Saturday Scenes

On the 28th of August 413 BC, the moon disappeared.

It was a lunar eclipse, when the sun, Earth and moon align exactly so that the sun’s rays are blocked by the earth. But they didn’t know that in 413 BC. The Athenians were in Sicily as a part of the Peloponesian War and were prepared to retreat and regroup if this sudden message from the Gods had not arrived.

Sicilian Expedition – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just as the Athenians were preparing to sail home, there was a lunar eclipse, and Nicias, described by Thucydides as a particularly superstitious man, asked the priests what he should do. They suggested the Athenians wait for another twenty-seven days, and Nicias agreed. The Syracusans took advantage of this, and seventy-six of their ships attacked eighty-six Athenian ships in the harbour. The Athenians were defeated.

This decisive loss put the Athenians into a desperate position and it was not long after that they were thoroughly defeated by the Syracusan, ending the expedition. They lost tens of thousands of trained men and the entire fleet. This resulted in many neutral states allying with Sparta against a now-weakened Athens and revolts in the city which led to the government being overthrown within a few years. The lunar eclipse on the 28th of August was the beginning of the end for Athens. By 404 BC it was occupied by Sparta.

However, do not despair! On the 28th of August 2010, SatScenes was only just beginning! The moon was waning but clearly visible in the skies and the photographs taken are all, I am sure, portents of good times to come.

See for yourself:

And these are our victorious submitters:

• RacingHippo
• RAFairman
• raumsinn
• PCurd
• pewari
• JanetIsserlis
• dlewis1701
• akrabat
• jamesnnb
• pixelfreund
• icklemouse
• DaughterofLir
• sahfenn
• akaSylvia
• thermalhound
• UKMelia
• fembat
• tashenubaste
• NevilleFenn
• katiejmac09
• timewind
• brooks_beauty
• CliffStanford
• ingridf
• twasntme

You can find out what all of these great people are up to simply by checking the Saturday Scenes list which includes everyone who has participated this year.

And if you’d like to join in, just take a photograph on Saturday and send the link to @SatScenes with the location! It’s easy and fun and we love seeing new sights.

On the 21st of August in 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen out of the Musée du Louvre. The theft wasn’t discovered until the following day.

Treasures of the World | Mona Lisa

The Section Chief of the Louvre makes a frantic call to the Captain of the Guards… who informs the Curator… who telephones the Paris Prefect of Police… who alerts La Sûreté, the National Criminal Investigation Department. By early afternoon, sixty inspectors and more than one hundred gendarmes rush to the museum. They bolt the doors and interrogate the visitors, then clear the galleries and station guards at the entrances. And for an entire week they search every closet and corner — room-by-room, floor-by-floor — all forty-nine acres of the Louvre.

When the Louvre reopened, the public arrived in droves to see the vacant wall with the four iron pegs where the painting had been hung. Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested as a suspect but he denied everything, pointing the finger at his friend, Pablo Picasso. Both were exonerated two years later when the Uffizi Gallery in Florence contacted the Louvre to say that they had been offered the painting by Vincenzo Perugia, who was promptly arrested by the Italian authorities. It seemed that Perugia had simply hidden in a broom cupboard until the museum closed and then walked out with the painting under his coat.

The Mona Lisa was recently in the news as a deeper understanding of da Vinci’s technique has become available as the result of X-rays.

Scientists unlock secret of Mona Lisa’s face – CNN.com

They found that some layers were as thin as one or two micrometers and that these layers increased in thickness to 30 to 40 micrometers in darker parts of the painting. A micrometer is one thousandth of one millimeter.

The manner in which Da Vinci painted flesh, “his softened transitions,” were pioneering work in Italy at the end of the 15th century, say the researchers, and were linked to his creativity and his research to obtain new paint formulations.

Which leads us nicely into this week’s collection of Saturday Scenes!

On the 21st of August in 2010, pioneering photographs were taken all over the world! Do you doubt our creativity?

Take a moment to drop by the Twitterstreams of our contributors to find out more:

• rOcKeTmAn_76
• Pewari
• akrabat
• JanetIsserlis
• elibrody
• DaughterofLir
• raumsinn
• HeideSpruck
• robdavies
• fembat
• pixelfreund
• jamesnnb
• drewbenn
• RacingHippo
• tashenubaste
• twasntme
• DorindaDorinda
• sahfenn
• timewind
• FunkJem
• akaSylvia

Shouldn’t you save a photograph of your day-to-day life for posterity? It’s easy!

