Unexplained events and mysteries

[Cyber]

Blood type is probably quite universal but medical conditions like congenital dermal melanocytotis are more reflective of inheritance. Another condition is sickle cell anaemia.
According to the CDC 1 in 333 white Americans carry the gene
Can a White Person Have Sickle Cell Anemia?

while its thought 1 in 20 white Americans have an African ancestor, having sickle cell almost guarantees a sub-Saharan ancestor. Another interesting characteristic is hair. My mother and brother have almost frizzy hair which is uncharacteristic of my extended family who have straight hair. Almost certainly a throwback to a distant Sub Saharan ancestor. I was watching a Youtube video of a New York woman whose father is Sicilian. From childhood her mother was unable to manage the frizz in her hair. After failing to find a hairdresser she stumbled onto a African American hairdresser who took one look and said your daughter has "black people's" hair. From early childhood she has been going to the same African American hairdresser.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Blood type O is near universal among native first native peoples in North America A and B thousands or millions of year old, AB at most no more than two thousand years old, No old grave sites in Europe had AB blood very rare even now only 1% of population in Europe. The probability of an European like myself having AB blood from both parents is 1 in 10,000. Finding my mothers dad, had a distant relative whom married my grand mothers distant relative explains this One family carriers of AB.

 

[Cyber]

Blood type O is near universal among native first native peoples in North America A and B thousands or millions of year old, AB at most no more than two thousand years old, No old grave sites in Europe had AB blood very rare even now only 1% of population in Europe. The probability of an European like myself having AB blood from both parents is 1 in 10,000. Finding my mothers dad, had a distant relative whom married my grand mothers distant relative explains this One family carriers of AB.

Fair enough, could this AB blood type be inherited from an unknown native American ancestor perhaps?

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I'm 2nd generation Canadian both parents from Netherlands both had AB positive blood dad would have inherited his from my grand mother a Verhulst Mom most likely from great great great grandfather a Verhulst basically comes around goes around.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Got my brothers DNA profile he has three people from Japan who share DNA with him one better than me would have expected more as he has B blood type.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Checking out DNA relatives Zeeman and Verhulsts, on linkedin all professionals most with masters degrees , sort of like my family nieces and nethews plus cousins and their kids. This is not normal.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Just found a 3rd cousin Verhulst PHD.

 

[Cyber]

Some studies suggest families with geniuses also are prone to having kids on the spectrum.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

My older brother was a genius, niether of my parents was on the spectrum, however did see studues that blood type is correlated with genius, AB being most prevelent. I guess both conjectures could be concurrently be correct. So far Verhulst seems to be the Key..Second most common surname on my family tree.

 

[Cyber]

Interesting, I didn't know that, and yes it looks like there is an association between AB blood type and increased cognitive flexibility, creative thinking, and the ability to quickly adapt to new conditions.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

I have no idea who else in my family has AB positive blood, part of the puzzle I'm trying to sort out. So far one son. Asking my cousins as I see them.

 

[Judge]

Rudolph Hess himself was an enigma. I wonder if he was being targeted by on or more of Hitler's inner circle?

That's a forgone conclusion IMO. A threat that virtually all members of Hitler's inner circle faced. The man who ultimately replaced Hess. - Martin Bormann. Who was probably best of all at undermining his peers' reputation and authority in the eyes of Hitler. Oddly enough it would seem his wife Ilse Hess was much more cognizant of the threat Bormann posed than Rudolf himself, who tended to seem timid compared to his peers. A bunch of piranhas. With Bormann having the sharpest teeth.

He was being sidelined closer to the outbreak of war indicating his main value was as a political apparatchik becoming a somewhat useless role once the Nazis has absolute power. His military experience was as a infantryman in world war I so perhaps lacking leadership skills in wartime he accepted a suicide role on a peace mission to appease Churchill to pull Britain out of the war, knowing if he failed he would be incarcerated in a British prison.

That's another one of the mysteries of this story. Whether or not others were complicit all the way up to Hitler in this incredible mission to drastically change the dynamics of the war. But then the really creepy factor IMO was the timing of it all. Just a month before Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia. To get Britain to switch sides, and tip the balance of the war firmly in the hands of the Axis powers.

