Science

**Stop loneliness and boredom: meet people in a pleasant atmosphere and learn about friendship.** \-\-\-\- **💶 Contribution on site: EUR 10-20 (according to your means)** **You can buy a ticket in advance on Eventbrite to guarantee your place: [Tickets on Eventbrite \[Link\]](https://www.eventbrite.de/e/meet-connect-real-friendships-in-berlin-workshop-tickets-1671592250419).** 🇬🇧 This workshop is held in English. 🇬🇧 *This event is also announced in another group and on a different platform. The number of registrations does not reflect the real number.* \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- People with good **friends live longer, happier, more succesful and healthier**. Big plus: **good friends are fun to be around**. Hence, we offer this friendship workshop. Some people say, “It's hard to find close friends in Berlin.” Berlin, the city of a thousand possibilities... I know what you mean... I feel you. . . **🚀 Let's do a workshop on real friendships!** * Up to 40 people * An easy-going facilitator guides through the evening * You get to know each other * latest research about real friendships * Those who want: meet again. Simple. . **Be surprised, how familiar you will feel after three hours.** . . ⏰ **The door opens at 6:45 p.m. Be punctual, be on time. Germany ;).** * Hang up your coat, go to the bathroom, get a tea, chat a bit, find a seat, and then get started. * No entrance after 6:59 pm, because workshop has started by then. No exceptions. . . **🔱 4 years of work - 1 workshop** For four years, I have researched and experimented on how people become friends. This evening is the result. You'll get the latest bites of friendship theory, plus practical tools that are easy to implement. Above all, you'll try things out together. It's fun. * Once, a participant said to me: “Georg, this stuff works magically!” * What shall I say? “Yes! I hope so! That's what we are here for.” **Imagine: a room full of pleasant people who are looking for real friendships.** . . **🌞 Do you know the Mere Exposure Effect?** It says: The more often you meet, the more familiar you will get. On the workshop, I will tell you why your nervous system is like this. It is particularly relevant for shy, anxious or introverted people. . Hence, friendship grows on pleasant reunions, connection, reliability, and emotional depth. . To support this, we offer a wide range of activities: hikes, excursions, walks, women's evenings, men's evenings, and workshops on personal development, social skills and communication. . **Until you are connected with the right friends and click with them.** . That is the goal! 🤗 . **Telegram Channel (events, workshops, friendship research results):** [t.me/legendary_friends](t.me/legendary_friends) . . **🌎 Find out more about Legendary Friends** You will find alot of friendship knowledge at: [www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de](www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de) \- A german speaking website\. We are famous in German so far\. . However, people from different countries successfully use translation tools to get what they need. . Some knowledge is translated into English at [www.legendary-friends.com](www.legendary-friends.com). . **🍀 6 Fundamental Secrets of Real Friendships** 30 pages eBook: **[The 6 Fundamental Secrets of Legendary Friendships](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/)**[ - ](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/)**[How to Create Great Friendships for Life](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/).** . You get the 30 pages eBook for free (at the moment) plus a monthly update of friendship research when subscribing to the newsletter. . To be honest: I am lazy and I only write a newsletter if I really have news. So, no spam. Promised. (And presumably less than one email per month). **See you at the workshop and let's become friends 🤗.**

**BitDevs Bitcoin Socratic Seminar Berlin @ c-base Raumstation** Join us for our monthly interactive **[Bitcoin Socratic Seminar](https://bitdevs.berlin)** in Berlin! We’ll start with pizza and beer (sponsored by [Ordimint.com](https://ordimint.com)), followed by deep-dive discussions on the most interesting *technical* developments in Bitcoin from the past month. Participation by everyone is highly encouraged! Our goal is to foster lively discussion, knowledge sharing, and debate. In the weeks leading up to the event, participants gather topics such as: * New research papers * New BIPs and BOLTs * Network statistics * Technical blog posts * Mailing list and Delving Bitcoin threads * Pull requests and updates from key repos (Bitcoin Core, LND, Core Lightning, Eclair, BDK, rust-bitcoin, LDK, Electrum, …) Each topic is briefly introduced by our moderators and then discussed before moving on. The full list of links will be published at [bitdevs.berlin](https://bitdevs.berlin) 1–2 days before the event — please review them in advance to get the most out of the discussion. **Important details:** * This event is highly technical — best suited for those with a solid grasp of Bitcoin internals. Curious newcomers are always very welcome, but expect in-depth conversations (see the former topics at [bitdevs.berlin](https://bitdevs.berlin)). * Chatham House Rule applies: you may share what was discussed, but not who said it. No livestream, no photos, no recordings. * The evening begins with food and networking; people often stay after the seminar to keep talking. **Co-hosted by:** * [Felix](https://x.com/FelixWeis) * [Freerk](https://x.com/freerko) * [Fabian](https://x.com/fjahr) For background on the idea of BitDevs Socratic Seminars, see [this article](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/op-ed-want-to-learn-about-bitcoin-try-a-local-socratic-seminar).

