With Santa's departure from the North Pole imminent, preparations to track his global trek were underway on Friday at an aerospace command center in Colorado. Children eager for Santa's take-off can count down the hours on the track Santa clock on the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Tracks Santa website.
Also on the website, kids can watch Santa prepare for his flight, check out the bustling shops in the North Pole and then watch online "Santa cams" as the big bearded guy in the red suit visits kids around the world.
Year-round, NORAD is tasked with protecting the skies of North America, monitoring man-made objects in space and detecting any potential attack by aircraft, missiles or space vehicles.
Tracking Santa seems to be a natural seasonal extension of NORAD's typical duties.
"His flight is something that we absolutely would track," said Lieutenant Commander Bill Lewis, a NORAD spokesman.
"Rudolph's nose helps us quite a bit with that. His nose puts off quite the heat signature," Lewis said.
The origins of tracking Santa date back to 1955, Lewis said, when a local ad to speak directly with Santa printed the wrong phone number -- instead directing children to a military defense operations center.
Tracking Santa grew from there after officers on duty actually fielded the kids questions, he said.
For more than 50 years NORAD has followed the flight path of jolly old Saint Nick, but these days technology helps children and families pinpoint Santa's more exact route to their own homes.
This year, kids can download mobile device apps to watch Santa and the reindeer traverse the globe.
Otherwise, they can call or email the command center for Santa's coordinates.
Last year, 1,250 military families, civilians and local volunteers from around Colorado Springs took shifts at NORAD's facility to field more than 80,000 calls and countless emails from children asking where Santa is and when he might be coming down their chimney.
But as all good youngsters know, and volunteers remind them when they call in, Santa won't be able to stop by your home until you are sound asleep.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Stressed Chinese fight back - with pillows
A whirlwind of pillows bearing the names of bosses and teachers filled the air as hundreds of Chinese gathered to blow off stress in Shanghai, staging a massive pillow battle. The annual event marked its fifth year with such a surge in interest from stressed young office workers and students that organizers held two nights of pillow fighting before Christmas Day and plan another for Dec 30.
"Nowadays there are many white collar workers and students that are facing huge pressures at work and at school, so we hope to give them an outlet to release their stress before the end of the year," said Eleven Wang, the founder and mastermind behind the epic pillow fights.
"Sometimes we have pressure on us by our bosses, teachers and exams, so today we can go crazy. Everyone will get to write onto the pillows the names of their bosses, teachers and exam subjects, and enjoy and vent to the maximum," he added.
"After releasing the stress, we can once again face our daily life with joy."
Pillows were handed out at the door as participants entered, then emotion stoked by a rock concert, with many on the floor of the huge event space rocking and waving their pillows in time to the music.
Then came the fighting.
Pillows filled the air, with many combatants opting for throwing rather than using them to whack opponents. A few hapless participants shielded their heads with as many pillows as they could hold, but most ventured eagerly in to the fray.
"I really enjoyed the fight, but my friend was useless. He joined in for two ticks and could not go on, he was afraid of getting beaten by other people," said 24-year-old Chen Yi.
"I thought it was pretty meaningful. I've just been working so much (at the office) and never get to break out in a sweat, so it felt really good."
Others gamely said they enjoyed the experience even though they ended up as attackees rather than attackers.
"I don't know who pushed me, but all of a sudden I was in the pile of pillows, where I became the target of many people, and was beaten by all sorts of people," said university student Zhu Shishan. "Very meaningful."
"Nowadays there are many white collar workers and students that are facing huge pressures at work and at school, so we hope to give them an outlet to release their stress before the end of the year," said Eleven Wang, the founder and mastermind behind the epic pillow fights.
"Sometimes we have pressure on us by our bosses, teachers and exams, so today we can go crazy. Everyone will get to write onto the pillows the names of their bosses, teachers and exam subjects, and enjoy and vent to the maximum," he added.
"After releasing the stress, we can once again face our daily life with joy."
Pillows were handed out at the door as participants entered, then emotion stoked by a rock concert, with many on the floor of the huge event space rocking and waving their pillows in time to the music.
Then came the fighting.
Pillows filled the air, with many combatants opting for throwing rather than using them to whack opponents. A few hapless participants shielded their heads with as many pillows as they could hold, but most ventured eagerly in to the fray.
"I really enjoyed the fight, but my friend was useless. He joined in for two ticks and could not go on, he was afraid of getting beaten by other people," said 24-year-old Chen Yi.
"I thought it was pretty meaningful. I've just been working so much (at the office) and never get to break out in a sweat, so it felt really good."
Others gamely said they enjoyed the experience even though they ended up as attackees rather than attackers.
