Monday, 16 June 2025

25 June: 176

On the 176th day of the year, 10 fun facts about the number 176.

  1. 176 is a cake number. A cake number is to do with the number of pieces a cube can be divided into by exactly n planes. The cake number is so called because you could imagine each partition of the cube as a slice made by a knife through a cube-shaped cake.

  2. The A176 is a road in Essex running between Vange, near Basildon and Billericay.

  3. The Heinkel He 176 was a German experimental rocket-powered aircraft. It was the world's first aircraft to be propelled solely by a liquid-fuelled rocket, making its first powered flight on 20 June 1939 with Erich Warsitz at the controls.

  4. London bus route 176 runs from Penge Pawleyne Arms to Tottenham Court Rd Station/Great Russell Street.

  5. The area code "176" is used for mobile phone numbers in Germany.

  6. Pallati 176 is a 1986 Albanian film about the Albanian National Theatre.

  7. The Year 176 was a leap year starting on a Sunday. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Proculus and Aper. During this year, the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius was made, and Faustina the Younger, Roman empress, died.

  8. 176 Iduna is a large Asteroid discovered by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters in 1877, in Clinton, New York. It is named after Sällskapet Idun, a club in Stockholm that hosted an astronomical conference; Idun is also a Norse goddess.

  9. The Roman numeral for 176 is CLXXVI, in Binary it’s 10110000.

  10. In numerology 176 resonates with expression of a personal sense of freedom. People with number 176 energy are extroverts, expressing themselves freely and taking delight in a sense of independence. They tend to be curious and intuitive. They are apt to be witty. With all of that, there is a nurturing aspect to their personality.


Beta

(Combat Team Series #2)


Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?

Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.

Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream. 

Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.

Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.

Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.


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