User:ErwinTATP/沙盒0
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Toynbee_tile_at_franklin_square_2002.jpg/300px-Toynbee_tile_at_franklin_square_2002.jpg)
汤因比瓷砖(Toynbee tiles,又作Toynbee plaques)是一系列嵌在街道沥青中的,来源未知的信息,目前已在二十多个美国城市,以及南美洲的四个首都城市中出现。[1][2]自20世纪80年代起,已发现数百块这样的“瓷砖”。它们通常和美国车辆号牌大小相近(约30 cm × 15 cm),也有稍大一些的情况。瓷砖上一般包含下列的四行文字:
TOYNBEE IDEA
IN MOViE `2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER
(汤因比于电影2001中的想法,在木星上让死者复生。)
具体的词汇偶尔会有差异(如用RAISE替代RESURRECT等)。某些制作更精心的瓷砖会包含政治隐喻,或者鼓励读者绘制和安装自己的瓷砖。长期以来人们不知道这些瓷砖使用的制作材料;已有一些证据显示这些瓷砖可能是用多层油毡以及填补裂缝的沥青材料制作的。[3]
在20世纪90年代中期,提到这些瓷砖的文章开始出现。[4]
历史与传播
[编辑]20世纪80年代末,有人开始对汤因比瓷砖进行拍照;[5] 而在1994年的《巴尔的摩太阳报》中,汤因比瓷砖首次被媒体提及。[6][7]然而在1983年,《费城调问询报》出版的一则故事提到一场以费城为基地的“死者复生”运动,运动计划在木星上复活死者。 尽管这则故事没有明确提到汤因比瓷砖,但这则故事内含的想法和瓷砖内容惊人地一致。[5]
在美国,发现瓷砖的范围西起密苏里州的堪萨斯城,北至马萨诸塞州的波士顿,南至哥伦比亚特区。[1] 2006年,康涅狄格州郊外出现了原作者的制作的汤因比瓷砖;2008年在新泽西州也出现了几处。[來源請求]除此之外,自2002年起,费城之外的地区几乎没有汤因比瓷砖原作者的作品出现。[8] 还有一些被认为是模仿者所作的类似瓷砖,出现在印第安纳州诺布斯威尔纽约州水牛城,以及西海岸地区——包括旧金山、俄勒冈州波特兰,新墨西哥州羅斯維爾。[9]许多被认为由原作者制作的瓷砖已被城市交通严重磨损,不过截至2011年[update]仍可在宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡、密苏里州圣路易斯、辛辛那提、俄亥俄州克利夫兰、乃至南美洲等地见到一些老瓷砖。
汤因比瓷砖的制作仍在继续:2013年6月19日晚,堪萨斯州托皮卡的街面上出现了类似汤因比瓷砖,第二天晚上被清除。[10] 2013年7月17日,犹他州的盐湖城一处街道上发现了汤因比瓷砖。[11] 另外,已有一些新风格的汤因比瓷砖出现在在美国的几条主要高速公路上——比如宾夕法尼亚州特拉华县的476號州際公路,95號州際公路等。还有6块于2007年到2008年在特拉华县的国道1号线北行方向被发现。这些瓷板比原版瓷砖更大,内容用红色的斜体字书写。
Interpretation
[编辑]People and things referred to
[编辑]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Toynbee_tile_near_white_house_2002.jpg)
"Toynbee" may refer to historian Arnold J. Toynbee[來源請求] or Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector".[12] "Kubrick's 2001" is thought to refer to 2001: A Space Odyssey, co-written and directed by filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.[來源請求]
The majority of tiles contain text similar to that above, although a second set is often found nearby. Several of these allude to a mass conspiracy between the press (including newspaper magnate John S. Knight of Knight-Ridder), the U.S. government, the USSR (even in tiles seemingly made years after the Soviet Union's dissolution), and Jews.[來源請求] The writing is of a similar style and poor quality.
