Saturday Scenes

On the 11th of May in 1811, Chang and Eng Bunker were born the province of Samutsongkram in Siam (now Thailand). The two boys were conjoined twins, attached to each other by a band of flesh at the lower chest, which connected their livers. Born of Chinese parents, they were known as the “Chinese Twins” in Siam but, when they began touring with PT Barnum’s circus, they swiftly became known as the Siamese twins, a term that stuck for over a hundred years.

The brothers became naturalised US citizens and created as normal a life as possible on a plantation in Mount Airy, North Carolina. They married two sisters and between them had nearly two dozen children, although as time went on, the living conditions became tense.

Chang and Eng gave the world “Siamese twins”—and brought a small town an enduring legacy. – National Geographic Magazine

After 14 years of living as a foursome, strain overtook family harmony. The twins split their property, built separate houses, and arranged to spend three days in one house with one family, then three days in the other. Stewarts Creek defines the boundary between properties, and today, at least one Chang relative refers to Eng’s people as “the other side of the creek.”

The descendents of Chang and Eng Bunker number 1,500 now and continue to hold family reunions in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Over two hundred years later, these great photographs were taken as an enduring legacy of a wonderful Saturday:

And here are the amazing people who took them:

• akrabat
• maidbloke
• oxonlady
• exRAFairman
• SockYarnShop
• FrauKulli
• icklemouse
• Pewari
• ClareRevell
• mattkirwan
• madyline
• CarolineBignell
• WadeyLady001
• davey_steven
• dndtsa
• tonystanford
• dudleypj
• jamesnnb
• HeideSpruck
• pendrift
• HarryMyhre
• drewbenn
• CallumDG
• robdavies
• martin_chrisj

Saturday Scenes is a great way to see the world from other people’s points of view! Taking part is easy:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Send it to @Satscenes on Twitter
3. Wait for the webpage to get updated
4. Oooh and aah over all the great submissions from all over the world!

So take a photograph this weekend and send it to @Satscenes!

The 4th of May is a special holiday for around the world: it is Star Wars Day!

The anti-Imperialist celebrations fall upon this day simply so that Star Wars fans can wander around saying “May the Fourth be with you” and giggle happily.

Although Star Wars Day has only existed for a few years, the pun has been around for quite some time. Apparently the earliest use was 1988 in a British Television children’s show, Count Duckula, in an episode entitled “The Vampire Strikes Back”. Although there’s a claim that it was used even earlier than that as well as at least once used in complete seriousness…

Star Wars Day – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Current day Star Wars fans were not the first to introduce the line “May the fourth be with you”: when Margaret Thatcher was elected Britain’s first female Prime Minister on May 4, 1979, her party placed an advertisement in The London Evening News that said “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.” This reading of the line has also been recorded in the UK Parliament’s Hansard.

In a 2005 interview on German news TV channel N24, Star Wars creator George Lucas was asked to say the famous sentence “May the Force be with you.” The interpreter simultaneously interpreted the sentence into German as Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen (“On May 4 we are with you.”). This was captured by TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005.

On the fourth of May in 2013, these wonderful photographs were stored in ‘droids (and iPhones) and spread around the world:

And here are the Jedi that took them:

• CarolineBignell
• robdavies
• martin_chrisj
• ClareRevell
• icklemouse
• HeideSpruck
• davey_steven
• RobStormchaser
• exRAFairman
• FrauKulli
• maidbloke
• Pewari
• akrabat
• WadeyLady001
• Vinjii
• pendrift
• akaSylvia
• jamesnnb
• dudleypj
• gwenthing
• madyline
• Gedsjeep
• dndtsa
• SockYarnShop
• slimatshelfsw
• timewind

Saturday Scenes is a great way to share brief moments of everyday life across the universe!

Taking part is easy:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Send it to @Satscenes on Twitter
3. Wait for the webpage to get updated
4. Oooh and aah over all the great submissions from all over the world!

So take a photograph this weekend and send it to @Satscenes!

On the 27th of April in 1810, Beethoven composed the batatelle Für Elise. Ludwig Nohl discovered the manuscript in the possession of Babette Bredl forty years after Beethoven’s death. The original score included a dedication in Beethoven’s handwriting: For Elise on the 27th April for rememberance from L v. Bthvn.

