13 February: 44

Today is the 44^th day of the year – 10 things you might not know about the number 44.

1. 44 is the atomic number of ruthenium (Ru), a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the Periodic Table. Karl Ernst Claus discovered the element in 1844 and named ruthenium in honour of Russia. Ruthenium is generally found in ores with the other platinum group metals in the Ural Mountains and in North and South America. It's used as a catalyst.
2. Barack Obama is known as Number 44 after being elected the 44th President of the United States of America in 2008.
3. +44 is the ITU country code for international direct dial telephone calls to the United Kingdom.
4. It’s also the name of an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2005. The group consisted of Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker of Blink-182, Shane Gallagher of The Nervous Return, Craig Fairbaugh of Mercy Killers and Carol Heller, formerly of the all-girl punk quartet Get the Girl. Hoppus and Barker created +44 after Blink-182 broke up. It is connected to the previous fact, as Hoppus and Barker happened to be in the UK when they first discussed the idea and got the name from the dialling code.
5. Also in music, Forty-Four or 44 Blues is a blues standard whose origins have been traced back to early 1920s Louisiana; and 44 Bars is a song by Logic, with verses which are exactly 44 bars long.
6. It’s the number of candles burned over the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
7. In motor-sport, it’s the number used by British Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.
8. In literature, No. 44 is a character in an unfinished novel by Mark Twain, called The Mysterious Stranger, who appears to represent Satan. Also, Polish national poet Adam Mickiewicz used the number in his dramatic poem Dziady (Forefathers), to represent a "reviver of the nation" who is to bring back the lost freedom of Poland: “Born from a foreign mother, his blood of ancient heroes, And his name will be forty and four.”
9. The A44 is a major road in the United Kingdom that runs from Oxford in southern England to Aberystwyth in west Wales.
10. In numerology 44 represents business, and the building of something which will benefit future generations. A person whose number is 44 is likely to have good business sense, be focused and ordered, and has grand visions of building something substantial to benefit the community.

Who's That Girl?

Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.

His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.

A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?

Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?

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