11 August: 223

Today is the 223^rd day of the year. 10 fun facts about the number 223:

1. Remove the letters from the names of the two original Star Wars droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, and you get 223.

2. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler composed 223 footnotes to his novel Somnium—the footnotes were several times longer than the actual text.

3. 223 Rosa is a large asteroid, probably composed of carbonaceous material rich in water ice. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 9 March 1882, in Vienna. The origin of the name is not known.

4. In London, the 223 bus runs between Harrow Bus Station and Wembley Central Station.

5. A Chicken and human have 223 enzymes of identical sequence length.

6. There are 223 synodic months in a saros, a period of time used by Chaldean astronomers around 2,000 years ago, to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon.

7. The .223 Remington is one of the most popular common-use gun cartridges used by a wide range of semi-automatic and manual-action rifles.

8. +223 is the telephone code used to call Mali.

9. The A223 is a road in England which runs between Foots Cray and Crayford.

10. In numerology, a person influenced by the number 223 is likely to be someone who works in a team or is an assistant or supporter of some kind. They are seekers after knowledge and enjoy literary or scientific pursuits. Their favourite type of social gathering is one where people meet to exchange ideas and information.

Character birthday

Karate Queen, aka Natalie Gomez, a martial arts instructor from New York City. She is the martial artist on Combat Team Beta and in a relationship with Lucky Fortelli. She met him when he talked his way into a job as a fitness instructor at the gym where Stephanie worked in order to be close to her. At first their relationship was cool as it was Natalie who had to deal with the complaints from Lucky's students when it became clear he wasn't qualified. However, he won her over and they became long term partners.

There came a point where Natalie felt her life was in a rut, and that she wasn't keen on taking the step of marrying and starting a family. Seeing an advertisement for martial arts experts to join combat teams in Britain, she jumped at the chance to audition and won a place on Combat Team Beta. Lucky, however, told her their relationship was over if she accepted the job. Although it broke her heart, Natalie accepted the job and moved to England.

Later, however, Lucky realised he'd made a mistake in letting her go and followed her.