The original manuscript has since been lost but one question remains: Who was Elise?

Für Elise – Wikipedia

Max Unger suggested that Ludwig Nohl may have transcribed the title incorrectly and the original work may have been named “Für Therese”, a reference to Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza (1792–1851). She was a friend and student of Beethoven’s to whom he proposed in 1810, though she turned him down to marry the Austrian nobleman and state official Wilhelm von Droßdik in 1816.

According to a 2010 study by Klaus Martin Kopitz, there is evidence that the piece was written for the German soprano singer Elisabeth Röckel (1793–1883), later the wife of Johann Nepomuk Hummel. “Elise”, as she was called by a parish priest (she called herself “Betty” too), had been a friend of Beethoven’s since 1808. In the meantime, the Austrian musicologist Michael Lorenz has shown that Rudolf Schachner, who in 1851 inherited Therese von Droßdik’s musical scores, was the illegitimate son of Babette Bredl (who in 1865 let Nohl copy the autograph in her possession). Thus the autograph must have come to Babette Bredl from Therese von Droßdik’s estate and Kopitz’s hypothesis is refuted.

In 2012, the Canadian musicologist Rita Steblin suggested that Juliane Katharine Elisabet Barensfeld, who used “Elise” as a variant first name, might be the dedicatee. Born in Regensburg and treated for a while as child prodigy, she first travelled on concert tours with Beethoven’s friend Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, also from Regensburg, and then lived with him for some time in Vienna where she received singing lessons from Antonio Salieri. Steblin argues that Beethoven dedicated this work to the 13-year-old Elise Barensfeld as a favour to Therese Malfatti who lived opposite Mälzel’s and Barensfeld’s residence and who might have given her piano lessons. Steblin admits that question marks remain for her conclusion.

Meanwhile, the solo piano piece is one of Beethoven’s best known pieces.

On the 27th of April in 2013, the following photographs were composed and carefully preserved in hopes of equally confusing future generations:

And here are the creators of classics that took them:

• ClareRevell
• pendrift
• davey_steven
• noirem
• akaSylvia
• exRAFairman
• JanetIsserlis
• Jo_1067
• SockYarnShop
• martin_chrisj
• robdavies
• akrabat
• thermalhound
• icklemouse
• RacingHippo
• drewbenn
• HeideSpruck
• WadeyLady001
• madyline
• Pewari
• dugghelen
• dudleypj
• annemnicholas
• jamesnnb
• rnout

Would you like to see your photograph featured here?

Simply take a photo on a Saturday and tweet it to @SatScenes! Every week I retweet the Saturday Scenes and then collect them all for a special post here. We’d love to see yours.

On the 20th of April in 1964, BBC 2 failed to launch. The new channel was supposed to start off with a comedy show, a production of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate and to end with a fireworks display at Southend Pier. However, a fire at Battersea Power Station caused the Television Centre to lose all power. Instead of the entertainment scheduled, the presenter attempted to offer a news bulletin about the power outage, but it was broadcast without sound. Test cards reading “Major Power Failure” and “BBC will follow shortly” were displayed for the rest of the evening.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | The launch night that never was

Robert Longman, who was in charge of engineering that night, recalls trying to negotiate the confusing corridors of Television Centre with a candle stuck in a paper cup as they desperately tried to find a way to get the new channel on air. “It got to about 6.30pm when I noticed that the power frequency was falling slightly… then we lost power completely,” he told BBC News Online.

“I went around telling everyone that we would be able to sort it out and not to panic… then we found out the whole of West London had gone.”

“I just froze and thought ‘oh dear’, because it was an engineering problem – my problem – and the place was packed with people.

“In the end we just sent everyone up to the BBC Club for a drink where there was emergency lighting.”

The channel successfully restarted the following day and broadcast the launch events that evening.

Forty-nine years later on the 20th of April in 2013, the following photographs were taken and transmitted around the world without a single technical glitch:

And here are the photographers who definitely deserve a drink!

