23 May: 143

Today is the 143^rd day of the year. 10 fun facts about the number 143:

1. There have been a number of songs with 143 in the title, including “Flying Dream 143” by Elbow, "Case 143" by South Korean boy band Stray Kids and 143 by Jake Shimabukuro.

2. One reason it might be a popular number in song titles is because it’s a code for “I love you” based on the numbers of letters in those words.

3. Reportedly, Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood maintained his weight at exactly 143 pounds for the last thirty years of his life.

4. The A143 is a road that runs from the Gorleston-on-Sea area of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk to Haverhill in Suffolk.

5. 143 is the atomic number of Unquadtrium, a theoretical chemical element.

6. 143 Adria is a fairly large main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa on 23 February 1875, at the Austrian Naval Observatory, and named after the Adriatic Sea, on the coast of which the discovery was made.

7. London bus route 143 runs between Archway tube station and Brent Cross bus station.

8. Air Canada Flight 143, landed at Gimli, Manitoba Air Force Base after gliding 80 miles (130 km) after running out of fuel on July 23, 1983.

9. Coniston Water in the Lake District has an elevation of 143 feet above sea level.

10. In South Africa, the 143 refers to the 143 conscientious objectors who publicly refused to do military service in the Apartheid army in 1988.

Character birthday

Levitor, aka Damian Grant, is a genetic variant with the power to levitate objects and people. He was the result of a brief affair between Ultra Grav and a teaching colleague, who moved to another town and never told Ultra Grav he had a son. Levitor appears in Obsidian’s Ark, where he shows off his talent to classmates at school, and later joins the other variants at his school as they launch a mission to find and rescue Yasmin Miller.