Astrophysics

**Curious to learn more about the club *where world-class speakers meet*?** Then join us for one of our upcoming meetings! **[Talking Heads Of State](https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00707433-talking-heads-of-state-club)**[ (aka "THOS")](https://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/00707433-talking-heads-of-state-club) is an open club that *meets biweekly from 12-1PM EST on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month via Zoom*. **Can't join us for a meeting just yet, but want to learn more anyway?** Then visit **[our club website](https://talkingheadsofstate.toastmastersclubs.org/)** to learn more about us, and all the **[#THOSome](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7381652994032857088?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAB3XVR0BskgFCcmOyGsI2q61Z85SsTBH5P8)** ways that our club members **[#SpeakUp](https://talkingheadsofstate.toastmastersclubs.org/speak-up.html)** in the world! We hope to see you soon!

**This talk has completely sold out in advance and no door tickets will be available.** [Profs and Pints DC](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Folklore of Love Spells,”** on the use of magic to influence romantic destinies, with Cory Thomas Hutcheson, folklorist, lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University, and author of *New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic.* [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/folklore-of-love-spells](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/folklore-of-love-spells) .] Looking for a distinct follow-up to Valentine’s Day? Come to the Washington D.C.’s Hill Center for a rich, ribald, and riotous exploration of the use of romantic enchantments in history and folklore. You’ll feel spellbound as you listen to folklorist Cory Thomas Hutcheson, who has earned a big following of loyal fans in giving Profs and Pints talks in Nashville. On his visit to the nation’s capital he’ll discuss a delicious assortment of methods—alluring and occasionally appalling—that people historically have used to find, catch, or hold others to them. Dr. Hutcheson will present talismans, potions, charms, and more from the pages of history, exploring the principles at work in each. You'll hear about how counting stars can lead to dreams of future lovers, why some women in the Ozarks once nailed turkey wishbones above their doors, and how a meal of fish, cheese, or chocolate might lead to seduction—or the hospital. His talk will cover everything from fortune-telling charms designed to predict the future of a relationship to secretive formulae intended to drive a couple apart. Look Cupid in the eye and ask him "Why?" as we explore this raucous mixture of magic, belief, folklore, and story. If nothing else, you’ll end up loving this learning experience. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image from Gratis Graphics (Pixexid / Creative Commons).

http://toastedbyproxy.toastmastersclubs.org/ Toasted By Proxy Toastmasters Club #899228 is a unique group dedicated to achieving individual professional and personal communication and leadership goals. We are an open club and welcome all to join us! Updates: We meet regularly from 12:00 to 1:00 PM on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Universities at Shady Grove, 9636 Gudelsky Drive, Rockville, MD 20850. Visit our club website for the most up-to-date information. See our "Meeting Information / Directions" page for a detailed map. (http://toastedbyproxy.toastmastersclubs.org/directions.html)

**\*\*Please note this event is in-person only.\*\* We have limited space, please do not RSVP if you are not planning on joining us in person in D.C. at SEI.** The villainous **Lord Taart Chart** has emerged from the shadows once again, and he’s targeting your data! In a brazen attack, he’s stolen your carefully curated data and locked it deep inside his fortified **Azure Vault**. **Your Mission:** You and your team must rise to the challenge, confronting Lord Taart Chart’s wicked ways by solving his **10 Power Query Puzzles**. These devious challenges will test your ability to wrangle, transform, and tame even the messiest of data. Join us at SEI for a reprise of our most popular session from Power BI Days DC 2025, a fiendishly tricky collaborative game developed by our very own John Kerski. In March, Lord Taart Chart will hit the road for his first ever appearance on the national stage at FabCon Atlanta.

Join DC Metro Crafts for the mid-month meetup! Bring your own cross stitch, knitting, crochet, or other portable craft. The Southwest Library is right off the Waterfront Metro. We'll be in Meeting Room 1. Go through both glass double doors and loop around to the right to find us. There are plenty of tables to spread out.

