Cryptography

The way organizations build teams and the way professionals build careers is changing. Fractional, part-time, and project-based work is no longer a stopgap. It's becoming a deliberate strategy on both sides of the work equation; the "Portfolio Career" of the future is happening now. In this session, Stephanie Ranno draws on her work connecting experienced professionals with employers who are rethinking how they access talent. Whether you're a content strategist navigating a tough market and piecing together flexible engagements or an organization weighing whether a fractional hire could move the needle for a specific project, this session offers practical perspectives for both. We'll explore what's driving the shift toward flexible work arrangements, how to position yourself or structure your team to make the most of it, and what it actually takes to make fractional and part-time roles work well for everyone involved. **About Stephanie** Stephanie brings more than 20 years of experience in staffing and recruiting, helping organizations of all sizes and in all industries build high-performing teams. She has worked with clients in financial services, associations and nonprofits, government consulting, and professional services to connect them with exceptional talent. As Director of Growth, Stephanie partners with FlexProfessionals DC and Boston teams to expand the firm’s mid-market presence and bring our services to new metro areas. She focuses on opening new pathways for businesses to access flexible, top-tier talent in accounting, finance, HR, administration, operations, and marketing. Stephanie is committed to showing employers how flexible work models can give organizations a competitive edge while creating meaningful career opportunities for professionals. Beyond her client work, Stephanie is a frequent speaker and writer on topics including workforce trends, talent acquisition, neurodiversity, and inclusion. Inspired by her own family, she has a special interest in advancing neurodiversity in the workplace and creating a future of meaningful work for all.

Join us on Wednesday, June 10at 7:30 Eastern at Busboys and Poets Takoma; or, for out-of-towners, via Zoom. Our featured tellers this month are the wild Don White and the wooly Candace Wolf! Register or learn more: [https://fsgw.org/event-6613538](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffsgw.org%2Fevent-6613538%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExSDVIaUpkOXdZaTJsNlU3dXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7WhH2dYL92VFyzEuLui-6kIc2mFqrltwm-Q8nCBwHOrTFbQFP31yRWe8TczQ_aem_kg-jLSWT7GqGTob6yrUa_g&h=AT49UgnwCqN5bN3IQJW8DOZrYaDPc-WslVB4gbzw_rvPXkh1QAcSA4oE9JdpF5VevpnD_fD4qeJF_XVwheJFSbYEAYr1ut2az50VycJZGKu2-PLL5h2R4TKOtN05X97MaMZ0tJgdwPHh-0QVraoJOvA9oIVJEI-bd4Tlkg&__tn__=q&c[0]=AT5M3C7tZwzJc1-zICr16BvCBDsNURP9OiOJLl_aih8e1HCWQIFV1oQUJ7eWdY50yRN5paRQvLs-vl-Mc5GtlwyTtQ4NVLjcvljm4dr1NQ8ZTGRqTB-gdZ7HrR2pxo2is9nWg8UxlNi_IThYKZu4ePCZ0EhP9SDG9XQ) You will get emails with reminders on the date, time, and location, as well as Zoom information. We ask for donations to support our tellers, suggested $20 per person (feel free to give more!). Donations can be made in person or online before, during, or after the show, at: [https://fsgw2.org/grapevine.html](https://fsgw2.org/grapevine.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExYmJidk1nRERPWGM3dVFZWXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR45cyhwEfbx5cEQS85IVTzAM11Z9X0-qXNgay83bgLV1MB2aKtnvB-igMjc7A_aem_TJLVE9-uvHmaFP2zNXKhVw) The Grapevine is spoken word performance for adults and teens, celebrating the timeless art of the story, hosted by storytellers Renée Brachfeld and Tim Livengood.

[Book Your Classes by Clicking This Link! ](https://crowndancestudio.com/group-classes/) Mid-week is for the experts with **Level 3 Bachata (7:45 PM)** and **Level 3 Salsa (8:30 PM),** followed by a **Social Dance Party at 9:15 PM.** These advanced classes challenge experienced dancers with intricate footwork and styling, emphasizing the joy of high-level performance. **The evening costs $25 for the classes and social**, providing an inclusive space where advanced students can sharpen their craft and immediately practice their moves with peers. 7:45 Bachata (Level 3) 8:45 Salsa (Level 3) $18 for 1 Class $22 for 1 Class + Social $25 for 2 Classes + Social $10 for Social Only

