DailyDirt: Here Comes Santa Claus

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

It's that time of year again, when parents warn their kids to be good, because a big old guy with a white beard in a red suit is watching their every move and is going to find out if they've been naughty or nice. Well, Santa, we've got news for you. We're watching you too, sort of. Both Microsoft and Google have "Santa trackers" that will let kids and parents monitor Santa's location on a map on Christmas Eve as he delivers presents all over the world. For even more Santa fun, check out these links. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: santa claus


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 17 Dec 2013 @ 5:13pm

    " kids who are too smart for their own good."????? You mean know reality?

    I'm sure you'll say was just wit, lighten up, but it's stoopid and promoting stoopid like that which will bring down the human race. As Heinlein wrote, it's yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value -- but I'm afraid the real horror is that stoopid does have survival value; at the least, it's the dominant characteristic. See the documentary movie "Idiocracy".

    Visit Mike's other sites at least once a year, fanboys!
    http://insightcommunity.com/

    13:12:45[o-145-0]

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2013 @ 5:14pm

    Microsoft and Google have "Santa trackers" that will let kids and parents monitor Santa's location on a map on Christmas Eve as he delivers presents all over the world..

    Don't forget the NSA Santa tracker at NSAnta dot com

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    CK20XX (profile), 17 Dec 2013 @ 5:37pm

    For how long has the legend of Santa Claus been so widespread? It may be significant as one of the first things to be shared and loved by darn near the entire world.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Paul Renault (profile), 17 Dec 2013 @ 5:53pm

    I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    Tell them Santa Claus is real.

    At some point they'll figure out that their parents and just about every other figure of authority lied to them about Santa. And they'll begin to wonder what other lies they've been told...

    Then they'll be on the path to wisdom.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    CK20XX (profile), 17 Dec 2013 @ 6:10pm

    Re: I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    Bah, that's awfully Scroogey of you, don't you think? I think it's less of a lie and more of a game of pretend parents play with their kids. Who doesn't love doing things like that? Then when you grow up and you're no longer eligible to play (at least in theory), you feel kind of sad but somehow you're still glad that you had the chance to participate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2013 @ 6:30pm

    Re: I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    Tell them Santa is white, even though they know he is not real. This will be a good introduction to the concept of bigotry.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    MrPendent, 17 Dec 2013 @ 6:36pm

    "Santa is love and magic and hope and happiness."


    I'm fairly sure that, even at the age of 5, I would have vomited on my mother if she had ever said that to me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2013 @ 6:38pm

    I because of my religious beliefs will not take any photos of gay/lesbian people sitting on Santas lap

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2013 @ 6:50pm

    I like this Santa carol: The NSA Is Coming To Town:

    https://www.aclu.org/secure/stopnsa

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2013 @ 7:18pm

    Re:

    Why would you take any photos of people on Santa's lap regardless of prejudice? Do you work as a seasonal Santa photographer or are you some sort of weird stalker?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    CharlieBrown, 17 Dec 2013 @ 7:45pm

    "'Malcolm Gladwell' explains Santa Claus to satirist Craig Brown."

    I have very low standards when it comes to comedy, but that still fell in to the category of "Dumbest articles I've ever read". Satire? More like comedy leftovers!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    pixelation, 17 Dec 2013 @ 9:56pm

    Re: I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    "And they'll begin to wonder what other lies they've been told..."

    You mean things like the NSA is actively spying on only 60 Americans?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Richard (profile), 18 Dec 2013 @ 6:22am

    Re: I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    Tell them Santa Claus is real.

    No tell them about the real person (St Nicholas of Myra) who is behind the mythical Santa. Tell them the true stories about how he fought against injustice and corruption.

    Tell them about how business interests is the Netherlands and the US transformed the inconvenient real person into the commercially useful Santa.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    John Fenderson (profile), 18 Dec 2013 @ 12:12pm

    Re: Re: I say give them the unvarnished lie!

    When you play pretend, everyone involved knows that you're playing pretend. If they don't, then you're just lying.

    Yes, I lied to my kids about Santa Claus due to social pressure, but I felt really, really shitty about the whole thing. I was so glad when my kids were old enough that I didn't have to do that anymore.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2013 @ 5:58pm

    Re: " kids who are too smart for their own good."????? You mean know reality?

    That is not a documentary, it is a MOCKumentary. A piece of fiction. Now I fully understand just how big of an idiot you truly are. Stop living in your little fantasy world, put on your big boy pants, and try to learn the difference between reality and fantasy.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.