People, Places and Things
GWEN DERU
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Catch up on the news!
**BAS at the Nick.
**EVERY THURSDAY HAPPY HOUR, 5:30 – 9 p.m. at the Kappa Komplex, 45 6th Avenue South.
**KARAOKE, 5-9 p.m. at Courtyard Alabaster Bar and Grill.
**TASTEMAKER THURSDAY – Every Thursday at Blaze Ultra Lounge, 228 Roebuck Plaza Drive, 8 p.m.- 12 a.m. with DJ Ace Twon (95.7 JAMZ) in the mix hosted by Audio Life and GMC Promo.
**THIRSTY THURSDAY at Hookah 114 17th Street No.
**THIRD THURSDAY BLUES JAM, 7 p.m. at True Story Brewing.
FRIDAY…
**FREE HOOKAH FRIDAYS at Blu Onyx, 10 p.m.
**QUE’S BAR & GRILL GROOVIN’ on 19th Street in Ensley.
**LIT FRIDAYS WITH RIPCORD, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. at 4501 Gary Avenue in Fairfield.
**VOCALIST DEIRDRE GADDIS BIRTHDAY BASH at Perfect Note.
**AFRO CARIBBEAN NIGHTS (Every Friday Night) at Ash’s on 2nd, 7 p.m. until with Reggae, Afro Beats, Dancehall and Top 40 Hits.
**EVERY THIRD FRIDAYS with DEIRDRE GADDIS at Perfect Note.
**LIT FRIDAYS WITH RIPCORD, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. at 4501 Gary Avenue in Fairfield.
**THINK SANITY, THINK SAFELY Album Release featuring GOOD DEEDS GONE & PINK T at the Nick.
SATURDAY…
**NEW EDITION: THE CULTURE TOUR at the BJCC.
**SATURDAYS IN THE GARDENS at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.
**WINE DOWN HAPPY HOUR, 4 p.m.- 9 p.m. at Saferoom Lounge Bar.
**MS. JOHNNIE AND THE JAMMERS Live After Five, 7-10 p.m. at Bistro on 19th located at 109 19th St. N., Bessemer. EVERY 2nd and 4th SATURDAY!!
**TRIBUTE TO BOBBY BROWN and JOHNNY GILL featuring TONY TATUM at Perfect Note.
**SOLD OUT SATURDAYS at the Blu Onyx Every Saturday.
**CIROC SATURDAYS at Blu Onyx.
**THE PINX with THE BOHANNONS, RYAN SOBB and THE DEAD MALL at The Nick.
SUNDAY…
**WORSHIP AT THE SIXTH, 9:30 a.m. at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church.
**WOODLAWN STREET MARKET, 12 p.m. at Woodlawn Street Market.
**BIZZARE BOWL – Pre-Super Bowl Men’s Pop Up Shop12 – 4 p.m. at Bizarre on 22nd Street, North.
**HAPPY HOUR FREE SHOW with TIM BYRD, 5- 7 p.m. at The Nick.
**P.M. TIGER w/AUDIOPHILE & THE MUMMY CATS at The Nick.
**2 SEXY SUNDAY at the Blu Onyx, 8- 12 p.m.
MONDAY…
**EVERY MONDAY is MONSLAYYY – THE CARIBBEAN WAY, 8 p.m. at the Vault with TRINI and BRENT TRINI-FRESH PIERRE. FREE.
**BIRMINGHAM BANDSTAND (Open Mic) at The Nick.
TUESDAY…
**INDUSTRY NIGHT TUESDAY at Blu Onyx, 8 p.m.
**EVERY TUESDAY – TRUE STORY BREWING PRESENTS TUESDAY JAZZ SESSIONS, 7- 10 p.m., 5510 Crestwood Blvd.
**TASTY TUESDAYS at Platinum of Birmingham.
**EVERY TUESDAY LIT AND JAZZ with DAVID TALLEY AND FRIENDS, 7 p.m. at Lit on 8th, 518 Rev. Abraham Woods Blvd.
**TROY BENNETT’S GRAVEYARD LIPS, TOWARD SPACE AND REBECCA EGELAND at the Nick.
WEDNESDAY…
**INTERFAITH NOONDAY PRAYER SERVICES every Wednesday, Noon at Linn Park in Downtown Birmingham.
**WEDNESDAYS WEEKLY JAZZ JAM, 7- 10 p.m. at True Story Brewing Company, 5510 Crestwood Blvd. Food until 9 p.m. Music until 10 p.m. and Drink until 11 p.m.
