random_facts 1.0.0 → 1.1.0

data/data/facts/cartoon.json

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "\"The Simpsons\" is the longest running animated series on TV."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "Albert Brooks, voice of Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo, was named Albert Einstein."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "Before settling on the Seven Dwarfs we know today, Disney also considered Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy, Hickey, Wheezy, and Awful."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a balloon for a parade."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "In an episode of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob's Criminal Number is 24601, the same as the Criminal number of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "cartoon",
+    "fact": "The writers of The Simpsons have never revealed what state Springfield is in."
+  }
+]

data/data/facts/customs.json

@@ -0,0 +1,370 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "29th May is officially “Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day“."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "A Menorah is a special nine-branched candelabrum, also known in Hebrew as a Hanukiah."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "A bride in China wears the color red."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "A dreidel, or sivion is a four-sided top that has a Hebrew letter on each side."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Alabama was the first state in the United States to officially recognize Christmas in 1836."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday, and the tradition began in 1836."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "All 13 colonies celebrated Thanksgiving together for the first time in 1777."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "America’s official national Christmas tree is located in King’s Canyon National Park in California. The tree, a giant sequoia called the “General Grant Tree”, is over 90 meters (300 feet) high, and was made the official Christmas tree in 1925."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Among the Danakil tribesman of Ethiopia, when a male dies his grave is marked with a stone for every man he killed."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Ancient Romans always entered the home of a friend on their right foot—the left side of the body was thought to portend evil. The Latin word for “left” is sinister—thus our English word “sinister” for anything threatening or malevolent."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Arab women can initiate a divorce if their husbands don’t pour coffee for them."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Artificial Christmas trees have outsold real ones since 1991."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Assuming Rudolph was in front, there are 40320 ways to arrange the other eight reindeer."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "At Versailles, during the reign of Louis XIV, it was considered gauche to knock on a door with the knuckles. Instead one scratched with the little finger of the left hand, and for this purpose courtiers let that particular nail grow long."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Bobbing for apples at Halloween originated as part of a divination technique practiced by the Druids. Participants floated apples in a tub of water on the 31st of October (the Druid New Year's Eve) and attempted to fish them out without using their hands. Those who succeeded were guaranteed a prosperous year."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Breaking of a glass is traditional in some wedding ceremonies. This custom symbolizes different things. To some its the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and for some its the represents the fragility of a relationship."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Christmas Crackers were invented around 1846 by Tom Smith who developed them for Christmas from the French habit of wrapping sugared almonds in twists of paper as gifts."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Christmas has different meanings around the world; Christmas Eve in Japan is a good day to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Christmas trees have been sold in the U.S. since 1850."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Christmas-tree ornaments date back to the time of the Romans. During the Saturnalia, which coincided roughly with our Christmas holiday, the Romans hung little masks of Bacchus on pine trees. Vergil refers to these dangling ornaments as oscilla, and describes how during the December season evergreens were laden with them."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "During Hanukkah, families eat latkes(potato pancakes) and sufganiot (jelly donuts), or other foods which are fried in oil, to celebrate and commemorate the miracle of the Festival of Lights."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "During the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine’s Day led to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900s, the Ozark hill people in the eastern United States thought that birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only Valentine’s Day but Groundhog Day as well."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "During the eight days of Hanukkah, the entire Hallel (psalms of praise) is said."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "During the eight days of Hanukkah, the passage “Al Hanissim”, expressing thanks to God for the miracles of Hanukkah, is inserted into the prayers."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Each night of Hanukkah, an additional candle is placed in the Menorah from right to left, and then lit from left to right. On the last night, all the candles are lit."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Easter is the first Sunday after the first Saturday after the first full moon after the equinox. (The equinox is quite often March 21, but can also occur on the March 20 or 22.)"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Electric Christmas lights were first used in 1854."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Except in times of religious persecution, the menorah was placed outside the front door or, as is the custom today, displayed in the window of every Jewish home."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Franklin Pierce was the first president to decorate an official White House Christmas tree."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "George Frederick Handel’s great Christmas oratorio, “The Messiah”, was first performed in 1742, in Dublin."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Guatemalan adults do not exchange Christmas gifts until New Year’s Day. Children get theirs (from the Christ Child) on Christmas morning."