fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
“Can you hear me?” How to Improve a Scrum Team’s Listening skills on Zoom calls.
By: Paddy Corry
Tags: Work, Software Development, Product Development, Scrum, Communication

Conversational Listening

At this level of listening, I am engaged. My mic is on mute, but only so the speaker can avoid interruption: I am ready to come off mute at any time.

The background noise where I am is ‘ambient’, meaning that there could be knocks on the front door, or the neighbours might be getting some DIY done, but I’m not going out of my way to find a quiet spot for this meeting.

I switch my camera on, and self-view is there, unless I want to switch it off (more on that later).

I might occasionally need to be interrupted by other work, simply because there is other important work going on: I may need to respond quickly to help keep something moving.

Unfortunately, I don’t have empirical data, but I believe this is a very common level of listening for busy Scrum Teams.

The question I put to you is: is this an appropriate level of listening?

Wouldn’t it be awesome to practice getting to the next level? Imagine the repetition and waste we could avoid if everyone was focussed on the task at hand!

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen R. Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Active Listening

At this level, I am focussed on what is happening on the call: on a one to one conversation, I am attentively listening to the other person. In a group call, I am attentive to the whole conversation. In both situations, I am paying attention and recording facts.

I demonstrate this on a call by controlling my background noise if at all possible, and leaving my mic off mute. Switching my camera on shows that I am present.

Here’s a pro tip for Zoom users: if you want to stand a chance of active listening on any call, ‘Hide Self View’. This stops you from being able to see your own camera and removes a big impediment to my ability to concentrate: I can’t see my own reflection any more!

If you also want to give yourself a better chance of listening actively, size the Zoom window larger on the screen, and postpone all other work until the call is done.

Your task as an active listener is to ignore or mute those other notifications prompting you to divide your attention. That includes your mobile phone.

Deep Listening

This is a deep cut: for the coaches out there. At this level, I am more focussed on you than me, so self-view is definitely off.

I’d suggest the call window could be maximised, but really what I mean by that is that everything else is minimised: the only thing you want to be paying attention to on-screen is the other person.

One possible exception might be a timer.

At the level of deep listening, it is actually possible to listen to the other person and pick up on more signals that they are sending our way.
Energi Bureau of Investigations
By: Energi Cryptocurrency
Tags: Energi, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Security, Product Guide

Energi Bureau of Investigations

Conman Bounty

Energi is announcing a 5000 NRG reward or $50,000USD equivalent in NRG, (whichever is the lower of the two at time of arrest) reward for information that results in the arrest and conviction of a scammer known as “Bashful”. For the purposes of reporting information about this individual whilst participating in this Bounty Campaign, we will refer to the pseudonym “Bashful”.

Energi is also announcing a partnership with cybersecurity industry professionals to implement a coordinated response to this conman, who has masqueraded as mcarper (one of our moderators), other Energi Core members and Energi bots. The scammer “Bashful” offers OTC deals, technical support, and private staking pools. Together with security professionals, Energi has deployed elaborate countermeasures to disable and apprehend the con artist “Bashful”.

Energi’s reward offer stems from the company’s recognition that “Bashful”’s actions constitute a criminal attack and seek to harm our community. Energi intends to help authorities apprehend cybercriminals. Residents of any country are eligible for the reward, according to the laws of that country, because Internet crime affects the Internet community worldwide.

Individuals with information about “Bashful” should contact Energi and their respective international law enforcement agencies.

Please visit our Discord Server for more details:

https://nrg.click/conman_bounty
Facing Destruction and Death: Lessons on how to Survive a Tsunami
By: Undp Asia-Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction Team
Tags: Disaster Response, Tsunami, Preparedness, Asia Pacific

To know the terror of a tsunami, listen to the stories of survivors.

They tell of the ocean “bubbling and boiling.” A giant wave “smashing homes to smithereens.” Of hearing a roar preceding the wave, “like a huge plane coming right at you.”

The earthquake and monster wave that struck Japan in 2011 claimed more than 18,000 lives. Despite significant progress in tsunami sciences, the death toll continues to be devastatingly high. It doesn’t have to be.

Haoliang Xu is the United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific

While research has yet to resolve several questions, there are simple steps that can be taken to limit losses, especially the loss of life.

In the last 50 years, there have been 37 deadly tsunamis, approximately 1 every 1.5 years, most of which have been in the Asia Pacific region.

The numbers may seem deceptive compared to the frequency of other extreme climate events, but the loss of lives and economic consequences are significant. In Japan, the direct economic loss immediately following the 2011 tsunami has been estimated by the World Bank at a staggering US $235 billion, in assets destroyed.
Does A Screenwriter Have To Live In Los Angeles? — Mark Sanderson
Tags: Screenwriting, Los Angeles, Writing, Creative Writing, Writer

Film Courage: Does a screenwriter have to live in Los Angeles?

