Use Google Earth To Track Santa

Kickboy12 writes "Google Earth can be used to track Santa Claus, beginning at 2pm GMT December 24th. From the article: 'While we didn't work a deal for Naughty or Nice data layers, we did negotiate the rights to track this user on his big trip. If you've already got Google Earth, you can too.' So, if you have Google Earth, track Santa!"

Re:Aaargh

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

While we're on the subject of being pedantic, I'd like to point out that there is no 'pedanticism', whether you're GWB or not.

Re:wish I could..

[suwain_2]

due to the lack of an OS X and/or linux version, of Google Earth

I used it last night. I'm not sure where you get it, but I was playing Apple's 30" Cinema display in a store, and found that the box it was on (obviously a Mac) had Google Earth installed. It's amazing on that screen. I can't find a link, but it's apparently "floating around" the web.

Re:weird holiday

[dangerz]

I think you seriously just need to get the stick out of your ass and relax a little bit. So what if people are celebrating religious holidays? How is this seriously hurting you? If you're angry that you can't go to work because you were given a day off, then you have bigger issues.

People like you are why a lot of stuff is going to shit. People have to now watch what they're saying because they need to be politically correct. You can't say Merry Christmas, you must say Happy Holidays. You have to tiptoe around what you really want to say, because heaven forbid you offend someone.

Honestly, just shut up and relax. I don't believe in any religion, but I dont mind at all in letting people celebrate what they believe. Christmas, as much as it doesn't seem so, is still a time for families to come together. Ya people are taking the whole gift thing way out of line, but in the end families are still coming together and having a good time. That right there is more than enough reason to make this a national holiday, which I support.

Now stop your bitching, get off your computer and go visit your goddamn family.

Re:I'm Spartacus too

[pe1rxq]

and don't forget the reason for the season

Some germanic tribes celebrating the days getting longer again?

Re:I'm Spartacus too

[glitch23]

Possibly but in the US of A there are some Caucasian (and some Latino as well) tribes that constitute the majority of the population who celebrate Christmas because it is a religious holiday and not just a reason to buy presents for loved ones. Just like we celebrate our independence from England, the new year, the big meal involving Indians and the Europeans in ~1620, as well as those who fought in wars, and some US Presidents too. The interesting thing is that Christmas is one of the few, if not the only, holiday that is an international holiday and yet there are still some individuals and corporations in the US who want to demean it and/or who are afraid to show that they celebrate it.

Re:weird holiday

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you seriously just need to get the stick out of your ass and relax a little bit. So what if people are celebrating religious holidays? How is this seriously hurting you? If you're angry that you can't go to work because you were given a day off, then you have bigger issues.

I'm not him, but I'm also a contractor, and they gave me 7 working days off, not one. That's a couple thousand dollars. (And no, they didn't tell me what holidays they took when they gave me the contract. I had no idea they'd take 7 days off.)

People like you are why a lot of stuff is going to shit. People have to now watch what they're saying because they need to be politically correct. You can't say Merry Christmas, you must say Happy Holidays. You have to tiptoe around what you really want to say, because heaven forbid you offend someone.

What are you talking about? He never said anything about being upset that people said "Merry Christmas". He was only upset about being forced to take time off.

Honestly, just shut up and relax. I don't believe in any religion, but I dont mind at all in letting people celebrate what they believe. Christmas, as much as it doesn't seem so, is still a time for families to come together. Ya people are taking the whole gift thing way out of line, but in the end families are still coming together and having a good time. That right there is more than enough reason to make this a national holiday, which I support. Now stop your bitching, get off your computer and go visit your goddamn family.

I don't think he ever said he was against "letting people celebrate what they believe". In fact, he seemed in favor of the separation of church and state, which means he's all for it.

He also never said anything against visiting his family. Maybe (as I do) he lives close to his family, so he can go visit any weekend he wants. Maybe he lives far enough away that the time off they give him isn't enough time to get there and back comfortably -- which is why he wants the flexibility to take time off when he chooses, not when The Company dictates, so he *can* go visit his goddamn family.

It's people like *you* who are ruining Christmas. Every time anybody says anything that can be remotely considered against any aspect of the Christmas Status Quo, you jump down their throats about how "people like you are why a lot of stuff is going to shit". Thou Shalt Celebrate The Coca-Cola Christmas Or Shut Up, Relax, And Get The Stick Out Of Your Ass. Yeah, that's the spirit.

Re:weird holiday

[JesusPancakes]

Whoa. Why is everybody buying this business about "People aren't *allowed* to say Merry Christmas"? Did Bill O'Reilly get a hypnotoad for Christmas?

Any private citizen is allowed to say Merry Christmas. It's simply a matter of courtesy. If I'm talking to Chaim the Wonder-Jew, of course it would be rude for me to say "Merry Christmas". The motherfucker assassinated Jesus with nails, he doesn't want to celebrate a pagan ritual that has mysteriously been tied to Jesus' birthday, he celebrates a lamp and oil and burning and something. So I could say "Happy Chanukah" or I could just say "Happy Holidays".

When a company enacts a policy that its workers should say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", it's not some sort of anti-Jesus propaganda to keep the white Christian majority down - it's a policy to ensure that employees of the company are polite in their well-wishing and don't affend Chaim the Wonder-Jew or Akmed the Terrorist or Mumbutu the Kwanzaa-ite.

No, I'm not really a racist, I'm a brown man and I look like a terrorist. It's funny. It's a joke!

To put it another way - what some poor beaten Mexican Wal-mart employee went around saying "Happy Chanukah" all the time? And he said it to a nice evangelical Christian family and they got all offended because Jews killed their savior? Well, you'd say "Hey, Poncho, stop saying Happy Chanukah, just say Happy Holidays so that you don't offend people." Likewise, what if Poncho decided he'd try to cater his wishing depending on the person? What if he ran into someone with a big nose and wished them a Happy Chanukah only to discover that the person was actually a Jew for Jesus and hated Chanukah? Or an atheist, and hated all religious holidays?

Then you just say "Happy Holidays", and your intent is clear - you hope that they have happiness and joy during the holiday season regardless of what they celebrate.

It's a matter of politeness. I don't give a shit if you come up to me and say "Merry Christmas", but if I'm feeling bitter toward the holidays at the time I might retort "Yeah, happy fuckin' Jesus day" because, well, you don't know if I'm an atheist, Jew, Hindu, or a Druid. If you give a shit about not offending the people you care about, then you either know their religion and wish them accordingly or you shut the fuck up and send them a nice generic "holiday" greeting. Unless you're a dick who thinks that everyone should celebrate Jesus just like you.

Re:credit to who ever did this first

[westyvw]

Man your physics is so 70's.

        * Since Santa's momentum vector is known, then his location cannot be precisely known, according to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Santa and his sleigh are actually "smeared out" over the earth, in a similar way to an electron "smeared out" around the nucleus of an atom. He can actually be everywhere at once.

        * Also, the extremely high velocities the reindeer can reach make relativistic effects possible. Santa could even arrive at some places shortly before leaving the North Pole. Santa could take on the attributes of the (admittedly theoretical) tachyon.