Santa Claus and His Sled, 9 Reindeer (including Rudolph) Over Mongolia Delivering Presents (NORAD Tracker) December 24, 2024 : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Santa Claus and His Sled, 9 Reindeer (including Rudolph) Over Mongolia Delivering Presents (NORAD Tracker) December 24, 2024 / Ron Cogswell
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | Per AP news story by Ben Finley December 24, 2024:The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth, delivering presents and defying time.Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (aka NORAD) based in Colorado Springs (CO) to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages, from English to Japanese.On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?”“There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer.Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.”NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. The tradition continues regardless of government shutdowns, such as the one in 2018, and this year.Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing.The origin story is Hollywood-esque (and maybe true):It supposedly started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number.A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war.Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list.“He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999.Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?”Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said.In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80 foot (18-by-24 meter) plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole.The tradition was born and lives on hale and hearty world-wide 69 years later.Per NORAD: A little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so satellites can track (Santa) through that heat source too.Photo Credit: NORAD Santa TrackerFYI: the names of the nine reindeer above: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph with his red nose.The three larger 'stars' are Adobe AI-generated images. |
| 撮影日 | 2024-12-24 13:48:18 |
| 撮影者 | Ron Cogswell , Arlington, Virginia, USA |
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| 撮影地 | Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States 地図 |