opinion.red24

http://opinion.red24.com/

For more frequent updates and news and views on global political and security events, please visit red24's blog, which I manage.

http://opinion.red24.com/

Optimising Twitter for Political and Security Risk Analysis

Gathering and managing relevant and up to date information is one of the key competencies needed in political/security risk analysis. With the advent of social media sites such as Twitter, the collection and management of information is becoming easier by the day. Below, I describe how to optimise your Twitter usage for gathering relevant breaking news. This can be used for risk analysis purposes or any other job in which up to date global regional or local news is required.

I have chosen to use HootSuite as a platform for managing my social media sites, but there are many other choices such as TweetDeck, Seesmic, etc.

Process for using HootSuite to manage tweets

1.     Sign up for account at http://hootsuite.com

2.     Add you Twitter account and or other social media accounts to Hootsuite

3.     Go to my Twitter account's lists: https://twitter.com/Barendlutz/lists

4.     Subscribe to the lists you want

5.     Go to you Hootsuite Dashboard and add streams for the lists you want to follow

* You can create your own lists or find other lists that are more specific to your interests online, my lists are just broad lists that I created by looking at what other people are following on Twitter, but they will be updated as I find more useful Tweeps.

* If you are still unsure about this process you can look at this presentation for further clarification.

Other Useful tools.

In addition to Hootsuite hare are a number of other sources that make online data more manageable are:

1.     Monitter

Monitor multiple keyword searches from Twitter in real-time.

2.     TwitterMap

You search for keywords and it shows you where tweets containing those words come form on a map. (Search for words such as fatalities, clashes, protests, strikes)

3.     TrendsMap

This site shows you a global map of trending topics. It gives a bit too much information I think, the one above is more useful.

4.     Alchemy API

Lastly there is a demo program which analyses news articles and extracts the useful info. This is just a demo, but you can add a web link and then it extracts all the details automatically.  For example try adding this link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/60398/World/Region/Iraq-attacks-kill-seven,-inmate-detonates-explosiv.aspx

I am sure that everyone has a specific methodology which they prefer for viewing and collecting information. I have found that the method described above works well for me, but if you have another method or comments/advice on mine, please feel free to let me know.

Capitalism is Awesome

I found a online auction site which I think deserve mentioning as it is probably the best/smartest moneymaking idea I have ever seen. I do not know if this is normal for online auctions, but it is such a good idea.

The site is called Smokoo and what they do is this:

There is a countdown clock. You pay 5 South African Rand for a bid option. Every time you bid the price goes up 1 cent or 5 cents and a few seconds is added to the clock. When the clock runs out the item is sold and you "win" the bid.

Now what happens is that each product is sold really cheaply. For example an Ipad 64 gig was sold for R510.25, which is amazing. But behind the scenes each bid brought in R5 for the action house and therefore R 51 025, 00 !!! for an R11 000 Ipad.

Therefore Capitalism is awesome!

Bloody Agent Remover

Via - watkykjy.co.za

A Dream whithin a dream

Part 1:


Part 2:


Man easily becomes stuck in a habitual world of normality and similarity. Without realising we are trapped in a box, a train, a lifestyle or an exquisitely constructed giant metal apparatus. This is an experimental film inspired by the philosophy of Epicurus and Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “A Dream Within A Dream”.

Edgar Allan Poe writes in his “A Dream Within A Dream” poem that his life is as a dream within a dream. There is nothing real that he can hold onto. And when he enters his dreams he feels as if it is more real than his life. He asks:

“Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?”

In the film I used this dream within a dream idea as a basis for examining the philosophy of Epicurus. I propose that the ancient philosophy of the Greek can pull one from this perpetual dream. Epicurus therefore, with his philosophy of happiness provides us with a cure for the lifeless dream world that Poe explains.
In the film we have a man whose life is also like a dream. He his stuck in “utter reality”. Now we launch a thought experiment and the narrator tells us that the philosophy of happiness of Epicurus will be injected into the man’s dreams. So we enter his dreams.

The philosophy of Epicurus is quite simple. It consists of prescriptive guidelines to a happy life. He believed in a world where pleasure equals happiness and pain equals unhappiness. You gain pleasure mainly in three ways. Firstly, through freedom of thought and personal reflection on your own life. Secondly, through friendship. He believed that you should always surround yourself with good friends. Thirdly, through freedom of person. This is when one can be free to do what one likes and is not bounded by factors such as the state, police, etc. The greatest challenge to these steps towards happiness, is advertisements, according to Epicurus. Advertisements lead one to believe that one can gain the 3 requirements by buying something. This he believes is a false sense of happiness and will soon fade.

This film aims to show, with the help of existential philosophy, a route to escape the normality of life and to gain a sense of person and happiness. At the end of the film the man wakes up again into the “real” world. He now knows that he has had an important dream, but he simply cannot remember what it was about. I believe that many people live their lives like this. The solution to a happier life has been given almost 2400 years ago already. This might not be the full and final answer to happiness, but it should at least be a step towards it.

It was exiting, but challenging to make my first short film. As the film making progressed I realised the errors I have made and learned from them. For example, filming in a mall in Hong Kong, without permission was not the smartest idea. The security chased me from floor to floor. The whole process is much more intricate than I imagined beforehand. In order to get everything to happen on the right time and at the right place was quite difficult. Still it was an immensely pleasurable experience and I am definitely looking forward to make some more movies soon.

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