: “Nebraskans did not ask for a special deal, only a fair deal,” Heineman said in a statement Sunday. In response, Nelson fired off a letter Sunday to Heineman saying he’s prepared to ask that the provision covering Nebraska’s Medicaid share “be removed from the amendment in conference, if it is your desire.”

2. New England’s Special Syrup. Vermont and Massachusetts will get similar (though less generous) special treatment by the feds in covering Medicaid expansion costs. Combined with Nebraska’s tab, the exclusive clique’s payoffs will cost taxpayers $1.2 billion over 10 years. At least.

3. Corruptocrat Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd’s Christmas wish: Hospital helper. He’s plunging in the polls and in need of a little bacon to bring home. A $100 million item for construction of a university hospital was inserted in the Senate health care bill at the request of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election campaign, his office said Sunday night. The legislation leaves it up to the Health and Human Services Department to decide where the money should be spent, although spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said Dodd hopes to claim it for the University of Connecticut.

4. “Some insurers are more equal than others” tax exemption. The WSJ reports that nonprofit insurance companies will be exempt from a new, nearly $7 billion tax to pay for Demcare. Democrat Sens. Ben “Blank Check” Nelson and Carl Levin of Michigan pushed hard for the tax exemption, which will exempt insurers in their states.

5. The Frontier freebie. Several lucky states will see an increase in Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors, the NYT reports, — “where at least 50 percent of the counties are ‘frontier counties,’ defined as those having a population density less than six people per square mile. And which are the lucky states? The bill gives no clue. But the Congressional Budget Office has determined that Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming meet the criteria.”

6. More Democrat hospital bennies. Also via NYT: “Another provision of the bill would increase Medicare payments to certain “low-volume hospitals” treating limited numbers of Medicare patients. Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Senate health committee, said this ‘important fix’ would help midsize Iowa hospitals in Grinnell, Keokuk and Spirit Lake. Another item in Mr. Reid’s package specifies the data that Medicare officials should use in adjusting payments to hospitals to reflect local wage levels. The officials can use certain new data only if it produces a higher index and therefore higher Medicare payments for these hospitals. Senate Democrats said this provision would benefit hospitals in Connecticut and Michigan.”

7. Bernie Sanders’ socialized medicine soap. He wanted a public option. Instead, he got socialized medicine satellite clinics funded to the tune of at least $10 billion. In his remarks early this morning before the cloture vote, he gloated about the funding as a crucial step toward universal care. Via the Burlington Free Press: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., scored a big victory, too, with the inclusion in the amendment package of $10 billion to expand community health centers across the country — including at least two more in Vermont. /// Vermont has 8 community health centers and 40 satellite offices. “New funding would make it likely centers could be opened in Addison and Bennington counties,” Sanders’ home state paper reports.

8. Fla.-Pa.-NY Protectionism. Via Politico: “Three states – Pennsylvania, New York and Florida – all won protections for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when the program is facing cuts nationwide.”

And you know there are many more untold payoffs — paid by stealing your money — yet to be stuffed into this bureaucratic monstrosity.
Reference Here>>

Sunspots may not be the only way great civilizations come to an end ... it may be possible to end them just with an over-reaching lust for control over human activity and increased political power.

OBAMA-BERNANKE INFLATION - Simple dollar dynamics rears its ugly head

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2009. Last year's winner was then-President-elect Barack Obama. The 2007 winner was Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Other previous winners have included Bono, President George W. Bush, and Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. Image Credit: urbandigs.com

OBAMA-BERNANKE INFLATION - Simple dollar dynamics rears its ugly head

'Tis the season to be jolly, a Christmas season song lyric cajoles, yet all the American public can see is a political system and an economy in complete disarray.

We are treated to an endless menu of Christmas specials on television and, of course, Oprah Winfrey has to weigh in with a fluff piece of an interview that starts off with a contrived impromptu drop by visit with the President and first lady for a chat. In the interview, Barack Obama could not resist the temptation to answer a question about the "grade" he would deserve for the performance of the first eleven months of his time as President of the United States. Most good politicians would beg off answering the question ... but not this Oscar and Nobel awarded political radical. Nope, he had to give himself a B+ ... and went on to say that if he is able to sign a bill (any bill) that addresses health care, he would figure that an A- would be the better and appropriate grade.

Today, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke was tapped to be on the cover of TIME Magazine as the "Person Of The Year" stating that the economy would be much, much worse if the Fed had not taken such extreme measures to stop the panic. There's a vast difference between 10% and 25% unemployment, between anemic and negative growth.

This begs the question, however, on ... what happens when the leadership of the Federal Government passes legislation (TARP, two Omnibus, and one Stimulus bill totaling about $4 Trillion plus dollars) that open up the spending of future generations of uncollected tax revenues and places this money into an economy that is not producing goods or services to back up or justify the value of these extra dollar bills in circulation?

Too many dollars chasing the once stable prices on goods and services creates a situation where it takes two dollars to match the value of something that was once valued at one dollar when a stable and consistent money supply dictated this as the cost of the good, service and a living profit. Increase the money supply and prices have to be reset to reflect this simple dynamic.

Welcome to the age of Carter's Second Term ... welcome to the age of INFLATION!

