It began 70 years ago when a five-year-old called a top-secret emergency line reserved for the U.S. president and four-star generals and asked, “Hello, is this Santa?”

It was December 1955 — the height of the Cold War. The phone that rang was big and red, only to be used during an international emergency.

That wrong number — and many others that followed because of a simple typo in a newspaper ad — ended up launching a mission like none other for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD: to develop a tracking system allowing families to follow Santa’s journey around the world.

Since then, the Santa Tracker has become a source of joy for millions of children.

  • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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    14 hours ago

    I’m talking specifically about the translation. Are you saying the German and other versions are meant for a US audience?

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      There are ~50k US troops stationed in Germany and ~800k German speakers in the US based a quick search. Maybe it’s for them.

      What I’m saying is that if you want a version tailored to your local customs you should talk to whoever runs your air defense system instead of getting mad that NORAD isn’t catering to you.

      • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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        14 hours ago

        Both the US troops in Germany and the German speakers in the US speak English, they don’t need a translation. I don’t want a version tailored to me, I’m questioning why this one exists if they wouldn’t put thd effort in to tailor it to anyone.

        • Deckname@discuss.tchncs.de
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          7 hours ago

          Es geht hier um eine Webseite, die niemandem weh tut und wo es kein problem ist wenn es nicht zu 1000% richtig ist (ja ich weiß, prozente gehen nicht über 100%, lol.). Sowas ist ziemlich peinlich deutsch mein dude.