Bootstrap

### ***This is a closed course that can only be booked and attended as a whole.*** ***So it’s best to join one of the other sMove! trainings beforehand – either on Thursdays in the park or online on Saturdays: [www.baerbelsinger.de/smove ](www.baerbelsinger.de/smove)*** \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ### Sensing and Expanding 🌿 sMove! invites you to expand your sensations and ways of expression through the body. The movements are simple and playful – yet they go deep: by moving with awareness, you discover qualities within yourself that are often covered by habit or tension. ### The Body as a Container 🌀 The body is more than muscles and bones – it is a container of memories, energy, and possibilities. In sMove! training, we explore this potential through rhythm, new movements, and focused attention. Each movement becomes an opportunity to sense more clearly, to shift old patterns, and to unfold new qualities – vitality, calm, presence, joy. ### Clarity through Intention 🎯 What makes sMove! special is not performance or perfection, but the direct experience of your body paired with intention, precision, and letting go. When you allow your body to guide you, space opens: your mind becomes quieter, energy can flow, aliveness grows. sMove! strengthens you inside and out – with more flexibility, strength, and ease. ### Experiencing Community 🤝 In the group, connection arises. Everyone moves in their own way – and yet we resonate with the shared rhythm. This collective presence builds trust in your own strength, encourages curiosity, and makes it easier to try something new. ### Who is sMove! for? 🌍 sMove! is open to everyone – previous experience is recommended (feel free to ask). 15 sessions * **November 2025**: 11., 18. * **Dezember 2025**: 9., 16. * **Januar 2026**: 20., 27. * **Februar 2026**: 3., 10., 17., 24. * **März 2026**: 24., 31. * **April 2026**: 7., 14., 28. 💶 Fee Early Bird: 280€ Full package: **320 €**

Meet us for in-person talks at Zalando on February 17, 2026! Join us for an evening of practical talks on how GenAI is reshaping modern engineering workflows, from code agents to production-grade, guardrailed systems. Please make sure you register with your full name, as it will be checked by security on arrival. **📅Date and Time:** Tuesday, February 17, 2026 Doors open: 18:00 Opening & announcements: 18:30 Talks start: 18:35 Wrap-up & networking: \~20:30 📍**Location:** [Zalando Office BHW](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GELYd8FH7AnqEFNF8) Berlin Hedwig-Wachenheimstraße 7 (BHW) The main entrance is on the west-side of the building (towards Uber Arena). Participants should register at the Helpdesk, and will be picked up from there. 📝 **Agenda:** **18:00 – Doors Open** Pizza, drinks, and networking **18:30 – Opening** Short welcome and announcements from the organizers (5 min) ### **18:35 – Talk #1** **Building Blocks of Modern Code Agents: Reusable Skills and Role-Based Subagents** **[Alexey Grigorev](https://www.linkedin.com/in/agrigorev) — DataTalk.Club** A practical map of modern code agent types and the two key building blocks that make them reliable in real-world development workflows. Code agents appear in many forms today: chat-based assistants, cloud agents running CI-like workflows, and IDE or terminal agents embedded directly into development environments. In this talk, we’ll map these main categories, discuss what each is good at, and highlight where they commonly fail. We’ll then zoom in on two core building blocks used in modern agent tooling: * **Skills / playbooks** — reusable, step-by-step workflows (e.g. understand the repo → implement a change → run checks → produce a clean diff) * **Subagents** — specialized roles such as planner, implementer, reviewer, and tester that split complex work into focused, reliable steps **Format:** 20 min talk + 10 min Q&A ### **19:05 – Talk #2** **Guardrailed Agents at Scale: Zalando’s Support Agent for Incident Triage and Stakeholder Q&A** **[Ivan Potapov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-sur/)**, **[Saugandh Karan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/saugandh-karan/)**[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/saugandh-karan/)— Zalando SE We’ll share how Zalando built and shipped a specialized internal support agent that helps engineering teams answer stakeholder questions and triage operational alerts — without drowning in context or compromising production safety. The agent enriches user requests with relevant observability context (metrics, logs, traces, recent deploys), summarizes what matters, and produces a severity assessment with recommended next steps. A key challenge is context explosion: pulling “all the data” quickly becomes noisy, slow, and risky. We’ll walk through the architecture patterns and guardrails that keep the system production-ready: * Retrieval and ranking strategies * Strict tool boundaries * Policy-driven response formats * Evaluation checks to prevent overconfident or unsafe guidance Finally, we’ll cover rollout and migration: introducing the agent alongside existing workflows, aligning it with architecture guidelines, and iterating based on real incident feedback. **Format:** 20 min talk + 10 min Q&A ### **19:35 – Pizza, Drinks & Networking** Invite your friends and join our meetup. Special thanks to our hosts **[Zalando.](https://en.zalando.de/?_rfl=de)**

