It’s been a difficult year all over the world and the North Pole is no exception.
“We had one small scare with COVID-19, but it was a false positive,” Santa Claus said. “(But) I really worried for people, especially the children, all around the world.”
He worried so much he thought he lost his laugh. He would try to say, “Ho ho ho,” but only one “Ho” would come out before he fell silent again.
“I was really stressed about it,” he said. “I thought I had lost my Christmas spirit.”
He walked through the woods alone, toward a shimmering wall of ice overlooking a crystal blue and green lake, collecting small sticks for kindling along the way.
“Near the water, I knew I’d hear an echo,” he said. “But even then, I’d say, ‘Ho,’ and only one ‘Ho’ would come back. It was very sad.”
One day, a scholarly young elf named Gerald Fudge — no relation to the crowd in Grand Falls-Windsor — came to Claus’s door unprompted.
“’Knock knock,’ Gerald said to me,” Claus said. “It was strange. Gerald is a very serious elf. But after he repeated, ‘knock, knock’ several times, I realized he was trying to tell a joke.
“Who’s there?” Claus asked.
“Interrupting reindeer,” Gerald said.
Claus almost felt sorry for Fudge. He looked both nervous and happy at the same time.
Claus tried to say, “Interrupting reindeer who,” but before he could get it all out, Fudge yelled a nasally, “MARMP MARMP,” which rattled the bells on the wreath over the mantel.
“At first, I just stared at him for what felt like a minute,” Claus said. “I mean, it didn’t even sound like a reindeer, to be honest. But suddenly I felt this tiny sensation in my big belly, like freshly blown bubbles rising into the air. It went up through my chest, onto my tongue and ‘Ho ho ho’ came roaring out of me. I couldn’t stop!
“It was the Christmas spirit. It had been there all along. I just needed help from a friend.”
The elves rocked on the candy cane swings in a steady rhythm and jumped on the gumdrop trampolines, which made the sound of giant drums. “It’s back,” the elves sang in a high tenor.
“What’s that?” the reindeer sang in their low bass.
They took their slides down the whipped cream mountain and marched toward the workshop just as the whistle blew for the season.
1. What is your full name?
Some call me Saint Nicholas, Jolly Saint Nick or Father Christmas. Others call me Kris Kringle. But Santa Claus is just fine.
2. Where and when were you born?
That’s hard to answer. I’m a man of the world, in the truest sense. I have always existed in one form or another, as the Christmas spirit is what I’m made of.
3. Where do you live today?
The North Pole — don’t listen to anyone who says different. It’s not Lapland. It’s the North Pole — end of story.
4. What’s your favourite place in the world?
Anywhere children are playing. As my old friend G. Stanley Hall put it, “People don’t quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because they quit playing.”
5. Who do you follow on social media?
The elf Gerald Fudge, who I mentioned earlier, takes care of all that. He’s very scientifically minded, always walking around with a clipboard collecting data and crunching numbers. Personally, I just love to get handwritten letters from children all over the world. It’s so nice to see a child’s progress as they learn to read and write.
6. What would people be surprised to learn about you?
You know, I’m not too fond of coming down the chimney. Ho ho ho! It feels funny to actually admit it, and I’m certainly not trying to complain. But it would be nice to walk through the door once in a while.
7. What’s been your favourite year and why?
With every new year comes a new favourite year. I often stress about the next Christmas, but it keeps getting better and better.
8. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
In 1842, we landed on the roof of a small house in Austria. There were 26 children inside! How joyful a home it must have been. They were all very cozy. But trying to put the gifts under the tree without waking them up was very challenging. I accidentally tripped over a little boy named Sepp and nearly knocked down the tree, but the reindeers made some noise outside to distract them and they all ran to the window. They probably caught us flying away, but I don’t mind that so much.
9. Can you describe one experience that changed your life?
Meeting Mrs. Claus, my beloved. She keeps me focused on spreading joy, even when it seems like there is very little joy to spread around.
