Academics

**A cordial invite to the second segment of a miniseries of meetups on the resurging interest in the Perennial Mystery of Consciousness.** Last December we held the first of the series: **[The Holy Grail of Consciousness Embedded AI](https://www.meetup.com/ions-ontario/events/312293729/?eventOrigin=group_similar_events)**[ ](https://www.meetup.com/ions-ontario/events/312293729/?eventOrigin=group_similar_events)focusing on two opposing understandings of Consciousness. The prevailing concept among many scientists that bursts of electrical activity creates consciousness. And that it is conceivable, indeed possible, to harness this burst of electrical activity in silicon chips giving rise to consciousness in AI. This differs from the Perennial understandings reached by thinkers of the East who investigated states of Mind beyond dreamless deep sleep and made empirical observations of human and non-human entities over millennia. To them, Pure Consciousness as Ultimate Reality cannot be expressed by speech or understood by the Mind, for it is the illumination of Pure Consciousness which enables the speech to be expressed and the Mind to understand in the first place. In this and follow up sessions of the series we will be joined by Dr. Afsaneh Khorasani, **[Afsaneh Personal website-| Home](https://www.bing.com/search?q=Afsaneh+Khorasani&form=ANNTH1&refig=6986d3bc1bc5479f87ccec054ccb89ed&pc=PCMWSB&adppc=EDGEXST)**[,](https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=7cbb65b29886dd437938c7314526aebd9058fe4d4749dbdf2731d36796825912JmltdHM9MTc3MDMzNjAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=229627c8-30c9-6f1e-2861-3229310c6ef5&psq=Afsaneh+Khorasani&u=a1aHR0cDovL2Fmc2FuZWhtb3RhbWVkLmNvbS9lbi9pbmRleC5odG0) an eminent research scientist. Among **[other initiatives](https://www.easyglobaltraining.com/)** Dr. Afsaneh has been involved with the Princeton University linked **[Global Consciousness Project](https://noosphere.princeton.edu/)** led by Roger Nelson to which our **[Institute of Noetic Sciences](https://noetic.org/)** (IONS) has been providing logistical home base over the years. Dr. Afsaneh will lead us into a deep yet practical journey into the nature of reality, consciousness, and energy, bridging modern physics, ancient wisdom, and lived experience. Together, we will look at consciousness as the ground of all experience, energy as the language of the universe, and manifestation as alignment rather than effort. We’ll explore how thought, emotion, belief, frequency, and awareness shape our lives, our relationships, and our ability to create with clarity and presence. The session will be reflective, expansive, and grounded in real-life application, offering insights you can integrate into daily living. In the months ahead, we will invite other panelists to share their perspective in a conversational setting with emphasis on audience interactions. We look forward to sharing this space of inquiry, awareness, and connection with you.

Archetypal Coaching — Activate Your Goals with Ancient Wisdom Ready to energize your goals and gain clear direction? In this weekly meetup, we work with powerful archetypes from ancient traditions to align your intention, sharpen your strategy, and ignite real momentum. 4 Sessions Per Month Tap into the power of 4 ancient traditions: • Egyptian — Strategic clarity & long-range vision • Scandinavian — Decisiveness & breakthrough energy • Greek — Harmony, inspiration & personal charisma • Sephirotic (Kabbalistic) — Deep integration & energetic anchoring. Each 90-Min Session Includes: • Group energy alignment (20 min) • Personal goal setting in the energy of the week’s tradition (20 min) • Group activation & anchoring (20 min) • Personal alanyses, archetypal insights & support circle (30 min). What You’ll Gain: ✓ Mental clarity & motivation ✓ Energetic support for your path ✓ Clear, inspired next steps ✓ A deeper connection to purpose. When: Every Sunday afternoon 4-6pm Fee: $50 CAD per session (Limited spots available) Facilitator: Andrey Litvinov — Business Coach, Psychotherapist, Grand Master of Reiki Yggdrasil To Reserve Your Spot: Pre-registration required via WhatsApp or Telegram Message: t.me/AndyTherapist WhatsApp: +1 437 606 6502

