Happy Independence Day!

Wednesday, July 4th, 2018

Video: Fireworks at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

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Happy birthday, America!

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Video: In honor of the annual hot dog eating challenge,
Tiny Hamster vs. Takeru Kobayashi.

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the south shall fall again

Wednesday, July 4th, 2018

Why start a second
civil war when we never
finished the first one?

• • •

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The Birmingham channel: Human fireworks

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Los Pajaritos de Tacupa Michoacán performs at El Sol on Valley Avenue. From Compa LaTuba.

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Promo for the Rockets-Grizzlies game Oct. 2 at Legacy Arena downtown. From BBVA Compass Iron City Showdown.

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A big home run from the Birmingham Barons’ Keon Barnum against the Tennessee Smokies at Knoxville’s Smokies Stadium. From Minor League Baseball.

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A World Changers mission team spends a week in June in Birmingham fixing up a house. From World Changers.

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Los Angeles garage rock musician Ty Segall performs “She” in April at Saturn in Avondale, recorded for the Alabama Public Television show “Subcarrier.” From Alabama Public TV.

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Coverage of the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship in April at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds. From D-Mx Deportemotor México.

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Birmingham cover band SideCar performs in June at Superior Grill on U.S. 280. From Michael Bookmiller.

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Flying out of Birmingham From Richard Morgan.

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Commercial for June’s 2018 Southern League All-Star Game at Regions Field downtown, airing on MeTV. From WVTM-13 News.

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English modern soul band Jungle performs “Drops” in June at Saturn in Avondale. From the End Is Built Into the Beginning.

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A report on the action movie “Live” filming downtown this year. From CBS-42.

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Highlight reel for Ramsay rising junior forward Zoe Cooper. From Christopher Cooper.

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Columbia, S.C., vloggers discuss the recent furor over Donna Pike of the Jefferson County School Board. From Let the Madness Begin.

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Drone footage of a stream and forests. From Mark D.

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Kudzu bugs invade Bluff Park in Hoover. From Go-To Guy! Enterprises.

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Fund-raising video from Rock City Church and its newly acquired Central Park Christian School. From Rock City TV.

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Looking out over UAB (our vertical video of the week). From G.G. Smith.

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A clean water PSA from the City of Birmingham maybe? From Bill Mathews.

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Hawking a digital billboard on I-65 north before Malfunction Junction. From Lamar Advertising of Birmingham-Gadsden.

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Birmingham attorney Charlie Waldrep on local TV show “Our Issues Birmingham.” From Our Issues Birmingham.

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Trains in Irondale. From Carson Bean.

Trains near downtown. From Camera Bryan.

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Promo for downtown computer training company TrueCoders. From Out There Creative.

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Talking with the people behind new Pepper Place restaurant Blueprint on 3rd in Lakeview. From Alabama NewsCenter.

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A backyard garden takes shape. From Go-To Guy! Enterprises.

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Showreel for ABC-33/40 reporter Stephen Quinn. From Stephen Quinn.

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Having fun at McWane Science Center and Sloss Furnaces. From Rollin Rollins.

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A look at Sloss Furnaces. From Sarah Ellis.

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New members of sorority Pretty N Purple Turtle Shellz (our other vertical video of the week). From Pretty N Purple Turtle Shellz Pond.

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Testimonial by David Williams of UAB for Seattle leadership development company Pacific Institute’s program PX2. From the Pacific Institute.

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Summer lightning. From Joey Amberson.

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Talking with Renee Harmon, a family doctor at St. Vincent’s Primary Care at Brook Highland. From Ascension.

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Promo for the Oxmoor Village housing development. From Tower Homes.

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Gene Hallman of the Bruno Event Team on the 2026 World Cup and the impact on Birmingham. From Alabama NewsCenter.

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Pee wee football with the Central Park Chargers (our other other vertical video of the week). From Ready Red Litsquad.

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Boston metal band Seven Spires performs “Distant Lights” in June at the Nick on Southside. From the Great Metal Debate.

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Drone footage of the Rotary Trail downtown and the High Ore Line Trail in Midfield. From Freshwater Land Trust.

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Sunset from a car on the interstate (our other other other vertical video of the week). From Forever Fanci.

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Introducing Tim Lewis, coach of Birmingham’s new pro football team. From Alliance of American Football.

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Partying at the Xclusive Lounge in Smithfield. From C.J. Toney.

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William White and Corey Miller talk about their decade-long friendship through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Birmingham. From Summer Classics.

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Promo for Birmingham wedding group Original Point of View Band. From Hunter Lawley.

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Birmingham real estate agent Rob Drum with a market update. From AlaREIA.

