4 May: Orange Juice

Today is National Orange Juice Day, observed to promote the health benefits of Orange Juice. 10 things you might not know about orange juice:

1. The word “Orange” derives from the Sanskrit word for “orange tree”. The word “juice” comes from Old French, from the words “jus, juis, jouis”, which mean “liquid obtained by boiling herbs”.
2. In American English, it is often abbreviated to “OJ”.
3. The USA is the second largest producer of orange juice. Brazil is top of the table and Mexico is third. Canada is the biggest consumer, followed by the USA.
4. 90% of Florida’s orange crop is used to make orange juice. It’s so important to the economy of that state that they made it the official state beverage.
5. In the UK, you have a choice: orange juice “with bits” (or possibly, “juicy bits” or “without bits”. The equivalent term in American English is “pulp”. Bits or pulp are juice vesicles which contain the juice of the orange and can be left in or removed during the manufacturing process.
6. The orange juice you find on supermarket shelves owes its existence to the second world war. American soldiers were provided with Vitamin C in the form of lemon crystals, but they didn’t like the taste; so the race was on to produce something which tasted nice and was better than the canned orange juice around at the time. The result was frozen concentrated orange juice. It was, however, too late for the soldiers. The beverage wasn’t perfected until after the war ended.
7. There are 118 calories in 250 ml of orange juice.
8. Surveys reveal that it is by far the world’s most popular fruit juice, way ahead of Apple juice in second place.
9. Although orange juice is a good source of vitamin C and other nutrients, some experts claim it’s not healthy at all because it has Sugar in it.
10. Some orange juice related world records: The largest glass of freshly squeezed orange juice was 1,525 litres (335.45 UK gal) made in Valencia, Spain, in 2016. The fastest orange juice squeezer is Ulas Bas, who managed to extract 880 millilitres (0.19 gal) of juice in one minute in 2019 at the GWR Live! Roadshow in Mersin, Turkey.

Character birthday

Vixen, aka Vicky Fox, is a genetic variant with super fast reaction times. She came to the attention of the Freedom League when she got into a fight with Ms Liberty over Firebolt, who was seeing both of them at the time. The two women were persuaded that it was Firebolt they should be directing their anger at, since he was the one who cheated. Vixen joined the League and she and Ms Liberty became firm friends. In due course, they left to form a female only hero team called Female Force. Find her in Eternal Flame.

Eternal Flame

The Freedom League's numbers have dwindled to three - but leader Unicorn knows his team isn't finished yet. The turning point comes with Russell, a boy with bright red hair and a genetic variant ability to start fires. He's the first of an influx of new members who will take the League into the future. 

Judith and Wil are child prodigies - Judith in physics and electronics, and Wil in medicine. They have another thing in common - they are both genetic variants. And another thing - they both have fiery red hair. They are drawn to one another as their destinies intertwine, but the course of true love doesn't always run smoothly!

Richard is not a variant. He's an Olympic athlete who has picked up useful knowledge from his unusual friends to add to his own natural abilities. A chance encounter with a dying alien throws him into a Freedom League mission in which his skills are put to the ultimate test, along with theirs.

The Freedom League's arch-enemy, the super-villain Obsidian, wants his family fortune all to himself. One person stands in his way - his niece, Fiona. Fiona, devastated by a family tragedy and her failure to get in to her first choice university, is miserable and has few friends. When she realises her brother's death was no accident, and his killer is also after her, she fears it may be too late to gather allies around her and learn how to use her own genetic variant powers.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle