Between March and November of 2011, an anonymous donor left (1)intricately crafted paper sculptures at various cultural institutions in Edinburgh, Scotland.  (2)Delighted, each sculpture was left secretly and was later discovered by staff. The delicate sculptures—streetscapes, plants, and animals—were carved exclusively from the pages and bindings of books. The tiny details in the pieces are awe-inspiring.

      The first sculpture discovered—at the Scottish Poetry Library—was a tiny tree formed from a book of verse. Library staff (3)dubbed it the "poetree." The tree sits atop a book. Beneath the tree are the halves of a golden paper egg, each half filled with words clipped from the poem "A Trace of Wings" by Edwin Morgan.   At Edinburgh's Filmhouse (4)Cinema, a three-dimensional sculpted scene shows patrons sitting in (5)a movie theater as horse leaps out of the screen. At the Scottish Storytelling Centre, a (6)dragon crafted from the pages of a mystery novel was found nesting in a window. At the National Museum of Scotland, a paper tail was spotted emerging from the spine of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Lost World. Inside, a dinosaur charges through shredded pages of the open book. More creations appeared at (7)more than a few additional places where literature and artifacts are related to books and writing.

     (8)Therefore, a total of ten sculptures were bestowed on special institutions, whose staff are thrilled by their luck. The (9)creator of these sculptures are not known because no one has claimed responsibility. So far, that is. The last gift came with a note in which the mystery artist reveals her gender. (10)Whatever: whoever created the art, (11)your intention is clear. Each gift came with a (12)note expressing special gratitude for "libraries, books, words, ideas." [13]

     Ironically, the creator of these exquisite sculptures (14)who destroyed books— cutting them up (15)with refashioning them into elaborate works of art—as "a tiny gesture in support of the special places." The mystery artist celebrated the magic of those places and, at the same time, made some magic.

[I]

As a young boy, John Pollack dreamed of building a full-size boat made entirely of bottle corks. [A] At the age of thirty-four, Pollack sailed his dream down the Douro River in Portugal. It all (16)began as Pollack is likely to point out, with a single cork.

[2]

To amass the staggering number of corks needed to construct the (17)boat, 165,231 in all, Pollack convinced the staff, of several restaurants in Washington, DC, to donate discarded corks for his cause. [B] Pollack eventually received cork (18)donations from a cork-importing company based in Portugal.

[3]

Constructing the boat introduced a challenge of another variety. Pollack (19)finally tried gluing the corks together to create stackable logs, but he soon realized that this strategy was too time-consuming. [C] He calculated that it would have taken him and one other· person more (20)then a year's worth of eight-hour days to glue all the corks needed for the boat.

[4]

(21)Piles of corks threatened to take over Pollack's apartment. He used a foam template to assemble a group of corks into a (22)pretty interesting shape. He then fastened each cluster of corks with multiple rubber bands and encased each cluster in fishnet. (23)To bind clusters together and shaping them into flexible columns proved to be both efficient and architecturally sound. Dozens of friends expedited this (24)proper process by volunteering to help with the construction of the boat.

[5]

The completed cork boat, which resembled a Viking ship, was more impressive than Pollack had ever imagined.  [D] In his childhood imagination, he (25)had saw himself floating the boat in his neighbor's swimming pool. But at a (26)length of twenty-two feet, Pollack's masterpiece was (27)best suited with a grand voyage. In 2002, the (28)company that had donated thousands of corks to Pollack's project sponsored the vessel's launch in Portugal. There, during the boat's successful journey on the Douro (29)River, in the country of Portugal, Pollack's dream was fully realized.

As my friend Anna and I walked the sand dunes of southeastern New Mexico, she told me that she hoped we'd find a fulgurite, one as translucent white (31)as the southeastern New Mexico sands around us. A fulgurite-whose name stems from the Latin word fulgur, which means "thunderbolt"-is a hollow silica glass tube formed when strikes sand lightning. A fulgurite is created in one explosive second by fusion and pressure as (32)sand heated by a lightning blast melts, and becomes glass. Commonly called "petrified lightning," a fulgurite (33)places the shape of a miniature lightning bolt into the earth, often branching deep into the ground.

  Anna told me that I had possibly seen a small fragment of a fulgurite before, without realizing I had, on a beach. She (34)explained though that even experts are rarely able to locate a fully intact fulgurite. (35)The thin, brittle glass tubes break easily. Occasionally, after strong, sustained winds have shifted desert sands, (36)while an unbroken, previously buried fulgurite will be revealed, showing as a tube protruding from the ground. [37] I scanned the area, hopeful that I'd see a tube newly (38)uncovered. Anna made clear that we'd be lucky to come upon a small piece of fulgurite, just a few inches long.