! All sessions in English except for 17.02, 24.02 & 21.03 - these sessions will be in German ! Wanting to connect deeper with your partner? Looking for new ways to be intimate? Hoping to foster love, awareness, and communication in your relationship? Take some quality time away from the daily grid and explore Tantra together through embodied practice. The practice is designed to foster deeper intimacy, attunement and harmony between the two of you. Tantra invites you to allow your life force energy to flow without inhibition and to cultivate it for self-realization. Part of the practice is about inviting in more opening. Openness creates union, resistance creates separation. Deep connection, more pleasure and joy are a result of experiencing more openness. Tantra is for everyone! All couples are welcome regardless of sexual orientation and experience level. Not in a romantic relationship? Feel free to bring anyone you'd like to practice Tantra with. **What to expect:** * **Discourse, demo practice and Q&A**: learn about Tantra through discourse, ask your questions * **Tantra meditation practice**: presence, movement, sound and breath * **Sharing before and after practice**: share about your fears and desires & reflect on your experience * **Cozy studio setting**: enjoy a comfortable and intimate environment * **No partner-exchange:** practice only with your partner * **Fully clothed:** you may keep your clothes on during the entire practice **What to bring:** * Wear comfortable clothing * Water bottle to stay hydrated **Tickets:** 65€ per couple. Please purchase your ticket via [sophieheldens.com](https://www.sophieheldens.com/tickets?utm_source=meetup&utm_campaign=datenight) **Location:** Praxis Köpi Köpenicker Straße 175 10997 Berlin Kreuzberg Walk to the second courtyard and take the stairs to the front door on the left. **Please note:** Praxis Köpi is located on the 5th floor and there is no elevator available. Only book a ticket if you can walk the stairs. The benefit: a beautiful private studio with loads of natural light. **!! Please arrive 10 minutes early so we can start on time !!** Once we start the session, I can’t let you in anymore because it disturbs the class. Please do yourself and the group a favour by coming on time. Thank you! **Workshop facilitator** Hi! My name is Sophie. My passion for Tantra is rooted in a deep spiritual yearning and an inner knowing that Tantra is my path. My desire to teach Tantra has been sparked by having witnessed my own growth and healing as a result of these practices and it is inspired by a vision to create a more beautiful world. I create a space that is loving and nurturing, with a strong emphasis on ensuring that you feel save and supported. My workshops are gentle yet transformative, spiritual yet grounded and always heart-centered. I'm passionate about bridging the wisdom of ancient Tantra with modern-day practices. For more information, feel free to visit my website: [www.sophieheldens.com](https://www.sophieheldens.com?utm_source=meetup&utm_campaign=datenight)