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Halloween isn't an established holiday by law. It is traditional that Halloween is Oct. 31 no matter what day of the week it falls on. Halloween dates from 837 when Pope Gregory IV instituted All Saints or All Hallows Day on Nov. 1 to take the place of an earlier festival known as the Peace of the Martyrs. The day was set aside to honor all saints, known and unknown. Halloween then is a shortened form of All Hallows Eve - the evening before All Hallows Day. Certainly, you have a choice of celebrating it on Oct. 30, Saturday, if you wish. Many of the area parties will be held then rather than on Sunday. It's probably appropriate to say some people equate Halloween with the occult or Satanism and don't approve of it at all."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Halloween takes place on October 31st, the day before All Saints Day."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Maccabees or Israelites over the Greek-Syrian ruler, Antiochus about 2200 years ago."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Hanukkah is celebrated around the world for eight days and nights."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Hanukkah is celebrated in the home beginning on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Humorous valentines of the 19th century were called “Vinegar Valentines” or “Penny Dreadfuls.” Vinegar Valentines were introduced in 1858 by John McLaughin, a Scotsman with a New York City Publishing Business. Penny Dreadfuls with comic designs drawn in 1870 by American cartoonists Charles Howard became known as Penny Dreadfuls."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In 1647, the English parliament passed a law made Christmas illegal. The Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, who considered feasting and revelry on what was supposed to be a holy day to be immoral, banned the Christmas festivities. The ban was lifted only when Cromwell lost power in 1660."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In 1941, Thanksgiving was declared by Congress to be a legal holiday, held on the fourth Thursday in November."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In 1995, 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate were sold for Valentine’s Day."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Armenia, the traditional Christmas Eve meal consists of fried fish, lettuce and spinach."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Germany and some other western European countries, St. Nicholas , or Nikolaus comes on the night from the 5th to the 6th of Decemer, where children have their boots all shined and clean in front of a door or window. He will leave toys, nuts oranges, apples and chocolate for the good children. The bad child gets a branch to be used by the parents to punish the child."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Germany there are many different characters for Christmas. Nikolaus comes on December 5th and on December 24th when the actual opening of the gifts is happening ,they have been brought either by Knecht Ruprecht, Weihnachtsmann, or the Christkindl, (Christ child) wich is an angelic child dressed in a white and or golden dress much like a long nightgown. It has wings, and has usually a small horse or a donkey as a companion."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Germany, the eighth and last night of Hanukkah used to be very special. All the leftover wicks and oil were lit in giant bonfires. People sang songs and danced around the fire, often until the small hours of the night."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Mexico, Mothers Day is celebrated for two days."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In North America, children put stockings out at Christmas time. Their Dutch counterparts use shoes."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men’s camels. The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise Men’s caravan."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Victorian times it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In Yemen, children went from house to house, tins in hand, to collect wicks for the Hanukkah Menorah."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "In ancient times, oil was used in the menorah. Over time, candles were substituted for the oil."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "It is believed the Druids lit fires on Halloween (just like how we light candles inside pumpkins) to ward off evil spirits."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "It is not a sure thing that turkey was part of the Thanksgiving Feast, but venison was definitely part of the meal."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "It wasn’t until 1537 that St. Valentine’s Day was declared an official holiday. England’s King Henry VIII declared February 14th a holiday."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "J.S.Bach inscribed most of his musical scores with the note ‘In dem Namen Jesus’, or in English ‘In the name of Jesus’."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Many of the traditions associated with Christmas (giving gifts, lighting a Yule log, singing carols, decorating an evergreen) date back to older religions."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Michigan has no official state song, but one, ‘Michigan, My Michigan,’ is frequently used. The words were written in 1863, and the melody used is that of the Christmas song “O Tannenbaum”."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "October 10 is National Metric Day."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "One town in Indiana is called Santa Claus. There is also a Santa, Idaho."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Placing a wreath on a grave is part of an ancient belief it was necessary to provide comforts for the dead and give them gifts in order for their spirits to not haunt the mourners. The circular arrangement represents a magic circle which is supposed to keep the spirit within its bounds."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Roast turkey did not appear consistently on royal Christmas Day menus until 1851 when it replaced roast swan. The medieval dish of Boar’s head remained popular with Royals for much longer."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Savings bonds, checks, and small chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil-these are the modern incarnations of the traditional gift known as Hanukkah gelt. “Gelt” is a Yiddish term for “money”."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Some people believe that birds choose their mates on the 14th of February each year. Seeing a goldfinch meant you would marry a millionaire. Seeing a sparrow meant you would marry a poor man but you would be very happy."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Some people say that when the black bands on the Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is coming."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "St. Nicholas was bishop of the Turkish town of Myra in the early 4th century. The Dutch first made him into a Christmas gift-giver, and Dutch settlers brought him to America where his name eventually became the familiar Santa Claus."