**OPEN BAR WEDNESDAY, 8 p.m. at Blu Onyx.
**STEVIE TOMBSTONE w/ JW TELLER at The Nick.
NEXT THURSDAY…
**READ THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES. Catch up on the news!
**THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUTS with Live Females at the Blu Onyx.
**MATT WALDEN with NICK BLACK at the Nick.
NEXT FRIDAY…
**QUE’S BAR & GRILL GROOVIN’ on 19th Street in Ensley.
**LIT FRIDAYS WITH RIPCORD, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. at 4501 Gary Avenue in Fairfield.
**ALMA RUSS with HEATHER & HAY AND KAYDEE MULVEHILL at the Nick.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH…
**CANVAS 4 A CAUSE Paint Party Fundraiser, Friday, 6:30 p.m.at Encore Theatre and Gallery.
**THE 1619 PROJECT, Sunday, 3-5 p.m. at Arlington Historic House exploring what the document means and how slavery has shaped the development of the United States with Clarence Muhammad and featuring guest facilitator.
**THE EMANCIPATION OF THE BLACK ENTREPRENEUR, Tuesday,12 p.m. at the Harbert Center is a panel discussion moderated by Natasha L. Rogers with Dr. MIA COWAN, KELVIN W. HOWARD, ESQ., and LYORD WATSON.
…IN MONTGOMERY…
(Photo: Gladys Knight) (Provided)
**GLADYS KNIGHT, Friday, 7:30 p.m. at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center.
…AT THE CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE…
**TODAY – Don’t Oppress My Health – An Examination into Median Discrimination, 12 p.m. with DR. AMEENAH SHAKIR, MS. HASSANATU BLAKE, DR. DAVID B. HICKS and DR. NADIA RICHARDSON.
**FEBRUARY 21 – Teaching Black Women’s Self Care During Jim Crow, 12 p.m. with DR. KIMBERLY BROWN PELLUM.
**FEBRUARY 28 – Pause to Pose: Yoga for Mindfulness, 12 p.m.
**GRANTS FOR 4TH GRADE FIELD TRIPS AT BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS NATIONAL MONUMENT – Local students now have more access to educational programs at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, thanks to a new grant from the National Park Foundation. The $20,000 grant will help 1,500 local students have better access to the park, including covering costs of transportation, instructional materials for classrooms and adding staff to lead programs. The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is launching new educational programming, and this grant will help. The grant is part of the “Open OutDoors for Kids” program and works in conjunction with the national park program that gives 4th graders free access to parks across the country. The Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument is affiliated with seven locations that played instrumental roles in the civil rights movement: A.G. Gaston Motel, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Kelly Ingram Park, The Masonic Temple Building, 16th St. Baptist Church, St. Paul United Methodist Church, and The Historic Bethel Baptist Church. All the locations, as well as the City of Birmingham, have partnered to make this grant a reality, taking lessons of civil rights beyond the classroom. Contact Kathryn Gardiner, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Park Ranger, at
kathryn_ gardiner@nps.gov or (205) 568-3963 for more info.
**SIDEWALK’S BLACK LENS FILM WEEK…
THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY, every week in February, the Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema is home to the Black Lens – a film track that aims to shine a light on some of the most outstanding feature narrative and documentary films produced by and starring people of color. BLFW is programmed by T. MARIE KING and host committee, CELESTIA MORGAN, FORTE, JASON AVERY, PATRICK JOHNSON, JASMINE SHAW, SONYA MITCHELL and JAMES WILLIAMS. Go tobcri@bcri.org for more.
AT THE WORLD GAMES 2022… (Keeping it right here!!! Look for more!)
The World Games is bringing greatness to The Magic City!
**NEWSWEEK NAMES THE WORLD GAMES ONE OF 22 GREAT THINGS IN 2022…The World Games Birmingham was named one of the 22 Great Things that will take place in 2022.
