index.Rmd

---
pagetitle: "Make a Twitter bot"
output:
  xaringan::moon_reader:
    lib_dir: libs
    css: ["default", "styles/custom.css", "styles/custom-fonts.css"]
    seal: false
    nature:
      highlightStyle: none
      highlightLines: true
      countIncrementalSlides: false
---
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# Make a Twitter bot with {rtweet} and GitHub Actions

# `r fontawesome::fa("robot")`

LondonR, 2022-02-17<br>
.small-font[Updated 2022-07-22]

Matt Dray

.small-font[[matt-dray.github.io/mapbot-londonr](https://matt-dray.github.io/mapbot-londonr)]

???
* Find the slides online now
* See presenter notes by pressing the <kbd>P</kbd> key

---
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# tl;dr

.pull-left[
* [.dark-font[Visit @londonmapbot .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://www.twitter.com/londonmapbot)

* [.dark-font[Fork on GitHub .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://www.github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot)

* [.dark-font[Read the original blog .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://www.rostrum.blog/2020/09/21/londonmapbot/)
]

.pull-right[
<img src='img/qr.png' alt='QR code pointing to the source for these slides on GitHub.'>
]

???
* Too long; didn't read
* You can go to sleep now

---
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# Eh?

1. Who?

1. What?

1. How?

???
* Who am I
* What I'm talking about
* How to do it yourself

---
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# Who?

---
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<a href="https://www.matt-dray.com"><img src="img/mattdray-avatar.png", width = 40%></a>

.small-font[`r fontawesome::fa('globe')` [.dark-font[matt-dray.com]](https://www.matt-dray.com) `r fontawesome::fa('twitter')` [.dark-font[@mattdray]](https://www.twitter.com/mattdray) `r fontawesome::fa('github')` [.dark-font[matt-dray]](https://www.github.com/matt-dray) `r fontawesome::fa('pen')` [.dark-font[rostrum.blog]](https://www.rostrum.blog)]

???
* Data analyst in the public sector
* Everything here is my thoughts
* I do R for fun

---
background-image: url("img/rostrum-blog-home.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* I write for fun about (1) R solutions, (2) zeitgeists, (3) stretching R too far (3) mild trolling

---
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# What?

???
* This talk is about one showerthought in particular
* There's three components to talk about (1) {rtweet}, (2) Mapbox, (3) GitHub Actions

---
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background-image: url("img/twitter-londonmapbot-profile.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* The @londonmapbot Twitter profile

---
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background-image: url("img/twitter-londonmapbot-tweet.png")
background-size: 100%

---
background-image: url("img/mapbox-twickenham-Eu0ssieXMAAuSmw.jpg")
background-size: 120%

---
background-image: url("img/mapbox-buckingham-palace-Ewv-OO3VkAcDV8k.jpg")
background-size: 120%

---
background-image: url("img/mapbox-heathrow-E9DEbx9XMAIGD4c.jpg")
background-size: 120%

---
background-image: url("img/mapbox-boat-E3eIMQvUYAA-u-t.jpg")
background-size: 120%

---
background-image: url("img/mapbox-roads-FHxwDeDVcAUUb69.jpg")
background-size: 120%

---
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# [.dark-font[`r fontawesome::fa("twitter")` {rtweet} .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.ropensci.org/rtweet/)

* Access Twitter from R

* Free API, with limitations

???
* R package by Mike Kearney
* Limited to 18k tweets every 15 mins
* To request more than that, set `retryonratelimit = TRUE`

---
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background-image: url("img/rtweet-homepage.png")
background-size: 100%

---
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# [.dark-font[`r fontawesome::fa("map")` Mapbox .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://www.mapbox.com/)

* [.dark-font[Satellite imagery and maps .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.mapbox.com/api/overview/)

* [.dark-font[Free API, with limitations .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.mapbox.com/api/maps/static-images/#static-images-api-restrictions-and-limits)

???
* 1250 requests per minute to the static image API

---
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background-image: url("img/mapbox-playground.png")
background-size: 100%

---
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# [.dark-font[`r fontawesome::fa("github")` GitHub Actions .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/features/actions)

* Run code on schedule

* [.dark-font[Free, with limitations .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/learn-github-actions/usage-limits-billing-and-administration#usage-limits)

???
* Courtesy of GitHub, we can switch on a remote computer on push or schedule, run some code, then go to sleep
* Used for continuous integration, like R package testing, coverage and {pkgdown} deployment

---
class: middle, center
background-image: url("img/github-actions-dehex.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* Here is the Actions pane in a GiutHub repo for one of my R packages, {dehex}
* There's three Actions: (1) R-CMD check, (2) rebuild the {pkgdown} website, (3) assess test coverage
* These can be reported automatically in badges in the repo README

---
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# How?

