Saturday Scenes

On the 24th of November in 1971, D.B. Cooper departed Portland on a Northwest Flight 305 to Seattle and handed the stewardess a note. She tucked it into her pocket, thinking it was the man’s phone number. Cooper called her back. “You’d better read that,” he said. “I have a bomb.”

Northwest agreed to all of his demands. At Seattle, he released the passengers in return for $200,000 and parachutes and had the crew take off again, this time heading towards Mexico. Somewhere before Reno, Nevada, Cooper jumped out of the back of the plane strapped to two parachutes and holding a money bag full of ransom money in his hands. He disappeared into the darkness and was never heard from again.

The case is still open at the FBI.

FBI – D.B. Cooper Redux

Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? And what happened to the loot, only a small part of which has ever surfaced?

It’s a mystery, frankly. We’ve run down thousands of leads and considered all sorts of scenarios. And amateur sleuths have put forward plenty of their own theories. Yet the case remains unsolved.

Would we still like to get our man? Absolutely. And we have reignited the case-thanks to a Seattle case agent named Larry Carr and new technologies like DNA testing.

You can help. We’re providing here, for the first time, a series of pictures and information on the case.

Forty-one years later, maybe they’ll get the lead they are hoping for.

And on the anniversary of his jump, on the 24th of November in 2012, these stunning photographs were taken:

And it isn’t much of a leap to work out who took them:

• azmichelle
• martin_chrisj
• TheSilentPlanet
• dugghelen
• JanetIsserlis
• raumsinn
• RobStormchaser
• DyerRock
• ladyauntiecathy
• mousewords
• CarolineBignell
• Pewari
• akrabat
• AlistairRae
• dudleypj
• WadeyLady001
• icklemouse
• twasntme
• dndtsa
• robdavies
• exRAFairman
• maidbloke
• oxonlady
• AlbertsCrochet
• FrauKulli
• jamesnnb
• drewbenn
• HeideSpruck
• timewind

Do you have friends who own a camera or a smart phone?

You should tell them to 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 many more Saturday Scene in the next edition!

On the 17th of October in 1968, sports history was made in American football. The match: Oakland Raiders against the New York Jets. The game was broadcast across the nation on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). But at 7pm, the television broadcast broke away from the game in the final minutes, in order to show the planned film for the night: Heidi. Fifteen minutes before the film was to start, NBC executives realised that the game would not end in time and began phoning each other to discuss whether they should broadcast the game or switch to the film so that it would start on-time. They quickly all agreed that the game should continue. However, the switchboard at NBC became overloaded with viewers calling – some wanted to make sure they would get to watch the conclusion of the game, others were asking whether Heidi would start on time. As a result, the executives were not able to get through to state their decision: continue with the game. At 7pm exactly, the footage of the football game stopped and Heide came on air … just one minute before the losing team scored. They scored again and won the game but the sports fans were staring in dismay at a little girl on a Swiss mountain instead.

Heidi Game – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In an attempt to inform the audience of the outcome of the game, NBC flashed the final score across the screen. It did so just as Heidi’s paralyzed cousin, Klara, was taking her first, slow steps. According to sportswriter Jack Clary, “The football fans were indignant when they saw what they had missed. The Heidi audience was peeved at having an ambulatory football score intrude on one of the story’s more touching moments. Short of pre-empting Heidi for a skin flick, NBC could not have managed to alienate more viewers that evening.”

Since then, NBC has a special hotline, referred to as the Heidi phone, connected to a different exchange in order to ensure that staff can always get through to the Broadcast Operations Control.

44 years later on the 17th of October in 2012, these photographs scored touchdowns on Twitter when they were submitted as Saturday Scenes:

And here are the top players who submitted them:

• dugghelen
• ahpilot
• pendrift
• JeannieKelly
• JanetIsserlis
• WadeyLady001
• exRAFairman
• icklemouse
• carocat
• ClareRevell
• raumsinn
• maidindevon77
• DaveySteven
• tradingnothing
• martin_chrisj
• akrabat
• mousewords
• jamesnnb
• phpGargoyle
• AlistairRae
• dudleypj
• HeideSpruck
• dndtsa
• FrauKulli
• Pewari
• gwenthing
• timewind
• azmichelle
• akaSylvia
• sahfenn
• robdavies
• Krautie
• Jo_1067

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 10th of November 1923, an Akita dog was born on a farm in the Akita Prefecture in Japan. He was named Hachikō. He was taken in by a University professor in 1924 who commuted by train to his work.

Every morning, the professor and his dog walked to Shibuya station together. In the evening, Hachikō returned to the station to meet the professor and walk home with him. In May, 1924, the professor suffered a stroke while at work and died. Hachikō did not change his routine, however, and for the next nine years, the patient dog waited at the station for his owner to arrive.

Hachikō

Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. Initial reactions from the people, especially from those working at the station, were not necessarily friendly. However, after the first appearance of the article about him on October 4, 1932 in Asahi Shimbun, people started to bring Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait. This continued for nine years with Hachikō appearing precisely when the train was due at the station.

Hachikō died in 1935. The train station has placed bronze paw-prints and a plaque to mark the spot where he waited for his owner.

