Guantánamo Bay

Judge Randolph: Consider yourself in Contempt!
Kaffee: Colonel Jessep, did you order the Code Red?
Judge Randolph: You don't have to answer that question!
Col. Jessep: I'll answer the question! ... You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?!
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Col. Jessep: You can't handle the truth!

Ever wonder how it is the United States has a Navy base in Cuba?


Guantánamo Bay (Spanish: Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay located at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from the immediate hinterland.

The bay was called Guantánamo by its original inhabitants, native americans called the Taínos. Christopher Columbus landed on Cuba there in 1494, naming it Puerto Grande. When Spanish settlers took control of Cuba in 1511, the bay became a vital harbor on the south side of the island.

The bay was briefly known as Cumberland Bay when the British seized it in 1741, during the War of Jenkins' Ear (You do remember this war?). British Admiral Edward Vernon arrived with a force of eight warships and 4,000 soldiers with plans to march on Santiago de Cuba. However, resistance by local forces forced him to withdraw.

During the Spanish-American War (April 25, 1898 - August 12, 1898), the U.S. Navy fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season. They chose Guantánamo because of its excellent harbor. U.S. Marines landed with naval support in the invasion of Guantánamo Bay. As they moved inland, however, Spanish resistance increased and the Marines required support from Cuban scouts.

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base which surrounds the southern portion of the bay, nicknamed "Gitmo", covers about 45 square miles. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base, established in 1898, when the United States took control of Cuba from Spain following the Spanish-American War.

A perpetual lease for the area around Guantánamo Bay was offered February 23, 1903, from Tomás Estrada Palma, the first President of Cuba. The Cuban-American Treaty held, among other things, that the United States, for the purposes of operating coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of the Guantánamo Bay, while the Republic of Cuba is recognized to retain ultimate sovereignty.

In 1934, a treaty reaffirming the lease, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it or until the U.S. abandoned the base property.

After the Cuban Revolution, then-President Dwight Eisenhower insisted the status of the base remained unchanged, despite Fidel Castro's objections. Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent checks from the U.S. government, and even then only because of "confusion" in the early days of the revolution, according to Castro. The remaining uncashed checks made out to "Treasurer General of the Republic" (a title that ceased to exist after the revolution) are supposedly kept in Castro's office stuffed into a desk drawer.

The "United States" argues that the cashing of the single check signifies Havana's ratification of the lease — and that ratification by the new government renders moot any questions about violations of sovereignty and illegal military occupation.

Col. Jessep: Have you ever spent time in an infantry unit, son?
Kaffee: No sir.
Col. Jessep: Ever served in a forward area?
Kaffee: No sir.
Col. Jessep: Ever put your life in another man's hands, ask him to put his life in yours?
Kaffee: No sir.
Col. Jessep: We follow orders, son. We follow orders or people die. It's that simple. Are we clear?
Kaffee: Yes sir.
Col. Jessep: Are we clear?
Kaffee: Crystal.

Secret Penpals

A while back, I joined Parsley's "secret penpal" club. She gave each of us participants the address of a friendly blogger and we are to write them at the beginning of the month from this month until December.

I wrote to my penpal and found writing with pen and paper an interesting exercise. I've not written much beyond short notes in cards lately. I found it an enjoyable way to pass time. A few days ago (sorry, I've been really under the weather and time has blurred together and I know I'm very late posting this), I received a note from my secret penpal! It is much, much more than a note - she did this marvelous cross-stitched handmade note card!


Gosh, I was tickled pin...er...orange! The note inside asked about how my fixation with cones started. Well, secret penpal, it is all explained (here). I hope after you read about it, you will still want to be my secret penpal!

Thank you for the wonderful card, Secret Penpal!!


Some of you may remember my saying somewhere (it totally escapes me where)...that I wear my pedometer all the time, even while wearing just my underpants. Someone asked how about those times where I was washing my only pair of underwear...standing nervously at the washer and dryer, hoping that they didn't follow the escaping, soon to be mis-matched newly not a pair of socks. Did I wear my pedometer even then?

Well, no... but I got this in an email from another penpal that I send a card to on occasion and I was sooooo tempted to photoshop in a pedometer... somewhere... but umm.. good taste "spared" you that (maybe).

:)

Lastly, but not leastly (as I say), I got a postcard from Parsley thanking me for joining in on the secret penpal adventure.

