mainlined.org

This is a fairly incredible video to watch. And it’s only a fatal temperature difference of 3 degrees (just watch it!). It’s quite an elaborate plan for a colony of bees to come up with.

As anyone knows who follows me on Twitter or Facebook (where my tweets are re-spewed), I’ve been watching the post-election events unfold in Iran minute-by-minute. The Twitter community quickly latched onto this because of two things: 1) the horrible atrocities being commited on democracy and human life and 2) if there is anything that Twitter is good at, it’s spreading information as fast as possible and when the Iranian people called on the world to see, the Twitter community felt it was a human duty to make sure that everyone was watching.

Photo Credit: alisonfi - http://twitter.com/alisonfi

Even though they may seem like small things, turning your profile image green, re-tweeting information from people on the ground in Iran, setting up hundreds of proxy servers within days, coordinating rallies, giving maps on where to take injured people, pointing people to guerrila warfare tactics and first aid handbooks, and many other random acts have shown the Iranian people that the world is watching, that we do in fact stand behind them, and that they are on the right side of this fight.

Personally, I have gone through many different emotions at various times throughout the week, from guilt that I have never had to fight like these people do at this moment in history, to utter sadness and horror at the widely circulated “Neda” video, who has become our generations “Tank Man”. The “Neda” video really moved something in me. I am a child of the information age; I am desensitized to a lot of things just due to the sheer nature of how many things I see on the internet on a day to day basis. It is one thing to see someone get shot or hit by a car. It’s another thing entirely to actually watch someone die. To watch the life fade from her eyes. And all this because the people of Iran wanted their most basic right to be upheld, to have a voice in their own future. This makes it all the more sad, yet, remarkable since this martyr’s name, Neda, happens to mean “voice” or “call” in Farsi. Indeed, this was the call to arms for the opposition movement.

Obama has been careful and received a lot of criticism for not being tough enough. I believe he has been spot-on with his comments thus far, and if any real outside pressure is to be put on the Iranian government, it needs to be done as a world effort, with many countries coming forward together, as opposed to a singular order from the US.

This is the Iranian’s fight for their own freedom. They have to do this for themselves. Freedom must be fought for and many deep sacrifices will be made. Most of us will never have to face what these people are facing right now. A comment from a friend’s blog really struck a chord with me:

memzilla wrote:

We marched on DC in May 1971 — http://tinyurl.com/may71dc . We were teargassed, maced, arrested, and thrown into RFK Stadium. But we never thought for a second that DC Metro Police would be shooting us from the rooftops, even though the kids at Kent State had been gunned down a year earlier.

We polished our anti-war credentials and used them to get laid. Also.

But we see none of that with the Iran protests. No after-march parties. No egos. No student leaders with their own sub-agendas. No inanities. Just the largest, most brutal reality show in the world: “So You Think You Can Vote.”

Funny, the biggest worry about computers back in the ’60s was that the All Powerful State would use them to control us all. Now it’s a 180 reverse.

F**k totalitarianism, f**k despots, f**k theocracy of any brand. All power to the people. The Whole World Is Watching.

Posted 21 Jun 2009

We end up taking so much for granted, living in America. I’ve had words with a couple people who were criticizing the online community’s avid involvement, citing the fact that there were “no people in the streets when the US election was stolen in 2000″. I don’t disagree with the fact that people should have been much more upset over how this was handled. But there are some dramatic differences, one of the primary ones being communication tools: the major communication mechanisms in use with Iran were not in existence at the time (Twitter-2006, Youtube-2005, Facebook-2004, Myspace-2003, countless blogs that have sprouted up since) so information couldn’t be spread in such an efficient, swarm-like manner, with important things naturally floating to the top. Sure, there is mainstream media, but they get to choose what’s important enough to show the public, whether their intent is truly for “good” or whether for corporate interests. With the online mediums, each person chooses what’s important and what you’d like everyone around you to know and appreciate, and the most important tidbits make their way in front of everyone’s nose, sooner or later.

So where does this all stand? Currently, everyday the crackdown gets more and more brutal, as the Iranian government increases the amount of Basij on the ground. The demonstrations are being broken up before they can reach “critical mass” level like what was seen within the first few days after the election. Internet and cell phone service is being filtered more and more rigorously, and the Iranian government has made many arrests and even murdered people over trying to communicate and share information with the outside world.

Does this mean it’s over?