**Thank you for your interest in our meetup. Due to the venue’s capacity, registration is now closed.** We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at future events. __________________________________________________ Join us on February 17 as **Superhuman’s Data Engineering team** shares examples of **how they scaled from a writing assistant to an agent platform**, unified analytics and ML data, and migrated core systems without slowing product delivery. ✅ **Registration**: Closed 🚀 **Enabling Rapid Experimentation: Unifying Analytics and ML Data in Databricks** Enabling teams to rapidly experiment with new AI models requires breaking down silos between analytical data and ML training datasets. At Superhuman, we consolidated both into Databricks as we scaled from a writing assistant to an agent platform. In this talk, we will: * Share our journey from our fragmented data systems to a unified platform in Databricks * Walk through design choices on how we organize Workspaces, Unity Catalog, and data ingestion * Explain how we apply and manage our privacy policies, governance, and access control 🚀 **Rebuilding the Engine: Migrating Data Systems While Keeping Products Moving** During this talk, we'll explore how to migrate core data systems while maintaining product velocity amid organizational and architectural change. We’ll cover: * The migration philosophy behind translate vs. transplant, and when each approach makes sense * Key data validation challenges encountered during system migrations * How to scope migration efforts realistically under time and delivery pressure * Architectural trade-offs and lessons learned from high-impact decisions **About Speakers**: **[Niels van Kaam](https://www.linkedin.com/in/niels-van-kaam-aa731768/)** is a tech lead for the ML Data team at Superhuman, where he’s building the data foundation for the company’s transition from a writing assistant to an agent platform. Previously, he worked on large-scale data systems for ad-tech at Amadeus Berlin and on geospatial applications for startups in the Netherlands. **[Dave Heberer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-heberer/)** is a software engineer at Superhuman with nearly 25 years of experience building data infrastructure across major tech companies. His background includes work at Microsoft, Tableau, and Facebook, spanning operating systems, computer vision, gaming platforms, and large-scale data and analytics systems. **💥 Who should attend?** (Data) Engineers making design decisions amid organizational change and rapid product development. **Agenda:** ✨ 18:30–19:00: Registration and networking ✨ 19:00–20:00: Talk ✨ 20:00–21:00: Mingle with our team **✅ Where:** In-person, Superhuman Berlin hub **✅ When:** Tuesday, February 17 **✅ Language:** English ✅ **Registration**: Closed **The event is free. Registration is mandatory**. Due to a limited number of seats, the invites will be sent to a limited number of interested guests on a first registered, first invited basis. Please check your inbox for a confirmation email about your attendance.

**Todos los martes de 18:30 a 20:30 en español.** Mes de prueba por 15,00 €. El curso comienza con los conceptos básicos para que todos, independientemente de su experiencia o conocimientos previos, puedan acceder fácilmente al amplio campo de la milenaria tradición del yoga y cubre en profundidad una gran variedad de formas de yoga. La espiritualidad se hace tangible para los participantes del curso a través de la práctica compartida del yoga y las lecciones teóricas (cada semana se entrega material escrito del curso). Para nosotros es muy importante que, tras un tiempo, los participantes del curso de yoga puedan adaptar su práctica de Hatha Yoga a sus necesidades individuales. Además, las técnicas tradicionales de purificación del sistema yóguico y ayurvédico y las prácticas nutricionales yóguicas forman parte de las instrucciones teóricas. Preguntas en berlin@traditionelles-yoga.de **Dirección** Deutsche Akademie für traditionelles Yoga e. V. MahaYoga Zentrum Brunnenstr. 147 10115 Berlin-Mitte (directamente en la estación de metro Bernauer Str. U8 – salida con ascensor)

Cuban salsa classes every Tuesday. Join us, improve your skills, save lives and make friends! **Classes:** 19:00 - Improvers 2 (New routine starting every month) **Price: (Card payment only)** 1 class - 7€ 10 class pass - 49€ or 42€ reduced* (To use within 11 weeks. Valid for all our classes. It can only be used by one person per class. No refund possible) * Reduced price for students, Schüler, Azubis, H4-Empfänger, and pensioners/retired folks. A valid proof is needed. **Why should you learn Salsa, and why with us?** - It's great fun! - You get to know loads of new people. - No fix starting date - you can start any week. - No dress code - come in whatever you feel comfortable in. Note:No outside shoes in the room: socks or a pair of clean shoes will be required - No partner needed - we change regularly during the classes (bring all your friends though!) - You can help us make a difference! **What is Salsa4Water?** Simple! We teach Salsa and donate all our profits to the NGO Welthungerhilfe, which uses these funds for their local projects in Malawi. Welthungerhilfe fights for equal access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in nearly 40 countries world wide. This gives you the chance to save lives while dancing!