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The Canadian province of Nova Scotia leads the world in exporting lobster, wild blueberries, and Christmas trees."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas carols."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The Romans also celebrated Halloween at their Harvest Festival on November 1st."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The Thanksgiving Feast that the Pilgrims had with the Natives in 1621 lasted three days."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The day after Christmas, December 26, is known as Boxing Day. It is also the holy day of St. Stephen."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25, AD 336 in Rome."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The first electric Christmas lights were created by a telephone company PBX installer. Back in the old days, candles were used to decorate Christmas trees. This was obviously very dangerous. Telephone employees are trained to be safety concious. This installer took the lights from an old switchboard, connected them together, strung them on the tree, and hooked them to a battery."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The holiday Boxing day was originally celebrated in England,for the servants to the rich people. After Chrismas,the servants “boxed up” all the left-overs from the rich people and bring them home."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The oldest known Valentines were sent in 1415 A.D. by the Duke of Orleans to his French wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It is still on display in a museum in England."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The poinsettia, a traditional Christmas flower, originally grew in Mexico, where it is also known as the ‘Flower of the Holy Night’. Joel Poinsett first brought it to America in 1829."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The popular Christmas song “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving. The song was composed in 1857 by James Pierpont, and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh”."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas originated with the Romans"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "The tradition of bobbing for apples and lighting candles inside pumpkins came from the Romans."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "There are 364 gifts mentioned in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "There is a 1 in 4 chance that New York will have a white Christmas."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Throughout history, nearly all religions of he world had a celebration that falls close to Christmas. In Judaism it is Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. Pre-Christian Scandinavians enjoyed the Feast of the Frost King. In Rome there was the Saturnalia, in Egypt the midwinter festival in honor the God Horus. The Druids had an annual mistletoe-cutting ceremony. Mithraists celebrated the feast of Sol Invictus, representing the victory of light over darkness. In Hinduism the feasts of Diwali and Taipongal are observed close to the Christmas season. Many other civilizations have similar festivals."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Traditionally, Hanukkah is a time when children are encouraged and rewarded for their Torah studies. Consequently, it became fashionable to give the children Hanukkah money and presents during the holiday."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "Wedding rings are worn on the fourth finger of your left hand because people used to believe that the vein in this finger goes directly to your heart."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "When Saigon fell the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby's \"White Christmas\" being played on the radio."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "When distributing gifts in Holland, St. Nicholas is accompanied his servant, Black , who is responsible for actually dropping the presents down their recipients’ chimneys. He also punishes bad children by putting them in a bag and carrying them away to Spain."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "customs",
+    "fact": "“Silent Night” was first sung as part of a church service in Austria. A guitar was used because the church organ was so badly rusted it couldn’t be played."
+  }
+]

data/data/facts/earth.json

@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+[
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "71% of the Earths surface is covered with water."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "8,200 below the surface of the ocean a ridge of volcanoes stretch around the globe. Vents in the ridge spew mineral rich water at temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit or more. In the hot waters, bacteria live feeding on the minerals. Tube worms grow to six feet long and foot long clams grow 500 times faster than their relatives living near the surface."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "A two-mile thick dome of glacial ice covers most of Greenland. The weight of the ice is so great that if it suddenly melted the bedrock of the island would rise 2500 feet!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "About 20 percent of the earths land is made up of desert, and the world's largest desert is the Sahara of North Africa."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "All continents, with the exception of Antarctica, are wider in the north than in the south."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Almost two-thirds of the earths surface is covered by water. If the earth were flat, water would cover everything in a layer two miles deep!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Angel Falls in Venezuela is 20 times taller than Niagara Falls."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Antarctica gets less precipitation than any other continent on earth."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth, where a temperature of 126.9 degrees F below zero was once recorded."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Antarctica is the coldest continent on earth, where a temperature of 126.9 degrees F below zero was once recorded. Chicago is home to three of the five tallest buildings in the world — the Sears Tower, Standard Oil Building, and John Hancock Center."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Australia is home to the koala bear, the platypus, and the kangaroo, but not one active volcano or glacier. It is the only continent that lacks both."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Australia is the only continent on earth without an active volcano."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Australia is the only country to have monotremes. A monotreme is a mammal that lays eggs but suckles its young on milk once they have hatched (e.g. the platypus)."