We connect you with up to 30 Men or Women tennis partners close to your PLAYING REGION and skill level. This program is less competitive, no champions crowned, no league standings just dedicated tennis partners who want to meet up with you on the courts. Players will meet up to play a tennis match or just to hit around. Just go through the [Join Page](https://www.tennisdc.com/partner-program) to enter this program. [https://www.tennisdc.com/partner-program](https://www.tennisdc.com/partner-program)

Get in on the culture! Swing Prime is in DC 😀go deeper into the culture of Bahia both members will talk about the cultural significance of the music and the movement Learn about the drums, the distinct techniques of playing and more. $25

**X is an illusion** There are a large number of philosophy views that hold that major features of what we think is real, is instead an illusion. Examples: Solipsism. The ultimate of “illusion” movements is the belief that oneself, and one’s mind, is the only thing that is real in the world, and that everything else, including everyone one supposedly knows, is an artifact of one’s own mind. Great Deceiver or Long Dream. Similar to solipsism, but with an added wrinkle of a Trickster God, or a Trickster Dreamer leading to everything being illusion. Buddhism. Similar to Long Dream, but the illusion is shared between all of us, with the added wrinkle that our own selfhood and identity is also part of the illusion. Delusionism. We are not actually conscious, and do not have experiences, or a self. We are instead a meat machine computer, which creates and backdates all of our supposed internal experiences when our neural net computer’s choices are written into long term memory. Consciousness is an accidental byproduct of that memory writing process. (This is Daniel Dennett’s model of Consciousness, spelled out in Consciousness Explained). Eliminative Materialism – We are fundamentally confused about consciousness and selfhood, and all of our “folk psychology” is simply wrong. Explicitly our views that we are: self-conscious, hold beliefs, have emotions, and have the power of reason – are wrong. Instead, we are a neural net, and all of our wrong beliefs simply reduce to neural net functions (this is very similar to Delusionism, but with a different version of theory -- this time Paul Churchland’s). Free Will Illusionism – we think we have free will, but are deluded about this. See The Illusion of Conscious Will, by Daniel Wegner for an example. Time passing illusionism. In Einstein’s 4-D Block time, the passage of time is only apparent – and is very location and travel direction dependent. One can plot graphs in all sorts of axes in the 4-D space, and there is nothing special about the ones that appear to create the passage of time. Idealism – The universe is fundamentally mind, or abstractions (there are two significantly different versions of idealism), and all appearances of matter (and sometimes of selfhood) are just illusions of the fundamental mental or logic/math reality. "Illusion" is a common enough claim that I think it is important to have a method to evaluate Illusion claims. I have a method I use, that is based on my approach to epistemology. I don’t think there is a general method across philosophy, and I welcome suggested alternative to mine. **My Epistemology** I start with empiricism, assisted with reasoning, as my base method. We have data inputs to empiricism, they are intuitions. They include our perceptions of the world, perceptions of selfhood and mental state, and intuitive knowledge and reasoning’s. I use the 2-system model of our minds from thinking Fast and Slow – that we have a fast intuitive neural net and a slow rational reasoning process, and the 2nd of these is conscious and the first unconscious. I also use the “trick the CEO by using a few props” model from David Eagleman’s Incognito, that system 1 misleads System 2 into thinking it came up with system 1’s ideas, and fully understands the world. The ideas and props of our intuitions are themselves generally highly processed hypotheses about the world, which are presented to our consciousness as unsupported intuitions. SOME of our intuitions are therefore raw data, and basically fundamental. These include that we have two systems, that we can perceive, emote, and act, that we experience time, and that we can reason. Much of the rest is – probably true. We have tuned our system 1 neural net pretty well after all – but it can be mistaken. That is why System 2 needs to check it. As an empiricist, who treats data as king, and theories as what gives way to data, the “illusion” theories that claim our base data is an “illusion” – I am strongly suspicious of. Illusion claims about more complex processing – are more intrinsically believable. However, I am a falliblist. I maintain an open mind that we could be mistaken about everything. Including this apparent base data. The criteria for rejecting basic data, however, comes with a very high Burden of Justification. My criteria: Is there a massive increase in the accuracy of our models and ability to understand the world, by adopting a philosophy that treats basic data as an illusion? If not, then dismiss the theory. **Applying my standard:** Solipsism, Long Dream, and Buddhism hypotheses do not seem to carry a significant life advantage over treating the world, others and one’s self as real. Interestingly, Susan Blackmore actually wrote a book, her “Very Short Introduction to Consciousness”, that tried to meet my criteria for delusionism. She claimed that physicalism was so well established it must be true, and all physicalist theories of consciousness failed one test or another, therefore consciousness must be an illusion. I disagree that physicalism is unquestionably true, which left her book unable to meet my criteria. I have not encountered a free Will, time passage, or material world illusionist who has come even as close as Blackmore to meeting my criteria. So for all of the above Illusion theories – I tend to respond – “your philosophy is simply not complex enough to capture our world. Simpler theories, that are wrong, are pretty common. And we don’t throw out our data, but the theories, when we find they are wrong.” This is me. **Questions:** What do you folks think of my approach? I am a skeptic of illusion claims, do others find them more useful/insightful than I do? I went down the pragmatic empiricist path early in my philosophic career, and sometimes have difficulty Groking how other philosophic traditions will address some fundamental issues. Analytic philosophy, phenomenologists, existentialists, Thomists – all could take a very different approach. Any other methods to address these claims anyone would like to share? There are lots of other possible “illusion” claims. Other examples anyone wants to share? We meet in person and online. In person will be at the cafeteria of the applied physics lab. Snack and drinks are available for online purchase. Pizza will be provided as well at a price of $2/slice. Online will be: https://teams.live.com/meet/93583191724730?p=hY3jxVvnOciVl2aRn5 \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-

