Saturday Scenes

On the 15th of May, 1718, James Puckle applied to the Patent Office of the United Kingdom for a patent for a gun. He called it the Defence Gun but it was better known as the Puckle Gun and was the first documented rapid-fire gun. His patent included a full description of the gun, with plates and chambers.

James Puckle – Wikipedia

Puckle demonstrated two versions of the basic design: one, intended for use against Christian enemies, fired conventional round bullets, while the second variant, designed to be used against the Muslim Turks, fired square bullets, which were considered to be more damaging and would, according to its patent, convince the Turks of the “benefits of Christian civilization.

I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the usage of “civilization” in this context, really. Although George Orwell supposedly said that “We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine-gun.” So that’s hopeful…

Don’t despair! The good news is we have a great collection of civilised scenes from all over the world, each one taken on the 15th of May 2010:

• fluttabyz
• robdavies
• twasntme
• pewari
• icklemouse
• raumsinn
• janetisserlis
• RAFairman
• thermalhound
• drewbenn
• sahfenn
• pixelesh
• Denrael
• Tashenubaste
• LannaGirl
• tradingnothing
• domr
• akaSylvia

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.