Mark Sanderson, Screenwriter/Author: Preferably no, but it helps tremendously to live in Los Angeles to be around the business, there is no doubt about it. Like we were talking about earlier you could be out anywhere and run into somebody not that your networking but you’re around it. Any night there’s a screening, there’s Academy screenings, there’s Writer’s Guild special things were you can meet the filmmaker. American Cinematheque has them all the time. The filmmaker’s there, you can ask questions to learn and study. You don’t get that in smaller places that aren’t Hollywood. Now you can work it but let’s say you get a meeting, you’re going to have to fly in and that meeting could end up being just a general meeting…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).

Related videos:

Does A Screenwriter Have To Live In Los Angeles To Launch Their Career? — Corey Mandell

Do Screenwriters Need To Live In Los Angeles? by Lee Jessup

Two Things Screenwriters Should Consider When Moving To Los Angeles — David Wappel

What No One Tells You About Moving To Los Angeles — Jason Satterlund

Advice To Anyone Thinking About Moving To Los Angeles — John Paul Rice
Tame Impala’s deep dive into the diamond desert
By: Ondrej Cizek
Tags: Music, Abandoned, History, Art, Architecture

His name is Neil Krug. You can admire his cool fashion eye or the stunning works with liquid and sharp mountains surrounded by astonishing sky. He uses hyperrealism to remake our reality into colourful surrealistic dreams. Just have a look at the brand new artwork for Tame Impala’s new album with a beautiful name The Slow Rush — in Kevin Parker’s words, a “deep dive into the oceans of time.”

It’s not just a desert fantasy reminding us of the best record sleeves by the legendary Storm Thorgerson. In its core, it’s still photography saturated with lovely daydreaming — in this case, a shot from Kolmanskop, an old German ghost town in the Namib desert which, at the beginning of 20th century, was an oasis for diamond miners.

The place was supposed to serve as a proper working-class town with residential houses, a school, casino or even the first tramway system in Africa. Of course, World War II was a crucial moment for the whole area. The diamond field was depleted and the town was ultimately abandoned in 1956. But even James Bond knows that diamonds are forever.

Nowadays, Kolmanskop is a favourite destination for Instagram geeks. All the buildings are covered with a beautiful sand blanket and literally everything feels almost like in a dream — a mysterious lost city in the diamond heart of the Namibian desert, a forgotten post-apocalyptic landscape.

It’s not just about the stylised film atmosphere or a phenomenon of abandoned architectural monuments. It’s also about a piece of hidden history with a twisted ending. All these images are perfect visual synonyms for Tame Impala’s music which also creates such extraordinary and psychedelic (audio-visual) landscapes.

“The album cover features a symbol of humanity all but swallowed whole by the surrounding environment, as though in the blink of an eye,” writes Neil Krug about his album sleeve. Trust him and be prepared for the final deep dive. It’s going to be strange, nostalgic but also revealing and inspiring.
Turned Up Thursday: Life and Death
By: Pete D. Camarillo
Tags: Music, Notorious BIG, Rap, Hip Hop, RIP

It’s crazy that the Notorious BIG died 20 years ago today. Man, we only got two albums from the hip hop great.

Still, his music commands attention from people back then and now. He’s arguably the GOAT because he blends high-end story telling with thought provoking themes about his reality.

Notorious created modern hip hop by relying on samples, melodies and occasional flows about escaping his reality via materials.

He wasn’t all parties and bullshits. There were stories about real life hustling and celebrity shenanigans. He contrasted positivity and negativity. Life and Death.

Additionally, his talk about death made us appreciate life. It’s ironic that his life ended so early with albums having so much to do with life and death.

He taught us that life is too short not wear Gucci, chill with your people, hustle, love and express yourself.

BIG’s words about an uncertain reality resonates with those of us that face those same pressures. It relates to us because we all fear death and love success. We all want to enjoy the simple things no matter how bad our reality is.

The truth is, Notorious BIG was someone before he was killed. He became a legend after the day that claimed his life in Los Angeles.

Fortunately, his music will forever live in the ears and hearts of us all. The smooth tunes and accent help us get through out day.

Biggie’s tunes remind us that no matter how good we are at something, we could have it end. Moreover, we are all just humans going through the same ish.

They make us feel ourselves as we kick back, relax and enjoy the mortality of a hip hop God. Just think if he would’ve had more time to give us instant classics.

That’s enough of my talk. Check out how social media reacted to the 20th anniversary of one of the GOATS of Rap and Hip Hop:

RIP BIG.

P.S. You’re a clown if you only listen to Notorious BIG on 03–09. He should always be in your daily rotation, if you’re a real hip hop head.
My Sad Amazon Delivery Experience
By: Chris Schatz Ed.D
Tags: Race, Empathy, Self Improvement, Amazon, Short Story

Hello I’m Nik @helloimnik via Unsplash

My Sad Amazon Delivery Experience

Maybe we haven’t progressed as much as we think

On Sunday I ordered some books from Amazon. I ordered them in my pajamas plus received 1-day shipping. What a deal. Amazon epitomizes the advances we’ve realized in our society in just a few short years. The logistics alone required to deliver my package to my doorstep in 24 hours is amazing.

We’ve progressed greatly as a society

Monday night around 8pm my wife and I oddly hear a car honking in the driveway. We live outside of town and have few neighbors. She steps onto the porch to see an Amazon delivery driver approaching the house. Just as promised.

The man, in his mid-to-late 30’s, approaches as the shadows fall over our yard. He’s smiling widely with his arm extended outward holding the yellow Amazon package for all to see. His florescent reflective jacket shimmers in the light rain as the evening fades into twilight.

“How are you this evening?” he asks my wife.

“Good” she replies, returning his broad smile.

“Thank you!” she says as he hands off his delivery.

They exchange good-byes and he returns to his car. Their brief encounter lasts mere seconds. As quick as he appears he is gone, perhaps to his next delivery, perhaps home to his family.

Returning to our kitchen with package in hand she looks disheartened.

“That’s sad.”

“Why?” I ask, quizzically.

“Do you think we would ever need to do something like that?”

“What, deliver Amazon packages this late on a rainy night?”

“No, I mean have to make our presence known like that; to let others know we’re safe.”

“Yeah, why did he honk like that before coming to the house? That’s weird…”

The answer?

Our Amazon driver was black.

You see, we live in a predominantly white area; it’s abnormal to see a black person drive up to our house. Most folks would be skeptical of a black man approaching their house, especially at night. And if someone drove by our house and saw that man leaving, with nobody home? Why, 911 couldn’t be dialed fast enough.

That is sad.

Our Amazon driver knew this too. No matter how friendly, how timely, how proficient. No matter what kind of car he drove (a Mercedes Benz by the way), he knows he’ll immediately be judged by one thing.

And that’s sad.

That’s why he needed the reflective vest and had to honk his horn. That’s why he needed to hold our package in such an obvious manner, so no one could mistake him for a threat. He couldn’t take that risk.

Truly sad.

He could be someone’s father, someone’s husband, just trying to do his job. Yet, based on the ignorance and prejudice of others, he needs to worry about his own safety solely because of how we feel. He needs to make sure we feel safe so he stays safe.

And that makes me angry.

We’re better than this.

It’s 2019, not 1919.

Maybe we haven’t progressed as much as we think.
How Airbnb Won Customers by Offering a Free Night at the Louvre
By: Nitish Menon
Tags: Partnerships, Business, Airbnb, Art, Marketing

The Glittering Itinerary

If you were jealous of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s night in the Louvre in their “Apesh*t” video, listen up and listen up good.

On April 30 of last year, Airbnb and the Louvre were hosting a lucky pair of guests for one unforgettable night among the masterpieces to celebrate the 30th birthday of the Louvre Pyramid. The itinerary was nothing short of amazing. Here’s what it looked like.

As the sun sets in Paris, the winning couple would make their way to the museum, only to be greeted by an art historian, who took them on a bespoke tour, like those previously given to the Obamas, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z.

Once they discovered the museum’s wonders, the couple enjoyed an aperitif beside the Mona Lisa, all without any other visitors pushing past them for a better selfie angle. Trust me, having been there before, it’s not the best place to be in.

After that, they were welcomed for a “supper with Venus.” The winning couple were invited to an exquisite seat by the Venus de Milo, where an individual chef prepared a vibrant menu motivated by love and appeal, in honour of this magnificent goddess.

Think it’s done? Think again. The winning couple were then escorted to Napoleon’s chambers, where they unwound while listening to a live performance. Yes, you heard right. There was a personal acoustic performance to conclude this amazing experience.

To finally end the night, the winning couple also slumbered inside the glass pyramid for what promised to be a masterpiece of a sleepover, and early next morning, they were dealt a Parisian breakfast in bed.

Can you sign me up already?
Blockchain.io Launch Party
Tags: Fintech, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

Dear community,

We are delighted to share photos from Blockchain.io launch party, on November 28 in Paris, where our CEO Pierre Noizat shared his dreams, ambitions, and objectives for Blockchain.io, but also for the whole crypto industry.

We’ve recently announced the release of our Mainnet Platform and we wanted to acknowledge this big achievement. Last Wednesday, on November 28, we celebrated the upcoming launch of Blockchain.io exchange. We brought together friends, fellow workers, investors, advisors, and members of our community.

All the invited guests were welcomed with wine, savory appetizers, and sweets. The event was followed by a thrilling jazz concert performed by The Horny Tonky Experience.

Pierre Noizat’s Speech

Pierre Noizat, the CEO of Paymium and Blockchain.io, gave an inspiring speech on the development of cryptocurrencies and what part Blockchain.io had to play in assisting the consumer adoption.

For all those who could not be present, you can watch Pierre’s speech below.

“We are committed to making things easier with Blockchain.io… The best way for us to facilitate the adoption of new technologies is to suggest people try it out. We are the witnesses and the actors of what is happening now.”

More meetups and events are on the horizon, stay tuned for further updates and news of where you could possibly meet the Blockchain.io team!

