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Amazon Kindle Fire
A great platform for casual video playback. A perfectly fine Android 2.3 app device. A price that pleads "buy me," repeatedly, until you crack a big grin, and give in like a good-natured father buying trinkets for the kids at Wal-Mart.
Small screen size and insufficient processing power. Crap browser performance. Near useless as a magazine reader, and roundly trumped by superb e-ink Kindles as a book reader.
How We Rate
- 1/10A complete failure in every way
- 2/10Sad, really
- 3/10Serious flaws; proceed with caution
- 4/10Downsides outweigh upsides
- 5/10Recommended with reservations
- 6/10Solid with some issues
- 7/10Very good, but not quite great
- 8/10Excellent, with room to kvetch
- 9/10Nearly flawless
- 10/10Metaphysical perfection
When all those people who pre-ordered the Kindle Fire receive their tablets in the mail this week, they will rip open their new toy's bespoke cardboard packaging — it looks nothing like a typical Amazon shipping box — and be greeted by a playful home screen that comes personalized with their very own name.
These lucky few will bask in early adopter bliss. They will issue themselves hearty high-fives for having the foresight to purchase the year's hottest gadget, sight unseen. And then they will marvel at a device that really does bring something fresh and clever to the tablet space — namely, an insanely low price.
The Fire is a fiendishly effective shopping portal in the guise of a 7-inch slate.
But everything I describe above accounts for just the first five minutes of Kindle Fire use. The Fire isn't a dud, but its real-world performance and utility match neither the benchmarks of public expectation, nor the standards set by the world's best tablets.
The Fire's 7-inch, 1024×600 screen is too small for many key tablet activities. The Fire's processor, a 1GHz dual-core chip, appears all but insufficient for fluid, silky-smooth web browsing, an area where I found performance to be preternaturally slow. And unlike most of its tablet competitors, the Fire lacks a camera, 3G data connectivity, and a slot for removable storage.
As an assembly of physical components, the Fire lives at the bottom of the tablet food chain — and this limits what the Fire can actually do as a piece of mobile hardware. But all those consumers who pre-ordered the Fire knew this going in, right?
Hardware, Schmardware — Let's Sell Some Content
The business press has celebrated the $200 Kindle Fire as an iPad killer — a loss-leading product that's been priced to lure away potential iPad customers, with Amazon making back all its money (and then some) by selling untold petabytes of content from its own digital storefront. In effect: Amazon may not make margins on the tablet itself, but the Fire will catapult the company's digital sales sky-high, and lob a Nelson Muntzian "Ha-hah!" directly in the face of Apple.
But that's a business story. And it's a story that may have left some consumers confused. The press has lauded Amazon's strategy to goose digital sales, but the accolades shouldn't have been interpreted as explicit endorsements of, well, a device that people might actually want to use in the real world.
I've been testing a Kindle Fire loaner unit for the last five days, and I'm impressed by how it elegantly repackages and streamlines every phase of the familiar Amazon purchasing experience. Indeed, the Fire is a fiendishly effective shopping portal in the guise of a 7-inch slate. It's also a winning video playback device that uses Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon's own digital storefront to deliver hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows, many of them free.
And, yes, the Fire is pretty good bargain for anyone who's only comfortable with cautious toe-dipping in our presently murky (and expensive) tablet waters. At $200, the Fire crosses an impulse-buy threshold — albeit a steep one — that Apple's $500 entry-level iPad 2 can't even approach.
All these enticing features are topped off by a free one-month subscription to Amazon Prime, the company's premium membership service. Prime provides free two-day shipping on all physical deliveries, free access to some 13,000 streaming videos, and free access to Amazon's Kindle Owners Lending Library. This library lets you borrow e-books from a selection of more than 5,000 titles, including 100-plus current and former New York Times bestsellers — one e-book at a time, and one borrow per month, but with no pesky due dates.
In total, Prime alone would seem to justify a Kindle Fire purchase — if not for the fact that the service is open to all Amazon customers for just $79 a year. This means one month of free Amazon Prime access is just a $6.58 value-add for anyone who buys the Kindle Fire.
All of which leads us back to what the Fire can actually do as a day-in, day-out mobile workhorse. Is it tablet that people will grab again and again for web browsing, book and magazine reading, casual gaming, and more?
No. It's not that kind of tablet.
The User Interface: Let's Start Buying Stuff!
The Fire's home screen reskins the Android 2.3 user interface with a whimsical bookshelf metaphor. The uppermost bookshelf is home to the Fire's so-called Carousel, a zippy, animated view of recently accessed apps, e-books, videos, magazines, music tracks, and even web pages. Below that you'll find a series of smaller bookshelves to store your favorite pieces of content.
The overall home screen conceit is a design win. Similar to the "cover flow" view in various Apple music apps, the Carousel let's you scroll through colorful, animated thumbnails of a wide variety of content items, adding much-needed user-interface sass to a tablet market that can't seem to shake the "uniform icons on a static grid" metaphor.
Rife with icons for all sorts of media types, the Carousel also reminds us that, at its heart, the Kindle Fire is a media-consumption device. This point is further emphasized by seven simple menu items at the top of the home screen: Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps and Web.
Seven simple menu items. The brevity of this navigation system is almost comforting. You need not stumble around for clues to divine the Kindle Fire's intentions. In seven simple words, you're told exactly what the tablet stands for: consuming — and ultimately buying — digital media.
The problem for Amazon, however, is that not all types of digital media sing on the Kindle Fire.
Concerned? Walk with me, then. Join me on a tour of the Fire's key menu items. We'll discover a wide spectrum of execution, ranging from triumphs to stumbles to out-right failures.
Newsstand: A Failed Attempt at Digital Downsizing
This is your virtual bookshelf for any digital magazine you've downloaded. It's also where you purchase single copies and subscriptions of some 400 different full-color periodicals — digitized versions of glossy print fare as celebrated as Newsweek and National Geographic, and as obscure as Russian Life and Philosophy Now. Amazon is making a big push to promote the Fire as a magazine-reading platform, an initiative underlined by a deal that delivers free, three-month subscriptions of 17 different Conde Nast magazines (including Wired) to Fire customers who act before March 1, 2012.
But there's a problem: The Fire doesn't offer a comfortable magazine reading experience.
The Fire's processor appears ill-prepared to quickly redraw visually intense digital magazine pages. Swiping from page to page occurs in disorienting stutter-steps, making any semblance of 'reading' a chore.
Pixel for pixel, the tablet's 1024×600 display actually delivers quite nice image quality. Swaddled in ultra-protective Gorilla Glass, the display uses in-plane switching (IPS) technology to deliver a bright, appropriately saturated screen image with solid off-axis viewing (meaning you can still see what's on screen when looking at the display from an exaggerated angle).
Unfortunately, though, the screen isn't adequately proportioned for magazine content.
Most real-world print magazines boast a per-page trim size in the neighborhood of 8.5×11 inches, and this doesn't scale well to the Fire's 3.5×6-inch screen. As a result, magazine pages — even when oriented one-up in portrait mode — are rendered illegibly small.