"I don't know who pushed me, but all of a sudden I was in the pile of pillows, where I became the target of many people, and was beaten by all sorts of people," said university student Zhu Shishan. "Very meaningful."
Crime scene cleanup ad lifts Handel's Messiah
Who says beautiful music and blood spatter cleanup can't go together. When Chorus North Shore performs Handel's Messiah or Verdi's Requiem, the Boston-area group usually can count on Timothy Riley and his crime scene cleanup business for moral and economic support.
Riley, for example, recently advertised his company's "crime and death scene cleaning" in the playbill of Chorus North Shore's Handel's Messiah performance at two Catholic churches north of Boston.
Next to ads by a local dentist and a prep school, Riley's ad featured specialties that include suicide and body decomposition cleanup and automobile deodorization.
It's a jarring combination, to be sure, but Riley said he has been supporting the chorus group for years.
"My wife is one of the singers," Riley told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I really haven't gotten any business from it. An ad costs me something like 50 or 75 dollars."
Riley said no one has complained to him about having his ads in the back of performance playbills.
"Most of the chorus members I've talked to think it's absolutely hilarious," Riley laughed.
"I try to have a good sense of humor. You can't be completely serious all of the time in this business or you'd go crazy. It's not one of those businesses you think of until you need it."
Riley started CADSC Inc. in 1998 after working 27 years as a science teacher. He said crime scene cleanup accounts for about 6 percent of his business, while about half is what he described as "filthy living or pooh related."
"We deal with hoardings, bird droppings, human droppings," Riley explained. "We average about 20 jobs a month."
He said the work can be painstaking and tedious. A shotgun suicide, for example, can be especially difficult.
"You have to look at every square inch. Things go everywhere," Riley said.
Riley, for example, recently advertised his company's "crime and death scene cleaning" in the playbill of Chorus North Shore's Handel's Messiah performance at two Catholic churches north of Boston.
Next to ads by a local dentist and a prep school, Riley's ad featured specialties that include suicide and body decomposition cleanup and automobile deodorization.
It's a jarring combination, to be sure, but Riley said he has been supporting the chorus group for years.
"My wife is one of the singers," Riley told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I really haven't gotten any business from it. An ad costs me something like 50 or 75 dollars."
Riley said no one has complained to him about having his ads in the back of performance playbills.
"Most of the chorus members I've talked to think it's absolutely hilarious," Riley laughed.
"I try to have a good sense of humor. You can't be completely serious all of the time in this business or you'd go crazy. It's not one of those businesses you think of until you need it."
Riley started CADSC Inc. in 1998 after working 27 years as a science teacher. He said crime scene cleanup accounts for about 6 percent of his business, while about half is what he described as "filthy living or pooh related."
"We deal with hoardings, bird droppings, human droppings," Riley explained. "We average about 20 jobs a month."
He said the work can be painstaking and tedious. A shotgun suicide, for example, can be especially difficult.
"You have to look at every square inch. Things go everywhere," Riley said.
Whale sperm, orgasmic feet top 2011 bad science list
From whale sperm to colon cleansers to the shape of a woman's foot when she has an orgasm, celebrities did not disappoint during 2011 with their penchant for peddling suspect science in the world's media.
In its annual list of what it considers the year's worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign named reality TV star Nicole Polizzi, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann and American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro as top offenders, with their dubious views on why the sea is salty, the risks of cervical cancer vaccines and the colon.
"I used to get a lot of sore throats and then one of my sisters told me that all illnesses start in the colon. I started taking a daily colon cleanser powder mixed with fresh juice every morning and it made an enormous difference," Quatro told the Daily Mail newspaper.
But SAS was keen to dispel such myths. It asked qualified scientists from various disciplines to comment on some of the worst celebrity science offences.
"The colon is very important in some diseases, but it certainly is not the cause of all illnesses," said Melita Gordon, a consultant gastroenterologist said in the review.
"Sore throats do not come from your colon; they are caused by viruses that come in through your nose and mouth. Taking 'colon cleansers' has no beneficial effect on your throat - or on your colon."
While the review is partly about entertainment, the campaign group stresses it also has a serious aim - to make sure pseudo-science is not allowed to become accepted as true.
After Bachmann used an appearance on a television show to tell a story of a woman from Tampa, Florida, who said her daughter had become "mentally retarded" after getting an HPV vaccine designed to protect against cervical cancer, doctors said they feared the damage done may take many years to reverse.
"It's tempting to dismiss celebrity comments on science and health, but their views travel far and wide and, once uttered, a celebrity cancer prevention idea or environmental claim is hard to reverse," said SAS's managing director Tracey Brown.
"At a time when celebrities dominate the public realm, the pressure for sound science and evidence must keep pace."
