The First Hypersonic Craft Developed

Welcome to the Hypersonic Age!

Man has developed a hypersonic jet known as "scramjet" - supersonic combustion ramjet that could reach a maximum speed of Mach 15 - nearly 10, 000 miles per hour. This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney.

It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them.

After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.

Ordinary jets have a major limitation: They can't go faster than Mach 3 without their turbine blades melting. Rocket ships can reach Mach 25, but they have to carry tremendous amounts of liquid oxygen to burn their fuel. The space shuttle, for example, weighs only 165,000 pounds empty, but it must carry 226,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and 1.4 million pounds of liquid oxygen to reach orbit. An air-breathing jet engine with no moving, meltable parts, such as a scramjet, can solve these problems.

A scramjet is an advanced form of a "ramjet," an engine that takes the air rushing into the engine and "rams" it into the combustion chamber, creating intense pressures that can sustain combustion at the furious rate that Mach-3-plus speeds demand.

But ramjets have limits too. The air entering the engine has to be slowed to subsonic speeds for it to run efficiently. And that air is so hot that no matter what measures are taken to cool it, a ramjet-powered craft must stay under Mach 5 to keep from disintegrating.

But a scramjet—a "supersonic combustion ramjet"—changes things. A scramjet does away with the diffuser that a ramjet uses to slow down incoming air, allowing the air to move through the engine at supersonic speeds so it can fly above Mach 5.

The tradeoff: A scramjet engine in flight is a delicate system. Achieving balanced combustion at those speeds is an engineering challenge often compared to keeping a match lit in a hurricane.

More about this topic: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/a3bfe2e6fb5c6110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html


The Complete article about Scramjet

Nick Kaloterakis

Silver Bullet: If it works, the HTV-3X will be the first reusable scramjet-powered plane. It will be able to take off from a runway, fly at speeds of up to Mach 6, land safely, and then do it again.

The Hypersonic Age is Near
Recent breakthroughs in scramjet engines could mean two-hour flights from New York to Tokyo. They could also mean missiles capable of striking any continent in a moment's notice. No wonder the race to develop them is as fierce as ever.

Last March, engineers from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) gathered in the control room of a high-temperature tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. After a countdown, a jet of blue flame fueled by methane gas roared down the 12-foot length of the tunnel. A low rumble crept into the control room. It sounded like a rocket firing, which actually wasn't far from the truth.

"Okay to inject," a test director announced when the flame had reached full force. An angular pedestal covered in bolted copper plates rose from the floor of the chamber, placing an experimental scramjet engine called the X-1 into the inferno. "AOA modulating," called the test director as the engine tilted slightly. "Model on centerline." Then, "We are in ignition." And with that, an exhaust flame even hotter than the 2,000°F-plus methane jet around it began to dance behind the activated engine, growing brighter as it ramped up to full thrust. After one minute, the engine shut down and descended through the floor.

The test was part of the X-51A Flight Test Program, a research project funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the Pentagon's research arm. The X-51A project is, in turn, one piece of a global effort—part collaboration, part race—to build jet-powered aircraft that fly as fast as rocket ships. And the technology that will make this breakthrough possible is the scramjet, an engine that inhales air at tremendous speeds, squeezes the air until it's thousands of degrees hot, and then mixes that air with fuel to generate massive thrust at higher speeds than any other jet-engine design.

The X-1 scramjet engine, which will eventually power the X-51A aircraft, is the most advanced scramjet engine ever built. The blowtorch blasting through the chamber was meant to simulate the extreme heat generated by flying faster than Mach 6. In all, the team at Langley would repeat this test 44 times. "We tested it at Mach 4.6, 5.0 and 6.5," says Curtis Berger, the X-51A program manager at PWR. "The amount of time that this thing was actually running and creating thrust was just about 17.8 minutes." He pauses to let that sink in. "Over 17 minutes of time on this engine. That's a lot of time for a scramjet engine."

To put things in context, the world's fastest jet, the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That's about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15—nearly 10,000 mph.