Dear Community, Another month with two great speakers gladly joining us. This time we are meeting at charming office of **Storm Reply**, with one talk from AWS, one from Storm Reply team to be presented. =================================================== 18:30 - Warming up and networking chat 18:45 - Intro by AWS UG Berlin & Storm Reply 19:00 - 19:40 - **Aman Kumar Singh & Li-Ya Wang // Building a Customer Contact Center in Minutes Using Amazon Connect** In this session, we’ll learn how Amazon Connect enables you to build a fully functional, scalable customer contact center in just minutes. We will also present on how Connect simplifies voice and chat interactions, integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, and leverages AI for intelligent customer experiences. Starting with an overview of its core capabilities, we will have a short demo on Amazon Connect. 19:40 - 20:00 - Networking break with food, snacks and drinks 20:00 - 20:40 - **Omar Kobbi // AWS and GxP Compliance: Building Trust in the Cloud for Life Sciences** In this session, we’ll explore how AWS can support GxP compliance in the life sciences industry. From moving validated workloads off on-premises infrastructure to the cloud, to leveraging services like EC2, Elastic Load Balancer, S3, and AMI Factory, we’ll show how organizations can ensure data integrity, validation, and audit readiness while gaining scalability and innovation. Join us to learn how AWS helps build trust in the cloud for regulated environments. 20:40 - 20:45 - Closing & Final Remarks =================================================== **Very Important: There is no "waitlist" for our regular sessions.** However, there are limited seats available. If you want to make sure you can attend: Register yourself with your "full name" here at meetup.com Arrive on time - seats are first come, first serve. As soon as there are seats available, you are welcome to join with your registration. In case there are no more seats available, we won't be able to let you join us this time.We thank you very much for your understanding! ================================== Additional Information **This event is wheelchair friendly.** Help us spread the word, and invite your friends & colleagues! If you're attending with wheelchair and need assistance, please mail us: organisers@berlinawsug.de for further details. Would you like to host AWS UG Berlin events at your company? [Register here](https://bit.ly/aws-host) Would you like to speak at AWS UG Berlin sessions? [Submit your talk here](https://bit.ly/aws-talk)

Hey folks, winter is over! (I hope) Let's get together again for some drinks, brewskis and good chats! It's the last meetup of the year, let's make it count! When: Thursday, 19th Feb, 19.30 Where: BrewDog Berlin Mitte, Ackerstraße 29, 10115 Berlin Feel free to share this event with your fellow Indiehackers. Best, JP

📅 **Week 5 Focus: Creating Flash Cards** Each 7-week cycle focuses on a small, well-defined part of a larger system—and over time, these cycles build toward a complete, real-world project Feel free to join at any week and we will catch you up. There is no need to be at the beginning of the cohort to build. Complete beginners welcomed! 📌 By the End of a Full Cycle, You should Have 🎯 A working project in your own GitHub repo 🎯 A small but real portfolio piece you can demo or write about 🧠 **Current Project** This cycle’s shared project is an **image-based knowledge extraction system**. In Week 4, we tried **LLM-based APIs** to extract structured information from images. **In** **Week 5** we will systematically converting segmented images and extracted text into standardized flashcards — padding, resizing, formatting, and preparing them for print. * \*\*\* **👋 Who Is This For?** 🔹 Beginners who learn best by doing — no prior experience needed 🔹 Career switchers from product, engineering, design, marketing, or other fields who want to break into data 🔹 Analysts, engineers, and PMs looking to sharpen their skills or build real-world projects 🔹 Data professionals who want a creative playground outside of work 🔹 Anyone with big questions and a love for learning through experimentation \*\*\* **BUILD. LEARN. EXPERIMENT. OVER COFFEE.** Come hang out, meet like-minded people, and work on something fun. 📍 Based in Berlin – in-person meetups only (for now!) 💻 Laptops + ☕ highly encouraged Join our Discord → [https://discord.gg/dPnmzcCP8w](https://discord.gg/dPnmzcCP8w) Check out our program resources: [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15DmZqD4bLBk2vU4zpvh1HiB3_5n09v-q?usp=sharing) \*\*\* ✨ Who’s Hosting? I’m Lindsey, a senior data scientist working on AI, causal inference, and data products. I’ve built models for fraud detection, uplift modeling, and LLM-based systems. I am always open to suggestion for different format for this meetup.