Meanwhile, on the 10th of November in 2012, these picturesque moments were immortalised by photographs submitted to Saturday scenes:

And here are the loyal submitters who took them:

• ahpilot
• carocat
• martin_chrisj
• JanetIsserlis
• DaveySteven
• ClareRevell
• JeannieKelly
• CarolineBignell
• Jo_1067
• 65WZ
• noirem
• exRAFairman
• oxonlady
• raumsinn
• craftychai
• Race2Recovery
• icklemouse
• robdavies
• akrabat
• timcaird
• DyerRock
• HarryMyhre
• ernmander
• evenstar84
• maidbloke
• raf_chris
• AlbertsCrochet
• HeideSpruck
• SoullessMachine
• FrauKulli
• mousewords
• timewind
• jamesnnb
• SockYarnShop
• dudleypj
• dndtsa
• CallumDG
• elibrody
• RealCainMosni

Please join in next weekend! It’s easy:

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

I’m looking forward to seeing your Saturday Scene at the weekend!

On the 3rd of November in 1957, Laika became the first earthling to orbit a planet.

Laika was a stray dog, a mongrel bitch around three years old when she was projected into space in the Sputnik II. Soviet scientists used Moscow strays for their testing as they felt that the animals had already learned to endure extreme conditions of cold and hunger.

Three dogs were trained, with a view to discover the effects of launch and orbit, which some scientists believed was not survivable.

Moscow Animals – devoted to the welfare of homeless animals

Laika, which means “barker” in Russian, was a stray from the streets of Moscow. She had been rounded up with dozens of other stray dogs and kept at the space research centre in Moscow. The dogs underwent a variety of tests and training to assess their suitability for the demands of space flight. These included weeks of confinement in small cages to accustom the dogs to the limited space available within the capsule, and being harnessed inside a flight simulator while being subjected to the noise, vibration and G-forces that would be experienced during the launch period and the flight. Laika was eventually selected as the most suitable candidate, with a dog called Albina as her understudy. The general assessment system devised for the dogs at that time was later used for the cosmonauts who were to follow Laika into space.

That day, Laika also became the first Earth animal to die in orbit. Although she died on the first day, the Soviet Government originally covered up her death. First, they claimed that she was euthanised shortly before the oxygen ran out on day six. Later they stated she died as a result of oxygen depletion. It was not until 2002 that the public discovered that she died within hours of the launch from overheating.

In 2008, a monument was erected in honour of Laika. It features a dog standing on top of a rocket.

And on the 3rd of November in 2012, the following photographs sky-rocketed to fame when they were posted to Saturday Scenes:

And here are the demanding photographers who took them!

• exRAFairman
• ClareRevell
• Gedsjeep
• AmboClaire
• CarolineBignell
• Gillybeans99
• RosieRAFBF
• JanetIsserlis
• DaveySteven
• tradingnothing
• Jo_1067
• raumsinn
• AlistairRae
• ernmander
• AlbertsCrochet
• carocat
• APGPhoto
• martin_chrisj
• maidindevon77
• robdavies
• JeannieKelly
• twasntme
• icklemouse
• DaughterofLir
• Pewari
• akrabat
• FrauKulli
• max1018
• ahpilot
• jamesnnb
• HarryMyhre
• timewind
• azmichelle
• mousewords
• dudleypj
• CallumDJ

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 27th of October in 1913, Joseph Medicine Crow-High Bird was born on the Crow Indian reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana. Joe Medicine Crow is a Crow historian and author. He was both the first college graduate and the last war chief of the Crow Tribe.

Four tasks are required to become a war chief: you must touch a living enemy soldier, you must disarm an enemy, you must lead a successful war party and you must steal an enemy horse. Joe Medicine Crow joined the army and fought in the 103rd Infantry Division during World War II, where he completed all four tasks.

THE WAR . Search & Explore . Themes & Topics | PBS

While he was in combat in Europe, and without quite meaning to, Joe Medicine Crow performed the four necessary war deeds to become a war chief like his grandfather. First, he led a seven-man squad carrying explosives through a wall of artillery fire to blast German positions along the Siegfried Line. Then, while helping to take over a German-held village, he literally ran into a German soldier, knocking him down. He quickly disarmed the soldier, taking away his rifle. Finally, in the last weeks of the war, he stole dozens of horses from a battalion of German officers.

After the war, he returned to the Crow reservation, where he was appointed tribal historian and anthropologist.

On his ninety-ninth birthday, on the 27th of October in 2012, the following personal histories were captured within photographs:

And these are the wonderful people who took them:

• martin_chrisj
• ClareRevell
• exRAFairman
• APGPhoto
• JanetIsserlis
• ahpilot
• CarolineBignell
• Pewari
• akrabat
• HeideSpruck
• carocat
• dugghelen
• JeannieKelly
• 65WZ
• icklemouse
• DaveySteven
• Conot
• FrauKulli
• ernmander
• elibrody
• tradingnothing
• evenstar84
• raumsinn
• mousewords
• UKMelia
• kittendew
• jamesnnb
• akaSylvia
• SockYarnShop
• maidbloke
• dndtsa
• robdavies

Would you like to be listed too? It’s easy to join in!

1) Take a photo on a Saturday and upload it to a photo hosting site or your blog so we can see it
2) Twitter the url for your photograph to @SatScenes
3) Watch for the next post on this Twitter Blog to see the full set of all the photographs that day.

I’m looking forward to seeing your scenes!