This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney. It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them. After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.

A Match in a Hurricane
Ordinary jets have a major limitation: They can't go faster than Mach 3 without their turbine blades melting. Rocket ships can reach Mach 25, but they have to carry tremendous amounts of liquid oxygen to burn their fuel. The space shuttle, for example, weighs only 165,000 pounds empty, but it must carry 226,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and 1.4 million pounds of liquid oxygen to reach orbit.

An air-breathing jet engine with no moving, meltable parts, such as a scramjet, can solve these problems. A scramjet is an advanced form of a "ramjet," an engine that takes the air rushing into the engine and "rams" it into the combustion chamber, creating intense pressures that can sustain combustion at the furious rate that Mach-3-plus speeds demand. But ramjets have limits too. The air entering the engine has to be slowed to subsonic speeds for it to run efficiently. And that air is so hot that no matter what measures are taken to cool it, a ramjet-powered craft must stay under Mach 5 to keep from disintegrating.

But a scramjet—a "supersonic combustion ramjet"—changes things. A scramjet does away with the diffuser that a ramjet uses to slow down incoming air, allowing the air to move through the engine at supersonic speeds so it can fly above Mach 5. The tradeoff: A scramjet engine in flight is a delicate system. Achieving balanced combustion at those speeds is an engineering challenge often compared to keeping a match lit in a hurricane.

So far, the most public scramjet project has been the National Aerospace Plane, or NASP. Unfortunately, it was a spectacular failure. Announcing the project in his 1986 State of the Union address, President Reagan called it "a new Orient Express" that would be able to reach Tokyo from Dulles Airport in two hours; the goal was to have it running by the late 1990s. NASP was meant to be all things to all customers—America's next space shuttle as well as the Air Force's next bomber and the next big thing in passenger travel. But by 1994, it appeared that research had stalled, and President Clinton canceled NASP. That might have been a good thing. "We didn't stop our research," says Charlie Brink, a scramjet program manager at the Propulsion Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory. "We reevaluated it and said: Now that we're not trying to make a Mach-0-to-25 vehicle take off from a runway, let's take the technical problem and break it down into more manageable chunks."

"What you're seeing now is a transition of the technology out of the laboratories into the flight-test domain," says David Van Wie, a scramjet research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Armed with a new understanding of hypersonic aerodynamics and air-breathing propulsion, Van Wie says, "it's really to the point that people who work in the field feel they're ready to take the steps into flight test, experimentation and demonstration."

Escape from the Lab
In 2002, Australian researchers with the HyShot program at the University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics made history by conducting the world's first scramjet "flight." They strapped a small scramjet engine into the nose cone of a solid-fuel rocket and launched it to the edge of space. Then, some 200 miles up, the rocket dropped off, the scramjet shed its protective fairing and, as planned, nosed over and plummeted back toward Earth at thousands of miles an hour. At an altitude of 20 miles, the scramjet engine kicked in, firing for five seconds and reaching Mach 7.6, or more than 5,000 mph, before slamming into the ground. It wasn't graceful, but it was a historic achievement and a scientific success—a low-cost way to gather data from a scramjet while subjecting it to brutal heat and incredible velocity outside of a wind tunnel.

Nick Kaloterakis

How to go really, really fast isn't the only problem facing the designers of hypersonic vehicles. Thermal management—that is, making sure your aircraft doesn't melt while doing Mach 10 —is a huge challenge, and one that will drive the design of any scramjet-powered craft. Here are a few of the ways engineers hope to solve that and other problems.

Since then, a loose federation of researchers from NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, Darpa and the University of Queensland, working on a variety of projects, has conducted a number of tests outside the lab. So far, no engine has pulled off more than a few seconds of sustained flight. But there have been major breakthroughs along the way. In 2004, NASA's unmanned X-43A—a disposable, rocket-boosted craft that was launched from a moving airplane—reached Mach 9.6, setting the world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft. It took only 10 seconds of scramjet power to get it up to that speed. And HyCause, the program that succeeded HyShot, conducted tests in Australia last summer that reached Mach 10, but only for three seconds.

