ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
Now, your letters and, first, football.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
Last Friday we talked about the NFL and some of you heard us say that the Philadelphia Eagles had blown out the Dallas Cowboys the weekend before. Well, Nick Allred of Sandy Hook, Connecticut wrote that he is an Eagles fan, but he wrote this...
SIEGEL: While Philadelphia certainly will be victorious this Saturday, last Sunday's game went the other way. Grateful as I am for the error, I feel obliged to correct the record and give Dallas its due.
BLOCK: Mr. Allred was right. The Cowboys had routed the Eagles the week before and, unfortunately for our listener, the rematch didn't go much better. The Cowboys won that one too, 34 to 14. Sorry, Nick.
SIEGEL: Yesterday in our All Tech Considered segment, we heard about the latest in elevator technology.
(Soundbite of elevator)
Unidentified Woman: Going up.
(Soundbite of beep)
Unidentified Woman: 24th floor.
SIEGEL: Smart elevators with computer brains that analyze the best way to move crowds of people up and down.
BLOCK: Kenneth Liddell(ph) of Austin, Texas was reminded of a time when a different kind of brain ran the elevator. He writes: My grandmother, Betty Julia Liddell(ph), was a manual elevator operator in Chicago's Covenant Club in the 1930s for several years. She has told me many times how she started as a hat check girl for the club, eventually working her way up to elevator operator. She manually controlled the elevator, slowing its ascent or descent, so as to ease the car to be flush with the desired floor.
Although she gained skill at controlling the elevators' final position, she would warn the club's patrons: Watch your step, please. Mr. Liddell adds, she fondly remembers being offered tips by the patrons of the club after riding the elevator. When the boss or management was present, the phrase, no tipping please, tripped off her lip.
SIEGEL: Well, finally, Sarah Cho(ph) of Foster City, California was moved by our profile of Seun Adebiyi. He's hoping to be Nigeria's first winter Olympian. He's also fighting Leukemia. While training for the skeleton, the headfirst sled, he found time to establish Nigeria's first bone marrow registry.
BLOCK: Ms. Cho writes: We are all given one life and everyone, no matter who you are, faces troubles. It's amazing to hear about people who even in the midst of the most severe suffering can live life with passion, courage and optimism, still able to do good for others.
SIEGEL: We appreciate your letters, keep them coming. Write to us by going to npr.org and clicking on Contact Us.