Anna had shown me fulgurites she had found on other trips. Their colors ranged from black to brown to green, corresponding to the color of the sand in which she had discovered them. I wasn't surprised that I'd never recognized fulgurites on any beach: (39)no one had ever told me what to look for. Their interiors, though, are smooth, clear glass (40)stained with tiny bubbles trapped (41)formed by air and moisture during the rapid cooling of the melted sand after the lightning strike.

  We continued exploring the dunes. Anna laughed and said we needed only to stop at the local gift shop (42)to unearth our treasure.  [43] But given (44)our luck finding fulgurites in deserts and on (45)beaches, she wanted to keep searching to find our own piece of bright, white lightning in the sand.

[1]

Step outside into blowing snow, freezing fog, 45 mph winds with hurricane-force gusts, and a -50° Fahrenheit wind chill. Welcome to a typical January day at the Mount Washington Observatory. [A] Weather conditions at this facility, which sits atop (46)its namesake's 6,288-foot peak in New (47)Hampshire, has earned the location the nickname "Home of the World's Worst Weather."

[2]

[B] Though somewhat diminutive compared to other (48)mountains, (Colorado's Pikes Peak, for example, is more than twice its height), Mount Washington (49)is the tallest peak in the Presidential Range. The peak stands at the confluence of three major storm tracks, and (50)its steep slopes force rising winds to accelerate. In fact, scientists in 1934 recorded a surface wind (51)speed (of 231 mph): one of the fastest ever recorded.

[3]

In one study, researchers used a laser beam and advanced optical techniques to measure winds. The observatory also keeps detailed weather records that scientists have used to track climate trends and weather patterns. (52)The observatory has also advanced scientists' understanding of clouds, (53)of ice physics, and the atmosphere.

[4]

To conduct all this research, staff are on-site year-round. (54)Observers, who work several twelve-hour shifts over the course of a week. To change personnel in (55)winter, though, crews ascend the mountain in a (56)vehicle, gripping the snow using revolving tracks similar to those on a military tank. Observers go outside every hour to gather data, which they send to the National Weather Service. [C]

[5]

Though isolated, the Mount Washington Observatory offers weather enthusiasts many ways to get involved. The observatory takes volunteers and accepts interns, who assist with (57)research. The bold can take part in educational trips to the summit in winter. [D] For those who (58)are planning to make a trip to Mount Washington, the observatory has a website with live video feeds of the summit.

[1]

"It's the real McCoy." You might have heard this expression before, but who-or what-is a McCoy, real or otherwise? The saying has been used for generations to declare (61)its' the genuine article, the original and best. [A] While its origin is disputed, many, people believe the expression was inspired by the inventions of a Canadian (62)American engineer named, Elijah McCoy. McCoy, a railroad worker who, as a teenager, had formally studied mechanical engineering, revolutionized railroad and factory (63)operations, affecting both incredibly with his dozens of patented products.

[2]

While working for the Michigan Central Railroad in the 1870s, (64)then McCoy was assigned to work on the wheel bearings and axles of trains. [65] Trains needed to come to a halt after only a few miles of travel so that the moving parts could be oiled by hand—a tedious, time-consuming process. McCoy invented a device that released oil while a train was in motion, substantially (66)reducing the number of maintenance stops (67)had the effect of making travel more efficient. [B] This automatic lubricating device became the first of his fifty-seven patents.

[3]

McCoy applied the principles of this invention to other engineering challenges. Factories in the late 1800s, (68)for example, increasingly relied on steam engines to power factory machines. As with trains, (69)therefore many of the machines' parts had to be oiled manually. (70)McCoy, recognizing the similarities between train wheels and factory machines, designed automated oilers for steam engines. These innovations allowed factories to (71)give machines a certain timelessness, increasing factory productivity and, as a result, profits. [72]

[4]

McCoy's inventions were an instant success. [C] Not surprisingly, other inventors inundated the market with similar—and usually inferior—devices. [D] Supposedly, factory owners who wanted a product proven, to (73)do it would ask if their purchase was "the real McCoy." McCoy's inventions would continue to benefit industries in the United States well into the twentieth century, as his (74)name became synonymous with quality and authenticity.