Trade on,

The Blockchain.io Team
COVID-19 Exposes How Unprepared We Are For the Gig Economy
By: Mikhal Weiner
Tags: Coronavirus, Freelancing, Covid 19, Gig Economy, Stimulus Package

Gig workers include a vast array of workers — from Uber drivers to professional musicians to high-end business consultants. These individuals may take on extra financial risk. Thus far, the precarious status-quo has been for them to live without benefits traditionally obtainable through an employer such as healthcare, eligibility for unemployment or worker’s compensation, and company-funded retirement savings. “Freelancers have worked without a safety net for decades; this crisis has really shone a light on that inequality, and on the importance of freelance work to the U.S. economy.” said a representative from the Union.

However, systems remain both unable to cope with the volume of applicants and unprepared to manage claims made by freelancers. In fact, a recent Pew Research report showed that many unemployed persons were unable to receive benefits due to faulty or clumsy systems regardless of being salaried employees or self employed. “About 29% of unemployed Americans, or 2.1 million out of 7.37 million, received benefits in March, according to our analysis,” states the report.

For freelancers who are facing systems that are not set up to handle their claims, applying is nearly impossible.

“I managed to complete my case on 3/31 after nearly 1500 dials,” said Yaniv Glaser, a freelance videographer and photographer in Brooklyn, NY. “Since then, [for] over a month, I have been in pending status. There is no one to talk to, no way to reach out to understand if my case is being processed or has been forgotten.” Glaser estimated that he had lost about $15,000 worth of pre-scheduled work, without taking into consideration potential work that could have been booked during these months. After calling for weeks to no avail he applied for a job producing PPE for hospitals, despite being in a high-risk category for COVID-19 due to his chronic asthma.

Yaniv Glaser, a freelance photographer, called the DOL dozens of times to no avail.

Tali Rubinstein, a professional musician in Brooklyn, NY attempted applying both online and over the phone, but both kept crashing. “I tried different suggestions I got from friends,” she said, “fil[ing early in the morning, download[ing] Internet Explorer 2005 which, as stated in the Department of Labor website, is most suitable for filing (I had to connect an old keyboard and mouse because the modern laptop doesn’t work with that browser), creating a sheet with all the answers so [as to] copy and paste quickly before [the site] crashes, racing through the application, memorizing sections, calling non stop. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t do it. A few lucky times I made it through the whole application, but even then, when I tried to submit, I got a failure notification.” Beyond the frustration, Rubinstein described the fear of not knowing “how I’m going to be able to pay rent for the next three months without draining my emergency savings.”
A Preview Into The Revised Model Lineup of The 2018 Nissan Altima
By: David Web
Tags: Automotive, Nissan, 2018, Model, Cars

To cope up with the heated competition in the midsize sedan segment, the new Nissan cars 2018, TX of the Altima lineup feature a Maxima-like styling and innovative features like the NASA inspired zero gravity seats. The new lineup also features scads of safety tech demanded by today’s tech savvy consumers. To further make its car stand out, Nissan aimed at maximum efficiency, producing the lightest car in the segment and a CVT which attains 38 miles per gallon on the highway. Those who want to add fun in their comfortable family ride can opt for the V6 engine, an option that is increasingly rare in the family sedan category.

What’s new in the New Nissan cars 2018?

The new lineup attains automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning as standard features. The top trim SL gains adaptive cruise control and the NissanConnect system with Apply CarPlay and Android Auto.
DEATH VAN (animated space-rock adventure)
By: Daisy Crawford
Tags: Music, Animals, Music Video, Animation, Weird

Watch the video here

In this computer animated short, the space-rock duo DEATH VAN tours through a miniature world inhabited by surreal creatures that are haunted by a menacing and mischievous entity.

http://skuff.tv/clip/5602/death-van-animated-space-rock-adventure

Head to skuff.tv to watch more cool clips
Shadows Surround
By: Kira Dawn
Tags: Darkness, Spirituality, Light, Poetry, Mind

Shadows dance across the wall

Sometimes they show up in plain view

Standing in the hall

Black illusions appear peripherally

Sanity hardly

Unbearably

Maybe you’re the shadow

Haunting yourself

Dawn awakens light to no more foe

That black widow that has kept you paralyzed

Was nothing more than

Trick of your mind emphasized

Aren’t we good at telling ourselves lies?
Dear God, The Millennials Can See Through Your Lies
By: Stephen Uba
Tags: God, Religion, Humor, Christianity, Satire

Dear Lord, these millennials seem to be doing something you really never encourage us to do. You see, they love asking questions. They keep asking, and we keep looking back at them confused, because we can’t answer anyone. If only you could assist us dear Lord, I really don’t understand this silent treatment you keep displaying, it’s hurting the brand.

Do you want your name to fade? You are loosing a lot of new customers from the Millennials. You are leaving a lot of profit on the table by not simply answering some questions.

Almighty One, trust me, a little explanation wouldn’t do any harm, you know you’re very hard to understand. You indeed work in mysterious ways, but sometimes I am convinced you don’t even work at all. You just cook the food, eat alone and abandon us to clean up the mess in the kitchen.