Yes, you can pinch out to view bigger text, and you can tap a "Text View" button to squeeze the magazine content into a format that reveals only words and key images. But is this really magazine reading? No, it doesn't even approach that leisurely, "I'll graze at my own pace" experience.
Worse yet, the Fire's processor appears ill-prepared to quickly redraw visually intense digital magazine pages. Swiping from page to page occurs in disorienting stutter-steps, making any semblance of "reading" a chore.
It actually makes much more sense to read magazine content via the RSS feeds of the magazines' companion websites — because, yes, almost all monthly print content eventually ends up online.
Books: Nothing to LCD Here, Folks
Amazon has built its Kindle hardware brand on the elegant delivery of e-books. And with more than 1 million titles in its digital book store — including some 800,000 e-books that cost less than $10 — the Fire owner will never want for downloads.
Add in all those New York Times bestsellers you can borrow from the Kindle Owners Lending Library, and the Fire would seem to present a compelling story as an e-reader. After all, says Amazon, the Fire has the e-book capabilities of a cheaper Kindle, as well as video playback, casual gaming, web browsing, and so much more.
There's just one problem: Because cheaper Kindle models that feature e-ink screen technology are so much better suited to marathon reading sessions, I can't imagine ever using the Fire to, say, knock out 200-plus pages of George R.R. Martin on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
E-ink screens look pretty much like normal paper. They render grayscale images via reflected light, which is much kinder to the human eye than the glaring, rod-and-cone-frying projected light of back-lit LCD displays. We all have different tolerances, of course, but I just don't like reading long-form content on LCDs, and I can't imagine using the Fire as my primary e-reader.
E-ink is also much, much easier to read in direct sunlight. And e-ink screens consume very little battery power. And Amazon's e-ink Kindles (which we also reviewed) are markedly thin and light, and even come with free 3G data connectivity so you can download content with abandon when Wi-Fi is unavailable. The Fire, as we know, offers no 3G option.
The upshot is the Fire is not the Kindle version for someone who primarily wants to explore the wonders of e-books — well, at least not traditional e-books that focus on long-form prose.
With the introduction of the Fire and its vibrant color screen, Amazon has begun selling children's e-books, graphic novels and comic books (see the photo above). These titles come with Fire-specific features that let you zoom in on text in kids books, and simultaneously isolate and enlarge individual panels in graphic novels and comics.
It all sounds good in theory, but the Kindle's 7-inch screen is still too small for any semblance of an immersive reading experience — even if that reading experience mostly involves looking at pictures.
Video: The Fire's Very Best Feature
For every sin it commits as a reading device, the Fire atones with a good deed in video playback. The Fire's wide-aspect-ratio video content plays in a 7-inch window. While this window isn't 720p (and therefore not true HD), it still holds up well to the 720p windows of the 9.7-inch iPad (9 inches at 720p) and all those 10.1-inch Android 3.0 tablets (9.75 inches at 720p).
While I experienced various performance problems throughout much of my Kindle Fire testing (the most egregious examples are outlined when we get to the web browser), video playback was blissfully uneventful as far as framerate hiccups.
Amazon has dug its hooks into sundry video content sources, and this is where the Fire shines brightest: For $200 you get a perfectly serviceable video player that can stream video from three key, big-name sources.
Likewise, in terms of video noise and compression artifacts, the quality of all the content I streamed and downloaded from Amazon's store was serviceable to good. It's not Blu-ray-caliber, of course, but we're talking about a 7-inch video window, so how good does it really need to be? The trade-off in video size and quality is fair considering the Fire's imminent portability. You can take this tablet almost anywhere, and enjoy a good flick.
Amazon has dug its hooks into sundry video content sources, and this is where the Fire shines brightest: For $200 you get a perfectly serviceable video player that can stream video from three key, big-name sources.
First, Amazon's own store offers more than 100,000 TV shows and movies, some 13,000 of which are available for free via one's Prime subscription. Moreover, an Amazon rep shared in an e-mail, "We've already committed hundreds of millions of dollars to license content for this program, and we're going to be adding a lot more content in the coming months."
Second, via a soon-to-be-released Netflix app, you'll be able to stream all the "watch instantly" TV and movie content that's made freely available via your Netflix membership. And, third, via the Hulu Plus app (also announced, but not yet released), you'll be able to stream thousands of TV episodes from big-name networks such as ABC, NBC, The CW, FOX, Comedy Central, and more.
It all adds up to fantastic wealth of video options — assuming the Netflix and Hulu Plus apps appear as promised.
While Apple doesn't provide hard numbers on how many movies and TV shows are available for purchase, rental and free streaming from iTunes, my own anecdotal survey indicates Amazon matches up well to iTunes for everything from blockbusters to indie cult favorites. I searched for more than 25 movies and TV shows ranging from obscure to de rigueur, and Amazon only fell short of iTunes one time: I was unable to locate Henri-Georges Clouzot's Wages of Fear.
Just be aware of the Fire's storage limitations when buying video content. Total internal storage is only 8GB, and just 6GB of that is available for storing downloaded content. Yes, Fire owners are afforded unlimited Amazon Cloud storage for anything and everything they might buy via the Amazon store — that includes music, books, and, of course, video. But you can't access the cloud if you're not on Wi-Fi, as the Fire doesn't include 3G support.
Bottom line: Manage your video library carefully before you enter a Wi-Fi dead zone.
Apps: This Is an Android Tablet, After All
It may be skinned in a pretty wrapper, but the Fire is still an Android device, and therefore has the software underpinning to run practically all the apps earmarked for Google's mobile OS.
Well, that's true in theory, but not in practice, as this tablet relies exclusively on Amazon's Appstore For Android, which offers a vastly smaller (albeit qualified) subset of the 350,000-plus apps available in Android Market. According to Amazon, just "several thousand" Android apps will be available for download on the Fire when the tablet launches this week.
I wouldn't worry about the smaller library. Most Android apps are crapware, and Fire owners will probably be grateful that Amazon is minding quality control.
Fire up Amazon Shop, and you'll be ushered to a 3.5×6-inch storefront that collapses Amazon's desktop shopping experience into a touch-control dream.
Regardless, Amazon is working diligently to prop up the Fire with a strong selection of high-profile apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, ESPN SportsCenter, Facebook, Pandora, Rhapsody, and every Angry Birds variant a bird-hucking fool could ever want. The most noteworthy app, however, is Amazon Shop.
Fire up Amazon Shop, and you'll be ushered to a 3.5×6-inch storefront that collapses Amazon's desktop shopping experience into a touch-control dream. A welcoming search field at the top of screen beckons you to window shop, and once you find an item of interest, you can quickly tap through Photos, Details and Reviews via a contextual menu.
Just mind where your fingers land if you've signed up for 1-click purchasing. If you're not careful, you'll soon find yourself underwater in credit-card debt like a real-world Nicki Grant (too soon for a Big Love reference?). Indeed, the Fire really is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the financially compromised.
As far as performance, all the apps I tested worked fine on Amazon's hardware — as well they should have, because not only have they been pre-approved by Amazon, they were also designed for Android smartphones, which (theoretically) boast less processing power.
Web: Is This Thing On?
