It's all magic!

All this time, money and effort to try to figure out magic and fairy tales. This story is from Yahoo news today:


Santa Claus is coming to town -- for 34 microseconds

Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus's route around the planet includes stops at 2.5 billion homes, assuming that children of all religions receive a present from the jolly man in the red suit, Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco told AFP.

"We estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa leaves from Kyrgyzstan and travels against the Earth's rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents," he said.

Father Christmas has long been believed to reside at the North Pole, although a number of northern towns, including Finnish Rovaniemi, claim to be his true home.

But Sweco's report on Santa's most efficient route -- which takes into account factors like geographic density and the fewest detours -- shows that he wouldn't be able to make his round-the-world trip from there in time.

"He has 34 microseconds at each stop" to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh, Larsson said.

Santa's reindeer must travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time.

Humans are indeed silly. Most of the people who "worship" Santa Claus (or at least promote the belief of Santa Claus) do a lot of dreaming up fictitious "facts" to delude their little ones into 'keeping the faith" (or outright threats that if they don't believe or are bad they don't get anything...same concept as most religions). It's fun to make-believe and imagination is a good thing for children, but one day they come to the realization that it is all just that...make believe and imagination.

BUT it's not the same for religion. Children are taught god beliefs and fairy tales generation after generation after generation. The concept is the same as Santa Claus. Benevolent supernatural being who rewards good and bad, can see you when you are sleeping, knows when you're awake, etc. The same people who eventually must explain that Santa is just make believe are the same people who never stop to question how their one god can know the hearts and minds of billions and billions of people...past, present and future and how this one god can know what is going on and control every living thing that "creepeth and crawleth upon the earth"...AND controls the universe and heaven and hell all at the same time. And when really pressed for evidence of this god, or proof of a god that can do all this...the reasons are just as endless and fictitious and varied as the Santa "evidence" adults make up to tell their children to keep them believing.

Religion is just Santa beliefs that adults don't want to let go of.