Hey, are you still there? Why do I always keep talking to myself? What do I tell the multitude that just saw me climb this mountain? Why do I have to keep forming voices in my head everytime I climb this mountain? Why must I even climb this mountain, you do know I could fall off and break my spine right?
My second Medium story..
By: Pragya Jain
Tags: Stories, Introduction, Medium Stories, Blogging, Writing

This is my second post and I have no clue what to write about!

I have had a Medium account for quite a few years now and over this period I have enjoyed this platform.

Not sure what it was. Perhaps the short but productive stories? Diversity in the writing style of people? Or the little feeling which you sometimes get that you can also write about something.

Similarly, I also thought somewhere that “may be” I can also try to write about something. So here I am, sharing my experience of writing the first medium story…

I felt it was time.

Joined Medium, read, clapped and highlighted. And finally, after innumerable thoughts, doubts and 0 followers, I decided to write.

It would be a lie if I say I was not nervous about the step and how it would end, if anyone will read or even view the piece. There were two reasons for this nervousness:

I am not a writer, be it of any kind Even if I write, who will read? You need to have followers to read your piece!

The fact is I read at least 30 articles on how to write, what to write, best ways to get followers and what not. But that confidence to “start” writing was still missing. Even after reading all these articles, I would still delay the first step to tomorrow and obviously, that tomorrow never came.

The bigger question for me was…

What should I write about? A top 10 listicle? An inspirational piece? A technology driven article? Or..

How should I write? Lengthy content or a short read? Paragraph or bullet points?

Again, no idea!

Trying to make a decision on these points kept me from even starting the piece.

After a lot of delays and having low and high motivation phases, I decided to do the easiest thing, to write about something which I recently did. This way I would get the best of both worlds; share my learnings as well as write my first story.

And there I was, publishing my first piece! I shared it with my friends and acquaintances, and asked them to give feedback as a reader. Today, after 25 days, I have 100+ followers who read my story. The journey has just begun and the feeling is great.

I am sharing my story in the hope to encourage those who shy away from putting their thoughts into words. To all those who just read here and leave with a thought that one day they will also write about something, don’t wait.

Just start doing it. Write anything. In no time you will enjoy it and even find it fun!

What’s next for me here? I guess only time will tell, says my mind.

Thank you for reading!
7 Things You Can Learn From WeChat Product Development
By: Casper Sermsuksan
Tags: Tech, Facebook, China, Startup, Innovation

But there are numerous instances where Chinese companies have stolen a march on their Silicon Valley counterparts with the introduction of innovative new products.

Alibaba’s Taobao is a competitor to eBay and launched Aliwangwang, an instant communication tool for buyers and sellers to interact in 2003.

Chinese video-streaming platform YY.com nailed the concept of YouTube stars years ago by having young Chinese people pose, chat and sing in front of video cameras.

One of the most innovative Chinese apps is WeChat, and for a long time it’s had a number of the features that Messenger has just recently launched. It has 889 million monthly active users, according to parent company Tencent. Its users spend an average of over 50+ minutes inside the app — about the same as the amount of time a user spends on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. It has changed the way Chinese people communicate and socialize online, and it has also changed the way they pay each other and pay for their groceries.

Here are seven lessons product developers and designers can learn from WeChat product development:

1. Observe how products are used in ways you didn’t anticipate, and take advantage of those opportunities

Enterprise WeChat (WeChat for Work)

While not originally intended as a tool for professional communication, the platform has evolved to be the main communication channel for a lot of businesses.

The reason behind this? The email adoption rate in China is not high. According to China Network Information Center, only 44% of Chinese internet users use an email application. The Chinese have found their own way to use the messaging platform.

In China, work files are often shared on a work group chat, especially in the desktop version of WeChat. It is also very common to conduct business online with Chinese partners and clients via WeChat, in the same way that we might use Skype.

Early last year, Enterprise WeChat (Qiye Weixin) was launched to target large companies.

2. Solve your own problems
The Enlightenment of Reiki
By: Anya Light
Tags: Reiki, Reiki Healing, Enlightenment, Mikao Usui, Channeling

A tale of eternal love

Image by Evgeny Tchebotarev from Pexels

As a Reiki teacher for nearly a decade, I’ve explored countless alternative histories and philosophies. While some of these Reiki stories resonate with me, others do not. As with any spiritual practice, one must learn how to tune to the heart’s inner wisdom.

In this article, I’ll discuss one popular Reiki story that I feel is incongruent with the deepest truth of the practice.

First, though, I’d like to lay the groundwork for our discussion by reviewing some basic historical facts that (I’m fairly sure?!) we can all agree upon.

A Japanese man, Mikao Usui, received intensive training in Buddhism, meditation, and other mystical arts throughout his life. Around the early 1920s, he founded Usui Shiki Ryoho, the Usui System of Natural Healing, of which he initiated over 2,000 people during his lifetime. Of these, he qualified eleven at the highest Shinpiden (Master/Teacher) level. Chujiro Hayashi was one of these eleven, who then taught Hawayo Takata. After Takata attained Shinpiden, she brought Reiki from Japan to Hawaii, where it then quickly spread to other lands in the West. (For the most well-researched, comprehensive history of Reiki, please see The Reiki Sourcebook by Bronwen and Frans Stiene.)

