AIX

## A low-cost, 6-week beginner-level French course with the non-profit organization, the Global Language Network. Ready to dive into the world of French? Join our fun and interactive class designed especially for those new to the language. **Details** French Foreigner with Juliette Mondays from 5:30pm - 7:30pm ET Apr 12th to May 17th In-person, Farragut Square DC Ready to learn? **Register [HERE](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSem9IdJEYqsE91SvfEEjIe8FuvoAjOusgE2ab_qkvm3apyjzg/viewform "https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSem9IdJEYqsE91SvfEEjIe8FuvoAjOusgE2ab_qkvm3apyjzg/viewform").** **Additional Information** * GLN classes are open to everyone over 18 years of age. * Have a credit or stipend to apply to your payment? Learn more about our credit, stipend, and refund policy on the [Pricing & Course Levels page.](https://thegln.org/pricing-%26-course-levels "https://thegln.org/pricing-%26-course-levels") **About GLN** We are a Washington, DC-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to "Use Language as a Tool to Help Fix Our World." Since 2015 we have been rated #1 Best Language Classes in Washington, DC by Yelp! We are so happy and grateful to have you join our network and we appreciate your support of our mission.

Welcome to our new home at the historic Tivoli Theater! Please check our details for access to the space on [our website](https://www.hacdc.org/visit/). Join the discord for questions / help getting in (use channel #let-me-in) [https://discord.gg/dNjuNhNmeT](https://discord.gg/dNjuNhNmeT)

[Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“How AI Alters Thinking,”** on dealing with artificial intelligence’s capacity to change and undermine our thought processes, with Eli Alshanetsky, assistant professor of philosophy at Temple University, principal investigator at its Cognitive Integrity Lab, and author of an upcoming book on AI and freedom of thought. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-how-ai-alters-thinking](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/dc-how-ai-alters-thinking) .] Doctors who give bad advice can be sued for malpractice. Teachers belong to a profession with set standards. When artificial intelligence guides you, however, that guidance comes with a disclaimer: Use at your own risk. Every day millions of people take that risk, and usually AI seems genuinely helpful. But even if AI gives us good answers, might its use over time do bad things to how we think? Explore the relationship between AI and our own minds with Eli Alshanetsky, whose Cognitive Integrity Lab studies how artificial intelligence changes how we think, learn, and build trust. Author of *Articulating a Thought* and the upcoming book *Freedom of Thought in the Age of AI*, he’s on the cutting edge of efforts to answer AI-related questions such as: How can we tell when work is truly our own? How can technology support rather than replace authorship and reflection? What does trust mean when AI mediates our relationships with others and with our own thoughts? To set up his discussion of potential consequences of AI, he’ll describe how social media’s impact on society serves as a preview. Social media didn’t just give people what they wanted to click on, it actually changed what they regarded as click-worthy. It broke attention spans and fueled radicalization across millions of very different people. It left us with people who doom-scroll for hours, who can’t focus, who don’t know what to trust anymore. If you’d shown people this version of themselves ten years ago, would they have chosen it? Artificial intelligence is making a similar deal with us, but the stakes are higher. It isn’t chasing clicks. It’s optimized for giving you the most satisfying response to whatever is on your mind right now. The risk over time isn’t just that you’ll get lazy. More profoundly, even when you think hard, your sense of what counts as good thinking—as well as what sounds like you—will shift to match what AI has been feeding you. We’ll consider what kind of person this produces and whether this is someone we want to be or want children to become. Professor Alshanetsky will lay out a practical framework, which he calls “the interaction layer,” for using AI without letting it replace the thinking it’s supposed to support. He’ll also talk about what AI-related concerns should be the focus of parents and educators. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Illustration by David S. Soriano / Creative Commons.

