Toynbee

This is rather interesting. Somebody with too much time on their hands, or a cult?

Bizarre, colorful messages are appearing right in the middle of the street at main intersections around downtown Pittsburgh, WTAE's Chris Glorioso reported Thursday.
"Toynbee Idea In Movie '2001' Resurrect Dead On Planet Jupiter" is written on tiles that have been applied directly to the concrete, much like white or yellow traffic lines.

What does the message mean? No one seems to know. But it's getting plenty of exposure.

Messages have appeared in many major U.S. cities, with Pittsburgh being the latest. A list of where they have been found is available at www.toynbee.net. Click here to link to it.


www.thepittsburghchannel.com...

I've read about them before. I think they are the kind of thing that you will never work out unless it is revealed to you. One possibility is that they are.....nope, beats me! apart from the obvious (alien graffiti, drunken pranksters, divine messages....), it could be anything. I'd love to know their purpose

From the world of the truly bizarre...

Although, I am highly intrigued by the reference to Kubrick... it is widely beleived that he died prematurely after revealing certain information in his movie "Eyes Wide Shut", thanks to the Cabal...


Mysterious tiles have been turning up all over the U.S. They are size of license plates, embedded in the street and all say the same thing: "Toynbee idea in Kubrick's 2001, Resurrect dead on planet Jupiter."
Doug Worgul writes in the Kansas City Star that he first spotted one in his home town in 1996 (and it's still there today). He did some internet research and found that there have been more than 130 of these "Toynbee tiles" seen in at least 20 cities around the United States (and two in South America). In New York, around 50 tiles have been found, and in Philadelphia, nearly 30. Twenty have been spotted in Baltimore, 16 in Washington, D.C.

www.unknowncountry.com...

Perhaps a prank from film students, but it seems to be too spread out for that, this one really has me stumped, unless its some publicity stunt, but i cant see that either.

This one really has me stumped for an answer.

The Toynbee Tiles live. Here's a recent report from my local paper-

Someone at some point placed what are known as "Toynbee tiles" in at least two crosswalks Downtown; one remains. The tiles include a phrase linked to film director Stanley Kubrick, whose "2001: A Space Odyssey" still has a loyal following decades after its release.

[url=http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060102/NEWS01/601020376&SearchID=73231457777268]>>LINK Full story 1/2/2006

Take a look here:

toynbee.net..." target="_blank" class="postlink">Internet Archive

The first thing I thought of when I heard "Toynbee" was the story The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury. This guy did too.

well, the first thing I thought when I read that was Ray Bradbury’s short story, the Toynbee Converter (sic), a story about a guy who comes back from the future with all these good reports about how great the future is – then he reveals that he actually never went to the future he just wanted people to think that the future was going to be good.

That seems more like a science-fiction connection to me than Alfred Toynbee. Still can't figure how it ties in, though.

I work in Pittsburgh, and there is a Toynbee message at an itersection that I have past for years. It has never been removed to my knowledge. I will look and give you the street names on the intersection next week. I know what the major road is, but am not sure of the intersecting roads name at the moment.

As I have stated, I live/work in Pittsburgh. The Toynbee message is at the intersection of Smithfield St. and Forbes Ave. I've worked in town for almost 8 years, and this has been here for as long as I can remeber.

There's a new article, as well as an interview with Justin Duerr, who is doing a documentary on the tiles.

www.npr.org...

He also states that he believes he knows who the tiler is, but is not telling because the artist does not want fame, that they "are very sincere in their message".

Anyway, sorry to necro-post, but thought the thread subscribers might want to hear the news.

I know it's not "polite" to post on threads that have been around for years, but ironically, it fits the story, by "resurrecting" this thread...

I just finished watching Justin Duerr's documentary on the Toynbee tiles a few minutes ago, I found it on Netflix tonight - the name of it is "Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Tonybee Tiles" and actually came out sometime last year.

www.imdb.com...