8 November: 312

Today is the 312th day of the year. 10 things you might not know about the number 312:

1. 312 is the telephone area code for downtown Chicago, which includes the Chicago Loop and its immediate environs.
2. The area code is used in the name of 312 Urban Wheat, a Beer brewed by the Chicago-based Goose Island Brewery: "Inspired by the city of Chicago and densely populated with flavor."
3. 312 is also the area code of Bishkek, a city in Kyrgystan. Gorod 312 is a Russian-language band from Bishkek formed in 2001. The name means “City 312” in Russian.
4. The A312 is a road in England which runs between Hampton and Harrow. The road has been dubbed "The A three-one-queue" owing to frequent peak-hours' heavy congestion.
5. 312 in Roman numerals is CCCXII.
6. The year 312 was a leap year starting on a Tuesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Licinianus. Most of the events this year seem to concern Constantine the Great. He crossed the Cottian Alps with an army of 40,000 men and defeated Maxentius in three battles at Turin, Brescia and Verona. He later defeated Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge, in which Maxentius was killed. Constantine made a triumphant entry to Rome, had Maxentius's corpse publicily beheaded. Construction began on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. After his victories, Constantine adopted the words "in hoc signo vinces" as a motto, and has the letters X and P (the first letters of the Greek word Christ) emblazoned on the shields of his soldiers. Constantine supported Christianity, perhaps even becoming a Christian himself.
7. In London, the 312 bus runs between South Croydon Bus Garage and Norwood Junction Station.
8. 312 is the number of several Ferrari Formula One racing cars with 3 litre 12-cylinder engines: The 312, 312B and 312T.
9. 312 Pierretta is a main-belt asteroid discovered in 1891 by Auguste Charlois.
10. The Angel Number 316 symbolises discovering one's life purpose and letting nothing get in the way of going after it. Don't let fears, doubts or what other people think stop you. It might be a favourable time to start a course of study. Stay positive and optimistic.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

7 November: Billy Graham Quotes

Evangelist Billy Graham was born on this date in 1918. Some quotes from him:

1. My home is in Heaven. I'm just travelling through this world.
2. God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.
3. Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.
4. Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practising patience and being persistent.
5. You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole.
6. Old age may have its limitations and challenges, but in spite of them, our latter years can be some of the most rewarding and fulfilling of our lives.
7. Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.
8. We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.
9. The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.
10. Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

6 November: Supernovae

On this date in 1572 a supernova was observed in the constellation known as Cassiopeia. 10 things you didn't know about supernovae:

1. The word supernova was coined in 1931 by Fritz Zwicky and Walter Baade. In Latin, nova means "new", referring astronomically to what appears to be a new bright star. The prefix "super" is added to distinguish them from ordinary novae.
2. What causes them? They are basically exploding stars. Stars burn burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores, producing energy. For most of a star's life, there is balance between gravitational forces which try to compress the star into a tiny ball, and the outward pressure produced by the burning of the fuel. Supernovae happen when a large star runs out of fuel, so gravity wins. The star collapses and then explodes.
3. When supernovae explode, they jettison matter into space at around 9,000 to 25,000 miles (15,000 to 40,000 kilometres) per second. This can compress any clouds of molecules which happen to be in the vicinity, thus creating new stars.
4. Supernovae are element factories. The nuclear reactions in an average star can create elements through the periodic table as far as Iron. To create elements heavier than iron requires a supernova. So you could say that the Earth, and indeed our own bodies, have within them the remnants of ancient supernovae.
5. Somewhere in the universe, a star goes supernova every few seconds. However, in our galaxy there are only one or two every century. The last one to be directly observed in our galaxy was over 400 years ago by Johannes Kepler, who thought it was a new kind of star. It's now known as SN 1604.
6. Supernovae are given names by the International Astronomical Union. It will have the prefix SN, followed by the year it was observed. Historical supernovae like the one Kepler saw, need no other designation. Now, however, when we can look for them with more powerful Telescopes, several will be seen each year, so they get a letter as well, ie. SN 2021 A, SN 2021 B, and so on. If there are more than 26 observed in a year, then they will use two or even three letters.
7. When a supernova has finished exploding, what will be left is either a neutron star or a Black Hole, depending on how big the original star was. A neutron star is the rapidly spinning core of the star which emits radio waves. Nebulae are formed by the clouds of stuff emitted by the explosion.
8. A single supernova can easily outshine an entire galaxy of stars and release as much energy in a single burst as the Sun will in its entire, 10 billion-year lifespan.
9. There only been eight supernovas in recorded history which have been visible by the naked eye. Of these, only three have happened in the last 1,000 years. The first supernova to be observed by humans is believed to have been between 4500 and 1000 BC. The brightest supernova ever recorded was SN 1006 in 1006 AD, and could be seen in China, Europe, Egypt, Iraq and Japan.
10. What would happen to us if there was a supernova nearby? First of all, our sun won't become one, because it is too small. However, there are stars relatively close by which could. There is evidence that it has happened at some point because traces of radioactive iron-60, a strong indicator of supernova debris, is buried in the sea floor all over the planet. If the most dangerous type of supernova happened within 26 light years of us it could destroy half the ozone layer. However, there are no known stars likely to become that type of supernova within 500 light years.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

