At the Monitor, whenever we have questions about the mechanics of virtually any process, we turn to the Granite Geek, David Brooks, our science and technology writer. It turns out Dave has been writing about the logistics of Christmas, dispelling skeptics’ doubts about Saint Nick’s existence, for a while.
Dave has investigated the plausibility of virtually every aspect of Christmas.
He’s applied the traveling salesman problem to Santa Claus’s trip around the world, and estimated the velocity of his sleigh. In 2015, he gave an interview to NHPR where he estimated the size of Santa’s workshop, taking into account the enormous demand for presents worldwide.
The basic question, which we’d all like to know, is: How does Saint Nick manage? This episode of the Monitor Weekly brings answers.
The Monitor Weekly is a Concord Monitor project, produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Alexander Rapp.
The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack with additional music from YellowTree through Freesound.org.
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