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Upload the photograph
3. Send a tweet to @SatScenes with the url and the location
4. Bookmark http://twitter.blog.me.uk/ for future descendants to find

I’m looking forward to seeing your photograph in the next edition!

On August 14, 1969, the final preparations are under way for what has been described as the most popular music event in history. The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was a three-day concert which has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counter-culture.

The organisers were beset with problems, with the original location of Wallkill falling through and concessionaires threatening to cancel at the last minute. But by the 14th of August almost everything was in place for this awesome music festival with over three dozen performing artists and hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Woodstock Journal – August 14, 1969

Even though the festival doesn’t begin until tomorrow, an estimated 50,000 people have already arrived at the festival site and set up camp.

Hundreds of thousands more are on their way – radio stations as far away as New York City are broadcasting frequent warnings of growing traffic snarls.

Residents of the nearest town, Bethel, upset that town officials are allowing the “swarm of hippies” to descend upon them, form human road blocks across the only road to Max Yasgur’s dairy farm, where the festival is being held. Festival goers simply park and walk the rest of the way.

Only after the event did the organisers realise that they had created a piece of history.

On the 14th of August 2010, these photographs were taken and collected here to create a tiny piece of history of our own. Take a look:

These are our idealistic photographers who shared a slice of their Saturday with us:

• raumsinn
• andrew_lillie
• tradingnothing
• sahfenn
• HereticChick
• akrabat
• RAFairman
• JanetIsserlis
• fembat
• DaughterofLir
• dlewis1701
• cornellfinch
• elibrody
• UKMelia
• jamesnnb
• pixelfreund
• robdavies
• timewind
• Twasntme
• CliffStanford
• pixelesh
• noirem
• tashenubaste
• akaSylvia

It’s easy to take part in our collaboration.

1. Take a photograph on Saturday
2. Twitter it as an @reply to SatScenes with the location
3. Bask in the glory

Follow SatScenes to see all the photographs over the weekend or simply watch this space for the next edition.

On the 7th of August 1943, the Guadalcanal Campaign, codenamed Operation Watchtower, began. Allied Forces landed on the Pacific islands to protect their convoy routes from Japanese interference by denying them access to the islands. Bad weather kept the Japanese patrol planes from spotting the invading Allied armada and they were able to begin their assault on Guadacanal and other nearby islands.

Guadalcanal Campaign – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While the Allies scored their first decisive victory of the Pacific in the Battle of Midway, which also blunted Japan’s strategic initiative and offensive capability, that by itself did not change the direction of the war in the same sense as Salamis or Tsushima. After the Battle of Midway, the Japanese were still in a state of naval parity and continued their invasion in the South Pacific. But the Guadalcanal Campaign ended all Japanese expansion attempts and placed the Allies in a position of clear supremacy. It thus can be argued that this Allied victory was the first step in a long string of successes that eventually led to the surrender of Japan and the occupation of the Japanese home islands.

The “Europe first” policy of the United States had initially only allowed for defensive actions against Japanese expansion, in order to focus resources on defeating Germany. However, Admiral King’s argument for the Guadalcanal invasion, as well as its successful implementation, convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt that the Pacific Theater could be pursued offensively as well. By the end of 1942, it was clear that Japan had lost the Guadalcanal campaign, a serious blow to Japan’s strategic plans for defense of their empire and an unanticipated defeat at the hands of the Americans.

On the 7th of August 2010, the successful implementation of Saturday photography led to this wonderful set of photographs:

The successful Saturday scenes above were taken by these daring photographers:

• elibrody
• icklemouse
• robdavies
• Mutley627441
• JanetIsserlis
• Pewari
• akrabat
• domr
• RAFairman
• raumsinn
• Vinjii
• sahfenn
• rOcKeTmAn_76
• CliffStanford
• jmorby
• fembat
• twasntme
• brooks_beauty
• pixelfreund
• 7of12
• jamesnnb
• MissLynsey_
• drewbenn
• ColinBrooks
• timewind
• akaSylvia

Why don’t you join us?

