14 April 26

I'm wearing my "spy code" tie (from the International Spy Museum) for two occasions on 13 April (yesterday): (1) the birthday of cryptologist Herbert Osborne Yardley (1889-1958) and (2) the creation of MK-ULTRA by the CIA in 1953. 

MK-ULTRA was a program to develop various methods for "mind control," including drugs such as LSD and mescaline. The name is a "cryptonym," meaning that it combines elements of "code" which are familiar to its personnel but are intentionally misleading to others. (If you are familiar with the Jason Bourne stories, you will recall Treadstone and Blackbriar.) "The CIA sought, through its research, to devise a truth serum to enhance the interrogations of POWs and captured spies. The agency also wanted to develop techniques and drugs – such as "amnesia pills" – to create CIA superagents who would be immune to the mind-control efforts of adversaries." According to Wikipedia it was officially halted in 1973 (but nobody knows for sure!).

My blue armband is not spy-gear; it signifies my blood donation today to the Central Kentucky Blood Center. 

18 October 23

It's the third Wednesday in October, which means it is Hagfish Day. I learned about this just in time to choose my tie, so hang on for the story. Hagfish are commonly regarded as the ugliest of all creatures, but once you look beyond their appearance you can learn about their great significance in ocean ecology. Hagfish scavenge the ocean floor, cleaning up the debris from other marine animals. I don't have any ties that I consider to be ugly, but I realized that my "spy code" tie has a message hiding beneath the surface, so I think it's appropriate for today.

13 April 22

Today's "spy code" tie marks the birthday of Herbert Osborn Yardley (1889-1958), "a man who was by all odds the most colorful, controversial, enigmatic figure in the history of American cryptology."And it was on this date in 1953 that the CIA opened the program code-named MK-ULTRA, a program to develop various methods for "mind control," including drugs such as LSD and mescaline. The name is a "cryptonym," meaning that it combines elements of "code" which are familiar to its personnel but are intentionally misleading to others. (If you are familiar with the Jason Bourne stories, you will recall Treadstone and Blackbriar.) "The CIA sought, through its research, to devise a truth serum to enhance the interrogations of POWs and captured spies. The agency also wanted to develop techniques and drugs – such as "amnesia pills" – to create CIA superagents who would be immune to the mind-control efforts of adversaries." According to Wikipedia it was "officially halted" in 1973 (but nobody knows for sure!). If you prefer something more mundane, you can celebrate Thomas Jefferson's birthday (1743).

Special note: This is my 3,004th entry in my tie blog, having completed 14 years of documenting my tie choices!

13 April 21

This is Entry Number 2736! Thirteen years ago today I began cataloging my necktie celebrations! My blog shows that I've worn this "spy code" tie (from the International Spy Museum) 15 times over those years, mainly on the thirteenths of April. Today marks the birthday of cryptologist Herbert Osborne Yardley (1889-1958). But a more well-kept secret for this date is the creation of MK-ULTRA by the CIA in 1953. MK-ULTRA was a program to develop various methods for "mind control," including drugs such as LSD and mescaline. The name is a "cryptonym," meaning that it combines elements of "code" which are familiar to its personnel but are intentionally misleading to others. (If you are familiar with the Jason Bourne stories, you will recall Treadstone and Blackbriar.) "The CIA sought, through its research, to devise a truth serum to enhance the interrogations of POWs and captured spies. The agency also wanted to develop techniques and drugs – such as "amnesia pills" – to create CIA superagents who would be immune to the mind-control efforts of adversaries." According to Wikipedia it was "officially halted" in 1973 (but nobody knows for sure!).

13 April 20

Would you ever consider being a spy? Today marks the birthday of cryptologist Herbert Osborne Yardley (1889-1958). But a more well-kept secret for this date is the creation of MK-ULTRA by the CIA in 1953. MK-ULTRA was a program to develop various methods for "mind control," including drugs such as LSD and mescaline. The name is a "cryptonym," meaning that it combines elements of "code" which are familiar to its personnel but are intentionally misleading to others. (If you are familiar with the Jason Bourne stories, you will recall Treadstone and Blackbriar.) "The CIA sought, through its research, to devise a truth serum to enhance the interrogations of POWs and captured spies. The agency also wanted to develop techniques and drugs – such as "amnesia pills" – to create CIA superagents who would be immune to the mind-control efforts of adversaries." According to Wikipedia it was "officially halted" in 1973 (but nobody knows for sure!). Besides my SPY-code tie, my own closet holds a T-shirt claiming to do its own mind control.

14 April 19

Two special events to note: (1) Saturday marked the birthday of not-very-famous American crypotologist Herbert Osborne Yardley (1889-1958), and (2) today marks the beginning of my twelfth year for this tie blog! This is entry #2249.  For entry #1, on 13 April 08, I wore this spy code tie to honor Yardley's birthday. I'm sure you can see the highlighted letters among the rest of the letters and numbers.