A scramjet that can stay lit for several minutes could power a hypersonic long-range missile. That, at least, is the idea behind a joint Darpa and Navy project called Hypersonics Flight Demonstration, or HyFly. Last fall, the program carried out the latest in a series of test flights in which a scramjet was dropped from an F-15 fighter jet off Point Mugu in California and boosted to operating speed by rocket. The goal was to reach Mach 6 and keep the scramjet going for 100 seconds or more. (It didn't make it that time, but the tests will continue, program officials say.)

A HyCause rocket with a scramjet engine on its nose takes off. Chris Stacey/University of Queensland

A payload-carrying, piloted craft that can take off and land under its own power will need an engine that can produce power for a lot longer than 100 seconds, though. Breaking that barrier is the goal of the X-51A Flight Test Program, whose engineers spent much of last year torching its X-1 engine design in Langley's high-temperature test tunnel. So far, the X-1 has had to take more punishment than any scramjet engine ever built. It's made of a steel-nickel alloy that stays strong up to 2,100°F, and its leading edges are coated in a heat-resistant carbon mesh. Even these materials aren't enough, though, so the X-1's engineers borrowed a technique from rocket designers, who typically circulate fuel—in this case, the same petroleum-based jet fuel that powered the SR-71—along channels within the engine's walls before it enters the combustor. This both cools the 3,000°F-plus combustor and preconditions the fuel, turning it into a hot gas that packs 10 percent more energy than it does in liquid form.

The X-51A's target is five minutes of uninterrupted scramjet-powered flight. If it works, longer-burning scramjets should quickly follow. "The five minutes of flight we're talking about is not limited by the propulsion system," Berger says. "That's just how much gas we have in the tank." On a modified vehicle with a bigger gas tank, that five minutes could easily turn into an hour or longer. And that, says Mike McKeon, PWR's manager of Hypersonic and Advanced Programs, is key. "This engine has demonstrated that the propulsion technology is ready for application," he says of the X-1. "It's no longer in the research-technology mode." Next-generation engines based on the X-1 are already being built at PWR's plant in Florida.

With any luck, sometime in 2009, the X51-A will shatter all previous records for sustained scramjet ignition. The PWR team imagines that a B-52 bomber will take off from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, head toward the coast and, at 45,000 feet, drop the X-51A from the plane. A solid-fuel rocket attached to the X-51A will fire, blasting it up to 60,000 feet and past Mach 4.5, and then drop off to let the scramjet ignite. For five minutes, the scramjet will accelerate the X-51A to a peak speed past Mach 6 and an altitude above 80,000 feet. Then it will fly into the Pacific, its data safely telemetered to engineers on the ground. The test will also mark the moment when scramjets move from flash-in-the-pan science experiments to useful tools. "This is an airplane," Berger emphasizes, "not just something where you light a scramjet and fire it and see where it goes. This is really beyond something you might do for a weapon application. The whole idea is to prove the practicality of a free-flying, scalable, scramjet-powered vehicle."

The Real Race Begins
The first true reusable, free-flying scramjet could be Darpa's HTV-3X. Also known as Blackswift, the unmanned vehicle looks like an alien spaceship, with black curves, a rapier-like prow and oval exhaust ports. It's still only in the planning stages as part of Darpa's Falcon program, but it could represent the biggest breakthrough in aeronautics since the jet engine itself. It will demonstrate for the first time all the technologies needed for a practical scramjet-powered aircraft by taking off and landing under its own power and running on scramjets as long as needed to complete its mission.

