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NoneClemson left guard Trent Howard out with ACL tear for South Carolina game
DoorDash will require its drivers to verify their identities more often as part of a larger effort to crack down on unauthorized account sharing. DoorDash has been under pressure to ensure its drivers are operating legally. Over the summer, for example, it pledged to do a better job identifying and removing dangerous drivers after a flood of complaints of dangerous driving from cities. Officials in Boston, New York and other cities have said that in many cases, people with multiple traffic violations continue to make deliveries using accounts registered to others. The San Francisco delivery company said Thursday it was requiring some drivers to complete real-time identity checks immediately after they complete a delivery. Previously, drivers were occasionally asked to re-verify their identities before or after a shift. DoorDash has introduced the new system in Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle and other cities, and said it planned a wider rollout next year. DoorDash said it also has developed an advanced machine learning system that can flag potential unauthorized account access, including login anomalies and suspicious activity. If the company detects a problem, it will require drivers to re-verify their identity before they can make more deliveries . U.S. drivers must verify their identities with a driver’s license or other government-issued identification, and upload a selfie that matches their identification photo before they can do work for DoorDash. They also must submit to background checks, which require a Social Security number. The company said it found that some drivers were getting around the requirements by sharing accounts with authorized users. In some cases, drivers who were not authorized to drive for DoorDash paid authorized users for access to their accounts. Some federal lawmakers have demanded that DoorDash and other delivery apps do a better job of keeping people who are in the U.S. illegally off the platforms. Republican U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana and Ted Budd of North Carolina sent letters to delivery companies in April asking them to crack down on account sharing. “These illegal immigrants are delivering food directly to consumers’ doors without ever having undergone a background check and often without even using their real names,” the letter said. It added that working illegally can also be dangerous for migrants, creating the potential for exploitation and abuse. The Associated Press left messages seeking comment Thursday with Gig Workers Rising and Justice for App Workers, which both represent delivery drivers. DoorDash won’t estimate how many drivers are using shared accounts, but said its safeguards are effective. Last year, it began asking drivers to re-verify their identities monthly by submitting a selfie. The company said it is now asking more than 150,000 drivers to complete selfie checks each week, and it’s removing them from the platform if they don’t comply.Former Boise State coach Chris Petersen still gets asked about the Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma on the first day of 2007. That game had everything. Underdog Boise State took a 28-10 lead over one of college football's blue bloods that was followed by a 25-point Sooners run capped by what could have been a back-breaking interception return for a touchdown with 1:02 left. Then the Broncos used three trick plays that remain sensations to not only force overtime but win 43-42. And then there was the marriage proposal by Boise State running back Ian Johnson — shortly after scoring the winning two-point play — to cheerleader Chrissy Popadics that was accepted on national TV. That game put Broncos football on the national map for most fans, but looking back 18 years later, Petersen sees it differently. "Everybody wants to talk about that Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game, which is great how it all worked out and all those things," Petersen said. "But we go back to play TCU (three years later) again on the big stage. It's not as flashy a game, but to me, that was an even better win." Going back to the Fiesta Bowl and winning, Petersen reasoned, showed the Broncos weren't a splash soon to fade away, that there was something longer lasting and more substantive happening on the famed blue turf. The winning has continued with few interruptions. No. 8 and third-seeded Boise State is preparing for another trip to the Fiesta Bowl, this time in a playoff quarterfinal against No. 5 and sixth-seeded Penn State on New Year's Eve. That success has continued through a series of coaches, though with a lot more of a common thread than readily apparent. Dirk Koetter was hired from Oregon, where Petersen was the wide receivers coach. Not only did Koetter bring Petersen with him to Oregon, Petersen introduced him to Dan Hawkins, who also was