The review also highlighted a bizarre quote from TV personality Polizzi, who declared recently: "I don't really like the beach. I hate sharks, and the water's all whale sperm. That's why the ocean's salty."
Simon Boxall, a marine expert and oceanographer dismissed Polizzi's suggestion. "It would take a lot of whale sperm to make the sea that salty," he said.
Some of the most intriguing pseudo-scientific suggestions came via repeated second hand information picked up at parties - never the most reliable source.
Christian Louboutin, a French footwear designer, was taken with something a fellow party guest told him about shoes.
"She said that what is sexual in a high heel is the arch of the foot, because it is exactly the position of a woman's foot when she orgasms. So putting your foot in a heel, you are putting yourself in a possibly orgasmic situation," he explained.
Kevan Wylie, a consultant in sexual medicine, responded drily that it's important to differentiate cause from effect.
"A woman's foot may be in this position during orgasm, but that does not mean that putting her foot into this position under other circumstances will result in orgasm," he said.
In its annual list of what it considers the year's worst abuses against science, the Sense About Science (SAS) campaign named reality TV star Nicole Polizzi, Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann and American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro as top offenders, with their dubious views on why the sea is salty, the risks of cervical cancer vaccines and the colon.
"I used to get a lot of sore throats and then one of my sisters told me that all illnesses start in the colon. I started taking a daily colon cleanser powder mixed with fresh juice every morning and it made an enormous difference," Quatro told the Daily Mail newspaper.
But SAS was keen to dispel such myths. It asked qualified scientists from various disciplines to comment on some of the worst celebrity science offences.
"The colon is very important in some diseases, but it certainly is not the cause of all illnesses," said Melita Gordon, a consultant gastroenterologist said in the review.
"Sore throats do not come from your colon; they are caused by viruses that come in through your nose and mouth. Taking 'colon cleansers' has no beneficial effect on your throat - or on your colon."
While the review is partly about entertainment, the campaign group stresses it also has a serious aim - to make sure pseudo-science is not allowed to become accepted as true.
After Bachmann used an appearance on a television show to tell a story of a woman from Tampa, Florida, who said her daughter had become "mentally retarded" after getting an HPV vaccine designed to protect against cervical cancer, doctors said they feared the damage done may take many years to reverse.
"It's tempting to dismiss celebrity comments on science and health, but their views travel far and wide and, once uttered, a celebrity cancer prevention idea or environmental claim is hard to reverse," said SAS's managing director Tracey Brown.
"At a time when celebrities dominate the public realm, the pressure for sound science and evidence must keep pace."
The review also highlighted a bizarre quote from TV personality Polizzi, who declared recently: "I don't really like the beach. I hate sharks, and the water's all whale sperm. That's why the ocean's salty."
Simon Boxall, a marine expert and oceanographer dismissed Polizzi's suggestion. "It would take a lot of whale sperm to make the sea that salty," he said.
Some of the most intriguing pseudo-scientific suggestions came via repeated second hand information picked up at parties - never the most reliable source.
Christian Louboutin, a French footwear designer, was taken with something a fellow party guest told him about shoes.
"She said that what is sexual in a high heel is the arch of the foot, because it is exactly the position of a woman's foot when she orgasms. So putting your foot in a heel, you are putting yourself in a possibly orgasmic situation," he explained.
Kevan Wylie, a consultant in sexual medicine, responded drily that it's important to differentiate cause from effect.
"A woman's foot may be in this position during orgasm, but that does not mean that putting her foot into this position under other circumstances will result in orgasm," he said.
Now or never for workers as "Elvis" the croc strikes again
Two workers at a reptile park near Sydney were all shook up Wednesday, running for their lives when a 500 kg crocodile named Elvis suddenly lunged at them, making off with their lawnmower.
Five-meter long Elvis was already not exactly a hunk of burning love, having eaten two girlfriends at another crocodile park where he lived.
He struck again Wednesday, surging out of the water while the workers performed routine maintenance nearby.
"Elvis is quite a dangerous croc, he's a real firecracker," said Tim Faulkner, operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, about an hour's drive north of Sydney.
"He came flying out and before we knew it he had the mower in his mouth and he's taken it back into the water, dropping a couple of teeth in the process."
The cantankerous croc is believed to be between 40 and 60 years old -- more or less in his prime. He was captured near Darwin, in Australia's north, for attacking fishing boats.
Faulkner said it was not unknown for Elvis to chase workers around and that the lawnmower had become an important piece of equipment.
"We have a golden rule -- keep the mower between you and the croc," he said.
While the park workers were safe, the mower was damaged beyond repair, with puncture marks and a torn throttle. Lawrence said Elvis was likely to be hard to handle for a while.
"Crocodiles are real primitive creatures, they've got a real basic set of principles, and he's beaten us today," he said.
