Monday, July 14, 2014

New scrambled paragraphs: Ash tree, Chess, Edelweiss

Notice:  All of the scrambled paragraphs on this blog are a free, non-commercial resource purely for educational purposes.  They are 100% legal under the Fair Usage Law.  (Basically I took properly cited source material and meaningfully changed it into a unique educational tool.) No commercial entity has the right to remove and display this content. By using this website you tacitly agree to the terms that this material cannot be reproduced for distribution via the internet or other means.


Answers are below the exercises.


Not only was its girth tremendous, its height was towering. 

_____ (Q) If we think symbolically, as the ancient Celts were apt to do, we can also liken our own spiritual-growth with that of the ash. 

_____ (R) Some ash trees are known to soar over 200 feet tall and such incredible growth owes credit to a fantastic root system.

_____ (S) For greater (higher) attainment, the more we need to stay grounded (well rooted)

_____ (T) To the Celts he ash spoke to us of growth, expansion, and a higher perspective. 

_____ (U) Indeed, it's mass, height, and deeply embedded roots became metaphorical to the ancient Celts.

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/celtic-meaning-ash-tree.html



By the 1800s, chess was essentially the same game we play today, and it is at this time that the concept of a world chess champion began to enter the consciousness of the chess playing public. 

_____ (Q) In 1843, however, Englishman Howard Staunton – the namesake for the now famous Staunton pieces – played two matches with Pierre Saint-Amant, the leading French player of the time. 

_____ (R) But nobody had made the claim that the match was for the world championship, and as such, it was a shaky title, at best.

_____ (S) Staunton emerged victorious, and some observers began to consider the idea that Staunton might be the best player in the world: a world champion, perhaps.  

_____ (T) This lead, therefore, to London 1851 – the first international chess tournament ever held - which was Staunton’s idea: the event being designed to gather all of the best players in Europe. 

_____ (U) The French dominated chess in the 18th century and into the early 19th, with players like Philidor and La Bourdonnais having virtually no equals up until at least the early 1840s.




The Edelweiss flower has since time immemorial been valued as medicine against the ailments of men and their beasts, as a powerful Talisman to ward off evil and, of course, as the "Ultimate Love Charm" of the mountains.

_____ (Q) The danger-wrought exercise of collecting such a bouquet proved in those days that the suitor was brave, able-bodied and serious in his intentions. 

_____ (R) Love struck young men would try to endear themselves by collecting Edelweiss from those hard to access crags and ledges in the High Alps of Europe.

_____ (S) During these quests many died from falls, or succumbed to exposure, insufficiently prepared for sudden weather changes.

_____ (T) That is one of the reasons why men in some parts of Europe still decorate themselves with this bloom and wear it like a medal of honor. 

_____ (U) This was a mixing of flowers and machismo rarely seen in western culture.





Answers are below:









Answers: 
ash tree - 4,1,5,3,2   Q=4, R=1, S=5, T=3, U=2
chess ----> 2,4,3,5,1
edelweiss ---> 3,1,2,5,4


Cool 1970s rock!  Please enjoy the Edgar Winter Group performing Frankenstein! Yes, Edgar was an 'albino' and he embraced his uniqueness!




And here's Daniel Gauss: 




Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Allende, Brando, Mao - 3 more free scrambled paragraphs

Notice:  All of the scrambled paragraphs on this blog are a free, non-commercial resource purely for educational purposes.  They are 100% legal under the Fair Usage Law.  (Basically I took properly cited source material and meaningfully changed it into a unique educational tool.) No commercial entity has the right to remove and display this content. By using this website you tacitly agree to the terms that this material cannot be reproduced for distribution via the internet or other means.


Answers are below the exercises.


Salvador Allende's left-wing politics were informed by the dire poverty experienced by most Chilean citizens that he witnessed as a doctor and as a politician. 

_____ (Q) Examples included social security rights for all workers, land redistribution, rent reductions, improved health care facilities, improved housing and sanitation, free milk for nursing mothers and school children, anti-illiteracy campaigns, the raising of the minimum wage, and the granting of three thousand scholarships for the marginalized Mapuches Indian community. 


_____ (R) Such policies were of deep concern to US corporations such as Kennecott, Anaconda, PepsiCo, and International Telephone and Telegraph and such corporations played a major role in lobbying the US government to implement measures aimed at eliminating the freely elected government of Chile. 


_____ (S) Positive results from such initiatives included an increase in school enrollments and a reduction of nearly 20 per cent in malnutrition rates among the very young. 


_____ (T) Upon securing the Presidency, Allende immediately set out to implement major social reforms. 


_____ (U) In order to finance such programs, Allende embarked on an ambitious program encompassing the accelerated nationalization and expropriation of industries. 

http://www.opendemocracy.net/senan-fox/remembering-salvador-allende

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Marlon Brando was one of the greatest movie actors ever.  He is kind of responsible for making the white tee shirt so popular in American culture.  Here is a paragraph from Esquire magazine about how Brando used a white tee shirt and how the tee shirt can still be used in a stylish manner.


Brando had a rare gift in that he could turn even a basic line of dialogue, or the most mundane action, into an unforgettable moment. 

_____ (Q) Start off with something fitted, but not skin tight — you shouldn’t look like you’re wearing a hand-me-down from grade school. 


_____ (R) Next, make sure the sleeves hit mid-bicep, anything longer than that will look sloppy, and anything shorter will make you look like a frat boy desperately trying to show off his guns. 


_____ (S) And here we have Brando working that same magic, not on a script, but on the most fundamental garment of the American style canon: the plain white T-shirt. 


_____ (T) Of course you don’t want to look like a slob, so double check for any stains before tossing it on and, to finish it all off, go ahead and try out your signature stare, although to pull that one off, you might need to share in Brando’s gene pool.


_____ (U) The more that an outfit has going on, the easier it is to get noticed, but to turn an ordinary undershirt into something extraordinary you’ll need to take a few notes from the brooding actor. 

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/marlon-brando-style-042513




October 1st, 1949 was the first occasion on which Mao waved to thousands in the Square; this was to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic and the final demise of the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek. 

_____ (Q) Few could understand his accent but they could certainly celebrate what he offered, and what he delivered for the next ten years. 


_____ (R) If numbers increased, the background of the marchers had by now certainly diminished and had become more uniform.


_____ (S) In the late 1960s, millions marched through the Square which, though now enlarged, could not lake the numbers now involved in National Day parades. 


_____ (T) By October 1st, 1959, the thousands had increased to hundreds of thousands and the enthusiasm remained. 


_____ (U) The next few years would be very different as famine struck three years running, as ideological disputes with the Soviet Union led to fighting along the Amur River and as China felt threatened by the war in Vietnam. 



http://www.historytoday.com/neil-taylor/tiananmen-square



Answers are below:







Answers:

allende ------> 2,5,3,1,4   Q = 2, R = 5, S = 3, T = 1, U = 4
brando ------> 3,4,1,5,2
mao ----> 1,5,4,2,3,