How Do Reindeer Fly?

Reindeer fly because **I** will them to fly. 'nuff said.

At this moment in the article, I was *sure* there would be an explanation about the evolutionarily advanced rocket propulsion system of the Flying Reindeer. Turns out, they just float.

Santa sits behind the reindeer smoking. So as the H2 comes out, they're propelled forward.

NT

On Sat, 12 Dec 2015 14:47:15 -0800, "taxed and spent" Gave us:

So, by your nym, you are also now 'flaccid'.

I wouldn't think they could move fast enough just paddling their legs... After all, they have to stop at every house on Earth in 24 hours. That's a lot of miles and stopping time too. I also think they have a powerful rocket engine in use, and also have some sort of GPS locator as well as an elevator powered with hydraulic cylinders which allows Santa to quickly drop down a chimney, deposit the toys, grab some cookies and get on to the next location.

On top of this, there has to be a computer which has an extensive database listing the names for each home and all the children who live there, which quickly identifies what presents go to which home, based on some sort of alpha-numeric code. Then the computer highlights each and every present with red and green LED lights, so Santa can quickly grab-and-go.

Additionally, they have to conserve energy to keep going, so I'd suspect that Rudloph's nose is LED powered, has a reflector, and uses a powerful red laser light to see ahead of them, when they encounter areas of fog and clouds. I'm still wondering what type of batteries are in use, and whether they have some sort of online generator which is wind powered as they propell thru the air. Obviously they cant use a solar charger, although they may have developed some sort of lunar charging cells.

I have no experience with reindeer but I can attest when you nail a whitetail center mass with a Kenworth doing 65 mph, it flies.

Santa just needs to wave, then he can be in multiple places at once.

maybe they just use a kite to harvest electricity. It could explain why presents often fail to turn up in some parts of the world.

NT

Dunno about the hydrogen - metals reacting with stomach acid will evolve hydrogen but leave behind metallic chlorides, some of which are very toxic.

More likely they're using methane to power a lifting rocket.

Sylvia.

Kevin Bloody Wilson knows!

Kenny

The season is here to contemplate how reindeer fly. The article below seems to make more sense than most I have read, but I actually thought that since the middle of the 20th century, the reindeer flew based on electronics, mechanics, hydraulics, computers, power cells, and other modern marvels. What do you think?

This is a SERIOUS matter, for fun and the season.... Be creative!!!

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From:

How Do Reindeer Fly?

by Deb on December 13, 2010

There is a very good reason Santa lives at the North Pole ? that is the native habitat of the Flying Reindeer, Rangifer tarandus volaris. Without these unique creatures Santa could not make it around the world to deliver presents. While there are many flying animals who could help Santa pull the sleigh, reindeer have the advantage that they are already well adapted to extreme cold because they live in Arctic regions. This allows them to fly very high and take advantage of the thinner atmosphere to go quickly. Lift

The Flying Reindeer have co-opted normal ruminant anatomy to achieve lift. Ruminants like cows have four stomachs to help them break down reindeergrass and especially cellulose. However, in areas where reindeer live they have had to switch their diet because of the very sparse vegetation. Much of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers in the last ice age which scoured away the arable soil, leaving very old crystalline rocks. These rocks support lichen, the main diet of the reindeer. The lichen is also breaking down the rocks, which contain many mineral deposits including iron, copper, nickel, zinc, silver and gold, and the reindeer eat large amounts of metals along with their normal food. Metals react with acid, including stomach acid, to produce hydrogen gas, and when they want to fly the Flying Reindeer collect and store this gas in another of their stomachs which is able to greatly enlarge. Hydrogen is of course lighter than air, and allows the reindeer to lift in the same way as Zeppelins did. Movement

Once in the air, the reindeer need to move forward. They do this by taking advantage of a cold weather adaptation, their thick fur coat. The Flying Reindeer have developed the coat on their legs to be extremely thick and long, with dense matted inner fur and long smooth guard hairs as an outer layer. This configuration allows their legs to act as oars or paddles and they can ?row? through the air. lichenLight

The Flying Reindeer has another advantage for Santa, although technically it is not the reindeer but their food. Many of the lichens the reindeer eat are phosphorescent, which means they glow in the dark. In winter reindeer find their food by using their noses to push aside the snow covering the lichens. This means they are rubbing their noses across the lichen and many small glowing particles get stuck to their nose and muzzle. The effect looks as if their nose is glowing and allows them to see at night.

