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US military to be used to 'track Santa Claus'
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From the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the personnel of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) scrutinise the skies for such aerial threats as missile attacks and hijacked planes. But for the next 24 hours, Norad will not just be monitoring all aircraft, missiles and spacecraft with its network of satellites, ground and airborne radar and fighter jets. The US and Canadian military will also track the global flight path of a distinctive rotund red-clad individual on a sleigh and his team of reindeer, for the entertainment of children around the world. Deploying the latest social media tools to chart the progress of an ancient traveller, Norad’s Christmas Eve Santa Tracker is expected to hit another record this year, bolstered by an unusual dose of controversy about the “militarisation” of the season. Last year, the operation attracted some 22 million website visits, 1.2 million Facebook followers, 950,000 smartphone application downloads and 129,0000 Twitter followers as well as 114,000 old-fashioned telephone calls. Michelle Obama is among the 1,200 volunteers expected to help handle enquiries this Christmas Eve, fielding calls forwarded to the first family’s holiday retreat in Hawaii, as she has since 2010. More than a fifth of the enquiries come from Britain. Unsurprisingly, the most popular question are variants of “where is Santa and when is he arriving at my house?” But volunteers also handle inquiries ranging from his age and elf workforce to whether he leaves presents for dogs or delivers to heaven. And from some older children, there are inevitable doubts about whether Santa does exist. Major Jamie Humphreys is among those who will be dealing with the incoming barrage. “Nearly all the kids want to know when he’s going to be delivering their presents,” he said. “We tell them that we can’t give a firm time, but they do have to be asleep. When we say that, we can often hear the parents on the line adding ‘yes’ or ‘did you hear that?’ in a relieved tone.” “For those who ask his age, we tell them that Norad intelligence indicates that Santa is at least 16 centuries old. And if they are sounding sceptical, I tell them to believe in their dreams.” Nothing can prepare the Santa tracking team for some questions, however – like the boy who called the hotline last year, 10 days after the Sandy Hook school massacre. “I’m from Newtown, Connecticut, where the shooting was,” he said. “Is it possible that Santa can bring extra presents so I can deliver them to the families that lost kids?” Sara Berghoff, the volunteer who took the call, was briefly taken off guard, not least as she was just 13. “If I can get ahold of him, I’ll try to get the message to him,” she said, answering on her feet. The programme began by accident when Colorado children flooded the hotline of Norad’s predecessor with calls after a local newspaper mistakenly printed its number in a Christmas advertisement in 1955. It is of course intended as feel-good festive fun, not to mention some good public relations for the US and Canadian militaries in what has become the defence department’s biggest public outreach operation. But an unexpected tinge of controversy was thrown into the mix this year when the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood criticised an animated video on the Norad Santa website. The clip, which showed two unarmed Canadian F-18 fighter jets briefly escorting Santa’s sleigh, injected “militarism” into a beloved tradition, the children’s advocacy group complained. It was a criticism that rather bemused those at Norad, not least as this indeed a joint US-Canadian military operation that oversees patrols of the skies. And Norad has long shown its fighter jets in its tracking imagery. As to Santa’s route, there is of course no advance flight path, but he usually sweeps down from the North Pole, heading across the world from east to west, before looping into the Pacific to Hawaii and a traditional final stop in Alaska en route back to his Arctic home. |
英國(guó)《每日電訊報(bào)》報(bào)道,北美防空聯(lián)合司令部(NORAD)再次啟動(dòng)了一年一度的圣誕老人追蹤計(jì)劃。其位于落基山腳下的總部將不僅通過(guò)其精密的雷達(dá)監(jiān)視系統(tǒng)檢測(cè)飛入美國(guó)領(lǐng)空的飛機(jī)和導(dǎo)彈,還將與加拿大的軍方一道追蹤一個(gè)獨(dú)特的飛行體在圣誕前夕的行蹤:圣誕老人和他的馴鹿隊(duì)。 NORAD專門為這項(xiàng)行動(dòng)設(shè)立了“圣誕老人追蹤網(wǎng)站”,去年該網(wǎng)站點(diǎn)擊率達(dá)到2200萬(wàn),在臉譜網(wǎng)吸引了約120萬(wàn)追隨者,主題智能手機(jī)軟件下載量達(dá)到95五次,推特網(wǎng)粉絲數(shù)增加了約129萬(wàn)。此外還有11.4萬(wàn)人打進(jìn)了熱線電話。 從美國(guó)東部時(shí)間12月24日凌晨2點(diǎn)開(kāi)始到25日凌晨5點(diǎn),約有1200志愿者將幫助接聽(tīng)孩子們打來(lái)的熱線電話。美國(guó)第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬也是志愿者之一,屆時(shí)電話將被轉(zhuǎn)接到第一家庭在夏威夷的度假地,她將與其他志愿者一道回答孩子們的提問(wèn)。 每年,志愿者們都會(huì)接到五花八門的問(wèn)題,最熱門的問(wèn)題當(dāng)屬“圣誕老人飛到哪里了?他什么時(shí)候到我家”,除此之外還有打聽(tīng)圣誕老人的年紀(jì)以及他是否會(huì)給寵物送禮物,是否會(huì)將禮物送到天堂等等,當(dāng)然年紀(jì)大一點(diǎn)兒的孩子還會(huì)問(wèn)圣誕老人是不是真的存在。 “NORAD官方提供的答案是,圣誕老人的年紀(jì)大概有16個(gè)世紀(jì)那么長(zhǎng)。對(duì)于那些明顯有點(diǎn)懷疑的人,我會(huì)勸告他們相信夢(mèng)的力量?!敝驹刚咧唤苊住h弗萊斯說(shuō)道。 這項(xiàng)行動(dòng)可以追溯到1955年,當(dāng)時(shí)一家報(bào)紙刊登了圣誕節(jié)廣告,聲稱只要撥入熱線就能夠聯(lián)系上圣誕老人。然而這個(gè)熱線號(hào)碼卻被印錯(cuò)了一個(gè)字母,陰差陽(yáng)錯(cuò)的印成了NORAD的官方熱線。在圣誕那天,數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的孩子打入了這個(gè)電話,NORAD的工作人員也將錯(cuò)就錯(cuò)的扮演起了圣誕老人的代理人,這個(gè)傳統(tǒng)一直延續(xù)至今。 雖然有人質(zhì)疑美軍借此宣傳其軍事力量,將軍事主義的思想灌輸給孩子,但是NORAD的圣誕老人追蹤計(jì)劃仍然廣受歡迎。當(dāng)然,圣誕老人并沒(méi)有一個(gè)確切的飛行路線,但是他通常情況下會(huì)從北極出發(fā),然后由東向西飛越地球,在夏威夷稍作停留之后飛向阿拉斯加,最后回到自己位于北極的家。 相關(guān)閱讀 泰國(guó)大選34個(gè)黨派首日登記 為泰黨再推英拉競(jìng)選 奧巴馬承諾審視NSA監(jiān)控項(xiàng)目 或把電話數(shù)據(jù)交由運(yùn)營(yíng)商保存 ( 張帆 編輯:信蓮)
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