Simply take a photograph on Saturday and tweet it as a mention to @SatScenes with your location. It’s easy and fun.

On 31 July 1940, Winston Churchill was photographed holding a Thompson sub-machine gun. The “Tommy Gun” was devised in 1919 in the US and heavily used by the Chicago gangsters including Bugs Moran and Al Capone. The British Army were the first to use the Tommy gun in WWII combat, equipping commandos and paratroopers with the sub-machine gun for combat.

Winston Churchill was photographed holding the sub-machine gun when visiting troops on the coast in 1940.

Churchill and Tommy Gun « Iconic Photos

The Churchill photograph was timely. It was used to convey Churchill as a war leader. Both sides of the war tried to use this picture for propaganda purposes. The British photoshopped out two soldiers standing next to Churchill, making him look statesmanlike, determined and menacing. On the other hand, the Germans got hold of the photo, and compared it to those of the gangsters of the American West. The Nazis used this photo in their propaganda leaflets airdropped onto Britain during the Battle of Britain.

OK, not literally photoshopped, obviously. Still, the varying interpretations of the same photograph is very interesting, with or without the background intact.

On the 31st of July 2010, these wonderful, full-of-background potentially historical images were taken:

And maybe in 70 years, one of these photographs will be highlighted as iconic for its time. Credit should be given to these talented digital photographers:

• carotwit
• dlewis1701
• RAFairman
• capo42
• JanetIsserlis
• sahfenn
• robdavies
• UKMelia
• jamesnnb
• Pewari
• Weefz
• raumsinn
• twasntme
• dramagirl
• drewbenn
• akaSylvia
• ingridf
• fembat
• CliffStanford
• carocat

You can find out what all of these great people are up to simply by checking the Saturday Scenes list which includes everyone who has participated by submitting a Saturday Scene this year.

If you’d like to join us, just take a photograph on Saturday and send the link to @SatScenes with the location! It’s easy and fun and we love seeing new sights.

On the 24th July, 2010 Google asked users to film a glimpse of their lives to document 24 hours on earth in a project called Life In A Day.

Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create a user-generated feature film, shot in a single day, by you. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera.

Filmmakers Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott will be using the submissions to create an experimental documentary film using the “most compelling and distinctive footage.” Next week it will be possible to browse through the submitted footage and the film itself will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. I don’t know how many people have taken part but there are currently over 32,000 comments in the Life In A Day channel so I suspect it may take some time to work through all the submissions.

Meanwhile, here on Twitter and Satscenes, we’ve been documenting single days on earth every Saturday for two years now! Our locations this week alone include Israel, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, England, Wales and the United States. That’s just how progressive we are.

Take a look at these great shots from 24 July 2010:

And the aspirational documentation collectors who took them:

• JanetIsserlis
• akrabat
• rOcKeTmAn_76
• RAFairman
• pewari
• robdavies
• jamesnnb
• dlewis1701
• pixelfreund
• raumsinn
• Vinjii
• carocat
• mousewords
• fluttabyz
• 9to5poet
• thermalhound
• tradingnothing
• elibrody
• sahfenn
• ingridf
• twasntme
• timewind
• pendrift
• akaSylvia
• DrewBenn

Would you like to join us? Simply take a photograph on a Saturday and twitter the url to @SatScenes

On the 17th of July 1938, Douglas Corrigan earned the nickname “Wrong Way” Corrigan when he left New York for a flight to California and landed in Ireland.

Corrigan was a pilot and aircraft mechanic from Texas who, inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s trans-atlantic flight, wanted to fly from New York to Ireland. He bought a small monoplane which he personally modified for the trip but the plane was only certified for short journeys and not the the journey across the ocean. He spent three years modifying the plane and applying for full certification to no avail. He spoke out vehemently against the red tape and bureaucracy stopping him from making his dream flight.

On the 17th of July, he was at the Floyd Bennett Field in New York, booked to fly his plane back to California. He took off into the morning fog, flew a long banking turn towards the east and disappeared into the clouds … heading the wrong way. Twenty-eight hours later, he landed in Dublin.