**Jeden Mittwoch von 18:30 – 20:30 Uhr auf Deutsch.** Probemonat für 15,00 €. **Kursbeschreibung Traditioneller Tantra Yoga Kurs** Tantra Yoga ist weit mehr als Erotik mit Räucherstäbchen, wie es heutzutage in der westlichen Welt oft fälschlicherweise präsentiert wird. Tantra Yoga ist die Wissenschaft des Universums, die Wissenschaft des Lebens. Es bietet uns ein tiefes Verständnis der Funktionsweisen des Universums und seiner Prinzipien. Wer die Tantra Yoga Lehre für sich umsetzt, fängt an zu begreifen warum die Dinge so sind wie sie sind – und wie man genau das für die eigene spirituelle Entwicklung nutzen kann. Für einen Tantriker ist alles eins, ein großes kosmisches Ganzes, in das sich alle Wesen und alle Phänomene eingliedern. Und wenn alles aus einem großen Ganzen, einem einzigen heiligen, schöpferischen Bewusstsein hervorgeht, gibt es nichts das nicht heilig wäre. Wer Tantra Yoga lebt, begreift das Leben als einen Schöpfungsprozess, als ein göttliches Spiel, dessen Ziel es ist zurück zu kehren in die Glückseligkeit der Einheit mit allem. Auf diese Weise werden der Weg zur Arbeit, der neue Geschäftsabschluss, das Liebesspiel und sogar emotionale Regungen wie Unzufriedenheit u. ä. zum Antrieb ständigen Wachstums und zum Grund glückseliger Fröhlichkeit. Tantra Yoga nennt das Leben eine Achterbahn, und Achterbahn fahren macht Spaß – egal ob wir gerade den Berg hoch oder runter rauschen! Der Traditionelle Tantra Yoga Kurs gibt uns Werkzeuge an die Hand, das Leben zu verstehen und freudig zu leben, immer vor dem Hintergrund des kontinuierlichen spirituellen Wachstums. Fragen an berlin@traditionelles-yoga.de **Adresse** Deutsche Akademie für traditionelles Yoga e. V. MahaYoga Zentrum Brunnenstr. 147 10115 Berlin Direkt am U-Bahnhof Bernauer Str. U8 - Fahrstuhlausgang

Cuban salsa classes every Wednesday . Join us, learn how to dance, save lives and make friends! **Classes**: 19:00 - Absolute Beginners (For Free) 20:00 - Beginners 2 21.00 - Improvers 1 **Price: (Card payment only)** 1 class - 7€ 10 class pass - 49€ or 42€ reduced* (To use within 11 weeks. Valid for all our classes. It can only be used by one person per class. No refund possible) * Reduced price for students, Schüler, Azubis, H4-Empfänger, and pensioners/retired folks. A valid proof is needed. **Why should you learn Salsa, and why with us?** - It's great fun! - You don't need any prior dancing experience. - You get to know loads of new people. - No registration, just swing by. - No fix starting date - you can start any week. - No dress code - come in whatever you feel comfortable in. Note:No outside shoes in the room: socks or a pair of clean shoes will be required - No partner needed - we change regularly during the classes (bring all your friends though!) - You can help us make a difference! **What is Salsa4Water**? Simple! We teach Salsa and donate all our profits to the NGO Welthungerhilfe, which uses these funds for their local projects in Malawi. Welthungerhilfe fights for equal access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in nearly 40 countries world wide. This gives you the chance to save lives while dancing!