5 November: Gunpowder

Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. 10 things you never knew about gunpowder:

1. Gunpowder was invented in China by Taoist alchemists in the eighth-century.
2. It's said they were actually looking for the elixir of life, the mythical potion that causes whoever drinks it to become immortal, and accidentally discovered a flammable powder which they dubbed "Fire medicine."
3. Early uses of the substance were as signal flares or Fireworks used to frighten evil spirits away. One source I found suggested it was used to treat skin diseases, but just the one, so I'm including that one with caution.
4. The composition of gunpowder hasn't changed much since those days. It's 75 percent saltpetre, 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulphur.
5. How does gunpowder work? It works because it burns rapidly and the chemical reaction produces gases approximately 1500 times the original volume of the powder. The pent up gas in a confined space acts as a propellant, to push out a bullet or artillery shell, or it could be packed into a metal container to make a simple grenade.
6. In the early days, gunpowder had to be made by hand, grinding up the ingredients in a pestle and mortar to make a powder called "serpentine". Needless to say this was dangerous work, because just one spark and the whole lot could go up. Adding a liquid, like Water or Wine to the mixture would reduce the risk of sparks.
7. By the 12th century, the Chinese had invented an early type of gun called a fire lance, using gunpowder and Bamboo tubes. A century later they were making guns from metal. By the 14th century, these weapons were used in the Middle East and Europe. It wasn't until the late 17th century, however, that gunpowder was used for anything other than killing people, ie for mining and building roads. The earliest surviving record for the use of gunpowder in mines comes from Hungary in 1627. Until the 19th century, gunpowder was the only explosive substance available.
8. There was still a factory in the UK making gunpowder until the 1970s. Most gunpowder manufacturers merged into one company (‘Explosives Trades Limited’) after the first World War. After 1954 there was just one factory left: ICI Nobel’s Ardeer factory in Scotland, which closed in October 1976.
9. Shakespeare mentions gunpowder in Henry IV Part 1: Falstaff says: ‘Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy’. It's mentioned in some of his other plays, too, and there's a theory that Macbeth is a comment about The Gunpowder Plot.
10. Soldiers would often use gunpowder as a substitute for other things that weren't available in times of war. After the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809, the surgeon of the Napoleonic Army seasoned a horse meat bouillon with gunpowder because they'd run out of Salt; it could also be used for sterilising things when there was no alcohol, and to create tattoos when there was no ink. British sailors were known to use gunpowder instead of ink and it was known as traumatic tattooing. In 1673, Christiaan Huygens tried to make an internal combustion engine with it, but was unsuccessful. in 1967, the American artist Ed Ruscha began using gunpowder as an artistic medium for a series of works on Paper.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

