Google Turning to the Military

The poor old fat guy, wearing the red suit, can kiss privacy goodbye. He doesn’t know it yet, but people all over the world are out to see his every move and satellites are linking up in outer space just to track his sorry ass all across the globe… now in 3D!

The tradition started 52 years ago out of a mistake, made by a clerk in a Sears Roebuck & Co., who misprinted a special hotline for kids to call Santa and put instead the
number to the commander-in-chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The red phone, you know, the one they always take the time, in movies, to look worried when it rings. Yes, the one next to the nuclear launch big button. Luckily for the kids and especially for the clerk, Colonel Harry Shoup, the director of operations at the time, had a sense of humor and, furthermore, had children of his own and didn’t want to disappoint them, so he took the time to make his staff check the radar for any indication of a sleigh making its way from the North Pole.

Guess what? They did find signs of that happening, so they updated every child who called on the jolly guy’s location and they have been doing that on Christmas Eve ever since, no matter who took the helm in the years to come.

This year, Google looked down on this tradition and decided that it could help expand it at a global scale, and so partnered with NORAD and provided the Google Earth, Google Maps, iGoogle and YouTube resources, in order to provide the little ones with a more accurate image of things. Carrie Farrell, Colonel Harry Shoup’s grandniece, also working at Google, provided more accurate insight on this service:

"The countdown begins December 1st on NORAD's website, where families can find a new kid-friendly game or activity every day until December 24th. And starting at 1:00 am PST on December 24th, you'll be able to track Santa's trip in real time. You can download Google Earth and add the NORAD Tracks Santa iGoogle gadget to your iGoogle page anytime, but make sure to come back to noradsanta.org on December 24th to download the special Santa Tracking file for an enhanced 3D Santa-tracking experience." Poor guy has a bulls-eye on his ass and doesn’t even know it (large grin).