The HTV-3x could make its inaugural flight as early as 2012. Here's how a perfect mission would go: The unmanned craft taxis out of a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base. Its twin conventional turbine engines throttle up before it accelerates down the runway and climbs into the desert sky, followed closely by a chase plane. The chase plane keeps pace until shortly after the unmanned craft hits the speed of sound. At Mach 2, doors just within the jets' inlets close off the turbines and open the airflow to the scramjet engines, which fire out of the same nozzles used by the turbine jets. On the ground, engineers watch their bird hit Mach 6, twice as fast as any turbine- jet-powered craft ever built. The test completed, the craft slows to subsonic speed, switches to turbine jets, and lands back at Edwards, mission accomplished.

Darpa officials are keeping quiet about Blackswift for now. Spokesperson Jan Walker says no project engineers could give interviews for this article because "it's a very busy time for the program." But Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is already at work on the engine that HTV-3X will use—a combined-cycle turbine-scramjet engine—and although Lockheed Martin won't confirm it, the company's famously secretive Skunk Works division is widely believed to be building the vehicle itself.

Meanwhile, there's competition. Last July, engineers from China showed up at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Cincinnati and revealed a growing scramjet research program of their own, including a new hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing and work on rocket-powered combined-cycle scramjets. None of the American scramjet experts we talked to would discuss their reactions to the Chinese revelations. But Craig Covault, an editor at Aviation Week & Space Technology who reported on the conference, believes one of the main reasons the Chinese attended was to glean all available intel on Western scramjet research. "I would bet that they have a serious research program under way that has a lot more going on than just the few papers that they issued at this forum," Covault says. "The reason that they issued them was just kind of a message to the rest of the world that they are engaged in these high-tech things. It also allowed them to get the 500 or more other papers in propulsion technology of all kinds delivered at the conference."

Scramjet projects have failed before, and some of the initiatives under way today could fail too. But many researchers say that this time around, scramjets are for real. "Advanced propulsion technology has a development timescale that appears to be on the order of decades," says Johns Hopkins's Van Wie. "The first scientific paper on rockets was published in 1903, and rockets became practical during World War II, 40-some years later." He points to a seminal conference in 1960 during which researchers first hashed out the major challenges to building practical scramjets. "So if you look at that—1960 to now, 47 years or so—it's kind of on the same timescale to see this roll out." In other words, that two-hour flight to Tokyo just might be leaving sooner than you think.

See more pictures of the test program in action, launch the gallery here.

Haunted Places in the Philippines

Philippines has many haunted places where ghosts and paranormal activities manifest.

A place is considered to be haunted when the presence of spirits such as ghosts of dead people is at a very high level.

Meaning they could always manifest anytime of the day - day and night times.

The hauntings could be the result of a tragic history of a certain place where tens and hundreds of souls were trapped in the area.

There are famous haunted places in the Philippines that could be the subjects of paranormal investigations.

Baguio City - Diplomat Hotel - This was a Seminary during the early 1900, world war 2 came and several priest and nuns were killed some of them beheaded by japanese occupying forces. This was converted into a hotel after the war. In it self it was pretty eerie, big rooms with to king size beds bibles at the side tables and the rooms are dimly lit. Clerks, bell hops, and hotel guest, complain of wailing even during day time, and when night comes, apparitions of headless priest roam the corridors, some even say that they see ghost carrying their heads on a platter. Haunting s are not limited inside the hotel for when you stroll outside the compound you would see neighboring houses with crosses painted on their doors and windows, and are kept shut when darkness falls.

Baguio City - Philippine Military Academy - Several ghosts haunt this place. Sometimes late at night a platoon can be heard marching in the parade grounds. A ghost of a cadet dressed in parade uniform and left in one of the lockers still appears. A ghost of a priest who was beheaded during the Japanese occupation period appears here as well as the ghost of a white lady.

Baguio City - Teacher's Camp - It is believed that this was once a battlefield of the native citizens there. Ghosts of native warriors, as well as spirits that are still restless, are reportedly seen there.

Corregidor - Hospital Ruins, and bunkers - Sounds of activities can be heard within the area of the hospital ruins, which were destroyed during WW2, sounds such as footsteps, and rumblings of normal hospital activities. Around the bunker area, sounds of ghostly moans can be heard, assorted noises as well.

