Lectures

Sunday Tea Club was founded in Daejeon in 2023. Created as a quiet alternative to Korea’s typical drinking and nightlife culture, the club offers a calm, meaningful way to spend your Sunday afternoons. If you’ve ever wished for a slower, more mindful space to enjoy afternoon tea and gentle conversation — you’re more than welcome to join us! Participant fee 15,000won+order 1drink(The participation fee is only paid once — at your first visit. All fees are collected and reinvested into the club to purchase new teaware, high-quality teas, or ingredients for future gatherings.)

**What to Expect at Our Events** * Weekly in-person language exchange meetups * Casual, café-style atmosphere There’s always someone new to meet and talk to. **Who Comes to These Meetups?** * Both locals and internationals **How It Works** * Choose an event time * Book a spot * Show up and join the conversation That’s it. You can come alone or with friends. Running late? No problem. Join when you can, leave when you want. *Please note:* To keep conversations balanced, **walk-in registration may be denied depending on group balance**. We strongly recommend booking in advance. **Why People Like This Group** **1\. Smart Group Matching** Participants are grouped to create balanced conversations based on language level and background with optimised algorithm. **2\. Personalized AI Feedback** Gain insights into your progress! Receive **AI-driven feedback** after the session to help you refine your language skills and track your growth. **3\. Meet New People Each Round** Groups rotate every session, so you don’t get stuck talking to the same people all night. **4\. Beginner\-Friendly** Beginners are always welcome. You’ll never be forced into conversations beyond your comfort level. **FAQs** **1\. My target language isn’t very good\. Can I still join?** Yes. Beginners are welcome and grouped with others at a similar level. **2\. Can I arrive late or leave early?** Yes. The meetup is casual and flexible. **3\. Do I need to come every week?** No. Join whenever it fits your schedule. **Community Standards** We strive to maintain a high-quality environment for all participants. 1. Positive Vibes Only: We welcome people who contribute to a better experience for everyone. 2. Accountability: To ensure a safe and friendly space, if a member receives three separate complaints, they will be asked to withdraw from all future events. 3. Your Voice Matters: If you have a negative experience, you will be given the opportunity to provide feedback after every event. **How to Join** * Book your spot: [https://nurio.kr/events](https://nurio.kr/events) * Questions or help: [http://pf.kakao.com/_xmzbQn/chat](http://pf.kakao.com/_xmzbQn/chat) \-\-\- **모임에서는 무엇을 하나요?** * **주 1회 오프라인 언어 교환:** 카페처럼 편안한 분위기에서 정기적으로 만납니다. * **새로운 만남:** 매번 새로운 사람들을 만나고 다양한 주제로 대화할 수 있습니다. **누가 참여하나요?** 한국인과 외국인 멤버들이 함께 모여 언어와 문화를 공유합니다. **참여 방법** 1. **일정 선택:** 원하는 시간과 장소를 확인하세요. 2. **참가 신청:** 온라인으로 간편하게 예약합니다. 3. **대화 참여:** 현장에 오셔서 자유롭게 대화를 시작하세요! > **Tip:** 혼자 오셔도 좋고 친구와 함께 오셔도 됩니다. 늦게 오거나 일찍 나가는 것도 전혀 문제없는 자유로운 모임입니다. **안내 사항:** 원활한 그룹 구성과 대화 밸런스를 위해, **현장 참여(워크인)는 인원 및 그룹 구성 상황에 따라 제한될 수 있습니다.** 참여를 원하시는 경우 **사전 예약을 권장드립니다** **이 모임이 특별한 이유** 1. **스마트 그룹 매칭:** 최적화된 알고리즘을 통해 언어 수준과 배경을 고려하여 대화가 가장 잘 통하는 그룹을 구성해 드립니다. 2. **AI 실력 향상 피드백:** 모임 참여 후, 여러분의 언어 실력을 분석하고 성장을 돕는 **개인별 AI 피드백**이 제공됩니다. 3. **매 라운드 로테이션:** 세션마다 그룹이 바뀌기 때문에 한 번의 모임에서 최대한 다양한 사람들과 교류할 수 있습니다. 4. **초보자 맞춤형:** 초보자도 안심하고 참여하세요. 본인의 수준에 맞는 그룹에서 부담 없이 대화를 시작할 수 있습니다. **자주 묻는 질문 (FAQs)** * **목표 언어를 잘 못하는데 괜찮을까요?** 네, 당연합니다. 비슷한 수준의 멤버들과 그룹이 배정되므로 걱정하지 않으셔도 됩니다. * **늦게 가거나 일찍 나가도 되나요?** 네, 모임은 캐주얼하고 유연하게 운영되므로 본인의 일정에 맞춰 편하게 이용하세요. * **매주 꼭 참여해야 하나요?** 아니요. 원하시는 일정이 있을 때만 선택해서 참여하시면 됩니다. **운영 원칙** 우리는 모두에게 즐거운 언어 교환 경험을 선사하기 위해 긍정적인 에너지를 가진 분들과 함께합니다. * **매너 있는 커뮤니티:** 타인에게 불쾌감을 주는 행동을 지양하며, 서로 존중하는 분들만 참여를 허용합니다. * **피드백 시스템:** 이벤트 종료 후 불편했던 점을 자유롭게 전달하실 수 있습니다. * **참여 제한:** 쾌적한 환경 유지를 위해 3회 이상의 불만이 접수된 멤버는 모든 이벤트 참여가 제한될 수 있습니다. **신청 및 문의** * **참가 신청하기:** [https://nurio.kr/events](https://nurio.kr/events) * **문의 사항:** [카카오톡 채널 상담](http://pf.kakao.com/_xmzbQn/chat)

