Month: June 2017

Pocket Guide to West Africa, 1943

On: By: Romeyn

In West Africa you will be playing an important role in the world-wide strategy to smash Hitler and the Axis. On Africa’s West Coast you will be guarding vital supply lines to North Africa, Egypt, India, Russia, and even China. From this region must come much needed strategic materials for our own war machine and for all of the United Nations. The Nazis had been waiting for the chance to execute their elaborate plans for the exploitation of Africa’s vast resources and labor supply. Your presence in West Africa means that these plans have been put on ice. Thus you are striking a hard blow at Hitler, and at Hirohito, too.

Digitized by Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University

Prepared by Special service division, Army service forces, United States Army.

Download: Pocket Guide to West Africa

African Pterodactyls?

On: By: Romeyn

M.D.W. Jeffreys, M.A., Ph.D.

In September, 1939, the West African Review contained an article “Living Monster or Fabulous.Animal?” Readers will recollect that some years earlier there had been a type of “Challenger Expedition” into Central Africa to search the Iruwuni forests of the Belgian Congo for a huge, mysterious, antedeluvian monster. “Is the Brontosauros still alive in the morasses of the Congo?” were the headlines in some of the London papers. No report of the traces of any such monsters ever appeared, and I was not surprised. I had been right through the Belgian Congo in 1923, and had come into intimate contact with a number of what would be called Native Commissioners or District Officers in British territory, as well as with noted big-game hunters. None of these men, who were in positions to know before anyone else of the existence of such monsters, ever alluded to the possible existence of them. Yet stories do circulate among natives of animals never listed in any Museum. Continue reading “African Pterodactyls?” →

Stalin’s half-man, half-ape super-warriors

On: By: Romeyn

Super-troopers: Stalin wanted Planet of the Apes-like troops, insensitive to pain and hardship.

CHRIS STEPHEN AND ALLAN HALL

The Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia’s top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.

According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: “I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.”
In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a “living war machine”. The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created. Continue reading “Stalin’s half-man, half-ape super-warriors” →

Services Guide to Cairo

On: By: Romeyn

FOREWORD

This Guide is published by the Co-Ordinating Council for the Welfare of the Troops in Egypt with a view to providing useful information for Officers and men of His Britannic Majesty’s Forces staying in and coming on leave to Cairo, including particulars of Services Clubs, Restaurants and places of entertainment.

The Council wish to express their indebtedness to A. Lucas Esq., for his historical note on Cairo, to the support of the various advertisers, and to those members of the Forces and of the Civilian Community who have assisted in the production of this guide-book.

The General Officer Commanding -in -Chief would like to take this opportunity of expressing his appreciation and thanks to the various Philanthropic organisations and to their representatives in Egypt who have so ably and generously assisted in the work of welfare, to the British Chamber of Commerce for their invaluable assistance in the collection of the British War Fund and also to the numerous members of the Civilian Community who have subscribed to the Fund and have devoted so much tome and energy to the well-being of the troops stationed in this country.

 

Download Services Guide to Cairo

Pocket Guide to Egypt, 1943

On: By: Romeyn

“You’re bound for Egypt for just one job: To beat the enemy and help bring conclusive victory for the Allied Nations. To do that, you’ve got to use your brains as well as your body. As an American soldier, you’ll also become a sort of Ambassador for your country. Wherever you go, people are going to judge the United States by you… We’ve got a fairly good reputation in the world at large right now. Don’t spoil it. Make it better… Egypt hasn’t declared war on the Axis: but she is friendly to the United Nations. Dr. Goebbels and every one of his aides is working to switch that friendship. The enemy wants you to make mistakes, and so he is working day and night, with his propaganda. He wants you not to get along with your partners – the soldiers of our Allies who are in Egypt. But most of all, he wants you to make mistakes with the Egyptians. He hopes that, perhaps unwittingly, your manners will offend them, that you’ll trample clumsily on their customs, that you’ll insult their religion, and that you’ll make mistakes about their social attitudes and political beliefs… In order to conduct yourself well in the eyes of the Egyptians, you need to know a little about Egypt, of course. Well, what does an average American know about it? Sure, it has pyramids — and palm trees — and people ride on camels. We’ve all seen travel movies. And the children of Israel fled from Pharaoh across the Red Sea to the Promised Land. We know that much from our Bibles. But that’s hardly enough to equip you as a one-man good-will mission. Thousands of books have been written about Egypt, but no one of them can tell you all about the country. It’s too big and too different from anything Americans know about. So, a different sort of guidebook has been prepared for your information, giving in brief ABC form, a few of the things that may interest you and some of the things you need to know. If you exercise a normal amount of curiosity, you’ll soon find out more about the land of Egypt than is possible to put in any guidebook”

Prepared by Army Information Branch, Army Service Forces, United States Army, 1943

Digitized by Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University

Download Pocket Guide to Egypt

Pocket Guide to Germany, 1944

On: By: Romeyn

“Whether you fight your way in, or march in to occupy Germany under armistice terms, you will be doing a soldier’s job on the soil of the enemy.

