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Category: N

Nigeria

  • Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of oil
  • The amount of gas burned off by the oil companies just to overcome “over pressure” during oil production in Nigeria is more than enough to power the whole continent of Africa (but it is cheaper to burn it than to produce energy from it, and they make so much money from oil that they do not care about the gas produced)

nightingale

  • The Nightingale sings much louder and move varied at night, unlike other birds that sing at dawn
  • A poem written by John Clare in 1832 is done entirely in the nightingale’s lyrics – “Chew chew chee chew chee – chew – cheer cheer cheer…”

Nobel

  • Nobel, actually invented dynamite, (Dynamite no.1 and Ballistite) but when he saw the destruction it caused, he decided to do something benevolent with all the money he made. Hence the Nobel Prize. Thanx ‘a girl named Ryan’

noodles

  • Australians consume more than 18 million kilograms of noodles a year. That is almost 1kg of noodle per person
  • For Chinese people, thin long noodles are eaten during their birthdays to symbolyze longevity
  • In Japan, it is polite to slurp loudly while eating noodles or soba. They will even tell you to slurp instead of eating quietly

North Pole

  • The magnetic North Pole shifts by about 7 meters a day
  • Penguins are not found in the North Pole
  • You cannot catch a cold at either of the poles as it is too cold for microbes to exist there

nose

  • Your nose smells best when you are about 10 years old
  • Your nostrils take turns inhaling. You breathe through one for about 3-4 hours then switch to the other one. THIS IS TAKEN FROM THE GROSSOLOGY EXHIBITION: THE SCIENCE OF THE HUMAN BODY

Nostradamus

  • Nostradamus’ text ‘The Prophecies’ was the first book from France to be digitally preserved by Google
  • Nostradamus treated plague victims with pills made of rose petal, which later made him famous
  • Nostradamus also wrote books of recipes for perfumes and cosmetics
  • He predicted the world would end in 3797
  • According to legend, Nostradamus once encountered a young Franciscan monk herding pigs in Italy. To the surprise of onlookers, Nostradamus respectfully addressed the lowly monk as “Your Holiness.” In 1585, years after Nostradamus died, that monk, Felice Peretti, became Pope Sixtus V.
  • Legend holds that Nostradamus was buried with a document containing the secrets to his prophecies. In 1700, officials in Salon-de-Provence decided to relocate his coffin to a more optimal location. In the process, they decided to look inside. No document was located; however, a medallion inscribed with “1700″ was reportedly found around Nostradamus’ skeleton, leading people to believe the prophet had correctly predicted the year his coffin would be opened.
  • Although Nostradamus died in the middle of 1566, his 1567 almanac was published because he had the foresight to prepare it before his death.
  • The house in Salon-de-Provence where Nostradamus lived with his second wife and their children still stands today and is open to the public as a museum. Every summer, the town holds a festival honoring its world-famous former resident.
  • According to the New York Times, in the days following the 9/11 attacks, the top search term on Google was “Nostradamus.” (previous facts from www.history.com)

nuclear

  • There are over 50 nuclear warheads and 9 nuclear reactors lost at sea. This was according to a study released in 1989 by Greenpeace environmental group and the Institute for Policy Studies
  • The United States have acknowledged losing a hydrogen bomb south of Japan in 1965

numbers

  • It is impossible for anyone to verbally count up to the number 1 trillion (just try it..hehehe)
  • The numbers 111 222 333 444 555 666 777 888 999 are all multiples of 37. Thanx liz chell
  • A googol is a number 1 followed by 100 zeros
  • 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

numeral

  • The digits 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 are known as Arabic numerals but were originally defined by Indian mathematicians
  • The symbols for 1, 4 and 6 were accepted first. The symbols for 2, 7 and 9 were only accepted 100 years later