Santa Claus and the Chimneys

On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus flies through the sky (on a sleigh pulled by reindeer) with toys for all the good boys and girls. He carries the toys in the back of his sleigh, and delivers them by going down the chimney.

Obviously this is real and true, because there is proof. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks Santa's journey. NORAD even has set-up a special website to help track Santa's trip around the world: http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php.

But, how does Santa get the toys into the houses where there is no chimney? This is a question that has bothered many for ages. Parents must tell their children that Santa is able to get into their house - but how? Is the door left unlocked for Santa? Will children believe that a fat man in a red suit breaks into their house? There could be detrimental effects to this kind of thinking. Children might start to think that midnight visitors are supposed to enter the house. On the other hand, they could become fearful that someone will come into the house on other nights, and not just Christmas Eve night. Santa could be associated with villainy, or children might let-down their guard.

Neither of these options is a good one. There should be more clarity on the subject. Perhaps NORAD should form a commission to look into the matter in more detail.

In any case, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Blizzards and Airports

It appears that a blizzard is striking the Western United States, and shutting down the Denver Airport. The airport is apparently the fifth busiest in the United States. No doubt, this is in part due to the fact that it is a hub for United Airlines and Frontier.

[You can check out the Denver Airport's website at: http://www.flydenver.com/]

Because of the hub-and-spoke system that most airlines use, when a major airport/hub is shut-down, it creates problems throughout the national air-traffic system (and possibly internationally as well). So, if an airport like Denver is shut down, would it be possible to divert "hub activity" to somewhere else, like Boise, Idaho?

Obviously, there would be a lot of difficulties. Boise is a much smaller airport, has fewer runways, fewer gates, and fewer employees. But even with delays, wouldn't it be better to keep moving the passengers until the Denver airport could re-open?

It would work a little like this: the planes that were supposed to arrive in Denver could land in Boise, and then be used to carry the passengers who are going out-bound from Denver. Because Denver is a hub, most passengers are not staying there, but moving on to somewhere else. The passengers who are wanting to go to Denver could just stay in whichever city they were starting from; they are no worse than they would be. Meanwhile, the passengers going somewhere else could pass through Boise instead of Denver.

This plan is probably fraught with too many difficulties, but it's interesting to think about.

Cucumber and Melon

What kind of combinations do people seem to think are good ones for soap "flavors"?

I was recently at a hotel and the soap I found in the bathroom was "Cucumber Melon". It smelled nice, but when you think about it, it's a little bit odd.



First, I don't know what seems to make Cucumber and Melon such a great combination. I mean, who serves cucumbers and melons together? I'm not sure if I've ever seen them on a plate at the same time. Would they taste good if they were in the same dish?

Second, do cucumbers and melons seem suggest cleanliness? I've never thought to myself, "I'd like to be as fresh as a melon or a cucumber." Now, lemons - I kind of understand a lemon flavor for cleaning, or even a Carolina Pine Forest, but not cucumbers or melons.

Television Reruns

Tis the season ..... for reruns. It seems like every channel you turn to has nothing but reruns .... unless you want to see a new game show.

November is a "sweeps" month (February, May, and July are also sweeps months). Ratings for a sweeps period will determine the advertising rates for the local ads throughout the year, so the networks usually roll out the "extra-special" episodes during those times.

Apparently, putting on extra-special episodes is exhausting for the networks, because November has been followed by nothing but reruns on TV. One might think that a show that ran new episodes while everyone else was running reruns might continue getting high ratings. Of course, all the reruns gives people a chance to catch-up on their reading, do some shopping for the holidays, or take-up new hobbies.