A tile that used to be located in Santiago de Chile mentions a street address in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 2624 S. 7th Philadelphia, PA. The current occupants of the house know nothing about the tiles and are annoyed by people who ask,[13] though this is the residence of a named recluse and alleged tile-maker, as shown in the 2011 documentary film Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.
Toynbee-tile enthusiasts believe that a native Philadelphian created the Toynbee tiles because of the large number that appear in the city, their apparent age, the variety of carving styles, the presence of the "tile creator's screed" (see below), and the Philadelphia address on the Santiago tile.
Interpretations and "The Idea"
[编辑]According to letters written by the tiler, allegedly uncovered by Toynbee tile researchers in Philadelphia in 2006,[14] "Toynbee's idea" stems from a passage in Arnold Toynbee's book Experiences, pp. 139–142:
Human nature presents human minds with a puzzle which they have not yet solved and may never succeed in solving, for all that we can tell. The dichotomy of a human being into 'soul' and 'body' is not a datum of experience. No one has ever been, or ever met, a living human soul without a body... Someone who accepts—as I myself do, taking it on trust—the present-day scientific account of the Universe may find it impossible to believe that a living creature, once dead, can come to life again; but, if he did entertain this belief, he would be thinking more 'scientifically' if he thought in the Christian terms of a psychosomatic resurrection than if he thought in the shamanistic terms of a disembodied spirit.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Toynbee_tile.jpg)
Another possible interpretation is that the Toynbee reference comes from the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury's short story "The Toynbee Convector", which alludes to Toynbee's idea that in order to survive, humankind must always rush to meet the future, i.e., believe in a better world, and must always aim far beyond what is practically possible, in order to reach something barely within reach. Thus the message might be that humanity ought to strive to colonize Jupiter—as in Kubrick's work—or something greater, to survive.
Arthur C. Clarke's short story "Jupiter V" contains elements in common with 2001 and mentions Toynbee several times.[來源請求]
Another explanation may be that the tiles quote a short play by David Mamet, 4 A.M., written in 1983 and published in the collection Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues in 1985. In the play, a radio host impatiently listens to a caller who contends that the movie 2001, based on the writings of Arnold Toynbee, speaks of the plan to reconstitute life on Jupiter. The radio show host quickly points out the factual errors in the caller's assertion and the logical fallacies of his plan. Mamet has spoken of his belief that the tiles are an homage and seems flattered by them.[15]
Researchers for the 2011 documentary Resurrect Dead claim to have uncovered several pieces of evidence that predate Mamet's play, including a 1980 call by the tiler to Larry King's radio show. Additionally, this documentary cites a newspaper article purportedly published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on March 13, 1983, "Theories: Wanna run that by me again?" by Clark DeLeon, which recounts a conversation between DeLeon and one James Morasco:
- Call me skeptical, but I had a hard time buying James Morasco's concept that the planet Jupiter would be colonized by bringing all the people on Earth who had ever died back to life. Morasco says he is a social worker in Philadelphia and came across the idea while reading a book by historian Arnold Toynbee, whose theory on bringing dead molecules back to life was depicted in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. That's why he's contacting talk shows and newspapers to spread the message. He's even founded a Jupiter colonization organization called the Minority Association.[16]
A complex of four tiles was once located at 16th and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia. Consisting of four panels of barely-legible italic printing, this work can be read[誰說的?] as a lengthy complaint about the artist's enemies. A possible transcription of its message reads:
- John Knight Ridder is the Philadelphia thug hellion Jew who'd hated this movements guts- for years- takes money from the Mafia to make the Mafia look good in his newspapers so he has the Mafia in his back pocket. John Knight sent the Mafia to murder me in May 1991 [illegible] journalists [illegible] then gloated to my face about death and Knight Ridder great power to destroy. In fact John Knight went into hellion binge of joy over Knight-Ridder's great power to destroy.
- I secured house with blast doors and fled the country in June 1991.
- NBC attorneys journalists and security officials at Rockefeller Center fraudulently under the "Freedom of Information Act" all [illegible] orders NBC executives got the U.S. federal district attorney's office who got FBI to get Interpol to establish task force that located me in Dover England.
