Atlanta Global
Monday, April 30, 2007
Eritrean Independence Day
Eritrean Independence Day is celebrated on May 24.
There is a public party at Milam Park in Clarkston - one of these weekends coming up. AG readers will be the first to know once we know.
Also, check out the International Expertise Directory. . .
Need someone who speaks Occitan? An expert on Uganda? Yeah, just GPC alone can hook you up.
If you're a part of the state university system, I think you can just call these people. ¶ 8:03 PM 0 comments
There is a public party at Milam Park in Clarkston - one of these weekends coming up. AG readers will be the first to know once we know.
Also, check out the International Expertise Directory. . .
Need someone who speaks Occitan? An expert on Uganda? Yeah, just GPC alone can hook you up.
If you're a part of the state university system, I think you can just call these people. ¶ 8:03 PM 0 comments
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Fiesta Atlanta = Fiesta Comercial?
The inaugural Fiesta Atlanta happens May 6 at Centennial Olympic Park.
It is scheduled to coincide, roughly, with Cinco de Mayo.
We've been seeing mad lots of advertisements about the FA -- the webpage has got a heavy dose of info about sponsors, a pitch to potential sponsors as an "about" section, and a prominent link to the Lanza Group, a PR (ie, advertising) company. In fact, "Fiesta Atlanta" is trademarked to Lanza. But we see no actual schedule of events or practical infos.
Do we smell an advertising blitz disguised as a fiesta? ¶ 7:59 PM 0 comments
It is scheduled to coincide, roughly, with Cinco de Mayo.
We've been seeing mad lots of advertisements about the FA -- the webpage has got a heavy dose of info about sponsors, a pitch to potential sponsors as an "about" section, and a prominent link to the Lanza Group, a PR (ie, advertising) company. In fact, "Fiesta Atlanta" is trademarked to Lanza. But we see no actual schedule of events or practical infos.
Do we smell an advertising blitz disguised as a fiesta? ¶ 7:59 PM 0 comments
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Shirley Frankin = Shinjuku Girl?
Cause she's in Tokyo.
Mayor Franklin is on a Japan - South Korea - Taiwan junket to drum up business between us and them.
Sez the official statement her goals are:
Leveraging Atlanta Sister City connections for economic development
Visiting with Asian companies that already have a presence in metro Atlanta
Meeting with prospects in Asia that could possibly expand to metro Atlanta
Promoting metro Atlanta as a global business center
Accompanying / sending / promoting her are the usual suspects including the Chamber of Commerce, GDEcD, Coca-Cola and all the big Atlanta companies.
"I expect this to be one of many trips mayors that follow me will make to Korea," Franklin is quoted in the AJC.
Why she singled out Korea is unclear since I can't see the context, but the AJC implies its because there are 100,000 Korean-Americans in the Metro, 4,000 of whom operate small businesses.
Anyway, the delegation returns April 30.
Mayor Franklin is on a Japan - South Korea - Taiwan junket to drum up business between us and them.
Sez the official statement her goals are:
Leveraging Atlanta Sister City connections for economic development
Visiting with Asian companies that already have a presence in metro Atlanta
Meeting with prospects in Asia that could possibly expand to metro Atlanta
Promoting metro Atlanta as a global business center
Accompanying / sending / promoting her are the usual suspects including the Chamber of Commerce, GDEcD, Coca-Cola and all the big Atlanta companies.
"I expect this to be one of many trips mayors that follow me will make to Korea," Franklin is quoted in the AJC.
Why she singled out Korea is unclear since I can't see the context, but the AJC implies its because there are 100,000 Korean-Americans in the Metro, 4,000 of whom operate small businesses.
Anyway, the delegation returns April 30.
A pic from Atlanta CoC showing Franklin and her delegation
at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in Tokyo Apr 26.
¶ 9:25 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The John Endicott Experience
Anyway, as we were thumbing through the list of consulates in Atlanta, we saw Dr. John Endicott's name -- he's honorary Consul of Mongolia in Atlanta! And I had only known him as prof; driver of non-proliferation efforts in Northeast Asia; founder and director of the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy; author; Nobel Peace Prize nominee; and most importantly, friend to students everywhere.
Thanks for my recommendation to NUS five years ago Dr. Endicott!! ¶ 9:06 PM 0 comments
Thanks for my recommendation to NUS five years ago Dr. Endicott!! ¶ 9:06 PM 0 comments
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Palestine: Peace not Apartheid
Friday, April 27
6:00 PM
The Middle East Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences of Georgia State University are pleased to present an evening with President Jimmy Carter; President Carter will discuss his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid; this event is free and open to the public; doors will open at 5:00 PM and will close promptly at 6:00 PM; no one will be allowed to enter the auditorium after the doors have closed; seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis; an overflow room will be available with a live, closed-circuit feed of the event for those not able to enter the auditorium; Speakers Auditorium, University Student Center, corner of Gilmer Street and Courtland Street (number 30 on the GSU campus map); for more information, please visit http://www.gsu.edu/mideast or call 404-651-4239. ¶ 10:01 PM 0 comments
6:00 PM
The Middle East Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences of Georgia State University are pleased to present an evening with President Jimmy Carter; President Carter will discuss his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid; this event is free and open to the public; doors will open at 5:00 PM and will close promptly at 6:00 PM; no one will be allowed to enter the auditorium after the doors have closed; seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis; an overflow room will be available with a live, closed-circuit feed of the event for those not able to enter the auditorium; Speakers Auditorium, University Student Center, corner of Gilmer Street and Courtland Street (number 30 on the GSU campus map); for more information, please visit http://www.gsu.edu/mideast or call 404-651-4239. ¶ 10:01 PM 0 comments
Friday, April 20, 2007
Know Your Scripts Atlanta!