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Hank Price of WVTM-13 on the planned downtown football stadium. From WVTM-13 News

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A MasterMind real estate presentation in May at the Club. From JWRE Tribe.

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Send us links to your videos. | More videos on the Birmingham channel.

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Wade’s 101: Haiku retrospective 46

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

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children’s crusade 2018
With signs and guts, they
marched, let down by grownups but
ready for action.

how to sell more guns
Guns in schools. Guns in
churches. Guns in hospitals.
Gun in underwear.

dad’s seat
Though a place was set,
the chair at the head of the
table was empty.

the frozen coffeehouse
Keep the thermostat
at 58 degrees to
sell more hot java.

the surveillance state
Wiretaps in our
pockets, on our desks, in our
cars and soon, our brains.

a conspiracy of dunces
Promises to the
poor, favors to the rich, but
beholden to none.

out like a ham
The silly toddler
couldn’t resist a giggle
before his bedtime.

disappearing act
After a 3-day
entombment, he went upstairs
to save mankind.

science under husband
A bloated mass of
gases and occasional
grunts for sustenance.

everyone is average
About yay tall and
so-so looks with a boring
personality.

run the numbers
Add the figures through
last quarter and divide by
made-up integers.

steps to ignominy
Electric slide on
down to boogie wonderland
for popping, locking.

reflective secrets
Their hushed whisperings
revealed as much as if they
shouted to the world.

no man is an island
Friendships come, but most
often go, withering from
both time and distance.

permanent binge
TVs playing all
prestige shows throughout the day
and night till we croak.

user era
The phones are getting
smarter while the phonies are
getting dumberer.

free-range adults
Men and women roam
without the tether of small
screens and loud alerts.

dinner in 60
Some days, the biggest
challenge is hitting Start
on the damn microwave.

the component of tomorrow
Protein comes from shakes,
snack bars, powders, supplements
and sometimes meat, fish.

fortunate cookies
The luckiest folks
never notice when their luck
runs completely out.

re-re-re-routing
The errant package
visited several states
before being trashed.

forever young
We reward elders
with neglect, abuse, contempt,
and substandard care.

trucker’s mirage
The exit ramp floats
by, as waves of headlights burn
in all directions.

eyes on the prized
Today, celebrate
the best writers. Tomorrow,
back to the keyboard.

bred and circumcisions
No time for a full
cut, so how about just a
little off the top?

callbacks next week
The audition went
well enough to warrant a
second try to shine.

electric you and i
No resistance as
the current flows through us, a
tingling sensation.

binge mentality
Please shovel content
to me before I figure
out this show is crap.

under the operatic force
A highly trained group
of divas and tenors armed
with high notes and low.

a motion picture is worth a thousand words
Why watch the movie
when the Wikipedia
recap is better?

of the moment
The past is a safe
space, except when filled with dark
trauma and regret.

fixer upper downer
Under the carpet
is worn wood, and below that,
a layer of bugs.

honeymoon distractions
Thank you notes to be
written, gifts to be exchanged
and a cake to freeze.

bashing dragons
The wee knight took up
arms against fire-breathing
foes in the forest.

grok talk
The best words come from
languages of the fertile
imagination.

toothpicks and shot cups
Free samples are my
jam. Load me up with bite-size
morsels without end.

every waiting room ever
A musty stack of
magazines no one reads yet
thoroughly perused.

kneeling friend
Arise, Sir Keeps Her
Under the Umbrella and
Kills All the Roaches.

holy wit
If only the staid
preachers were as funny as
the church signs outside.

a spoiler-free experience
Don’t read reviews that
reveal Rosebud is a sled
or Gwyneth’s boxed head.

to-don’t list, heavily revised
Something something swear
off booze. Forget birthdays. Drive
really carefully.

on the sliver screen
Take an Imax hit.
reduce it to 2-D, slap
it on a smartphone.

the lost girl
Tears in her eyes, she
stumbled round the playground to
find her missing mom.

the prat signal
And we shall know the
pious through their bright ribbons
and virtuous tweets.

gonna need you to go ahead come in tomorrow
The two most common
management styles are passive
and, well, aggressive.

dry heat is a myth
A furnace blast of
hell’s halitosis roasts skin
and ignites children.

circumstances of our own making
Trapped at a dinner
party. Painful swollen gums.
Stuck with bald tires.

the year they stopped making magazines
About seven years
before I arrived at this
quiet waiting room.

chore dice
Water shelves. Vacuum
bed. Wash living room. Polish
garbage. Roll again.

the four-minute radiator tutorial
The mechanic checks
YouTube again to make sure
he’s doing it right.

one-sided correspondence
Stationery, stamps
and pens, but no time to string
together the words.

