Day: April 2, 2007

April Fools’ Observer

Keith Hudson’s Sapientia Daily quote yesterday was: “Tony Blair has agreed to resurrect his interest in acting when he leaves Number 10 after he was approached about a major stage role by his close friend, the artistic director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey, The Observer can reveal.” The date line was April 1st.

Keith, of course, was pointing out that the article was just a hoax in the finest tradition of an April Fools’ joke. But I was sure that he must have missed the amusing name of the “reporter” for the story–Pahli Tarikh. Heh heh. Keith followed up with this:
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Ancient Cities, Modern Slums

Isn’t it astonishing that around 2,600 BCE, when most of the world was living in tiny little human settlements, the Indus Valley civilization had well-planned cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro?

“Some of these cities appear to have been built based on a well-developed plan. The streets of major cities such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa were paved and were laid out at right angles (and aligned north, south, east or west) in a grid pattern with a hierarchy of streets (commercial boulevards to small residential alleyways), somewhat comparable to that of present day New York. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves, and had their own wells, and sanitation. And the cities had drainage, large granaries, water tanks, and well-developed urban sanitation,” the Wikipedia article on urban planning says.
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