The weekly news update featuring King Tut Burial Chamber Opened
To all North Pole City Elves, those in Santa's Village, in the Lower 48 and all around the world, this is your weekly update for the week of February 13, 2023. I'm your host Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and I'm your co-host, Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone, Let's go to press.
For the week of February 13, 2023 your sponsor will be Crystal's Candy Confections. Located on the corner of Pine Street Ave and Candy Cane Lane, Crystal's Candy Confessions specializes in chocolate creations that are out of this world. When you are tired of candy canes, stop by Crystal’s to satisfy that sweet tooth. That's Crystal's Candy Confections, the best chocolate in North Pole City.
Santa had a meeting this week with Latimer Snerd and other supervisors throughout Santa's village to review production and supply. He is very pleased to report that everyone is currently working a little bit ahead of schedule. There were some new toy designs also presented during the meeting that have been approved and will be going into production during the second quarter. They did not reveal what these new toys will be; however, there will be prototype models on display within the main hallway of the workshop some time next month. We did get word that the devices will be focusing more on family and education.
Cupid has expressed some concerns to the Department about allowing Theodore E. Bear to attend the speed dating event Tuesday night due to the incident that took place this past week at one of the Cocoa pubs in the city. Edward Hinklemyer has assured Cupid that there will be additional security at the event and if Corby Snow is in attendance, he has agreed to keep Barney the Moose out at his cabin. Barney is currently roaming the pasture on the outskirts of town and will not be within the city any time soon.
As mentioned before, the Division of WWW/PR has been working extremely hard developing the databases and web pages that were requested by Santa and Edward Hinklemyer. We received word this weekend, that they will be taking a break from this project soon to get some new posts out on the website in time for Cupid and Valentine's Day. Please be sure to subscribe to the Peppermint Post for further details and to access these new worksheets and downloads until they have the time to get them posted up on the website.
Temperatures will be between -27 to -30 all week with snow flurries and light snow through Thursday. Up to 2 inches of snow is expected daily through Thursday as well. Dense fog is predicted for Saturday.
Rocco "Shortstack" Appleton, owner of The Cocoa House has banned WELF-NPC's own Corby Snow and his pet moose, Barney, due to destruction caused at the pub this past Thursday night while there at the Snowball games event. Unfortunately, Barney was spooked by Theodore E. Bear's presence and got out of control. Shortstack said, "It was supposed to be Break the Snowcap, not brake the mugs, but he broke nearly all my mugs. There were mugs going this way and elves going that way! What a mess! I only have 5 mugs left."
Santa was also in attendance and was able to calm Barney down though. Reports are that he used his magical touch and calmed him down right away.
Rocco "Shortstack" Appleton indicated that he did not want any WELF Newspeople in his pub anymore, but after Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone arranged for 3000 WELF-NPC Radio Coffee/cocoa mugs to be brought to The Cocoa House to help him get by until he gets new mugs, he changed his mind. He decided only to ban Corby Snow and Barney the Moose.
On February 16, 1923, in Thebes, Egypt, English archaeologist Howard Carter entered the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen.
Pharaoh Tutankhamun, King Tut for short, ruled over ancient Egypt from about 1333 to 1323 B.C. He became king when he was nine years old and he died young too at around age 19. Experts aren’t sure if his death was caused by an injury from a chariot crash, a mosquito-borne illness (malaria), a bone disease, or some combination of these. A CT scan of King Tutankhamun's mummy has disproven a popular theory though, one in which it was suggested he was murdered by a blow to the head.
When Carter arrived in Egypt in 1891, backed by a Britishman, Lord Carnarvon, and searched for five years without success. In early 1922, Lord Carnarvon wanted to call off the search, but Carter convinced him to hold on for one more year and then in November of 1922, Carter’s team found steps hidden in the debris near the entrance of another tomb. The steps led to an ancient sealed doorway bearing the name Tutankhamen. When Carter and Lord Carnarvon entered the tomb’s interior chambers on November 26, they were thrilled to find it virtually intact, with its treasures untouched after more than 3,000 years. The men began exploring the four rooms of the tomb, and on February 16, 1923, under the watchful eyes of a number of important officials, Carter opened the door to the last chamber, the burial chamber. The room contained a large golden shrine, or box, that filled almost the entire space. Inside it—all nested within one another—were three other shrines, a stone sarcophagus, three golden coffins, and finally, the mummy of Tutankhamun.