hired for the staff. So the transition from Koetter to Hawkins to Petersen ensured at least some level of consistency. Koetter and Hawkins engineered double-digit victory seasons five times over a six-year span that led to power-conference jobs. Koetter went to Arizona State after three seasons and Hawkins to Colorado after five. Then when Petersen became the coach after the 2005 season, he led Boise State to double-digit wins his first seven seasons and made bowls all eight years. He resisted the temptation to leave for a power-conference program until Washington lured him away toward the end of the 2013 season. Then former Boise State quarterback and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin took over and posted five double-digit victory seasons over his first six years. After going 5-2 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he left for Auburn. "They just needed consistency of leadership," said Koetter, who is back as Boise State's offensive coordinator. "This program had always won at the junior-college level, the Division II level, the I-AA (now FCS) level." But Koetter referred to "an unfortunate chain of events" that made Boise State a reclamation project when he took over in 1998. Coach Pokey Allen led Boise State to the Division I-AA national championship game in 1994, but was diagnosed with cancer two days later. He died on Dec. 30, 1996, at 53. Allen coached the final two games that season, Boise State's first in Division I-A (now FBS). Houston Nutt became the coach in 1997, went 4-7 and headed to Arkansas. Then Koetter took over. "One coach dies and the other wasn't the right fit for this program," Koetter said. "Was a really good coach, did a lot of good things, but just wasn't a good fit for here." But because of Boise State's success at the lower levels, Koetter said the program was set up for success. "As Boise State has risen up the conference food chain, they've pretty much always been at the top from a player talent standpoint," Koetter said. "So it was fairly clear if we got things headed in the right direction and did a good job recruiting, we would be able to win within our conference for sure." Success didn't take long. He went 6-5 in 1998 and then won 10 games each of the following two seasons. Hawkins built on that winning and Petersen took it to another level. But there is one season, really one game, no really one half that still bugs Petersen. He thought his best team was in 2010, one that entered that late-November game at Nevada ranked No. 3 and had a legitimate chance to play for the national championship. The Colin Kaepernick-led Wolf Pack won 34-31. "I think the best team that I might've been a part of as the head coach was the team that lost one game to Nevada," Petersen said. "That team, to me, played one poor half of football on offense the entire season. We were winning by a bunch at half (24-7) and we came out and did nothing on offense in the second half and still had a chance to win. "That team would've done some damage." There aren't any what-ifs with this season's Boise State team. The Broncos are in the field of the first 12-team playoff, representing the Group of Five as its highest-ranked conference champion. That got Boise State a bye into the quarterfinals. Spencer Danielson has restored the championship-level play after taking over as the interim coach late last season during a rare downturn that led to Andy Avalos' dismissal. Danielson received the job full time after leading Boise State to the Mountain West championship. Now the Broncos are 12-1 with their only defeat to top-ranked and No. 1 seed Oregon on a last-second field goal. Running back Ashton Jeanty also was the runner-up to the Heisman Trophy. "Boise State has been built on the backs of years and years of success way before I got here," Danielson said. "So even this season is not because of me. It's because the group of young men wanted to leave a legacy, be different. We haven't been to the Fiesta Bowl in a decade. They said in January, 'We're going to get that done.' They went to work." As was the case with Danielson, Petersen and Koetter said attracting top talent is the primary reason Boise State has succeeded all these years. Winning, obviously, is the driving force, and with more entry points to the playoffs, the Broncos could make opportunities to keep returning to the postseason a selling point. But there's also something about the blue carpet. Petersen said he didn't get what it was about when he arrived as an assistant coach, and there was some talk about replacing it with more conventional green grass. A poll in the Idaho Statesman was completely against that idea, and Petersen has come to appreciate what that field means to the program. "It's a cumulative period of time where young kids see big-time games when they're in seventh and eighth and ninth and 10th grade and go, 'Oh, I know that blue turf. I want to go there,'" Petersen said. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!