**An evening where confidence grows, stories shine, and voices find their power.** We’re kicking off a new chapter. 📍 **New Location:** **Potsdamer Platz, The Center, Berlin – Historic Imperial Breakfast Hall** The Center is a space that celebrates **community, creativity, and transformation**, and we’re proud to be hosting our events in this inspiring new location at the heart of Berlin. **🕢 Time:** Doors open at 7:15 PM Meeting starts promptly at 7:30 PM *** **[What to Expect:](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)** ✨ A supportive space to speak, grow, and connect 🎤 Prepared speeches, impromptu challenges, and real feedback 🌍 A multicultural community of friendly, experienced members 👥 Around 25-30 attendees each week *** **🤙 [Hear it from our members:](https://maps.app.goo.gl/eRtvR9DRNqU9WZQn7)** *“You can sharpen your public speaking skills and gain tons of confidence, while having fun and making new friends. Mercury is well-structured, fun, and affordable.”* — *Therese Pitt* *“Mercury gave me a safe place to speak, create, and grow. I love the multicultural vibe and supportive community. It’s the best place to learn and have fun.”* — *Krisztina Linka* *** **[Did You Know?](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/about-mercury-toastmasters-berlin/)** Toastmasters is where people go to get better at speaking—and grow into confident communicators and leaders. Today [Toastmasters ](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/about-mercury-toastmasters-berlin/)has 350,000+ members across 16,000 clubs in 143 countries. And [Mercury ](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)is one of the best places to experience it. So bring your curiosity, your energy—and just be yourself. Whether you’re just starting or ready to level up, there’s a place for you here. *** **[See you Wednesday night!](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)**[ 🎉](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)

**Stop loneliness and boredom: meet people in a pleasant atmosphere and learn about friendship.** \-\-\-\- **💶 Contribution on site: EUR 10-20 (according to your means)** **You can buy a ticket in advance on Eventbrite to guarantee your place: [Tickets on Eventbrite \[Link\]](https://www.eventbrite.de/e/meet-connect-real-friendships-in-berlin-workshop-tickets-1671592250419).** 🇬🇧 This workshop is held in English. 🇬🇧 *This event is also announced in another group and on a different platform. The number of registrations does not reflect the real number.* \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- People with good **friends live longer, happier, more succesful and healthier**. Big plus: **good friends are fun to be around**. Hence, we offer this friendship workshop. Some people say, “It's hard to find close friends in Berlin.” Berlin, the city of a thousand possibilities... I know what you mean... I feel you. . . **🚀 Let's do a workshop on real friendships!** * Up to 40 people * An easy-going facilitator guides through the evening * You get to know each other * latest research about real friendships * Those who want: meet again. Simple. . **Be surprised, how familiar you will feel after three hours.** . . ⏰ **The door opens at 6:45 p.m. Be punctual, be on time. Germany ;).** * Hang up your coat, go to the bathroom, get a tea, chat a bit, find a seat, and then get started. * No entrance after 6:59 pm, because workshop has started by then. No exceptions. . . **🔱 4 years of work - 1 workshop** For four years, I have researched and experimented on how people become friends. This evening is the result. You'll get the latest bites of friendship theory, plus practical tools that are easy to implement. Above all, you'll try things out together. It's fun. * Once, a participant said to me: “Georg, this stuff works magically!” * What shall I say? “Yes! I hope so! That's what we are here for.” **Imagine: a room full of pleasant people who are looking for real friendships.** . . **🌞 Do you know the Mere Exposure Effect?** It says: The more often you meet, the more familiar you will get. On the workshop, I will tell you why your nervous system is like this. It is particularly relevant for shy, anxious or introverted people. . Hence, friendship grows on pleasant reunions, connection, reliability, and emotional depth. . To support this, we offer a wide range of activities: hikes, excursions, walks, women's evenings, men's evenings, and workshops on personal development, social skills and communication. . **Until you are connected with the right friends and click with them.** . That is the goal! 🤗 . **Telegram Channel (events, workshops, friendship research results):** [t.me/legendary_friends](http://t.me/legendary_friends) . . **🌎 Find out more about Legendary Friends** You will find alot of friendship knowledge at: [www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de](http://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de) \- A german speaking website\. We are famous in German so far\. . However, people from different countries successfully use translation tools to get what they need. . Some knowledge is translated into English at [www.legendary-friends.com](http://www.legendary-friends.com). . **🍀 6 Fundamental Secrets of Real Friendships** 30 pages eBook: **[The 6 Fundamental Secrets of Legendary Friendships](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/)**[ - ](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/)**[How to Create Great Friendships for Life](https://www.abenteuer-freundschaft.de/links/newsletter-legendary-friends/).** . You get the 30 pages eBook for free (at the moment) plus a monthly update of friendship research when subscribing to the newsletter. . To be honest: I am lazy and I only write a newsletter if I really have news. So, no spam. Promised. (And presumably less than one email per month). **See you at the workshop and let's become friends 🤗.**