Okay, you with me so far?

Good.

Now, let’s dive into the murky waters where the stories diverge.
API Whispering 101
By: Xavier Adam
Tags: API, Data Science, Rstats, R, Web Development

This is something that trips up many beginners, as everybody assumes that sending a request is way more complicated than writing a URL . However, it doesn’t always have to be:

typing a URL in your internet browser is one type of request

in your internet browser is one type of request and getting back a HTML web-page is a type of response

When you think about it, the most common job of an API is to serve data… and web-pages are after all one kind of data (i.e. data that your internet browser displays in a pretty way).

So APIs and websites should not be seen as two opposing things. Most websites are just one output (i.e. the HTML output) of an API: an output designed to be seen by humans in an internet browser.

If you read our previous article on APIs, you will remember that we used the analogy of a supermarket with its customer facing area (i.e. the website) and its warehouse (i.e. the API). There as well, the warehouse is the back-end that is used both to fill the shelves area and welcome professional customers in need of bulk orders.

So, where do we go from here? If we understand what a request is–this mysterious HTTP compliant text file–we will be able to talk to APIs.

A first look at raw request files

As said, both the requests I send and the responses I receive are just text files. Although you can write pretty much anything you want in a text file, you will have to observe lots of rules if you want to write valid API requests.

Respecting these rules might sound like a lot of work but the process is mostly abstracted away from us. When we use an internet browser, we can simply provide the URL and the browser will write the entire request’s text files for us in the background.

Same thing when programming, we usually don’t need to write the entire request text files or to parse response text files all by ourselves: a library will do it for us.

Still, it is useful to know what requests and responses look like. Below is a very minimal request’s text file:
How to Create a DockerFile for a Spring Boot Application
By: Dieter Jordens
Tags: Programming, Docker, Docker Compose, Spring, Java

Create a Dockerfile

In the previous section, we successfully built a Spring application. Recently, I did the same thing for a Java 14 application. The first instruction is related to this version. You see, we don’t have to start completely from scratch. We’ll use a small — therefore alpine — OpenJDK image for Java 14:

FROM openjdk:14-jdk-alpine

Next, we’ll make sure we have a user group and a user for our application. Technically, you could continue without using the following two lines, but it would not be wise to do so (it’s just a best practice). The user inside the container will end up with all the needed permissions to run the application.

Note: There is so much to learn about Docker. The permissions thing is an important one that I discovered while working with Jenkins. If you have any advice for me, please let me know in the comments!

RUN addgroup -S spring && adduser -S spring -G spring

USER spring:spring

The next line is essential. It copies the jar file from inside the build folder (a result of the Gradle build step) from the local machine into a Docker folder. For ease of use, let’s copy it to our spring user folder:

COPY build/libs/*.jar home/spring/application.jar

Voila, we now have a jar file to work with. Two more lines and we’re done. Because there was no reason to change the port on which the application is running (it is running in Docker), I left it at 8080. The next line does nothing more than provide us with this information. Yes, that’s right. Don’t shoot me — I will specify the host port later (during the Docker run command)! You can see it as documentation.

EXPOSE 8080

The last line is the one that does the magic. We’ll run the application with the well-known java -jar command:

ENTRYPOINT ["java", "-jar", "/home/spring/application.jar"]

And that’s it. If you build and run this Docker container correctly, you’ll see the same result as in step 1.

OK, you’ve read this far, so it should be fair to give you those commands. I’ll include them for you:

docker build -t app/hi:v0.1.0

Project app with application name hi, feature version v0.1.0. I’ve made up a naming convention for versioning the builds, but feel free to use any versioning system you like. If you want to recommend one, that would be greatly appreciated.

docker run app/hi:v0.1.0 -p 8080:8080

Everyone with this Docker image will be able to run your application. From now on, it will work on every machine with Docker installed. Isn’t that awesome? Let’s provide it to the users and we’ll get instant feedback! Getting feedback early is very valuable!
Protestas multitudinarias, la opinión del Nobel y la despedida del 10
By: Mínimo Necesario
Tags: Argentina, Joseph Stiglitz, Inequality, Guatemala, Maradona

in Both Sides of the Table
Navigating SXSW via Cognitive Chatbot
By: Raj Singh
Tags: Nodejs, Cognitive Computing, Chatbots, Cloudant, Sxsw Interactive

Navigating SXSW via Cognitive Chatbot

How we built the demo app using cognitive services on the IBM Cloud

Last week, Mark Watson and I represented the Watson Developer Cloud in IBM’s installation at South by Southwest. IBM built a terrific space, inviting visitors to explore how IBM is making essential aspects of life more engaging, creative, and personal. In that spirit, we demonstrated a chat-driven app to help event attendees find interesting events at SXSW. We call it Cognitive Event Finder.

Looking for SXSW events on augmented reality? Just ask our chatbot.