The Galapagos debt-for-nature swap highlights the importance of environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth Sri Lanka unilaterally defaulted on its external debt in April 2022, exposing its long-standing economic and financial vulnerabilities and igniting a series of inter-related multiple economic crises—fiscal, debt, currency, inflation, and balance of payments—as well as a vast socio-political upheaval. The root cause of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was a result of misuse of public funds by politicians on an unprecedented scale and large fiscal deficits, which were increasingly financed by unsustainable public debt, particularly foreign commercial borrowings. This carefully over time navigated Sri Lanka into a public debt crisis, international sovereign bond unsustainability, liquidity crisis, and a collapse in the exchange rate. These were the catalysts for Sri Lanka’s decision to a unilateral default on its external debt. A substantial reduction and reprofiling of debt through restructuring of both domestic and foreign debt to ensure debt sustainability is essential coupled with a meaningful fiscal policy reform anchored by revenue increases and expenditure rationalisation to reduce fiscal deficits. Deep growth-enhancing structural reforms are necessary for medium-term rescue and recovery and long-term growth and stability of Sri Lanka. Like Sri Lanka, Ecuador in South America was searching for an exit ramp for its Sovereign Bond situation. Instead of using conventional brick-and-mortar restructuring methods, they came up with an innovative Debt for Nature swap, repurchasing $ 1.6 billion worth of Ecuador’s outstanding bonds at approximately 40 cents on the dollar. Debt for Nature Swap will save Ecuador $ 1.1 billion in debt service repayments over the next several years, with $ 450 million invested in conservation and sustainable activities. This goes on to show that there could be multiple ways to restructure a country’s sovereign bonds and this is a valuable lesson for Sri Lanka. The Government of Ecuador (through the National Planning Secretariat, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition), with the support of the Green Climate Fund, has announced the launch of the “Sovereign Green Bonds Framework of Ecuador”. The document establishes guidelines, technical mechanisms, and instructions necessary to implement the core components of the Green Bond Framework. Projects funded by the issuance of these green bonds must meet eligibility criteria. Eligible projects include those focused on the development of renewable energy; sustainable agriculture, land use, and protected areas; sustainable and low-carbon transportation; and sustainable management of natural resources, among others. These programs and projects are expected to contribute to Ecuador’s transition towards sustainable development, based on low emissions and resilience to climate change. On 9 May 2023, Ecuador’s government successfully completed the Galapagos Debt for Nature swap, repurchasing $ 1.6 billion worth of Ecuador’s outstanding bonds at approximately 40 cents on the dollar. The operation will save Ecuador $ 1.1 billion in debt service repayments over the next 17 years, with $ 450 million invested in conservation and sustainable activities. Conservation investment will benefit the Galapagos National Park, the Galapagos Marine Reserve, and the new Hermandad Marine Reserve, which together total 198,000 square marine kilometres. The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), with funding from the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), acted as a trusted advisory to the Ministry of Economy and Finance throughout the transaction by providing technical and financial advice. This was a significant milestone for Ecuador’s efforts to promote sustainable development and environmental conservation. GGGI’s financial and technical advice included advice on the structure the debt swap transaction in compliance with Ecuador’s regulations and policies; design Ecuador’s Sovereign Green Bond Framework and secure its positive Second Party Opinion; coordination on the negotiation and formalisation of conservation commitments and the establishment of the Galapagos Life Fund; securing third-party credit enhancement by developing policies, regulations and frameworks required by third-party guarantors; and build the technical capacity of government officials from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Finance and Economy on debt for nature swaps and other sustainable financial instruments key to the transaction under the framework of Ecuador. The Galapagos debt-for-nature swap highlights the importance of environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth. The swap not only contributed to environmental conservation but also helped Ecuador save over a billion dollars in interest payments. The Republic of Ecuador is now in the process of issuing its first Social Bond with the objective of diversifying its sources of funding for financing access to affordable and decent housing, thus reducing the housing deficit in the country. The proceeds from the bonds will be used to finance the public policy of affordable and decent housing through the provision of capital on appropriate terms for Social Interest Housing (or Vivienda de Interés Social, VIS) and Public Interest Housing (Vivienda de Interés Público, VIP). (The writer is former currency strategist, commodity futures trader, and technical analyst.)
