Connection To Source

Observability is supposed to help us understand our systems but for many teams it has quietly become one of the most expensive and least flexible parts of the stack. Plenty of organizations take polished SaaS platforms like Datadog to get real value quickly early on, only to hit the same wall later: runaway costs, pricing tied to architectural decisions, and vendor lock-in so strong it makes Rogers and Bell both blush. In this talk, I’ll walk through a real-world case study of a JVM-based production system that migrated away from a Datadog-centric observability setup to an open-source, OpenTelemetry-based platform. We’ll dig into the why behind the move, the architectural decisions that mattered, the mistakes along the way, and how the team ended up with pragmatic visibility into latency, errors, and resource usage at a fraction of the cost. The second half of the talk is practical and forward-looking. I’ll show how OpenTelemetry unlocks real choice by acting as a neutral data plane for your telemetry. From there, we’ll look at modern, off-the-shelf observability backends you can plug in within minutes without rewriting applications or installing new agents. Want to dual-write, swap vendors, or route data somewhere new? This is how you do it without a big-bang rewrite or another long-term commitment with a new vendor. This session is for engineers and CEOs who are feeling the observability cost squeeze, want leverage back from vendors, and are looking for realistic ways to modernize monitoring without lighting their entire stack on fire each time they decide to change their tools of choice. **About the venue** Free Times Cafe has bistro-style seating and a full food and drink menu. Please consider helping to support the venue by planning to have supper during the talk. **Speaker Bio** Alexei Zenin is a Platform Engineering Consultant based out of Toronto, Canada. Over the course of his career he has worked across the Healthcare, Marketing, Video Games, and Banking industries. He loves to tackle hard problems in the distributed systems space with a focus on scaling platforms both from a technical and process perspective. He is a strong advocate for highly maintainable and well tested code while at the same time pragmatically delivering value to the end user. He has contributed to the broader tech community, namely to Confluent’s blogs on Apache Kafka, spoken at Current 2022 in Austin, Texas, and spoken at XP Game Summit 2025 in Toronto, Canada. During his 5 years at Uken Games he contributed to several games like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Jeopardy. One title of note he saw from inception to completion was a game for Tim Hortons built right into the official app, Tim’s Word Challenge. Millions of Canadians have played it along with their morning coffee. He also got to work with Netflix on several unannounced games during his time at the studio. Currently, Alexei is working with various clients, both large and small to modernize and streamline their platforms with the most appropriate tools and practices. Outside of his professional life, he gives back to his community by volunteering at UofT. He also enjoys paddleboarding and attending live rock concerts to reset after long coding sessions.

(Inside Malang Bar & Lounge) 🎟 $12 Admission — includes shared pool table access 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Open to all! Limited to 35 attendees – secure your spot now! 🗓️ Every Thursday, 7:00 PM 📍 918 Dundas St E Unit C2/C3, Mississauga, ON L4Y 4H9 🤝 Curated networking activities for easy connection Forge meaningful bonds and expand your network at our vibrant community gathering! This isn't just another event; it's an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals in a relaxed and inspiring atmosphere. Imagine an evening filled with engaging conversations, shared laughter, and the beginning of powerful new collaborations. You'll discover fresh perspectives, unlock potential opportunities, and strengthen your professional and personal circle within the Synergy Hub community. Don't miss out on crafting unforgettable moments and building your invaluable support system. For added fun and easy ice-breaking, attendees will have access to shared pool tables, creating a casual and interactive way to connect throughout the evening. • Expand your professional and personal network • Discover potential collaborations and opportunities • Gain fresh insights and diverse perspectives • Strengthen your sense of community and belonging Come for the connections. Stay for the community. Leave with lasting relationships.

Join us for an exciting ServiceNow Toronto Developer Meetup - Spring 2026 Edition! 📅 **Date**: Thursday, March 26th, 2026 🕕 **Time**: 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM EST 📍 **Location**: Scotland Yard, 56 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON **Agenda**: * **Networking -** Get to know your fellow ServiceNow Developers * **Knowledge Sharing** \- Share your insights and learn from others * **Additional details will be announced closer to the event!** Refreshments will be served at the event - Send us a private message to let us know if you have any allergies! **Note**: The event details are subject to change, so please stay tuned for any updates. This event is sponsored by Pentio Inc.