**PyBerlin: January's event** **Location: JetBrains office -** Schlesische Str. 34, 10997 Berlin, enter via Lieferando entrance. **Agenda:** 6:15 pm – Doors open: snacks, drinks, networking 6:45 pm - Welcome from PyBerlin 6:55 pm - Welcome from the sponsor - JetBrains 7:05 pm – Code review agents battle // Shahriyar Rzayev In this live-coded demo, I'll build a multi-agent code review system where three agent instances work simultaneously as specialized reviewers: * **The Architect** evaluates design patterns and system structure * **The Security Expert** hunts for vulnerabilities and data risks * **The Performance Analyst** identifies bottlenecks and complexity issues We'll watch them analyze real Python code, generate independent reviews, and even disagree with each other on trade-offs—all orchestrated with \~50 lines of async Python code. Speaker's bio: Software Engineer and Builder. Previous accomplishments include contributing to open source, providing technical direction, and sharing knowledge about Code and Architecture. An empathetic team player and mentor. Azerbaijan Python User Group Leader. Former QA Engineer and Bug Hunter. 7:35 pm - break 8:05 pm – Can you trust your (large language) model? // Jodie Burchell Machine learning algorithms are marvellous things: models that can do a bunch of tedious and complex tasks for us, all with a high degree of accuracy. But how do we really know whether the outputs of machine learning models are correct? This question is not as simple to answer as we might think. As we move into an age where “black box” models, particularly LLMs, are becoming more and more commonly used, it becomes even more essential, and at the same time, difficult and complicated, to be able to assess model performance accurately. In this talk, we’ll explore ways in which our models can lie to us, and how we might be able to peer through this confusion to get at the truth. Speaker's bio: Dr. Jodie Burchell is the Developer Advocate in Data Science at JetBrains, and was previously a Lead Data Scientist at Verve Group Europe. She completed a PhD in clinical psychology and a postdoc in biostatistics, before leaving academia for a data science career. She has worked for 9 years as a data scientist in both Australia and Germany, developing a range of products including recommendation systems, analysis platforms, search engine improvements and audience profiling. She has held a broad range of responsibilities in her career, doing everything from data analytics to maintaining machine learning solutions in production. She is a long time content creator in data science, across conference and user group presentations, books, webinars, and posts on both her own and JetBrain's blogs. 9:30 - closing This event will be only in-person. Please check our Code of Conduct and official health regulation in Berlin before coming. If you feel some signs of sickness, please consider skipping this event and attending another time. We will have plenty of events in different formats in the future. Looking forward seeing you all!