The occupation of Germany will give you your chance to build up a personal guarantee that as soon as you turn your back to go home, the German will not pick up his shooting irons and start throwing lead and lies at an unsuspecting world once more. One of the greatest challenges of the Peace to come is to make certain that the German people will take their place as law-abiding, useful citizens in the family of nations.”

Prepared by Army Information Branch, Army Service Forces, United States Army, 1944

Digitized by Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University

Download Pocket Guide to Germany

 

 

Guatemalan Mushroom Men

On: By: Romeyn

A few of the estimated two hundred mushroom stones that escaped destruction , despite the concerte3d efforts of misdirected Catholic missionaries. The smaller mushroom stones are the ones found with metates, which were presumably used for grinding the sacraments prior to used (Borhegi 1961).

Chroniclers of the Spanish Conquest reported the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms among the Aztecs. They called their sacred mushroom Teonanacatl, which means “Gods flesh”  “Teo” meaning god in the Aztec language.

Ruiz de Alarcon reported in the early 1600s that the indigenous peoples believed that their sacred plants were gods, and described a “tawny-colored mushroom made into a drink from its pressed-out juices”.

According to testimony recorded in 1554 in the Colonial document entitled El Titulo de Totonicapan, the Quiché Maya revered mushroom stones as symbols of power and rulership, and before them they performed rituals (of blood sacrifice)to pierce and cut up their bodies. (Sachse, 2001, 186).

The Stone Head Of Guatemala

On: By: Romeyn

In the 1950s, in the jungles of Guatemala, a colossal stone head was discovered. The face had unusual features, such as thin lips and a large nose, and was found directed up at the sky. The features resembled a Caucasian man, which did not fit with any other art works of the time, as contact with Caucasians would have been nonexistent.

Years after its original discovery, it was found destroyed by Dr. Oscar Padilla, a doctor of philosophy and an ancient history enthusiast. He claimed that the head had been destroyed by anti-government rebels, who used it as target practice. The story of the stone head was recently picked up again by the filmmakers behind the documentary Revelations of the Mayans: 2012 and Beyond, who claimed that the photograph proved that extraterrestrials had contacted past civilizations.

During the filming of this documentary, a Guatemalan archaeologist, Hector E. Majia, was interviewed. He stated: “I certify that this monument presents no characteristics of Maya, Nahuatl, Olmec or any other pre-Hispanic civilization. It was created by an extraordinary and superior civilization with awesome knowledge of which there is no record of existence on this planet.”

The region the head was found in is famous for stone heads, but none resemble in any way the one found by Dr. Padilla. The head has raised many questions as to why it is there and who exactly built it. It is likely that we will never know the answers.

(Original Article found here: http://listverse.com/2017/04/02/10-unexplained-mysteries-of-the-jungle/ )

 

 

Green Hornet 75th Anniversary DVD

On: By: Romeyn

This 4 disk collector’s edition brings both The Green Hornet  (1939) and The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1940) together in one set. VCI Worked with Universal to remaster the original serials, and the results were wonderful. All the episodes were crisp and clean with the exception of the last half of episode 9 (I think), as the original had deteriorated to the point where they were unable to clean it, so the quality suffers a bit. If you are new to the Green Hornet Serials, they are black and white and each episode runs about 25 minutes.

In addition to the serials there are a few extras including 4 radio episodes (The Parking Lot Racket [10/31/39], The Highway that Graft Wrote [10/3/40], Paroles for Sale [8/16/41], The Corpse that wasn’t there[2/28/43]), “I AM… The Green Hornet” (a “bio” of the Green Hornet) , before and after restoration, and a photo gallery. The quality is a giant step up from the Super Hero Classics DVD from Pacific Entertainment I had previously, but then again I only paid a dollar for that one. (and don’t get me started about the abomination that was the 2011 remake, don’t they even bother to look at the source material before “basing” a movie off of something?)

To order go to www.vcient.com or amazon.com