Latest from the blog
“But It Helps”?
Early in his career as the United States government’s go-to man on all things cryptologic, William Friedman was asked if insanity was a prerequisite of the codebreaker. Friedman didn’t hesitate in his response.... READ MORE
Aggressive Resistance
Sometime around age fifty I felt the world beginning to pass me by. Technology was the catalyst. Facebook. Twitter. I wanted no part of them. The same, later, for Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.... READ MORE
Herbert O. Yardley: A Reader of Gentlemen’s Mail
“I must confess to considerable distaste for Y. Frankly, I didn’t like him at all. He acted like a wooden Indian.” William Friedman‘s aversion to fellow cryptologist Herbert Yardley was sincere,... READ MORE
Will and Eddie
Happy Will Rogers Day! The boy who would grow up to become the beloved Cowboy Philosopher was born on this day, November 4, 1879. That year it was Election Day. In 2020, it... READ MORE
Fake Views
Elizebeth Smith, like so many bright, talented women of her era, understood the limitations before her. Her Quaker upbringing nurtured natural intellectual curiosity and independence of mind. But the unyielding horizon around her... READ MORE
The Hazards of Cryptology
David Kahn called it the Yardley Symptom, the compulsion of the cryptologist to chip away at the puzzle throughout his waking moments. He turns the letters over in his mind even as he... READ MORE