10. What’s your greatest indulgence?
Cookies and milk. You just can’t beat it.
11. What is your favourite movie or book?
Oh, it’s so hard to choose. I just love it when people use their imaginations. But then again, I love stories about the real world, too. There is so much to read, watch and learn about! I couldn’t possibly pick just one.
12. How do you like to relax?
I like to sit back in my rocking chair in front of the fire with a nice glass of milk. I get some of my best toy ideas listening to the crackling.
My greatest fear is that children will lose their imagination, stop believing. That’s why I work hard every day to make sure Christmas is a time filled with wonder.
15. How would you describe your personal fashion statement?
My suit is more a matter of function than fashion. It’s very warm for those cold evenings, but it also buttons down for when I reach the warmer areas of the world. However, there is something pleasing to the eye when my hat whips around in the air as I fly through the sky on my sleigh.
16. What is your most treasured possession?
I would have to say my sleigh. It has gotten me through many challenges. It requires maintenance from time to time, and I do some upgrades here and there. Last year we installed a soft-leather seat. Elf Gerald Fudge proposed installing a GPS system to try to be more time-efficient on Christmas Eve. But I denied it. I like the old way. Despite the sleigh being hundreds of years old, it just keeps chugging along thanks to my wonderful reindeer.
17. What’s the first thing you do after you deliver the last gift and return to the North Pole?
Ensure the reindeer team is well-cared for, the sleigh is stored away, Mrs. Claus is tucked in comfortably, and then I pour a hot chocolate, get a hot bath going and check out The Telegram’s website.
18. Which three people would join you for your dream dinner party?
Oh my, oh my, these questions can be hard. Mrs. Claus and the first two children to come through my door, I would think. I could sit and listen to any child talk for hours.
19. What is your best quality, and what is your worst quality?
My Christmas spirit is my best quality. Sometimes it seems like there are people it doesn’t reach, but I still try. Maybe later there will be a little sparkle in their eye, a little dimple on their cheek or a little spring in their step when I’m not looking. I like to think so, anyway. Mrs. Claus always said I was a worrier. And I think with everything that happened this year, she’s been proven right, as she always is. But I try to take that worry and put it to good use by coming up with new toys and new ways to play so children will be happy.
20. What’s your favourite band?
It’s not my favourite type of music, but I have to say, the reindeer and some of the elves have put together a heavy metal band and they’re spectacular. They mostly do covers, but they’re really well-rehearsed. They’ve gone through a couple name changes. First, they were called “Toy Destroyer,” but now they’re called “Sleighbells of Doom.” I’m not much for the names. It’s too scary for me. But it’s all fun and games. And Rudolph can really shred.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
The European Space Agency is fast-tracking a new mission called Ramses, which will fly to near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis and join the space rock in 2029 when it comes very close to our planet — closer even than the region where geosynchronous satellites sit.
Ramses is short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety and, as its name suggests, is the next phase in humanity’s efforts to learn more about near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) and how we might deflect them should one ever be discovered on a collision course with planet Earth.
In order to launch in time to rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, scientists at the European Space Agency have been given permission to start planning Ramses even before the multinational space agency officially adopts the mission. The sanctioning and appropriation of funding for the Ramses mission will hopefully take place at ESA’s Ministerial Council meeting (involving representatives from each of ESA’s member states) in November of 2025. To arrive at Apophis in February 2029, launch would have to take place in April 2028, the agency says.
This is a big deal because large asteroids don’t come this close to Earth very often. It is thus scientifically precious that, on April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass within 19,794 miles (31,860 kilometers) of Earth. For comparison, geosynchronous orbit is 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above Earth’s surface. Such close fly-bys by asteroids hundreds of meters across (Apophis is about 1,230 feet, or 375 meters, across) only occur on average once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. Miss this one, and we’ve got a long time to wait for the next.
