Thursday, 10 July 2025

23 July: 204

Today is the 204th day of the year. 10 facts about the number 204.

  1. The year 204 was a leap year starting on Sunday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Cilo and Flavius. During this year, a trade recession in the Leptis Magna region of Africa was alleviated by Emperor Septimius Severus, who bought up the country's Olive oil for free distribution in Rome.

  2. 204 is the HTTP status code indicating the request was successfully fulfilled and that there is no additional content to send in the response payload body.

  3. The A204 road runs between Brixton and Tulse Hill.

  4. 204 is the number of different sized squares you can find in a chessboard.

  5. The Peugeot 204 is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot between 1965 and 1976.

  6. In London, the 204 bus runs between Sudbury Town Station and Edgware Station.

  7. Area code 204 is the telephone area code for the Canadian province of Manitoba, including the Environment Canada weather station at Eureka, Nunavut.

  8. 204 Kallisto is a Main belt Asteroid discovered by Johann Palisa in 1879, and was named after the same nymph Callisto in Greek mythology as Jupiter's moon Callisto.

  9. 204 is a square pyramidal number, which means 204 balls can be stacked in a pyramid with an 8 × 8 square base.

  10. In numerology, 204 resonates with family and doing things together. A person with number 204 will feel they are a member of a family, which may be a biological family or a group of close friends. The house or company or geographical area with an intrinsic number 204 as part of its name or address is permeated by a family energy of nurture and harmony. There is teamwork and a sense that anything is possible.



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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