Join Social Sips & Bites for our Wednesday Happy Hour. Great drinks, easy conversation, new faces, familiar faces, and that signature SSB energy that turns a simple night out into something memorable. https://m.ruthschris.com/home/tysons-corner/7341

Join PSW Science® on February 20 at 8 PM as we welcome Karen Lloyd, Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. During the question and answer period, in-person attendees and live stream viewers may ask the speaker questions, and in-person attendees may also engage with the speaker during the post-lecture reception. Refreshments are served. For more information on this meeting, please visit: https://pswscience.org/meeting/2531/ The meeting will be held in the John Wesley Powell Auditorium, adjacent to the Cosmos Club. The Powell Auditorium is located at 2170 Florida Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008. Use of the Cosmos Club is restricted to the Powell Auditorium, the entryway to the auditorium, and the restrooms immediately outside the auditorium. Please note there is no onsite parking available. PSW Science, founded in 1871, is one of the oldest scientific societies in Washington D.C. Now, over 150 years later, we celebrate the Society's rich history and contributions to scientific discovery and cross-disciplinary collaboration. For information on how to become a member of PSW Science and membership benefits, please visit https://pswscience.org/join/

Business Oriented Toastmasters (BOTM) is an exceptionally strong Toastmasters club in Rockville, MD. Our club has earned President's Distinguished Club status for the last thirteen years in a row. We are dedicated to helping each of our members achieve their personal public speaking and leadership goals in a friendly, supportive environment. We pride ourselves on having organized, professional meetings with strong evaluations, while having fun at the same time. Guests are always welcome and no notice is necessary. Just show up and plan to have fun. See how BOTM can help you achieve your goals. We are a diverse club with both seasoned and new Toastmasters, and all ethnic and professional backgrounds. For more information, please visit our website at botm.toastmastersclubs.org or contact us at contact-2279@toastmastersclubs.org Meeting locations: 1st Wednesday of every month in person at Faith United Methodist Church, 6810 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD 3rd Wednesday of every month via Zoom

**Life** Blaise Pascal was born in 1623 in the Auvergne region of France. His father was an expert mathematician and member of the *noblesse de robe* (a designation for high-level bureaucrats). His mother died when Pascal was only three. Under his father’s anti-scholastic and modern approach, Pascal read widely but idiosyncratically in law, the Bible, Church Fathers, science, and, eventually, mathematics—but relatively little in literature. By his teens, his father had introduced Pascal to the group of intellectuals associated with Père Marin Mersenne. He suffered medical issues from a young age and throughout his life and was for some time under the care of one of his sisters. He was, for example, too ill personally to conduct his famous experiment on Puy-de-Dôme that provided evidence that air pressure differs at different elevations. He had a deeply mystical or religious experience (“Night of Fire”) on the evening of November 23, 1654, after which he renounced his mathematical and scientific pursuits in favor of religious pursuits. He had notes from the Night of Fire sown into his jacket. He died at only 39 in 1662. **Themes** While Pascal did not invent the triangle named for him (it had been known not only to Chinese, Indian, and Islamic scholars but also European ones), he studied it and showed some of its properties. In physics, he did experiments with mercury demonstrating that air pressure varied with elevation and studied hydraulics, giving us what is now called Pascal’s law. He was one of the first to devise a working calculating machine, several of which still exist, creating three versions for different uses. As might be expected from someone of such evident skill in math and science, he did not care much for Aristotelian approaches, such as essences, form, and matter. Pascal as philosopher presents some problems. In the first place, his non-scientific writings had the avowed purpose of promoting Christianity and, at times, Jansenism. His most famous work, *Pensées*, was not published in his lifetime but rather arranged by family and associates after his death based on written notes supposedly but not definitively intended for a work of Christian apologetics. But the psychological insights of the Pensées, and its clear and sharp style, have perhaps against his own wishes established Pascal as some sort of philosopher, if not a proto-(Christian) Existentialist. His attacks on the power and utility of reason are ironically almost coeval with the start of the European Enlightenment. Among his more famous ideas is that the heart has its reasons that the mind knows not of and discussing belief in God in terms of a wager. Is Pascal’s Wager a joke, taking to humorous extremes techniques of probability he had had a hand in developing? Or is he serious, aiming to show that reason fails when it comes to life’s most consequential decisions? Or is the Wager meant to offer reasoned support for a prior, non-rational embrace of God? We’ll discuss these and other questions to try to understand Pascal’s contributions to philosophy and what insights he can offer today. **Reading** Our readings for this month are *Pensées* and selections from *Discussion with Monsieur de Sacy*, the *Art of Persuasion,* and *Writings on Grace*. These can all be found in an edition from [Oxford University Press](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/penses-and-other-writings-9780199540365?cc=us&lang=en&). **Optional** * [Blasie Pascal, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://iep.utm.edu/pascal-b/) * [Pascal's Wager, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/) * [Lettres Provinciales, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettres_Provinciales) * [Prayer, to Ask of God the Proper Use of Sickness, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal/Prayer,_to_Ask_of_God_the_Proper_Use_of_Sickness) **References for Pascal's Contributions to Math and Science** * [Pascal's Triangle: What It Is and How to Use It, Science Notes](https://sciencenotes.org/pascals-triangle/) * [Pascaline (Calculator), Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascaline) * [Pascal's Law, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_law) * [Pascal's Theorem (Geometry), Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_theorem)

Shilohites Toastmasters meets every 2nd and 4th Sundays. Meetings start at 4:00 pm, and last one hour. We are a community club open to all. Parking is free. We focus on personal goals for professional development.

Title: An Easy Intro to Feynman's Quantum ElectroDynamics (QED) Summary: One of the most delightful and informative physics books ever written is Richard Feynman’s QED. In this short book, Feynman undertook the daunting task of explaining his Nobel-Prize-winning theory, Quantum ElectroDynamics, without any math except in a few elaborating footnotes. Remarkably, he succeeds! In this talk, Terry replicates many of his arguments to show how you, too, can understand one of the most fundamental mechanisms of physical reality by using not much more than lots of tiny one-hand clock dials moving through space. Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist Speaker: Terry Bollinger is a computer scientist with BS, MS and Professional degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

**Join us in Falls Church for conversations that go beyond small talk.** Higher Grounds – Falls Church is where this growing network of gatherings began: a space for thoughtful, authentic dialogue about what matters most. Whether we’re exploring the nature of happiness, the challenges and possibilities of midlife, spirituality, culture, capitalism, parenting, or the role of art and travel in a meaningful life, every conversation is shaped by the people in the room. There’s no set leader or rigid agenda—just a shared commitment to listen as much as we speak. We start with brief introductions focused on what makes you *you* (not your LinkedIn bio), then dive straight into whatever is on people’s minds. The direction of each meetup emerges organically, making every event unique. MANDATORY: PLEASE REVIEW OUR COMMUNITY GUIDELINES IN THE GROUP DESCRIPTION. Everyone is expected to engage in respectful conversations and listen deeply as well as share. We have a zero tolerance policy of sexual harassment and hate speech. Come ready to share, reflect, and connect with others in Falls Church who are also seeking deeper conversations. **Suggested Questions: Life Stages & Transitions** 1. What did you think you'd have figured out by now that you're still completely winging? 2. When did you realize your parents' advice was for a world that no longer exists? 3. What are you finally old enough to stop pretending to care about? **Suggested Questions: Identity After the Roles** 1. Who are you when nobody needs anything from you? 2. What dream keeps resurfacing even though the "practical" time has passed? 3. How do you handle having the freedom you always said you wanted? **Suggested Questions: AI & Being Human** 1. What human experiences will AI never truly understand? 2. If machines handled all your have-to's, what would you actually do? 3. What becomes more precious as everything becomes automated? **Suggested Questions: Belief & Meaning** 1. What certainties have you given up, and what rushed in to fill that space? 2. How has knowing someone who died changed how you live? 3. What do you believe now that would shock your younger self? **Suggested Questions: The Modern Psyche** 1. What anxiety do you carry that previous generations didn't have? 2. Which of your survival strategies are you ready to retire? 3. What uncomfortable truth about happiness did it take you years to accept? **Suggested Questions: Work & Purpose** 1. When did you stop believing that your job would complete you? 2. What would you do for work if money and status weren't factors? 3. How has your definition of "making it" changed over the years? **Suggested Questions: Relationships & Connection** 1. What relationship dynamic do you keep recreating, and why? 2. When did you realize your parents were just people trying their best? 3. What kind of loneliness doesn't go away even when you're with others? **Suggested Questions: Time & Mortality** 1. What are you running out of time to say or do? 2. How differently do you spend your time knowing it's finite? 3. What will you regret not trying, even if you fail? **Suggested Questions: Society & Culture** 1. What social convention do you follow even though it makes no sense? 2. Which generation do you understand least, and what might you be missing? 3. What aspect of how we live now will seem insane in 20 years? **Suggested Questions: Personal Philosophy** 1. What rule for life did you create after learning something the hard way? 2. When did you stop believing that everyone else had it figured out 3. What paradox about life have you learned to live with?