• real_darling
• Pewari
• sahfenn
• Namasqui
• nicolaking2012
• martin_chrisj
• akrabat
• ClareRevell
• CarolineBignell
• WadeyLady001
• exRAFairman
• SockYarnShop
• noirem
• annemnicholas
• robdavies
• Jo_1067
• JLM1974
• TLee27
• madyline
• davey_steven
• JanetIsserlis
• Gillybeans99
• sugarpopzvicky
• dudleypj
• Mutley627441
• CallumDG
• Joyuna
• icklemouse
• fembat
• jamesnnb
• DaughterofLir
• akaSylvia

Why don’t you join us? It’s easy:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Upload the photograph to a friendly photo-hosting site
3. Send a tweet to @SatScenes with the url and location

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

The 13th of April 2556 is the beginning of the Cambodian New Year, a three day holiday at the end of the harvesting season. Maha Songkran, the first day, celebrates the ending of the year and the beginning of a new one. In Cambodia, the Buddhist Era is used to count the year and for this year’s new year ceremony, it is 2556BE.

Cambodian New Year – Wikipedia

Maha Songkran, derived from Sanskrit Maha Sankranti, is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the ending of the year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha’s teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times before his image. For good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed.

And on the 13th of April in 2013, the following people submitted a photograph for good luck and a super Saturday!

These are the photographers making a new start every week!

• martin_chrisj
• FrauKulli
• JanetIsserlis
• ClareRevell
• Mutley627441
• ernmander
• davey_steven
• carocat
• thermalhound
• SockYarnShop
• Namasqui
• icklemouse
• oxonlady
• noirem
• Pewari
• annemnicholas
• pendrift
• akrabat
• jamesnnb
• robdavies
• HeideSpruck
• drewbenn
• madyline
• Jo_1067
• dudleypj
• dndtsa
• akaSylvia
• exRAFairman
• sugarpopzvicky

Would you like good luck for a year? It’s easy! All you have to do is take a photograph on Saturday and submit it to @Satscenes with a location. You’ll soon see the difference, especially if you take part every Saturday!

On the 6th of April in 1580, one of the largest earthquakes in the recorded history of England struck. It was about 6 o’clock in the evening.

English Writer Thomas Churchyard swiftly wrote a pamphlet about the event, which he published two days later. It was titled A Warning to the Wyse, a Feare to the Fond, a Bridle to the Lewde, and a Glasse to the Good; written of the late Earthquake chanced in London and other places, the 6th of April, 1580, for the Glory of God and benefit of men, that warely can walk, and wisely judge. Set forth in verse and prose, by Thomas Churchyard, gentleman.

1580 Dover Straits earthquake – Wikipedia

Mancall notes that Churchyard’s pamphlet provides a sense of immediacy so often lacking in retrospective writing. According to Churchyard, the quake could be felt across the city and well into the suburbs, as a wonderful motion and trembling of the earth shook London and Churches, Pallaces, houses, and other buildings did so quiver and shake, that such as were then present in the same were toosed too and fro as they stoode, and others, as they sate on seates, driven off their places.

Self-publishing at its finest.

Meanwhile, the following photo submissions shook the world when they were shared on Saturday:

And here are the spectacular snappers who provided us with a sense of immediacy with their snapshots:

• davey_steven
• CarolineBignell
• akrabat
• tonystanford
• maidbloke
• ClareRevell
• real_darling
• HeideSpruck
• WadeyLady001
• Jo_1067
• madyline
• robdavies
• pendrift
• JanetIsserlis
• annemnicholas
• JeannieKelly
• exRAFairman
• dugghelen
• dudleypj
• Namasqui
• martin_chrisj
• jamesnnb
• HarryMyhre
• JLM1974
• FrauKulli
• thermalhound
• icklemouse
• RobStormchaser
• CliffStanford
• rnout
• carocat
• fembat
• pixelesh
• Pewari
• akaSylvia

Have you got a camera or a smart phone?

You should take a photograph on Saturday. It’s easy to join us!

Simply send a tweet to @SatScenes with the url and the location and all the rest happens automatically!