This is a ticketed event. Please register at [this link](https://luma.com/e69uao09). ​In his talk, Samuel Simko from ETH Zurich will present his recent work on adversarial defenses for LLMs, developed with the Jinesis Lab (University of Toronto). The talk will cover a series of approaches, ranging from triplet-based contrastive learning defenses to honeypot-style defenses designed to avoid worst-case behavior. He will also discuss patterns observed in contest-winning manual jailbreaking prompts, ideas for tamper-resistant safeguards, and the current limits of attacks, defenses, and evaluation methodologies. ​**Event Schedule** 6:00 to 6:30 - Food and introductions 6:30 to 7:30 - Presentation and Q&A 7:30 to 9:00 - Open Discussions ​​​If you can't attend in person, join our live stream starting at 6:30 pm via [this link](https://www.youtube.com/@Trajectory-Labs/live).

We’re still working to get more people into these Meetups, but our goal is to give PlayYourCourt members a few social tennis outings each week in addition to your practice sessions and Challenge League matches. These Meetups are co-ed, super laid back, and all skill levels are welcome. Post your skill level and a suggested court in the comments section so we can round up as many players as we can for some tennis fun! Also, if you’re looking to meet new practice partners or play some matches and you aren’t already in the PlayYourCourt Community, you can go here to see what we’re all about and sign up: https://www.playyourcourt.com/tennis-community/toronto-ON/meetup/ If you love tennis, we’d love to have you! Be sure and watch the quick video that explains how everything works. Happy hitting! - Scott

March 26th for the OpenClaw Meetup. Fraternal Order of Eagles - 17 Elm St, Toronto, ON M5G 1H1 [https://maps.app.goo.gl/tKyQGWh6pqSu5KTi8?g_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/tKyQGWh6pqSu5KTi8?g_st=ic) from 5-8p More information to come.. speakers, guests, talks..etc

**Taming the Lobster: Securing OpenClaw and Navigating the Future of Autonomous AI Agents** OpenClaw is everywhere right now. It’s arguably one of the most powerful tools for automating tasks locally, but let’s be honest: giving an AI autonomous access to your system is a massive security gamble. Between private data leaks and untrusted content, you’re basically looking at a "lethal trifecta" of risks if you aren't careful. In this talk, I’m going to skip the fluff and look at real exploits we’ve seen in the wild—from malware hiding in plugin marketplaces to remote code execution flaws that can hijack your gateway. We’ll then walk through a practical hardening checklist to lock down your setup (think container sandboxing and network isolation) so you can actually sleep at night. To wrap things up, I’ll share a few safer alternatives for those who want the power of an AI agent without the operational headache. **Speaker: Samiul Islam** **Senior AI Product Manager & Agentic Systems Specialist** Samiul is a Senior AI Product Manager based in Mississauga, recognized for architecting GenAI roadmaps and building the underlying orchestration layers that make AI agents reliable. Currently consulting for Thinkrr.ai, he leads the development AI roadmap including their AI copilot, and having voice AI build voice agents. With a foundation in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Samiul specializes in bridging the gap between raw LLM capabilities and deterministic enterprise outputs. During his tenure at Formula.Monks, he led R&D teams to launch agentic frameworks that utilized a semantic tooling layer to ensure AI behavior remained precise and human-like. A practitioner as much as a strategist, Samiul is an active contributor to the local AI community, frequently optimizing LLMs on Apple Silicon and developing self-hosted MCP solutions. Outside of the professional sphere, he is a dedicated DIYer and health-tech enthusiast, applying his technical mindset to navigate complex personal health data. **Schedule:** 6:00 - 6:30 - Meet 'n Greet 6:30 - 6:45 - Introduction and Welcome 6:45 - 7:45 - Main Presentation 7:45 - 8:00 - Closing and Prize Draw 8:00 - ? - (Optional - whoever would like to join) Continue our conversations at Bar 6ix, 201 City Centre Drive (3 minute walk) **Where to Find Us** Conference Room 073 in the Hazel McCallion Central Library. Bottom Level. **Parking** There is a parking garage under the library. Parking is free from 6PM on.

