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On this Date in History – August 19, 1953 The US and British orchestrated Iranian coup d’état .

300px-Operationajax

Tehran men celebrating the coup

The Iranian coup d’etat which occurred on today’s date in 1953 had a profound impact on both the Iranian people and the United States. While the negative impacts of the coup were felt by the Iranian people from the beginning, the US really didn’t feel the impacts until the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution and the taking of the US hostages.  The coup is known in Iran as the 28 Mordad (the date on the Iranian calendar) coup was the overthrow of (check this out) democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and was orchestrated by the British and US Intelligence agencies in an operation known as  ‘Operation Boot’ by the British and project TPAJAX or AJAX . The US role in the coup was not fully acknowledged by the CIA until 2013 when according to Wikipedia…. read more

On this Date in History – August 19, 1953 The US and British orchestrated Iranian coup d'état .

300px-Operationajax

Tehran men celebrating the coup


The Iranian coup d’etat which occurred on today’s date in 1953 had a profound impact on both the Iranian people and the United States. While the negative impacts of the coup were felt by the Iranian people from the beginning, the US really didn’t feel the impacts until the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution and the taking of the US hostages.  The coup is known in Iran as the 28 Mordad (the date on the Iranian calendar) coup was the overthrow of (check this out) democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and was orchestrated by the British and US Intelligence agencies in an operation known as  ‘Operation Boot’ by the British and project TPAJAX or AJAX . The US role in the coup was not fully acknowledged by the CIA until 2013 when according to Wikipedia…. read more

The 41st Chess Olympiad Ends – China wins, Russia second – Where are the US players??

So when I went to Wikipedia this morning to check something there in the news, I saw that the 41st Chess Olympiad concluded with the following results…..

China won the open section of the tournament for the first time, while Russia claimed victory in the women’s section for the third consecutive time as well as third time overall. Chinese Yu Yangyi, playing on board three, and Georgian Nana Dzagnidze, playing on board one, were the most successful players in the open and women’s section, respectively.[8] The event was also the last competitive tournament for Judit Polgár, the strongest female chess player in history,[9] who announced her retirement from competitive chess after the end of the Olympiad.[10][11][12] Playing as a reserve player for Hungary in the open section, she won a silver medal with her team and recorded four wins, one loss and one draw for a total score 4½/6. Read More read more

Three Elections (1968, 1980 and 2000) Was Our Nation Stolen from Us??

When I read Suzie Madrak’s post yesterday at Crooks and Liars titled Yes, Richard Nixon was a traitor, I was pissed all

"I'm a Liar!"

“I’m a Liar!”

over again at “Tricky Dick” (and yes he was one). The post centers on the recently released Nixon papers that now confirm that prior to the 1968 election, a representative of Nixon did meet with the South Vietnamese to get them to not accept a proposed cease-fire that if agreed to would probably have led to Hubert Humphrey’s election. From the post….. read more

45 Years Ago Today – August 15, 1969 – Woodstock Music and Art Fair Opens!

Woodstock_poster

So yesterday, when I wrote that the first time Crosby, Stills and Nash & Young played together was at Woodstock. Well on today’s date 45 years ago – seems not that long ago in some ways and in others it is literally a lifetime ago. In looking over the schedule of the performances CSN&Y were not scheduled to perform until Monday the 18th at 3:00 am! The acts that were scheduled for the 15th were:

Richie Havens – who opened the festival! Following the opening speech and invocation by Swami Satchidananda the following acts played on the 15th and into the morning of the 16th…. read more

Harold Schechter Masterfully Tells the Tale of "The Mad Sculptor" – The Maniac, The Model, and the Murder the Shook the Nation

So if you like true crime stories, especially ones that rocked the nation, then Harold Schecther‘s The Mad Sculptor – The Maniac, The Model and the Murder that Shook the Nation is the book for you, it was for me! The Mad Sculptor is one Robert Irwin, he is also The Maniac. The Model is VerThe Mad Sculptoronica Gedeon  and the Murder was the grisly slaying of Veronica, her mother and their English boarder on Easter Sunday morning in 1937 in a New York City apartment at  Beekman Place.
Author Schecther does not only a fine job of telling the tale of madman/artist Robert Irwin, but in also detailing the way that his crime fits into the history of Beekman Tower and Beeckman Place, where prior murders, that captured the attention had occurred.  These murders included, the shooting of Fritz Gebhardt by his long-time mistress Vera Stretz, and the murder of Nancy Titterton. Schechter  opens the book describing  these murders, their investigations and trials, setting the stage for the Gedeon murders. read more

On this Date in History – August 11, 1942 – US Patent granted to Hedy Lamarr for “Secret Communication System”!

