1 December: 335

1 December is the 335^th day of any year that’s not a leap year. 10 facts about the number 335.

1. The Roman numeral for 335 is CCCXXXV.

2. The year 335 was a common year starting on Wednesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Albinus. In this year, Emperor Constantine I consecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

3. In American football, the 3–3–5 defence is a defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen, three linebackers, and five defensive backs. It's sometimes referred to as the 3–3 stack or the spread defence.

4. The BMW 335 is a six-cylinder sports sedan produced by the Bavarian firm BMW between 1939 and 1941.

5. Porsche type 335, however, is not a car. It’s a belt driven winch intended for agricultural use in post-war Austria. The type 335 winch design was particularly useful as a surface winch for farmers in mountainous areas.

6. 335 Roberta is a large main belt Asteroid discovered in 1892 by German astronomer Anton Staus at Heidelberg Observatory. It was the only asteroid discovery he made. Roberta was the 12th asteroid to be discovered using photography.

7. The A335 road in England runs from Southampton to Eastleigh.

8. The Gibson ES-335 is a type of semi-acoustic Guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958.

9. London bus 335 runs from Wingfield School to North Greenwich Station.

10. In Power Rangers in Space, 335 is the activation code for morphing into a space ranger.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

30 November: John Bunyan

On this date in 1628 John Bunyan was baptised. He’s best known for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. 10 facts about him:

1. His exact date of birth isn’t known, but we do know that his parents were called Thomas and Margaret, and that the family lived at Bunyan's End in the parish of Elstow, Bedfordshire.

2. His father was a tinker who travelled around the area mending pots and pans. His grandfather was a small trader who had at some point owned some land, which suggests that Bunyan’s assertion that his father's house was "of that rank that is meanest and most despised in the country" wasn’t strictly true.

3. Not much is known about his childhood. He went to a local school, though it’s not known which one, and also learned his father’s trade. His father also taught him to swear. He liked to read the popular books of the time, and suffered from nightmares.

4. He served in the Parliamentary army for three years in the early stages of the civil war. When he was 16, Parliament demanded that the town of Bedford must provide 225 soldiers, and Bunyan was one of them. There are few details about his service although he did write of one incident where a fellow soldier once took his place on watch and was shot in the head, which Bunyan interpreted as evidence that God was looking out for him. He also wrote that he fully indulged in “all manner of vice and ungodliness" while serving in the army.

5. His mother died in 1644, and during his military service, his father remarried and started a new family, so Bunyan moved from the family home to a cottage of his own where he took up his father’s trade again.

6. Soon after that, Bunyan got married. The date of his wedding isn’t known, and neither is his wife’s name. Bunyan’s writings only tell us that she was a pious woman and they weren’t well off: "not having so much household-stuff as a Dish or a Spoon betwixt us both". They did, however, own two books, which the new Mrs Bunyan had inherited from her father. These were Practice of Piety by Lewis Bayly and Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent (yes, really – there was a Puritan minister and writer called Arthur Dent who died in 1607. There is no information on whether Douglas Adams named his character after this guy though). The couple had four children. The eldest, Mary, was blind, and the others were called Elizabeth, Thomas and John.

7. One Sunday he listened to a sermon about the Sabbath and the consequences of breaking it. Later, he was on the village green playing a game involving hitting a ball with a stick, when he heard God speak to him, telling him that he was sinful and going to hell. He struggled for a time with his sinful state and even developed a fear of bell ringing, a hobby he’d once enjoyed. Now he feared if he so much as entered the bell tower the bell would fall on him or the steeple collapse. He joined a nonconformist church as a result of hearing people talking about it during his travels working as a tinker. It was here that he began preaching and wrote his first book.

8. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Bunyan was no longer free to preach and practice the nonconformist religion. It was now an offence to attend a religious meeting outside of the parish church with more than five people you weren’t related to. Not that it stopped him. He was preaching one day at a farm when he was arrested and sentenced to three months in prison which was extended to 12 years because he refused to promise to give up preaching outside the established church. During this time he made a little money to send home by making Shoelaces and writing tracts. His first wife had died, and he was now married to a woman called Elizabeth. He was occasionally allowed time out of prison which allowed him to continue preaching and father two children with Elizabeth. While he was in prison, he wrote a book called Grace Abounding and began work on Pilgrim’s Progress.

