The supersonic Santa.

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A group of engineers have determined how fast Santa Clause must travel to deliver all this presents. They estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa travels against the Earth's rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents. Using this time they calculated he has 34 microseconds at each stop at a house, to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh. His sleigh must then travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time. Another report on the Internet suggested however that Santa's sleigh would encounter such massive air resistance that the entire contraption would burst into flames and be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second. It must really be a miracle that he can do all this work! Do you think calculating this is a waste of time or does it serve some useful purpose?