Let’s do some coding together at a cafe! No more working alone in the weekend. Here, we write code together. And I mean together together. Not occupying-the-same-space-but-separate together. Here’s how it works: Jennifer brings her mobile app project, tells everyone that it is like Pinterest for recipes and she’d like to work on the nav bar. Paul and Chloe think Jennifer's project is fascinating, and they join the group. They gather around Jennifer’s laptop and work on the nav bar for 2 hours. Jennifer is the one typing out the code while Paul and Chloe research, brainstorm, and offer suggestions. If you’re feeling stuck on your own project or need a motivation boost, bring it to mob programming! Want to learn by watching how others code and solve problems? Join someone else’s project at this event! Oh and we love your half-done projects that you are a bit embarrassed to share. Absolutely bring those to the event! **Discord**: We use Discord to share screen & code snippets during the event. Also feel free to share your projects here before the event! https://discord.gg/Da9fZFxPfs **Event policy**: * We have 0 tolerance for harassment. * We don’t allow the projects that are not meant to be shared in public such as school assignments, interview tasks, or trade secrets. * The goal is to write code. We discourage you from pitching business ideas here, doing code reviews, or spending the whole event on planning what to do. * Please buy a drink, and tip the barista well.

Intermediate to advanced men's 5X5 indoor basketball. First game free! Plz confirm in advance with me. Parking options available too.

Join Lawrence, your top hatted host, for an afternoon of craft beer and local food at Harbord House, followed by a visit to my favourite fiction book store, Bakka, then the Ukrainian Museum, and then Lillian H. Smith library to see their exhibit on Winnie the Pooh. We will meet-up at the Harbord House for some lunch and craft beer. I like this airy restaurant, with its big windows while I dine on their delicious fig, pear and goat cheese salad. https://harbordhouse.ca/ 124 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 1G8 At 1 pmish, we will walk to Bakka Books, my favourite Sci-fi and Fantasy book store, where those who work there offer reviews of some of the works presented. This is how I found such cherished Canadian authors, such as Charles de Lint and Robert J. Sawyer. Perhaps, you too, will discover something here. https://www.bakkaphoenixbooks.com/ 84 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 1G5 At 1:30 pmish, we will head south on Spadina to the Ukrainian Museum to see two exhibits, the Kosiv Bazaar and a display of traditional textiles. https://www.umcontario.com/ 620 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5S 2H4 After visiting here, we will take a selfie with the prominent statue of Volodymyr the Great Monument. Our last stop will take us past the impressive Daniels Building, a significant neo-Gothic landmark beautifully integrated with modern sustainable architecture. As we approach the Lilian H. Smith library, we will be greeted by two guardians. Then we will take the lift upstairs to Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books to see Winnie the Pooh at 100. You can take photos, though no flash. https://tpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events/6928c74394cbff62002873a4 239 College St 4th floor, Toronto, ON M5T 1R5 Afterwards, we can see the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy which is showcasing early pulp magazines.

You are invited to the book launch of A.D. Sui's new novel, *The Iron Garden Sutra*! There will be a live recording of the *murmurstations* podcast, along with a reading, Q&A, and book signing. Soup will be provided! **Book Summary:** Klara and the Sun meets S. A. Barnes’s Dead Silence with a touch of Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built in Nebula Award-winning author A.D. Sui’s darkly philosophical murder mystery, as a death monk and a team of researchers trapped onboard a spaceship of the dead encounter something beyond human understanding. Vessel Iris has devoted himself to the Starlit Order, performing funeral rites for the dead across the galaxy and guiding souls back into the Infinite Light. Despite the comfort he wants to believe he brings to the dead, his relationships with his fellow Vessels are distant at best, leaving him reliant on his AI construct for companionship. The spaceship Counsel of Nicaea has been lost for more than a thousand years. A relic of Earth’s dying past, humanity took the ship to the stars on a multi-generation journey to find another habitable planet yet never reached its destination. Its sudden appearance has attracted a team of academics eager to investigate its archeological history. And Iris has been assigned to bring peace to the crew’s long departed souls. Carpeted in moss and intertwined with vines, Nicaea is more forest than ship. But the ship's plant life isn’t the only sentience to have survived in the past millennia. Something onboard is stalking the explorers one by one. And Iris with his AI construct may be their only hope for survival. . .