In a parallel world where everyone has an innate “frequency,” those with high frequencies are gifted, popular, and – most importantly – lucky. People in lower ranges have correspondingly less of these traits but more emotional depth. When someone with extremely high frequency is in close proximity to someone especially low, chaos ensues. A boy and girl at opposite extremes of the scale meet in elementary school and encounter each other repeatedly over many years. While the story seems at first to be a *Romeo and Juliet* variation in search of a happy ending, their universe has some secrets that will make the action weirder and more entertaining than anyone could expect. ■ Title — *Frequencies* ■ A.K.A. — *OXV: The Manual* ■ Director — Darren Paul Fisher ■ Cast — Daniel Fraser, Eleanor Wyld, Owen Pugh ■ Unrated, suitable for teens and adults ■ ©2013 \| 1h 49m \| Mystery\, Romance\, Sci\-Fi ■ Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films ■ Licensed for showing in Alexandria libraries by Swank Motion Pictures

Got an interest in astronomy? Stop by the Winter 2026 Public Viewing Nights at the Emil Buehler Trust Observatory. See different stars and systems right here at Bergen! View the Winter Public Viewing Nights schedule [here](https://bergen.edu/community/emil-buehler-trust-observatory/public-viewing-nights/). ***A Public Viewing Night will be cancelled in the event of rain or clouds. For more information, please email Sean McLearie at smclearie@bergen.edu.***

Got an interest in astronomy? Stop by the Winter 2026 Public Viewing Nights at the Emil Buehler Trust Observatory. See different stars and systems right here at Bergen! View the Winter Public Viewing Nights schedule [here](https://bergen.edu/community/emil-buehler-trust-observatory/public-viewing-nights/). ***A Public Viewing Night will be cancelled in the event of rain or clouds. For more information, please email Sean McLearie at smclearie@bergen.edu.***

Food For Thought (F4T) is a friendly weekend brunch for people who enjoy discussing serious and "serious" topics with other smart, engaging people. We welcome everyone, whether you are a card-carrying philosopher or are maybe not quite sure who Plato was. The only qualification you need is that you enjoy thinking and eating and can do both at the same time! The F4T Brunch meets on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. We will have a new suggested topic each month, though wandering off topic is also allowed! (Good luck trying to stop that from happening.) These will span Science, Philosophy, Politics, History, Economics, and more. Attendees will be invited to propose the topic for the next brunch. We are a friendly group but we must restrict attendance to 12 members so we can all participate in a common conversation. And if you sign up, we expect you to show up! Two no-shows and you will be blocked from attending. To keep up-to-date on CFI-NYC events you should sign up for our monthly newsletter. Go to https://cfi-nyc.org/ and at the lower right click on Receive E-Mails. Topic for each event to be announced in the Comments section below...

**🎃🎃 Welcome to East side Toastmasters! 🎃🎃** * **Meeting Times: Every Friday 7:15 p.m.** * **Location: 92NY (1395 Lexington Ave, 92nd street)** * **Membership Restriction: None, the club is open to all interested parties.** * **To visit our meetings in-person, please contact us at eastsidetoastmasters92@gmail.com or message us via Meetup (You are welcome to visit our meetings in-person, even if your application to this Meetup group hasn't been accepted yet).** **🌴 The East side is one of Manhattan's Toastmasters clubs holding weekly in-person meetings every Friday. This format provides a valuable chance to enhance your communication skills and expand your professional network.** **⁉️ I’d like to visit your club as a guest. Should I pay?** **💝🎁 The cost to visit a meeting as a guest is free. 💝🎁** **⁉️ How can I be a member of the East side Toastmasters** **We encourage you to attend our meetings as a guest at least three times before making a decision. When you are ready, you can find the VP Membership to fill out the form and complete your registration.** **⁉️ Do the East side members provide a warm atmosphere for guests? How many people attend the meeting usually? Does the East side have happy hour or social activities outside the Toastmasters meetings?** **When you visit the East side as a guest, other members will greet you warmly with a smile and ask your name.** **😼🐈🐈‍⬛ About 20 to 25 people attend every meeting. 😼🐈🐈‍⬛** **After the meeting, folks head over to the 🍾🍷🍷 [Barking Dog](https://barkingdognyc.com/new-york-hells-kitchen-barking-dog-locations) 🍾🦀🎉 to snack and schmooze. We have a social chair designated to take you to the Barking Dog and help you feel part of our friendship (Participation in the social round is not mandatory).**