**The next GeoDC will be held on Wednesday, June 10 from 6-9pm at Sudhouse DC (1340 U St NW, Washington, DC 20009) with the program starting at 7pm.** * Join us early from 6-7pm to grow your network, socialize and grab drinks and appetizers. * Throughout the evening, we'll be sharing job announcements and details of other GIS/Geo upcoming events we're tracking. * We look forward to seeing you on the 10th! **Our Program will feature these presentations:** **The Secret History of the Blue Dot - William H. Tewelow, GISP (GPS World)** This presentation takes the audience from an iconic movie scene they recognize but never understood, through the hidden origins of GPS, and returns them to the blue dot in their own hand, seeing it for the very first time. There is a blue dot on your phone right now. It knows where you are to within a few feet. You have never questioned it. You have never wondered where it came from. You should. Its origins are classified. Its lineage runs through the Cold War, nuclear submarines, and a doctrine built on the promise of mutual annihilation. The technology that tells you where to turn was designed for something else entirely. The technology did not change. Only the purpose did. **GEOINT Symposium's Golden Ticket Program - Katie Weintraub (ESRI)** This is a firsthand account of USGIF's GEOINT Symposium Golden Ticket — a program built for early-career professionals who want to level up their careers. Participants get free admission to GEOINT Symposium, mentorship opportunities, a network of fellow Golden Ticket alumni, and a cohort of peers to grow alongside. This talk breaks it all down fast — what it is and why it's a stellar experience for young professionals breaking into or already working in the geospatial intelligence realm. **From GIS to AI: Lessons from MIT’s Applied Data Science & AI Program**- **Julia Brodsky (Navy Federal Credit Union).** A practical look at one GIS professional’s experience completing MIT’s Applied Data Science & AI Certificate program, including key takeaways, challenges, and thoughts on how AI may impact the geospatial industry. *->If you’d like to present or sponsor a future GeoDC Meetup, please complete this [form](https://forms.gle/QbAXPfrDnX12GGaS8).*

https://www.thepointdc.com/ This beautiful bar and restaurant with delicious food and awesome happy hour will be the side of our first summer meetup. It's accessible through Waterfront Metro and Buzzards Point shuttle. Or a 15 minute walk Our crypto meet up is basically everyone. We are not officially connected with any group or government nothing like that so it's just a very chill place for OG crypto people and new people to have a drink and talk crypto . It will probably be pretty crowded if the weather is nice but it's a really big bar with a big outdoor deck. I will have a colored candle with me identification purpose identification purposes. It's a beautiful place where the Anacostia and the Potomac River's meet. !I hope to see you there!

**THIS CLASS IS OFFERED THROUGH CAPITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CENTER** **PLEASE REGISTER WITH CAPITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CENTER, NOT MEETUP!** https://capitalphotographycenter.com/classes/class/2026-06-14-creative-phone-photography-chinatown-penn-quarter Learn smartphone camera settings for creative images. From essential techniques for exposure, to composition and focusing tips in this vibrant DC area. We begin outdoors at the National Portrait Gallery and then explore the surrounding Chinatown/Penn Quarter area with its quirky architecture and street scenes. The class will start with basic instruction on the operation of the native mobile phone’s camera. We’ll then cover some of the more advanced features of setting focus and exposure independently. We’ll explore how to turn the mobile camera’s limitations such as one lens, fixed aperture, no zoom and a small sensor to advantages using creative techniques of focus, exposure and composition. You’ll create pictures on an easily paced photo walk with guided instruction coupled with gentle critique and suggestions to make your pictures the best they can be. This class is designed for users of iOS and Android mobile devices. Participants will need to bring a fully charged phone. THIS CLASS IS BEING OFFERED THROUGH CAPITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CENTER https://capitalphotographycenter.com/classes/class/2026-06-14-creative-phone-photography-chinatown-penn-quarter