(English below) \>\> der Event findet statt\, wenn sich bis 18:00 mindestens 4 Personen angemeldet haben\, sonst nicht << Worum es geht: "Kann ein Walfisch ein Wellensittich sein?" \~> Natürlich nicht, denn Säugetiere sind niemals Vögel. "Kann ein Fenster ein Getränk sein?" \~> Jeder weis, das ist unmöglich, denn Festkörper sind keine Flüssigkeiten. ABER: "Kann eine Demokratie eine Republik sein?" "Kann eine Vermutung eine Meinung sein?" "Ist etwas zu begreifen das Selbe wie etwas zu verstehen?" \~> Tja, jetzt wird's schwierig! Und es wird spannend... Nichts regt dermaßen zum nachdenken an wie dieses neue Gesellschaftsspiel. Die Spielregeln: 1. Jeder schreibt einen Begriff auf einen Zettel. 2. Die Zettel werden paarweise gezogen. 3. Per Beamer werfen wir die Bedeutung der zwei Wörter an die Wand. 4. jeder kann per Laptop (zur Not auch per Smartphone) die Bedeutung ergänzen / editieren, muss dafür ggf. Beispiele angeben warum etwas gleich sein können soll, oder nie gleich sein kann. 5. nach einer Zeit fällt niemandem mehr etwas ein. Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen den beiden Begrifflichkeiten sind deutlich herausgearbeitet. Dann wird der Punktestand gezählt: (+1) Jeder verbliebene neue Beitrag in der Bedeutung ergibt einen Pluspunkt (-2) aber jeder wieder gelöschte neue Beitrag gibt zwei Minuspunkte. (+5) jede Verbesserung der bisherigen Bedeutung in Reclue ergibt plus 5 Pluspunkte Die Auffassungen aller Mitspieler werden viel klarer, erst recht wenn man häufig mitspielt. Ziel des Spiels ist nicht, dass irgendwer am meisten Punkte sammelt, sondern, dass alle zusammen überhaupt auf mehr als 50 Punkte kommen. Das Spiel funktioniert auch mehrsprachig. Man kann auch von Zuhause aus online mitmachen. Den Zugang können wir dann über die Kommentare hier organisieren. Bring deinen Laptop mit, dann wird es einfacher... Warum macht das Spiel klug? Schach trainiert das Konzentrationsvermögen. Aber es hat mit der Wirklichkeit nichts zu tun. Dieses Spiel hingegen schon, denn genau mitdenken zu können setzt voraus genau zu unterscheiden. Andernfalls assoziiert man das eine sprunghaft mit irgendetwas anderem. Aber ob die Assoziationskette notwendiger Weise der Fall ist, ist nicht klar - und andere Aspekte sind vll. viel wichtiger. Und dann irrt man in wirren Assoziationen, entscheidet wenig optimal, verliert Zeit, usw. Mit der Übung über dieses Spiel nicht mehr! Wer die Bedeutung der Wörter sauber ausdifferenziert wird immer klüger. \*\*\* english version \*\*\* "Can a whale be a parakeet?" \~> Of course not! "Can a window be a drink?" \~> Everyone knows that's impossible. "Can a democracy be a republic?" "Can a conjecture be an opinion?" "Is grasping something the same as understanding something?" \~> Well, now it gets tricky! And it gets exciting... Nothing stimulates thought quite like this new party game. The rules: 1. Everyone writes a term on a slip of paper. 2. The slips of paper are drawn in pairs. 3. We project the meaning of the two words onto the wall using a projector. 4. Everyone can add to/edit the meaning using a laptop or smartphone, and must provide examples of why something could be the same, or could never be the same. 5. After a while, no one can think of anything else. The differences and similarities between the two words are clearly highlighted. Then the score is tallied: (+1) Each new entry adding meaning earns one point. (-2) However, each deleted entry deducts two points. (+5) Each improvement on the existing meaning in Reclue earns five points. The understanding of all players becomes much clearer, especially with frequent play. The goal for the entire group is to reach at minimum 50 points. The game also works in multiple languages. You may join us from home using the internet. Comments in meetup-app will be used to organize that it works. The location (somewhere in Prenzlauer Berg) will be published the day when it takes place.

Are you interested in **GenAI assisted software development**? Are you using **Cursor** & Co already? Do you want to learn how to solve problems by creating digital tools yourself? Then this is for you. **Afterwork meetup** at the Byron Bar, Bayer Pharma Headquarters in Berlin, dedicated to exchanging experiences using AI as assistant to develop software. You will meet here software developers, GenAI enthusiasts, solo programmers, and, since many of us work in the healthcare industry, expect to meet people in diverse roles there: doctors, biologists, chemists, pharmacists, physicists, mathematicians, biochemists. Date & Time: January 15, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM Location: Byron Bar, Bayer Pharma Headquarters, Berlin What to Expect: * **Speakers: Ryan Sudhakaran, Marisa Breall / Cursor (Anysphere)** * **Tool Sharing**: **Share in 5 minutes** your hands-on experiences with tools like Cursor, Windsurf, Amazon Q, Lovable, Cline. **Contact us upfront**; jesus delvalle at bayer.com. * **Networking**: **Connect** with fellow developers and healthcare professionals. * **Community Building**: **Join us** to foster a supportive network that helps each other navigate GenAI in healthcare. What to Bring: **YOU!** And desire to share and learn the enormous possibilities of GenAI assisted coding. Btw on a January 15th 2001 the first edit of **WIKIPEDIA** was made. 25 Years ago! If you are like me and some of us a Wikipedia Fan and like to edit and create pages there, talk to us; we will for sure find a way to help and learn from each other.