No. Not by a long shot. The on-the-street demonstrations are smaller currently due to the fear of violence brought upon the people by the Basij, IRG, and police forces. But, behind the scenes, much support is being drummed up and fortified by Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who was president of Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini after the revolution. He is the primary opposing force of Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, and arguably, the only one powerful enough to take Ayatollah Khamenei out of power. I heard an interesting comparison the other day of the similarities between our country’s founding fathers and Iran. All these main players have been around since the ‘79 revolution, and were supposedly making it more of a “state of the people”, although, some took a hard-line right turn.

In their religion, the primary days of mourning are the 3rd and 40th, and as was seen in the ‘79 revolution, I would expect violence and demonstrations to escalate in about 30 days from now when it hits the 40 day mark from the beginning of the violence. The most critical thing that I am keeping my eye on is whether or not a nationwide strike takes hold. This was what brought the country to a standstill under the Shah and forced him to step down from power. I saw estimates of about 30% of the workforce went on strike on Tuesday, when it was first called for, but communication out of the country has been getting progressively worse since then and I haven’t heard anything new. The main sector to watch would be the oil industry, as it provides Iran with a lion’s share of it’s wealth.

It’s hard to just standby and do nothing, but for anyone who is not an Iranian citizen, that’s probably the best thing to do at this point, other than showing passive support for the “Sea of Green”. So from over here, I will continue to watch as the occasional tweet, violent Youtube video, or horrifying photo trickles out, providing a glimpse at largely hidden fight for freedom that the Iran people have undertaken.

Some random, from-the-hip shots taken while exploring Washington DC on foot from my recent trek there for the inauguration:

One of the best ways to give your dull photos life is to make a few simple tweaks to the contrast levels, saturation, and the color curves. I use the GIMP for all my digital editing/processing on my photos. It’s completely free to use and will run on any platform (Windows/Mac/linux/etc).

White balance: This is important to making a good image. The auto-white balance function in the GIMP usually works pretty good. Go to “Colors->Auto->White Balance” to use that or if you want to tweek the levels on your own, go to “Colors->Levels” and move the sliders under the “Input Levels” and “Output Levels” as needed to brighten or darken your photo.

Original	White Balanced

Color Curves: This is my favorite piece to mess with. Your photos will suddenly come to life when you find the right combination of colors to use. You can make your photos look and feel like they were from the 70’s, you can make them look and feel “cold”, you can make them look and feel bright and dreamy. Go to “Colors->Curves” and you can make points on the graph and move them around to change the lightness/darkness of the colors. Keep in mind there are four different channels to adjust: Main channel, Red, Green, and Blue. More info on curves here. Here are some preset curves that I’ve made. Install to “~/.gimp-2.6/curves” or wherever your GIMP curves directory is (I use linux so that could be different from yours). Click on the picture to download the GIMP curves preset file:

Red	Dark Red/Blue	Blue Green
Dark Blue Green	Green	Light Blue

Saturation: After you have gotten the colors about where you want them, you can adjust “how much” color you want. Sometimes a photo looks better with higher saturation, sometimes with lower saturation. It’s about what your eye finds pleasing. Go to “Colors->Saturation” to adjust this. Use the “Saturation” slider at the bottom to adjust the amount of color. You can also select different colors to adjust the amount of that specific color in your photo. Also, don’t forget about black and white! You can either move the saturation slider all the way to the left or instead, go to “Colors->Desaturate” to get a few options of using different techniques for desaturating the photo. Sometimes, black and white is all you need.

No saturation adjustment	+50 saturation
-50 saturation	-100 saturation (no color)

Other things to do:

• Adjust the contrast.
• Create a duplicate layer, change it to “Overlay” mode and adjust the opacity of that layer down quite a bit.
• Add a vignette.
• Add graininess to your photo.
• Experiment!

I cannot even begin to describe how inspiring it was to be at the inauguration of our new president. I am moved to tears every time I think about it, look at the photos that I took, or share my experience with someone else. More happened that day than just the changing of the guard. There was a shift of something much deeper than that.

Our flight got to Dulles airport at around 11:30pm or so, a few minutes earlier than expected. We had just come from Chicago and the flight was only about 1/3 capacity or so which was kind of surprising considering it was the eve of the inauguration (and it was originating in Obama’s hometown). I had traveled with my friend Matt, who is also from San Luis Obispo, and we were meeting with my other friend Mark, who had taken a flight a few hours earlier. We gathered our bags and Mark picked us up at the airport. We all headed to the hotel which we had booked in Tyson’s Corner, VA, about 15 miles or so from Washington, DC, just over the Potomac. By the time we were checked in, it was already 1am and we were planning to get up around 4am in hopes of beating the crowds on the Metro and getting a good spot to stand for the swearing-in ceremony. I tried but couldn’t get to sleep until 2:30am or so.