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

On the 30th of March in 1972, the last daily rum ration was issued to Canadian naval personnel. The tradition of the rum ration was a “tot” of rum given out to every sailor at midday. Until 1740, that was half a pint of neat rum, twice a day. This was watered down and the quantity reduced as concerns rose about the sailors’ ability to operate the weapons and navigational systems until finally the “lunchtime slug” was removed completely.

The secondary tradition to splice the mainbrace however, is still celebrated in the Canadian navy. Splice the mainbrace is an order to issue the crew with an extra ration of rum or, these days, a celebratory drink. In the Royal Canadian Navy, only the Queen, the Governor General of Canada or the Chief of the Defence Staff have permission to issue the order to splice the mainbrace. The phrase, and others like it, remain a part of navy-speak:

Royal Canadian Air Force Journal 02-Editors_Message_e.pdf

Not that it was all bad. Every once in a while there was a banyan to enjoy and in port there were opportunities to splice the main brace when the Jimmy would call sliders. And there was always a minute to be ganked here and there to make and mend. Crabfat you may be, but you always acquitted yourselves handsomely and for that, before you swallow the anchor, no duff, you deserve a heartfelt Bravo Zulu!

For those of us not in the Canadian Forces, perhaps photography remains as an easier way to communicate.

On the 30th of March in 2013, the following completely comprehensible images were shared around Twitter:

And here are the tadpoles that took them:

• exRAFairman
• madyline
• robdavies
• SockYarnShop
• rnout
• ClareRevell
• SazzyMCH
• Pewari
• TheSilentPlanet
• annemnicholas
• Jo_1067
• Namasqui
• HeideSpruck
• JanetIsserlis
• oxonlady
• icklemouse
• akaSylvia
• akrabat
• dudleypj
• DyerRock
• jamesnnb
• pendrift
• dugghelen
• carocat
• JeannieKelly
• Mutley627441
• RobStormchaser
• WadeyLady001
• davey_steven
• drewbenn
• mousewords
• CallumDG
• sparc
• dndtsa
• tonystanford

Why don’t you join us? It’s easy:

1. Take a photograph on a Saturday
2. Upload the photograph to a friendly photo-hosting site
3. Send a tweet to @SatScenes with the url and location

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

On the 23rd of March in 1857, Elisha Otis’s first elevator was installed in New York City. Elisha Otis had always fancied himself an inventor, however he didn’t have any success until he took on a contract to convert a sawmill to a bedstead factory. His most famous invention came from a practical difficulty while he was cleaning up the factory. He needed to get the old debris to the upper levels of the factory but he felt the hoists weren’t safe. He worked with his sons to find a solution.

Invent Now | Hall of Fame | Elisha Graves Otis

If one could just devise a machine that wouldn’t fall…. He hit upon the answer, a tough, steel wagon spring meshing with a ratchet. If the rope gave way, the spring would catch and hold.

In 1854 Otis dramatized his safety device on the floor of the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York. With a large audience on hand, the inventor ascended in an elevator cradled in an open-sided shaft. Halfway up, he had the hoisting cable cut with an axe. The platform held fast and the elevator industry was on its way.

Elisha Otis formed a company to sell the safety elevators. Today, the Otis Elevator Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of vertical transport systems.

On the 23rd of March in 2013, up-and-coming photographers all over the world submitted these super-successful (and safe) Saturday scenes:

And these are the high risers that took them:

• ClareRevell
• davey_steven
• akrabat
• JanetIsserlis
• robdavies
• Mutley627441
• exRAFairman
• tonystanford
• carocat
• HeideSpruck
• icklemouse
• elibrody
• martin_chrisj
• thermalhound
• DyerRock
• Pewari
• SockYarnShop
• pendrift
• real_darling
• dudleypj
• WadeyLady001
• JeannieKelly
• jamesnnb
• 65WZ
• dugghelen
• maidbloke
• pixelesh
• madyline
• dndtsa
• timewind
• mousewords
• Jo_1067

Upwards and onwards! If you’d like to join us at high elevation, then don’t plunge into despair! Simply take a photograph on Saturday and send it to @SatScenes with a location!