Advertisement The DOJ proposed banning Google from paying for search distribution deals. Google's search dominance relies on distribution, not just technology. Investors worry Google's market share could drop if distribution deals end. The online search business is not about technology. It's about distribution. The US Department of Justice made that clear Wednesday when it proposed fixes for a judge's earth-shaking ruling that Google is an illegal monopolist. Advertisement The DOJ's remedies cut to the heart of how Google distributes its search engine and how that broad reach is key to the company's dominance of this crucial and lucrative market. The government's suggestion that Google be forced to sell Chrome initially grabbed the headlines. But, on Thursday, the potential crackdown on all distribution deals caught investors' attention. The US government's lawyers said Google should be banned from offering "anything of value for any form" of search distribution. That especially includes Apple, but also covers any other partner or company, with limited exceptions, according to the DOJ's executive summary . Advertisement ISI Evercore internet analyst Mark Mahaney called this distribution crackdown "draconian" and said investors were surprised by the severity of the proposals. Google shares dropped 5% on Thursday. The reason for this concern is that the online search business is not really about the quality of the technology. The edge comes from massive distribution and the huge volume of user queries that come with such a broad reach. When people use Google to search on the web, the company monitors what results they click on. It feeds these responses back into its search engine, and the product gets constantly better. For instance, if most people click on the third result for a particular query, Google's search engine will likely adjust and rank that result higher in the future. Advertisement This self-reinforcing system is very hard to compete against. This is how the DOJ put it on Wednesday: "Search engines rely on user data to improve search quality — an outcome that drives more users to a search engine. Users attract advertisers, and advertising dollars fund general search engines, creating a perpetual feedback loop that further entrenches Google." One of the few ways to compete is to get more distribution than Google and pull in the extra queries and click-behavior data. Advertisement For many years, Google has paid to lock down most major sources of distribution. The most famous deal is with Apple. Google pays the iPhone maker about $20 billion a year to be the default search engine on Apple's mobile devices. If the search business was actually about the quality of Google's technology, why does it have to pay Apple $20 billion a year? That question is at the heart of the DOJ's case, and Google has never been able to answer it properly. Because it keeps paying Apple . If Google search technology is so great, the company shouldn't have to pay for distribution. People would just flock to its search engine all by themselves. Advertisement We could soon see a real-world test of this. If the judge in this case agrees with the DOJ, then these payments will end — not just with Apple, but with any other third-party source of online distribution for Google's search engine. This may have freaked investors out on Thursday. They know that the search business is mainly about distribution, and Google may not be able to do this now. Advertisement In a worst-case scenario, Google could lose a material slice of the US search market, according to Mahaney. "We believe Google's default search placements via contractual agreements represent 50%+ of Google's US search queries," he estimated on Thursday. If half of Google's US search queries go away, that could threaten the self-reinforcing cycle of user click data improving its results. Advertisement Suddenly, Google Search may not be so uncatchable. Google's top lawyer, Kent Walker, said the DOJ's proposals would "break" the company's search engine and "deliberately hobble people's ability to access" the service. Google gets to propose its own remedies on December 20.
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A 7-year-old rivalry between tech leaders Elon Musk and Sam Altman over who should run OpenAI and prevent an artificial intelligence "dictatorship" is now heading to a federal judge as Musk seeks to halt the ChatGPT maker's ongoing shift into a for-profit company. Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. Musk has since escalated the dispute, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. The world's richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT. “OpenAI and Microsoft together exploiting Musk’s donations so they can build a for-profit monopoly, one now specifically targeting xAI, is just too much,” says Musk's filing that alleges the companies are violating the terms of Musk’s foundational contributions to the charity. OpenAI is filing a response Friday opposing Musk’s requested order, saying it would cripple OpenAI’s business and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company. A hearing is set for January before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland. At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the fledgling startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI's CEO. Musk in an email outlined a plan where he would “unequivocally have initial control of the company” but said that would be temporary. He grew frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold too much power as a major shareholder and chief executive if the startup succeeded in its goal to achieve better-than-human AI known as artificial general intelligence , or AGI. Musk has long voiced concerns about how advanced forms of AI could threaten humanity. “The current structure provides you with a path where you end up with unilateral absolute control over the AGI," said a 2017 email to Musk from co-founders Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman. “You stated that you don't want to control the final AGI, but during this negotiation, you've shown to us that absolute control is extremely important to you.” In the same email, titled “Honest Thoughts,” Sutskever and Brockman also voiced concerns about Altman's desire to be CEO and whether he was motivated by “political goals.” Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO, and has remained so except for a period last year when he was fired and then reinstated days later after the board that ousted him was replaced. OpenAI published the messages Friday in a blog post meant to show its side of the story, particularly Musk's early support for the idea of making OpenAI a for-profit business so it could raise money for the hardware and computer power that AI needs. It was Musk, through his wealth manager Jared Birchall, who first registered “Open Artificial Technologies Technologies, Inc.”, a public benefit corporation, in September 2017. Then came the “Honest Thoughts” email that Musk described as the “final straw.” “Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit,” Musk wrote back. OpenAI said Musk later proposed merging the startup into Tesla before resigning as the co-chair of OpenAI's board in early 2018. Musk didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment sent to his companies Friday. Asked about his frayed relationship with Musk at a New York Times conference last week, Altman said he felt “tremendously sad” but also characterized Musk’s legal fight as one about business competition. “He’s a competitor and we’re doing well,” Altman said. He also said at the conference that he is “not that worried” about the Tesla CEO’s influence with President-elect Donald Trump. OpenAI said Friday that Altman plans to make a $1 million personal donation to Trump’s inauguration fund, joining a number of tech companies and executives who are working to improve their relationships with the incoming administration. —————————— The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement allowing OpenAI access to part of the AP’s text archives.
Former Trump attorney lashes out at 'lawfare' after court appearance in Wisconsin fake electors case
Ilona Maher explains why she has her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit pic on the back of her phoneBoise State's legacy includes winning coaches and championship momentsThe final game of Week 16 on Monday night solidified all the NFL playoff scenarios. Tuesday, they were clarified by the official source — the NFL. According to the league, there are three scenarios this week in which the Los Angeles Rams can clinch the NFC West and eliminate the Seahawks, who via ESPN analytics and others, have no path to a wild-card spot. The Rams are 9-6 and beat the 8-7 Seahawks at Lumen Field on Nov. 3, 26-20 in overtime, giving L.A. the head-to-head edge. The Seahawks play at Chicago Thursday night, and the Rams host Arizona Saturday night on the NFL Network. The three scenarios where the Rams clinch the NFC West this week are: — A Seahawks loss or tie Thursday in Chicago against the Bears and a Rams win over Arizona Saturday night. — A Rams tie and a Seahawks loss. — A Rams win plus the Rams clinching the strength-of-victory tiebreaker over the Seahawks (more on that in a moment). Under the first scenario, the Rams would be 10-6 at the end of the weekend and the Seahawks 8-8 with one game remaining, rendering meaningless the regular-season finale between the two teams at SoFi Stadium either Jan. 4 or Jan. 5. A Rams tie and Seahawks loss accomplishes the same thing, putting LA at 9-6-1 and a game-and-a-half ahead heading into Week 18. In the final scenario where L.A. and the Seahawks win this week, the NFL clarified that the Rams can clinch a playoff spot by the strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Seattle by getting 3.5 wins (three wins and a tie) from the six following teams — Minnesota, Buffalo, San Francisco, Washington, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Four of those teams are favored: The Vikings by one at home against Green Bay Sunday; the Bills by 10 at home against the New York Jets Sunday; Washington by four at home against Atlanta; and the Bengals by three at home against Denver. The other two are underdogs — Cleveland, by 6.5-points at home against Miami; and San Francisco, by four points against