The Adventures of Wrong-Way Corrigan » HistoryNet

The first person Corrigan met was an army officer. Corrigan introduced himself saying, ‘I left New York yesterday morning headed for California.’ He added, ‘I got mixed up in the clouds, and I must have flown the wrong way.’ The officer responded, ‘Yes, we know.’ Corrigan was surprised, ‘Really?’ he said. ‘How did you find out?’ The officer replied: ‘Oh, there was a small piece in the paper saying someone might be flying over this way. Then we got a phone call from Belfast saying a plane with American markings had passed over, headed down the coast.’ A customs official in a blue uniform came up and asked Corrigan if he had landed anywhere else. ‘I did pass over a city–I guess it must have been Belfast,’ explained Corrigan. ‘But I didn’t see an airport there. This is the first place I’ve landed since leaving New York.’

Corrigan said that it was a mistake, that his compass had failed and due to the cloud cover, he couldn’t see the ground. As a result, he navigated using only a back-up compass which must have had problems, he said, as he was supposedly aiming for California. He never changed that story – claiming only to be ashamed of his poor navigation. In an interview in the 1980′s he was asked again if he really meant to fly to California. “Sure,” he said. “Well, at least I’ve told that story so many times that I believe it myself now.”

His pilot’s certificate was suspended but only for fourteen days and when he arrived back in New York (via steamship) he was given a hero’s welcome.

On the 17th of July 2010, these heroes submitted photographs to Saturday Scenes from both sides of the Atlantic:

If you like making friends, Saturday Scenes is a great place to start! All the participants are fun and friendly:

• icklemouse
• APGPhoto
• akrabat
• Pewari
• JanetIsserlis
• RAFairman
• sahfenn
• UKMelia
• tradingnothing
• raumsinn
• twasntme
• Sithefire
• akaSylvia
• Elshahawk
• pixelfreund
• cornellfinch
• robdavies
• timewind
• elibrody
• DaughterofLir
• rOcKeTmAn_76
• carocat
• pixelesh
• brooks_beauty
• ColinBrooks
• CliffStanford

You can follow all the people who have submitted this year using the Saturday Scenes list on Twitter.

We’d love to see photographs from your Saturday. Simply take a picture and tweet the URL to @SatScenes!

On the 10th of July, 1212, there was a great fire in London. Not the Great Fire of London, that was in 1666. This was just a great fire. But it was probably the greatest fire in London even though it is only one of three.

Great Fires of London

In 1135 a massive blaze struck London. Starting near Cannon Street the day after the Christmas festival the blaze rapidly spread eastwards and eventually burnt down the then wooden London Bridge and once more St Paul’s Cathedral was destroyed! The fire was so significant that for almost a century the blaze was referred to as the ‘Great fire of London’.

That was until the year 1212 when another Great Fire of London wrought its destruction on the weary inhabitants of London. The fire broke out on the 12 July in Southwark and with stunning rapidity laid waste to all in its path, including much of Borough High Street and the church of St Mary Overie, which was on the site of the current day Southwark Cathedral. It is not sure how many people died (records from the era are notoriously unreliable), but is almost defiantly more than any of the other Great Fires (including that of 1666, which was surprisingly only about half a dozen). Many Londoners lost their lives after fleeing onto London Bridge, when the winds changed and the blaze took root on the northern end of the bridge their fates were tragically sealed. Further Major fires of London are noted in 11th century London in the years 1220, 1227 and 1299, but none that had the impact of the Great fire of 1212.

On the 10th of July, 2010, there was a great edition of Saturday Scenes submitted from all over the world. This might not be the great edition of SatScenes but it is a great edition, without a doubt:

Here are our superb summer Saturday Scene submitters:

• Sithefire
• ElshaHawk
• Raumsinn
• JanetIsserlis
• RAFairman
• akrabat
• carotwit
• dlewis1701
• robdavies
• timewind
• UKMelia
• cornellfinch
• carocat
• brooks_beauty
• andrew_lillie
• DaughterofLir
• sahfenn
• NevilleFenn
• elibrody

They are great too.

Would you like to join in?

On Saturday, take a photograph. Upload it and send the URL and location to @SatScenes. That’s it! So why haven’t you done it yet?

The 3rd of July 1767 is the date that Midshipman Robert Pitcairn stated that he discovered the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific. The islands are believed to have been initially discovered in 1606 by Queirós who named two islands, La Encarnación and San Juan Bautista but it is not clear which islands he actually found.