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may be running out of room to pump money into the financial markets and cut interest rates to rescue the economy. Image Credit: urbandigs.com

This excerpted and edited from the New York Post -

Economy bubbles up with wholesale inflation
By PAUL THARP, New York Post - Last Updated: 8:52 AM, December 16, 2009

So much for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke telling the country not to worry that zero percent interest rates might spark inflation.

Economists' worst fears were realized yesterday when the Labor Department said wholesale prices climbed a surprising 1.8 percent last month -- double what economists had predicted and the second-biggest November jump in a decade, following the stunning 2.7 percent surge two years ago at the start of the housing collapse.

The government report said factories are saddled with sharply rising energy and materials costs, among other growing expenses. The higher costs could be passed on to factory customers and consumers, analysts said.

The Labor Department also said core inflation, which excludes the major consumer purchases of food and energy, posted its sharpest increase in more than a year at 0.5 percent.

The surprise jump means analysts will pay even closer attention to today's government report on consumer prices, which could help determine whether inflation has spiked enough to undermine the economy's slow recovery.
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Bernanke, meanwhile, told lawmakers the US economy is still too sluggish with lots of "slack" in factory capacity to support any lasting or serious price hikes.

"The bulk of the evidence indicates that resource slack is now substantial," Bernanke said in a written response to a lawmaker's questions. "I continue to expect slack resources, together with the stability of inflation expectations, to contribute to the maintenance of low inflation in the period ahead."
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Some economists believe the Fed will ignore the inflationary red flags.

"The 1.8 percent jump in wholesale prices is a red herring," said economist Paul Dales at Capital Economics. "The Fed is not going to see this as any indication that their actions are triggering higher inflation."
Reference Here>>

We can expect an economy that will end up worse than any experienced during the "progressive-minded" rule of Jimmy Carter.

Get up, stand up - "Code Red" rally Dec. 15, 1:00PM ET

When emergencies occur… awareness is the key to your safety! The CodeRED system allows safety officials to send recorded messages to the entire community, or a specific area within moments. These messages will inform residents of the situation and give instructions for action. Caption & Image Credit: brunswick.oh.us

Get up, stand up - "Code Red" rally Dec. 15, 1:00PM ET

United we stand ... for the Constitution. The 2,000 plus page Healthcare reform bill is about to become law which will create an entitlement program that will effectively turn our country into a Totalitarian regime.

This Government and its leadership would want every citizen who voted for TRANSPARENCY, equity, low unemployment, mortgage stabilization, and spending control to believe that what they are proposing in the Senate on behalf of healthcare reform is inevitable.

It is time for every Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, and Undeclared voting citizen to show this country's leadership that their vote is not inevitable and the direction they are headed with the potential approval of a 2,000 plus page monstrosity of a public takeover in the decisions that are critical to our lives is the wrong direction. It is time for every voting citizen that wishes to stop the erosion of our country's Constitution to converge on the mall in Washington DC.

CODE RED RALLY - stop congress now! - The Capitol Building and Mall in Washington DC - December 15, 2009 - 1:00PM ET (speakers to address rally at 1:30PM ET - many Senators, Congressmen, and freedom fighters are scheduled to talk)

Emergency - Code Red. Image Credit: cnplocaltv.com

This excerpted and edited from Laura Ingraham's website, "Laura Unleashed" -

Code Red Rally Tuesday 1pm Dec 15th US Capitol
By Laura Ingraham - December 8, 2009, Posted 11:00PM ET

It's time we all stop pretending that what is happening with this Obamacare debate is about "helping the uninsured" or "fixing the healthcare system" or "giving the people what they want." It's about none of those things. Its about amassing as much power in a central government as humanly possible. Its about wealth redistribution. It's social engineering at its absolute worst.

The American people must take this political system back from those who have hijacked it in one of the most abhorrent power grabs that we the voters have ever seen. It's the holiday season so the Democrats are counting on you to be otherwise occupied and too busy to stand against their massive expansion of government.

Let them underestimate us again just as they did last summer. Let these unrepresentative politicians proceed with their legislative chicanery and self-righteous grandstanding. We can expose them and confront them in the classic American spirit--a public gathering on their doorstep.

On December 15th at 1 pm, we will remind Pelosi, Reid, Schumer et al. that they work for us and not the other way around. We will demand that they follow the will of the people, not dismiss and degrade it by putting future generations into a deficit dungeon. We will put every politician who supports this travesty on notice: enjoy your remaining time in the U.S. Capitol because we're coming for your seat.

The American people will not forget those who turned their backs on us and voted for a bill that they hadn't read and which will do nothing but ensure that one of the best healthcare systems in the world is compromised.
Reference Here>>

Many voters in the last election cycle stuffed their brains into a "hate" bucket and voted with their minds and freedoms closed putting both at risk of being totally controlled by a Government that has an Us against Them agenda based on an end result of totalitarian country ... stripped of its freedoms and sovereignty (Copenhagen).

It is time to stop this run-away spending spree, TARP slush-fund using Government and show these leaders why they are wrong when they suggest that what this leadership attempts to do is inevitable ... there is NO CONSENSUS - show up at the Capitol December 15, 2009 at 1:00PM ET and show these folks who's the boss! Affirm American exceptional-ism.

Be sure to wear the color RED!

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