I've often been accused by close family members of being slooooow to catch the holiday spirit. They've even associated me with the phrase Bah, Humbug!!! Well, in my defense, I simply don't want to peak too early. Starting holiday shopping in early July would have me peaking in July instead of late December. Hence, just to PROVE I am not a Scrooge in 2014, I present this hide to you as a holiday gift in the form of a little fun (hopefully, the puzzle won't prove too difficult) and an easy smiley (pretty straightforward hide). All you have to do is follow Santa in his delivery of Christmas presents to ten especially good little boys and girls around the country. Here’s the list of those excited children and where they live.
Good Little Boys (Town, State, Zip)
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Good Little Girls (Town, State, Zip)
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Carpenter (Joseph, OR 97846)
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Carol (Partridge, KY 40862)
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Gabriel (Joy, IL 61260)
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Gloria (Angels Camp, CA 95222)
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Joseph (Bethlehem, GA 30620)
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Holly (Garland, ME 04939)
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Kris (Santa Claus, IN 47579)
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Noelle (Noel, MO 64854)
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Rudolph (Antler, ND 58711)
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Winter (Snowflake, AZ 85937)
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Santa’s elves are responsible for determining the most efficient delivery route for Santa’s Christmas Eve journey and provide him with a flight plan consisting of a list of distances and bearings. Note: Travel efficiency following Christmas Eve laws of physics has nothing to do with everyday common sense. Also note, those show-off elves actually account for the curvature of the earth and use Great Circle or haversine calculations in developing the flight instructions (don’t let that scare you; spoiler in the hint).
Starting at the North Pole, the first entry in the flight instructions is 4114 miles at a bearing of 277.6 degrees. Following that first instruction, in the wink of an eye, Santa finds himself at N 30° 27.197' W 97° 45.743' (or in decimal degrees, 30.45328 , -97.76238) in the Jollyville section of Austin, TX (Hmmm, apparently named after one of Santa's favorite geocaching buddies).
From Jollyville, you can use the following flight data to trace Santa’s route. You will need to keep track of the zip codes in the order Santa visits each of the Good Little Boys and Girls from the table above.
Delivery #
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Flight Instructions
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Delivery Destination Zip Code
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1
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964 miles @58.0 degrees
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_________________________ |
2
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1236 miles @317.7 degrees
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_________________________ |
3
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924 miles @155.7 degrees
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_________________________ |
4
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888 miles @265.5 degrees
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_________________________ |
5
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1142 miles @60.5 degrees
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_________________________ |
6
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1585 miles @272 degrees
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_________________________ |
7
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2654 miles @62.7 degrees
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_________________________ |
8
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1032 miles @248.6 degrees
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_________________________ |
9
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1630 miles @297.6 degrees
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_________________________ |
10
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1932 miles @102.3 degrees
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_________________________ |
After Delivery #10, Santa will head 3873 miles due North (bearing = 0 degrees) back home to the North Pole for a well-deserved rest.
Now, using the order of Santa’s deliveries, you can be awarded with your gift of a holiday smiley.
Let A = (sum of the zip codes for the first five deliveries) divided by 122,150 [rounded to 3 decimal places]
Let B = (sum of the zip codes for the last five deliveries) divided by 8,041.2 [rounded to 3 decimal places]
Your holiday smiley awaits you at… N 42° A', W 091° B'
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
Have a JOLLYWALLY Holiday!