Detroit on Sunday on Monday night. The strength-of-victory scenario is why the Seahawks' game against the Bears doesn’t factor heavily in playoff percentage calculations. A loss to the Bears doesn’t eliminate the Seahawks if the Rams also lose. The biggest thing the Seahawks need is a Rams loss against Arizona. In that scenario, a Seahawks win over the Rams on the final weekend would make each team 9-8 and splitting the head-to-head tiebreaker. It would go to division record, and the Seahawks would have the edge there at 4-2 to the Rams' 3.3. Whether there is anything riding on the Seahawks-Rams game will play into whether that game will be held on Saturday or Sunday. As the league has done in years past, it is waiting until the end of Week 17 to determine dates and TV designations for games in week 18. There are two slots for games on Saturday, Jan. 4 on ESPN/ABC — 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. The latter time slot might be a natural for the Seahawks and Rams if it is a winner-take-all game for the NFC West. There are also daytime slots on Sunday as well as the usual Sunday night game on NBC. That could also be a spot for Seahawks and Rams if it is going to decide the NFC West.The Great Indian Shift Trend On TikTok Is Not A Compliment, It’s Just White Approval
Senior students in Surrey high schools will get a chance to take online classes next school year, in the board's latest strategy to free up classroom space. "Hybrid learning is a blend of face-to-face and online learning for students and in our context, for kids in the senior Grades 10, 11 and 12," explained Perry Smith, assistant superintendent for Guildford-area schools. Exploring hybrid learning is motivated by a "capital crunch" trustee Bob Holmes says the district is facing, as student enrolment outpaces available school space. While the permanent implementation of hybrid classes would be new, students got a taste for the model during the pandemic years when schools were running classes virtually. As well, teachers became accustomed to the model and likely have learned lessons to improve on this time around, district staff suggested. "We identified many benefits of hybrid learning in our secondary schools," Smith said, pointing to research on the topic to support the claim. The superintendent explained that students will have a choice of going home for their online blocks, staying at school in shared spaces or being out in the community, for example, at a library. For those students who do not have access to internet services or personal electronic devices, technology will be provided so the opportunity is more inclusive, Smith said. He added that the district would receive a grant to make this possible. "While there is a side benefit for students to get ready for the 21st century, as previous speakers have mentioned, the reality is that this was driven because we have such a shortage of space," chair Gary Tymoschuk said. The issue of overcrowding in Surrey Schools can be seen at nearly every school, with trustee Laurie Larsen noting Walnut Road Elementary, that is set to receive a prefabricated module. "They have had one playground for 800 students because the other playground has been cordoned off, they have no greenspace, they have no adequate parking for parents, visitors or for staff. Staff are double parking so they all have to know which teacher is in front of them so they can let them know when they have to leave," Larsen said. The trustee added that prefabs do not provide everything. "We appreciate the modulars, I don’t want to say that we don’t but the modulars do only give the classroom," Larsen said. "They don’t give the gym space, they don’t give any extra outdoor space, they don’t give any library space and especially for the gym so in that school, they have to have three assemblies for every event.. because the gym is too small and the occupancy is just over 300 people." Walnut Road also has nine portables on school site and with the addition of the modulars, whether those portables will remain on site is still unknown. According to the board, affording to relocate the portables may be a challenge. Staff recommended for the board to approve the implementation of up to three senior level courses in a hybrid learning model at secondary schools as a trial for next school year, available on an optional basis. The board unanimously passed the motion.The Christmas tradition has become nearly global in scope: Children from around the world track Santa Claus as he sweeps across the earth , delivering presents and defying time. Watch Santa's location in the live feed of the NORAD tracker above. Each year, at least 100,000 kids call into the North American Aerospace Defense Command to inquire about Santa’s location. Millions more follow online in nine languages, from English to Japanese. On any other night, NORAD is scanning the heavens for potential threats, such as last year’s Chinese spy balloon. But on Christmas Eve, volunteers in Colorado Springs are fielding questions like, “When is Santa coming to my house?” and, “Am I on the naughty or nice list?” “There are screams and giggles and laughter,” said Bob Sommers, 63, a civilian contractor