???
* Now we have the components, what are the steps to building the bot?
* I won't go into minute detail, but the steps are linked to the appropriate guidance pages so you can try it out after the session

---
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# .dark-font[`r fontawesome::fa("twitter")` Twitter]

1. .dark-font[Start an account]

1. [.dark-font[Get developer status .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/getting-started/getting-access-to-the-twitter-api)

1. [.dark-font[Get elevated API access .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api/getting-started/about-twitter-api)

1. [.dark-font[Create 'app', get keys .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/apps/overview)

???
* I did this with a fresh email account and 
* 'Elevated' status allows access to API v1.1, which is what {rtweet} uses
* [.dark-font[It was Oscar Baruffa who told me about this .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://oscarbaruffa.com/twitterbot/)

---
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# `r fontawesome::fa("map")` Mapbox

1. [.dark-font[Sign up .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://account.mapbox.com/auth/signup/)

1. [.dark-font[Get tokens .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.mapbox.com/api/accounts/tokens/)

---
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# `r fontawesome::fa("github")` Github

1. Create a public repo

1. [.dark-font[Store keys/tokens as secrets .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-guides/encrypted-secrets)

1. Create two scripts<br>

    - .github/workflows/bot.yml
    - bot.R

???
* Sharing is caring
* A public repo is less constrained by Actions limits
* Secrets can be added in the repo Settings > Secrets (left-panel) > Actions > Repository secrets
* Secrets in the londonmapbot repopp: MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN, TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN, TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET, TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY, TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET
* Just two scripts are required, and in theory only one
* A YAML file is just a specially formatted text document with some instructions that GitHub Actions will parse and execute
* I've put the R code into a simple R script that is called by the YAML file

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)

```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *'

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }}
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R
```

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)

```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *' #<<

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }}
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R
```

???
* Cron here reads as 'minute 42 every two hours from hour 0'
* Use a cron helper like [.dark-font[crontab.guru .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://crontab.guru/), or my own [.dark-font[{dialga} package .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://www.rostrum.blog/2021/04/10/dialga/) for converting R to cron to English

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)

```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *'  

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest #<<
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }}
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R
```

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)

```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *'

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }} #<<
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R
```

???
* The 'env' step is adding the secrets to the environment from the secrets stash in the repo

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)

```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *'

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }}
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master #<<
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R
```

???
* You can handy pre-prepared code from r-lib to set up the R environment on the remote worker

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.yml .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/.github/workflows/londonmapbot.yml)


```{r eval=FALSE}
name: londonmapbot

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '42 0/2 * * *'

jobs:
  londonmapbot-post:
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    env:
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY }}
      TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
      TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET: ${{ secrets.TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET }}
      MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@master
      - name: Install rtweet package
        run: Rscript -e 'install.packages("rtweet", dependencies = TRUE)'
      - name: Create and post tweet
        run: Rscript londonmapbot-tweet.R  #<<
```

???
* You can split your steps up and name them, so you'll know where any errors occurred when you read your GitHub Actions logs
* You can write R directly into this file, or source an R script, like our bot.R file

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.R (1) .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/londonmapbot-tweet.R) 

```{r eval=FALSE}
londonmapbot_token <- rtweet::rtweet_bot(  #<<
  api_key       = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY"),
  api_secret    = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET"),
  access_token  = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN"),
  access_secret = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET")
)

lon <- round(runif(1, -0.489, 0.236), 4)
lon <- format(lon, scientific = FALSE)
lat <- round(runif(1, 51.28, 51.686), 4)

img_url <- paste0(
  "https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/mapbox/satellite-v9/static/",
  paste0(lon, ",", lat),
  ",15,0/600x400@2x?access_token=",
  Sys.getenv("MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN")
)

temp_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".jpeg")
download.file(img_url, temp_file)
```