The alarm woke me up at 4am, seemingly right after I had gotten to sleep. All of us got ready and were excited to get going. It was about 25 degrees when we set out at around 5am that morning. We had a 2 or 3 mile walk to the metro station. When we got there, it didn’t look too crowded. Finally, the Orange line pulled up and we crowded in. It was crowded but it would only get worse, especially considering there was only one other stop so far before this one. As we slowly got a few stops further, something happened with the doors on our Metro (or maybe just too many people were in the way). In any case, they made everyone get off due to “mechanical problems” and we had to join the others in the already crowded station waiting for the next train. We waited for the next Orange line and crowded on. We made it to DC at about 8am and got off at the Federal Triangle stop. None of us had any idea where we were but fortunately there was a breakfast buffet right outside the metro station where we ate a quick breakfast. By 8:30am, we were walking onto the National Mall.

The energy out there was insane. Everyone was freezing but happy and excited for what was coming. There were a couple of guys with their “Repent Obama” signs but mostly, they were just being used for a photo op by all of the Obama supporters. We were interviewed while we were walking by some guy from a radio station (in Boston?) who was recording the historic event. The mass of people helped to create some heat which was nice. There were a bunch of Jumbotron’s and PA systems every now and then so that everyone could see and hear what was happening. They were playing the previous day’s concert from the Lincoln Memorial on the Jumbotrons. No one seemed to mind that it was a rerun, it was just as good as the live event with people singing along to the performers. People of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors seemed to be smiling and enjoying the buildup.

We forged our was up to our final spot, about halfway between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. We were near a Jumbotron (third one from the front) so we could see and hear everything just fine. Then we waited. The Jumbotron played Obama’s speech from the previous day and everyone started cheering. That eventually ended and the switched back to live shots of the crowd and the various dignitaries getting seated up on the Capitol. People cheered as most of them stepped out. They also showed footage of them inside the Capitol, before they stepped out. Everyone from Muhammed Ali to the Clintons to Oprah was seated. When President Bush came out, lots of people started booing. This made me feel really sorry for the guy (and trust me, I don’t like Bush as much as the next person). But you would have thought that we could just let the guy go in peace, to have a little more respect for someone who was POTUS. Besides, we got the guy we wanted and had nothing to complain about on this day. The look on his face was heartbreaking.

They finally started the ceremony and everyone was silent. Rick Warren delivered the invocation and I have to say, I was very impressed. After all the uproar surrounding that guy, he delivered a very powerful speech that no one could say anything bad about. He was cheered just as loud as anyone else. Aretha Franklin sang her song right after this, someone I never expected to see live. Now it was time for Joe Biden to get sworn in. When the deed was done, a crazy cheer went up from the crowd. No more Cheney! The tension had built up since everyone expected Obama to get sworn in now so when the quartet of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill were introduced, people had to settle down for a minute. This was one of the most touching parts of the ceremony for me. These were the best of the best musicians and hearing them play, on this day, right before the moment we had all been waiting for, was completely indescribable.

Now it was time. Everyone was dead silent. Even though they got a little bit tangled during the Oath of office, no one on the National Mall that day even seemed to notice. It was the beginning of a new era. His inaugural address was a list of all of our challenges that we face right now, and what we need to do to fix them. He said some great things and it was interesting how he spoke to all the different people that may be listening, but I don’t think his speech has any specific memorable lines like some other past inaugural speeches did. It was more about what this day stood for that will be remembered rather than any specific one-liner from his speech. The beginning of hope. America reclaiming it’s stature at the country to lead the world.

After his speech, lots of people started leaving the Mall. We stayed where we were through the end of the ceremony and found a sitting area since the exits were completely clogged. After 1/2 hour or so, we left and walked up to the Washington Monument and WWII Memorial. We decided to get some food and took the nearest Metro down to Foggy Bottom and found a Thai place down on Pennsylvania Avenue that wasn’t overly crowded. They had a TV on with the parade. It was nice to get some warm food and thaw out since we had been in the cold for the last 9 or 10 hours. As we ate, I heard loud cheers as Obama stepped out of his limo to walk along the parade route. We hung out here for a while and then Mark went off (he had some work to attend to, that was his original reason for being in Virginia/DC). Matt and I set out down the street and found the parade. It appeared that after Obama had gone by, a lot of people had left so we were able to walk along the parade route and catch most of it. We ended our walk sometime later in the night down by the Capitol. The next few days of our trip were devoted to sight-seeing/tourist stuff since neither of us had been to DC before.

