Article from Mashable.com
For 62 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has been tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, as he makes his way around the world delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls.
This year, the tradition will continue, and now there are even more ways that you and your little ones can follow Father Christmas’ progress. A stunning 25 million people from around the globe are predicted to follow Santa in real-time online, on mobile phones and tablets, by email and phone.
What makes the program so special is that more than 1,250 Canadian and American uniformed personnel and Defense-Department civilians volunteer their time on Christmas Eve to answer thousands of phone calls and emails. What’s more, organizations such as Microsoft, Analytical Graphics Inc., Verizon, Visionbox and over 50 others support NORAD.
Interestingly, the popular tradition actually began by mistake, as Capt. Jeff Davis, director of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command Public Affairs, recently revealed in a guest post onMicrosoft’s official blog:
It’s hard to believe it all started with a typo. A program renowned the world over — one that brings in thousands of volunteers, prominent figures such as the First Lady of the United States, and one that has been going on for more than five decades — all started as a misprint.
That error ran in a local Colorado Springs newspaper back in 1955 after a local department store printed an advertisement with an incorrect phone number that children could use to ‘call Santa.’ Except that someone goofed. Or someone mistook a three for an eight. Maybe elves broke into the newspaper and changed the number. We’ll never know.
But somehow, the number in the advertisement changed, and instead of reaching the ‘Santa’ on call for the local department store, it rang at the desk of the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, the organization that would one day become the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or ‘NORAD.’
And when the commander on duty, Col. Harry Shoup, first picked up the phone and heard kids asking for Santa, he could have told them they had a wrong number.
But he didn’t.
Instead, the kind-hearted colonel asked his crew to play along and find Santa’s location. Just like that, NORAD was in the Santa-tracking business.
The NORAD Tracks Santa operations center opens on Dec. 24 at 5 a.m. EST (4 a.m. CST, 3 a.m. MST and 2 a.m. PST), and remains open until 5 a.m. EST (4 a.m. CST, 3 a.m. MST and 2 a.m. PST) on Dec. 25.
If you’d like to get involved in this charming tradition this holiday season, we have outlined all the different methods, below. Have a read through to see which one will suit you best. Then, let us know in the comments how you’ll be tracking Santa in 2012.
Online
Head to NoradSanta.org on Christmas Eve to follow Father Christmas’ progress on Bing Maps.
With Windows 8
There’s a free PC app available to download for anyone running Windows 8 or Windows RT.
By Email
Get an update on Santa’s location by pinging a line to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com.
By Phone
Dial 1-877-HI-NORAD or 1-877-446-6723 to speak to a NORAD tracker. Anyone overseas (or in Colorado Springs) needs to call 1-719-556-5211.
On Windows Phones
If you’re running Windows Phone 7.5 or 8, you can download the official app for free.
On Android Handsets
The Google Play store also offers an Android version of the official app. It will work with phones running 2.2 to 4.2.
On iOS Devices
iPhone, iPad and iPod owners can get the free iOS version via iTunes.
Image courtesy of Peter Filias
