NORAD Tracking Santa on Christmas Eve
NORAD is preparing to launch its 46th annual "NORAD Tracks Santa"
program this week to aid Santa-watchers around the globe. Air Force
Print News reports that the program features a six-language, live-
tracking Web site which will present visual and audio updates hourly
from midnight EST, Dec. 23 to 5 a.m. EST, Dec. 25. NORAD will track
Santa using digital animation, satellite/cockpit images, and audio
reports from the NORAD command center. All Web site material, including
the live-tracking event, will be available in English, Japanese,
French, Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. The Santa telephone
hotline at (719) 474-3980   will also be available to Santa enthusiasts
after 4p.m. Dec. 24. NORAD is the bi-national United States/Canadian
organization charged with maintaining aerospace warning and control for
North America. The organizations and volunteers who help make this
global Christmas project possible do so at no cost to the taxpayer.
The 2000 NORAD Tracking Santa Web site is at
http://www.noradsanta.org/ . Last year, the Web site took 52 million
hits on Christmas Eve alone, peaking at 250,000 hits per minute.

Tracy Johnson
MSI Schaevitz Sensors