Since I have arrived home after my much to short stay in our nation’s capitol, I’ve had a buzzing feeling of inspiration and hope. Seeing all the sights such as the Lincoln Memorial (at night when no one else was around) and the Washington Monument was enough, in and of itself. But to be a witness to such a monumental change in our society with so many other people resonates very deeply in the soul. To have enthusiasm in one’s own country is a gift because for too long now there has been no wind in those sails. I was still a child when Bush became president and have lived under his rule since I have been old enough to care. I almost never realized that government didn’t have to be a negative, repressive-to-the-people thing. And I know I’m not alone. I talked to so many people from all different backgrounds over the last week who all shared a similar sentiment. It’s an amazing thing to feel a unity with everyone you encounter. It definitely feels like we, the people, have our country back. Now, it’s not time to mess around and become jaded by our emotion. Let’s use this inspiration and hope to get some things done.

I’ve posted my photos here on my flickr account.

Am I the only one who notices that Greka has had far too many oil spills than any oil company should be allowed to have without severe penalty and steps taken to insure that it never happens again? They have had 19 separate spills by my count over the last year or so, just by doing a quick search on the KSBY website.

1. 2007-12-07 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7510034
2. 2007-12-22 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7535638
3. 2008-01-05 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7583042
4. 2008-01-24
5. 2008-01-24
6. 2008-01-24   (four spills at separate facilities, one day)
7. 2008-01-24 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7771799
8. 2008-01-29 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7793474
9. 2008-03-02 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7983929
10. 2008-03-05 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=7979098
11. 2008-04-22 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=8209092
12. 2008-05-01 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=8258940
13. 2008-05-29 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=8404336
14. 2008-07-25 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=8738731
15. 2008-08-14 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=8844591
16. 2008-11-26 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=9421141
17. 2008-12-26
18. 2008-12-27
19. 2008-12-28 – http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?s=9588026

The Sierra Club reports over 41 spills this year by their count. Greka has also received over 250 citations over the last eight years or so. According to this article from the Oakland Tribune, “the Santa Barbara County Fire Department has responded at least 400 times [since 1999] to Greka oil spills and gas leaks”.

Why does this keep happening? How many times do they have to be so obviously negligent to make the proper authorities put an end to it?

I also love how the president of Greka, Andrew DeVegvar, thinks they are being “targeted” and “victimized”. Here are a couple of select quotes from the man himself from the past week or so:

“There are oil companies that are putting oil into the ocean, and there [are] other oil companies in Santa Barbara that are having oil spills and have had oil spills, and none of these companies are being victimized by stop work order.”

“We regret that this happened but it wasn’t because of our infrastructure, it wasn’t because of our operator procedures, it wasn’t because of the way we do business. It was because a human being made a mistake and that can happen anywhere.”

An occasional accident is one thing, a regular occurrence of the same issue is something completely different. None of the other companies are screwing up as often as Greka has been recently. If they were, they would be in the news as well.

The reference he made to human error was about the latest three spills over the holiday break. I disagree with him; I do believe it was because of the way that they do business, by cutting corners and not providing enough watchful eyes, especially when you have been under fire so much in the past. But that aside, there are 16 other spills over the last year that you can’t just attribute to human error (and even if you can, you obviously need to better train your employees). So I reject that argument. There is no excuse for a business to repeatedly mess up, especially when in this case the stakes are so high, posing a real danger to the surrounding environment and life.

At least there are some people in government who recognize this company is an utter failure and really should be shut down. Assemblymember Pedro Nava (D-35) has authored two bills (AB1960 and 2911) to enforce stricter penalties and to help cleanup efforts when there is a spill.  He even has a website devoted to keeping tabs on Greka. But there is still much progress to be made, as they are going to continue to have these spills until they are shut down permanently.

So where does it stand? Well, they were issued another stop-work order by the county after the most recent spills. That’s the fifth or sixth time that they have had an order issued. They are not allowed to open that specific facility until the state and county have conducted an investigation and have deemed the facility fit for operation. But here are other facilities and all of them have had these problems. It’s time to start putting pressure on the people towards the top to let them know that this kind of gross neglegence is intolerable. We can’t let Greka (or others in the future) continue to get away from being held accountable for cutting corners and their disregard of safety in order to fulfil the bottom line. Email the Governator, email Assemblymember Nava, email the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. They are the ones who can force this to stop and as we’ve seen, as long as nothing is done, it surely won’t be long before there is another spill.