Monthly meeting: Second Saturday of the month International House of Pancakes (IHOP) 775 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 7:00 PM – 10 PM. Late arrivals always welcome. Look for the table with someone wearing a red hat. Questions, please call 1-240-644-5230 Agenda: What are more things we can do to wake people up? What can we do to get more people involved? Other things people would like to talk about. This will be a joint meeting with: DC 9/11 Truth [https://dc911truth.org/](https://dc911truth.org/) dc911truth Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/groups/dc911truth/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/dc911truth/) 911 Meetup Group [https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-kyegaoqu/](https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-kyegaoqu/) Central Bank Digital Currencies CBDC Meetup Group [https://www.meetup.com/central-bank-digital-currencies-cbdc/](https://www.meetup.com/central-bank-digital-currencies-cbdc/) Freedom of Speech Meetup Group [https://www.meetup.com/silver-spring-freedom-of-speech-meetup-group/](https://www.meetup.com/silver-spring-freedom-of-speech-meetup-group/) One way to make it more difficult for them them to impose a digital currency on us is to use cash. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) With Digital Currency they can: Have a complete government dossier on every detail of your life. Use your purchase history to maintain a detailed social credit score for every person. Provide tax breaks to corporations who hire people with admirable social credit scores. Only grant government contracts to corporations with employees with admirable social credit scores. Adjust health insurance premiums to incentivize people to develop admirable social credit scores. Connect your social credit score with a digital ID to encourage you to look at only approved web sites when surfing the internet. Viewing conspiracy web sites could lower your Social Credit Score and make it difficult to get a job. With their electronic chain around your neck, they can control where, when, how you travel, what food you are allowed to buy etc. They will love the power to only allow you to use your digital money only where they want you to shop and allow you to buy only what they prefer you to buy. Require you to have to have a license to use your money. They will call it a Digital Currency License. Require you to take any vaccine they want you to take to maintain your digital currency license. Tax you in ways we have not even imagined. Adjust your income tax rate based on your social credit score. Use AI to increase your income tax rate if you eat too many hamburgers because they will tell you eating too many hamburgers will increase global warming. This is just one example of many behaviors they might not approve of. Adjust individual prices for different individuals. They will be able to make you pay more per pound for hamburger if you purchased too much red meat during the past 30 days. Require you to buy so many pounds of soy burger for every pound of hamburger to save the planet and increase the profits for the soy burger manufacturers. Turn off the digital money of people they consider to be spreading misinformation. Turn off the digital money of people they consider to be dangerous conspiracy theorists. Turn off your money at 8 PM if they want a curfew at 8 PM Turn off your money in another state if they do not want you to drive to another state without permission. Turn off your money when buying guns or ammo if they do not want you to buy guns or ammo. Turn off your digital money more than three miles away from your home if they want you to stay within three miles of your home during the next epidemic. Etc. etc. etc. From the standpoint of the government, one beauty of digital money is that your money is one “state emergency” away from being the government’s money. All they have to do is to take your digital money out of your Central Bank Digital Account for the “good of all”. It is not as easy for them to do this with physical cash, gold, stocks, or silver etc. Anything they **can** do, they will do. The essence of slavery is control. Digital Currency will enable them to make you, their slave. (in a global digital concentration camp). .

June 12-14 is Sails on the Potomac in Alexandria. ([https://www.va250.org/event-detail/?id=24316](https://www.va250.org/event-detail/?id=24316)). Fireworks at the Alexandria Waterfront at 9:00 PM on Saturday, June 13th. From the website: As a Sail 250 Virginia 2026 Affiliate Harbor, Alexandria will be hosting the largest tall ship event in the DC Metro region - Sails on the Potomac! This three-day event June 12-14, 2026 will highlight Alexandria's unique role in the birth of our new nation and its impact on today. Join us as we commemorate America's Story with music, family activities, exhibits, tours, public art, educational programs, and more! Share only your very best, most interesting shots after the field trip, and keep it down to between 5 and 10 photos. By sending in an RSVP and joining this meetup event hosted by the Virginia Beltway Photography Meetup, I am also agreeing to the terms of the following release and waiver of liability, which shall be binding on my heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns. In consideration of my (and my child’s) participation in the Virginia Beltway Photography Meetup, I do hereby release, discharge, and hold harmless the Organizer, its members, officers, directors, employees, and the leader(s) of this event from any and all liability by reason of any damage, loss, expenses, or injury arising from my (and my child’s) participation in this event, including that caused solely or in part by the fault of any and all of the above-named parties.

