Disorderly Content

Not the War on Christmas, but more of a difference in perspective.

I'm not big on Christmas, in the same way I don't get excited about Guy Fawkes. Put simply, it's not my holiday, although I'm happy enough to have the day off and wouldn't for a second begrudge a believer his or her right to celebrate. But occasionally amid the holiday schmaltz one runs into something so cool that even a nonbeliever like me is entranced. Thanks to TV Squad for linking to this video of voice actors performing the classic Night Before Christmas. If you don't care for the poem, it's fun just for the chance to play Hey, Who's That Guy?

One of my favorite government traditions happened, I just discovered, due to a misprint. I refer to NORAD's annual Santa Claus radar track, which I first heard about years ago on television news (back when I paid attention to television news) and which has since moved most successfully to the Web. What I didn't know until mere moments ago was that the who thing started by accident. According to the NORAD Santa site, it all began fifty years ago with a newspaper promotion by Sears Roebuck & Co. (Back then Mr. Roebuck hadn't yet been declared an unperson.) The ad included a special hotline number for children of the Christian persuasion to call. Unfortunately, a misprint replaced a number at Sears's Colorado Springs headquarters with that of the Continental Air Defense Command, the predecessor to NORAD. The Director of Operations at CONAD figured out what was going on and had his staff look for and report on any signs of airborne reindeer. And thus was a tradition born(e). The tools have improved dramatically since 1955, but the spirit behind this little holiday event remains undimmed. Kind of nice, even for an unbeliever (but not yet an unperson) like me.

Need some holiday decorating ideas? Check out this guy's light display. Well worth the time, even if it is in Windows Media.