Mit dem Titel "Philosophie 2.0" wird nicht zu viel versprochen. Nicht alles was mit 'Philosophie' bezeichnet wird, hat damit auch zu tun. Das gilt allgemein. Wörter werden zu oft nicht präzise gebraucht, aber wenn man alles mit beliebigen Wörtern bezeichnen würde, könnte man nichts mehr genau verstehen, könnte nichts mehr genau begreifen. Also blieben die Irrtümer bestehen. Das hätte mit Philosophie aber definitiv nichts mehr zu tun. Was also ist das Gegenteil belanglos-vieldeutigen Wörterverdehens mit hochassoziativen Sprüngen bei denen allerlei übersehen wird und ergo das Wesentliche nicht mehr als solches klar erkannt werden kann? Maximal exakte Begriffsklärung. Und das geht! Das geht über einen systematischen Aufbau aller Kategorien - gestützt über einen Algorithmus, welcher Kategorienfehler automatisch vermeidet und mithilft, das Ganze im Blick zu behalten. Dass dies für uns Personen gar nicht so einfach ist, sieht man daran, dass jede Person (auch Du) irgendwann irgendwelchen Irrtümern aufgesessen ist. Jede Person, die sich also für irgendetwas ernsthaft (nicht wegen blanglosem Amüsement, oder wegen ideologischer Rechthaberei) interessiert und ergo dafür offen ist seine Auffassungen weiterzuentwickeln, ist bei dieser Veranstaltung goldrichtig. Ablauf: Bei unserer Diskussion geht es dabei nicht um irgendein festes Thema, sondern jeder schreibt ein Wort in seinem Interessengebiet auf einen Zettel und wir ziehen diese paarweise für je eine Runde. Die beiden Wörter haben gemeinsame Kategorien, aber es gibt auch Unterschiede. Wer diese nicht alle kennt, kann nicht behaupten, dass er tatsächlich begriffen hat, wovon er meint, dass es ihn interessiere; dass er definitiv wüsste wovon er spricht. Dieses Problem hatte schon Sokrates erkannt. Nur haben wir jetzt einen Algorithmus, welcher zu absoluter Genauigkeit verhilft um diese Irrtümer loszuwerden. Daher 'Philosophie 2.0'. Siehe dem Bild oben werfen wir die Bedeutung (die Menge aller Kategorien einer Begrifflichkeit) per Beamer an die Wand. Wir sind nicht in der Schule, d.h. es gibt keinen Zeitdruck, keine Noten, keinen Wettbewerb und keine Profilierungsmotive, sondern jeder hat alle Zeit der Welt um über die schematisch dargestellte Bedeutung nachzudenken - und diese zu hinterfragen. Die grafisch dargestellten Bedeutungen des Algorithmus sind nicht perfekt. Es geht nicht darum irgendetwas zu akzeptieren, sondern andersherum: die Bedeutung anzugreifen und zu verbessern. Jeder kann sie ändern! Die Diskussion ist also eröffnet. Jeder muss Gründe angeben. "Kann ein Walfisch ein Wellensittich sein?" \~> Natürlich nicht, denn Säugetiere sind keine Vögel. "Kann ein Fenster ein Getränk sein?" \~> Jeder weis, das ist unmöglich, denn Festkörper sind keine Flüssigkeiten. "Kann eine Demokratie eine Republik sein?" "Kann eine Vermutung eine Meinung sein?" "Ist etwas zu begreifen das Selbe wie etwas zu verstehen?" Nichts regt dermaßen zum nachdenken an wie die Bedeutung der Begrifflichkeiten algorithmisch stabilisiert zu systematisieren. Und wenn wir uns nicht einig werden? Die Diskussion läuft auch nach der Veranstaltung weiter. Jeder kann online von zuhause die Diskussion fortführen - mit dem selben mitdenkenden Algorithmus. Man könnte sagen, es sei ein neues Gesellschaftsspiel - ohne Wettkampf, sondern in kollektiver Bereicherung an Klarheit, von der alle gigantisch profitieren, obschon jeder nur einen sehr kleinen Teil beiträgt. Das "Spiel" funktioniert auch mehrsprachig, denn der platonische Raum der Begrifflichkeiten ist der eindeutige Raum, auf den das Vokabular einer Sprache nur referiert. Man kann auch von Zuhause aus online mitmachen. Den Zugang können wir dann über die Kommentare hier organisieren. Bring deinen Laptop mit, dann wird es einfacher... Dieses Spiel macht klug: Schach trainiert zwar das Konzentrationsvermögen, hat aber mit der Wirklichkeit nichts zu tun. Dieses Spiel hingegen schon, denn genau mitdenken zu können setzt voraus genau zu unterscheiden. Wer die Bedeutung der Wörter sauber ausdifferenziert wird immer klüger. Mach mit!