Okay so we’re doing this again. If you’ve ever looked at your friend and thought “Why are you single? You’re actually amazing” …this is your chance to prove it. Date My Friend is exactly what it sounds like. You bring your single friend. You go up and pitch them to the room. Then everyone mingles after. Just friends gassing up their friend in front of a room full of eligible people. Last time was chaotic in the best way. People really showed up for their friends and it was honestly so fun to watch. You can: – Come single and get pitched – Come as the wingman – Or come single and just see what happens We’ll do a few pitches, keep it flowing, and leave time to actually talk to people after. Age range 25 to 45 GTA location (exact venue announced soon) [Purchase your ticket here!](https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1983995308375?aff=oddtdtcreator)

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/yvAGbh4PpD **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.

13.7 km walk from Lawrence Station to Broadview 1 PM Meet at Lawrence station. 1 PM to 2 PM Eat at Good Bite Restaurant, 2463 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4P 2H6, +1416 483 8432 2 PM to 6 PM walk south along the Don Trail to Broadview station. Route Map With GPX Available for Download: https://www.komoot.com/tour/2775897331

Has it been just you and your phone lately? It’s easy to feel connected yet still feel alone. Digital interactions can’t replace the warmth of eye contact, real laughter, and meaningful conversations. True connection happens when we step away from our screens and show up as ourselves — present, open, and engaged. At Fast Friending, we create spaces where real relationships begin — just genuine conversations and shared moments. Because nothing compares to meeting face-to-face, discovering common ground, and walking away with a connection that truly feels real. **Book tickets now & save money -** [https://toro28thmarch.eventbrite.co.uk](https://toro28thmarch.eventbrite.co.uk) \*You can use any debit or credit card to purchase your ticket at PayPal checkout. It will ask you for your email address but that is only to send you a receipt. You do not need a PayPal account. EVENT COST: Early Bird - CAD$ 10 per person Regular Ticket - CAD$ 15 per person Cash at meetup - If you have not purchased your ticket in advance then you can pay CAD$ 20 cash when you meet Faye at the venue. **Our venue for the evening** \- is spacious\, has comfortable seating and not very noisy\. We have a reserved area where our members can meet each other in a supportive environment\. **Here’s how your evening will flow:** **7:00 PM – Welcome** Arrive at 7:00 PM and be welcomed by your host, Faye, who will guide the evening and help with introductions. Feeling shy? Come a little early and she’ll ease you into small-group conversations. You’re also welcome to bring a lady friend along for free. **7:30 – 8:30 PM \| Fast Friending** Chat with a new attendee every 3 minutes, ensuring you meet a variety of like-minded ladies and gentlemen. **After 8:30 PM \| Open Mingling** Reconnect with those you enjoyed speaking to and continue meaningful conversations at your own pace \- We are not a close knit tight group\. Our evenings are warm and comfortable for members attending for the first time and those coming alone\. You will not feel alone\! \- We have many groups in this city\. Members of our other groups who RSVP are included as guests of the organisers in order to give you an indication of expected people\. \- This evening is for ladies and gents in the 25 to 45 age group\. While some will be at the younger end of this range there will also be others at the other end of the range and lots in\-between\! You will naturally gel with others of your own age range and so you will always find many attendees who fit your range\. \- We are not a 'dating' group\. We are focused on helping ladies and gents meet other like minded ladies and gents\. You will generally find a good gender balance \(maybe not perfect\) at all our events\. **Why do we have tickets?** 1. Cover our costs - Our host is compensated for their time and work. We also pay meetup and have dedicated staff to manage our events, hosts, venues and communication. 2. Group Safety - By securing your ticket we have a record and you contribute to a well organized evening where everyone is more committed and better behaved. 3. Management - Tickets help us better manage attendee group size, book suitable space and activity. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ABOUT [fastfriends.co.uk ](https://fastfriends.co.uk/)- We have connected members successfully for the past 10 years in over 30 cities (operating as Expatsclub, MeetConnectDevelop and fastfriends.co.uk). \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- You can contact our founder Dan on +447715705005 with any questions or ideas. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Here are some videos which will give you some guidance and comfort to make your attendance more productive.** Secrets for socialising at our meetups - [https://bit.ly/44ZdVwx](https://bit.ly/44ZdVwx) Making new friends -[ https://bit.ly/455TsWY](https://bit.ly/455TsWY) How to make people like you instantly - [https://bit.ly/3Vj5PeT](https://bit.ly/3Vj5PeT) Members review - [https://bit.ly/3yHfu6d](https://bit.ly/3yHfu6d)