How it works

Cognitive Event Finder works by either interacting with our chatbot via SMS (Twilio, ftw!), or by using a single-page web app. We used the Watson Conversation service to implement a natural-feeling user interaction that takes attendees through the process of searching for SXSW Interactive (tech) talks, music gigs, or film screenings.

The actual search queries relied on IBM Cloudant, a JSON database service based on Apache CouchDB™. All our data on SXSW events is stored in here.

The architecture of our Cognitive Event Finder app, running on IBM Bluemix.

While Cloudant has a number of options for implementing search, we used Cloudant Search, the Lucene-based indexing engine built into the database service. It allowed us to combine text, time, and location data in user searches. For example, if someone were interested in virtual reality, we could not only search for sessions related to the subject, but also rank results by those happening soon and nearby. That’s a much more relevant response than a plain old database query.

Finally, we used Mapbox’s JavaScript client to visualize search results on a highly customizable map. We also used Mapbox underlay a nice street map using their basemap API.

Results in the field

The turnout was great. We gave the app to about 500 festival-goers, and they all felt it was going to help them more easily navigate the event.

The backlit Mark Watson gets SXSW attendees set up with our event-finder chatbot.

Our primary goal, however, wasn’t to build the best event concierge app, but to illustrate the type of thing you could build with the cognitive services on the IBM Cloud. We’re glad people put it to use.

If you’re interested in building something similar, you can fork the GitHub repo. There’s also a YouTube video of the GIF above, in case that’s handy for sharing. Get in touch and let us know what you build, and please ♡ this article to share it on Medium. Thanks!
Paul Klee’s Theory of Creativity
By: Christopher P Jones
Tags: Inspiration, Painting, Creativity, Art, Makers

Paul Klee’s Theory of Creativity

“May I use a simile, the simile of the tree?”

Ad Parnassum (1932) by Paul Klee. Tempera on linen. Kunstmuseum Basel. Source Wikimedia Commons

Paul Klee was a Swiss-born painter. His deep engagement with colour theory along with his experimental approach to his working materials gave rise to an extraordinary array of images that range from surrealist landscapes to expressionist self-portraits.

Klee was profoundly interested in the laws that underpin the natural world. He took the world of phenomena to be a series of processes, ratios and forces, and carried these principles over to the idiom of drawing:

“Every snowflake is born of the same underlying principle, though every snowflake is expressed as a different modulation of this principle. I myself, as the artist, I am the modulating effect on the natural principles of drawing.”

In his book On Modern Art (1924), Klee gave his clearest description of the creative process, suggesting the image of a tree as a metaphor.

The over-arching notion is that when an artist makes their work, they exert a modifying effect on the world around them — gathering and passing on what comes from the depths, as Klee put it. In this way, the roots of the tree are like the artist’s senses, taking in nutrients from their environment. “From the root the sap flows to the artist, flows through him, flows to his eyes.”

The artist is like the trunk of the tree. The ultimate outcome, the work itself, is the crown of the tree. “In full view of the world, the crown of the tree unfolds and spreads in time and in space, so with his work.”

One of the more effective aspects of the simile is that, as Klee explains, the crown of the tree need not be a mirror image of the roots. For the roots have a different function to the crown: “Nobody would affirm that the tree grows its crown in the image of its roots.”

For Klee, an artist who painted semi-abstract works often with obscure hieroglyphs and childlike doodlings, this explained why a work of art might depart from the regular forms of everyday appearances. “Between above and below can be no mirrored reflection.”
‘The Stand’: M.E1. “The End”
By: Shain E. Thomas
Tags: Stephen King, The Stand, Television, CBS, All Access

The Stand, the much anticipated new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same title, premiered in these United States on Thursday, 17 December 2020 on CBS All Access.

The premiere episode, appropriately titled The End, serves as a good introduction to King’s main characters. People familiar with the 1994 miniseries, even though it has been more than 25 years, will likely find it difficult to not draw comparisons between characterisations.

King, in 1994, adapted his novel into a four-part miniseries. The new adaptation, with more than double the instalments, will likely be far more fleshed out. The nine-part adaptation, filmed in September 2019, wasn’t impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.

Whilst the Coronavirus isn’t The Stand, given how 2020 has unfolded, timing is apt. The parallels, despite comments tweeted by King himself, are hard to ignore.

Miniseries showrunner Benjamin Cavell and premiere director Josh Boone, from conception, had always envisioned as The End televised. Cavell and Boone, tossing out the beginning, middle, and end playbook, approached King’s story from a new direction.

The End, instead of beginning The Stand with Campion (Curtiss Cook Jr.) unleashing the contagion upon the world, opens with the final scene. It gives us our first definitive look at Randall Flagg. Flagg, played by Jamey Sheridan in the 1994 adaptation, is now characterised by Alexander Skarsgård. The miniseries villain is evil personified.

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Mirroring Whoopi Goldberg’s Mother Abigail Freemantle, a character Ruby Dee had previously made her own, Flagg’s first appearance comes in a dream sequence. Further, noting how there are several dream state scenes scattered throughout the premiere episode, these weren’t the only dream sequences.