mining the past, screwing the future
Reboots require
a syrupy nostalgia
overwhelming all else.

the fraught lot
Musical chairs, but
with many cars and also
limited parking.

pre-bread
Knead the dough, but not
so much that it turns into
a glutenous mass.

the weakened weekend
A light agenda
crippled by sickness, fatigue
and bouts of nausea.

shortcuts to madness
Do we need to life-
hack our way to paradise
or can we relax?

the reviewer’s curse
Sifting through the good,
bad and mediocre can
diminish delight.

chamber of horrors
Trapped inside the car
with an angry wasp speeding
through a red stop light.

all-you-can-infect buffet
No sneeze guard can shield
you from grubby hands and a
smorgasbord of germs.

loyalty has its limits
Standing up for the
haters. Calling out buddies.
It’s not a good look.

little women 2018
They form a fashion
clique on Instagram and sell
makeup sponsorships.

the rhyme directive
Let some choice words flow
with ability to grow
like a goddamn pro.

unrighteous fury
Why feed anger when
it won’t last, it won’t help and
it won’t solve a thing?

the evolution of leisure time
Hiking, swimming, films,
shooting hoops, camping out. And
now, screens, screens, screens, screens.

some gave all
How to pay tribute
to the fallen: Put an end
to war forever.

glowing screens and strewn toys
From the shadows, we
peek into the windows of
staid suburbia.

fix hearing
The truth comes out in
muted unpleasantries and
tiny blunted jabs.

the rubber straggler
Three tires in a
perfect rolling harmony.
One singing flatter.

the fix-it guy
Coming by to see
an underwater mortgage
and a gassy dog.

cruising in oblivious
Remaining untouched
by those with concerns, problems
or minutiae.

gray-colored glasses
Fixated on the
minute-to-minute struggle
to keep on breathing.

voluntary book burning
Those who don’t read for
pleasure have brain cells stuck in
neutral. Poor dumb things.

queen lear
She offers her three
sons a beachfront timeshare and
goes mad as moms do.

fairy tales for the unimaginative
A servant cleans the
house with stupendous effort.
A dog talks in barks.

formula for a best-seller
String words together
in powerful sentences.
Repeat till novel.

rip tony
Chef turned author and
ambassador, seeking great
eats and real people.

the office potluck
Chips, tortilla chips,
dip, potato salad and
12 kinds of desserts.

dud weight
The lump in the next
cubicle spends time on the
clock wasting good air.

the soft touch
Browbeating the point
pushes away. Asking and
demonstrating works.

kids’ weekday summer morning matinee
A tornado of
popcorn and giggles destroys
the run-down lobby.

aiming for a june weeding
The ceremony
takes place outdoors in a tall
thicket of back yard.

make culture great again
Take your poisonous
nostalgia, weave it into
new clumps of old thoughts.

rituals
Put on some coffee.
Flip idly through a smartphone.
Awaken within.

the excuse machine
Nobody is more
efficient at deflection
than the manager.

ones and zeros and wonders
Can they automate
the brain, its myriad ways
of complex thinking?

good enough for the japanese
America puts her
children in timeout, known as
concentration camps.

almost liquid
“Boba tea is gross,”
he said, adding peanuts to
his bottle of Coke.

stepping forward
Precision rhythm,
sick moves, a squad of highly
talented young men.

just another day in america
Children locked up as
political prisoners
in chain link cages.

that which binds us
We are more than our
ideologies, more than
our limited views.

summer sprinkle
A few drops from an
indifferent sky upon
a brownish landscape.

the ice cream van
It offers only
two flavors, and both of them
are vanilla-based.

a pit and a mountain
Despair seems like both
a pit and a mountain. Let’s
climb out and over.

make america civil again
The brutes declare that
we must endure oppression
much more politely.

holier than thou
A country founded
on religious freedom shuts
its doors to Muslims.

the package plant
Human drones flitter
from shelf to shelf to send so
much junk to shoppers.

the tyranny of the new
New is better, new
is thrilling, new is vibrant.
Old is discarded.

digital dig
Archeologists
of the future will study
our pics, open tabs.

the reality of omnipresent recording devices
Everything we say,
everything we do captured
for vile eavesdroppers.

the tapping foot giveaway
A still demeanor
with a restless energy
in a bouncing knee.

literary expiration date
His fans fervently
hoped he’d complete the novels
before he perished.

• • •

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the tapping foot giveaway

Monday, July 2nd, 2018

A still demeanor
with a restless energy
in a bouncing knee.