Calling astrologers and astrological enthusiasts to an informal celebration of the Saturn Neptune conjunction at 0 degrees of Aries. Let’s gather to have a drink in a common space and chat about the next 36 years of our lives. Yes, this date marks the official beginning of a 36 year cycle wherein we will make our individual dreams (Neptune) come true (Saturn). Over the next 36 years, we will watch as what happens TODAY will grow, flourish, peak, and gently come to an end. At the time of this event, the planets will already be in a new phase to each other, which signals the past is gone, the future starts here and now, together, with a spark of a present moment intention- acted on. This happens in the tropical sign of Aries which is about pure existence, right now. We are building out nothing more than the fullness of this present moment, affirming our worthiness, existence, here and now. Mars, the ruler of Aries, is in the sign of Aquarius at the time of this conjunction which reflects that this cycle will have everything to do with the efforts and collective will of our communities- so we gather to make it happen! For this informal two hour event, you will be invited to chat with others about collective astrology, personal astrology, the dreams you’re building within yourself, in the present moment, and within your communities. Guidance and prompts will be offered. Personal Birth Charts can be calculated for those who don’t have them for themselves. Where is Saturn in your birth chart? What reality do you build through your work? Where is Neptune in your birth chart? What is your ideal vision of the world? How do you see yourself living as an expression of your ideal vision in the world? This is a space for folks of all types and levels of astrological knowledge. Astrology is a practice to serve greater clarity of the natural patterings of our life, not to be resisted nor sensationalized. It is a practice to see ourselves from outside ourselves from a space of unconditional love. Event Host: Julianne Thomson, evolutionary astrologer and painter. @brightsideastrology

ASTROREADING Astrology 101 for beginners In this course you will learn to read a natal chart. We will focus on the astrological language (symbols), their interpretation and the deciphering of a birth chart. At the end of the course, you'll be able to do an independent, thorough analysis of a person's energy and the opportunities given to them in all spheres of life based on the planetary alignment at the moment of birth. I'm looking forward to sharing my astro knowledge with you in this interactive, engaging and life-changing course! LOCATION New York English Center 545 8th Avenue, 20th fl. New York, NY 10018 Begins on February 27th Every Friday 7-9pm Duration - 10 weeks $355 is the total cost for the course, with early-bird rates available. You can register for class either through the eventbrite link below or through Venmo @ira-shishova Link to register for class - https://www.eventbrite.com/d/united-states/astroreading/ If you have any questions, please contact me directly 🌔🌑🌕🌘 (917) 488-3727 120degreesf@gmail.com

Note you MUST register at this link to be admitted to the Simons Foundation building: [A Cellular Mystery: How Do Many Cell Types Arise From a Single Genome? Tickets, Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-cellular-mystery-how-do-many-cell-types-arise-from-a-single-genome-tickets-1981367898722?aff=odeccpebemailcampaigns&utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=ebcampaigns&utm_campaign=55077565&utm_term=ctabutton&mipa=ABIdvVvCjnbEvE6m33hjo2gSV6nrwPpPI5u_rvRO3eEEziXXXM6Ola1qwnhnQI3uqa1zc_CRPdPRXXMLJPu_qqYkiWR9DvtTGIeAKHi9L3JcPA981OzMrm2_iXII_wsREYPwACE0-AS6EdYNpl7C5DSkzggaogj8WUgKmapfmtngCsMUvs3vrCTfJXOw5oReL8sBcvvL4wGYXNzRkWVKiasff4ZeiEE6zd1uHwpNqHIHlnYXY8_T6o0ox_vVmRFNGyHy0xIAgLdGZwDbdZnCEEVTi7gDn7CiNg) Although nearly every cell in the body has essentially the same genome, each cell type makes different use of that genome and expresses a subset of all possible genes. This has motivated efforts to characterize the molecular composition of various cell types in humans and across multiple model organisms, using both transcriptional and proteomic approaches. In this Presidential Lecture, Stephen Quake will present how his team used single-cell transcriptomics to create a human reference atlas comprising more than 1 million cells from 24 different tissues and organs, many from the same donor. This atlas enabled molecular characterization of more than 400 cell types, their distribution across tissues and tissue-specific variation in gene expression and provides an experimental basis for understanding the cell type diversity that can be generated from a single genome. [Quake](https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/stephen-quake "https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/stephen-quake") is the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Stanford University. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and is one of only two dozen scientists elected to all three National Academies. Previously, he was head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (2022–2025), founding co-president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (2016–2022), a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator (2006-2016), and a professor at the California Institute of Technology (1996–2005). \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- After the lecture, CFI-NYC members are invited to go to dinner and continue the conversation.