Corregidor - Malinta Tunnel - Witnesses report eerie sounds and seeing a spirit near by.

Davao City - Juna Subdivision - Champaca Street - ghosts caught on video and seen by the naked eye.

Diliman Teacher's Village - Claret School qc - Many stories were spread since 97 the first was the high school student who jumped from the 5th floor to the ground that appears when the area is silent and the 2nd is the headless priest. That school is said to be an old cemetery.

Espana - Manila - University of Santo Tomas - Ghosts and wailing voices are heard from the 3rd and 2nd floars of UST Main Building. Since this is the oldest building in the oldest Catholic university in the Philippines, it is undoubted that some Spanish friars and Filipino souls were tormented and killed in this place.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - This school was founded by American Missionaries and during WW2 many of the missionaries were executed by the Japanese.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Football Field - A female ghost is said to be seen jogging on the tracks early in the morning. She is said to join you while you are jogging and strikes up a conversation and will disappear after she passes a certain spot. Several students, teachers, and the school president have reported jogging with her.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Ruby Hall - A school janitor as well as students and teachers have reported that wile passing by the building at night after it is locked down, one classrooms lights would always be turned on while everything else is shut off. They have reported strange imp like creatures running around the classroom. This is one of the most haunted halls in the university. This is a medical hall and it houses several cadavers for the use of the med. students. From cold spots and moving furniture, to sometimes being pushed or tripped while walking.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Valentine Hall - The ghost of a dead female student haunts the women’s restroom, several female students since the early 70's have reported seeing her. The ghost is usually seen during noon. Classes have been interrupted because of screams from the girls. According to the students she appears behind them while they are looking in the mirror while doing their make up or fixing their hair. The ghost of Rev. Valentine who was beheaded can be seen on certain nights standing at the entrance of the hall dedicated to him. The ghost is reported to be headless.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Balete Drive - Balete Drive is a residential area famous for the apparition of a white lady. It is told that there was a teenage girl who was raped by a cab driver in the 50s in that area. It is possible that the lady of Balete is seeking revenge. Never walk alone at night in eerie Balete Drive.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - on the 2nd floor ladies comfort room of the caritas building a nun haunts the bathroom and is said to peak over the stall while girls are using the bathroom. A face can be seen when you look above the door, but there are no feet when you look below the door

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - CSC - there was also this "manananggal" that lives there. It used to be a student that was hit by a car inside the campus. Rumors are that every school fair, someone faints.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - Immaculate Heart Of Mary Hall - One witness claims that when they where in Grade 3 encountered that a spirit scratched her ankle when they were doing the 99 steps. And then, when she came back to the corridor, she was crying. And then she told us all to cover our nametags and never shout our name until class time.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - Miriam Of Nazareth Hall - in the Grade 2 bathroom, there was this girl who was washing her hands, and there was a demon that came out of the toilet bowl. The girl prayed hard but nothing happened.

Katipunan - Quezon City - University of the Philippines Diliman - Ghosts sightings at the College of Education, College of Science Library, Palma Hall, College of Mass Communication, UP Main Library.

Makati City - Asian Institute of Management - A Professor died of a heart attack a few years ago in one of lecture rooms on the third floor of the main building. There are voices; shadows and cold spots can be felt in that specific room where the professor died. His car remains in the faculty parking area even until now.

Makati City - International School Manila (Former Campus) - Fine Arts Theatre - One year, one of the high school students was acting as the stage manager for the Community Play. The theatre was already uncomfortable for her when it was dark, but one night, on her way out, she was leaving through the front doors of the auditorium, something she couldn't see followed her up the aisle. Very aggressive, very menacing and very scary. She ran out the door just in time as they slammed shut behind her. Suffice it to say, she never stayed in the theater alone again.

Manila - Arellano high school - there are spirits mostly seen by the students and teachers because when a building in front of the school collapsed by an earthquake many years ago, the remains were placed in the said school. so the spirits were staying in that place.

