Has to have been done before but just in case.
A trailing banner pulled behind an airplane at night that has an illuminated animation of Santa and his raindeer flying through the night. Parents would be alerted to bring their kids out at a certain time and look in the direction of the fly by show.
Of course another option is to just make a drone version of the whole thing, but I'm sure that's been done. The banner thing might be a lot easier.
The illuminated animation might be achieved by an LED filled banner or simply a sheet onto which a video is projected.
However it's achieved I'm surprised nobody's done something like this yet.
Bun or bone, merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 Santa's sleigh hot air balloon Santa_27s_20sleigh_20hot_20air_20balloonPrior Art [8th of 7, Dec 24 2019] Beckett Bridge Dublin https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R01eWZ6e5Hc [xenzag, Dec 24 2019] Speaking of Santa's sleigh getting shot down... https://santatracke...gn=2019-tracker-hppLimited time link: shows him entering Afghanistan air space right now. [doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019] You know, [doc], you've turned into a really nice guy in your old age. There's still time to turn it around, though.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 24 2019 Better to show them the real thing, surely?-- pocmloc, Dec 24 2019 You can get an app that tells you when the ISS is passing overhead. Kids won't know.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 24 2019 <link>
// raindeer //
So, Santa is a presage of bad weather now ? Snow would be the traditional thing, shirley ?-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2019 The young folk may wonder why Santa leaves without stopping.-- tatterdemalion, Dec 24 2019 What [pocmloc] said. I love the idea though, as a back-up plan.-- blissmiss, Dec 24 2019 This is great until your plane meets the real Santa in a mid-air collision. Toys and reindeer parts scattered over a wide area.
As far as is known, Santa flies strictly VFR and at night, more or less regardless of weather. His sleigh also has a very low radar cross-section (there are rumours that it's stealthed), and carries no active transponder. Under those circumstances, no court would blame you for the collision, but that would be little consolation.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 24 2019 //You know, [doc], you've turned into a really nice guy in your old age.//
//This is great until your plane meets the real Santa in a mid-air collision.//
I actually erased the part where I thought the drone version might be less susceptible to AA attack, be it some kind of high tech heat seeking affair or just a hillbilly with a 30-06.
But believe me, the dark cynical part of my soul born of many years of experience is alive and well. I just keep it locked in the attic and throw it a bucket of fish heads now and then.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 That last lot weren't even slightly rancid, we had to wait days before they became edible...-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2019 You all have about 5 minutes to watch the real time tracker of Santa flying over Afghanistan in the link I posted.
Good little boys and girls will hope me makes it. I'll take whatever happens.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 OK, he made it. Now let's see if he's going to push his luck by flying over Tehran.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 Nope. Did a wise 180 and headed for Borat country.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 A collision between Santa and an AWACS would be a delicious irony. Would it be logged as "blue on blue" or "blue on red-and-whte" ... ?-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2019 It's guys like us who wrote nursery rhymes like Ring Around The Rosie. It's important to see the dark side of any situation.
A buddy of mine who got his physics degree from Stanford (on a full scholarship I might add) wrote a piece called "No Virginia, There Is No Santa Claus" where he broke down the physics of what would happen to 8 r. tarandus pulling a human at the velocities necessary to deliver presents to good children all over the world. Something like: (paraphrasing) "Even at mach 5, the tissue degeneration of the animals would shower Santa with flaming chunks of fur, flesh and bones..." etc. You get the idea.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 Sounds like a quote from Firefox ...-- 8th of 7, Dec 24 2019 Surely the only rational was for Santa would be from low Earth orbit?
Assuming an orbital period of 90min (maybe a little less, but then he'd be lower and grazing the atmosphere), he'd be able to make about 16 orbits in 24 hours. Half of each orbit would be in sunlight, so that'd be wasted time, but that gives him the equivalent of 8 full orbits in which to deliver presents.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 24 2019 I think he might have gotten into the cubic miles of presents as well.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 Hmm. Assuming that each person receives 3 cubit feet of presents (which is generous), the total presentage of the Earth at Christmas is only 1/7th of a cubic mile.
What's even more surprising is that the volume of an average human is only 1.7 cubic feet; so you could fit all the people into less than 1/10th of a cubic mile.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 24 2019 Well, there you go. I'm sure his math was impeccable.
Any percentage of a cubic mile makes for a less than aerodynamic payload, especially if the vehicle is a sleigh. And assuming a pound per present that's a 7 billion pound payload. Cut it in half for the naughty Earthlings and you're still at over 3 billion pounds.
So some cubic mile's worth of presents weighing about 3 billion pounds moving at, what, mach 1,000? That's a rough ride. Then are we still doing the chimney thing? There's a 300 pound object (Santa) shooting into and out of your house so fast that the resulting air compression would probably do a lot more than rattle the dishes.
I wish I still had that. He figured all that crap out. Made for a good read.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 24 2019 Lying to children in a neopagan worship of the great horned hunter? Telling them there's an old man watching their every move? Making them sit in the lap of that same old man? Telling them he will be personally visiting their houses? Elf slavery, a baby born of nonconsensual goings on, you better watch out, you better not cry! I don't know if it's NICE, but it sure is half baked.-- Voice, Dec 28 2019 All true, where as Satan simply attempted to exercise some equality and fair treatment with God for his co- worker and for that got fired. Literally, thrown into fire... forever. I believe he might have a legit H.R. case.
Santa might be more than just an anagram of Satan. Has anybody ever seen the two in a picture together? If I were Satan and wanted to flood the world with materialism one day a year, I'd have to wear a disguise. How about... a beard for starters? Got those pointy ears, gonna need a hat...
Hmmm. I might be on to something here. And come on, Santa as a cover name for Satan is like Putin changing his name to Pitun. Not even any energy put into it.-- doctorremulac3, Dec 28 2019 If he followed the same letter transposition rules, it would become "Puint" ...-- 8th of 7, Dec 28 2019 random, halfbakery