Despite all claims from Amazon that its Silk browser technology would bring sublime web-surfing performance to the Fire's desktop, I found the tablet's overall web experience to be quite ratty.
Silk is designed to split the workload of all the processing and data-fetching intrinsic to web browsing — some of it is handled by the Fire itself, and some of it is executed in the cloud. As Amazon reports on its website, "With each page request, Silk dynamically determines a division of labor between the mobile hardware and the [Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud] that takes into consideration factors like network conditions, page complexity and the location of any cached content."
Pretty much all text must be tapped into a magnified view, and that's a telling indicator of why so many people avoided 7-inch tablets the first time they were floated to the public last year: They suck for web browsing.
Sounds great in theory, but throughout my five days of testing, I found that total web page load times took anywhere from 100 to 300 percent longer on the Fire relative to an iPad 2.
And, yes, I made every effort to mitigate testing variables. Machines were restarted, caches were cleared, unused browser tabs were killed, and more. I even tested both tablets just two feet away from my WiFi access point to reduce signal strength as a variable.
Besides poor load times, the Fire's browser lurches in fits and starts when swiping through already loaded web pages. And sometimes the browser doesn't react to touch gestures at all, requiring that oh-so-annoying second tap or swipe instead. Pinching in and out of magnified views is also a test of one's loyalty — this action looks like choppy stop-motion video on the Fire, whereas on the iPad 2, it's fluid and seamless.
The Fire's processor is a 1GHz dual-core chip, just like the iPad 2's. And just like the iPad 2, the Fire comes with 512MB of system memory. So clearly something is amiss in Amazon's tablet. It could be a shortcoming intrinsic to the core architecture of the Fire's chip. It could be a software optimization issue. Regardless, the Fire's web browsing experience is emotionally draining. It makes you work for your page view, and that's a user-experience fail.
What's worse, even when your web page has loaded, it's still too small to really appreciate on the 7-inch screen. Pretty much all text must be tapped into a magnified view, and that's a telling indicator of why so many people avoided 7-inch tablets the first time they were floated to the public last year: They suck for web browsing. And that's a problem because web browsing is a key tablet responsibility.
Besides the features I already described, the Fire also has main menu items for Music and Docs. Neither feature deserves much discussion.
Music hooks into Amazon's awesome, exhaustively well-stocked library of audio tracks and albums. You can buy music right on the Fire, and access it anywhere you like, care of Amazon's cloud storage. But is a 7-inch tablet a convenient portable music player? No, our smartphones and iPods own this function. Case closed.
As for Docs, it's a simple container for image, text, and PDF files that you've uploaded to the documents section of your Kindle Library. Huzzah. More than anything, it seems like the user interface designers at Amazon wanted to fill a hole in the Fire's main menu, so they added Docs as a placeholder.
At the end of the day, the Fire must be judged by how well it executes in terms of its Newsstand, Books, Video, Apps and Web features. It does nothing very well, save video playback, running various Android apps, and making the business of Amazon shopping alarmingly fun and easy.
If you already have $200 in your high-tech hardware slush fund, and you're not willing to splurge one cent more, I suggest you wait longer before pulling the trigger on a tablet. Let that nest egg build. Let it grow interest. Wait for the Kindle Fire 2.
Or — yes, I'm going to go there — consider an iPad.
By the time iPad 3 comes out, Apple's cheapest iPad 2 will almost certainly be even cheaper. And this could very well be the tablet for you: 9.7 inches of uncompromised screen real estate, a processor that rips through web pages like a chainsaw, and an app and digital content ecosystem that's already commensurate to (if not better than; let's be serious) anything Amazon offers.
iPad killer? No, the Kindle Fire is not. And it doesn't even match the iPad in web browsing, the one area in which its hardware should have sufficient performance to compete. But the press has definitely supercharged Amazon's product launch with a level of hype and enthusiasm that would make Apple proud.
Photos by Jon Snyder/Wired. Creative Commons licensed under BY-NC.
- Amazon's Fire Tablet Already Challenging the iPad for Hearts & Minds: Survey
- How the Kindle Fire Could Make 7-Inch Tablets Huge
- First Look: Up Close and Personal With Amazon's Kindle Fire
- Tablet Wars: Why Amazon Doesn't Scare Apple (and B&N Scares No One)
- Kindle Lending Library Takes a Chance With Borrowing Books
- Borrow a Book a Month With Kindle Owners' Lending Library
- Kindle Update Adds Read Position Sync, Cloud Storage
When you buy something using the retail links in our product reviews, we earn a small affiliate commission. Read more about how this works.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


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Academic Kick Start Workshop
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Where and When
Time: 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Location: Library CoLab
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com
Event Information
Kick Start Your Academic Success
What to Expect: Preparing for Academic Success
This workshop will explore:
|> Prioritizing your workload
|> Study Tips and strategies
|> Preparing to take an online course
|> Expectations of college classes
|Sessions Offered
|July 16th
|August 6th
|July 17th
|August 7th
|July 17th (Online!)
|August 8th (Online!
All participants will be entered into a drawing for a new Kindle Fire!
All face-to-face workshops will take place in the Library CoLabs.
Please sign up by noon the day before the workshop
at www.bucks.edu/academics/learn/workshops
Please call the Tutoring Center at 215-968-8044 with any questions.

subset: commoncrawl


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Get an overview of this hotelOld Town Alexandria hotel near historic shops
Collecting Nectar Points
Special Offer: Book by 2 August 2017 and collect double Nectar points!
Simply enter your Nectar card number when you check out. Your points will be credited 35 days after you return from your trip.
*Terms and conditions apply.
Popular property highlights
2 blocks to shops
Situated just off the George Washington Parkway, this hotel near the Potomac River is 8 blocks from the shops and historic homes on Old Alexandria's revitalized waterfront.
Easy come, easy go
Transportation is a cinch, with onsite parking and complimentary shuttle service to Reagan Airport. This is a 100% smoke-free property.
Modern amenities
Each of the 254 guestrooms at Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria is equipped with a desk, free WiFi, premium satellite channels, and air conditioning.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
This 12-story Virginia property is located 8 blocks from the historic shops and homes of Old Town Alexandria's revitalized waterfront and is 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) from Washington, D.C.
Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria has a fitness center. The Chequers Restaurant serves breakfast, while the Railstop Gastropub serves lunch and dinner. Free WiFi is available throughout the property. Transportation to the airport, the Metro, and the heart of Old Town Alexandria is provided as a complimentary service. Free bicycles and an outdoor tennis court are also available on site.
A 24-hour business center is available along with business services, computer station, a ballroom, and 9 meeting rooms. An ATM machine, tour/ticket assistance, and express check-in/check-out are also among the conveniences the hotel offers.
