20 October: A Day

A-Day was 20 October 1944, the day the Leyte Island Operation (the invasion of Leyte) began. 10 facts about the letter A.

1. It derives from the Greek letter alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Still further back it has roots in Aleph, the first letter of the Phoenecian alphabet, which in turn probably derived from a picture of an ox's head in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
2. Alpha is still used to denote A in the NATO phonetic alphabet. The Morse Code for A is ".-".
3. There are two ways to write a lower case letter A. "a" or "a". The former is called a double-storey a and the latter a single storey.
4. There are at least seven different vowel sounds that the letter a can represent in the English language (eg as in Bad, Father, Square, Water, What etc).
5. It is the third most commonly used letter in the English language after e and t. In Spanish and French it is the second most commonly used letter.
6. In mathematical equations, a is usually used to represent a known quantity whereas the letters at the end of the alphabet, x,y, and z, are used to represent unkown ones.
7. The origin of the @ symbol, which contains a letter a, isn't known but most theories suggest it was first used as a kind of shorthand for "at" to save space in documents and ledgers. It has been used to represent a unit of weight in Spain and Portugal called the arroba, and to mean "at the rate of" in commercial documents. Today, of course, its most common use is as part of an e-mail address.
8. An upper case A inside a circle is the symbol for anarchy.
9. In 1968, artist Andy Warhol published a book called a, A Novel. Other literary uses of the letter include "A", a poem by Louis Zukofsky, A is for Aliba, and the first in Sue Grafton's Alphabet Mystery series. Matthew Arnold and Alexander Pope both used "A" as a pseudonym and Isaac Asimov used "Dr.A".
10. In music, several artists have named one of their albums "A", in cluding Agnetha Faltskog and Jethro Tull. Songs named "A" have been recorded by Rainbow and Barenaked Ladies. Vinyl singles had an A side, which was usually the hit, with a lesser known (or publicised) song on the B side. Some records were "double A-sides" in which both tracks would get publicity and plays on air.

Obsidian's Ark

Teenage years bring no end of problems. Daniel Moran's include getting hold of computer games his parents don't think he should have; a full blown crush on the beautiful Suki from Zorostan; maintaining his status as a prefect and getting his homework done. He must also keep from his parents and sister the fact that he is a superhero with a sword from another world.

Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.

Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?

When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?

Themes: 

Superheroes; Coming of age; Leadership; Kidnap and rescue; Aliens; Friendship and rivalry; Terrorism; Secrets.

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