FromZDNet:
If you don't believe that Santa Claus can deliver presents to millions of homes in a single night, Larry Silverberg, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU), explains that Santa's society of elves has an understanding of physics and engineering that exceeds our own. In fact, Santa Claus and his crew really can deliver presents in one night because of their advanced knowledge of electromagnetic waves, the space/time continuum, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and computer science. For example, he doesn't carry presents. He uses a nano-toymaker to fabricate toys grown atom by atom inside the children's homes. Very entertaining reading…
Larry Silverberg says that Santa knows what children want by using a listening antenna that combines technologies currently used in cell phones. And in order to make stops in about 80 million homes, he's using his knowledge of the space/time continuum and of the theory of relativity.
"Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, that space can be squeezed like an orange and that light can be bent," Silverberg says. "Relativity clouds are controllable domains — rips in time — that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye."
And Santa's sleigh is a fully autonomous vehicle, equipped with a powerful on-board computer which communicates with the sleigh-port, an underground facility that serves as a command and control center.
For their part, reindeer are equipped with jet packs for propulsion and control and have been bio-engineered to see well at night. With all this computer equipment, Santa is ready to visit every home — and to build all the presents under the tree by using a nano-toymaker.
[The] nano-toymaker has a toy information data base that is kept on the sleigh and a remote control. The database contains toy-making instructions. The remote control initiates the toy-making. The nano-toymaker remote control is pointed at toy making material placed under the tree, and a catalyst initiates a rapid crystallization growth process. The process is analogous to inorganic crystal growth of minerals, and snow, and the DNA driven organic growth of biological organs, tissues and other body parts.
Of course, if these theories behind Santa Claus trip seem too revolutionary for you, you can still track his progress around the world in an old fashioned way, as the Charlotte Observer reports in "NORAD is following Santa, and you can too" (Lukas Johnson, Charlotte Observer, December 24, 2006).
For more than 50 years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has used its many defense systems in a happier way: tracking the Christmas Eve journey of St. Nick and his nine famous reindeer as they deliver gifts around the globe. You can visit NORAD's Web site http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php and follow Santa around the clock.
On this site, you can follow Santa's progress in various languages and with several video options. For example, below is Santa over the city of Auckland in New Zealand (Credit: NORAD).
A few hours later, he was spotted over Cloudy Bay, in the South of New Zealand (Credit: NORAD).
For more information about the technologies used by Santa Claus and his elves, you should read this technical presentation about "Santa Claus's ability to deliver presents worldwide in a single night."
Finally, Larry Silverberg was interviewed by Discovery Canada to explain how Santa is able to deliver presents in one night. Here is a link to some clips from that interview, with a short explanation of what is on each clip.
Enjoy Christmas!
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