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Australia is the richest source of mineral sands in the world."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Australia's Ayers Rock is the largest rock in the world. It has a diameter of 5½ miles around its base and a height of 1,000 feet."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Earth is hit by 6 tons of meteorites every day."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Earth is the only planet not named after a god."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Ever notice on a map how the South American and African coasts, along the Atlantic, fit together like two pieces of a giant puzzle? That is because at one time, millions of years ago, they were one continent. Magma from deep in the Earth broke through thin places between these continents and pushed them apart. They are still slowly moving apart and the Atlantic ocean is growing wider."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Iceland is a 39, 000 square mile island that is built of lava from volcanoes. Major eruptions occur every 6 or 7 years. Almost 1/3 of the worlds lava output since 1500 has poured out onto Iceland."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "In the tropical rainforest it gets about 80 to 400 inches of rain yearly. If it is raining really hard, it gets about 2 inches of rain per hour."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "It gets as cold as minus 160 degrees F. ten miles above the ground on earth!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Lake Baikal in Russia is the deepest lake in the world, and holds as much water as all the five Great Lakes of the U.S. combined!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Lake Superior, one of the five Great Lakes between the U.S. and the border of Canada, is a freshwater lake with the largest surface area, and it’s so big it has waves!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Monster waves of over 100 feet tall can suddenly appear at sea when there is no storm to cause them. They are actually accidental meetings of several waves that can combine to form one huge one that can easily sink a freighter."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, standing 29,028 feet high."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Olympus Mons is a mountain on Mars, which is about fifteen miles high, three times higher than Mount Everest on earth, and at the top it is 45 miles across!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "On February 20, 1943 in a cornfield near the village of Paricutin, Mexico, the ground cracked open and began to spew red-hot rocks. A volcano was born. It grew to 35 feet the first day. By 1952, it had soared to 1,352 feet and had buried two towns."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The 6,288-foot summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington has some of the worst weather in the world. The strongest wind measured was 231 miles per hour. The official low is 47 below zero Fahrenheit, but the cold often combines with the wind to produce wind-chills of 150 degrees below zero. The ground is permanently frozen in a layer from 20 to 100 feet below the surface. Since 1851, over 100 people have died of falls or exposure on the mountain."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest place on earth, where it has an average of three-hundredths of an inch of rain per year."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The Earth is 4.5 billion years old."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The Earth is 93 million miles away from the sun."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The Hindus of India once believed that the Earth was a huge bowl (to keep the oceans from falling off) held up by giant elephants standing on long pillars. No one back then ever thought to ask what the pillars were standing on! "
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The Sahara, one of the worlds largest and driest deserts with sand up to thirty feet deep was once a land with flowing rivers, humid swamps and lush fields. Cave painting, 9,000 years old, found in the heart of the Sahara, show men herding cattle and hunting lions and hippos. About 2,000 years ago the cave painters, herders and animals left because the area that was rapidly becoming the desert we know today."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The biggest canyons in the world are under water. Beneath the Bering Sea off Alaska there are seven giant canyons: Bering Canyon, 240 miles long; Navarin Canyon, 60 miles wide; Zhemchung Canyon, 9000 feet deep. In comparison, the Grand Canyon in Arizona is only 10 miles wide, one mile deep and 250 miles long."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The coast line around Lake Sakawea in North Dakota is longer than the California coastline along the Pacific Ocean."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The deepest natural caves known to man are the Pierre St. Martin Caves in the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France, which reach 4,370 feet deep, almost three times as deep as the Empire State Building is high!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The earth is over 330,000 times smaller than the sun."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, tons."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The greatest snowfall recorded in a day was 75.8 inches at Silver Lake, Colorado on April 14-15, 1921. I wonder how long schools were closed?"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The hottest continent on earth is Africa, where a record high of 136.4 degrees F was once recorded."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The hottest place on earth is in Dallol, Ethiopia, which is a sizzling 94 degrees in the shade on a typical day!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The lowest place in North America is Death Valley at 282 feet below sea level."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "The tallest mountain on earth is not Mt. Everest, it's Hawaii's Mauna Kea, 31,800 feet from the ocean floor."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "There are giant waterfalls under the ocean! The largest is between Greenland and Iceland. This submarine waterfall drops 11,500 feet; three times the height of any land waterfall."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "There are over six billion people living on Earth!"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Water is the only substance on earth that is lighter as a solid than a liquid."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "When scientist drilled through the ice of Antarctica’s Lake Vanda, they discovered that the water at the bottom of the lake was an amazingly warm 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice crystals actually heat the water by focusing on the bottom of the lake."
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "earth",
+    "fact": "Windmills always turn counter-clockwise, unless they’re in Ireland."
+  }
+]