**CONDE NAST TRAVELER NAMES BIRMINGHAM ONE OF THE 22 BEST PLACES TO GO IN 2022 partially because the City is hosting The World Games 2022.
**THE WORLD GAMES 2022 BIRMINGHAM takes place from Thursday, July 7 to Sunday, July 17. This will be the 40th Anniversary of the event. There will be more than 100 countries, 3,600 athletes that will compete for gold in 34 unique, multi-disciplinary sports that include artistic sports, Bali sports, Martial Arts, precision sports, strength sports and trend sports. Tickets are available. Go to www.Twg2022.com for more.
FOR OUTDOORS LOVERS…
**TUESDAY WEEKDAY HIKE – Meet at 9:45 a.m. with Southeastern Outings Moderate Weekday Hike at Pinhoti Trail from Bulls Gap to White Gap near Sylacauga – DETAILS: The hike is an hour’s drive from meeting place in Shelby County to the Bull’s Gap trailhead at the southern part of Section 4 on the Pinhoti Trail where the trail crosses AL Highway 148 with scenic wonders to follow. The hike would be two miles each way up and over the High Point Rock Overlook which is a bunch of rocks with a nice view to the west. Then hike down to White Gap heading south and west on Section 3 of the Pinhoti Trail. The total hike is along the ridge top with nice views the entire way. Estimated total hike distance is four miles. Hike rated moderate. Optional dinner after the hike is concluded. Meet 9:45 a.m. at the Publix Super Market in Lee Branch. Depart at 10 a.m. Arrive at the trailhead about 11:15 a.m. Lunch will be about 1 p.m. at the High Point Rock Overlook. Then hike further on to White Gap. At about 2 p.m. begin hike back to the start point at Bulls Gap. Those hikers not staying for dinner can expect to arrive back at the Publix at Lee Branch about 5 p.m. Reservations Required: Please email Francis Rushton, 843-441-3368 if you plan to attend. Information and Trip Leader: Francis E. Rushton, 843-441-3368 (Cell), 205-290-5557 (Home).
**THURSDAY WEEKDAY HIKE – Meet at 9:45 a.m. Leisurely Weekday Hike at Oak Mountain State Park – DETAILS: Meet at 9:45 a.m. in the last Oak Mountain Park parking lot on the right side of Terrace Drive just before the road begins to go up to Peavine Falls. This is a different parking lot from where we always park for our second Sunday hikes in Oak Mountain State Park. The parking lot is very large. It is AFTER you pass by the park office and beach parking and playground lots and is directly across the road from a large, grassy field on the left. There is a long building with four restrooms in it on the far side of this parking lot, between our meeting parking lot and Oak Mountain Lake. Plan to begin hike from that parking lot at 10 a.m. Bring $5/person ($2 seniors) park admission fee plus your picnic lunch and drink. Info. and trip leader: Bonnie Black, 205-994-5434.
FOR ART LOVERS …
AT SPACE ONE ELEVEN…
**Space One Eleven is hosting a series of four group exhibitions featuring artists who have shown or taught during Space One Eleven’s history. The exhibiting artists for CONTINUITY, the third exhibition in the series are James Alexander, Billy Brown, Annie Kammerer Butrus, Christ Clark, Margot Cooney, Tim Denny, Patty B. Driscoll, Truman Grayson, Sydney Harrington, Bria Lewis, Jane Marshall, Kim Riegel, Amasa Smith, Anne Stagg and Jurgen Tarrasch. The Fourth exhibition in the series is scheduled for fall, 2022. Exhibition is in the Anne Arrasmith Gallery at Space One Eleven, downtown 2407 Second Avenue North.
IN TUSCALOOSA…At THE PAUL R. JONES GALLERY…
**BLOODLINES through February 22, at 2308 6th Street, 35401. For more info, call 205-345-3038.
VIDEO: Robot Dog SPOT Is The Latest Recruit At Florida Police Department
By Peter Barker
SPOT, a robotic K9, has joined the police force in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“SPOT is a remote-control robotic dog that can climb stairs, open doorknobs and move over rough or uneven terrain,” the St. Petersburg Police Department said in a message it posted along with images of SPOT on social media.