Nice! You are looking for real long time friendship! You might have already lived in Berlin or other big cities and experienced the "Anonymous" culture for a while. Meeting random people over and over and never see the same person again! In order to find "Real Long Term Friendship" in Berlin, do as follows: * You should not care how many people are joining this meetup. You RVSP. Even if only one person is joining. Because if everyone are waiting for everyone else to RVSP, nobody joins and nobody finds a new friend. * You do not care how many people of the opposite sex are joining. You are looking for friends. Finding the best romantic partner in the world, while avoiding not very attractive others, can be your other goal, for another time. Here we are looking for Friends. Real ones. * You are going to risk a very precious property of yours: Your time! Yes, there are thousands of opportunities in Berlin, there might be a rock concert for free, a birthday party you might miss, an important person might call you and invite you spontaneously, but you never find new friends until you decide to risk your time and meet people anyway. "I will check my calendar and get back to you" also does not work. Commit your time and spend it. Trust me, you won't go bankrupt ;-) * You are ready to use your phone as a real phone! You might have been using your phone as a tablet to visit Instagram and Facebook and watch movies. But if you want to find friends, you must know that people might take your phone number and give you theirs. That means they will Call you! And you have to pick up the phone and answer it. If you want to find new friends, you must be ready to do something really hard for the first time after years: Call people first, and if they called you: Answer your phone! * You are going to meet some people twice! That's the point of friendship. We already can experience random encounters with random people in random places one at a time. But that is not called friendship. If you want friends, you must be ready to meet the same person more than once. If you agree with above, RVSP and COME! You will meet other people who think the same way. P.S: Now that you've read all the way down to here, I suggest you [watch this animation](https://player.vimeo.com/video/547249272?h=22f3dd0f6f).

An exciting start to the new year with an excellent workshop on agentic features of AWS. We gather at NLND Berlin once again, with expert Solutions Architects from AWS joining us to facilitate another highly appreciated User Group Workshop. **Deep Dive into Bedrock AgentCore** This is a level 300, hands-on workshop with a practical deep dive into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and its main services: Runtime, Gateway, Memory, Identity, and Observability. You work through independent labs that you can pick and choose from, learning how to build, deploy, and operate production-ready AI agents on AWS. By the end of the workshop, we aim that you understand how to connect agents to tools and data securely, scale them in the cloud, and monitor their behavior so they are ready for real time use. This workshop is aimed at data engineers, AI developers, cloud specialists. While it is not necessary to work in the AI field, the workshop requires some intermediate level knowledge on the topic. Therefore, please consider learning on AI & Agentic topics in advance before joining and make sure that you can follow the workshop. **When?** 15th of January\, Thursday \| 12:30 \- 18:00 **Where?** NLND Berlin: Neuköllnische Allee 80, 12057 Berlin **How?** Fill out this form to apply. Limited seats are available. You can only participate in the workshop if you receive a confirmation mail from us (kadir@berlinawsug.de). You need to bring your own laptop to this workshop. ❗**Registration - Read Carefully**❗ Participation is free of charge. Your AWS resource usage is also covered. You will be provided a sandbox AWS account. Therefore, you won't need an AWS account! ❗Please register with your full name by filling out this form: https://forms.gle/yXKpbyzgWirM1oM97 ❗You need to bring your own laptop to this workshop. Make sure AWS CLI is installed. Contact us if you're not sure how. ❗A confirmation e-mail from Meetup is not relevant. You can participate only if you receive a confirmation from us: kadir@berlinawsug.de \-\-\- **Additional Information** **This event is wheelchair friendly.** Help us spread the word, and invite your friends & colleagues! If you're attending with wheelchair and need assistance, please mail us: [organisers@berlinawsug.de](mailto:organisers@berlinawsug.de) for further details. Would you like to host AWS UG Event at your company? [Register here](https://bit.ly/aws-host) Would you like to speak at AWS UG MeetUp?[Submit your topic here](https://bit.ly/aws-talk)

Drunk driving is not cool, but drunk writing is! This is a community event for writers, with drinks! Work on your own projects or use the creative writing prompts provided. Join us at Das Gift, where we will have focused 20 minute writing sprints, with breaks in between. Das Gift is at Donaustraße 119, 12043, Berlin.