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Love and Monsters,”** on the inescapable bond between romance and horror, with Joshua Barton, scholar of horror and lecturer in English at Virginia Commonwealth University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-love-monsters](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-love-monsters) .] Romance and horror might seem like opposite genres, but they share a deep emotional core, and the combination of them has captivated audiences across time and culture. Put even your worst Valentine’s Day in perspective by hearing this strange relationship discussed by Joshua Barton, who has earned a big following among Profs and Pints fans with his past talks on cryptids, American horror, and Christmas ghosts. He’ll explore the undeniable and unsettling intersection of romance and horror and examine how and why love and fear intensify each other and combined to create tension, drive narratives, and explore human vulnerability. We’ll look at works that have blended passion and terror, including Gothic literature like the vampire novella *Carmilla* and modern films like *Spring* and *Crimson Peak*. We’ll study the fine line between obsession and adoration running through Stephen King’s “I Know What You Need,” Adrian Lyne’s *Fatal Attraction*, and the timeless *The Phantom of the Opera.* We’ll discuss the seeds of monstrous love that were planted with *Beauty and the Beast* and *Creature from the Black Lagoon* and bloom ferociously in works like *Twilight* and *The Shape of Water*. Through it all, we’ll find the threads of otherness and the taboo that intertwine horror, love, and reflections on identity. Join us for a journey through storytelling that combines the grotesque and the scintillating as we uncover why romance and horror are a match made in the dark. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: From the original 1954 advertising poster for *Creature from the Black Lagoon* (Artist: Reynold Brown / Public Domain).

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Hidden Cleopatra,”** an excavation through myth and slander to uncover the real Egyptian queen, with Jacquelyn Williamson, an Egyptologist and associate professor of archaeology and ancient art at George Mason University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/hidden-cleopatra](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/hidden-cleopatra) .] Depictions of Cleopatra are abundant in popular culture. A long list of painters have depicted her, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Kardashian have posed as her, and Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor famously portrayed her in Hollywood films. At the end of the day, however, what most of us think we know about Cleopatra is wrong, the product of the ancient Rome’s “fake news” and anti-Egypt propaganda. Learn about the real Cleopatra—and how our understanding of her came to be so distorted—with Professor Jacquelyn Williamson, scholar of women and power in ancient Egypt, teacher of courses on ancient Egyptian art and archaeology, and author of *Nefertiti’s Sun Temple: A New Cult Complex at Tell el-Amarna.* Dr. Williamson will walk us through how the first Roman emperor, Octavian, created the distorted image of Cleopatra as seductress that we know today as part of his political scheming to defeat his rival Antony and end the Roman Republic once and for all. Cleopatra has been the subject of debate and controversy ever since. William Shakespeare later relied on ancient Roman sources such as Horace and Plutarch in writing *Antony and Cleopatra*, and his play helped give rise to countless other works offering a distorted picture of her. Professor Williamson argues that “Cleopatra was a human being, like you and I,” and “deserves the dignity of being represented as accurately as possible.” Her efforts to set the record straight have met frustration, however—after being extensively interviewed for the recent Netflix historical docuseries Queen Cleopatra, she concluded that it, too, had missed the mark. You’ll gain a much deeper appreciation of the challenges of researching and accurately depicting the ancient past from Dr. Williamson, who also has taught at Harvard, Brandeis, and the University of California at Berkeley and is involved with an ongoing archaeological investigation of Queen Nefertiti’s sun temple. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: Layla Taj portrays Cleopatra VII as part of an Egyptian Cultural Performing Arts Society production. (Photo by Amos Gvili / Wikimedia Commons.)

