I love stuff like this. For years, a reporter for the Kansas City Star had noticed an odd tile embedded in the street near a favorite restaurant. Made of a rock-hard material, embedded in a way that can only be done with heavy-duty machinery, and displaying the message: “TOYNBEE IDEA IN KubricK’s `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER.”
This article describes what happened when the reporter did some research. There are more than 130 documented sightings of “Toynbee tiles” in at least 20 cities around the United States, plus two in South America. There’s almost 50 of them in New York, nearly 30 in Philadelphia. There’s a web site devoted to the tiles. The first tiles were discovered in the late 80s. And nobody has a clue about who’s responsible – or even a reasonable interpretation of the message. It’s urban crop circles, but so far no prankster teenagers have emerged as the culprits. Great stuff!