Know Your Scripts Atlanta returns! 
¶ 9:30 PM 0 comments
Each time we bust this out, AG has an Atlanta-area picture of a non-English piece of writing and (attempt to) name the script and language.
This time:
Ethiopic script (pretty sure) -- Amharic language (we think). We've never tried Clarkston's Yeshi Mart or Dalmar's, but we do frequent Paramount Coffee and Books in Tucker and give it five stars. Good coffee, nice staff, quiet atmosphere, unshakable wi-fi and internet cafe too. They got a lot of business cards and brochures written in Amharic -- a locus of the community, I suppose.
Stump AG with your script?
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Atlanta Perishables Complex
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We get a lot of air cargo imported into Atlanta. By lots, I mean 746,500 metric tons in 2006.
Let us follow, say, a rose cut from a field in Colombia to your table.
Someone in Colombia picks the rose. She is probably a woman, probably low paid. Anyway, she does this first thing in the morning, hands the roses off at the office and they are driven to the airport at Cali.
Shipper files paperwork, puts the boxes of roses on a plane to Atlanta.
Plane lands. Roses get sent to Atlanta Perishables Complex at the airport where they are held pending USDA inspection and customs clearance. This may take hours. It may take a couple of days.
This is no regular warehouse. It is a giant refrigerator with different zones of coldness. The roses go in a room that is simply chilly -- to keep them fresh. Not all the way in the deep freeze with fishes and whatnot.
If the roses have bugs on them, APC has an incinerator to burn them. (To avoid getting billed for this pricey procedure _and_ losing out on their market, international flower growers coat their wares in pesticides. Cut flowers are about the most toxic thing in the grocery store after the cleaning chemicals.)
If we had been importing, say, a horse instead of roses, the beast would have been held at the Atlanta Quarantine Station. Its like a barn at the airport.
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PS, This month's African Dinner and a Movie is on Friday & Saturday: Yesterday. I mean...that's the name of the movie. Movie's free; dinner's $20.
Monday, April 16, 2007
China Consulate Non-Presence Fought
We've talked before about the rumors of a Chinese consulate opening up in Atlanta. Well, seems the Georgia-China Alliance is all for it.
In semi-related news, the Georgia Department of Economic Development is supposed to be opening its Beijing office sometime this summer.
It wouldn't surprise
¶ 9:00 PM 0 comments
The Georgia China Alliance is a grouping of business and government and academic peeps working to get the consulate built in ATL and to promote commerce between us
and them.
Their politics are clear. Headline for April 11: "Tariffs Screw Poor People"
and them.
Their politics are clear. Headline for April 11: "Tariffs Screw Poor People"
In semi-related news, the Georgia Department of Economic Development is supposed to be opening its Beijing office sometime this summer.
It wouldn't surprise us if we found out
the Georgia-China
Alliance is a little bit
of both.
Maybe even more of the latter?
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Know Your Scripts Atlanta!
Today is the debut of AG's new and wonderful occasional feature: Know Your Scripts Atlanta!
¶ 2:11 PM 0 comments
We present a pic taken in Atlanta metro of a non-English language writing and (attempt to) name it.
Today:
Traditional Chinese in green. Usually means Taiwan origin, or some other diaspora -- in this case, AG guesses a Vietnamese connection based on the text at the bottom.
Stump AG with your script?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Celebrate Latino Construction Workers in Duluth
Latin Construction Workers' Day is being celebrated this weekend, April 15. It is meant to coincide, roughly, with the May 3 Feast of the Holy Cross (Dia de la Santa Cruz) -- a holiday celebrated in Mexico as the "Day of the Masons" -- because it was masons (ie, construction workers) who helped St. (H)Elena uncover the true cross in Jerusalem. In Mexico, construction sites get decorated with crosses, then bosses (should!) throw picnics and have fireworks.
Sez the press kit, this is the first time Atlanta will be celebrating the Feast of the Holy Cross.
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Friday, April 06, 2007
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Further Russian Notes. . .
Someone is keeping a Livejournal on the Russian community in Atlanta. . . the Russophone community, anyway. It seems to be arts-related.
Alas, this movie was in February. If only we'd known about KSP Atlanta. Or could read it. ---->
RussianAtlanta.net would like to inform us of the upcoming concert by Aleksey Ivaschenko at Oglethorpe on April 24.
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In other news, bilingual Spanish/English speakers take note: the Latin American Association has an active job bank. Anybody can use it, but the employers are usually there to hunt for bilingualists.
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