**SUBSCRIBE TO [THE MAILING LIST](https://torontorationality.beehiiv.com/). EVENTS ARE NO LONGER POSTED HERE.** ​Arguing about important things doesn’t usually lead to people changing their mind. Double Crux is a technique for making discussions more productive and understanding the actual reasoning of those who disagree with us. Sometimes it even helps to better understand the foundations of your own beliefs. Together, we'll learn about [Double Crux](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ya59PtGeYnCG25eWn/double-crux-in-a-box), and then break into pairs with someone we disagree with to practice finding out why our views are different and what might change our minds. ## Location Enter the Mars Atrium via University Avenue entrance. We'll meet at the food court in the basement. I'll be wearing a bright neon yellow jacket. ## Detailed Directions to the Food Court Enter from University Avenue and walk east until you see escalators. Take the escalators down. The food court is to the east of the escalators. If you are lost/confused, ask a security guard to direct you to the food court. [This event is cross-posted from LessWrong.](https://www.lesswrong.com/events/wuMwSJJEKZHfccoRs/toronto-acx-meetups-everywhere-spring-2025)

Join us on March 26th for an exciting **AWS User Group Toronto meetup** focused on **AI-driven development with Kiro**! The evening kicks off with a presentation and live demoes showcasing how Kiro transforms the development workflow, followed by AWS experts sharing the best practices and approaches to get most out of AI-driven development. We'll wrap up with a hands-on workshop and Q&A session — Kiro credits will be provided for participants who want to explore at their own pace. As a bonus, enjoy pizza on us and take home some exclusive Kiro-themed swag! To make the most of the workshop, please come with Kiro pre-installed on your own computer and/or AWS account ready to go. **Agenda:** 6:00-6:15: Welcome Introductions, and community update 6:15-7:00: AI-driven development with Kiro - Presentation and Demo 7:00-7:30: Lessons from field - Best practices and accelerators 7:30-8:00: Workshop set and Q&A **Details:** Address: **18 York St., 7th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5J 2T8** Date: **March 26, 2026** Time: **6:00 pm to 8:00 pm EST** **Speaker:** * **Simran Singh** \- Sr\. Solutions Architect @ AWS * **Divya Jadav** \- Solutions Architect @ AWS * **Abhijith Ramesh Chandra** \- Solutions Architect @ AWS Please plan to arrive between 05:30 PM and 06:00 PM to ensure time to check-in, before the event begins at 06:00 PM. Visitors will need to present a government-issued photo ID to verify their identity and will have their picture taken to receive a visitor badge. Please wear your badge and remember to return all visitor badges to reception at the end of the visit. Parking is available onsite. There is a parking garage located beneath the building. You can pull an access ticket at the garage entrance off 120 Bremner Boulevard or Lower Simcoe Street. If you are arriving via the Union station, the building is conveniently located next to the Union station. Please enter through the main entrance on Bremner Boulevard or via the PATH Network and proceed to the elevators.

HAPPY SPRING everyone ! Welcome to our new location : The Urban House Kitchen & Bar on Queen St East! If you're available, please join us on the SECOND FLOOR of Urban House Kitchen & Bar, for your favourite Film and TV Networking evenings. Rain, Shine or Blizzard, WE WILL BE THERE! AND THERE WILL BE PRESENTS :D Of course, if you feel sick, have a fever, a cough, or don't feel comfortable with attending such an event post COVID times, please, don't put yourself and others in a bad position, and wait for the next one, because there will always be a next one. :D Bring your smiles and business cards! See you there ! DISCLAIMER : The organizers are not responsible for the potential stupid behaviour of some people, and you and us know that there is always a possibility of these happening, so by RSVPing to this event, you assume all responsibility and won't be able to hold the organizers responsible if anything happens that is related to your decision of attending. ================ SPRING Toronto Film and TV Industry Social Evening Thursday, Mar 26th 2026, 6PM The SECOND FLOOR at Urban House Kitchen & Bar 718 Queen St E. Toronto, ON M4M 1H2