Played by Gary Sinise in the 1994 adaptation, in this latest adaptation, Stu Redman is personified by James Marsden. Stu, immune to the deadly pandemic, is one of only a few people remaining alive.
NapoleonX Platform: How to register your NPX address
By: Napoleon Group
Tags: Bitcoin, Tutorial, Investing, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

06. A message to sign is displayed. Copy it to your clipboard.

Note: DO NOT modify that message.

Note: If you have several addresses holding NPX tokens, you can add them from here by clicking “Add another NPX address” link at the bottom of the screen. If not, you will be able to do so later on from your Profile settings. You have to sign a message for each NPX address you own.

07. Open a new tab and access https://vintage.myetherwallet.com/signmsg.html or https://mycrypto.com/signmsg.

Note: Be careful with phishing and other types of frauds. Always make sure you are browsing on the legit website. Check the Twitter account of the website you’re visiting before accessing it, so you are aware of any security issue they might be experiencing. As an extra security measure, you may want to run MEW or MyCrypto locally (advanced users).
Monotony
By: Joseph Emmi
Tags: Change, Personal Growth, Journal, Commitment, Fear

Monotony

Daily Blog #109

I’ve been struggling to find ideas and inspiration the entire week, getting to start writing has been challenging, mainly because two things 1) I don’t always know what to say; 2) I don’t want to repeat myself.

The reality is, that I do every day the same, theres no change, no variety, no excitement, just monotony. The scariest part? It happens silently, but also don’t know how to change it in sustainable manner. By sustainable I mean, that is not a matter of just going away one weekend, but about acknowledging the issues and making the real changes that are required.

There’s also a part of me that it is scared to do so and is delaying to face it, or maybe paralysed, because I know that I am part of the problem, and that I need to make things differently, things that will put me in a challenging or uncomfortable position, but that need to be made in order to get out of stagnation.

It is about taking action, like always. Nothing more, nothing less…
Join Us at Technology Hits
By: Karen Madej
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Publication, Writing, Writers On Writing, Technology

We all want to shine. I know I do. I’ve felt the love and support of friends on Medium take root and thrive since the start of 2020. More so from the launch of ILLUMINATION, the publication where everyone is welcome. And equally, when ILLUMINATION-Curated launched, providing a repository where only the best work, by writers of quality and curated by senior editors, is spotlit and consumed by discerning readers.

Now, we have Dr Mehmet Yildiz’s latest enterprise, TechNology Hits. The founder has boldly gone where no other publisher has gone before — I don’t know if this is true, but the Star Trek quote was begging to be used! I’m pretty sure this publication won’t be the final frontier. I highly recommend boarding the starship.

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore a strange new world, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

Getting in at the ground level of any new venture often pays dividends. You only have to think back to Bill Gates with Microsoft, Steve Jobs with Apple, Jeff Bezos with Amazon. If you’d known what you know now about these astronomically successful businesses, wouldn’t you have invested in them? I sure wish I had. Fortunately, if it’s money investment you are looking for, my top tip would be Elon Musk with his planet-saving futuristic technology.

But what about the women who use technology to become successful? We have Oprah Winfrey with Oprah, Sherry Sandberg with Leanin.org, and Sara Blakely with Spanx. Here are ten more from the past.

One woman to watch now and for the future is Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. There are others, find them here.

If it’s an investment in your writing or reading pleasure that you are seeking, please, check out the publication categories. I reckon there is something for everyone to write about and read. Even if you think you are not a technology geek, you’ll realise — like I did — that technology touches us all every day. If you are reading this on your phone (that’s technology), I apologise for the size of the image below. Blowing it up to maximum size was necessary to display the seven categories.
Technologically advanced or dumb…
By: Tanay Kumar
Tags: Psychology, Social Media

Since early days we have been talking about evolution and we humans getting better at everything. This urge to solve every problem around us has brought us where we are today, all decked up in technology. Feeling contented and happy about our achievements.

Today when I look back I see loads of problems being just generated out of solutions we have been planning or executing around. To help you with this argument let me give you a peek into my thought.

So a while ago somebody thought that we are not very well connected socially and he ought to do something about it and bingo Facebook was there on our face. And so rapid was its popularity that I almost thought that it would actually replace real people for all my social needs.

Trust me, it did.

We have started living a life for our online social channels. Things are being done just for the heck of being able to make it into a post. “Likes” and “follows” have almost become like a report card of my social quotient. I feel pathetic if I get fewer likes on my post. Our urge to document every move in our life has brought us to a level that we are judging our offline behavior based on our online ranking.

Offline behavior, is there a term like that🙂. Never mind even if there isn’t it makes perfect sense to feature this term on this post. Battling to prove our offline existence through online channels is now becoming a psychological challenge to overcome for people.

In principle we have created a problem to be now solved which was non existent a few years back. Hopefully technology will again rescue us out of this, and we will all feel technologically advanced.

May this constant cycle of creation be always on so that we keep ourselves on the peak of innovation.

Signing off.

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