This week's guest cube is Michael's Creepy Cube! List here: [https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/de98a70c-665d-4d8f-b77c-39f83a827a77](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/de98a70c-665d-4d8f-b77c-39f83a827a77) **NEW UPDATE:** Additional members of the cubing community have reached out to me and we all agree, the more cubing the better! I have removed the 12 person limit and we are adding an overflow cube for those also interested in non vintage type cubes! These guest cubes may consist of the following: \- Alex's Enchantment Cube: [Enchanted to Meet You](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/enchantedCube)! \- Matthew's Avatar cube: [Avatar: The Last Airbender Power(ful) Cube](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/avatarTLA) Priority will still fall to firing the vintage cube but what this means is if we reach 12 members we can offer the option to fire both cubes at 6 and 6 or just the vintage cube at 2 pods each. If we reach over 12 we will divide up the players between the two cubes with earlier RSVPs getting priority on their choice. If you have a cube that you are interested in having as a spill over cube please reach out to me and we can coordinate. Thank you! Come join and casually draft cube! No cost to enter and no cards needed! The store provides promo booster packs and I usually throw in a pack of the most recent standard set to award to the people with the best records at the end of the night. [What is Cube?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNDBTRG6keM) What: Cube Draft When: 6:00pm Where: Your Hobby Place in Old Town Alexandria (Your Hobby Place, 700 N Washington St, Alexandria, VA 22314) We aim to start drafting shortly after 6:00pm as the store's register closes at 9:00pm. The store owner is kind enough to keep the space open for us to finish rounds. In previous events we've usually wrapped up around 9:45. All skill levels are welcome and all cards, lands, tokens needed are provided so you only need to bring yourself and potentially some dice and playmat if you prefer. The list can be seen here: [https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/proxybacon](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/proxybacon) Join Your Hobby Place's Discord and grab the Cube Role in the mtg-chat channel for the most up to date information on cube at their location: [https://discord.gg/9je3G8vzXh](https://discord.gg/9je3G8vzXh) **Important Notice:** I have seen an increased number of signups and no shows amongst brand new accounts. In an effort to make sure we have room for everyone if this is your first time joining and you have just created a meetup account please reach out to me via Meetup or discord. **Late Policy:** RSVPing will hold your spot for up to 10 minutes after 6. If you expect you may be running late please reach out to me via the store's discord. My username is iluvbacon610.

No sign\-ups required \| All levels welcome \| 21\+ If you're looking for a casual game of chess in a fun atmosphere, this event is for you! Members range from beginner to master level, and games are played both with and without time controls. There are dozens of players each week, with only a fraction of the participants registering on meetup. This event is held at a bar, the Board Room, in Washington, DC, and is intended for 21+ players. We meet upstairs, on the mezzanine. Upon arrival, fill out a name tag and indicate your relative skill, to facilitate match-ups. Chess sets and boards are provided. We don't have club clocks, but most people use the Chess Clock app from Chess.com to play timed games.

**NEW EVENT!!!** Please be sure to RSVP on **[Eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988717400279?aff=oddtdtcreator)** so we have an accurate guest list. Pink Poodle Club is Spark's weekly Yappy Hour — every Monday on the back patio from 5–7pm. $1 Scooby Snacks for hoomans and $1 pup cups for the doggos. Come join us for a fun and **dog-friendly** gathering! It’s the perfect chance to meet new people, share stories, and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere with the **LGBTQ+ community**. Whether you're looking to make friends or just hang out, everyone’s welcome. Grab your favorite drink and let’s make some great memories together! This event is free to attend. We hope to see you there. In addition to coffee selections, the venue offers a good food and drinks [menu](https://spark-dc.com/pages/menu-2). We encourage you to register your attendance in advance. We hope to see you there. When you arrive with your dog, order on your own from the [menu](https://spark-dc.com/pages/menu-2). Then meet and mingle with LGBTQ+ folk and their dogs on the back patio. **Metro Directions:** Be eco-friendly. U Street Metro (Yellow/Green line) is only a few blocks away. Take the 13th Street Exit. The venue is adjacent to Crush Bar. This event is a safe space for everyone under the rainbow. Please feel free to invite all your friends to join you there! This event is hosted by **[Go Gay DC](https://www.gogaydc.com)**, Washington DC's inclusive LGBTQ+ community focused on friendship, leadership, and service. It now reaches over 10K fabulous people and is growing fast. Visit [https://www.gogaydc.com](https://www.gogaydc.com) . Go Gay DC's founder is **[TJ Flavell](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjflavell/)**. Go Gay DC is on social media: Join the Facebook Group [https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoGayDC](https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoGayDC) Like the Facebook Page [https://www.facebook.com/GoGayDC](https://www.facebook.com/GoGayDC) Follow on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/GoGayDC](https://www.instagram.com/GoGayDC) Follow on Threads [https://www.threads.com/@GoGayDC](https://www.threads.com/@gogaydc) Follow on Bluesky [https://gogaydc.bsky.social/](https://gogaydc.bsky.social/) Follow on X [https://www.x.com/GoGayDC](https://www.x.com/GoGayDC) Watch on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/GoGayDC](https://www.youtube.com/GoGayDC) LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/GoGayDC](https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/GoGayDC?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExZG1DTnM0VnJybG83U3FWcnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR765Xxf5t8wFzbCac74QNX3p0Bs2oT0drXZoOmLV63J8cURMl3ta5b8iP3ztg_aem_nSdndpxd5-hXJ8myNF2_vQ) Search keywords: LGBT LGBTQ LGBTQI LQBTQIA Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Straight Allies Two-Spirit

