[X] My Assistant

[Queen Diancie]

Way ahead of the holiday curb, but hey, it's america, Holiday Season starts earlier every year. So let's debate Santa.

There are ways to say he does exist.

And ways to say he does, since one half of the world is shrouded in night while the other is in day, he can exist, and then take half a days break before heading onto the other side, so while one part of the world is still Dec 24, the other is Dec 25th, so he could exist if you think on that logic since you know that the whole world doesn't magically become shrouded in night for everyone.

And ways to say he doesn't exist. Reindeer's can't fly, duh, magic doesn't work that way, even then, magic doesn't really exist. Science could advance into ways for reindeer's to fly, but even then, who's going to be smart enough to know how to make a team of eight fly around the world?

What are your guys best arguments on Santa yes or Santa no?

[ShrapnelStars]

Technically, he did exist. The version we have today with flying reindeer, while I don't believe he does exist, I still believe he could. I've never been the type to believe magic or anything supernatural can have arbitrary limits placed on it, or be fully understood, especially not by humans. I also don't believe science has any capability of proving or disproving any type of supernatural entity. I am reminded of the scene in Kingdom Hearts II in which Ansem attempted to place the hearts of the universe on a flash drive, and it didn't work because hearts aren't data. I'm digressing into a different argument, though.

Since magic can't be quantified or contained by a regular person (IMO), who's to say he can't simply freeze time with one of his spells/powers to deliver presents? The version of Santa I see most often is one in which he is described as an elf with some magical powers, or at the very least has spent time in the company of great wizards and magicians. He could have mixed some Eldritch herbs and fed them to the reindeer in order to give them flight, or cast yet another spell on them. (I'm noticing magic seems to be an epic gamebreaker here. XD ) In one story I watched, a wizard gave Santa a bag of magic beans that could specifically only make reindeer fly. The beans were a meager gift for helping the wizard with a problem he had.

Or maybe Santa's a Time Lord, and the sleigh and reindeer are his TARDIS. Magic and science all in one.

[BarkingChaos]

Santa exists if you believe in the spirit of Christmas. You cant make it any simpler than that

This post has been edited by BarkAtTheMoon: Mar 3 2011, 01:07 PM

[Yamper]

Santa Claus... I used to think he was real. Until I found my dad putting presents under the Christmas Tree xD

but honestly... I agree with both users above. If you want to believe in him, then why not

[Queen Diancie]

I know...but I put this here for people to debate his existence, give reasons on how he could exist, and how he couldn't exist.

[Lord Raven]

he doesn't exist and this thread isn't exactly the kind of thread that goes into the debates board...

[Queen Diancie]

It's a debate, in the debate subforum.

[umbreonking]

This went going round the internet a while back:

-------------------------

Does Santa Exist?
Is There a Santa Clause?

1. No known species of reindeer that can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not completely rule out flying reindeer (which only Santa has ever seen.)

2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total-378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept),we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second-a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload-not even counting the weight of the sleigh-to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison-this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

5. 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance-this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion: If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.






reasons he could exist?



...




yes.

[Queen Diancie]

That's awesome, also accidental double post? >>

[Tolanna]

I believe in Santa. Also, how there are "different" Santas for different cultures, I think all of those are real too. So I guess I believe there are a few Santas out there.

[Stratospheric Co...]

Santa Claus DID exist at one time. I heard he gave out small wooden toys to children, but he's long dead now.

But, there's always a possibility for the imposible to become the possible, right?

[Radoka Kaname]

St. Nicolas did exist

but Santa Claus he doesn't now nor ever has he ever existed...
Its the parents

the super bowl bunny on the other hand
btw @opener: you are using the wrong Claus in the title
Claus is Santa's last name
Clause is a rule in a contract

[Lord Raven]

It's a debate, in the debate subforum.

Barely. Not quite the kind of debate that we're looking for in the subforum.

[FiddleTwix]

The person the Santa we know of now is based off of did exist; but magical, fat and jolly Santa who lives at the North Pole with his elf slaves and magic reindeer doesn't for all the factors already listed.

You can believe in him if you want, but I just could never buy any of the story of Santa. (Even though I love the story of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. In fact, I begged for a plushie I saw of him at a store for last Christmas. Got him. <3 )

I can see why his legend lives on though. It adds a sense of magic and wonder to the Christmas season and puts a sparkle in a child's eye.

There's only so long that can last though. One day that kid's gonna get the big ol' reality check and find out he's not real. I've seen this happen to a couple kids and it's heartbreaking. Like you kicked a puppy or something. Even worse if a kid finds out the hard way (walking in on his parents leaving the gifts or whatever.)

I never believed in him TBH. My parents used to write "from Santa" on my Christmas gifts and I always looked at them like "Are you BSing me? " A fact made all the more weird because my family's Christian and my Dad hates Santa. They stopped writing Santa on my gifts when I was like 8, but still, I never believed in him, I never implied I did, my Dad hates him, why do that? :\

Like I said though, you can believe what you want. If you truly believe in Santa or anything else, go for it. Believe. Believing in something is something everyone needs.

[Carefactorzero]

One reason to believe in Santa: Elves
One reason to not believe in Santa: Elves

Believe in him if you like, I could care less. My Santa Claus is the size, shape and weight of a fat wad of cash. XP