Saturday Scenes

Life In A Day

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 21:35

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:

: Great Falls, MT

: Fuengirola

: Mons

: Poland, ME

: Nottinghamshire

: Amsterdam

: Reading

: Amirim

: Southern Europe

: Sheffield

: Hayward, WI

: Wales

: California

: Reading

: near Zürich

: Sweden

: Munich

: Tilehurst

: Idaho

: Cwmbran

: Worcester

: Sandhurst

: West Kirby

: Worcester

: Providence, RI

And the aspirational documentation collectors who took them:

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

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Wrong Way Corrigan

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 17:19

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:

: Butibamba

: Brighton

: Blackpool

: Rhode Island

: Reading

: Wirral

: Hampshire

: Givatayim

: Halowell, ME

: Cwmbran

: Portsmouth

: Zurich

: Indiana

: La Cala de Mijas

: Fairford

: Ickworth

: Sweden

: Southern Europe

: Nebraska

: Reading

: Guildford

: Providence, RI

: Worcester

: Worcester

: Farnborough

: Whitby

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

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!

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Greatness

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 18:19

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:

: Ramat Gan

: Silverstone

: Silverstone

: Hampshire

: Alloa

: Blackpool

: Reading

: Portsmouth

: Nebraska

: Thomaston, ME

: Cwmbran

: Reading

: Northumberland

: London

: Pirbright

: Providence, RI

: St. Gallen

: Indiana

: Theale

Here are our superb summer Saturday Scene submitters:

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?

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Mutiny on the Bounty

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 16:21

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: