The NORAD Tracks Santa Story

The year was 1955 and the very popular department store by the name of Sears placed an ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper that encouraged kids to call and talk to Santa himself. Some elf that put together the advertisement must have typed in the wrong phone number because instead of kids calling Sears, they were dialing the Colorado Springs’ Continental Air Defense (or CONAD for short).  That night Colonel Harry Shoup was on duty. As the calls started to come in, Colonel Shoup told his staff to provide all the kids that called with Santa’s “current location”. From that day on, a tradition was born.  In 1958 North American Aerospace Defense Command (better known as NORAD which is run by United States and Canada) replaced CONAD but kept the tradition or tracking Santa.

NORAD relies on many volunteers to make “NORAD Tracks Santa” possible, who answer phone calls and emails from about 2 a.m. on December 24^th to 3 a.m. December 25^th. The volunteers answer around 70,000 phone calls and more than 12,000 from more than two hundred countries in that short time frame. With advancements in technology, you can now track Santa on their website www.noradsanta.org and the website is available in eight different languages. Have fun with your family this year and track Santa with NORAD this Christmas Eve.

Happy Hollidays from all of us at TechFarmer!

TechFarmer December Newsletter

TechFarmer’s December Newsletter is out! This issue includes an awesome holiday technology gift guide and as always it also includes a good amount of “Did you know?!” facts. Find out what a Smartpen is and how it can benefit anyone from a student to a businessman/woman who takes a lot of notes and then needs to share them with others. See how a MIFI internet hotspot can benefit you in your business travel as well as your family while on vacation. Get creative ideas for stocking stuffers, whether they are for your employees or anyone on your holiday list. Be fun with ideas for those geeky coworkers that you have, friends or family members. All in all, this is a fun issue with many neat and unique ideas! If you are not signed up for our newsletter, please do so on our website on the bottom right corner or click here for the newsletter archive.

Have a fun Holiday Season!