On August 11, 1942,  U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for  the “Secret Communications System” was granted to George Anthiel and 588px-Hedy_Lamarr-publicityhis neighbor Hedy Kiesler Markey who was better known as actress Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was once called the  “most beautiful woman in Europe,” and often referred to as the most gorgeous and exotic of Hollywood’s leading ladies! The patent was for a device  which would use frequency-hopping to avoid jamming of a things like radio controlled torpedoes. The device used a piano roll to unpredictably chnge the signal sent between a control center and the torpedo at short bursts within a range of 88 frequencies in the radio-frequency spectrum. the specific code for the sequence of frequencies would be held identically by the controlling ship and the torpedo. It would be practically impossible for the enemy to scan and jam all 88 frequencies, as this would require too much power or complexity. The frequency-hopping sequence was controlled by a player-piano mechanism, which Anthiel had earlier used to score his Ballet Mécanique read more

On this Date in History – August 11, 1942 – US Patent granted to Hedy Lamarr for "Secret Communication System"!

On August 11, 1942,  U.S. Patent 2,292,387 for  the “Secret Communications System” was granted to George Anthiel and 588px-Hedy_Lamarr-publicityhis neighbor Hedy Kiesler Markey who was better known as actress Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was once called the  “most beautiful woman in Europe,” and often referred to as the most gorgeous and exotic of Hollywood’s leading ladies! The patent was for a device  which would use frequency-hopping to avoid jamming of a things like radio controlled torpedoes. The device used a piano roll to unpredictably chnge the signal sent between a control center and the torpedo at short bursts within a range of 88 frequencies in the radio-frequency spectrum. the specific code for the sequence of frequencies would be held identically by the controlling ship and the torpedo. It would be practically impossible for the enemy to scan and jam all 88 frequencies, as this would require too much power or complexity. The frequency-hopping sequence was controlled by a player-piano mechanism, which Anthiel had earlier used to score his Ballet Mécanique
The design of the device was considered so vital to national defense that government officials would not allow publication of its details. However, the device soon met with opposition from the Navy and was never adopted. The idea of the device was implemented though in 1962 by US military ships during the blockade of Cuba, after the patent had expired. Frequency HoppingThe frequency hopping system designed by Anthiel and Lamarr was an important step in the development of technology to maintain the security of both military communications and cellular phones. In 1997, fifty-five years after receiving their patent Lamarr and Anthiel were honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award, and that same year Lamarr became the first female to receive the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, considered “The Oscars” of inventing. From Biography.com… read more

Toppling of the ancient tree Prometheus in 1964, leads to thoughts of Ray Culp and Phillies trades of the same era!!

The stump (lower left) and some remains of the Prometheus tree (center), in the Wheeler Bristlecone Pine Grove at Great Basin National Park near Baker, Nevada

The stump (lower left) and some remains of the Prometheus tree (center), in the Wheeler Bristlecone Pine Grove at Great Basin National Park near Baker, Nevada from Wikipedia

 August 6, 1964 – Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world’s oldest tree, is cut down

The other day as I looked over the events that happened on August 6th throughout history, I came across a now, that worked out real well, didn’t it” moment or maybe a “What was I thinking moment! It seems that back in 1964 Donald Currey was sampling Bristlecone Pine Trees (Pinus longaeva) near Wheeler Peak in eastern Nevada. One of the trees that Currey was evaluating was Prometheus (recorded by Currey as WPN-114) Prometheus had been named by Naturalists back in 1958 or 1961. Currey wasn’t able to get a definitive core  used for aging the tree, for whatever reason, and it was decided that the tree down would be cut down. When the tree was toppled it was discovered that the tree was the oldest known non-clonal organism, and was at east 4,862 years old, possibly more than 5000 years old!! Oops! My bad!…. Whether or not Currey and/or Forestry personnel knew the age of the tree or even if Currey had to or should have cut the tree down is up for debate. You can read the whole story here at Wikipedia! read more

This Day in History – August 4, 1964 – The Bodies of Three Slain Civil Rights Workers Found in Mississippi!

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner(top to bottom)

James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner(top to bottom)

On the night of June 21-22 in 1964 three American civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael “Mickey” Schwerner were shot at close range and killed.   The workers had been working on the “Freedom Summer” campaign, attempting to register African-Americans to vote. On today’s date August 4th, their bodies  were found in an earthen dam near the murder site.

While I was only 13 when it happened, and that summer I was more interested in the Phillies pennant race collapse, I do remember the national outrage over the shootings and the FBI being sent in to investigate. The FBI investigation was known as Mississippi Burning (MIBURN) read more