Manila - De La Salle University - A chapel located on the 2nd floor of the De La Salle University -main Building is haunted by several ghosts said to be the victims of a mass killing during World War II. They start haunting the place when evening has crept in and the area is already silent. Sightings of headless monks and screams of people are being heard there during rainy nights.

Manila - Film Center - When the construction of Film Center at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex was rushed in the early 1980s for a film fest, the ceiling scaffolding collapsed killing several workmen who fell to the orchestra below. Rather than halt construction to rescue survivors and retrieve the bodies of dead workmen, cement was poured into the orchestra, entombing the fallen workmen. Some of them were buried alive in the orchestra. Various ghostly activities were reported on the site including mysterious sounds, voices and poltergeist activity. In the late 1990s a group called the Spirit Questors began to make visits to the film center in an attempt to contact and appease the souls of the workmen who were killed in the building. Some of these spirits claimed to have moved on but a few allegedly remain.

Manila - Ozone Disco - Once there was a disco there and it caught on fire people tried to get out but people were pushing and panicking so no one got out. Some people hear disco music in their houses at night and see faint people dancing and no one can explain how.

Manila - Rizal Park area - Near the Rizal Park in Manila has the angry spirits of dead Japanese soldiers in the ruins of a building outside of the park. many Japanese soldiers died in the building when it was blasted. Reports of a cold presence and menacing feelings.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - An overgrown black bird with powerful wings can be heard circling the village whenever there's a pregnant woman. It's wings are so powerful that you'll sometimes feel like its windy but only on the place where you're standing at.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Bernadette St. - From 12 midnight onwards, a lot of tricycle drivers have already encountered the white lady who loves to get a free ride. More often, this lady would be sitting beside the driver. Other times, a red lady is said to roam around the area following people who dread to walk this haunted street at night.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Clemence Street - Another white lady haunts St. Clemence Street where her hair stands up and appears to be very angry.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. George Street - At St. George Street you can sometimes hear someone calling you but the voice is hidden in the tall grasses beside the street.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Joseph - a mysterious headless priest is said to haunt the playground and the hill beside it.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Peter’s Street - Ghostly apparitions of people partying near an old cave at St. Peter's Street can be seen during unholy hours from 12mn to 3am.

San Juan Greenhills - Resalest educational center - A principal who haunts the students and stole money from them, people said that the haunted principal is a greedy ghost who lives in that school.

Source: http://theshadowlands.net/places/philippines.htm

The First Image of Santa Claus

Thomas Nast (1840-1902), was the man who first drew the popular image of Santa Claus as portrayed in many stories for the past generations of man on earth.

The first illustration appeared in the January 3, 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly, and shows Santa Claus visiting a Civil War Camp. In the background of the illustration, a sign can be seen that reads "Welcome Santa Claus."

The illustration shows Santa handing out gifts to children and soldiers. One soldier receives a new pair of socks, which would no doubt be one of the most wonderful things a soldier of the time could receive.

Santa is pictured sitting on his sleigh, which is being pulled by reindeer. Santa is pictured with a long white beard, a furry hat, collar and belt. We can see that many of our modern perceptions of Santa Claus are demonstrated in the 141 year old print.

Thomas Nast, the man who, along with Clement Moore, created our current image of Santa Claus, was featured in the New Yorker magazine (December 15, 1997).

Here is an excerpt (pp. 84-102) from the article by Adam Gopnik.

"Like so many of the great makers of nineteenth-century American art, Nast was a foreigner. He was born in 1840 in the little German town of Landau . His father was a musician, who played trombone in a military band. He was also a liberal of the great generation of 1848 and, with his family, he fled reaction to come to New York . Nast was a pure product of the German-American culture that in many ways dominated New York then, and still survives, in fragments, up around East Eighty-sixth Street . It was a culture built around sacredness of concert music, particularly Beethoven (Nast's father was a member of the Philharmonic Society, and, odd as it seems now, after a hundred years of darker views of Germanness, around a sense of comfort that eventually produced the American cult of Christmas. In Nast's generation, it was the Germans who brought warmth and music to a parched and tinny American Protestantism.

