Filed under: Fun, Kids, Google, Time-Wasters
NORAD tracks Santa and answers questions
by Christina Clark Dec 24th 2008 at 11:00AM
The whole thing started in 1955 when Sears misprinted a phone number to call Santa and kids everywhere got connected to the Continental Defense Command hotline. Instead of being angry, CONAD workers gave kids updates of Santa's progress around the world and a tradition was born.
In the 50 years since then, a lot has changed. CONAD became the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD for starters. Since 1998 kids no longer needed to call Santa, they could simply get hourly updates on the internet. And this year, you can even hear about Santa's progress on Twitter!
Because NORAD has teamed up with Google you can see Santa flying over highly detailed Google maps. It is easy to pick out landmarks if Santa flies over an area you are familiar with. You can even see photos of places Santa has flown past with Panoramio photos linked to the map.
You can download a special KML that will let you track Santa in 3D this year and the site has lots off answers to questions kids might have. You can even check out the snack counter to see how many cookies Santa has had so far today!
Check out what we've written before about the Santa Tracker and find out how Google and NORAD teamed up to give us so many Santa tracking options. .
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
chrisaroz said 11:56AM on 12-24-2008
I love the Google Earth plug-in, it's become an exciting tradition for my girls!
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Jay said 2:02PM on 12-24-2008
Kudos to NORAD, for not crushing the dreams of kids everywhere and playing along with the whole ordeal. There still is some good in this world. Even better now with all these other little programs.
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Quikboy said 3:06PM on 12-26-2008
I wonder why the dropped VE this year.
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