**[Bitcoin District](https://bitcoindistrict.org/)** is a community of Bitcoiners living & working in the greater DMV metro area. Join us for a "Coffee & Bitcoin" meetup where we'll talk about what's happening in the world of Bitcoin. We highly encourage anyone who is new to Bitcoin or just a little curious to come and ask questions... don't be shy! 🚗 Free parking behind the coffee shop. 🚆 METRO: Greensboro + 10 minute walk (Silver line) **Our events are Bitcoin focused and we generally avoid discussing other coins & tokens. Nothing discussed during this meetup is financial advice. Always do your own research.**

Let's meetup for pizza and solve the mystery game! We will meet at Ledo's Pizza in Bethesda. This is the location behind the mall. FREE easy parking Seating is open Guests must be over 50 If you enjoy mystery games and pizza then come join us! See you there! Grab your spot today!

[Book Your Classes by Clicking This Link! ](https://crowndancestudio.com/group-classes/) Friday: Advanced Expression End the work week with high-energy **Advanced Rhythm** from **7:00 PM to 8:30 PM**. This session dives deep into the technicalities of Latin and Ballroom styles like Rumba, Samba, or Mambo, designed for dancers who value precision and artistic expression. For $25, you'll receive intensive instruction that pushes your physical boundaries and refines your competitive or performance edge in a high-vibe atmosphere. **When: Every Friday** **Time: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm.** **1 Dances per month:** **\*Please check the flyer on the group class page for the dance of the month. Or contact us to find out.** **Cost:$25 per person for 90 min.**

We've moved to guild.host Look for us there. https://guild.host/events/buckeye-cocoaheads-nscoders-tcbrk5

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/a/9/6/600_348310902.jpeg Instructor - Crow, HPS Class fee is $30 at the door or approved exchange RSVP with Advance pay of $25 (discounted) by PayPal on the web or by contacting Enchanted Elements (614) 437-2642. Reservations made directly to Enchanted Elements will be added to the class list manually not online. Private Instruction ~ Closed to the Public ~ Initiated Members Only Please come prepared for ritual. Blessings ~ Crow

**The event has been canceled.** *Note: this is a demonstration event only, you **will not** shoot you own images. However, if you bring your camera we can test it for compatibility with the studio lights.* Bondage elements can add an extra layer of emotion and artistry to your images. Sample images on the internet are however dominated by BDSM style shots that are often sexualized and emphasize the model being in distress. In this demonstration Rachel and I show ways to use bondage elements in an artistic way. We explore the types of accessories that work best in artistic images and the best way to photograph them. Our model is Rachel Adams, an internationally known fetish model with many years of experience in this genre.

Topic to be announced. **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **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

Join the Columbus AI community for a special event. **Battle of the Personal Agents** is your chance to see what people are actually building with AI agents and personal automation systems. Whether you’re running OpenClaw, Hermes, or a completely custom solution, bring your agent and show the community how it works. We’re interested in real-world implementations: the problems your agent solves, how you use it day-to-day, how it’s hosted and managed, how you built it, and why you’ve chosen to keep using it. Live demonstrations are encouraged, so be prepared to show your code, architecture, workflows, and your agent performing real tasks. This is less about polished presentations and more about sharing practical experience, comparing approaches, and learning from one another. If you’d like to present, please contact Chris Slee (via meetup) before the event so we can allocate enough time for everyone’s demonstrations. Come ready to show what you’ve built, discover what others are doing, and maybe find a few ideas worth taking home. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

We connect you with up to 30 Men or Women tennis partners close to your PLAYING REGION and skill level. This program is less competitive, no champions crowned, no league standings just dedicated tennis partners who want to meet up with you on the courts. Players will meet up to play a tennis match or just to hit around. Just go through the [Join Page](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program) to enter this program. [https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program](https://www.tenniscolumbus.com/partner-program)

We are bringing Microsoft Build sessions to Columbus Ohio! The Central Ohio Azure Meetup and Central Ohio .NET Developer's Group (CONDG) are coming together to bring some of the labs and breakouts from Microsoft Build to your backyard. In this free, 1 day event, you are going to Build stuff with us! And yes, there will be free food. Please RSVP via [Microsoft Build //localhost:columbus | Microsoft Reactor](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/reactor/events/27247/).