- Computer station
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 10200
- Conference space size (meters) - 918
- Number of meeting rooms - 6
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Smoke-free property
- Porter/bellhop
- Number of floors - 12
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Elevator/lift
- 24-hour front desk
- Free airport transportation
- ATM/banking
- Bar/lounge
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Coffee shop or café
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Conference space
- Fitness facilities
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Express check-out
- Laundry facilities
- Meeting rooms 9
- Multilingual staff
- Total number of rooms - 254
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Luggage storage
- Restaurant
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Year Built 1976
- Free area shuttle
- Outdoor tennis court
- Self parking (surcharge)
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Free Wi-Fi
- Outdoor tennis court
- Area shuttle (complimentary)
- Laundry facilities
- Cribs/infant beds (complimentary)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Coffee/tea maker
- Iron/ironing board
- Hair dryer
- Premium TV channels
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Desk
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Bathtub or shower
- Satellite TV service
- Flat-panel TV
- Free WiFi
- Room service (limited hours)
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
Where to Eat
Chequers - British cuisine is served for breakfast in this roomy restaurant.
Railstop Gastropub - British cuisine is served at this gastropub for lunch and dinner.
Nearby Things to Do
- Free bicycles on site
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Boat tours nearby
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-in time ends at midnight
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Up to 3 children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 20.0 per night.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Fee for full breakfast: USD 16 per person (approximately)
- Self parking fee: USD 20 per day (in/out privileges)
- Valet parking fee: USD 25 per day (in/out privileges)
- Refrigerator fee: USD 25 per night
- In-room microwave fee: USD 20 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 20.0 per night
Hotel Name
- Crowne Plaza Old
- Crowne Plaza Old Hotel
- Crowne Plaza Old Hotel Alexandria Town
- Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria
- Alexandria Crowne Plaza
- Crowne Plaza Alexandria
- Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria Hotel
We should mention
This property offers transfers from the airport. Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Up to 3 children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


text: Director pencil skirt in Super 120s wool Item C9101 Color: LIGHT HTHR GREY Size: All sizes are US sizes. 000 2 6 10 Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices include duties. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Sits at waist. 27" long. Falls to knee. Product Details A long, lean pencil skirt with a flattering wide yoke and textural topstitching, constructed in our four-season Super 120s merino wool. What makes it so super is the measure of the fiber: the higher the number, the finer the fiber, and 120 is one of the finest with a silky-smooth finish and a refined drape. Wool. Back zip. Back vent. Lined. Dry clean. Import. Item C9101.


text: Yeager exhibit honors vets By Mackenzie Mays September 12, 2012 Story Share Chris Dorst Emma Johnson, whose son was killed while serving in Iraq in 2005, looks at her piece of the new veterans exhibit at Yeager Airport. The exhibit is part of Glenville State College's West Virginia Veterans Legacy Project and tells the stories of the state's vets from World War II to present. CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Adam Crumpler was a senior at Riverside High School when terrorists struck Sept. 11, 2001."He came home from school that day and said, 'I know exactly what I'm going to do," said Emma Johnson, his mother. "He wanted to fight for his country."Crumpler, of Campbells Creek, was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. He was 19."If we don't tell their stories, once they're gone, they're gone forever," Johnson said. "Whenever I get a chance to talk about Adam, I take it. I'll always be proud of him."She and her son are featured in "A Tradition of Service," a photo exhibit that's part of Glenville State College's West Virginia Veterans Legacy Project, unveiled Wednesday morning at Yeager Airport.The project is a traveling photo and history exhibit that tells the stories of more than 200 of the state's veterans from World War II to the present.World War II Medal of Honor recipient Woody Williams, along with other involved veterans and officials, praised the 36-piece photo exhibit's debut in the baggage claim area of Yeager Airport. "Something we should never forget is that we are here because others can't be," Williams said.Williams said the project is special because it not only honors those who have served, but the "gold star families" left behind -- like Shelly White.White's three sons served in the military. Her son, Robert, was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Her youngest, Andrew, died from complications related to post traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq, she said."They have passed away, but that doesn't mean their stories have to be gone with them," she said. "This exhibit is important to me because serving was important to them. The military was everything to my boys. I have to keep their memory alive." Other upcoming facets of the project include the digitalization of memorabilia such as letters and articles associated with West Virginians' role in the military.In addition, a documentary, book and play based on the project are also in the works and will debut around Veterans Day.The preservation project is funded by a $350,000 grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and is seeking additional funding from interested donors.The photos in the exhibit were taken by Glenville alumnus Mark Romano, and are a preview of the upcoming book, "Heroes Among Us," based on the veterans at the center of the project. "It's been an amazing experience to be able to record what they went through with pictures and in their own words," Romano said. "They did not have the opportunity to tell their stories. Now, even after these vets are gone, their stories will live on. It's a true legacy."A TV documentary about the project will debut Nov. 3, prior to the Veterans and Military Ball at Glenville's Mollohan Campus Community Center Ballroom.The photo exhibit will move to Glenville's art gallery for its grand opening Nov. 5. It is free and open to the public.On Nov. 8 and 9, a play written by Bob Henry Baber, the project's director, will premiere and combines the veterans' interviews with original music. The play will be held at Glenville's Fine Arts Center and is free and open to the public.For more information, contact Baber at 304-462-6382.Those interested in contributing to the project can visit www.glenville.edu/veterans or call 304-462-6163. Reach Mackenzie Mays at firstname.lastname@example.com or 304-348-5100. Story Share Story Share Trending Now 1 Deer in 8 WV counties found dead from EHD 2 St. Albans rallies to beat Riverside, 21-17 3 New company planning $73M synthetic fuel plant in Greenbrier County 4 WVU law professor announces run for Congress 5 Richwood mayor on leave amid investigation of purchases FX hotshot Haddy hosts hauntingly hip Halloween workshops Previous Story Cooder tells it like it is with today's politics Next Story


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Negative Bernal Baby Bodysuit
Product Color:
Product information
Use this Baby Bodysuit Negative Bernal and your need for a babysitter will dwindle rapidly. Whether you are having a nice meal at a fancy restaurant or going to a friend's dinner party: Use our Negative Bernal outfits and your baby will become the center of any party.
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Sku: BB0WH0000020932121210099BL0000000


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A question that we get here at Rackspace is, "How many servers do I need to handle all my holiday traffic?" It is a pretty difficult question to answer because of all of the different variables. Because of the cost-effective nature of the cloud, one answer might be to overprovision and have extra resources to make sure that you site can handle a large amount of traffic. However, there is another way that not a lot of people think about: serving your landing page off of our Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Most people think about their cloud configuration having a load balancer up front with the web and database servers below it. Sometimes a spike of traffic might not let it perform the way you want it to. One way to mitigate this risk is to have a static home page served off the CDN.
Doing this leverages all the geographically dispersed servers across the globe, to make sure that when someone comes to your website, they are going to get that web presence of your landing page. Now, this page is not going to be dynamic, but your customers will be able to click through to access your shopping cart or application. Having a landing page on the CDN is a safe guard to ensure that you always have a landing page for your visitors to access.
Interested in finding out more to help you prep for the holidays? Check out Joseph's white paper now. You can also view his previous post where he gives tips on load balancing for the holidays and check out his next post where he talks about how to prep your site for a high traffic event.