To secure your spot, purchase your ticket from the Eventbrite link (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/language-exchange-happy-hour-and-friending-with-studentsteetotalers-pass-tickets-880313229567). RSVPing only on the Meetup Page doesn't allow you to attend the Event. ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE IS REQUIRED TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT. ABOUT THE EVENT Venez apprécier l'ambiance chaleureuse d'une conversation en français autour d'un verre de vin et d'apéritifs à moitié prix. C'est ouvert à tous quelque soit votre niveau, que vous soyez débutant ou bien que le Français soit votre langue maternelle. It is irresistible, to enjoy French convo with half-priced appetizers, glass of wine and rail drinks. The Event is open to all levels of French language, from beginners to native fluency. PARKING INFO : Street Parking might be a challenge and the event involves drinking. We highly recommend a shared ride or taxi service.

Venez apprécier l'ambiance chaleureuse d'une conversation en français autour d'un verre de vin et d'apéritifs à moitié prix. C'est ouvert à tous quelque soit votre niveau, que vous soyez débutant ou bien que le Français soit votre langue maternelle. It is irresistible, to enjoy French convo with half-priced appetizers, glass of wine and rail drinks. The Event is open to all levels of French language, from beginners to native fluency.

Zouk's dance move is similar to Salsa. It is a fast tempo style of rhythmic music originating from the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, popularized by the group Kassav in the 1980s. We will also have Soukous, Kompa, Makossa, Couple, Decale, Cadance, Mbalax, N'dombolo, Cabo and Kizomaba. RSVP is needed to skip the cover charge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vv1wxZAR1k

Venez apprécier l'ambiance chaleureuse d'une conversation en français autour d'un verre de vin et d'apéritifs. C'est ouvert à tous quelque soit votre niveau, que vous soyez intermédiaire/avancé ou bien que le Français soit votre langue maternelle. ***GRAB A DRINK AND YOU WILL BE ALL SET TO FLEX YOUR LANGUAGE CAPACITY. YOU NEED TO GET AT LEAST A DRINK OR FOOD :) To get the event going and show support. We know that you like our events. P.S. : We have non-alcoholic drinks as well.*** We have a tiny venue and we hit capacity often and early arrival is suggested. We have the discretion to decide entry. It is irresistible, to enjoy French convo with a glass of wine, appetizers and drinks. The Event is open to all levels of French language, from intermediate to native fluency. This is mainly a social for Intermediate/Advanced/Native Speakers. It is not as such to learn a language. Beginners, if you want to learn a language, reach out to us (info@merevents.com). We have a school and will arrange you a class. ***AFTER THE HAPPY HOUR, WE HIT THE DANCE FLOOR! BRING YOUR DANCING SHOES, WE WILL DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY!***

Venez apprécier l'ambiance chaleureuse d'une conversation en français autour d'un verre de vin et d'apéritifs. C'est ouvert à tous quelque soit votre niveau, que vous soyez intermédiaire/avancé ou bien que le Français soit votre langue maternelle. ***GRAB A DRINK AND YOU WILL BE ALL SET TO FLEX YOUR LANGUAGE CAPACITY. YOU NEED TO GET AT LEAST A DRINK OR FOOD :) To get the event going and show support. We know that you like our events. P.S. : We have non-alcoholic drinks as well.*** We have a tiny venue and we hit capacity often and early arrival is suggested. We have the discretion to decide entry. It is irresistible, to enjoy French convo with a glass of wine, appetizers and drinks. The Event is open to all levels of French language, from intermediate to native fluency. This is mainly a social for Intermediate/Advanced/Native Speakers. It is not as such to learn a language. Beginners, if you want to learn a language, reach out to us ([info@merevents.com](http://info@merevents.com/)). We have a school and will arrange you a class. ***AFTER THE HAPPY HOUR, WE HIT THE DANCE FLOOR! BRING YOUR DANCING SHOES, WE WILL DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY!***