“It can be used in extraordinary situations that involve a threat to human life and/or risk for First Responders, including active shooter response, hostage situations, search and rescue in an unstable building, exposure to biological or chemical hazards, mass casualty incidents and natural disasters,” the police department said.
The Speer Foundation, created by a St Petersburg family, which includes the local owners of Realty ONE Group Sunshine, provided the funds to purchase SPOT.
The St. Petersburg Police Department said the robotic dog would be used to “deescalate intense situations or stand-offs, avoid use of force or any situation putting an officer or the suspect at risk with gunfire.”
SPOT, which will be deployed under the supervision of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, “has a camera so that the operator can ‘see’ what’s in front of SPOT and control its movements from a safe distance,” the police statement said.
SPOT also “has an intercom, allowing the operator to speak with and hear a person involved in a high-risk situation. This would be especially useful in situations where a suspect is barricaded in a building or is holding hostages.”
In the video shared by the police department, the black-and-yellow SPOT is seen moving along with a regular police dog and an officer. He climbs stairs, opens doors and seems to have a friendly relationship with his handler and fellow police dog.
The robotic dog can’t bite and doesn’t carry weapons that can harm people or animals. But it would be available for fire and rescue situations where it’s unsafe to deploy fire department personnel.
The police department in Hawaii reportedly spent about $150,000 in federal pandemic relief money to buy its robotic police dog from Boston Dynamics for use at a government-run tent city near the airport.
That raised anger among civil liberties groups. “Because these people are houseless it’s considered OK to do that,” Jongwook Kim, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, said. “At some point it will come out again for some different use after the pandemic is over.”
As for the new member of the St. Petersburg Police Department: “SPOT will not be used for crowd control, routine police calls, surveillance or intelligence-gathering outside of an identified high-risk situation, traffic control or any action to intimidate or coerce any person not involved in a high-risk incident,” police said.
Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler
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AI-powered Platform Improves Construction-Site Accuracy
By Brian Blum
Pity the poor contractor. In 98 percent of large building projects, logistical challenges result in cost overruns of more than 30 percent.
Moreover, 77 percent of new construction projects are completed at least 40 percent late. Construction errors and risk mitigation costs contribute 10 percent to 30 percent to this figure.
What’s an earnest contractor to do?
Tel Aviv-based startup SiteAware, which just raised a $15 million Series B financing round, offers an AI-powered Digital Construction Verification (DCV) platform that creates a “digital twin” of a building under construction.
Every stage of new construction — core, shell or interior — is documented using drones, on-site cameras or people on the ground.
The images are uploaded to the SiteAware cloud, which automatically compares the images of actual work done so far against its digital twin.
SiteAware’s software superimposes digital models from consecutive scans to compare with uploaded design documents. The company’s artificial-intelligence algorithms have been trained on over 100,000 database elements.
Any construction errors spotted are brought to the attention of contractors and project managers with actionable insights in real time. SiteAware is building a database of element-by-element construction data that can be further used to power its digital comparison engine.
“Construction errors and the resulting need for rework are an ever-increasing problem,” says SiteAware CEO Zeev Braude, citing “the complexity inherent in today’s building processes.”
Braude founded SiteAware in 2015 after serving as the CEO of GreenRoad, which also helps prevent accidents and errors by tracking user behavior, but in driving rather than construction. The company’s original name, Dronomy, emphasized the drone imagery component of the SiteAware solution.
Smart and safe
“In construction work it’s not always possible to repair mistakes. To correct them at the end of the project costs a lot of money,” Braude told the Israeli business publication, Globes. “Mistakes in building can lead to losing space or problems in the frame or leaks inside the building, which cause damage worth tens of millions of dollars.”
SiteAware’s insights include verifying the layout and workmanship of the project as well as providing details on the installation of masonry, waterproofing, siding elements and sealants.
The SiteAware platform also helps keep construction costs down and limits exposure to unforeseen construction, insurance and liability risks.
SiteAware has raised $30 million to date, including the round completed in January. Its R&D is based in Israel, while a Houston office handles sales and marketing. Paying customers include Hines, Trammell Crow Company, Whiting Turner and the Ryan Companies.
SiteAware is one of the growing number of construction-tech companies in Israel and around the world. London-based SenSat also creates models of building projects as do Microsoft’s Azure Digital Twins and Project Bonsai initiatives.