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The president-elect Twitter game is constant, and here's how he would sound at the NFL level. The 12 tweets
The undefeated boxer posts a clip of the UFC fighter's last loss. How you can win
The Crying Jordan Meme has now made its way to the White House. Medal of Freedom speech
The model defends her fiancee in a NSFW social media rampage. Attacks writers, fans
You like that (new video with the quarterback saying "Oooooh-weeeee!"). Watch it
He won Twitter with an amazing rant on what he'd do as president. Ben Wallace as Secretary of Defense
Mix of sadness and joy from athletes such as Dwyane Wade, John Daly and Jake Arrieta. Joel Embiid with jokes
Larry Fitzgerald, Chris Paul, Drew Brees and other athletes head to the polls. Some wear stickers
Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey and Daniel Stern go back into character. Henry Rowengartner's ring
Indians' World Series loss set off fireworks in the Warriors-Cavaliers rivalry. Why he said it


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It's an event that happens only once every four years - the global gathering of the World Holstein Friesian Federation. Since this event hosted by Holstein Canada coincided with the four-year anniversary of the release of genomic information on Holsteins, the meeting had a focus like no other past event dating back to 1964. During the conclave, the meeting rooms with the 600-plus attendees were abuzz as they deliberated on the impact the new science is having in their respective countries.
To date, genomics has been a male-dominated discussion as most countries outside North America do not publish genomic evaluations on females. However, throughout the presentations, it was quite evident that breeders worldwide are gearing up to work with genomics on their female populations in 2013. At the moment, international breeders are sending some samples from their elite females to the U.S. or Canada to gain more insight about genetic values.
Costs are falling
"The costs of sequencing an individual's genetic makeup have dropped big time," said Ben Hayes with Australia's Department of Primary Industries. "In 2003, it cost $300 million to read the entire genetic profile on an individual. By 2007, those costs fell to $1 million; $60,000 in 2008; and $5,000 in 2010," said the geneticist, contrasting costs for complete genomic profiles versus those available in the more familiar 6K, 9K or 50K tests available to breeders. "Now we can read an individual's entire genetic code for $2,000."
"As these costs continue to drop, we will be able to learn more about breeding better cattle," Hayes said. "One such project is the 1,000 bulls genome project that we are conducting with global partners."
"If we can genome sequence entire individuals, we could end up with higher reliability on genomic breeding values. We anticipate knowing this additional information will have a smaller impact on production traits but it will have a much larger impact on fertility and other traits that have low heritabilities," explained Hayes.
In other work, Hayes detailed a collaborative project with New Zealand scientists where the two partners are using the combination of genomics and feeding trials to get a better handle on feed efficiency. Each group has tested 1,000 Holstein heifers each.
"Our work indicates there is a 3.3 pound difference in daily intakes for the same growth between the top 10 and the bottom 10 percent of heifers," said Hayes. "We are finding that initial genomic reliability for feed efficiency is around 40 percent for heifers," he said noting full results should be available within two years.
One last project Hayes touched on was using rumen micro-biome profiles to predict phenotypes. "Rumen environments are so unique, there isn't one that is alike in bacteria profiles. They are almost like fingerprints," he said. "Only 4 percent of the DNA in a cow's gut is her own . . . 96 percent is from microbes. Pursuing this research could unlock valuable information to improve feed conversation and reduce methane emissions," said Hayes.
Need to counteract inbreeding
"Inbreeding has been a concern for a long time," said Flavio Schenkel, geneticist at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. "It reduces production, lowers fertility, causes more stillbirths and leads to less days in the herd," he said. "Has genomics changed this situation?"
"No, inbreeding is even a bigger concern. Inbreeding has been going up from 1970 to 2012. However, the trend has been accelerating since 2011. We do need more data to confirm the new trend," said Schenkel.
"While we are making faster genetic progress, there isn't as much time for selection to counterbalance the negative effects of inbreeding," said Schenkel noting the generation interval has been shortened as more young bulls with genomic-only evaluations are selected as sires for the next generation. Likewise, more virgin heifers are flushed as potential bull mothers.
"There is also evidence that genetic diversity, another indicator of inbreeding, is shrinking," said Schenkel. "To counteract these developments, we will need to move from using traditional pedigrees to using genomic relationships to calculate inbreeding. Genomics allow us to know how genetically related that individual is to the greater population," he explained, noting that each offspring doesn't inherit a perfect 50-50 mix of genetics from its sire and dam.
As for diversity
"At the dawn of genomics in 2008, 126 bulls sired the next generation of young bulls," said Marjorie Faust with ABS Global when discussing the U.S. Holstein population. "In 2010, 144 bulls sired the next generation: 82 proven and 62 young bulls with genomic-only evaluations. One year later, 276 bulls were bull fathers with 89 being progeny proven and 187 being DNA-tested," she said. "Does this represent true growth in the number of sire families represented? Will this trend continue?" she asked. "Those are questions that remain unanswered," said the U.S.-based geneticist.
The number of Holsteins with genomic profiles continues to rise in the U.S. as more producers adapt to the technology. "To date, 230,000 Holsteins have genomic information," said Faust. "Of that, 162,000 are females and 68,000 are males."
"Genomic estimates are not only driving elite breeding programs but all breeding programs," said Faust. "All Holstein breeders are buying more genomic bulls when compared to proven bulls. In 2011, 48 percent of all inseminations in the U.S. were to young, genotyped bulls."
Josef Potts from Germany confirmed the trend, "In Germany, 45 percent of services were to genomic young bulls in May 2012. I believe that number is closer to 50 percent now."
Get more from your cows
As the conference ensued, conversations turned towards more traditional topics. The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ken Nordlund, D.V.M., told attendees, "The length of free stalls does more to reduce longevity in large-framed Holsteins than anything else. The modern free stall should be 9 feet long and 4 feet wide.
"We also must get past conventional wisdom that suggests the most expensive thing on the dairy is an empty stall. This is nonsense!" exclaimed Nordlund. "The most expensive thing on a dairy is a prefresh stall that is always full."
Staying with cow care, Canada's Gerard Cramer, D.V.M., stated, "The quickest thing to improve lying time is to move to deep bedding. It doesn't matter what kind."
Arie Hamoen, chairman of the World Holstein Friesian Federation's type harmonization committee, summarized the international type conference, "Our group has concluded that foot angle, rear legs-rear view, locomotion and angularity are traits that would benefit from more harmonization from country-to-country. We believe our global classification workshop in Niagara Falls went a long way towards accomplishing that goal."
In one of the conference's later presentations, Holstein U.K.'s Lucy Andrews-Noden nicely summarized the many talks on breeding, "It takes a minute to put that straw of semen into a cow, and a lifetime to breed out a problem."
This Hoard's Dairyman editorial appears on page 11 of the January 11, 2013 issue.


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Pau Gasol underwent an MRI Wednesday in Boston for his injured right foot and it was revealed he suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia and is expected to miss at least six weeks, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports.
While the Lakers take on the Celtics Thursday in Boston, its injured center will travel to Los Angeles to have a second opinion from a team doctor and specialist, Berger reports.
Gasol, who has dealt with foot problems all season, reinjured his foot in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 92-83 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Leaping to block Nets center Brook Lopez's shot, Gasol said he felt a "pop" in the bottom of his foot as he went to jump.