The chronometer, which came into use in 1773, allowed sailors to accurately determine longitude which allowed for much more precise mapping and exploration. In 1787, Captain Bligh used a chronometer on the Bounty. The mutineers’ decision to remain on Pitcairn island is directly linked to the use of the chronometer on this trip.

The Story of the Bounty Chronometer

After the mutiny Christian and the other mutineers search for a place to settle. When they find Pitcairn they note that Captain Philip Carteret, its discoverer, hasn’t charted its location correctly.

On Admiralty Charts, Pitcairn Island was charted three degrees of Longitude, some 170+ M, or 300+ km (the contemporary equivalent of a two day voyage under fair conditions) inaccurately.

The mutineers have the K2 chronometer and are able to determine longitude. They know that future expeditions will also have chronometers. They bet that these expeditions will not be able to find Pitcairn and decide to settle there.

And they were right. The mutineers kept the chronometer and settled on the islands. The island was not rediscovered until 1808, when an American captain of a whaling ship found the descendants – and one remaining mutineer – on an island that did not show on his charts.

The 3rd of July 2010 is the date in which time stood still for over two dozen scenes photographed around the world:

Take a moment out of your day to visit the streams of our wonderful submitters:

• DaughterofLir
• graemearcher
• RacingHippo
• SitheFire
• Mutley627441
• Pewari
• icklemouse
• akrabat
• UKMelia
• JanetIsserlis
• RAFairman
• sahfenn
• elibrody
• twasntme
• DorindaDorinda
• robdavies
• carocat
• thermalhound
• tradingnothing
• raumsinn
• NevilleFenn
• pixelesh
• brooks_beauty
• Korwhai
• pixelfreund
• timewind

Would you like to add your photo? It’s simple to join in:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Upload the photograph
3. Send a tweet to @SatScenes with the location

I’m looking forward to seeing your SatScene in the next edition!

On the 26th of June 1950 a photograph was published in LIFE magazine depicting a UFO. Evelyn Trent saw the unidentified flying object hovering in the sky over her farmhouse in McMinnville, Oregon. She told her husband, Paul Trent, to come outside and take a look at the slow-moving, metallic disk-shaped object. Paul Trent thought it was some type of secret military plane and took two photographs.

McMinnville UFO Photos 50 Years Later – Still A Mystery

Paul Trent may have had photos of the biggest news story ever to hit McMinnville, but all he did was put the camera away. Later, after finishing off the roll of film on Mother’s Day, he took it to a drug store on McMinnville’s Third Street to be developed.

“The reason I thought they were authentic was that the negatives were in the middle of the roll,” said Powell from his retirement home in Idaho Falls, Idaho. “He’d taken some more pictures so that he’d make sure he got his money’s worth when he developed the things.”

He hung one of the photograph where it was spotted by a local reporter who publicised the event and the images. This was the beginning of a 60 year debate regarding the legitimacy of the UFO sighting.

After LIFE published the photograph, someone misplaced the negatives, giving rise to conspiracy theories and more. 17 years later, the negatives were found and analysed. To date, no one has managed to prove the authenticity beyond a doubt nor show convincing evidence that it is a hoax.

The photographs are still regularly cited as the best evidence of the existence of UFOs and intelligent life in space. McMinnville now host an annual UFO Festival to commemorate the event.

…and on the 26th of June 2010, these intriguing and thought-provoking photographs prove that, despite the doubters, there is intelligent life on Twitter. Take a look at these Saturday scenes from talented photographers all over the world:

If you are looking for interesting people to follow, start here:

• apgphoto
• brooks_beauty
• capo42
• DorindaDorinda
• JanetIsserlis
• Mutley627441
• jmorby
• dlewis1701
• domr
• raumsinn
• sahfenn
• fluttabyz
• RAFairman
• rOcKeTmAn_76
• UKMelia
• cornellfinch
• FunkJem
• Korwhai
• carocat
• drewbenn
• akaSylvia
• twasntme
• timewind
• pendrift

Why don’t you join us?

Simply take a photograph on Saturday and tweet it as a mention to @SatScenes with your location. It’s easy and fun.