10 September: 253

Today is the 253rd day of the year, so here are 10 fun facts about the number 253:

1. 253 Mathilde is an asteroid, approximately 50 kilometers in diameter, discovered by Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa at Vienna Observatory in 1885. It's named after Mathilde, the wife of Moritz Loewy—who was the vice director of the observatory in Paris. Mathilde was visited by the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft during June 1997.

2. 253 is a novel by Canadian writer Geoff Ryman, originally created as a website in 1997. The premise is that there are seven carriages on a Bakerloo Line train, each with 36 seats. A train in which every passenger has a seat will carry 252 people. With the driver, that makes 253. 253 is about the 253 people on a London Underground train travelling between Embankment station and Elephant & Castle on January 11, 1995. Each character and their thoughts are described in sections of 253 words each. Spoiler alert: the train crashes in the end.

3. +253 is the telephone dialling code for Djibouti.

4. In London, the 253 bus runs between Hackney Central Station and Euston Bus Station.

5. Rule 253 of the Highway Code concerns vehicles which are not allowed on motorways: “Motorways MUST NOT be used by pedestrians, holders of provisional motorcycle licences, riders of motorcycles under 50 cc (4 kW), cyclists, horse riders, certain slow-moving vehicles and those carrying oversized loads (except by special permission), agricultural vehicles, and powered wheelchairs/powered mobility scooters.”

6. The year 253 was a common year starting on Saturday, known at the time as the Year of the Consulship of Volusianus and Claudius.

7. Area code 253 is the telephone area code for a part of the U.S. state of Washington.

8. The A253 is a road in England running between Sarre and Ramsgate in Kent.

9. The Roman numeral for 253 is CCLIII, and in Binary it’s 11111101.

10. In numerology, 253 resonates with being alone and independent, yet with companions all about. It also resonates with experience, free will and creativity.

Character birthday

Lance “Titch” Fortelli.

His short stature is thought to be the result of his mother experimenting with new drug cocktails during pregnancy. She and Carlotta Vendetta, who was also pregnant at the time, took the drugs together; Carlotta also gave birth to a vertically challenged son, Tiny Vendetta.

Titch became an expert in the technology of small firearms and is responsible for the maintenance of the Fortelli family's weapons.