The initial prognosis is six weeks away from the court, but, Berger reports, Gasol could miss 10-12 weeks if he opts for surgery, an option that could lead to better recovery.
MORE: With Gasol out, Howard must shoulder the load
The Lakers have had no shortage of injuries to its frontcourt. Center Dwight Howard sat out Tuesday's game in Brooklyn with an injured left shoulder. Due to Gasol's condition, pressure could ramp up on Howard to play through a torn labrum in his left shoulder with the Lakers still fighting to make their way back into the playoff race.
Kobe Bryant made comments about Howard's ability to "push through" injury soon after Gasol went down Tuesday night.
Before the severity of Gasol's injury was known, the Lakers had already expressed considerable concern. On the possibility of his foot problem becoming worse, Gasol said, "Yeah, I'm worried about it."
Adding to that concern was the fact Gasol needed crutches to make his way out of Brooklyn's Barclays Center.
Bryant is aware health issues have been as big a concern as chemistry problems for the Lakers, who now sit at 23-26 and are 10th in the Western Conference standings. With Howard still unsure when he will return, Bryant was worried when he spoke to reporters.
"I'm very, very concerned about it, to say the least," Bryant said. "... We can't afford to lose Pau for a long stretch. We need to get him back."
Gasol's injury can be added to a long list of ailments in Los Angeles. Steve Nash missed most of the early season with a knee injury, and Howard, who has worked to fully recover from offseason back surgery, suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder and re-aggravated the injury in Phoenix. Backup point guard Steve Blake also was on the mend for much of the year. Backup forward Jordan Hill is also out for the year with a hip injury.
Gasol's situation has added intrigue because, as he struggled through a foot injury, he also had trouble making a dent in the Lakers' offense. Coach Mike D'Antoni benched Gasol in favor of swing man Earl Clark because his offense is less potent with two big men on the court, and Gasol was vocal about his displeasure with the decision.
The results were career lows in points and rebounds for Gasol. He now averages 13.4 points and 8.0 rebounds, both below his career numbers of 18.4 points and 9.2 rebounds.
Gasol has been rumored as a trading chip because of his inability to find comfort within D'Antoni's system. Rumors are never considered just rumors with Gasol, who was actually traded in 2011-12 before NBA commissioner David Stern blocked a three-team deal on behalf of the New Orleans Hornets, a team owned and operated by the league last year.
Before he was injured in Brooklyn, Gasol appeared resigned to a future outside of Los Angeles, as Sporting News' Sean Deveney noted.
"He has his philosophy and system, and the Lakers hired him," Gasol said of D'Antoni. "It's not his fault. His philosophy is to play with one big guy and four guys spread out, so then he had to make a decision: Dwight or Pau?"


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Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"
Woodland Ecumenical Ministries, Fourth and Hope and Friends of the Mission invite the public to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through a day of service and tribute at Fourth and Hope in Woodland.
This Volunteer Service Day on Monday begins at 9 a.m.
The first volunteer shift will be from 9 to 11 a.m., with a second shift from 1 to 4 p.m.
Volunteers are asked to meet at the shelter, located at the corner of Fourth and Court streets, and to bring work gloves, shovels, wheelbarrows, and other gardening equipment.
Between the work shifts, a church service will be taking place at 11 a.m. The Greater Second Baptist Church and the African American Steering Committee will be honoring both Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
The service go from 11 a.m. to noon. The church is located at 435 Second St., Woodland.
At noon, lunch will be hosted for volunteers by Woodland Ecumenical Ministries will be served at Fourth and Hope.
"The organizers of the event hope to see this day of service become an annual event as a way to start the new year off right by making an impact on those in need in the community, and as a way to provide meaning and impact to the Martin Luther King holiday," stated Scott Thurmond of Fourth and Hope.
For more information, contact Scott Thurmond of Friends of the Mission at (916) 416-0901.


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Acqua Di Genova Silver Cologne
By Acqua Di Genova for Men
Acqua Di Genova Silver Cologne by Acqua Di Genova, In 1853, perfumer stefano frecceri created three fragrances . More recently this scent for men was reintroduced to pay tribute to the house's 150th anniversary and still uses the 19th century formula. Using fine ingredients and the authentic blend of bergamot, pear, apple and red berries. Floral and aromatic heart notes are comprised of rose, geranium, violet and lavender. Base notes of sultry musk, deep woods and sandalwood lend a mystery to ... Read More ... Read More the composition. All products are original, authentic name brands. We do not sell knockoffs or imitations.
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The MoneyRebus brain teasers use words or letters in interesting orientations to represent common phrases.
Can you decipher this phrase?
1. the money the money the money the money
2. the show the show the show the show
3. get ready get ready
Now go, cat, go!
HintThe king of rock and roll...
AnswerOne for the money.
Two for the show.
Three to get ready.
Now go, cat, go!
These are the lyrics from "Blue Suede Shoes".
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SoundsTrivia brain teasers have some element of trivia in them, but they are not just pure trivia questions.
What do the following things have in common?
1) Car brakes
2) Mouse
3) Door hinge
4) Swing
5) Old Gate
HintThe title.
They all make the sound squeak: car brakes when they are old; a mouse's sound; a door hinge when it needs some lubricant; a swing when in motion; an old gate being opened and closed.
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It's an honor for me to join you—men and women who've set the bar high in advocacy for paralyzed Veterans. For over six decades, PVA's record of achievement has always been measured by one, and only one standard—what best serves Veterans paralyzed by spinal cord injuries, disorders, and diseases.
VA is proud to partner with you in this cause. Your goals are our goals. Like you, we are fully committed to SCI care, and to an SCI cure.
Our long-standing partnership attests to that one overarching objective. Our alliance was cemented by my predecessor, Gordon Mansfield—an impassioned advocate for SCI Veterans, both as PVA's executive director, and later as VA's long-time deputy secretary and acting secretary.
Although I know that he's not here today, I want to take this opportunity to personally and publicly thank Gordon for his towering legacy of service to country and community, to Veterans and to VA.
I've been at VA just five months now, but I've already learned a very valuable lesson in leadership from Secretary Shinseki, courtesy of his time at Fort Hood, Texas, where it's said, "You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time. You can only do one thing or the other."
More than sixty years ago, there was a lot of hand-wringing over the lack of medical knowledge, treatment, and general quality of life available to those suffering from spinal cord injuries.
Back then, SCI Veterans returning from the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific faced a lifetime sentence of confinement to wheelchairs in homes or institutions. The medicine, technology, rehabilitation, and freedom of access we take for granted today would have been nothing less than miraculous to our fathers and grandfathers.
But in February of 1947—with foresight and gritty determination—16 of those war Veterans gathered at VA's old Hines Hospital in Illinois, rolled up their sleeves, and founded Paralyzed Veterans of America.
Almost a quarter-century later, one of those pioneers, Gilford Moss, explained the motivation that drove the creation of PVA when he wrote this poignant postscript: "Because we were so seriously disabled, we felt that other veterans' organizations could not give us adequate attention. We would [have been] … forgotten.'
