"The International Polar Year is a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009.

IPY, organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is actually the fourth polar year, following those in 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8.

In order to have full and equal coverage of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, IPY 2007-8 covers two full annual cycles from March 2007 to March 2009 and will involve over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics.

It is also an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate, follow, and get involved with, cutting edge science in real-time."

http://www.ipy.org/index.php?/ipy/about/

The University of Washington is involved in this monumental task along with a variety of other agencies:

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/pscweb2002/homepage.html
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/ipy.html
http://www.us-ipy.org/
http://www.us-ipy.gov/Default.aspx
http://www.crrel.usace.army.mil/

If we have that many eyes and instruments in the region, Santa may be found once and for all. It is very encouraging to see so much concentrated data collection on a cooperative international level.

BTW - Somebody ought to suggest "I.P.Y." to Donald Fagan.

Or maybe finally we will find Osama. No wait he's in Pakistan OR IS HE....

Do your kids, if you have them, believe in Santa still?

Ours, despite being teens, will emphatically support Santa. If somebody steps up and becomes one of the known unbelievers, they don't get Santa presents! It's been working for us parents so far!

Didn't work with the Easter Bunny though. Guess the Easter stuff is not compelling enough to evoke the, "I wanna believe" response.

My kids do not believe in Santa.
But since they are 25 & 27, there might be a problem if they did!

When the question of Santa's existence came up years ago, our standard response was "if you don't believe in Santa, Santa does not believe in you" with a wink, indicating that Santa would bring no more gifts.

I didn't want to get called on that bluff. (I did it when I was a kid. --yeah, I was a bastard. Ended up kind of ugly.)

So, we do gift giving, and that's known between family members. And we do Santa gifts. Typically, these are not big ticket items, but thoughtful things from the big guy, they don't know they want.

My wife, having gone through this with her mother, will not admit she doesn't believe. It's funny too. Even though her Mother died a while back, we still find a way to get her Santa present done!

Mine are late teens, with one "launched"! It's a wierd time. On one hand, I hate to see them go. On the other... sweet! My wife and I can finally just maybe go and do some stuff. (hit the Poker circuit maybe!)

What was that like Amus? Did you and your spouse go through a time where you didn't know what to do, or did it all just happen with no worries?

It more or less went without worries.

My son went first, but not far (at first), and that ushered in a whole new relationship between my wife & my daughter, basically being able to spoil her knowing that her core values were already intact.

We just tranistioned to the next phase.
My wife has been taking Japanese language classes.
We both do charity work (she more that me I must admit).
We still have our friday night dates.
And we always seem to have a household project going on (despite a bit of a setback this summer).

Each phase has be different, distinct, and mostly good!

Even though my kids are 11 and 14 they stopped believing in Santa at very young ages. Kind of broke my heart. My mom enjoyed doing the Santa thing. Helping us leave out cookies and snacks. I didn't really put together Santa's handwriting was similar to my moms until I was a bit older.

I still tell my kids I believe in Santa and it drives them nuts. Especially my literal son. I do it playfully and they have backed off a bit the past couple of years letting dad have his fun.

It is really neat to read about your kids. Chris, imagining that discussion with your logical son made me laugh like a bowl full of jelly, well, in my case, a small bowl. I was raised to think of Santa as a marketing ploy, and the celebration was more about Jesus, hot cider and caroling.

My three year old does not believe in Santa. I know, it is a tragic reflection of our quickly changing times. He does, however, have an unshakable belief in turkey. So, in a way, the little guy does have some Festivus spirit.

He was smart enough to get critical thinking skills and rational priorities pretty early in the game. I am mighty proud of him, but not surprised. After all, he is a Manx.