Join us for an engaging history discussion as we travel back to the Bronze Age foundations of Chinese civilization, exploring the Shang and Zhou dynasties from roughly 1600 to 256 BCE. This era witnessed the emergence of early Chinese writing on oracle bones, the rise of powerful ritual bronze culture, and the development of political ideas that would shape East Asia for millennia. From ancestral divination and warrior-kings to the philosophical breakthroughs of Confucius and Laozi, the Shang and Zhou periods were not only about kings and battles, but about the birth of enduring worldviews. We will examine how myth, ritual, warfare, and moral philosophy combined to construct the early Chinese state. **Topics for Discussion** * The Rise of the Shang Dynasty * Oracle Bone Script and Divination * Bronze Ritual Vessels and Ancestor Worship * The Battle of Muye * The Mandate of Heaven * The Western Zhou Feudal Order * The Spring and Autumn Period * Confucius and Early Confucian Thought * Daoism and Laozi * The Warring States and the Hundred Schools of Thought

The Humanist Monthly Program is our longest running event and still a community favorite. In the old days it used to be called "Going to HCCO" and we still like to think of it as our flagship event. Food and drinks will be provided at the event. Feel free to show up a little bit early to hang out and talk. Our March speakers are Molly Gaines and Zack Parrish, co-organizers of the Secular Education Association: They will share their story of how a small group of Ohio parents grew into a national organization tracking released-time religious instruction and other church–state issues in public schools. The presentation will cover SEA’s early wins and hard lessons, what we’re seeing nationally right now, and how local advocates can play a meaningful role in protecting public education. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the landscape — and practical ways to get involved. Going forward our meetings will be hybrid. You can meet us in-person or attend online Join Zoom Meeting [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1) Meeting ID: 878 3656 4953 Passcode: 760812 One tap mobile +19292056099,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (New York) +13017158592,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (Washington DC) The formal presentation will start at noon

Start your week the right way with Manic Mondays. Giving you an enjoyable Bachata lesson with a push of cool moves. The second hour has Beginner/Intermediate Salsa on 1. You must understand basic Salsa skills to participate. 730pm-830pm Bachata Cool Moves 830pm-930pm Salsa On 1 (Beginner/Intermediate) $15 for One Class $20 for Both Free Parking & Plenty of Dance Space.

This meeting will be an open discussion about the book "an Immense World" by Ed Yong

Salsamante Dance Academy will be at Swerve Every Tuesday Night to share the Rhythm & Energy of Bachata & Salsa. These are Beginner Level lessons to get you comfortable and understand the two dances. Spread the Good News to all. Swerve Dance & Fitness Complex 640 Lakeview Plaza Blvd A, Worthington, OH 43085 Bachata 7pm-8pm Salsa 8pm-9pm $15 - One Lesson $20 - Both Lessons

Window functions have nothing to do with the Windows operating system but provide a “window” to a result set when used in SQL queries. They are powerful, set-based methods to view data in unexpected ways. Window functions provide easy, set-based solutions to solve some common problems: * Using running totals * Performing operations in intervals * Identifying data gaps and islands * Performing aggregates without losing detail Many people are confused by window functions and do not know how to use them properly. This session will explore window functions, how they work, and how to use them. Demonstrations with several examples will solidify how window functions can simplify queries and make them more powerful.

Come join us for coffee at Matari Coffee to discuss our March book, "The Enchanted Greenhouse"! Book description: Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should have been the end of her story . . . Yet one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She’s starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. To her surprise, he offers Terlu a place to sleep, clean clothes, and freshly baked honey cakes—at least until she’s ready to sail home. But Terlu can’t return home and doesn’t want to—the greenhouses are a dream come true, each more wondrous than the next. When she learns that the magic that sustains them is failing—causing the death of everything within them—Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again. This time, though, she isn’t alone. Assisted by the gardener and a sentient rose, Terlu must unravel the secrets of a long-dead sorcerer if she wants to save the island—and have a fresh chance at happiness and love.

Join other experienced and aspiring agile coaches and professionals to: * develop and practice your coaching skills in a peer-to-peer environment * share current successes and challenges in your work environment and get support from each other * learn from each other, build better relationships and experiment with new ideas