"More important, Nast remained a German artist in the same manner that Audubon remained French. He had a distinctly German combination of liberal feeling and prim, self-righteous Protestant offense at excess; it is not always easy to separate the anti-corruption from the anti-Catholic feeling in his mature cartooning."

Below is Nast's most famous drawing, "Merry Old Santa Claus," from Harper's Weekly, January 1, 1881



















Source: http://www.billcasselman.com/wintergram_archive/nast_santa.htm

Who is Santa Claus?

People are always asking about Santa Claus. Was he existed on this planet? Was he really the person as portrayed in many stories, a fat bearded man riding a flying sleigh with reindeers, distributing gifts to people during Christmas eve?

As early as 4th Century, there is somehow a real story about Santa Claus

Origin of Santa Claus:

	4th century: There are two main, incompatible belief systems about St. Nicholas: Among Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants, there is a near universal belief that St. Nicholas of Bari once lived in Asia Minor, and died in either 345 or 352 CE. The Catholic Information Network speculates that he was probably born in Patara in the province of Myra in Asia Minor; this is apparently based on the belief that he later became bishop of Myra in Lycia (now Turkey). 8. He is alleged to have attended the first council of Nicea; however, his name does not appear on lists of attending bishops. He is honored as a Patron Saint in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sicily, and Switzerland. 2 He is also considered the patron saint of children and sailors. Many legends and miracles are attributed to him: When he was an infant, his mother only nursed him on Wednesdays and Fridays; he fasted the remaining days. He halted a storm at sea in order to save three drowning sailors. During his lifetime, he adored children and often threw gifts anonymously into the windows of their homes. His father left him a fortune which he used to help poor children. He grabbed the sword of an executioner to save the life of a political prisoner. He brought back to life several children who had been killed. Some religious historians and experts in folklore believe that there is no valid evidence to indicate that St. Nicholas ever existed as a human. In fact, there are quite a few indicators that his life story was simply recycled from those of Pagan gods. Many other ancient Pagan gods and goddesses were similarly Christianized in the early centuries of the Church. His legends seems to have been mainly created out of myths attributed to the Greek God Poseidon, the Roman God Neptune, and the Teutonic God Hold Nickar. "In the popular imagination [of many Russians] he became the heir of Mikoula, the god of harvest, 'who will replace God, when God becomes too old.' " 8 When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon's title "the Sailor." They seem to have picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas. 1 "In medieval England... in tiny sea ports we find the typical little chapel built on an eminence and looking out to sea." 8 St. Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of "The Grandmother" or Befana from Italy. She was said to have filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari was also converted into a shrine to St. Nicholas. The Christian church created a fictional life history for St. Nicholas. He was given the name Hagios Nikolaos (a.k.a. St. Nicholas of Myra).
	10th century: The Christian author Metaphrastes collected and wrote many traditional legends about St. Nicholas.
	11th century: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that during the Muslim invasion of Asia Minor, his remains were transferred to Bari in Italy, where he became known as Nicholas of Bari.
	19th century: St. Nicholas was superseded in much of Europe by Christkindlein, the Christ child, who delivered gifts in secret to the children. He traveled with a dwarf-like helper called Pelznickel (a.k.a. Belsnickle) or with St. Nicholas-like figures. Eventually, all three were combined into the image that we now know as Santa Claus. "Christkindlein" became Kriss Kringle. Before the communist revolution, large numbers of Russian Orthodox pilgrims came to Bari to visit St Nicholas' tomb. "He and St Andrew the apostle are the patrons of Russia." 8
	Present day: Throughout many countries in Europe, St. Nicholas/Santa distributes gifts to the children on DEC-5, the eve of his feast day. In some countries, the gifts come at another time during Advent or on Christmas eve. In Germany, Weinachtsmann (Christmas man) is a helper of the Christkind (Christ Child) In France, Père Noël distributes the gifts. In Russia, under the influence of communism, St. Nicolas evolved into the secular Father Frost. He distributes toys to children on New Year's Eve. 3 In England, Father Christmas delivers the presents. He is shown with holly, ivy or mistletoe. In Scandinavian countries, the ancient Pagan Yule goat has transmuted into Joulupukki - similar to the American Santa. In North America, Santa Claus rules, thanks to a certain brand of soda. According to Roman Catholic church, his body is said to have not decomposed. In his shrine in Bari, Italy, it is believed by many pilgrims to exude a sweet smelling odor which cures medical disorders and illnesses.