• • •

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#sundayread for July 1, 2018

Sunday, July 1st, 2018

Photo: Ștefan Jurcă (CC)

My picks for #sundayread for July 1, 2018:

Just finished Michael Lewis’ “The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds,” a mind-blowing followup to “Moneyball.”
[aff. link] https://amzn.to/2MDSRSR
A Decomposing Body, 10 Duped Girlfriends and the Saga of the “Alien” Con Man in Hollywood’s Back Yard
By @Scott_C_Johnson
The surprising upsides of an accelerating world
By Robert Colvile @rcolvile
(RT @LiekeMuller)
Flashback: Y’all Connect – The power of digital storytelling: Your story
Green to Me
By Helena Fitzgerald @helfitzgerald
A reluctant new homeowner’ journey into the heart of darkness: Picking paint colors
By @TaffyAkner
(via @spacestation_hq)
Flashback: Y’all Connect – The power of digital storytelling: Your storytelling style
Women-Only Art Shows Stood Out In 2017. Let’s Leave Them There.
By Priscilla Frank @badgirlpripri
(via @18thStreetArts)
North America’s Best Paddling Towns
(h/t @CanoeKayakBC)
Flashback: Y’all Connect – The power of digital storytelling: Your story monetized
The World’s First Publicly Traded Human Goes NSFW
By @Leah_Sottile
The College Try: The very real struggle of poor students in California
By @AshleyPowers
Out-of-state real estate investors who destroy city housing communities
By @RachMonroe
.@ConanOBrien on the future of late night talk shows
By @David_Marchese

the reality of omnipresent recording devices

Sunday, July 1st, 2018

Everything we say,
everything we do captured
for vile eavesdroppers.

• • •

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digital dig

Saturday, June 30th, 2018

Archeologists
of the future will study
our pics, open tabs.

• • •

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the tyranny of the new

Friday, June 29th, 2018

New is better, new
is thrilling, new is vibrant.
Old is discarded.

• • •

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the package plant

Thursday, June 28th, 2018

Human drones flitter
from shelf to shelf to send so
much junk to shoppers.

• • •

Read more haiku.

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The Birmingham channel: Kick up your heels

Wednesday, June 27th, 2018

A look at Birmingham in videos …

Barons pitcher Spencer Adams ends the top of the seventh inning with his sixth strikeout against the Chattanooga Lookouts in May at Regions Field downtown. From Minor League Baseball.

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Checking out the second annual I Am a Father 5k race earlier this month at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. From I Am a Father 5K.

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Michigan State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham partner on research for diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes complication that affects the eyes. From Webs Edge Health.

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Commercial for Hawthorne at Lake Heather apartments in Inverness, Hoover. From Hawthorne Residential Parnters.

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New York pop singer Max performs in May at Tin Roof in Lakeview. From Feesa.

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Hanging out at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover. From Cody Gremlin.

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Commercial for Alabama House candidate Jacqueline Gray Miller. From Dub Dynasty Ent.

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Birmingham rapper BMR DeeMan performs in May at Diamonds of Birmingham Gentlemen’s Club in in Brighton. From BMR DeeMan TV.

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English rock band Asking Alexandria performs “Into the Fire” in April at Iron City on Southside (our vertical video of the week). From Miguel Romero.

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Tarrant’s Corey Patrick goes viral for photo of him taking the bus to high school graduation ceremony. From Alabama NewsCenter.

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Highlights from country band Florida Georgia Line in 2014 at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham. From Massive Music.

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A patriotic number from May’s Birmingham Dance Theatre recital at the BJCC Concert Hall downtown. From Karen Briley.

Dancers perform to “Good Old Days.” From Karen Briley.

Dancers perform “For My Help.” From Karen Briley.

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Summer family fun at the Birmingham Zoo. From Scotty Boy Homie.

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Actor-singer Hayley Kiyoko talks with fans in March. From Feesa.

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Investigating the zeppelin mooring mast on the Thomas Jefferson Tower downtown. From al.com.

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Canadian TV station received in Birmingham (our other vertical video of the week). From Local and DX Radio.

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Dashcam (and rearcam) footage of driving at U.S. 280 and Shelby County 41. From Vear Experts.

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Looking forward to Birmingham’s new pro football team. From New Dish on the Stove.

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A Lamborghini and a Shelby GT350 at a car meetup in Cahaba Heights, Vestavia Hills. From Biv3 Media.

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Wesley Wade of Energen speaks on “The Effort to Keep Millennials” at May’s Disrupt HR Birmingham event at Innovation Depot downtown. From Disrupt HR.

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Highlights from the 28th annual Society of Black Academic Surgeons meeting in April at the Westin Birmingham downtown with UAB as host. From Dr. Hassan A. Tetteh.

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