This is a Resumed Experiment. 

I’m having a go at recording some of the interesting things that cross my path.

It’s called #TiL253. Today I Learned (TiL), I’ll explain the # and the 253 in a minute.

 Why Bother?

• Most days I; read about / get told / overhear / observe / randomly discover interesting things
• Most days I forget them by bedtime
• I want to see if I can record them (the most interesting ones) in a reasonably organised way
• If I share them, people can then have a look to see if they also find them interesting
• At some point, I can have a look back to see if the ‘interesting things’ add up to anything useful, or ‘interesting’

How will it work?

• I’m going to use Twitter to share the interesting things I’ve collected
• This means I have to keep it short – it don’t want to burden anyone
• A twitter hashtag means I can keep track of what I’ve been doing
• #TiL253 appears to be an uncommon hashtag
• Why #TiL253?

TiL = Today I Learned

253 = a number of TiL’s I’m aiming for

Why 253? (there is a bit of logic to this)

• I didn’t want to be tied to a time period – like a year
• But, there are 365 days in a year
• I don’t want to be committed to ‘working/thinking’ about this all of the time
• There 52 weekends and 8 Bank Holidays when I can ‘rest’
• 365 minus weekends and Bank Holidays = 253
• It’s a challenge to reach 253, but achievable (I think) – time will tell

253 is a ‘Goldilocks Number’

• Not too big (unachievable)
• Not too small (a bit trivial, not enough of a challenge)
• ‘Just Right’ (ha ha ha, Goldilocks Number will be my first #TiL253)
• As I go along I might turn some of the #TiL253’s into blog posts which I’ll post on this page

It might all go horribly wrong………

This page was posted on the 31st December 2015.

I have until the 31st December 2016 to complete my #TiL253’s.

Here’s a screenshot of the very first #TiL252 Tweet.

June 2016 UPDATE: I’m resuscitating #TiL253.

It should have come gracefully to an end 31st December 2016, when I’d reached the 253 mark. I managed that, but I just can’t say goodbye. I’ve tried a 6 month trial separation, but its no good. I want #TiL253 back in my life (and I hope it wants me).

So Why? and What Happens Next?

There are two specific reasons for keeping on with #TiL253.

First. I really did enjoy it, and want to carry on. A pretty good reason in my books. I’m not harming anyone and it doesn’t actually cost me anything, and

Second. It will force me into doing something with the information I’ve collected. I did promise to do this, but never actually got around to it. My plan is to do something and share the results around if anyone is interested. A public commitment like this should get me motivated to have something up and running by August (2017).

January 2023 UPADATE. I failed miserably in my efforts to process the information I’d gathered during 2016. The usual lame reasons. I did keep returning to to #TiL253 on Twitter. It actually turned out to be a useful repository of things I was interested in. The limited search function on Twitter did allow me to find things again. An obscure #hashtag can be helpful.

Existential threats force action. However… what with Twitter going through some unpleasant changes, I feel the need to try and do something with the #TiL253 data. A second public statement of intent – maybe I will do it this time.

Also, I did enjoy #TiL253, so I’m having a go at my resumed experiment on Mastodon @ChrisBolton@toot.wales