So I’ve been watching Level1 for a little while now. Consistently I’d say since the thing but touched in here and there from the discover page on YouTube for at least a couple years.
For my project I am introducing the Jeff Bezos Demolisher. A python program with fewer than 50 lines of code that can really show what for to our capitalist supreme ruler. And by what for I mean twice a day hurling insults towards him via twitter (Not to be confused with @ him as I was concerned it would cause the page to be quickly taken down but you are welcome to try).
I’ve only been programing with Python for a short while now and only here and there find myself sitting down since “learning” the language to do little projects. Originially the Twitter account was used with a different program that I would have retweet hand picked tweets about Amazon/JeffBezos and his practices. No doubt a much more impactful program. However I found an interest in more of a “set it and forget it” method and found myself working on this childish endeavor. I’ve got another idea of how to do the original intent and plan to work on that later on down the line, but with December coming to an end somewhat soon and only having so much spare time I thought I’d share what I have it.
Is this hosted on Linode?
YES! In fact the original program for the twitter account was hosted on my computer locally which was a huge pain since, as little as I like to, there comes times when the computer needs to be shutdown/reset. When I found out about the $100 in credits from Linode in partnership with Level1 I hopped on, created a Ubuntu image, and set up shop on there.
How does it work?
Well it’s stupidly simple really. Using the Twitter api and Tweepy (a python module to interact with said api) you can do a bunch of things with a twitter account and an accompanying twitter dev account. All the program does is take 3 random adjectives with negative associations from a list in a txt file, combines them with "The adjectives Jeff Bezos* and tweets them to the feed. Again, stupidly simple, but anything to let the world know how I feel about Bezos. Oh! and since the twitter api really doesn’t like it when you tweet duplicates the program keeps a list of all previously posted tweets to prevent that (not that the odds are good that you ever would with so many combinations).
Where can I find it?
I host the tempelate on github as WaterWatch-Caleb/Jeff-Bezos-Demolisher
and the actual twitter account is: @ amazon cancel
(I guess since I’m new i can’t post links? Sorry if this isn’t a good work around)
Again I realize this isn’t exactly a productive means to combating or informing around Amazon/Bezos but it was a fun little thing to put together that I hope to put some real energy and creativity behind down the line.
Disclaimer and note:
I do not support that anyone use this idea or the code to attack everyday people or just in general as a bullying device. That would be ridiculously uncool and mean. This is not meant to be a malicious project just something I put together that I thought would be funny considering that even if I wanted to I couldn’t bully Jeff Bezos and while I don’t think anyone should be bullied or attacked with insults, it probably wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world that he saw himself a step or two down.
I realize this isn’t particularly new in general, I’m sure many people have made similar “bots”, but it was my first throw at it and based on some of the vibes I get from the Level1 Crew I thought they would appreciate the sentiment.