On the 16th of March in 1621, the early settlers in Massachusetts met their first Native American (er, “savage” as they referred to him). The pilgrims from the Mayflower had settled here and knew that there were native Americans in the area but had not yet spoken to them. Samoset strolled directly into the middle of their settlement and asked them for beer. In English. Specifically, he said, “Greetings, Englishmen. Do you have any beer?”

From The Recamier

A member of an Abenaki tribe that resided at that time in what is now Maine, Samoset was a sagamore (subordinate chief) of his tribe and was visiting Chief Massasoit, the sachem, or leader, of the Pokanoket, and “Massasoit” of the Wampanoag Confederacy. He had learned his broken English from the English fishermen that came to fish off Monhegan Island. After spending the night with the Pilgrims, he came back two days later with Squanto, who spoke English much better than Samoset, and who was able to translate when the Pilgrim leadership met with Chief Massasoit. Samoset was entertained with other Native American leaders in the harbor of present-day Portland, Maine in 1624; after that, the first Native American to contact the Pilgrims fades from history. (The Pilgrims in their accounts kept calling him Somerset instead of Samoset; most of the Pilgrims were from South West England, and the county of Somerset.)

On the 16th of March in 2013, natives from all over the world posted photographs to amaze the hardiest pilgrim:

And here are the photographers who took them:

• pendrift
• robdavies
• ernmander
• exRAFairman
• JanetIsserlis
• marksmith1986
• Namasqui
• FrauKulli
• akrabat
• tonystanford
• annemnicholas
• davey_steven
• RacingHippo
• Pewari
• jamesnnb
• oxonlady
• RobStormchaser
• icklemouse
• SockYarnShop
• JLM1974
• martin_chrisj
• HeideSpruck
• CarolineBignell
• mousewords
• madyline
• dndtsa
• gwenthing
• maidbloke
• dudleypj
• IrishInAtlanta
• Jo_1067
• NeilJackson10

Would you like to see your photograph featured here?

Simply take a photo on a Saturday and tweet it to @SatScenes! Every week I retweet the Saturday Scenes and then collect them all for a special post here. We’d love to see yours.

On the 9th of March in 1961, Sputnik 9 was launched into space with Ivan Ivanovich on board.

Ivan Ivanovich – a Russian placeholder name like our John Doe – was a phantom cosmonaut – a mannequin dressed in a cosmonaut suit as a part of the Russian space programme. Choir music was broadcast from his chest to test the communications system. He was also on board to test the landing system: once the spacecraft was descending towards the ground, Ivan Ivanovich was ejected from the capsule with a parachute.

Ivan Ivanovich (Vostok programme) – Wikipedia

Ivan Ivanovich was made to look as lifelike as possible, with eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes and a mouth. He was dressed in a cosmonaut suit, with a sign reading “МАКЕТ” (Russian for “dummy”) placed under his visor, so that anyone who found him after his missions would not think he was a dead cosmonaut or an alien.

His second space flight, Korabl-Sputnik 5, on March 26, 1961, was similar – he was again accompanied by a dog, Zvezdochka, and other animals, he had a recording of a choir (and also a recipe for cabbage soup to confuse any listeners) inside him, and he safely returned to Earth. These flights paved the way for Vostok 1, the first manned flight into space on April 12, 1961.

In 1993, Ivan Ivanovich was auctioned to a US businessman for $189,500. He is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

And on the 9th of March in 2013, another edition of Saturday Scenes was successfully launched:

And here are the absolutely real people (neither dead cosmonauts nor aliens) who took them:

• pendrift
• elibrody
• ClareRevell
• martin_chrisj
• JanetIsserlis
• robdavies
• davey_steven
• CarolineBignell
• rnout
• icklemouse
• maidbloke
• ernmander
• Pewari
• akrabat
• Jo_1067
• TLee27
• WadeyLady001
• Namasqui
• exRAFairman
• noirem
• SockYarnShop
• HeideSpruck
• jamesnnb
• drewbenn
• dndtsa
• CliffStanford
• madyline
• HarryMyhre
• annemnicholas
• dudleypj
• mousewords
• DaughterofLir
• CallumDG
• RealCainMosni

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 on Saturday!