28. mordad coup d’état (11. 780)

Instigated by American and British petroleum interests in the region, the Iranian army overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh on this day in 1953 in favour of bolstering the monarchical rule of Shah Mohammad Rez Pahlavi, refusing to cooperate with the administration once an audit was requested of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to make sure the UK corporation was adhering to the terms of it stewardship. Following threats to nationalise the producer’s assets, perceived increasing Communist influence and a worldwide embargo against Persian, Churchill and Eisenhower conspired to rid themselves of this uncooperative element. Under military leadership, the Shah was able to consolidate power and reign for the next twenty-six years, aligned with Western interests, until deposed during the 1979 Revolution (see previously here and here). In August 2013, the US government formally acknowledged the CIA’s role in regime change.

11x11 (11. 625)

indemnity clause: a look at the exactingly detailed Sanborn maps created for US insurance firms in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries 

unseen persia: thousands of historic photographs of Iran during the Qajar dynasty leaked on-line from the archive of the Golestan Palace  

sweet thing: Chaka Khan’s debut Tiny Desk performance  

bahía de cochinos: Russian warships on drill visit Cuba  

doubly-disambiguated bishop non-capture statemale: a vlogger tries to categorise the rarest chess moves  

transponder: wood proves surprisingly durable material in space as agencies plan to launch experimental satellites, like ships on the high seas—via the Linkfest  

1337: a pretty exhaustive list of English words that can be spelled on a calculator turned upside down  

hollywood canteen: a fond farewell to Janis Page, recently departed at 101  

the brannock device: a better shoe-sizer based on the barley corn  

gallus gallus domesticus: photographer recreates exacting portraits of Edo-era Ito Jakuchu’s studies of chickens—via Nag on the Lake  

geochron: the incredible restoration of 1960s analog, electromechanical world clock and map