Distributed Systems

Dulles South Toastmasters club meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of every month at Gum Spring Library, with the meeting hours 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm. Club Officers will be in the room at 3:15 pm to answer your questions and provide information. Guests are welcome. Pleas join us!

This is our weekly training session. NOVA Jujutsu is a self-defense focused system incorporating Geri (Kicking), Atemi (Striking), Uke (Blocking), Tai Sabakai (Body Movement), Tai Hodoki (Escapes), Kansetsu Waza (Joint Locks), Nage Waza (Throwing), Shime Waza (Choking), Katame Waza (Grappling), Tantojutsu (Knife), Bojutsu (Bo), Kenjutsu (Sword), and Kata (Forms). Come on down to a class and see for yourself what this group has to offer. You will get a great workout! You will have an awesome learning experience! You will meet some good people! We look forward to meeting you. See you there. TAGS: japanese, martial arts, self-defense, jujutsu, jujitsu, juijitsu, bujutsu, defense, karate, koppo, kenjutsu, bojutsu, tantojutsu

CANCELLED BECAUSE OF IMPENDING WINTER STORM. STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE. Ed and Gail's ever popular 50/50 Hustle /West Coast Swing event takes place the fourth Saturday of every month. It features a DJ’d mix of contemporary and classic Hustle and West Coast Swing music DJ'd by **Ed Cottrell**, and Hustle lessons taught by renowned Hustle instructor **Joyce Szili**. 7:00 - 7:45 pm CANCELLED 7:45 - 8:30 pm CANCELLED 8:30-11:00 CANCELLED

Join us every Sunday, either in person or online, for our Shin Buddhist service. Dress is casual yet conservative, and everyone is welcome to come listen to the Dharma and learn the Nembutsu, chants and songs associated with our tradition of Shin Buddhism. As long as Fairfax County COVID spread rates remain low, face masks are optional. Our Dharma Discussion Group will meet immediately after the service. To attend the service and Discussion Group virtually, please use [this link](https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUudOiprDwiHtITyC2arOLCYAsAYZfQl4J4) or visit our website at www.ekoji.org.

Get ready to step into a magical evening of festive cheer! Join us for the Dulles Triangles Winter Wonderland Holiday Party, where we'll come together to celebrate friendship, community, and the joy of the season. Let’s toast to another wonderful year with great food, music, and laughter! *And a quick note:* This year, we’ve shifted our Holiday Party from December to January to help everyone breathe a little easier. December fills up fast with travel, office parties, family obligations, and general holiday chaos — so we’re giving you a celebration you can actually relax into. Think of it as the festive encore you *wanted* but didn’t have space for. **🎉 What to expect:** **🌟** A magical winter wonderland setting with cozy holiday decor 🍽️ Full Buffet Dinner to satisfy every taste 🎧 DJ Ted Glinsky spinning all your favorite hits from the '70s, '80s, and beyond Ted will also take requests, so get ready to dance to your favorite tracks! 🥂 BYOB: Bring your favorite drinks to share with friends **✨ Attire:** Festive casual – think cozy sweaters, stylish winter attire, or whatever makes you feel fabulous and festive! **Menu Highlights 🍽️** * **Bread & Appetizers**: Antipasto Display, Piero’s Meatballs, Mozzarella Croccante, Fresh Rolls * **Salad:** Classic Caesar Salad * **Entrées:** Baked Ham, Chicken Marsala, Roast Beef, Cheese Ravioli with Pomodoro Sauce * **Sides:** Garlic Truffle Mashed Potatoes, Glazed Carrot Medley * **Desserts:** Mini Cannoli, Tiramisu, Limoncello Cake ## 🧾 RSVP Required 🧾 Because this is a catered affair, **RSVPs are necessary** so we have enough for everyone. Please reserve your spot by purchasing a ticket. Tickets are non-refundable. • **$25 for paid members** • **$50 for non-members and guests** 👉 **RSVP & purchase your ticket here: [Get My Ticket](https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2025-dts-winter-wonderland-holiday-party)** **🎊 Celebrate with Us 🎊** Whether you're here for the music, the food, or just the good company, this night is all about embracing the spirit of community and joy. We can’t wait to share this special evening with you—let’s make it a night to remember!

