Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

The primary goal of this site is to provide mature, meaningful discussion about the Vancouver Canucks. However, we all need a break some time so this forum is basically for anything off-topic, off the wall, or to just get something off your chest! This forum is named after poster Creeper, who passed away in July of 2011 and was a long time member of the Canucks message board community.

Moderator: Referees

User avatar
Topper
CC Legend
Posts: 18097
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:11 pm
Location: Earth, most days.

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by Topper »

I did several business trips to Cuba in the mid 90's. I was part of a negotiating team that put together the first and possibly only 51% foreign control deal. Sadly the company I was working for had far too many US holdings to complete the deal.

I showed up in the company's US head office with a pack full of samples from Cuba and while the heads of exploration were having a circle jerk over the rocks the land guy walked into the room and asked where the samples were from. "Cuba" I said, and he ran from the room screaming.

Santiago de Cuba is one of my favourite cities in the Americas and the El Cobre mine was, when I visited, the longest continually operating mine in the America having first started in the mid 1500's.

I looked at a project just outside the fence of Guantanamo. I knew some Jamaican's who were making a fortune selling sand and gravel to the US in Guantanamo because they were the closest non-Cuban source of the construction material.

I had a similar experience to BurningBeard while buying bug infested Cohibas but the saddest part of the whole experience in Cuba was witnessing first hand the economic hardships of ordinary Cubans. Once the Soviet Union collapsed and Mother Russia was no longer buying sugar at 10X the world price while selling oil at 1/10 the world price, Castro was fucked.

First trip, while tooling around central Cuba looking at exploration projects, the Regional Geologist stopped the soviet army jeep so he could spend two month salary to buy a scrawny chicken from a farmer in order to get some protein into his pregnant wife's diet. A few days later while at the Havana apartment of Cuba's head geologist, there was a knock on the door and he was handed a manilla envelope of vitamin pills because there had been an outbreak of malnutrition caused blindness.

The Canadian geo's I met there would arrive from TO with a suitcase of frozen meat and a suitcase of toiletries to be dropped off at the Geological Survey's office for distribution to the staff. A third suitcase would be filled with kid's cloths to be dropped off at an orphanage near whatever project they were looking at.

My last trip, I was driving from Santiago de Cuba back to Havana with the head geologist and the countries top geophysicist and had to stop a couple of times on the outskirts of Havana to buy cooking oil (1/2 month salary) and a rope of onions (1 months salary) from farmers illegally selling out of the bushes on the side of the highway.

So much potential there and yet so fucked up.
Over the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone or anything.

I'm amazed that so many people choose to be complete twats.
User avatar
The Brown Knight
CC Hall of Fan Member
Posts: 1033
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:42 am

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by The Brown Knight »

Topper wrote:I did several business trips to Cuba in the mid 90's. I was part of a negotiating team that put together the first and possibly only 51% foreign control deal. Sadly the company I was working for had far too many US holdings to complete the deal.

I showed up in the company's US head office with a pack full of samples from Cuba and while the heads of exploration were having a circle jerk over the rocks the land guy walked into the room and asked where the samples were from. "Cuba" I said, and he ran from the room screaming.

Santiago de Cuba is one of my favourite cities in the Americas and the El Cobre mine was, when I visited, the longest continually operating mine in the America having first started in the mid 1500's.

I looked at a project just outside the fence of Guantanamo. I knew some Jamaican's who were making a fortune selling sand and gravel to the US in Guantanamo because they were the closest non-Cuban source of the construction material.

I had a similar experience to BurningBeard while buying bug infested Cohibas but the saddest part of the whole experience in Cuba was witnessing first hand the economic hardships of ordinary Cubans. Once the Soviet Union collapsed and Mother Russia was no longer buying sugar at 10X the world price while selling oil at 1/10 the world price, Castro was fucked.

First trip, while tooling around central Cuba looking at exploration projects, the Regional Geologist stopped the soviet army jeep so he could spend two month salary to buy a scrawny chicken from a farmer in order to get some protein into his pregnant wife's diet. A few days later while at the Havana apartment of Cuba's head geologist, there was a knock on the door and he was handed a manilla envelope of vitamin pills because there had been an outbreak of malnutrition caused blindness.

The Canadian geo's I met there would arrive from TO with a suitcase of frozen meat and a suitcase of toiletries to be dropped off at the Geological Survey's office for distribution to the staff. A third suitcase would be filled with kid's cloths to be dropped off at an orphanage near whatever project they were looking at.

My last trip, I was driving from Santiago de Cuba back to Havana with the head geologist and the countries top geophysicist and had to stop a couple of times on the outskirts of Havana to buy cooking oil (1/2 month salary) and a rope of onions (1 months salary) from farmers illegally selling out of the bushes on the side of the highway.

So much potential there and yet so fucked up.
Interesting post.

It's too bad that countries like Cuba and North Korea don't open up their doors.

A friend of mine works at Air Canada and flies down to Cuba like every 2 weeks for $50 bucks. He also talks about the potential that Cuba has.

Other than that though, I don't really know much. Many of the dark Cuban men down there are probably swinging past their knees from an endowment perspective.
"I post the Brown Way" ~ Connor McHindu"

The Dark Indian Rises
User avatar
Topper
CC Legend
Posts: 18097
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:11 pm
Location: Earth, most days.

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by Topper »

Dreaming of making swinging dark Cuban meat darker?
Over the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone or anything.

I'm amazed that so many people choose to be complete twats.
User avatar
The Brown Knight
CC Hall of Fan Member
Posts: 1033
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:42 am

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by The Brown Knight »

Topper wrote:Dreaming of making swinging dark Cuban meat darker?
Yes but not too dark.

Gotta keep that shit edible. 8-)
"I post the Brown Way" ~ Connor McHindu"

The Dark Indian Rises
User avatar
Topper
CC Legend
Posts: 18097
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:11 pm
Location: Earth, most days.

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by Topper »

The Brown Knight wrote:
Topper wrote:Dreaming of making swinging dark Cuban meat darker?
Yes but not too dark.

Gotta keep that shit edible. 8-)
and you wonder why a guy named de Klerk ran apartheid South Africa.
Over the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone or anything.

I'm amazed that so many people choose to be complete twats.
User avatar
The Brown Knight
CC Hall of Fan Member
Posts: 1033
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:42 am

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by The Brown Knight »

Topper wrote:
The Brown Knight wrote:
Topper wrote:Dreaming of making swinging dark Cuban meat darker?
Yes but not too dark.

Gotta keep that shit edible. 8-)
and you wonder why a guy named de Klerk ran apartheid South Africa.
He ended apartheid when him and his friends got tired of the Zebra's.
"I post the Brown Way" ~ Connor McHindu"

The Dark Indian Rises
User avatar
Topper
CC Legend
Posts: 18097
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:11 pm
Location: Earth, most days.

Re: Does Anyone Know Martial Arts?

Post by Topper »

Pulling legs from a spider.
Over the Internet, you can pretend to be anyone or anything.

I'm amazed that so many people choose to be complete twats.
Post Reply