Yet even if this mission really was sanctioned by Hitler and others, they severely underestimated one man. Winston Churchill, who would always see the threat of National Socialism first and foremost greater than that of Bolshevism.

And was Hess killed and replaced with a "double" ? And if so, who did it? The Russian NKVD had equal motive to eliminate Hess every bit as Britain's SAS under the circumstances. Stalin naturally mistrusted the Western Powers based on their attempts to aid the counter-revolution in Russia when Lenin was still in power. This certainly wou;d have exacerbated Stalins's diplomatic efforts indefinitely. That everything we saw with Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt was just a facade on Stalin's part.

Above all, was it in fact members of Britain's SAS who aided in setting up an appearance of Hess' suicide in Spandau Prison? Especially if other allies wanted to release Hess on humanitarian grounds where there was great apprehension that Hess might write a book of his experiences, much like Albert Speer did.

Of all these countries and past and present regimes, I've always admired the British when it comes to keeping state secrets on an indefinite basis.

Another mystery along similar lines is one revolving openly around Sergeant John C. Wood. The official executioner of the nine Nuremberg defendants sentenced to death by hanging in 1946. All them died excruciating deaths on the end of a rope.

Was this due to Wood's documented ineptitude, or was he actually following orders? Then consider people like Albert Pierrepoint who executed some 435 to 600 persons with flawless precision as Britain's hangman.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Traced my genealogy back too 1650. ten generations.

 

[Cyber]

That's a forgone conclusion IMO. A threat that virtually all members of Hitler's inner circle faced. The man who ultimately replaced Hess. - Martin Bormann. Who was probably best of all at undermining his peers' reputation and authority in the eyes of Hitler. Oddly enough it would seem his wife Ilse Hess was much more cognizant of the threat Bormann posed than Rudolf himself, who tended to seem timid compared to his peers. A bunch of piranhas. With Bormann having the sharpest teeth.

Yes it's quite mysterious how rapidly the Nazi party acquired power so rapidly. A cast of characters worthy of a best selling novel, except this all happened. Historians can spend their entire lives absorbed in the lives of Rudolph Hess, Bormann or even the ill-fated brownshirts and Ernst Rohm. But for me the elephant in the room is the German people. I often wonder what was going on in the heads of the average German?

Or for that matter the founding fathers of the United States drawing up a constitution built on untold evil. what was going on in the heads of common American settlers?. Many people draw on George Orwell on how power corrupts. Or even Tolstoy's "war and peace".

But for me, William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" comes closest to understand how innocent people become participants in horrible enterprises. we look back with nostalgia but have no idea what experiences shaped common peoples thought processes. I knew a German neighbour and her sister back in the 1970s who survived whose family survived the bombing of Dresden in 1945. Her sister remembered life under the Nazis with some fondness for cleanliness and order. the other sister disliked the Americans for destroying her beautiful home. My lasting memory of these lovely old German sisters was how much they loved orderliness and cleanliness (their house was immaculate).

 

[Judge]

But for me the elephant in the room is the German people. I often wonder what was going on in the heads of the average German?

Consider the end of the First World War, and how it impacted so many German citizens. In chronological order:

* Deprivation
* Starvation
* National Humiliation
* Loss of 13% of Germany's territory and their colonies
* 91 years of reparations to pay for causing World War One
* Hyperinflation
* Political chaos
* Unending sense of hopelessness for so many

Then came Hitler who told them exactly what they wanted to hear, offering both "work and bread" for all. Under a guise of hope, but actually delivering vengeance and oppression on a broad scale. Most citizens were eager to embrace the Nazi Party with an ending to so much uncertainty and strife living in the post-war Weimar Republic.

Or for that matter the founding fathers of the United States drawing up a constitution built on untold evil. what was going on in the heads of common American settlers?. Many people draw on George Orwell on how power corrupts. Or even Tolstoy's "war and peace".

For me it was Alexis de Toqueville's treatise, "Democracy in America". A thoughtful but critical outline of the consequences of what he considered "a tyranny of the majority".

But for me, William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" comes closest to understand how innocent people become participants in horrible enterprises.