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.R (1) .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/londonmapbot-tweet.R)

```{r eval=FALSE}
londonmapbot_token <- rtweet::rtweet_bot(
  api_key       = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_KEY"),
  api_secret    = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_CONSUMER_API_SECRET"),
  access_token  = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN"),
  access_secret = Sys.getenv("TWITTER_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET")
)

lon <- round(runif(1, -0.489, 0.236), 4)
lon <- format(lon, scientific = FALSE)
lat <- round(runif(1, 51.28, 51.686), 4)

img_url <- paste0(
  "https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/mapbox/satellite-v9/static/",
  paste0(lon, ",", lat),  #<<
  ",15,0/600x400@2x?access_token=",
  Sys.getenv("MAPBOX_PUBLIC_ACCESS_TOKEN")
)

temp_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".jpeg")
download.file(img_url, temp_file)
```

???
* Sample latitude and longitude
* Put these into the Mapbox API string
* Download file to temporary location
* bot.yml called the secrets from the repo into the environment, now we can pull the tokens into an R object
* The token can then be used to access the Twitter API
* Updated to reflect changes in {rtweet} v1.0

---
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# [.dark-font[bot.R (2) .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]]](https://github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot/blob/master/londonmapbot-tweet.R)

```{r eval=FALSE}
latlon_details <- paste0(
  lat, ", ", lon, "\n",
  "https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/", lat, "/", lon, "/"
)

alt_text <- paste(
  "A satellite image of a random location in Greater London,",
  "provided by MapBox. Typically contains a residential or",
  "industrial area, some fields or a golf course."
)

rtweet::post_tweet(  #<<
  status         = latlon_details,
  media          = temp_file,
  media_alt_text = alt_text,
  token          = londonmapbot_token
)
```

???
* Generate a string containing the coordinates and an OpenStreetMap link
* Post the tweet, containing the text string, image and alt text, using the API token
* Updated to reflect changes in {rtweet} v1.0

---
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# [The mapbotverse .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]](https://twitter.com/i/lists/1492559073287581707)

???
* You don't need to take my word for it
* Many other people have adapted the code for other map bots and made it much better
* But also people have created scheduled bots that don't involve maps
* Hopefully this is inspirational

---
background-image: url("img/twitter-mapbotverse.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* To provide ideas, I've added to a Twitter list the accounts I can find that have used londonmapbot code, improved it, or were inspired by it
* I'll give three different examples: two mapbots, one that does something else

---
background-image: url("img/twitter-mapbot-esmapbot.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* @esmapbot by Roberto Jiménez (@roberer_)
* Samples a point within a geojson of Spain (rather than a simple bounding box)
* Uses Google Maps instead of OpenStreetMap
* Emojis

---
background-image: url("img/twitter-mapbot-narrowbotr.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* @narrowbotR by Matt Kerlogue (@mattkerlogue)
* Selects a random location on the English and Welsh canal network
* Fetches a Flickr image from nearby, applying a 'photo score' to fetch the best candidate image
* Otherwise fetches a Mapbox image

---
background-image: url("img/twitter-mapbot-bigbookofr.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* @BigBookofR by Oscar Baruffa (@OscarBaruffa)
* Links to a random resource from the Big Book of R
* It was Oscar who told me about needing 'elevated' developer status to access the old, version 1.1, Twitter APi, which is what {rtweet} was designed to communicate with

---
background-image: url("img/github-londonmapbot.png")
background-size: 100%

???
* You can do it too
* Approach 1: start fresh
* Approach 2: fork the repo, make changes
* Approach 3: use the repo as a template, make changes
* Approach 4: fork one of the other map bots that have used more complex approaches
* Let me know about it!

---
class: middle, center, inverse

# Make a Twitter bot with {rtweet} and GitHub Actions

# `r fontawesome::fa("robot")`

[Visit @londonmapbot .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]](https://www.twitter.com/londonmapbot)<br>
[Fork on GitHub .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]](https://www.github.com/matt-dray/londonmapbot)<br>
[Read the original blog .super[`r fontawesome::fa("link")`]](https://www.rostrum.blog/2020/09/21/londonmapbot/)<br>

.small-font[`r fontawesome::fa('globe')` [matt-dray.com](https://www.matt-dray.com) `r fontawesome::fa('twitter')` [@mattdray](https://www.twitter.com/mattdray) `r fontawesome::fa('github')` [matt-dray](https://www.github.com/matt-dray) `r fontawesome::fa('pen')` [rostrum.blog](https://www.rostrum.blog)]