7 September 17

Can you read my tie? It's "coded" with a not-so-secret three-letter word. On this date in 1978, Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was assassinated on a London street by someone from the Bulgarian secret police, most likely assisted by the Soviet KGB. The now-legendary event unfolded like this:

Following his usual daily routine, Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge spanning the River Thames, and waited at a bus stop to take a bus to his job at the BBC. He felt a slight sharp pain, as a bug bite or sting, on the back of his right thigh. He looked behind him and saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground. The man hurriedly crossed to the other side of the street and got in a taxi which then drove away. The event is recalled as the "Umbrella Murder" with the assassin claimed to be Francesco Gullino, codenamed "Piccadilly." When Markov arrived at work at the BBC World Service offices, he noticed a small red pimple had formed at the site of the sting he had felt earlier, and the pain had not lessened or stopped. He told at least one of his colleagues at the BBC about this incident. That evening he developed a fever and was admitted to St James' Hospital in Balham, where he died four days later, on 11 September 1978, at the age of 49. The cause of death was poisoning from a ricin-filled pinhead-sized platinum pellet (which had been fired from the umbrella).

28 April 16

Can you find the "secret word" hidden on my tie? Aldrich Ames was "the most damaging mole in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency," according to time.com. He worked on behalf of the Soviet and Russian KGB from 1985 until February 1994, while also leading the US counterintelligence team (supposedly spying on USSR and then Russia). Streetside mailboxes in Washington, DC like this one were frequently used to signal when information was ready to be dropped. Ames pleaded guilty to spy charges on April 28, 1994. He is serving a life sentence, currently at Terre Haute FCI.

3 December 14

On This Day, in 1948: "The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm."

13 April 14

Today's spy tie celebrates (1) 56 years since the death of Herbert Osborne Yardley, an (obscure?) American cryptographer; (2) 61 years since the CIA launched the mind-control program MKULTRA (with ties to the Unabomber); and (3) six years since the launch of this tie blog, when I also wore this tie!

12 February 13

Tomorrow is David Anderson's 25th birthday! He is with us today, and he chose my "Spy Code" tie. Clearly there's something subliminal going on.

5 September 12

Today's "Spy Code" tie celebrates the 34th anniversary (on Friday) of the bizarre ricin-pellet-in-the-tip-of-the-umbrella spy assassination, in which Bulgarian secret police fatally poisoned Georgi Markov in London. Read more about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov.

28 April 11

Aldrich Ames was "the most damaging mole in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency," according to time.com. He worked on behalf of the Soviet and Russian KGB from 1985 until February 1994, while also leading the US counterintelligence team (supposedly spying on USSR and then Russia). Streetside mailboxes in Washington, DC like this one were frequently used to signal when information was ready to be dropped. Ames pleaded guilty to spy charges on April 28, 1994. My photos today were taken in a clandestine location somewhere around Richmond, KY. (gxq:1795-8866-3232-9999-X, Geneva, h$7&tophat)

07 September 10

Anniversary of the ricin-pellet-in-the-umbrella-tip incident in 1978. See this 2008 entry for details!

13 April 10

As noted in Wikipedia for April 13:
1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program MKULTRA.
I highly recommend reading about MK-ULTRA. You will learn some trivia about the background of the Unabomber and about hippie culture!














Both my tie and the "secret agent" in the photo are from the International Spy Museum, in Washington, DC.

Also of note: today completes two full years of tie-blogging. I wore the same tie on April 13, 2008, honoring the birthday of a German cryptographer.

29 September 09

The most notable occasion I can find for September 29 is the 1901 birthday of Enrico Fermi, the physicist who led the "Manhattan Project" that developed the first atomic bombs. His most praised achievement in physics came in December, 1942, when his experiments under the football field at the University of Chicago produced the first sustained nuclear reaction. Wikipedia includes this anecdote: "When the first self-sustained nuclear chain reaction was achieved, a coded phone call was made by one of the physicists, Arthur Compton, to James Conant, chairman of the National Defense Research Committee. The conversation was in impromptu code:

Compton: The Italian navigator has landed in the New World.

Conant: How were the natives?

Compton: Very friendly."

Though Fermi was not known as a spy, the clandestine work that followed his discovery inspired me to wear my cryptic tie today.

18 March 09

Spy-tie day (and I can't tell you why).

08 September 08

Yesterday, September 7, marked the thirtieth anniversary of one of the all-time best spy anecdotes in all history (known to me): While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from in a specially-designed umbrella. Seriously.

This tie is from the International Spy Museum, in Washington, DC.

13 April 08

Today marks 50 years since the death of Herbert Osborne Yardley, an (obscure?) American cryptographer.