Learn to manage stress and achieve self-growth through simple relaxation and Meditation. Heartfulness Meditation is a simple, modern, methodical approach to meditation. Rather than homing in on your breath or repeating a mantra, you simply focus inward, on your heart, to cultivate inner strength and serenity. Heartfulness meditation is gaining traction in recent years. It focuses on the heart, allowing individuals to connect with themselves on a deeper level, and ultimately achieve peace, relaxation, and clarity. It is a practice that encourages patience, self-compassion, and acceptance, helping cultivate a deeper appreciation for the present moment. This practice is offered with love and at no cost

Discover the path to stress management, life's tranquility, and self-improvement through Heartfulness Meditation. Embrace relaxation, meditation, and emotional detoxification practices to unlock your best self. Join our free sessions every Sunday at 8 AM at VA. Experience the profound benefits of these simple yet powerful practices. Commit to a few months of meditation and witness the transformative impact firsthand. We eagerly await your presence at these enlightening sessions.

**In response to inclement weather this talk has been rescheduled for March 1st, with tickets for that date available at** [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics2 ](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics2). **Anyone who purchased tickets to attend this talk on January 25th will be getting a refund in the next week to ten days.** [Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Satanic Panics,”** a look at waves of fear of demonic activity as an American tradition, with Luxx Mishou, cultural historian and former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges. The 1980s found the United States gripped by fear of Satanic cults targeting children. They were believed to be corrupting young ones in daycare centers and tempting teens through subliminal messages on heavy metal albums or through the quiet inclusion of demonic rituals in role-playing games. Satanic serial killers supposedly stalked the suburbs. Doctors helped patients uncover what were claimed to be repressed memories of ritualistic satanic abuse. Parents, police, and politicians were urged to protect impressionable youths from both moral and physical danger. With Satanic cults deemed to be a real and material threat, it was a frightening time for everyone, including those who suddenly came under suspicion for doing evil deeds. Then, suddenly, it all faded from public consciousness, just as surely as did eighties fads such mullet haircuts, leg warmers, and Cabbage Patch Kids. Why did it all start? Why did it stop? And has this happened before or since? Hear such questions tackled by Luxx Mishou, a cultural historian and media specialist who has long researched the devious and villainous in cultural artifacts. She’ll discuss moral panics as a longstanding cultural tradition, with each new one stemming from fear of cultural shifts and shaped by the time and place where it occurred. Among the panics we’ll look into are the Red Scare of the 1950s and the public response to the gruesome 1969 murders committed by the Manson Family. Delving into the 1980s panic, Mishou will describe how it began with the 1980 publication of psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder’s memoir *Michelle Remembers*, detailing the suppressed memories of ritualistic abuse reportedly suffered by a patient. As that book quickly became a best seller, its ideas saturated American culture. A California daycare center became the focus of a three-year investigation, followed by three years of trials, based on allegations that its owner had engaged in secret ritualistic abuse of the children in its care. Mishou will lead you through the media that convinced the public that devil worshipers were among them, and she’ll talk about how reactions to imagined threats can have very real social costs. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image by Canva.

Whether you're new to Insight meditation or an advanced practitioner looking for like-minded people to sit with, you're welcome to join us at our Sunday morning drop-in group, sponsored by the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. Insight meditation cultivates our natural wisdom and compassion. Meditation practice develops concentration, which allows us to calm and steady the mind. This class includes a 30-minute lightly-guided meditation, followed by a short talk and time for questions and discussion. The size of the group usually runs somewhere between 25-40 people in-person and between 12-25 online. Chairs are provided, or you may bring a sitting cushion or bench. You may also use the blankets and bolsters offered by the yoga studio. **We offer both in-person and online attendance.** To learn more about our topics and teachers, view our videos or **get the Zoom link**, visit our [class page](https://imcw.org/event/?eventId=735&utm_source=MeetUp&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=vienna-drop-in).