**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 **Abstract** Web Forms gave .NET developers a powerful abstraction for building reusable UI controls long before design systems were a thing. Web Components finally bring that same idea to the browser natively. This session explores how the Web Forms mindset translates into Custom Elements, Shadow DOM, and HTML templates. We’ll examine how Web Components enable design systems that work across frameworks, how they differ from server‑driven controls, and why they’re becoming a foundational layer for modern UI. Whether you’re maintaining legacy apps or building greenfield projects, you’ll leave with a practical understanding of how to apply familiar patterns in a modern, standards‑based way. **YouTube Link** [https://youtube.com/live/fD2cYeKp_UU?feature=share](https://youtube.com/live/fD2cYeKp_UU?feature=share)

This is an in-person meeting. Would you like to know the Real You, not just a shadow of yourself? Does your life energy feel somehow trapped within? Does your self-confidence get easily shaken? Do you get in the way of your own goals? We will discuss the real source of all this, what holds you back in life, and how to handle it so you can achieve more successful and happier living. Perhaps you get weighed down with negative emotions you can't seem to shrug off. Or find yourself doing strange and irrational things - not really being yourself. We will cover why that is and tools that work to help you unearth your self, your self-confidence and motivation. This meeting will help you learn about how to effectively overcome: -Out-of-control unwanted emotions -Low self-esteem -Anxiety -Negativity -Stress -Irrational fears -Traumatic or painfully emotional incidents -Breakups -Betrayals -Feeling like you're not really yourself -Self-doubt... We will discuss how to unleash the inner you and tap into your true potential. So come to this online meetup! This meeting is sponsored by the Hubbard Dianetics Foundation of Central Ohio

**First meetup of the Columbus AI Engineering group.** We’ll kick things off with a practical, beginner-friendly discussion on: **How LLMs like ChatGPT actually work — and how to build real applications with them.** We’ll cover: * what’s actually happening under the hood (at a high level) * why LLMs behave the way they do (hallucinations, prompt sensitivity, etc.) * how people are building real systems with them today * where things break in practice This will be a **short, informal talk (\~15–20 min)** followed by open discussion and Q&A. Whether you’re an engineer, builder, or just curious about how modern AI systems work, you’re welcome to join. No slides, no fluff — just real conversation about real systems. We’ll hang out afterward and get to know each other.

Come attend a free in-person seminar where you will find out why you: -Feel isolated -Can't express yourself openly -Get nervous or anxious in front of people -Run out of things to say or feel tongue-tied -Feel introverted -Don't feel comfortable in any social setting -Can't make more friends -Are shy and miss opportunities to connect in a meaningful way And we cover what you can do about any one, some or all of the above. This seminar is the weapon against loneliness, isolation and boredom, come join us! COME TO THIS SEMINAR AND LEARN THE SECRETS TODAY This seminar is brought to you by the Dianetics & Scientology Life Improvement Center. 1266 Dublin Road, Columbus, Ohio 43215

Bring your business cards and network in person with other business professionals! Gold Star Referral Clubs is one of the most established professional networking organizations in the country, with multiple groups in central Ohio. Join us!

Feeling down? Sometimes depressed? Can't focus? Negativity & stress? Recent losses? Creativity in career and personal life hindered by mental blocks? Sometimes we never fully recover from traumatic experiences. Whether it was yesterday, last week or a year ago, traumatic experiences - a loss of a loved one, losing a job, a breakup - can leave you scarred. You talk about it and feel a little better, but it never goes away. After you hang up the phone, it's still there; the sadness, the cloud, the over-thinking, the worry, the guilt. You try to focus, but you're blocked. You try to look forward into new experiences, new relationships but a cloud is hanging over you, casting a shadow on what you once considered a bright, cheerful future. What happened to your courage? Your strength of character? You're 'why not' attitude? Whoever said 'time heals' must have had a special time machine, because after weeks, months, years, you're wondering - when exactly does that kick in? Sometimes it seems like drinking or drugs are the way to go. But they wear off, and now the problem is still there with added side effects from the drugs. At this free local Meetup event we will talk about: * What causes grief, anxiety and depression to become chronic. * Is it possible to regain your joy and happiness even after traumatic experiences? * How to break away from negativity and focus on the future * What are the steps to take to get control of your mind and your emotions? Learn about a safe, gentle, do-it-yourself counseling that can be done in the comfort of your own home. Let's explore safe, effective solutions for healing from traumatic experiences. Be sure to click on the red "Attend" button below to come to the event. We look forward to seeing you there. This group is sponsored by the Dianetics & Scientology Life Improvement Center.

**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: Type Annotations with John Cassidy 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