When Apophis was discovered in 2004, it was for a short time the most dangerous asteroid known, being classified as having the potential to impact with Earth possibly in 2029, 2036, or 2068. Should an asteroid of its size strike Earth, it could gouge out a crater several kilometers across and devastate a country with shock waves, flash heating and earth tremors. If it crashed down in the ocean, it could send a towering tsunami to devastate coastlines in multiple countries.
Over time, as our knowledge of Apophis’ orbit became more refined, however, the risk of impact greatly went down. Radar observations of the asteroid in March of 2021 reduced the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit from hundreds of kilometers to just a few kilometers, finally removing any lingering worries about an impact — at least for the next 100 years. (Beyond 100 years, asteroid orbits can become too unpredictable to plot with any accuracy, but there’s currently no suggestion that an impact will occur after 100 years.) So, Earth is expected to be perfectly safe in 2029 when Apophis comes through. Still, scientists want to see how Apophis responds by coming so close to Earth and entering our planet’s gravitational field.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
“There is still so much we have yet to learn about asteroids but, until now, we have had to travel deep into the solar system to study them and perform experiments ourselves to interact with their surface,” said Patrick Michel, who is the Director of Research at CNRS at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, in a statement. “Nature is bringing one to us and conducting the experiment itself. All we need to do is watch as Apophis is stretched and squeezed by strong tidal forces that may trigger landslides and other disturbances and reveal new material from beneath the surface.”
The Goldstone radar’s imagery of asteroid 99942 Apophis as it made its closest approach to Earth, in March 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech/NSF/AUI/GBO)
By arriving at Apophis before the asteroid’s close encounter with Earth, and sticking with it throughout the flyby and beyond, Ramses will be in prime position to conduct before-and-after surveys to see how Apophis reacts to Earth. By looking for disturbances Earth’s gravitational tidal forces trigger on the asteroid’s surface, Ramses will be able to learn about Apophis’ internal structure, density, porosity and composition, all of which are characteristics that we would need to first understand before considering how best to deflect a similar asteroid were one ever found to be on a collision course with our world.
Besides assisting in protecting Earth, learning about Apophis will give scientists further insights into how similar asteroids formed in the early solar system, and, in the process, how planets (including Earth) formed out of the same material.
One way we already know Earth will affect Apophis is by changing its orbit. Currently, Apophis is categorized as an Aten-type asteroid, which is what we call the class of near-Earth objects that have a shorter orbit around the sun than Earth does. Apophis currently gets as far as 0.92 astronomical units (137.6 million km, or 85.5 million miles) from the sun. However, our planet will give Apophis a gravitational nudge that will enlarge its orbit to 1.1 astronomical units (164.6 million km, or 102 million miles), such that its orbital period becomes longer than Earth’s.
It will then be classed as an Apollo-type asteroid.
Ramses won’t be alone in tracking Apophis. NASA has repurposed their OSIRIS-REx mission, which returned a sample from another near-Earth asteroid, 101955 Bennu, in 2023. However, the spacecraft, renamed OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer), won’t arrive at the asteroid until April 23, 2029, ten days after the close encounter with Earth. OSIRIS-APEX will initially perform a flyby of Apophis at a distance of about 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the object, then return in June that year to settle into orbit around Apophis for an 18-month mission.
Related Stories:
Furthermore, the European Space Agency still plans on launching its Hera spacecraft in October 2024 to follow-up on the DART mission to the double asteroid Didymos and Dimorphos. DART impacted the latter in a test of kinetic impactor capabilities for potentially changing a hazardous asteroid’s orbit around our planet. Hera will survey the binary asteroid system and observe the crater made by DART’s sacrifice to gain a better understanding of Dimorphos’ structure and composition post-impact, so that we can place the results in context.
The more near-Earth asteroids like Dimorphos and Apophis that we study, the greater that context becomes. Perhaps, one day, the understanding that we have gained from these missions will indeed save our planet.