History of Santa in America:

Santa Claus can be traced back for four centuries in the U.S.:

	1600's: The Puritans made it illegal to mention St. Nicolas' name. People were not allowed to exchange gifts, light a candle, or sing Christmas carols.
	17th century: Dutch immigrants brought with them the legend of Sinter Klaas.
	1773: Santa first appeared in the media as St. A Claus.
	1804: The New York Historical Society was founded with St. Nicolas as its patron saint. Its members engaged in the Dutch practice of gift-giving at Christmas.
	1809: Washington Irving, writing under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, included Saint Nicolas in his book "A History of New York." Nicolas is described as riding into town on a horse.
	1812: Irving, revised his book to include Nicolas riding over the trees in a wagon.
	1821: William Gilley printed a poem about "Santeclaus" who was dressed in fur and drove a sleigh drawn by a single reindeer.
	1822: Dentist Clement Clarke Moore is believed by many to have written a poem "An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicolas," which became better known as "The Night before Christmas." Santa is portrayed as an elf with a miniature sleigh equipped with eight reindeer which are named in the poem as Blitzem, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donder, Prancer, and Vixen. Others attribute the poem to a contemporary, Henry Livingston, Jr. Two have since been renamed Donner and Blitzen.
	1841: J.W. Parkinson, a Philadelphia merchant, hired a man to dress up in a "Criscringle" outfit and climb the chimney of his store.
	1863: Illustrator Thomas Nast created images of Santa for the Christmas editions of Harper's Magazine. These continued through the 1890's.
	1860s: President Abraham Lincoln asked Nast to create a drawing of Santa with some Union soldiers. This image of Santa supporting the enemy had a demoralizing influence on the Confederate army -- an early example of psychological warfare.
	1897: Francis P Church, Editor of the New York Sun, wrote an editorial in response to a letter from an eight year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon. She had written the paper asking whether there really was a Santa Claus. It has become known as the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter. 4
	1920's: The image of Santa had been standardized to portray a bearded, over-weight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white trim. 5
	1931: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator for The Coca-Cola ™ company drew a series of Santa images in their Christmas advertisements until 1964. The company holds the trademark for the Coca-Cola Santa design. Christmas ads including Santa continue to the present day.
	1939 Copywriter Robert L. May of the Montgomery Ward Company created a poem about Rudolph, the ninth reindeer. May had been "often taunted as a child for being shy, small and slight." He created an ostracized reindeer with a shiny red nose who became a hero one foggy Christmas eve. Santa was part-way through deliveries when the visibility started to degenerate. Santa added Rudolph to his team of reindeer to help illuminate the path. A copy of the poem was given free to Montgomery Ward customers. 6
	1949: Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was relocated to the North Pole where he was initially rejected by the other reindeer who wouldn't let him play in their reindeer games because of his strange looking nose. The song was recorded by Gene Autry and became his all-time best seller. Next to "White Christmas" it is the most popular song of all time.
	1993: An urban folk tale began to circulate about a Japanese department store displaying a life-sized Santa Claus being crucified on a cross. It never happened.
	1997: Artist Robert Cenedella drew a painting of a crucified Santa Claus. It was displayed in the window of the New York's Art Students League and received intense criticism from some religious groups. His drawing was a protest. He attempted to show how Santa Claus had replaced Jesus Christ as the most important personality at Christmas time.

source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/santa1.htm