New Date and Time starting in May 2024. Sunday Night Chess is now Saturday Night Chess! Casual Chess: informal skittles games or optionally with Clocks (Blitz, Rapid, Quick, or custom time controls). Meetups of Ashburn Chess Club are held on 2nd floor of the Wegmans supermarket, 45131 Columbia Pl, Sterling, VA 20166, located in the Dulles Centre Shoppes Plaza which is just off the Waxpool Road Exit on Route 28 expressway. To find the chess games, take the elevator or stairs up to the 2nd floor mezzanine level. If there are RSVP the host will usually arrive a few minutes early to set up tables in the center mezzanine section located near the Kids Room with the TV. Guests, walk-ins, kibitzers are all welcome too; we request minor children to be accompanied by an adult, and we request only chess players RSVP, members and guests who are attending to play chess, so we have an accurate count of chessboards needed to set up.

Jujutsu

In times like these, we can see more clearly the potential for humanity when it works together in unison – as well as the challenges if we don’t and continue to operate as we have been before. If you could design the world of the future, what spiritual values would you want to see in it to help realize those potentialities? All of us hope for a better future for ourselves and for our children, but how do we get there? What sort of ideas and behaviors will we need to leave behind – and what values will we need to build the foundation of the future on? And how can we work together to build a future that works for all of us, where each of our fullest potentials as human beings can be realized? Come join a different kind of conversation – one that welcomes every perspective in a search for the truths that unite us all – as we discuss the spiritual perspective offered by the Bahá’í Teachings on what a future society might look like and the role each of us can play in creating it. Join us for a lively discussion as we explore the role of spirituality in the unification, peace, and progress of all. *“The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.*” – Bahá’í Teachings \*\*\* This event is free and open to all regardless of background or belief. Donations will not be accepted.

This training is designed for real estate agents who want to learn how to play the Agent Investor game. The goal of this training is to help you flip your income into ownership. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **Investors move fast. Most agents don’t.** If you can’t evaluate a deal quickly and confidently, you lose credibility—and the opportunity disappears. Deal or Disaster teaches a simple, repeatable framework to determine in minutes whether a deal prints money or burns it. In this session, you’ll learn a 5-minute investment evaluation system that works across flips, rentals, BRRRRs, wholetails, and creative deals. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s speed, clarity, and credibility. We’ll break down: * How to identify the investor’s true goal before running numbers * A fast, reliable method to estimate ARV with confidence * How to calculate the real all-in acquisition cost * Simple heuristics to ballpark rehab and improvement costs * The key metrics that reveal whether a deal works—or should be killed You’ll also learn the most common red flags that signal bad deals, thin margins, and hidden risk, so you know when to pause or walk away. When you can analyze deals in minutes, you earn authority, build trust, and become indispensable to investors. Speed creates opportunity—and opportunity creates repeat business. If you want to move from real estate generalist to trusted investment strategist, this session gives you the framework to do it. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **Did you miss it?** [Watch all GRID Reston event playback on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOTh5kxLLJI1G3VH6Pqhlhu0uTA8yrdpi) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ **Join the GRID Facebook Community** [Join the online GRID community here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/gridinvestor) to post deals, ask questions, and connect with other investors across the globe.

**Agenda :** * 4.30 to 4.45 PM ET: Food and Networking * 4.45 to 5.30 PM ET: "Practical Applications of Model Context Protocol (MCP) (Feb 2026 Edition)" Hello Everyone! Please join us for our Feb 10th edition of the AI-ML MeetUp. **Please note this is an in-person meeting and light refreshments/food will be provided.** **Title:** Practical Applications of Model Context Protocol (MCP) (Feb 2026 Edition) **Description:** This session explores how the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can be used to connect AI models with real-world tools and data. Attendees will learn practical patterns for implementing MCP in production workflows and applications. Through examples and use cases, the session highlights how MCP enables more capable, context-aware AI systems. **Location:** The meeting will be hosted in the Applied Information Sciences ( AIS ) office in Reston, at 11440 Commerce Park Dr # 600 · Reston, VA. The location is also right off the Silver Line metro's Wiehle-Reston Metro Station. **Parking:** Parking is paid and can be validated at the AIS office reception. We will meet in Room Lake Anne. We hope to see you all there!!!!