- Which back home Inquirer got union goons from their own employees union to [illegible] down a "sports journalist". Who with ease bashed in lights and windows of neighborhood car- as well as men outside my house. They are stationed there still waiting for me.
- NBC CBS group "W" Westinghouse, Time, Time Warner, Fox, Universal all of the "Cult of the Hellion" each one were Much worse than Knight-Ridder ever was[,] mostly hellion Jews.
- When K.Y.W. and NBC executives told John Knight the whole coven gloated in joyous fits on how their Soviet pals found a way to turn it into a...
The reference to resurrecting dead on planet Jupiter could be a reference to the plot of the film 2001, in which hibernating astronauts who had secret training were to be revived upon arrival at Jupiter. "John Knight" may be a reference to American newspaper publisher John S. Knight, and K.Y.W. may refer to KYW-TV.
Creator
[编辑]The tiles appear to be the work of a single person, initially thought to be James Morasco (May 6, 1915 – March 15, 2003), a Philadelphia carpenter. Morasco would have been in his 70s when most of the tiles were laid.[13] Morasco died in 2003, but new tiles have since been seen in Philadelphia.
In 2003, Kansas City Star writer/editor Doug Worgul discovered a "Toynbee Tile" at the corner of 13th and Grand in downtown Kansas City. He wrote about the Kansas City Toynbee Tile and the worldwide Toynbee Tiles mystery in an article published on The Star's website. The article has been cited frequently in subsequent articles about the Toynbee Tile phenomenon. In a telephone interview Worgul spoke with a woman who was the widow of a James Morasco. The woman was evasive on the subject of the tiles. Worgul used his knowledge of the Toynbee Tiles as the basis for a character in his 2009 novel Thin Blue Smoke (Macmillan Publishers).
The 2011 documentary film Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles presents evidence that the tiler was reclusive Philadelphia resident who used the name "James Morasco" as an alias. Verna purportedly placed the tiles through a hole in the floor of his car while broadcasting a message via short wave radio about his theories.
Between 2002 and 2007, many new tiles displayed a very different font and styling than the older tiles and tended to leave out words that were found on the originals: "raise" is often substituted for "resurrect", and prepositions are frequently omitted.
Beginning in 2007, tiles were discovered in Philadelphia that are quite similar to the original tiles, leading some to believe that everything has been the work of the same person throughout the life of the tile phenomenon. The font and message are the same as the old ones, and the subtext is a return to some of the older ideas as well. These tiles were glued with a thicker layer of asphalt glue/sealant than older ones.
Deployment
[编辑]Toynbee-tile enthusiast Justin Duerr claims to have once found and examined a newly installed tile. This new tile was wrapped in tar paper and placed on a busy street early in the morning. From this find and other evidence, Duerr believes that the pressure exerted by automobiles driving over the tile for weeks on end pushes the tile into the road surface. Eventually, the tar paper wears away, exposing the message.
A Toynbee-tile enthusiast website reported a tile found in Pittsburgh that included deployment instructions, which the reader transcribed as "linoleum, asphalt glue (?) in several layers, then placing tar paper over it so that car wheels won't mess it up, and apparently the heat of the sun on the tar paper will bake it into the street". This tile was located near the Pittsburgh Hilton, and has since been paved over.[17]
Destruction, conservation, and public acknowledgment
[编辑]Tiles that are located in the middle of busy streets and highway on- and off-ramps tend to wear away quickly and also can become victims of resurfacing; smaller tiles and those located close to pedestrian crosswalks tend to be in better condition.
Hundreds of tiles have been destroyed during the course of regular road maintenance.[來源請求] The city of Chicago has declared the tiles "vandalism" and removes any tiles that it finds, considering them to be "no different than graffiti".[12]
A large tile complex, the tile maker's apparent rant against his enemies, was destroyed when Chestnut Street in Philadelphia was repaved. One tile located at the corners of Talcahuano and Santa Fé streets in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since at least 1996 is damaged and unreadable.