(2024) by Christof Koch, 288 pages [Psychology] • Hardcover • Kindle • Audiobook • Library: https://fcplcat.fairfaxcounty.gov/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&pos=1&cn=613100 Check the How To Find Us section for Zoom Link **(Remember, the Zoom Link is different each month, do not bookmark)** ### Review "A wonderful book."―Sam Harris, Making Sense with Sam Harris “a fun introduction to a number of debates… Mr. Koch’s book provokes questions… and counterarguments, but that’s what gives it life.” ―The Wall Street Journal “Easily the most current, thorough, and helpful exploration of consciousness available. Koch’s light, simple, yet authoritative writing style will appeal to general audiences as well as scientists and researchers. An essential, highly recommended purchase.”―Library Journal “magisterial… charming, sometimes beautiful, and almost always illuminating” ―Science Magazine “an impressive and sometimes exuberant work, showcasing decades of [Koch’s] research”―New Scientist “Koch’s adept use of analogies and entertaining anecdotes — complete with his own near-death experience and psychedelic drug trips — make the book a compelling and surprisingly light read.” ―Science News “undeniably compelling… a smoothly written must-read for anyone interested in a detailed introduction to the relationship between the brain, consciousness, and transformative experiences” ―Ars Technica “Expertly weaving in personal experience with science that few, if any, can speak more authoritatively about, Koch leads us on an amazing journey of consciousness—from birth to death. Deeply personal and infinitely digestible, Then I Am Myself the World is a remarkable must read for anyone interested in knowing their mind.”―Judson Brewer MD, PhD, New York Times–bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety “Koch’s latest book brilliantly navigates the intricate landscape of our mind and our brain, offering insightful perspectives on the nature of conscious experiences, both ordinary as well as extraordinary ones.”―Hartmut Neven, founder and lead of Google’s quantum AI lab “Then I Am Myself the World is the new record of note for the scientific understanding of consciousness. This is an elegant tableau, a travelogue of subjective experience grounded in the latest neuroscience and philosophy traversing religion, science, and a life dedicated to the biggest questions. Filled with crystalline prose, lucid explanation, and revelatory honesty, this book will continue to be read centuries from now.”―Patrick House, author of Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness “What would happen if a hardcore neuroscientist, with encyclopedic knowledge and four decades of experience in his field, were personally confronted with transformative mystical experiences carrying inevitable metaphysical implications? What would happen if the neuroscientist in question were open-minded, humble, but remained rigorously grounded in reason, evidence, and his hard-earned understanding of how consciousness relates to brain structures and function? What would he, the most preeminent professional of his generation, make of his extraordinary experiences? And what if, in addition, the neuroscientist was a modern renaissance man versed in physics, philosophy, the arts, the classics, and could pluck irresistibly evocative metaphors from the Western literary and artistic canon as if leisurely picking apples in early fall? This is what you will find in this treasured book, a whirlwind ride of insight after insight—so many they can’t possibly be all documented in footnotes—that will surprise and delight you from the get-go. ‘Primacy goes to consciousness, not to the objective world,’ he boldly states already on page two, in a prelude of things to come. ‘Everything else follows from there, including the realist assumption of the existence of objects, out ‘there,’ independent of my experiencing them.’ The book embodies the ever-evolving wisdom of a man whose intellectual prowess is only matched by his intellectual honesty. And this man, in the seventh decade of his scintillatingly productive life, has a lifetime of learning to share with you.”―Bernardo Kastrup, executive director, Essentia Foundation “Koch’s first book was entitled The Quest for Consciousness. And such has been Koch’s life, an adventurer’s pursuit of a distant goal, undeterred by the prevailing winds. The reader will learn where this quest has led and, like the author, will be enriched by it. Koch, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time, a mind singularly open to learning and changing, here opens his soul, revealing his vast, scintillating appreciation of nature in all its forms. It is a touching, profound book. Which is as it should be, since consciousness touches everything and is everything we touch.”―Giulio Tononi, University of Wisconsin-Madison ### About the Author Christof Koch is a neuroscientist at the Allen Institute and at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, the former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and a former professor at the California Institute of Technology. Author of four previous titles, Koch writes regularly for a range of media, including Scientific American. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Please join us every week for power networking! Our Chapter Passed $1,666,736 USD in the past 12 months! BNI members, on average, increase their business 20% the first year. Our chapter is a dynamic, committed group of business people who know how to refer business to each other. Come for our meeting -- stay for the referrals!!! We have open categories for individuals who will bring enthusiasm and integrity to our meeting. Just one person per professional specialty is allowed in each chapter. Visit a meeting to find out more and lock out your competition! Register Here: https://bninovanorth.com/va-nova-north-bni-mclean-business-connection--n136/en-US/visitorregistration?chapterId=16988