HYBRID EVENT, VIRTUAL SPEAKER In this talk, Sean Hoar will explore the transformative journey of AI’s role in modern software engineering, from rapid prototyping (“Vibe Coding”) to strategic AI integration by skilled practitioners. It clarifies the distinctions between AI-assisted, AI-enabled, and practitioner-led approaches, offering insights into how developers can effectively adapt to and harness AI tools. The presentation also highlights recent advancements and practical strategies for leveraging AI in daily workflows and long-term development.

This is our weekly training session. NOVA Jujutsu is a self-defense focused system incorporating Geri (Kicking), Atemi (Striking), Uke (Blocking), Tai Sabakai (Body Movement), Tai Hodoki (Escapes), Kansetsu Waza (Joint Locks), Nage Waza (Throwing), Shime Waza (Choking), Katame Waza (Grappling), Tantojutsu (Knife), Bojutsu (Bo), Kenjutsu (Sword), and Kata (Forms). Come on down to a class and see for yourself what this group has to offer. You will get a great workout! You will have an awesome learning experience! You will meet some good people! We look forward to meeting you. See you there. TAGS: japanese, martial arts, self-defense, jujutsu, jujitsu, juijitsu, bujutsu, defense, karate, koppo, kenjutsu, bojutsu, tantojutsu

Dulles Code & Coffee is a collaborative community of software and technology enthusiasts seeking to learn, grow, and help each other. All skill levels are welcome. The concept is simple. Bring a laptop and ideas. We’ll provide coffee, tea, and donuts. Thank you to [BTI360](https://www.bti360.com/) for sponsoring this event. ## **Event Format** 1. At 9:15 everyone introduces themselves and briefly describes what brought them out this morning (project, homework, networking, etc.). 2. For the rest of the day folks work in the communal space, socializing and asking/giving help as desired. ## **Location** BTI360’s Office in Herndon The office is across from Worldgate, looking down on the toll road. ## **Address** 12930 Worldgate Dr, Ste 400, Herndon, VA 20170 [[map](https://goo.gl/maps/pF5ZrPUviX1vtmdSA)] ## **Logistics** * **Must be a U.S. Citizen to attend. Real ID verification is required.** * PARKING: Use the surface lot. All spaces marked MIII are open for parking. Please avoid Management spaces, State Farm and SP+ * ARRIVAL: Follow the signs from the front entrance to the freight elevator located in the parking garage on level P2. Take the elevator to Suite 400 (Floor 4). * How to find us video: [https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE](https://youtu.be/ohqFzyqiASE) ## **Community Guidelines** We value the participation of each member of the community and want all attendees to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. To ensure a conducive environment, all participants are required to conform to our [code of conduct](https://github.com/DullesCodeCoffee/.github/blob/main/code-of-conduct.md).

On the first Sunday of each month, we invite all Sangha members to come early to help clean the Temple before the weekly service. No contribution is too small, and every task helps to beautify and maintain our home away from home! No RSVP is necessary, and assignments are listed at the Temple entrance. We hope to see you there!

Join us for another session of our study group as we cover the book Domain-Specific Small Language Models. In this session, we will cover Chapter 1 Large Language Models and maybe even start Chapter 2 Tuning for a Specific Domain. This isn't just a lecture! Come ready to ask questions, share insights, and code along. Whether you're a beginner or have some experience, this is the perfect opportunity to continue to learn together. If you plan to work with the code on your own laptop during the session, try and download the code from here https://github.com/virtualramblas/Domain-Specific-Small-Language-Models/ ahead of time. We will be meeting at the North County Governmental Center this time that is across from the Reston public library.