Men like Gilford Moss and, years later, VA's Rufus Wilson, Max Cleland, Jesse Brown, and Gordon Mansfield, ensured that America's wounded Veterans would never be forgotten. Not in research. Not in medical care. Not in cutting-edge rehabilitation. Not in quality of life programs. And not in the hearts of Americans who owe their way of life to Veterans.
VA recognizes that the founding commitment of PVA remains, to this day, the lodestar for all that has been done—and will continue to be done—in the interests of paralyzed Veterans.
Today, PVA's "voice" resonates across research and education, medical services, disability rights, sports and recreation, accessible design, and much more. PVA was, and is, the vanguard in changing the landscape of life for SCI Veterans, and, in turn, for SCI Americans at large. On behalf of VA new senior leadership team, I salute each of you for serving America twice-over—once in uniform, and once again, in service to your fellow Veterans.
VA is fully invested in your mission. Our joint commitment to spinal cord-injured Veterans is total and complete. This fact takes on even more importance, more immediacy, in this time of war when young Americans are coming home with life-altering injuries. We are well prepared to serve them and the more than 26,000 SCI Veterans we care for each year.
Our expertise extends from emergency care and surgical stabilization, to rehabilitation, to preventive and long-term care. Our prosthetics and grants program are second to none. We are exploring new frontiers in nerve regeneration, activity-based therapies, and prosthetics with a direct link to the nervous system. Our hub-and-spoke configuration and on-the-ground Primary Care Teams make us the go-to source for a coordinated, lifelong continuum of care. That said, we are redoubling our efforts with respect to both major and minor construction projects. Let me give you a run-down.
A new 30-bed SCI facility at our Minneapolis Medical Center is open and operational. And SCI construction programs are underway at Milwaukee, Cleveland, Las Vegas, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A construction contract was just recently awarded for an SCI addition to our Syracuse VAMC, while a 30-bed SCI Center for Denver's new medical center is in the design phase. We're not finished yet, however. SCI projects are in the early planning stages in the Bronx, New York … in Dallas, St. Louis, San Diego, and in Brocton, Massachusetts.
I want to thank Carol Lopez, and PVA's Office of Architecture, for expert advice and assistance as we've pressed forward with our SCI construction program. PVA's active participation in our design meetings and reviews has been value-added in ensuring the best possible VA facilities. We know that it's often the outside viewpoint and the critical eye that result in the best decisions, designs, and deliverables.
Again, this type of collaboration speaks to our rock-solid partnership in purpose. But as good as our alliance is today, we want to see it renewed and reinvigorated. We want to make it better for tomorrow's Veterans. Let me tell you why.
VA has embarked on a wide-ranging transformation effort that is collectively being driven by new challenges, new demographics, new and evolving technologies, and new leadership. I would add that change is also being demanded by old and lingering problems that continue to hobble our operations.
As with any organization of our size and scope, we've had our share of difficulties over the past few years. Breaches in data security and delays in claims processing, for example. Some problems can be traced to a single VA employee, while others attribute to failures of leadership.
I think we can all agree that VA is not performing to the levels expected of a modern, high-tech organization whose annual, taxpayer-generated revenues give it parity with a Fortune 15 corporation.
In this time of change, President Obama has charged Secretary Shinseki to transform VA into a high-performing 21st century department better aligned with 21st century Veterans and our 21st century responsibilities to them. When the Secretary came on board, he laid out three overarching principles to guide how we lead change at VA. First, he said, we will be Veteran-centric. Second, results-oriented. And third, a future-focused organization. So what does this mean?
We will be Veteran-centric in that the men and women we serve constitute the very reason VA exists. They are—you are—our clients, and our charge is to address your evolving needs over time and across the full range of support we provide.
At the end of the day, we must gauge our success by your satisfaction because that, and only that, is the measure of our worth. I believe Verizon's CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, said it best when he said, "Customer satisfaction is the most important thing." Let me repeat, "the most important thing."
VA will be results-oriented in that we will institute a more coordinated and centralized approach serving Veterans—one grounded in sound, business-based principles rooted in quantifiable results. As a Veteran who comes from the business community, I can tell you that you can't manage—or at least manage well—what you don't measure.
And last, we will be forward-looking, in the sense that we will be attuned to the evolving needs of Veterans and to the best practices and emerging trends and technologies by which to serve them.
In more practical terms, we want to best serve Veterans by increasing their access to programs and services whether they live in densely urban areas along the East Coast's Boston-Washington corridor, or in the most rural areas of the Pacific's Northern Marianas. Whether on the mainland, or on an island, a Veteran's address must not dictate VA access. As the largest integrated health care system in the nation, we want to maintain our leadership in providing Veterans the highest quality, state-of-the-art health care available.
Yes, we have had our share of disappointments regarding the cleaning of endoscopes or an inability to hit the target with nuclear seeds in prostate cancer treatment. Those examples notwithstanding, with 1,400 points of care, 18,000 doctors, 49,000 nurses, a legion of clinical and support staff, and an unrivalled record of achievement—we are still a world-class health care system. And—from the research bench to a patient's bedside—we intend to leverage our leadership through continuous quality improvements.
We not only want to be good clinicians but good stewards of the funds entrusted to us. This is especially important in these economic times. Thanks to President Obama, we stand to have over $113 billion in VA's 2010 "checkbook"; that's up 15 percent from our 2009 resource level—and the largest percentage increase for VA requested in over 30 years.
But because our scope of services is similarly broad, our dollar outlays—the "checks we write"—must be wisely spent to serve more than 5.5 million Veteran-patients who walk through our doors each year, and the nearly four million Veterans and survivors who receive compensation and pension benefits each month. And more than 100,000 Veterans who, annually, are laid to rest in one of our 130 national cemeteries.
With this scope of service and this level of financial responsibility, no one—not even the second-largest agency in Government—can afford to leave money on the table. We have an obligation to get good value for the dollars we spend. We owe that to both Veterans and to taxpayers.
Secretary Shinseki's leadership is driving our Department to operate under a new construct where transparency, high-performance, and innovation are VA's new bywords. We are re-setting the azimuth of advance for improved services through improved management. The Secretary and I want to make VA a model of governance for others in Washington. Within the coming years, VA will be a different organization than the one that exists today.
How? Well, five years from now our goal is to be the undisputed provider of choice for Veterans—in health care, in education, in home loans, in insurance, in counseling, and in employment.
I admit, that's easier said than done. It demands fundamental change—the kind of change that can only be accomplished by focused and determined leadership. And so we're putting in place a first-rate leadership team that's both reflective of the Veterans we serve and committed to the mission of transformation. Right now, the key position of Under Secretary for Health is vacant. We've established a commission of senior executives from both the public and private sectors and tasked them to interview, evaluate, and recommend candidates for the post.
Obviously, we want someone who knows a lot about health care, but we also want someone who knows how to drive transformation within a large, complex organization. The commission has narrowed the field to just a handful of candidates, and the Secretary will soon present that list to the President for final selection. We hope to have the position filled soon.
