The scraper died when it got to Newt Gingrich.  Looks like I might have hit the API call limit.  Wasn’t expecting that, but I guess it’s possible.  I should probably tweak the scraper a bit so that it doesn’t keep asking for pages that don’t exist…

Karl Rove is following me.  Where should I lead him…?

The Twitter API calls people you follow your “Friends”.  It was bad enough writing a program that was going to be a follower of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and Andrew Brietbart, now it has to be their friend?

I’m definitely going to have to reformat my hard drive after this one.

Apparently the search feature of the Twitter API only has a seven day history.

So that sucks.

Looks like I’ll be digging up a workaround.

There’s a bit of a problem with this project that I didn’t quite realize when I started.  It takes a while for the magic of the text to real-

I think I’m going to have a problem with this project when it comes time to post the text to Twitter.  You see, the generated text tends to-

Ah crap.  Looks like I have to say it in some other way…

Twtr: 140 chrs sux.  !¢s = 2big.  fml

Obviously, for this experiment, I need a Twitter account.  I’ve never done The Twitter before, so it’s all new to me.  And of course, there’s no way in hell I’m going to want to use a name that’s even remotely connected to a name I’d want to use, should I join the ranks of Twits myself in the future.

I needed a name that was right for the game.

I started tossing around names in my head.  First were the overly patriotic ones, like “AmericaFan1776” or “RedWhiteAndBlueBlooded”.  They were way over the top, so I threw them out.  Then came names from the cult of personality, like “ReaganRocks”, but those seemed too cliche and transparently false.  I thought about picking some obscure conservative philosophy and twisting it into a name, but I thankfully don’t know much about obscure conservative philosophy.

I needed something simple and subtle.  Something appropriate.

Something like “EchoChamber”.

It’s perfect.

It’s relevant to the space.

It could be considered a knowingly sarcastic jab at The Liberal Mediaâ„¢, who derides the targeted community with that name.

It’s exactly what I’m writing the program to do.

It’s… taken.

Crap.

“TheEchoChamber”?  That has more authority.

Nope.  Taken.

Damn.

Hmmm…  “EccoChamber”?  Now it’s a relevant knowingly sarcastic jab AND a video game reference, all in one.

Even better, that dolphin is so frickin’ patriotic that he’s got STARS TATTOOED ON HIS FOREHEAD.  ((Or is Ecco a she?  I don’t know.  I’ve never actually played the game…))  And look at how badass he is in that picture.  I hear he tore up a boatful of Godless unwashed hippies from Greenpeace last Tuesday.  Oh hell yeah, that’s REAL AMERICA for you!

And the name is free.  Or rather was.  It’s mine now.

Here’s the link, in case you want to follow the fun:  http://twitter.com/EccoChamber

(Of course, be warned:  There will likely be some testing spam to start…)

Once the account was set up, I had to follow every right-wing lunatic that was presented to me on the sign-up page.  It’s following Glenn Beck, John Boehner, Jan Brewer, among others.  And, of course, the Mama Grizzly herself.  These accounts will be used for seed data for the system.  Depending on how advanced I feel like getting, the system may also start following whoever they retweet or people who retweet them, as well as following their posted links and scraping those pages for content.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take a long shower to wash off the shame of “following” Sarah Palin.