This is the first of several meetings on *Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic*, by Matthew Stewart. For this meeting, please try to read the first three chapters (pages 1-129 in the paperback). **Where did the ideas come from that became the cornerstone of American democracy?** America’s founders intended to liberate us not just from one king but from the ghostly tyranny of supernatural religion. Drawing deeply on the study of European philosophy, Matthew Stewart brilliantly tracks the ancient, pagan, and continental ideas from which America’s revolutionaries drew their inspiration. In the writings of Spinoza, Lucretius, and other great philosophers, Stewart recovers the true meanings of “Nature’s God,” “the pursuit of happiness,” and the radical political theory with which the American experiment in self-government began. [LINK](https://a.co/d/bkTWJNb) I hope to see you there! Fred

NOVA Adventurers League Campaign: *Baldur's Gate - Descent into Avernus, Session 12* * Based on previous playthrough, expect a total of \~13 sessions. * Players that start the campaign will have priority reservations. * Use of downtime for leveling is strongly discouraged. * **This campaign is full and is closed to new signups at this time.** This event is hosted using the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition Adventurers League rules. Becoming a member in our Discord and accepting our Code of Conduct is required for play at all of our events. You must join and accept the Discord rules before signing up to any MeetUp events. These rules include but are not limited to: * Assigning your name and pronouns as your server nickname; * Confirming your age as 18 or older; * Participating in a respectful environment for both our AL DMs and your fellow players. **[Join our Discord!](https://discord.gg/mG24YCk7wj) Attending this event indicates that you agree to follow NOVA Adventurer’s League’s Code of Conduct, which can be found in the #code-of-conduct channel on our Discord.** If you do not join the Discord and accept these rules prior to signing up for an event, you may be removed from the MeetUp event or be required to join the Discord and agree to the Code of Conduct at the game table prior to playing.

This seminar is for all women over or approaching 40. Understand the changes that your body, mind and spirit will inevitably go through, and how you can prepare for the transition to a new stage of life. Dr. Jain will give you the real picture of peri-menopause and beyond, what it entails and what it means from an Ayurvedic perspective, and share concerning truths about our medical system's approach to supporting women during this important time. This is rare information not to be found in any AI bot. Dr. Jain shares deep, ancient knowledge that is practical, sensible and critical for our long-term well-being. ***About Dr. Amita Jain:*** *Dr. Jain is a Doctor of Ayurveda, Certified Hatha Yoga Instructor, and the Founder of [Vedic Health Inc.](https://www.vedichealth.org/) in Rockville, MD. With over 20 years of experience in Ayurveda and yoga, she holds a Doctor of Ayurveda degree from Sai Ayurvedic College, clinical training from Swasthyam Ayurvedic Hospital in Kerala, and a certification in Hatha Yoga from SVYASA Yoga Research University in Bangalore.* *She has helped countless individuals heal from chronic conditions, trained thousands in Yoga and Ayurveda, and is a passionate advocate for affordable and accessible holistic healthcare. Her primary focus is working with chronic and complicated health problems western medicine has been ineffective.* Sunday, February 22nd, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Held at Brahma Kumaris Center, 14020 Thunderbolt Pl, Suite 200, 2nd Floor, Chantilly, VA. Free Event – Register at: [https://shorturl.at/FbcXO](https://shorturl.at/FbcXO)