Welcome to Sunday Tech Coffee. This is a **networking** event for those in the tech industry in Berlin. We are usually inside and to the right

👋 Hallo und 💜-lich Willkommen to the Elixir Berlin Meetup. Let's get 2026 started with some Elixir. If you're new to the community the best way to introduce yourself is [to submit a talk](https://github.com/elixir-berlin/planning/issues/new?template=talk.yml) ⏰ Schedule 18:45: Doors open 19:05: Welcome & Announcements 19:15: 🗣 AI without Neural Nets? An ongoing research project [Leo](https://github.com/Leo-Nogismus) 19:45: 🍺 break 🍵🧃 20:15: 🗣 Privacy by design [Luka](https://github.com/Overbryd) 20:45: ⚡️ Lightning talks and Socializing 🪩 We want to encourage members of the Elixir community to share what they're working on. If you want to give a lightning talk at this Meetup, contact one of the organizers with a short description of your talk - or [submit a talk](https://github.com/elixir-berlin/planning/issues/new?template=talk.yml) See you all there 💜💜💜

An afternoon bookclub, organized by our member Pooja Ghosh. We will meet in a café in Spandau altstadt (they have good cakes :D) and talk about what we are currently reading :) and, if we've time, chat in general about books. Please also feel free to read a sample from you book if you wish. Usually we read both fiction and non-fiction (history, philosophy, sociology, and other topics). Bring your Kindle, your tablet, or your paper books. The discussion will be in English, but of course feel free to bring books in any language.

Dale Gnidovec, Curator of the Orton Hall Museum of Geology at The Ohio State University, will be presenting a program he has wanted to share with us for a long time: Plate Tectonics. His description of his program: Continents on the move - Nothing in Earth history makes sense without moving continents - it tells us why mountains, volcanoes, minerals, and fossils are where they are. This talk examines the evidence for continental drift, why it was disbelieved, and explains how the more-encompassing theory of plate tectonics was developed and eventually proven. Dale is an energetic, incredibly knowledgeable, and very entertaining speaker and this will be another wonderful program by Dale. Hope to see you there! Food and drinks will be provided at the event. Feel free to show up a little bit early to hang out and talk. Going forward our meetings will be hybrid. You can meet us in-person or attend online Join Zoom Meeting [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1) Meeting ID: 878 3656 4953 Passcode: 760812 One tap mobile +19292056099,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (New York) +13017158592,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (Washington DC) The formal presentation will start at noon

Happy New Year Colleagues, The next Columbus Futurists public forum will be **Thursday January 15 at 12:00 pm noon** (eastern) [https://osu.zoom.us/j/93451873651?pwd=RXIyZ2t5RjRqRG02UGQ1aEFVQ1NFZz09](https://osu.zoom.us/j/93451873651?pwd=RXIyZ2t5RjRqRG02UGQ1aEFVQ1NFZz09) Please come prepared to offer your **"What if?" questions for 2026**. (I will offer seven to begin our conversation.) I also would like to announce the publication of my latest book: *[Anticipatory Biographies: Personal Histories of the Future](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-08912-0)*, the tenth volume in the “Anticipation Science” series. Grounded in design fiction, futures research, anticipation science, and scenario writing, *Anticipatory Biographies* envisions how the world will be reshaped by artificial intelligence, technological automation, climate change, political disintegration, and the decline of higher education. This work of creative non-fiction bridges literary and scholarly forms, blending biography and design fiction with research-based insights to offer a narrative-based method for exploring futures. Ed Finn, Director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University says: “In this book **David Staley has invented a delightful new genre: the future biography.** He invites us to step into gritty, thrilling, and inspiring futures elbow-to-elbow with the characters living those stories. *Anticipatory Biographies* beautifully synthesizes Staley’s training as a historian, his expertise as a futurist, and his desire to ignite the imagination of his readers.” Hope you'll be able to read it, and hope to see you all on the 15th. D. David J. Staley, Ph.D. President, Columbus Futurists 614.316.1348 [columbus.futurists@gmail.com](mailto:columbus.futurists@gmail.com) [http://columbusfuturists.org](http://columbusfuturists.org/) [https://davidjstaley.substack.com/](https://davidjstaley.substack.com/) 