4 November: Calvin Coolidge

On this date in 1924 Calvin Coolidge was elected 30th US president. 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His full name was John Calvin Coolidge: John for his father and Calvin after John Calvin, a founder of the Congregational church which the family belonged to. He was born in born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, making him the only US President to be born on Independence Day.
2. His First Lady was Grace Anna Goodhue, a teacher at a school for the deaf, who he married in 1905. It was a case of opposites attract. Grace was talkative and social, Calvin was stoic and serious.
3. In fact, Coolidge had quite a reputation for not saying a lot. In interviews, he'd often simply answer "Yes" or "No", which earned him the nickname, Silent Cal. There's a legend in which a woman at a dinner party made a bet that she could get at least three words out of him during the course of the evening. He turned to her and said, "You lose." Another brief statement he was famous for was in 1928 when he announced, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928.”
4. He graduated with honours from Amherst College in 1895, then earned his law degree. After passing the bar, he opened a law firm in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1898, and was elected to the town's city council. This stimulated his interest in politics and in 1918 he was elected as State Governor.
5. As Governor, he took a hard line with the police when they went on strike, which made him popular with voters. A year after that he was nominated as the candidate for Vice-President alongside Warren G. Harding.
6. Warren G. Harding died in office in 1923. At the time, Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which didn't have Electricity or a telephone, so a messenger had to call on the house in the middle of the night to tell Coolidge he was President. There followed a unique occurrence in which the new President was sworn in by his father, who happened to be a notary public.
7. He was elected President at the next election in 1924, despite a somewhat subdued campaign thanks to his 16 year old son tragically dying of an infected blister.
8. What did he do as President? Some would argue, not a lot. He was quoted as saying he spent most of his time “avoiding the big problems” and minimised government interference in business. This made him popular with businessmen but critics would later suggest that his stem the stock market speculation boom in the 1920s was a contributing factor the Great Depression. He was big on civil rights; he refused to appoint known members of the Ku Klux Klan to office, appointed African Americans to government positions and advocated for anti-lynching laws. In 1924, he signed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting full citizenship to all Native Americans and permitting them to retain tribal land rights. Grace, meanwhile, worked to raise awareness of deafness. She invited Helen Keller to the White House and raised $2 million for the Clarke School for the Deaf.
9. Coolidge was an animal lover. He was once sent a live Raccoon which the sender suggested he should kill and eat for Thanksgiving dinner. He didn't, keeping it as a pet instead and naming it Rebecca Raccoon. Rebecca wasn't popular with White House staff because she'd tear up the furniture. She was eventually donated to a zoo.
10. Aside from a state forest, a mountain, a dam, several bridges and schools, Coolidge has a biological phenomenon named after him. The Coolidge effect in which if a new female is introduced into a group of animals, the males will want to mate with her, even if they'd already satisfied themselves with the existing females. This seems a strange thing to name after a man who was only married once and wasn't known for having affairs. It arose from a story from when Coolidge and his wife visited a farm and were being shown the chicken coop. Grace noticed that one rooster seemed especially randy. She asked her guide how often that happened and was told, "Dozens of times a day." Mrs. Coolidge said, "Tell that to the President when he comes by." The guide obliged, and the President asked, "Same hen every time?" The reply was, "Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time." President: "Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge."

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

3 November: 307

On the 307th day of the year, 10 things you didn't know about the number 307:

1. HTTP 307 is the status code for Temporary Redirect.
2. 307 is the area code for the U.S. state of Wyoming.
3. El Salvador has 307 kilometres of coastline.
4. 307 Nike is an asteroid discovered by Auguste Charlois in 1891 while working at the Nice Observatory. Nike is not only the Greek goddess of victory, but also the Greek name for the city of Nice where it was discovered.
5. The A307 road runs 13.2 miles (21.2 km) through SW London and NW Surrey. Robert Clive ("Clive of India") diverted it slightly believing it ran too close to his house at Claremont, the landscape garden of which remains and which the road still borders.
6. The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner was an American commercial aircraft which entered commercial service in July 1940. It was the first to offer a pressurised cabin, allowing it to cruise at an altitude of 20,000 ft (6,000 m), well above many weather disturbances.
7. The year 307 was a common year starting on Wednesday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Constantius.
8. The Roman numeral for 307 is CCCVII.
9. In the movie The Odd Couple, when Felix checks into a hotel, the first room the desk clerk tries to assign him is 307.
10. As an angel number, 307 represents exciting changes, completion of training and a new phase of life. This number also warns of hidden desires.

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page

2 November: Day of the Dead: What is Death?

 On the Day of the Dead, 10 possible answers to the question, What is Death?

1. The one final exam we all fail.
2. A new birth of the spirit into the great unknown.
3. The anaesthetic from which none come round.
4. A breathtaking event.
5. Best, that’s why they leave it till last.
6. Nature's way of telling you to slow down.
7. The price of evolution.
8. A riddle with the answer on the other side.
9. Life’s way of telling you you’ve failed.
10. Life's next big adventure. JK Rowling

My Books:

If you like stories about:

• Superheroes
• Psychic detectives
• Romance
• Alternative dimensions
• Time travel 
• Secrets
• Friendship
• Family relationships
• Ghosts
• Adventure
• Crime

If you want to read about superheroes who aren't the usual Marvel/DC staples, who don't all live in the USA.

If you like quirky tales.

If you like to support independent self published authors.

Check out my books page