input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. The United States Postal Service (USPS; also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service) is an independent agency of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.

The U.S. Mail traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation, elevated to a cabinet-level department in 1872, and transformed in 1971 into the U.S. Postal Service as an agency of the U.S. government.

The USPS as of February 2015 has 617,254 active employees and operated 211,264 vehicles in 2014. The USPS is the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world. The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The USPS still has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail" and personal letterboxes in the United States, but now has to compete against private package delivery services, such as United Parcel Service and FedEx.

Since the early 1980s, many of the direct tax subsidies to the Post Office (with the exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters) have been reduced or eliminated in favor of indirect subsidies, in addition to the advantages associated with a government-enforced monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail. Since the 2006 all-time peak mail volume, after which Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (which mandated $5.5 billion per year to be paid into an account to fully prefund employee retirement health benefits, a requirement exceeding that of other government and private organizations), revenue dropped sharply due to recession-influenced declining mail volume, prompting the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to reduce its budget deficit. The USPS lost $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2014 and $5.1 billion in 2015, and its revenue was $67.8 billion in 2014 and $68.9 billion in 2015. 1. Does the USPS have any competition?
2. Who?
3. Does the USPS change prices based on location?
4. What allows the USPS to exist?
5. Does it offer retirement benefits?
6. Do they make a profit?
7. How can they afford to offer their employees these benefits?
8. What caused customers' uses of their services to drop?
9. When was shipping at its busiest?
10. What physical thing do they have exclusive access to?
11. What service do they have exclusive access to?
12. Who was the first head of the organization?
13. Did they use his work for future iterations?
numbered_answers: 1. Yes
2. United Parcel Service
3. No
4. United States Constitution.
5. Yes
6. No
7. Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act
8. recession-influenced declining mail volume
9. 2006
10. letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail"
11. first-class mail
12. Benjamin Franklin
13. Yes

input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. (Mental Floss) -- Over the centuries, people have had some very good reasons to dress up like a member of the opposite sex.

And I'm not talking about people who live this way out of personal preference, or those who dress up for theater and entertainment.

Here are just five examples.

1. Cross-dressing to join the army

Until recently, women have rarely been allowed to serve as soldiers.

So what was a gal to do if she wanted to serve her country? Naturally, disguise herself as a man and join the troops.

At least 400 Civil War soldiers were women in drag. These included Union Army soldier "Frank Thompson" (also known as Sarah Edmonds), whose small frame and feminine mannerisms (rather than causing suspicion) made her an ideal spy, as she could spy on the Confederates disguised as... a woman!

She wasn't the first woman to don a male disguise and join the army, though. During the Revolutionary War, women fought as men on both sides.

Hannah Snell, for example, joined the British army to find her husband, who had walked out on her to enlist.

Once her true sex was discovered (thanks to a pesky groin injury), she became a national celebrity in Britain, and made a post-war career of performing in bars as the "Female Warrior." Mental Floss: The Confederacy's plan to conquer Latin America

2. Cross-dressing to keep a royal family together

With all the power play that went on in the court, the French royal family would go to great lengths to avoid sibling rivalry. In one of the more extreme cases, Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (1640-1701), was raised as a girl to discourage him from any political or military aspirations. 1. Were women always allowed in the military?
2. How could a women participate, despite the regulations against it?
3. During which war did this happen?
4. Was it limited to only one side of the conflict?
5. What name did Sarah Edmonds use to enlist?
6. In what war did she fight?
7. How many other women joined her?
8. Sarah's statue made her an ideal candidate for what position?
9. Why did Hannah Snell join the army?
10. Which army had he joined?
11. Did Hannah become famous?
12. How was she caught?
13. Where did she perform?
14. As what character?
15. Which royal family member was raised as a member of the opposite sex?
16. When did he live?
17. What did his family want to discourage him from?
18. What type of competition was being avoided?
19. In what country did Hannah Snell become famous after her discharge?
numbered_answers: 1. no
2. disguise herself as a man
3. Revolutionary War
4. no
5. Frank Thompson
6. Civil War
7. At least 400
8. a spy
9. to find her husband
10. the British army
11. yes
12. a groin injury
13. bars
14. the "Female Warrior"
15. Philippe I
16. 1640-1701
17. political or military aspirations
18. sibling rivalry
19. Britain

input: Make use of the article to answer the questions. (CNN) -- It was tense, nerve-shredding, prime-time viewing.

No, not the new series of "Boardwalk Empire," but a soccer match with 31 penalties.

Tuesday's English League Cup match between Liverpool and second division Middlesbrough was a marathon encounter which finally came to a conclusion at 10:42pm local time -- almost three hours after it had kicked off.

Level at 1-1 after 90 minutes at Liverpool's Anfield stadium and locked together at 2-2 after two hours of play, the two teams began a record-breaking penalty shootout.

After all 11 players on both teams -- including the two goalkeepers -- had taken a spot kick, only two penalties had been missed.

As a result, with the score in the shootout level at 10-10, the first penalty takers had to go again.

The success both teams enjoyed from 12 yards made for a surreal spectacle, with Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli letting a wry smile slip when he converted for the second time in the shootout.

But, as always in these heartbreaking football deciders, there has to be a fall guy.

That was Middlesbrough's Albert Adomah, who sliced his penalty wide of the goal to give Liverpool the win.

The final score in the shootout was 14-13, with both teams having taken 15 penalties each.

When you include the penalty scored by Middlesbrough substitute Patrick Bamford to make the score 2-2 in the dying moments of extratime, there was a grand total of 31 spot kicks in an extraordinary match -- a competition record.

"I don't have words to explain my feelings now," Middlesbrough manager, and former Real Madrid No. 2, Aitor Karanka remarked after the match. 1. Who played in the match?
2. What sport is this?
3. Was it a championship game?
4. On what day was the game?
5. Were there a lot of penalties?
6. How many?
7. What time did the game end?
8. About how long did they play for?
9. Who won the match?
10. Who missed the last kick?
11. How far were they kicking from?
12. Did anyone make more than one penalty kick?
13. Who?
numbered_answers:
1. Liverpool and Middlesbrough
2. soccer
3. no
4. Tuesday
5. yes
6. 31
7. 10:42pm local time
8. two hours
9. Liverpool
10. Middlesbrough's Albert Adomah
11. 12 yards
12. yes
13. the first penalty takers