Tag Archives: Online

In case you’re planning to renew your car tag today…

Posted on May 31, 2011 | 6 comments

The line outside of the Jefferson County Courthouse, 5.31.2011

The line outside of the Jefferson County Courthouse in downtown Birmingham is quite long this morning, extending deep into Linn Park. It is the last day of the month (and the first since the Jefferson County Commission decided to close satellite offices once again in order to save money), meaning people from throughout the region are making that last ditch effort to pay their tag renewals.

Don’t forget that you can choose to pay your tag renewal fees virtually, though you’ll be paying an online convenience fee of anywhere between $3-30 depending on how you choose to pay – and you won’t necessarily get that tag renewal in time to avoid getting a ticket. There is word though that the county may have extended the deadline for renewing your May tags until June 30, but we’re waiting for confirmation and it’s been confirmed.

Thanks to Jacob Pigott for sharing his photo with us this morning.

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Posted in JeffCo

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Vote for Bettola’s James Lewis – NOW!

Posted on March 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

James Lewis of Bettola. Courtesy of the restaurant's website.James Lewis of Bettola, a popular restaurant located at Pepper Place, is currently in first place, but the voting’s getting tight so he needs your help to keep him there.

He’s leading an impressive field of ten Gulf Coast chefs in Food & Wine’s The People’s Best New Chef online poll for that region.

Voting ends this evening (we’re assuming at midnight local time) so you probably want to head over there right now and make sure yours is counted. The official rules state that they’re only counting one vote per computer so you may need to tell a few of your friends about this. so James can make it to the next round – that’s when he’ll be going up against the winners from the other nine regional winners.

The overall winner of the poll will be featured in the July issue of Food & Wine.

Photo: Bettola’s James Lewis. Courtesy of the restaurant’s website.

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Posted in food

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Introducing Birmingham365

Posted on January 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

Birmingham365 logoThe latest attempt to launch an all-inclusive online events calendar in the City of Birmingham has quietly launched as we start a new year.

There are a few people that already knew about Birmingham365.org, a partnership between the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, the Birmingham Business Alliance and the city’s convention and visitors bureau, including those in attendance at last month’s BBA annual meeting, but the site was officially unveiled earlier this week.

It serves as a replacement for the Cultural Alliance’s ActiveCulture.info calendar (the old site’s URL redirects to the new one), with that organization serving as the site’s administrator. The site joins 31 others in the Artsopolis Network, a network that grew out of the development of the Arts Council of Silicon Valley’s website in California that is “dedicated to promoting Arts, Culture, and Entertainment in their communities.”

What are your first impressions of the new site?

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Posted in Art, Online

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Learn more about the Other Birmingham

Posted on January 3, 2011 | 3 comments

screenshot from "The Other Birmingham"A couple of years ago there were a couple of incidents involving folks from Birmingham, AL and the city we’re named after, Birmingham, UK, confusing the skylines of the two cities separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

There’s an online resource that should help keep that from happening again.

The Other Birmingham was created by Fiona Cullinan, who originally created the piece for her travel journalism blog as a one-off. She has since maintained the site, enabling her to accept additional submissions about similarities between the two cities as well as suggestions about what else should be covered. There’s been a lot looked at already, including that growing list of similarities…

By the way, there are several cities named Birmingham in the United States. They’re considerably smaller, like Birmingham, MO (population 214 according to the 2000 Census) and Birmingham, MI (pop. 19,291) to not even in existence anymore (e.g., Birmingham, KY).

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Posted in Travelogue

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We speak with a Lowland Southern dialect

Posted on December 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

dialect map screenshotYes, someone has created a map of North American English dialects, based on pronunciation patterns and it’s recently been updated.

It was developed by Rick Aschmann, a professional linguist and Christian missionary who grew up traveling back and forth between Mexico and the U.S.

The full map includes links to YouTube videos as well as audio clips of individuals thought to be representative of the specific area’s speech patterns.

Who are the folks used as examples for Birmingham, AL? There are three actually – U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus and retired Florida State University (and Woodlawn High School alum) Bobby Bowden (NOTE: the videos linked to are not necessarily the ones used by the site).

If you disagree with his findings, you can always contact him.

Screenshot of the North American Dialect map. Courtesy of website.

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Posted in Quirky

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United Way launches new online initiative

Posted on December 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

iamunited.org screenshotThe United Way of Central Alabama has launched a new online initiative inspired by the national organization’s long-running “Live United” campaign.

The new “I am United” website presents a new way for the UWCA to “promote opportunity and engagement among those who want to help” while leveraging Facebook accounts.

Visitors must log in using their Facebook account to fully engage with the site, allowing them to potentially cross-post ways they’re engaging in the community, earn badges to let others know about their level of participation and learn about volunteer opportunities via an events calendar. You’ll also be able to nominate “champions.”

It does not replace the organization’s official website, which currently reminds us that they reached their 2010 goal by raising more than $37.2 million. The organization has also re-branded their YouTube and Twitter profile accordingly.

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BigBham lends a hand to Jimmie Hale Mission this holiday

Posted on December 22, 2010 | 1 comment

Jimmie Hale Mission logoBigBham, a Birmingham, AL-based website and e-mail marketing company associated with BirminghamMenus.com, has found a way to spread the holiday spirit. They are asking their more than 15,000 subscribers to their emails to donate to the Jimmie Hale Mission.

The ask started on December 20 and will continue through tomorrow (Thursday) evening. BigBham owner Nate Schmidt has been quoted by news outlets about the project about how it came to be:

“We called the Jimmie Hale Mission and asked if they would let us run a ‘deal in reverse’, instead of getting an amazing deal this week, people can give one.”

The site kicked it off by purchasing 100 meals themselves. So far more than 1,500 meals have been purchased with 100% of all proceeds going to the nonprofit.

You’ve got until Thursday. Don’t forget you can give to Jimmie Hale Mission all year long.

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Posted in Take a moment

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