There is no public or private agency dedicated to conserving Toynbee tiles. Many tiles now exist only as photographs taken before their destruction. The tiles have enjoyed attention from American and European media outlets, including from The New York Times, The Chicago Sun Times, Spiegel Online, and NPR. In 2011, Philadelphia-based filmmakers Justin Duerr, Jon Foy, Colin Smith, and Steve Weinik released Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, an independent documentary film about the tiles.[18] The film was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary category, and Foy won the category's Directing Award.[19]
See also
[编辑]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
References
[编辑]- ^ 1.0 1.1 What Is It?. Web.archive.org. [2010-10-11]. (原始内容存档于2007-12-18).
- ^ Correa, Vanessa; Spinelli, Evandro. Placa misteriosa é cravada no asfalto da avenida Paulista. Folha de S. Paulo. 19 September 2010 [19 September 2010] (Portuguese).
- ^ CrimethInc. Ex-workers Collective. Recipes for Disaster, an Anarchist Cookbook 2nd. CrimethInc. Ex-workers Collective. 2012: 48.
- ^ Stoehr, John. Out of This World. Cincinnati City Beat. 2001-08-02 [2006-12-29].
- ^ 5.0 5.1 Resurrect Dead Mystery. Resurrectdead.com. [2010-10-11].
- ^ Hiaasen, Rob, The word on the street turns cryptic, The Baltimore Sun, October 19, 1994 [February 7, 2012]
- ^ Hiaasen, Rob, By all signs, markers remain a mystery, The Baltimore Sun, October 28, 1994 [February 7, 2012]
- ^ HUGE TILE NEWS — dovate. Steveweinik.com. 2006-08-24 [2010-10-11].
- ^ Resurrect Dead Message Board - Home. Resurrectdead.proboards59.com. [2010-10-11].
- ^ Hrenchir, Tim. Tile embedded in downtown street bears mystery message. CJOnline.com. 2013-06-20 [2013-11-12].
- ^ Mysterious message appears in Salt Lake City street. FOX13Now.com. 2013-07-17 [2013-11-12].
- ^ 12.0 12.1 Ressurectdead FAQs. 2011 [22 May 2012].
- ^ 13.0 13.1 O'Donnell, Matt. Special Report: Matt Investigates the Mystery of Philadelphia's "Toynbee Tiles". WPVI-TV/DT Action News. 2006-07-17 [2006-12-29].
- ^ Resurrect Dead Message Board - Toynbees ideas - here they are, folks!. Resurrectdead.proboards.com. [2010-10-11].
- ^ Epstein, Daniel Robert. David Mamet. SuicideGirls.com. 2007-12-02 [2007-02-13].
- ^ Deleon, Clark. Pennsylvania Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Guilford, CT: Morris Book Publishing, LLC. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7627-4588-3.
- ^ Johnson, L.A. Mysteries underfoot: Pedestrians have long wondered over Toynbee tiles. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2006-07-31 [17 August 2010].
- ^ Resurrect Dead. Resurrect Dead. [2011-03-16].
- ^ Posted on Dec 01, 2010 at 11:12 am. 2011 Sundance Film Festival Announces Films in Competition | Sundance Film Festival. Sundance.org. 2010-12-01 [2011-03-16].
External links
[编辑]- Master site for Toynbee tiles (archived on Wayback Machine), includes list of all known tiles, by city, as of 2003
- Archived copy of the site about the Brazilian tiles
- "An Asphalt Mystery Examined", April 25, 1999, The New York Times
- 'Toynbee Tiles' Mystery Resurrected in Philly, September 23, 2006, NPR Weekend Edition
- "Space Oddity", Kansas City Star, September 6, 2003
- Resurrect Dead web site
- Steve Weinik's page
- Template:Flickr-inline
- Complete text of 4 A.M. by David Mamet
- "Mystery tiles in St. Louis covered in asphalt", July 4, 2009, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via stltoday.com)
- 2010 Folha.com article
- Spiegel Online (SPON) article about the Toynbee Tiles (German)