So now at Christmas you will be able to keep a lookout for Santa and his Flying Reindeer, carrying him quickly and safely around the world, and know how they are doing it.

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net ---

And along with that "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".

From: Newseum

HERE IS A SANTA CLAUS=E2=80=9D JOIN US DEC. 12, 2015, AT OUR 17TH ANNUAL =E2=80=9CYES, VIRGINIA=E2=80=9D= FAMILY DAY Eight-year-old Virginia O=E2=80=99Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of= New =

York=E2=80=99s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned ed= itorial =

Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church ha= s =

since become history=E2=80=99s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appea= ring in =

part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other =

editorials, and on posters and stamps

PHOTO GALLERY

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

THE EDITORIAL

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, =E2=80=98If you see it in THE SUN it=E2=80=99s so.=E2=80=99 Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O=E2=80=99HANLON.

115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the = =

skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They= =

think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little =

minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men=E2=80=99s or children=E2= =80=99s, are =

little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in = =

his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measur= ed =

by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge= .

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love an= d =

generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to= =

your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the worl= d =

if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no = =

VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance= =

to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in= =

sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world = =

would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! Yo= u =

might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christma= s =

Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus comin= g =

down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sig= n =

that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are thos= e =

that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing = on =

the lawn? Of course not, but that=E2=80=99s no proof that they are not t= here. =

Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and =

unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby=E2=80=99s rattle and see what makes the nois= e inside, =

but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest ma= n, =

nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, =

could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push asi= de =

that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. = Is =

it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real = =

and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand =

years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he= =

will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. SHARE

- See more at: =

f

-- =

Using Opera's mail client:

Let's calculate how big that hydrogen stomach is. Lets say these reindeer h ave very light weight bones so that they weigh about the same as an eagle o r 4kg. The density of air at sea level at 15C is 1.2 kg/m^3 and the hydroge n has a density of 0.09kg/m^3, so the volume we need is 4/(1.2-0.09)= 3.6 m^3. The volume of a sphere is (4/3)*pi*r^3, so r is 0.95m. So these 4kg de er need 2 meter diameter stomachs.

have very light weight bones so that they weigh about the same as an eagle or 4kg. The density of air at sea level at 15C is 1.2 kg/m^3 and the hydro gen has a density of 0.09kg/m^3, so the volume we need is 4/(1.2-0.09)= 3 .6m^3. The volume of a sphere is (4/3)*pi*r^3, so r is 0.95m. So these 4kg deer need 2 meter diameter stomachs.

Without all that atmospheric pressure up there they're free to swell up. Th ere's a reason Santa has such a big gut.

NT

[snip]

They're now using a variant of the Bistromathic drive. The impossibilities involved have become Somebody Else's Problem.

BTW, It's interesting to find further information on this. I won't spoil your fun.

--
12 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00 
AM for 1 day). 

Christ died for my sins, descended into Hell, and rose again On the 
third day, in accordance with the Scriptures... And all I got was this 
lousy t-shirt.

(snip)

Nah, that's how dragons fly.

Mark L. Fergerson

I think the worst mess I've seen was a horse that got hit. Parts and pieces were scattered for maybe a quarter mile if I remember correctly. Deer seem to stay in one piece at least. Hitting a bull would be quite a deal.

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Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On a sunny day (Thu, 17 Dec 2015 05:50:55 -0600) it happened "Dean Hoffman" wrote in :

Like this:

Makes a nice Christmas present.

You could make a reindeer too.

Moose are genetically perfected car killers. They have long spindly legs that put their 1/2-3/4ton center of mass is right at windshield height.