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Does Santa Hate Linux?
beernutmark writes "Well, it looks like Santa or at least Norad/Google hates Linux. This year, for the first time since its inception, Norad is not making a simple .kml file available for download to track Santa. You must connect to their website with a Windows/Mac browser and use the browser plugin. No full-screen Google Earth to look at the beautiful areas around Santa's path. (Anyone have any open source source kml files for tracking Santa or any idea how we can go about making one for 2010?)"
Linux users have figured out that Santa doesn't exist.
Hey, I just felt something woosh over my head! Was it Santa!? Maybe he does exist!
This year, for the first time since its inception, Norad is not making a simple .kml file available for download to track Santa.
NORAD's been putting out .kml files since 1958?
Under Ubuntu, use Firefox, install User Switcher Agent, select "Internet Explorer 7". It appears to work fine. Granted, it is annoying, but it is easy to work around.
The elves are annoyed with the Gnomes.
1. Open web browser of your choice.
2. Go to noradsanta.com
3. (if you have NoScript, turn it off or at least unblock everything but googleanalytics).
4. On the right hand side, there's a diagonal arrow. Click it.
5. Hit whatever button makes your browser go fullscreen.
There. Full-screen Santa-y goodness.
Admittedly not QUITE as good as Google Earth, but you can at least get a full-screen Google Maps experience which is pretty darned close.
Tested in Linux (Mint 8, Firefox 3.5) and Windows XP, Firefox 3.5.
PS: Direct link to the fullscreen map: http://www.noradsanta.org/map.html#fullscreen
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
2009 is not the year of Santa on the desktop. At least, not for Linux users :(
Actually, Linux would be related closer to "pagan" or polytheistic religions. We believe in multiple gods (software authors), although there is a high deity (Linus) who created the universe (Linux) where the rest reside. Some of the other deities work not only in his universe, but in others as well (other *nix's, and even Windows).
The gods are kind and benevolent. Not only do they bestow their gifts upon us (software), but they show us the way (source) so we can ascend to their level.
Not only do they welcome ascension, but the know that no being, god or mortal, is without flaw. They listen when we say there is a problem (bug report) and accept our suggestions (patches) to make the universe better.
Praise be to the gods and goddesses.
And to you, on the cusp of the celebration of the Winter Solstice, I wish you and yours the best. May we help educate the nonbelievers (monotheistic computer followers) into seeing the light (the world which is *nix).
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Of course Santa hates Linux. I mean, think about it, he's Mr. Materialism. Santa is all about shopping malls. It's that smart rabbi, that Jesus guy, who talked about sharing with others as a path to happiness, not Santa. Santa's heart belongs to Microsoft.
You mean like this?
http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/noradsanta/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=hpp&utm_source=en-hpp-na-us-gns-norad
Sig it.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Norad Tracks Santa uses 1,200 volunteers and money from several corporate sponsors. Only 1 person is assigned from Norad to manage it year-round, and it's not his/her full time job.
None of your precious tax money is being used for this. Santa is also not a Christian symbol at all anymore, but is really the symbol of the secular Christmas. Most people in the West who are not Jewish celebrate Christmas, with or without the religious part. Hell, Santa is huge in Japan, and they have very few Christians there. There was a story on CNN earlier today about how Santa is used there as a symbol to celebrate the New Year, and they're primarily Muslims.
I'm sorry you had a bunch of crappy Christmases as a child, but there's no need to take it out on everyone else.
Professor Knuth is a Christian (see his 3:16), and I suspect he's smart enough to be on slashdot.
i think your the one lacking any kind of perspective son.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Perhaps he lets his prophet speak for him. He's funny that way.
I'm an atheist too, but I celebrate Christmas. Why? Because I suspect that, like a lot of myths, the story of Jesus started with a grain of truth. I figure he was probably a Jewish rabble-rouser who went around preaching a philosophy of pacifism - a dangerous thing to do in an empire whose wealth and power was based almost entire on continuous military expansion. So, he caught the attention of the emperor, was executed, and as with many martyrs, his tale grew in the telling.
But, ignoring all of the supernatural mythology that found its way into his story over time, I have a ton of respect for him as a philosopher. His "turn the other cheek" for instance, shows that he understood the cyclical nature of violence far better than most people at that time - he understood that the cycle doesn't end until someone has the strength of character to take the last blow without retaliating.
So, I celebrate his birthday, for pretty much the same reason I celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Not because I believe all that stuff about him being the son of god, or dying to save our souls, but simply because I respect the man and what he taught.
Doh. What I meant to say is Santa is used as a symbol in Turkey, which is primarily Muslim. Sorry about that.
You forgot the last line:
"Nietzsche is God" - Death
Ok you don't get it,
For a kid below the age of about 7 the world is a magical place and santa is a part of that wonder so is flying raindeer and elves.
The world for most of us is a much more mundane place even with Christianity wedging itself into our magical festival theres not much belief in elves or flying raindeer for the Christians.
It's not really christian.
It's a time for being nice to each other and if magic is real isn't that fantastic isn't the world better for magic? now tell me why you want to suck that joy out of your childrens lives?
now you can be cynical and see it all as a waste of money and exploitation of your wallet but really the look of happiness as your kids unwrap their presents, well worth it.
There is plenty of time for the drudgery that most of us live with
the worlds better with santa, and a little magic
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
Hint: Just because he's called "Saint Nick" does not mean the Pope has recognized him.
Ugh. Look up Saint Nicholas of Myra. The Pope recognized Saint Nick about 1000 years ago.
After all, I am strangely colored.
No, that's wrong. Saint Nicholas of Myra was a Christian saint famous for, among other things, leaving gifts in people's shoes/stockings.
After all, I am strangely colored.
Actually many jewish people celebrate the holiday as well.
.. by going out for Chinese food.
From Wikipedia:
In 1956, a Colorado Springs-based Sears store ran an advertisement encouraging people to call Santa Claus on a special kind of telephone hotline. Due to a printing error, the phone number that was printed was the hotline that was actually for Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Then-Colonel Harry Shoup received the first call on Christmas Eve of 1955, from a six-year old boy who began reciting his Christmas list. Shoup then didn't find the call funny, but after asking the mother of the second caller what was happening, then realizing the mistake that had occurred, he told his staff to give Santa's position to any child who called in. Three years on, the government of the United States and Canada combined their respective national domestic air defenses into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), but the tradition continued. Now major media outlets as well as children call in to inquire on Santa's location. NORAD relies on volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Many employees at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force Base spend part of their Christmas Eve with their families and friends at NORAD's Santa Tracking Operations Center, in order to answer phones and provide Santa updates to thousands of callers. In 1997, Canadian Major Jamie Robertson took over the program and expanded it to the Web, where corporation-donated services have given the tradition global accessibility.
I don't like Linux. This doesn't make me a troll.