**PyBerlin: February's event** **Sponsor**: **Sentry** **Location: W3.Hub** **Agenda:** 6:30 pm – Doors open: snacks, drinks, networking 6:55 pm - Welcome from PyBerlin 7:00 pm - Welcome from the sponsor - Sentry 7:10 pm – **Maximum time off, minimum leave: solving the holiday equation with Python and math // Sander Van Aken** Around the beginning of the year, German news sources publish tips on how to optimize your vacation by cleverly using Brückentage: taking a few strategic days of leave to connect weekends and public holidays into long breaks. But how can this be computed systematically? And how can it be tailored to your personal preferences? Operations Research (OR) and mathematical optimization are powerful but often underrepresented disciplines within the broader AI and analytics landscape. In this beginner-friendly talk, we treat holiday planning as a mathematical optimization problem. Using the question “How do I maximize my benefit from taking time off?”, we will walk through the full process from problem formulation to a working Python solution. Speaker's bio: Sander Van Aken is Operations Research Engineer and passionate about applying quantitative methods to solve mobility, logistics and supply chain planning challenges. Beyond his day-to-day job of developing decision support algorithms for network planning at Flix SE, he is active in the broader OR community and loves introducing people to the field. 7:40 pm - break 8:00 pm – **Exception Handling Within the Context of Python's Typing System // Jonathan Herrera** A conceptual approach to exception handling, with a special focus on Python's type hinting system. Python's typing system does not allow for annotating methods with the exceptions they raise. The talk discusses the conceptual consequences of this limitation and introduces different exception handling paradigms with their upsides and downsides. Speaker's bio: Jonathan has worked as a Senior Python Developer in different companies. Currently, he is an Engineering Manager at RoomPriceGenie, a scale-up providing revenue management solutions to hotels, where he oversees the integrations team, and works, amongst other things, on establishing best practices with regard to reliability and security. 8:30 pm – **One does not simply send a GET request // Paweł Wiszniewski** Short presentation on a few of the less-known features of the requests and urllib3 libraries. Regardless of whether you're scraping the web or extracting data from those REST API endpoints, you need a reliable and convenient way to download data from the internet. But packages get lost in the traffic, servers get overwhelmed with requests. And your job is to build a resilient data pipeline. Let's see what the most popular HTTP libraries have to offer. Speaker's bio: Paweł is a Senior Data Engineer and a founding member of the Data Platform team at Flink SE, where he builds tools and designs processes that empower data scientists, analysts, and business teams across the company. 9:10 pm - closing This event will be only in-person. Please check our Code of Conduct and official health regulation in Berlin before coming. If you feel some signs of sickness, please consider skipping this event and attending another time. We will have plenty of events in different formats in the future. Looking forward seeing you all!

Some trained COUNT volunteers work together once a month at RMH (http://www.rmhc-centralohio.org/volunteer.php) as Housewarmers (usually on the 1st Sunday from 1 – 5 PM). Some schedule other shifts at their convenience. You may try this out with less fuss by following a "Fast track" or go through the normal process. Fast track • Arrange a time to shadow a COUNT volunteer. Call Dave Nohle at 614-268-9558 (cell). • Show up and try it out. • Complete application, etc. later. Normal process • Complete an online application (http://rmhc-centralohio.org/volunteer/). • Attend orientation in advance. • At orientation you will complete forms agreeing to keep family/patient info private and allowing a background check and tour the facility. • Complete one training shift. Daily shifts are: morning 9 AM - 1 PM, afternoon 1 - 5 PM and evening 5 - 9 PM. • Schedule shifts online using the on the RMH scheduling system (http://www.volgistics.com/ex/portal.dll/?FROM=32895). The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) provides housing and meals for families with sick children. The Columbus RMH is the largest in the world with 137 rooms. COUNT has been volunteering there since May 2014. Housewarmers work with RMH guests to provide a home-like environment - greet, assist with family needs, answer phones, give tours, assist with checkin/checkout, prepare guest rooms after checkout, clean facility, laundry, restock supplies and staff the front desk. RMH Housewarmers volunteer at least one four-hour shift a month. All Housewarmers must complete an application and agree to a background check before they can be full fledged volunteers.