and NORAD volunteer. Sommers often says on the call that everyone must be asleep before Santa arrives, prompting parents to say, “Do you hear what he said? We got to go to bed early.” NORAD’s annual tracking of Santa has endured since the Cold War, predating ugly sweater parties and Mariah Carey classics. The tradition continues regardless of government shutdowns, such as the one in 2018, and this year. Here’s how it began and why the phones keep ringing. It started with a child’s accidental phone call in 1955. The Colorado Springs newspaper printed a Sears advertisement that encouraged children to call Santa, listing a phone number. A boy called. But he reached the Continental Air Defense Command, now NORAD, a joint U.S. and Canadian effort to spot potential enemy attacks. Tensions were growing with the Soviet Union, along with anxieties about nuclear war. Air Force Col. Harry W. Shoup picked up an emergency-only “red phone” and was greeted by a tiny voice that began to recite a Christmas wish list. “He went on a little bit, and he takes a breath, then says, ‘Hey, you’re not Santa,’” Shoup told The Associated Press in 1999. Realizing an explanation would be lost on the youngster, Shoup summoned a deep, jolly voice and replied, “Ho, ho, ho! Yes, I am Santa Claus. Have you been a good boy?” Shoup said he learned from the boy’s mother that Sears mistakenly printed the top-secret number. He hung up, but the phone soon rang again with a young girl reciting her Christmas list. Fifty calls a day followed, he said. In the pre-digital age, the agency used a 60-by-80 foot plexiglass map of North America to track unidentified objects. A staff member jokingly drew Santa and his sleigh over the North Pole. The tradition was born. “Note to the kiddies,” began an AP story from Colorado Springs on Dec. 23, 1955. “Santa Claus Friday was assured safe passage into the United States by the Continental Air Defense Command.” In a likely reference to the Soviets, the article noted that Santa was guarded against possible attack from “those who do not believe in Christmas.” Some grinchy journalists have nitpicked Shoup’s story, questioning whether a misprint or a misdial prompted the boy’s call. In 2014, tech news site Gizmodo cited an International News Service story from Dec. 1, 1955, about a child’s call to Shoup. Published in the Pasadena Independent, the article said the child reversed two digits in the Sears number. “When a childish voice asked COC commander Col. Harry Shoup, if there was a Santa Claus at the North Pole, he answered much more roughly than he should — considering the season: ‘There may be a guy called Santa Claus at the North Pole, but he’s not the one I worry about coming from that direction,’” Shoup said in the brief piece. In 2015, The Atlantic magazine doubted the flood of calls to the secret line, while noting that Shoup had a flair for public relations. Phone calls aside, Shoup was indeed media savvy. In 1986, he told the Scripps Howard News Service that he recognized an opportunity when a staff member drew Santa on the glass map in 1955. A lieutenant colonel promised to have it erased. But Shoup said, “You leave it right there,” and summoned public affairs. Shoup wanted to boost the morale of the troops and the public alike. “Why, it made the military look good — like we’re not all a bunch of snobs who don’t care about Santa Claus,” he said. Shoup died in 2009. His children told the StoryCorps podcast in 2014 that it was a misprinted Sears ad that prompted the phone calls. “And later in life he got letters from all over the world,” said Terri Van Keuren, a daughter. “People saying ‘Thank you, Colonel, for having, you know, this sense of humor.’” NORAD’s tradition is one of the few modern additions to the centuries-old Santa story that have endured, according to Gerry Bowler, a Canadian historian who spoke to the AP in 2010. Ad campaigns or movies try to “kidnap” Santa for commercial purposes, said Bowler, who wrote “Santa Claus: A Biography.” NORAD, by contrast, takes an essential element of Santa’s story and views it through a technological lens. In a recent interview with the AP, Air Force Lt. Gen. Case Cunningham explained that NORAD radars in Alaska and Canada —- known as the northern warning system — are the first to detect Santa. He leaves the North Pole and typically heads for the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean. From there he moves west, following the night. “That’s when the satellite systems we use to track and identify targets of interest start to kick in every single day,” Cunningham said. “A probably little-known fact is that Rudolph’s nose that glows red emanates a lot of heat. And so those satellites track (Santa) through that heat source.” NORAD has an app and website, www.noradsanta.org , to track Santa on Christmas Eve from 4 a.m. to midnight, Mountain Standard Time. People can call 1-877-HI-NORAD to ask live operators about Santa’s location from 6 a.m. to midnight, Mountain Time.
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This is the next catalyst that could push Nvidia stock up to 27% higher by January, according to Citi
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