‘Tis the season for the tracking of Santa Claus with systems designed to track incoming weapons of war. Instead tracking a warhead that would end with a mushroom cloud exterminating a city full of children, good and bad, the NORAD Santa tracker follows the JOE (Jolly Old Elf) as he flies overhead and then drops off presents for good children. It will also show any curious child just where Santa is.
Not only is he tracked on the site, there are also some video cameras on duty to capture the JOE in action as he flies by. For the more curious children, there’s also a history of Santa, his sleigh, the NORAD Santa tracking “program,” and a few other things. For even more information, a click on the NORAD HQ link will offer up some NORAD mission tidbits and other extras.
The globe on the tracking homepaged can spin, and it theoretically shows the home cities of children who are browsing (at least it showed where I lived). Every year, NORAD seems to tweak and change the site to make it more interesting for those wishing to track Santa. This year’s might be the nicest of the bunch, yet. And, there seems to be an application for each major phone platform for download (even the iPhone ;-)), so kids can track Santa while at the mall, in the car, etc.
Keep in mind and remind your young ones that even though they’re tracking him, he knows when they’re sleeping or awake. Which would be why he won’t show up, even if he’s in their area, until they do the right thing and go to bed.
Merry Christmas everyone!!
The Mad Spaceball 