9. In 1672 the king issued a declaration of indulgence which suspended laws against nonconformists, and Bunyan was released. He was able to preach again and became a travelling preacher and earning the nickname “Bishop Bunyan”. There was a bit of a scandal though, when he allowed a member of his congregation, a young woman called Agnes Beaumont, to ride behind him on his horse. People, including the girl’s father, believed they were having an affair. Soon after her father died and Agnes was accused of poisoning him, but the coroner’s verdict was natural causes.

10. The Pilgrim’s Progress has been made into an Opera. The opera was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first performed at the Royal Opera House in 1951. It was revived in 2012 by the English National Opera.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

29 November: San José

California’s oldest civilian settlement, San José, was founded on this date in 1777. 10 things you might not know about San José.

1. San José is Northern California’s largest city by population and the third largest city in California.

2. San José boasts the highest median household income in the nation.

3. In 1849, San José was made the state capital of California and was the first city of the state. The Capitol was a two-story adobe hotel, with the Assembly on the upper floor and the Senate on the lower. Unfortunately, a Fire destroyed the building in 1853.

4. The original name of the city was El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe.

5. San José laws limit the number of animals owners can have, which is five licensed animals total with no more than three Dogs.

6. It was once an agricultural community. The area has a mild climate and fertile soil, ideal for growing things. In the past, crops produced here included Wheat, Barley, Apples, Plums, Apricots and Peaches. Today it’s better known for the technology industry. It’s the birthplace of the floppy disc and eBay.

7. San José has eight sister cities: Dublin, Ireland, Guadalajara, Mexico, Okayama Japan, San José, Costa Rica, Pune, India, Tainan, Taiwan, Veracruz, Mexico, and Yekaterinburg, Russia.

8. The city’s airport was once closed for three days while Bill Murray and an Elephant named Mineta filmed scenes for a film called Larger than Life.

9. The San José Flea Market is mentioned in the bestselling novel The Kite Runner. The author, Khaled Hosseini, went to school in the city.

10. It is home to the world’s largest Monopoly board. The board is 930 square feet in size and it’s possible to rent it out and play with life sized game pieces.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

28 November: Nancy Mitford Quotes

Nancy Mitford was born on this date in 1904. 10 of her quotes:

1. I love children, especially when they cry, for then someone takes them away.

2. To fall in love you have to be in the state of mind for it to take, like a disease.

3. Surely a King who loves pleasure is less dangerous than one who loves glory?

4. I think housework is far more tiring and frightening than hunting is, no comparison, and yet after hunting we had eggs for tea and were made to rest for hours, but after housework people expect one to go on just as if nothing special had happened.

5. Marry for love if you can, it won't last, but it is a very interesting experience and makes a good beginning in life. Later on, when you marry for money, for heaven's sake let it be big money. There are no other possible reasons for marrying at all.

6. Life itself, she thought, as she went upstairs to dress for dinner, was stranger than dreams and far, far more disordered.

7. I am sometimes bored by people, but never by life.

8. Love indeed – whoever invented love ought to be shot.

9. The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.

10. There are worse things than poverty, though I can't for the moment remember what they are.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

27 November: 331

Today is day 331 of the year. 10 fun facts about that number:

1. 331 Etheridgea is a large main belt Asteroid discovered by Auguste Charlois in 1892 in Nice. The meaning of the name is unknown, but may have been for the geologist and palaeontologist Robert Etheridge (1819–1903).

2. Sound travels just over 331 meters per second in dry (0% humidity) air at zero degrees Celsius.

3. London bus route 331 runs between Uxbridge Station and Ruislip Station.

4. The United States conducted 331 atmospheric nuclear bomb tests before the test ban treaty of 1962.

5. The year 331 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Ablabius. In this year, the emperor Constantine was vigourously promoting Christianity, confiscating the property and valuables of pagan temples throughout the Roman Empire; passing laws against divorce and commissioning Bibles. he also dedicated the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

6. In 331BC Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in Egypt. A lunar eclipse that summer was taken as a good omen for his warmongering later in the year.