Parsley... it is ME that should be thanking YOU!

I need BX-28J344-01 MMP 8 on!

I've been arriving at the office a couple hours early each day this week trying to get things repaired from the storm we had last Friday evening. The temporary "prevent further damage" repairs have been completed as well as the cleanup of the yard debris. The grass needs cutting and I need to call (why?) the insurance company to see if they received the paperwork I faxed over to them yesterday morning. On the fax cover sheet was a note saying "please call me when you get this" and my phone number and I'm still waiting for it...

One day this past week, the phone rang in the early hours of the morning, and when I answered with sleep still in my voice, "Hullo?" I heard my dad rattle off, "I need BX-28J344-01 MMP 8 on!"

After I got a bit of paper and a pencil, I asked him to repeat himself. I sometimes think the powers-that-be in our Government might be listening in and wondering what the secret code is...and half expect a visit from the FBI.

But it's nothing sinister. Down in the basement of the office, fondly referred to as the dungeons, is the rack.


The rack holds the production tooling from my dad's business. When he closed the foundry down, he and I spent hours selecting out about hundred of these from literally thousands trying to find those that were still in use. In the trade, they are called patterns, and function somewhat like dress patterns do for a dressmaker.

The production tooling ranges from rather expensive to simple, depending primarily on how intricate it is, and how many of the final items are to be produced. A high volume run of tens of thousands usually requires metal patterns and as many duplicates that can be put in a manageable package.

A one-off job might entail a simple wood pattern with no other tooling.

Here is BX-28J344-01 MMP 8 on!


There are eight of what looks like toilet flush handles on a Metal Match Plate (MMP). The magnesium tooling is liberally covered with talc parting powder. The item made by this tooling is a yellow-colored, bronze "handle" that I've no idea what is used for or what it does. I know that the finished handles look like "toggles," are quite hefty (about 2 pounds apiece) and fit my hand nicely.

The tooling can be simple but elegant.


This pattern is made from hard mahogany wood. The fellow that crafted it is a pure genius when it comes to wood shop tools. The beautiful wood is sadly covered with a grey paint that has special 'non-stick' qualities that permit the pattern to be pulled freely from a sand mold. You can see the sand mold process here part 1 and part 2. The first minute or two of part two is the most explanatory if you are short for time.

Again, I've no real idea what the finished metal item is used for - it looks like some sort of mixer that is mounted on a steel pipe.


This is the pattern for part of a metal lecture hall chair... the kind with the wooden arm that swings up and across your lap. This is reproduction of the ones used at Princeton University and were used when they refurbished McCosh Hall. You can see a picture of the finished chairs here.

I quote the last paragraph from the website linked to above:

The lecture hall McCosh 50 has played host to visits by dozens of prominent figures in politics, science, literature and the arts. Most notably, Albert Einstein gave his renowned Stafford Little lectures on the theory of relativity in McCosh 50 in 1921, the year before he received the Nobel Prize. Scientists from all over the country packed the room for the five lectures, which were compiled and published under the title "The Meaning of Relativity." Recent speakers have included novelist Chinua Achebe, comedian Steve Martin, political activist and class of 1955 member Ralph Nader, architect Cesar Pelli, actress Meryl Streep, Marina Mahathir, an activist for HIV/AIDS awareness, and Elie Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

This is the stuff my father, his father, and on back to 1850's make and made.

Next time - a little about the math involved...

Monday Morning Greetings

When I got to work this morning, this is the scene that greeted me.

Sometime Friday night or Saturday morning, high winds came through town and ripped all sorts of branches from the trees. The office building next door to mine suffered a worse fate. An old, 100 year plus oak tree toppled over and into the building.


The complete front of the building was damaged, the roof destroyed and the screened in porch leveled. You can see the size of the trunk - all that remains of the oak tree (besides the yard debris) in the lower right.

My building, the one were I work shoveling snow, cutting grass and working on computer programs was also damaged.


I guess, in a way, I'm fortunate that "all" the damage appears to be torn gutter, ripped up shingle and flashing, mangled air conditioner coolant lines, and tons of yard debris.


I'm going to be busy cleaning up in the heat - and dealing with the insurance people. Oh joy.

I might not get to your blogs for a while - I've my hands full and am a bit upset.