2026 may be the last year many developers write code by hand. We need coding agents to solve complex problems in production codebases, but vibe coding alone won’t get us there. Vibe coding is all gas, no brakes. It burns up the context window until the agent slips on its own slop. You can go fast at first, but the more you stuff into the context window, the more tangled its outputs get. While the industry is rapidly increasing code generation speed, we still have to understand, review, merge, and maintain what gets shipped. This talk featuring Michael Geiger will outline how coding agents (Claude Code + Gas Town) work and a framework for orchestrating them to solve complicated problems in complex codebases. It’s about steering the model: doing the research to align intent, planning the approach up front, implementing in parallel steps, and breaking early. Human judgment still matters, but it should be spent on high-leverage decisions: what to build, what to forbid, and “what is quality?”, not cleaning up slop. Attendees will leave with a checklist to identify workflow and environment gaps that hold agents back, so you and your team can ship higher-quality software starting tomorrow.

## Learn Infrastructure-as-Code (the FUN Way) — Through Minecraft 🎮☁️ **Joint Meetup: Azure CBUS × Columbus HashiCorp User Group × DevOps Columbus** What if learning Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code didn’t feel like a whitepaper… but more like a game? Join us for a joint Azure CBUS, Columbus HashiCorp User Group, and DevOps Columbus meetup where **Mark Tinderholt** \(Principal Architect\, Microsoft Azure \| HashiCorp Ambassador \| “The Azure Terraformer”\) shows how **Minecraft** can be used as a surprisingly powerful way to understand real-world Infrastructure-as-Code concepts. In this session, Mark will demonstrate how Terraform and Azure can be used to provision, configure, and manage Minecraft servers—while teaching the same patterns you’d use for production cloud infrastructure. ### What we’ll cover * Infrastructure-as-Code fundamentals using **Terraform** * Provisioning real infrastructure on **Azure** * Applying **IaC best practices** (immutability, repeatability, versioning) * How playful environments like Minecraft make complex concepts *click* * Why learning through experimentation beats click-ops every time ### Who should attend * Developers, platform engineers, and cloud engineers * Terraform users (new or experienced) * Anyone curious about Infrastructure-as-Code but tired of boring examples * Minecraft fans who want to see it used in a totally unexpected way No prior Minecraft experience required—just curiosity and a willingness to learn infrastructure the fun way. Come for the blocks, stay for the Terraform. 🧱➡️📐 Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/

Bienvenue! Columbus French Conversation group invites you to our Saturday morning French conversation club. Expect a casual and welcoming atmosphere in which to learn french! I will bring my laptop so we can look up new vocabulary as needed! The venue is a beautiful French restaurant so you can really get into the zone :)

**Click <<[here](https://online.innerengineering.com/en/program-details/yogasanas-cityprogram-staybridge-suites-columbus-university-area-ohio-us-jan-17-2026)\>\> to register\.** **[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZdcGKUQufU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZdcGKUQufU)** **Yogasanas** **Yogasanas are offered as a set of powerful postures to transform the body and the mind into a possibility for ultimate well-being. They are not taught merely for physical fitness and strength, but are a way of aligning the inner system to the celestial geometry, becoming in sync with the existence, thereby naturally achieving a state of health, joy and bliss.** **"Your physical health, your psychological wellbeing, and your spiritual possibility depend on how well aligned you are with existence. Essentially, hatha yoga is towards establishing this alignment." - Sadhguru** **Benefits of practicing Yogasanas regularly:** * **Stabilization of the body, mind, and energy system** * **Slows down the aging process** * **Relief of chronic health conditions** **Agility Level: Intermediate** **For ages 14+** **Open to everyone, no previous experience of yoga required**

Join Soft Life Society for a cozy and intentional Cultural Potluck Night centered on community, connection, and culture. This is a potluck-style gathering where each guest is invited to bring a dish that represents their culture, heritage, or a family tradition. We will be tasting and sharing each other’s cultural foods while connecting through conversation, laughter, and soft living. The evening will also include fun games and a prize for the winner. Drinks will be available, but guests are welcome to bring their own favorite beverage if they prefer. This is a relaxed, welcoming space to slow down and enjoy a beautiful evening together. Limited spots available. RSVP required.