Despite rumors that a curse would befall anyone who disturbed the tomb, its treasures were carefully catalogued, removed and included in a famous traveling exhibition called the “Treasures of Tutankhamen.†The exhibition’s permanent home is the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But, was the curse real? Shortly after unearthing King Tut's tomb, Carnarvon was found dead. A mosquito bite on his face had become infected, leading to deadly blood poisoning. He would not be the only death or unlucky occurance associated with Tut's tomb. Six other archaeologists associated with the unearthing died and there is also what happened when objects from the tomb were given as gifts to Carter's friend Sir Bruce Ingram. Ingram's house burned down not long after and after being rebuilt, the house then flooded. Carter though lived for 17 years after entering the burial chamber and removing Tut's body from its coffin.
For now, you can see Tutankhamun’s mummy where the pharaoh was originally laid to rest, his underground tomb in the Valley of the Kings in the tomb listed as KV62. It was decided that he shall remain there in his tomb as his mummy was the only one ever found intact in a tomb. Archaeologists decided that it ought to be left there. He was moved out a couple times for testing and scanning of his body. Studies of Tut's remains through the years have determined his age, stature, blood type (Type A), DNA ties to relatives, and even a facial reconstruction so we can see what he looked like when he was alive. These tests though were always conducted in the Valley of the Kings, and he was never out of his tomb for more than a few days. There have been however strong rumors in recent months that there are plans to move King Tut's remains to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some are concerned that if he leaves, the curse will resume and others just fear loss of tourism; others though are simply saddened that the one King who remained in the Valley of the Kings will be there no more.
The NPC Commerce Associations is very excited about Tuesday's Singles Dinner and Speed Dating event! Plans are coming together perfectly. They indicated that they have sold out with over 8000 singles signed-up to attend the event! Reports also indicate that Cupid has quite a few exciting games planned for the event as well.
This week's North Pole Snowball Games had some major excitement. The Thursday night games at The Cocoa House had to be postponed until Friday night as a result of destruction at the cocoa pub. Many of the Appletons helped to get the pub back in order and reopened to complete this week's North Pole Snowball Games events.
The events held this week were the Snowball Knockout, Snowflake Race, and everyone's favorite: Break the Snowcap.
After completion of the this week's events, we have Noel's Cozy Corner in 1st place with 67 points, Love at First Snowflake and The Cocoa House tied in second place with 63 points and coming up close behind with 62 points is The Candy Cane Lounge.
This week coming up, the events will be Snowball Shuffleboard, Snowball Stacking, and Snowman Bucket Toss.
This week on the 13th it is Cheddar Day and World Radio Day. If you like cheddar, You cheddar believe that there will be a multitude of delectable treats made with your favorite cheese all day at the NPC hotel. Stop by and have a taste. WELF-NPC Radio will be set-up in city center for you to send amature radio messages to your friends all day to celebrate world radio day and spread the ideals of peace so stop by and join them to send a message.
February 14th is Valentines Day so don't forget it is the Singles Dinner and Speed Dating Event hosted by the Commerce Association and Cupid in the North Pole City Hotel. Looking for that perfect gift for your valentine? Well, it is also International Book Giving Day and Cream Filled Chocolates Day. Why not give them a book or some cream filled chocolates?
The 15th is Gumdrop day. Stop by Reindeer Stadium and visit with this year's Tinsel Football Champions - the Leighton Gumdrops, and get some of Mrs. Claus' Kitchen's delicious gumdrops.
For Innovation Day on the 16th. Take a visit to Santa's Division of Research and Development. Go on a tour with George "Sparkle" Quentenburger - Head Engineer and Researcher.
The 17th is Random Act of Kindness Day and No One Eats Alone Day. To celebrate, Mrs. Claus's Kitchen will be hosting a lunch "Message Under Your Plate Party" to get everyone talking and not eating alone.
February 19th is Whale Day. To celebrate the WWC - Whale Watchers Club will be going out to whale watch. Those going on the whale watching tour will be flown out the secret North Pole viewing location by Santa's reindeer. All elves attending are asked to arrive at the reindeer stables by 8 am sharp.
WELF-NPC would like to wish a very happy 425th birthday to Buddy "Twinkle" Cumberbatch from the Division of Research and Development within Santa's Village. Buddy has been working closely with Santa and the development team now for almost 200 years and is responsible for taking the ideas from the design meetings and converting them over to computer models and plans for the workshop. We wish him many more happy years.
This is Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone with the reminder: “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.†– Robert A. Heinlein.
Have a good evening, and be sure to tune in next week for another WELF-NPC North Pole Radio News Update.