Other competing companies in the construction space include HoloBuilder, Buildots and OpenSpace.
Nevertheless, Emmanuel Timor, a general partner at Vertex, the VC fund that led the latest round, said SiteAware’s DCV is “a game changer … blazing a trail for the entire construction industry to follow.”
Produced in association with ISRAEL21c.
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Archeologists Ask: Ceramic Pot Or Portable Toilet?
Parasite eggs found in ancient ceramics are helping archeologists identify chamber pots used by Romans centuries ago.
Pots and ceramic containers left by Romans have been found at sites throughout what was once an empire that stretched from the British Isles to North Africa and the Middle East. Until now, experts were stumped by the crusty residue found in some of these pots.
“Conical pots of this type have been recognized quite widely in the Roman Empire, and in the absence of other evidence, they have often been called storage jars,” said Roger Wilson, one of the authors of a study on the pots appearing in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
“The discovery of many [of these pots] in or near public latrines had led to a suggestion that they might have been used as chamber pots, but until now, proof has been lacking,” said Wilson, who is also a professor at the University of British Columbia. Wilson headed the Gerace archeological dig in Sicily where the pot was found.
The team was the first to identify parasite eggs in concretions, or hardened sediment, within a Roman ceramic vessel, confirming that the Gerace pot once contained human feces.
At Cambridge University, experts took a look at some of the crusty residue inside a ceramic vessel from an ancient villa in Sicily. Dating the material in it to the 5th century, they identified microscopic eggs of whipworm — Trichuris trichiura, a common roundworm parasite — confirming that Romans had defecated there.
“It was incredibly exciting to find the eggs of these parasitic worms 1,500 years after they’d been deposited,” said study co-author Tianyi Wang of the Ancient Parasites Lab at Cambridge University.
“This pot came from the baths complex of a Roman villa,” said Piers Mitchell, another co-author working with the parasite lab. “Those visiting the baths would have used this chamber pot when they wanted to go to the toilet, as the baths lacked a built latrine of [their] own. Clearly, convenience was important to them.”
Adult whipworms measure about two inches in length and are found in human intestinal walls, absorbing food. The thousands of eggs they release get mixed in with human fecal matter and deposited in chamber pots. When the pots are used repeatedly, minerals from the urine and feces spewed there become built up as concretions on the inner surface of the pots.
“We found that the parasite eggs became entrapped within the layers of minerals that formed on the pot surface… preserving them for centuries,” said lead author Sophie Rabinow, also of Cambridge. The Gerace chamber pot measured about 15 inches high with a diameter of about 16 inches and was probably set beneath a wicker or wooden chair.
Ceramics are commonly found at Roman sites, and the new technique offers a unique tool for identifying those used as chamber pots, thereby distinguishing them from those used for other purposes, such as food storage.
“Where Roman pots in museums are noted to have these mineralized concretions inside the base, they can now be sampled using our technique to see if they were also used as chamber pots,” said Mitchell.
However, the new technique works only if at least one of the users of the chamber pot harbored parasites. Whipworms and similar nasties infect about 24 percent of humanity, contributing to malnutrition and poor health, according to the World Health Organization. If ancient Romans were equally affected, then it is likely that the new technique will identify even more ceramic vessels as chamber pots.
Finding parasite eggs in ancient feces may lead to a better understanding of our forebears’ diets and diseases, according to the study. For example, archeologists determined last year that soil samples found in a 7th-century B.C. villa near Jerusalem bore eggs from four different parasitic species: roundworms, pinworms, whipworms and beef/pork tapeworms. The archeological discoveries indicated that ancient Israelis may have eaten pork, despite kosher dietary restrictions, about 2,700 years ago.
Discovered in 1994, the Gerace site in Sicily has been the subject of some six archeological campaigns, which uncovered a modest villa with mosaic floors and a detached bath house. Based on a mosaic found in the bath house, the villa in question is known as “the estate of the Philippiani.” Following damage caused by earth tremors some time in the late 5th century, anything useful was removed, and the baths were covered up. The pot in question was discovered in 2019, as part of the fill-in.
Edited by Siân Speakman and Kristen Butler
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Henry Irby: From Parker High School to Chief of Embattled Police Dept. in Brookside