Yep. A good metaphor the dark side of so many average people- especially children. Another film along such lines might interest you called "Blood and Honor: Youth Under Hitler".

Reminds me of the research of MIT psychology professor Dr. Stanley Milgram. Who initiated some highly controversial social experiments of how far a person (any person) might go in following orders within a perceived authoritarian environment. Involving the delivery of electric shocks for anyone not complying. The shocks were actually non-existent, but those delivering them had no idea.

 

[Cyber]

Consider the end of the First World War, and how it impacted so many German citizens. In chronological order:

* Deprivation
* Starvation
* National Humiliation
* Loss of 13% of Germany's territory and their colonies
* 91 years of reparations to pay for causing World War One
* Hyperinflation
* Political chaos
* Unending sense of hopelessness for so many

Then came Hitler who told them exactly what they wanted to hear, offering both "work and bread" for all. Under a guise of hope, but actually delivering vengeance and oppression on a broad scale. Most citizens were eager to embrace the Nazi Party with an ending to so much uncertainty and strife living in the post-war Weimar Republic.

Yes this makes some sense. 1920s Germany was (ironically) one of the most enlightened nations on the planet in all fields. Both intellectually, spiritually and culturally. Unfortunately the great depression and hyperinflation had a big enough impact to tip a critical mass of German people into hoping Hitler would be the messiah (Like trump) to deliver them from unemployment and chaos - Make Germany Great Again sure was a swell slogan.

 

[Cyber]

Reminds me of the research of MIT psychology professor Dr. Stanley Milgram. Who initiated some highly controversial social experiments of how far a person (any person) might go in following orders within a perceived authoritarian environment. Involving the delivery of electric shocks for anyone not complying. The shocks were actually non-existent, but those delivering them had no idea.

Stanley Milgram wanted to understand why normal Germans followed orders to kill millions. He came up with the term "destructive obedience". Prof Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitlers willing executioners" goes into a little more depth on psychosocial factors. A number of ex-Nazi scientists were recruited to develop the US space rockets in Operation paperclip and ultimately founded NASA.

 

[Judge]

A number of ex-Nazi scientists were recruited to develop the US space rockets in Operation paperclip and ultimately founded NASA.

Yes, I'm familiar with personalities such as Generalmajor Walter Dornberger and Standartenführer Wernher Von Braun and their participation in the German development of the Vergeltungswaffen raketen (V-1 & V-2).

An interesting Cold War resume for Von Braun, an honorary colonel of the SS prior to becoming part of NASA. (A bit more tolerable I suppose than Klaus Barbi's recruitment with the CIA. )

My family was quite close to America's manned spaceflight program in the 50s and 60s. Mainly because one of the original seven Mercury, Gemini and Apollo program astronauts was a good friend and classmate of my father's.

They used to double-date at the Naval Academy (Class of 46) during the war. My father once took this picture of him with his date while boating on the Chesapeake. Though NASA kept quite a tight PR rein over all their astronauts, and they eventually lost touch with each other over the years.

Recognize him?

 

[Judge]

Unfortunately the great depression and hyperinflation had a big enough impact to tip a critical mass of German people into hoping Hitler would be the messiah (Like trump) to deliver them from unemployment and chaos - Make Germany Great Again sure was a swell slogan.

"Messiah" indeed.

I always thought that a critical moment in Hitler's life was after he took the occult advice of alleged psychic Erik Hanussen who conned Hitler into thinking he was not the "drum-beater" he thought he was, but rather a true German "messiah". With the masses beginning to believe it in time as well. Ouch.

When Hitler actually believed him and then ironically had no further use for Hanussen, who was outed as a Jew and subsequently murdered by the SA in March, 1933. Charming.

Same old story of extremists and their propensity to so easily "throw their own under the bus". Which to this day has a peculiarly familiar ring to it.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

My dad watched documentaries on the war when we were kids as he was taken off street as teenager forced labour, wanted to know what happened, This got me interested, books every thing. Worse part wife is German descent seventh generation. carries the guilt her people could have done this Even through she is half English. Shows how complicated things can get. Her father and uncles left the province during the war hiding in case camps opened up for people of German ancestory.After all The Japanese were put in camps.