🍷♠️❤️ A Spades Special - A Night of Cards & "Casual" Conversation 🍷♠️❤️ Thank you for all those who participated in our Speak & Spades Night on April 10! We are hosting another event at the same venue in Downtown Silver Spring - Comma's Food Hall inside City Place Mall. This time, it will be more about the game - a traditional night of Spades play, lots of laughs, and Friday fun. ♠️ Spades games will be the main event, from 6pm to 10pm! Play cards, eat, drink, & socialize! Enjoy drink specials and variety of reasonably-priced restaurant options. ❤️ Optional: If interested, conversation cards will be available in the room all evening. No formal discussion or official program is planned. Just engage in open, casual conversations about a variety of topics with those who may want to talk as well. No pressure. Singles and couples are invited! Get matched with a partner onsite. All skill levels are welcome. The fun starts at 6pm! 🍷 Happy Hour Specials all night! 🎶 Live music will be playing 🚗 Parking available in Ellsworth Garage (connected to the venue through the Skywalk) 📷 See the photo section for details 🌜Join us for a night of CARDS....with a little bit of conversation, if you like! Either way, you won't forget it!🌛 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><

We’re excited to bring the community together for an evening of learning and connection. This time, we'll have a community member from Chainguard sharing a use case and, as usual, an Elastic employee sharing their expertise as well. Come support your fellow developers, learn something new, and meet others who are passionate about search, observability, and security. **Date and Time:** Tuesday, May 19th, from 5:30-7:30 pm EDT **Location:** Elastic Arlington Office - 4100 Fairfax Drive, Ste 500, Arlington, VA 22203 **Agenda:** * 5:30 pm: Doors open; say hi, grab a seat, and eat some food. * 6:00 pm: The SBOM Pile in Your S3 Bucket: Turning Bills of Materials Into a Risk Dashboard; and Watching It Shrink with Chainguard, by Mike Barreta, Senior Manager, Engineering at Chainguard * 6:30 pm: Q&A * 6:40 pm: **Agentic Observability: Next-Gen Alerting and Auto-Detected Significant Events**, by Jason Rhodes, Senior Manager, Software Engineering at Elastic * 7:10 pm: Q&A * 7:20-7:30 pm: Networking & refreshments **Talk Abstracts:** **"The SBOM Pile in Your S3 Bucket: Turning Bills of Materials Into a Risk Dashboard; and Watching It Shrink with Chainguard**" Most organizations now generate SBOMs because someone — EO 14028, a FedRAMP auditor, an ISSM — told them to. They land in an S3 bucket, get versioned, and are almost universally never queried. This talk is about what happens when you finally do. I'll stand up a self-contained Elastic stack, pour in SBOMs (SPDX), SLSA provenance, Sigstore signatures, Grype vulnerability scans, the CISA KEV catalog, and OpenVEX adjudication for 30 container images, and show the queries that only become possible once SBOMs stop being compliance artifacts and start being telemetry: which packages I actually run right now, which CVEs are real exposures versus VEX-suppressed noise, what swapping a stock image for its Chainguard equivalent would buy me, and how much of my CVE list is just stuff I inherited from the base layer. Then the cleanup. The same dashboards on Chainguard images show what disappears when the SBOM is small, the signatures verify, and the advisory feed is active: \~9,000 fewer CVEs and \~2.5 GB saved across 20 image pairs, KEV exposure dropping from 7 hits to 0, compliance pass rate going from 0% to 76.5% against NIST 800-218 / FedRAMP Moderate / SSDF. **Bio:** Mike Barretta leads Chainguard’s public sector solutions engineering team, focused on helping ensure the federal government receives its fair share of the future. Barretta has worked across civilian, defense and intel programs in a variety of roles—software developer, data scientist, solution architect—for a variety of organizations—system integrators, consulting companies, software vendors—with the common purpose of creating and championing technologies and techniques for simplifying the extraction and utilization of information from lots of data. Having witnessed the ever-increasing threats to those systems, Barretta is now focused on methods and mitigations to secure them **Agentic Observability: Next-Gen Alerting and Auto-Detected Significant Events** We're rebuilding Elastic's alerting engine to make alerts more flexible\, more powerful\, and more valuable as data\. Next\-gen alerting rules will run anything ES\|QL supports and capture whatever fields matter to you\, so alerts carry the context you need for real downstream analysis\. And if you'd rather not manage these rules yourself\, AI agents can help\, drafting them from natural language\, recommending tuning and configuration changes\, and reducing noise through deduplication\. On top of this, we're also building a new Significant Events system which automatically builds a continuously updated knowledge base of your incoming data's own metadata. Using this deep understanding, our agentic tools will detect significant events from log patterns, anomalies, and predicted behavior — without you having to create a single rule. **Bio:** Jason Rhodes is a software engineering lead at Elastic, where he works on alerting and observability features. Based in the DC area, he has over 15 years of experience in software development and has been an active contributor to the local tech community — creating and organizing Baltimore NodeSchool and charmCityJS. When he's not writing and reviewing code, he's probably watching too many movies. **Parking:** * The building’s parking garage is operated by Colonial Parking and is located off N. Randolph Street * Book a spot on[ SpotHero](https://spothero.com/search?kind=address&latitude=38.8818514&longitude=-77.1095268&search_string=4100+Fairfax+Dr+%23500%2C+Arlington%2C+VA+22203%2C+USA) * A Metro Station is located across the street