7. The normal mass of a human adult male Heart is about 331 grams.

8. In Squid Game, Player 331 is portrayed by Hwang Yu-hyun. He gets stabbed to death with a pitchfork by Nam-Gyu.

9. The 331 area code covers the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago in Illinois. It includes the cities of Aurora, Elgin, and Naperville.

10. The Roman numeral for 331 is CCCXXXI.

Christmas is coming! 

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle

26 November: Sojourner Truth Quotes

Sojourner Truth Day Commemorates the death of Sojourner Truth on this date in in 1883. Here are 10 quotes from her:

1. That little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

2. Truth is powerful and it prevails.

3. Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. I will not allow my life's light to be determined by the darkness around me.

4. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

5. The rich rob the poor and the poor rob one another.

6. I can’t read little things like letters. I read big things like men.

7. I am not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.

8. Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.

9. Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.

10. It is the mind that makes the body.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

24 November: Rope

Today is the feast day of St Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of rope makers. Ten things you might not know about rope:

1. The oldest rope ever found is 50,000 years old, likely to have been made by Neanderthals, and was discovered in France. Although the sample was tiny and required a microscope to study it, archaeologists found that it was constructed in much the same way as rope is today, by braiding fibres.

2. Between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago, people began making tools to produce rope. In the Hohle Fels cave in south-western Germany a 20 cm (8 in) strip of mammoth ivory was found with four precise holes drilled through it. This device was most likely used for rope making. The ancient Egyptians were making similar tools at around the same time, not only for moving stones to build pyramids, but there’s evidence they used rope for skipping as well. A rope making machine was also one of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions.

3. There are many different materials which can be used to make rope. Hemp, linen, Cotton, jute, straw, and sisal are among the natural fibres which can be used. Ropes can be made from synthetic fibres too, such as Nylon and polyester, and out of metal, usually steel. Silk, wool, and Hair have been used at times, but ropes made from these substances are not generally available in modern times.

4. A rope is a rope until it is given a job to do, at which point the correct term for it is a “line”. This is especially true for ropes used in sailing and mooring boats (e.g. yacht line, dock line, float line). On land, think of a clothes line.

5. Rope is weakened when you tie a knot in it. This is because the rope then rubs against itself or the object it is tied to. This will become the rope’s weakest point, by as much as 60% depending on the type of knot used.

6. While on the subjects of knots, the Incas used knotted ropes as a form of writing between 900–1950 AD, most likely for record keeping. These were called ‘khipus’.

7. In the Middle Ages, ropes would be made in ropewalks, which would be a building or area outdoors where the entire length of rope could be laid out and braided by hand. This allowed for long ropes of up to 300 yards (270 m) long or longer to be made, and avoid having to splice ropes together. It’s a method some ropemakers today still use. Ropes made for the Navy would include a “rogue’s yarn”, a coloured strand which would identify the source and discourage rope theft. Sailors used to make decorative items from rope including baskets or bracelets as gifts for their wives on their return home. This became so common that flogging became a punishment for half-inching the ship’s rope.

8. The world’s longest rope was made in 2013 in The Netherlands, 5,440 meters in length. It was used in an attempt to break the world record for the largest skipping rope.

9. Rope can be left or right handed according to the direction of the twist. The ISO 2 standard uses the uppercase letters S and Z to indicate the two possible directions: Z-twist rope is said to be right-handed, and the S-twist to be Left-handed.

10. The average life span of a rope is 5 years. However, if a rope is being used for a mission or life critical purpose, such as a mooring line or a climbing rope, it must be inspected way more often than this. In the case of a climbing rope, before each use.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book

24 November: Laurence Sterne Quotes

Today, 10 quotes from Laurence Sterne, author of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. Born on this date in 1713.

1. Go poor Devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee? — This world surely is wide enough to hold both thee and me.

2. I take a simple view of life. It is keep your eyes open and get on with it.

3. In solitude the mind gains strength and learns to lean upon itself.

4. We are born to trouble; and we may depend upon it, whilst we live in this world, we shall have it, though with intermissions.

5. Chance is the providence of adventurers.

6. For I begin with writing the first sentence, — and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

7. People who overly take care of their health are like misers. They hoard up a treasure which they never enjoy.

8. There is nothing so awkward as courting a woman whilst she is making sausages.

9. A man should know something of his own country too, before he goes abroad.

10. A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.

Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)

Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.

Paperback

E book