question: Sally was looking through her closet for some clothes to wear to the school dance tomorrow night. She had a lot of clothes to look through, but she needed something perfect for the dance, since she would be seen by a lot of other people, and she wanted to stand out from the rest of the girls. There would be a lot of boys there, too. If she looked as nice as she imagined she could, she would have a lot of boys asking her to dance. And she didn't want to dance alone, because that would make her feel sad. But she had to hurry, since it was getting late, and she had to sleep soon. She was so excited, that she barely touched her baked potato she had during suppertime. She also had chicken, some green beans, and corn on the cob.

She came down to four choices for what she could wear to the dance. a pink dress, a green dress, a red dress, and a yellow dress. She tried on each one and looked at herself in the mirror to see how she looked. She chose the yellow dress, because it was the prettiest. After making her choice, she changed into her pajamas and got in bed. She turned the light out and fell asleep. She dreamed about the fun she would have at the dance. Sally smiled as she slept.
1. Who had a dance to go to?
2. So what was she doing?
3. for what?
4. When did she need them by?
5. how did she want her outfit to look for that occasion?
6. why?
7. who did she want to request her as a partner?
8. why?
9. how was she feeling about the upcoming event?
10. How many outfits did she try one?
11. what colors were they?
12. which one did she end up chosing?
13. why?
14. what did she put on after she made her decision?
15. and then what did she do?
16. did she dream?
17. about what?
18. what did she do in her sleep?
****
answer: 1. Sally
2. looking through her closet
3. clothes to wear
4. tomorrow night
5. perfect
6. she wanted to stand out from the rest of the girls
7. boys
8. she didn't want to dance alone
9. excited
10. Four
11. pink, green, red, and yellow
12. the yellow dress
13. it was the prettiest
14. her pajamas
15. got in bed
16. yes
17. the fun she would have at the dance
18. smiled

question: Mesoamerica was a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica, and within which pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is one of six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas along with Norte Chico (Caral-Supe) in present-day northern coastal Peru.

As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. Beginning as early as 7000 BC, the domestication of cacao, maize, beans, tomato, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog, caused a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal grouping to the organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent Formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition, a vigesimal numeric system, and a complex calendric system, a tradition of ball playing, and a distinct architectural style, were diffused through the area. Also in this period, villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms with the development of large ceremonial centers, interconnected by a network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods, such as obsidian, jade, cacao, cinnabar, "Spondylus" shells, hematite, and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
1. What civilization was aware of the wheel?
2. Were they familiar with metallurgy?
3. Did either of those make much impact on Mesoamerica?
4. Is it diverse in culture?
5. When did they start growing cacao?
6. Was that the same time as maize?
7. What animals were being domesticated around that time?
8. That helped transform them from a hunter-gatherer tribe to what?
9. What period came after that?
10. Besides a vigesimal numeric system, what's another thing that came to be?
11. Did they create a calendar?
****
answer: 1. Mesoamerican civilization
2. yes
3. no
4. yes
5. as early as 7000 BC
6. yes
7. turkeys and dogs
8. to sedentary agricultural villages
9. the Formative period
10. a complex calendric system
11. yes

question: (CNN) -- Only two Republican presidential candidates will appear on the ballot in Virginia next year, regardless of how many are in the race.

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will have the Dominion State all to themselves. Supporters of Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann will have to be content with yard signs or donations as ways of cheering on their favorite would-be nominee.

That's because their campaigns failed to gain the requisite 10,000 signatures. It is, to be sure, a self-inflicted wound, a measure of some organizational chaos. But it is also a function of illogically restrictive local laws. They not only impede ballot access but end up denying open representative democracy to operate on the road to the Oval Office.

The United States is the only nation in the world, save Switzerland, that does not have uniform federal ballot access laws, according to Ballot Access News, a website run by Richard Winger that is dedicated to the issue. This may reflect the country's closely held federalism, but it can create chaos in a presidential year. In many cases, the rules are imposed by state party bosses who are less interested in democracy than in rigging the system to benefit their favored candidates.

Take, for example, my home state of New York. It votes reliably Democratic in presidential years, at least since Ronald Reagan thrashed Walter Mondale in 1984. But the state's primary delegates can still be a prize in a protracted Republican nomination fight. In 1999, John McCain had to sue to even have his name appear on the ballot alongside George W. Bush because the Republican state party chair and his committee essentially decided that Bush would be their nominee without the inconvenience of putting it to a vote. Local laws allowed them to restrict ballot access until public pressure and a court injunction overruled their attempted end-run around democracy. Each presidential cycle, the corrupt kabuki continues.
1. How many Republicans candidates are on the ballot?
2. In which state?
****
answer:
1. Two
2. Dominion State