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBD

Join Bold Spirit Travel for an all-women’s journey through the [heart of Provence. ](https://www.boldspirittravel.com/journeys-1/south-of-france-provence-2026) From charming villages and bustling markets, to lavender fields and coastal cliffs, this adventure blends history, art, food, and stunning landscapes. Your base is a boutique hotel in Aix-en-Provence, the perfect hub for exploring southern France. *\*We can only take 10 women on this trip.* **Highlights** * **Aix-en-Provence** – stroll cobbled streets, browse colorful markets, and enjoy lively cafés. * **Marseilles** – tour its historic basilica and meet traditional soap makers. * **Arles & Wine Tasting** – explore Roman ruins and sip wines at Mas Valériole estate. * **Lavender Fields** – capture the beauty of Abbaye Notre-Dame de Sénanque. * **Cassis & the Calanques** – enjoy seaside scenery and an optional boat ride. * **St. Rémy** – wander the vibrant market and visit Van Gogh’s former monastery. * **Les Baux-de-Provence** – experience the dazzling immersive light show. * **Cabrières-d’Avignon** – discover lavender’s artistry at the Lavender Museum. **What's Included:** * 6 nights in a boutique hotel (shared occupancy; private upgrades available). * Expert Bold Spirit tour leader plus bilingual local guides. * Meals as listed in the itinerary. * Private ground transportation. * Pre-trip support: Zoom call, WhatsApp group, and packing guidance. **Why Travel With Us?** This Provence adventure is designed for women who love travel, culture, and connection. You’ll share meals, explore iconic sites, and enjoy the slower pleasures of the French countryside—with expert guidance and community every step of the way. **Pricing:** * **Trip Cost:** USD 5,885 * **Deposit:** USD 700 non-refundable (secures hotels and guides) Get in touch with us to set up a call and learn [more](https://www.boldspirittravel.com/journeys-1/south-of-france-provence-2026). Contact:[ https://www.boldspirittravel.com/contact](https://www.boldspirittravel.com/contact)

SATURDAY: This event is 2:30 - 4 pm SATURDAY. Conversation tends toward intermediate/advanced, but everybody is welcome. If you come and don't see us right away, keep looking. We could be anywhere in the restaurant.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month John Lairson will share a notebook describing the Alpaca (Paper) Trading API and discuss different algorithms for evaluating stock trades. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

We will show how to build custom agents with Microsoft Agent Framework. Attendees will learn how to build and custom host agents when Microsoft Foundry is not a viable option.