The weekly news update featuring Telephone Patent and First Transmitted Words on Telephone
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 March 6, 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 March 6, 2023 your sponsor will be the Peppermint Post Newspaper. Serving news to elves all over the world since the early 1500s, the Peppermint Post Newspaper is now digital. Anyone can subscribe to receive the news publication for FREE right in their email each week by going to the Peppermint Post webpage on TAOLF.com. That’s the Peppermint Post Newspaper, bringing you all of North Pole City News.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting our very own Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone who is still in the hospital after he broke the record during the "Polar Bear Plunge" last week. Since Walter now holds the record, his photograph will be posted in the Workshop with a special plaque that reads his name, the date of the polar bear plunge, and his lengthy record of 15 minutes and 35 seconds. Santa and Mrs. Claus have been waiting to visit Walter until he was feeling much better and word from the hospital is that he should be discharged sometime this week. We are expecting him to return next week for the news.
Edward Hinklemyer has sent out the order to the Department of Elfland Security's security division to be prepared to escort Lucky the Leprechaun up to North Pole City on the morning of March 18. Lucky will be spending the week at the North Pole City Hotel and will have some special events planned from the citizens of North Pole City after St. Patrick's Day. Stay tuned for more details next week.
The division of WWW/PR are back at work this week picking up where they have stopped working on those special databases behind the website to document some history and information from North Pole City and Santa's Village. The division was able to get all of the links for the worksheets for last week and this week's Peppermint post linked in the online newspaper editor, so make sure that you are subscribed to the Peppermint Post to get those updates.
This week we have snow in the forecast! Temperatures will be between -20 and -25 throughout the week with snow expected Wednesday through Friday. Accumulations are predicted to be between 1 and 2 inches each day with Thursday being the heaviest snowfall coming in at just over 2 inches.
WELF-NPC would like to send out a big "Get Well Soon" to our very own Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone as he recovers from his Polar Bear Plunge experience. Walter was able to beat the record and now holds the NPC Polar Plunge record of 15 minutes and 35 seconds. He was however soon hospitalized and is still currently under the care of Dr. Twinklestein.
Due to Walter's being out recouperating, Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone will be holding down the Newsroom fort. She will also be sending out teams to cover the semifinals of the snowball games and will be part of the "Ballroom Dancing Lessons" on the 11th. Stop out and see her.
On March 7, 1876, 29-year-old Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary new invention: the telephone. Three days later, the first words are officially transmitted.
Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847, was the son of Alexander Melville Bell, a leading authority in public speaking and speech correction. In the 1870s, the Bell family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. While in Boston, Alexander Bell became very interested in the possibility of transmitting speech over wires. Bell wanted to improve on Samuel Morris' telegraph by creating a “harmonic telegraph,” a device that combined aspects of the telegraph and record player to allow individuals to speak to each other from a distance.
In 1875, while working on his multiple harmonic telegraph, Bell developed the basic ideas for the telephone. He designed a device to transmit speech vibrations electrically between two receivers and with the help of Thomas A. Watson, Bell developed a prototype. In June 1875, Bell tested his invention. No intelligible words were transmitted, but sounds resembling human speech were heard at the receiving end.
On February 14, 1876, he filed a U.S. patent application for his telephone. His was stamped the 5th applicant that day. Just a few hours later, Elisha Gray, filed a caveat (intent to file a patent) with the U.S. Patent Office to seek a similar patent on a telephone transmitter and receiver. Gray was the 39thstamped document that day. Bell filed first and had a working model, so on March 7 he was awarded U.S. patent 174,465, which granted him ownership over both his telephone instruments and the concept of a telephone system.
Three days later, on March 10, Bell successfully tested his telephone for the first time in his Boston home. The telephone carried its first intelligible message—the famous “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you”—from Bell to his assistant.
Alexander Graham Bell continued his experiments in communication, inventing the photophone and the graphophone. He continued to work with the deaf, including Helen Keller, and used the royalties from his inventions to finance several organizations dedicated to the oral education of the deaf (his wife and his parents were all deaf). He later served as president of the National Geographic Society. In 1895, he experimented with the possibility of flight and built giant man-carrying kites and a hydrofoil craft. He died in 1922 at his summer home and laboratory on Cape Breton Island, Canada.
The NPC Commerce Association is planning a "Your Lucky Day" event for next week. They will be having a 20% off sale from all merchant member stores on the 17th and 18th in conjunction with Lucky the Leprechaun's visit. Stop by any of member locations for 20% off purchases from sunup to sundown.
They will also be offering free rainbow cupcakes at the NPC Commerce Association building all day on the 17th and 18th as well.
The North Pole City Council will be holding a Town Meeting for "National Town Meeting Day" on the 7th at 7 pm. The meeting will be held in NPC Council Chambers. Join us with any good news you have to share, ideas you have, or concerns that worry you.
Snacks will be provided by Mrs. Claus' Kitchen.
We hope to see you there!
Snowball Games Update! With the fifth and final week of the regular season snowball games completed, we now know which teams will be headed to the semifinal competitions.
In a season upset, the Love at First Snowflake team that has been in the lead for the last couple of weeks was taken completely out of the competition with their rough low scoring week. Those moving on are: Noel's Cozy Corner with 164 points, Jolly Elf with 158 points, Elfin Wonderland with 157 points, and The Cocoa House with 154 points.
This week we will hold the semifinals competitions where all 15 events will be held with the winners (high point holding teams) moving on to the finals. There will be 5 events per night and events will be held on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening. Teams were randomly paired in the semifinals bracket. Group A will be: Elfin Wonderland and Noel's Cozy Corner. Group B is: The Cocoa House and Jolly Elf.
Since this is an odd numbered year, the semifinal locations will be:
Hinklemyer Cocoa Pub-Group A
Candy Cane Lounge-Group B
The Sparkling Snowflake-Group A
Yule Love It-Group B
The Sugar Bowl-Group A
The Red Bow-Group B
As it turns out, this year, none of the teams will have home cocoa pub advantage for any of the event dates so this should be an exciting set of events. Remember also that all points are reset to begin the semifinals so... it truely is anyone's game.
Good luck to all the teams in the semifinals matchups!
This week in community events we have Cereal Day, National Town Meeting Day, and Sock Monkey Day all on March 7th. Visit your favorite breakfast spot for some cereal to start your day and then stop by the Tailor and Seamstress Shop to make sock monkeys with the tailors and seamstresses and several of the doll making elves from Santa's Workshop. Finish your day by joining your fellow elves at the Town Meeting at 7 pm in NPC council chambers.
The 9th is National Meatball Day. Be sure to stop by the NPC Hotel for their Meatball Bar.
On the 10th it is International Bagpipe Day. The NPC Bagpipers will be having a midday concert in City Center in the auditorium so stop out for a bagpipe serenade on your lunch.
Then on the 11th it is National Urban Ballroom Dancing Day. There will be Balroom Dancing Lessons all day in the Ballroom at the NPC Hotel. Put on your dancing shoes and come join in the fun.
WELF-NPC would like to wish Alan "Cookie" Scarbough a very happy 600th birthday. Alan works in the Division of Coal and Mining and is responsible for transfer of the coal from the Dark Mountains where it is mined, to the local warehouses. We wish him a very happy birthday and many more.
This is Walter "Mistletoe" Livingstone and Becky "Marshmallow" Livingstone with the reminder: To love is nothing. To be loved is something. But to love and be loved that's everything. ~T. Tolis.
Have a good evening, and be sure to tune in next week for another WELF-NPC North Pole Radio News Update.