"For him, today, he's king of the jungle."
Five-meter long Elvis was already not exactly a hunk of burning love, having eaten two girlfriends at another crocodile park where he lived.
He struck again Wednesday, surging out of the water while the workers performed routine maintenance nearby.
"Elvis is quite a dangerous croc, he's a real firecracker," said Tim Faulkner, operations manager at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford, about an hour's drive north of Sydney.
"He came flying out and before we knew it he had the mower in his mouth and he's taken it back into the water, dropping a couple of teeth in the process."
The cantankerous croc is believed to be between 40 and 60 years old -- more or less in his prime. He was captured near Darwin, in Australia's north, for attacking fishing boats.
Faulkner said it was not unknown for Elvis to chase workers around and that the lawnmower had become an important piece of equipment.
"We have a golden rule -- keep the mower between you and the croc," he said.
While the park workers were safe, the mower was damaged beyond repair, with puncture marks and a torn throttle. Lawrence said Elvis was likely to be hard to handle for a while.
"Crocodiles are real primitive creatures, they've got a real basic set of principles, and he's beaten us today," he said.
"For him, today, he's king of the jungle."
Venezuela's Chavez: Did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer?
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.
It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.
"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I don't know. I'm just reflecting," he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.
"But this is very, very, very strange ... it's a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities."
Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists.
Doctors say Fernandez has a very good chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Her diagnosis was made public on Tuesday.
Chavez said other regional leaders should beware, including his close ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales.
"We'll have to take good care of Evo. Take care Evo!" he said.
The 57-year-old is Latin America's loudest critic of U.S. foreign policy along with Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro, and he frequently lashes out at what he calls the "Yankee Empire".
CASTRO'S WARNING
"Fidel always told me, 'Chavez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat ... a little needle and they inject you with I don't know what,'" he said.
In his comments on Wednesday, Chavez also slammed Washington and its European allies for criticizing Russia's recent parliamentary elections - and said they were planning the same thing for Venezuela's presidential election in October, when he will seek re-election.
"They are crying fraud and saying the elections need to be re-run ... They're trying to destabilize no less than Russia, a nuclear power. That's the madness of the Empire," Chavez said.
"I say this because here in Venezuela, the Imperial Yankee, the local bourgeoisie, and a good part of what they call the opposition parties here, are preparing a similar plan," he said.
"I call on the armed forces to be alert, on the Venezuelan people to be alert. Because we are not going to let the Imperial Yankee destabilize Venezuela again like they did in the past."
Details about Chavez's health remain a closely guarded secret, although he now appears to be recovering and is making longer and longer televised appearances.
Earlier this month he made his first official foreign trip after his surgery, to a regional summit in Uruguay.
Since his return he has often appeared sporting something of a younger, new look: a dark sports coat over an open-necked maroon shirt, and is hair is growing back after chemotherapy.
It is far cry from the green fatigues and red beret that he became famous for wearing for much of his 13 years in power.
It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.
"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I don't know. I'm just reflecting," he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.
"But this is very, very, very strange ... it's a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities."
Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists.
Doctors say Fernandez has a very good chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Her diagnosis was made public on Tuesday.
Chavez said other regional leaders should beware, including his close ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales.
"We'll have to take good care of Evo. Take care Evo!" he said.
The 57-year-old is Latin America's loudest critic of U.S. foreign policy along with Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro, and he frequently lashes out at what he calls the "Yankee Empire".
CASTRO'S WARNING
"Fidel always told me, 'Chavez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat ... a little needle and they inject you with I don't know what,'" he said.
In his comments on Wednesday, Chavez also slammed Washington and its European allies for criticizing Russia's recent parliamentary elections - and said they were planning the same thing for Venezuela's presidential election in October, when he will seek re-election.
"They are crying fraud and saying the elections need to be re-run ... They're trying to destabilize no less than Russia, a nuclear power. That's the madness of the Empire," Chavez said.
"I say this because here in Venezuela, the Imperial Yankee, the local bourgeoisie, and a good part of what they call the opposition parties here, are preparing a similar plan," he said.
"I call on the armed forces to be alert, on the Venezuelan people to be alert. Because we are not going to let the Imperial Yankee destabilize Venezuela again like they did in the past."
Details about Chavez's health remain a closely guarded secret, although he now appears to be recovering and is making longer and longer televised appearances.
Earlier this month he made his first official foreign trip after his surgery, to a regional summit in Uruguay.
Since his return he has often appeared sporting something of a younger, new look: a dark sports coat over an open-necked maroon shirt, and is hair is growing back after chemotherapy.
It is far cry from the green fatigues and red beret that he became famous for wearing for much of his 13 years in power.
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