**Our February novel is: Julia by Sandra Newman** **This month is a classic, dystopian, fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and science fiction novel. The book is 394 pages in print and 14 hours and 20 minutes on audiobook.** **An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell’s 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith’s lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.** Julia Worthing is a mechanic, working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. It’s 1984, and Britain (now called Airstrip One) has long been absorbed into the larger trans-Atlantic nation of Oceania. Oceania has been at war for as long as anyone can remember, and is ruled by an ultra-totalitarian Party, whose leader is a quasi-mythical figure called Big Brother. In short, everything about this world is as it is in Orwell’s 1984. All her life, Julia has known only Oceania, and, until she meets Winston Smith, she has never imagined anything else. She is an ideal citizen: cheerfully cynical, always ready with a bribe, piously repeating every political slogan while believing in nothing. She routinely breaks the rules, but also collaborates with the regime when necessary. Everyone likes Julia. Then one day she finds herself walking toward Winston Smith in a corridor and impulsively slips him a note, setting in motion the devastating, unforgettable events of the classic story. Julia takes us on a surprising journey through Orwell’s now-iconic dystopia, with twists that reveal unexpected sides not only to Julia, but to other familiar figures in the 1984 universe. This unique perspective lays bare our own world in haunting and provocative ways, just as the original did almost seventy-five years ago.

Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/cbus-hug-2026/

Welcome, readers! Our February read is **_1984 by George Orwell._** In 1984, George Orwell imagines a world where the government watches everyone, rewrites reality, and punishes even private thoughts. Winston Smith dares to question this system, believing that truth and love might still exist. His rebellion draws him into a chilling struggle against a power that knows him better than he knows himself. The novel leaves readers asking whether freedom is possible when reality itself can be controlled. Looking forward to discussing with everyone! We will meet at Zaftig Brewing Co in their event room in the back. We are welcome to bring in our own food, but **drinks must be purchased at the bar.** Happy reading! 📖

**NEW LOCATION: 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). See the handy Parking Map - we recommend street parking. [Street Parking Map](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1u2A4fLNlxwLJn0KA_hKc8bnFlFHLvsHBDh-_8wzX_tk/edit?usp=sharing) 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 centralohpython@gmail.com

**When:** Saturday\, February 21 \| 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM **Where:** [1124 Parsons Ave, Columbus, OH 43206](https://twodollarradiohq.com/about-us) Looking for a night of meaningful connection and great vegan food? Join us at [Two Dollar Radio Headquarters](https://www.google.com/viewer/place?mid=/g/11fkn49_yq&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj14_nkjsWSAxVt4ckDHdRCH4oQqdYPegYIAQgFEAI) for a special community gathering! **What’s on the menu?** While [2$R](https://www.google.com/viewer/place?mid=/g/11fkn49_yq&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj14_nkjsWSAxVt4ckDHdRCH4oQqdYPegYIAQgGEAI) typically serves a selection of [house-made sandwiches](https://twodollarradiohq.com/weekly-food) and vegan pastries, they are creating a **special menu** specifically for our event. You can also grab a coffee, tea, or a drink from their [full bar](https://twodollarradiohq.com/) of cocktails and beer. **The Main Event:** * **Play:** Bring a favorite game from home to share or dive into the ones available at the shop. * **Connect:** Meet new and old friends in a space that values independent culture and plant-based living. * **Support:** Help us champion a local, family-owned vegan business that doubles as a powerhouse [indie book publisher](https://twodollarradio.com/pages/headquarters). **Parking Instructions:** * **Street Parking:** There is free public street parking available on both sides of Parsons Avenue and on the surrounding residential side streets. * **Lot Parking:** The [Columbus Metropolitan Library](https://www.google.com/viewer/place?mid=/g/126262ks5&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj14_nkjsWSAxVt4ckDHdRCH4oQqdYPegYIAQgKEAM) lot (1113 Parsons Ave) is located directly across the street and is available for guest use **only after the library has closed**. On Saturdays, the lot is typically available starting at 6:00 PM. * **Bike Parking:** For those cycling, there is a bike rack conveniently located at the corner of Cline and Parsons.