In addition to committed leadership, we need trained and capable employees because, in truth, they are VA's most critical resource. If we are to establish Veteran-centric operations, then a Veteran-centered workforce is essential. From delivering cutting-edge medical treatment to answering the most basic inquiries, we must invest in our people. Develop and train them, yes; but also re-orient them to Veterans themselves. We need to make advocacy—not just service—our overriding philosophy. And we must make a Veteran-focused culture—with an emphasis on personal accountability and performance—our priority.
The fact is, the American public—and that includes Veterans—is accustomed to, and expects the service levels delivered by today's consumer-obsessed corporations. No longer can Government engage in anything remotely akin to "bureaucracy as usual" in its operations. And VA is no exception. Our transformation targets short- and long-term goals, but I am convinced that the "people factor" is key to meeting all of them.
So what exactly are our short-term goals? Well, there are several.
We are in the midst of processing paperwork for about 150,000 young Veterans so that they can attend college this fall under the new GI Bill. The first tuition checks went out at the beginning of this month, and we're prepared to sustain that momentum.
We are working to expand services to 500,000 Priority Group 8 Veterans who lost their entitlement in 2003. We expect to add about half that number to our rolls in the first year of registration, which we kicked-off this summer.
We're committed to reducing the backlog and processing times of disability claims. The long-term solution here is business process redesign and information technology—in fact, that's one of the reasons they hired me as COO. As part of our transformation, we are strategizing for the best solution, but for the time being, we have the equivalent of the troop strength of the 82nd Airborne Division processing claims each and every day. We intend to change that.
We are working with the President's Chief Performance, Chief Technology, and Chief Information Officers to harness the powers of technology and innovation. We are looking to revolutionize our claims process by faster processing, higher-quality decision-making, and fewer errors. This effort is among VA's highest priorities.
On another front, before December, we will be holding a mental health summit to brainstorm for innovative ways to approach VA services and care of the future. We want to build on our foundation of excellence and explore new methods of care that will improve the way we treat mental health conditions like PTSD. This mental health focus is at the top of VA's "to do" list because Veterans, as a group, have unacceptably high levels in joblessness, substance abuse, depression, homelessness, and suicides.
IT is the solution to many of VA's problems, none more so than in seamless transition from military to civilian life. President Obama has charged Secretaries Shinseki and Gates with building a fully interoperable electronic record
s system to provide each service member with a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record—a VLER. It will ensure a continuum of data from the day a new service member takes the oath of allegiance, to the day of interment in a VA cemetery.
Clearly, to provide the best care possible, this record must include the data for medical services that Veterans and service members receive in the private sector. VLER will use the Nationwide Health Information Network standards to do just that. Thanks to our leadership in the development and use of electronic health records, this new initiative will drive improvements of health care through interoperable electronic records—not just for Veterans and service members, but for the nation at large.
In all of these areas, and others, we are building our momentum at an aggressive pace, and are closing in on the tipping point for irreversible change. However, VA faces significant challenges over the long-term as well.
It's interesting to note that as the Civil War raged, President Lincoln—the catalyst for so much of VA's mission—in his State of the Union Message to Congress, wrote, "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew."
Well, almost 150 years later, that is exactly what VA is doing today. VA is looking for new ways of thinking and new ways of acting. We are asking why—40 years after Agent Orange was last used in Vietnam—this secretary is still adjudicating claims for related service-connected disabilities. And why 20 years after Desert Storm, we are still debating the debilitating effects of whatever causes Gulf War Illnesses.
If left to our present processes, 20-, 30-, or 40 years from now, some future secretary will be adjudicating claims from Iraq and Afghanistan, and Veterans will still be looking at VA from the perspective of adversary, not advocate.
The Secretary and I believe there's a better way to serve Veterans, and we're going to find it, and leverage it. We may not have all the answers yet, but we are asking the questions, and we welcome any and all input from the VSOs and, indeed, from all our stakeholders public and private. In fact, I believe we won't find that 'better way' without it.
For example, thanks to you, we have the Agent Orange Registry, the Court of Veterans Appeals, and the new GI Bill.
Thanks to you, we also have an agreement with Congress on advance appropriations for VA's three medical accounts; both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have recommended it for 2011.
There is much more to be done. I've spoken at length about our partnership today because that is a pivotal issue as VA pursues its ambitious agenda of transformation. We need your continued advice, perspective, and recommendations. VA can't be the provider of choice without the support of PVA and every other veterans' service organization out there.
I have come here today to tell you that VA is committed to our partnership. We are committed to positive change. And, above all, we are committed to America's Veterans—the lifeblood of democracy, from our 'Greatest Generation' to our latest generation.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning and look forward to working with you in the years to come. Godspeed.


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This gorgeous linocut design greetings card from Sam Wilson is perfect for any occasion - birthdays, anniversaries, thankyou, or even just to tell someone you care. The rectangular Gather For The Nest Greetings Card is printed on high quality 300gsm stock with a lovely matt finish. It comes with a Kraft brown ribbed envelope in a cellophane wrapper.
We offer FREE* delivery for all UK orders over £50 (*standard post, not including greetings cards, fragile items or furniture).
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This post is the 10th in a 31 post series on Spreading Bloggy Love. If you want to see the full list of blogger features and read a description of the series please head on over to this post.
Day 10!
Today's feature is a woman who I've followed on Instagram for quite some time and had never really visited her blog. I adore her photography and the feeling of calm and peace that each photo brings.
Please enjoy a few of her posts that caught my eye from ABeachCottage.com and make sure you go visit Sarah!
From Now:
Merry Christmas From A Beach Cottage
From The Past:
They Call Them Beach Cottage Pretties
Hop on over and leave her some blog comment love!! She's in the middle of summer right now but you'll still enjoy all her recipes and cottage styling for the holidays!


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|September 7, 1999, 06:41 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: April 5, 1999
Location: Stamford, CT, USA
Posts: 248
This weekend I was lucky enough to help a nice fella relax on his vacation. He is working abroad, spending time between two countries that guns are not allowed in. He owns a Glock in .40 S&W (has 5 mags for it) and used to own a .357 mag. His gun experience is limited. He is a friend of one of my gun owning buddies and was spending part of his time home here in America with my buddy.
His friends in the other countries are surprised he carries a simple lockback knife around for utility purposes, let alone owning a semi-auto plastic pistol. Well, we decided to show those people how Americans have fun. He brought along a camera to the private range, and took pictures of everything. We didn't even have that many guns; my beloved Springfield M1A, 2 .22 rifles, some semi auto pistols including a 1911a1 type, a glock, a Beretta, a Ruger, a Browning Buckmark, and 2 revolvers- a Ruger .357 Mag and a .22 Mag. We went through hundreds of rounds shooting ata myriad of targets. I made sure to get a photo of him shooting at a man-size silohoutte so that all his friends in other countries know exactly why we practice with our guns. Of course, several cans and plastic bottles met their end as well. We also secured photos of the 3 of us holding all of the guns (our holsters, shoulders and hands were full!) and a separate photo of the whole "spread." We even took a photo of the empty brass we picked up.
He's a great guy, and I am glad I got to meet him and shoot with him. He was eager to shoot everything we had, and learned a lot. I think he is smart enough to go back and tell them how much fun we had, without making it seem like we are war mongerers or crazy kids waiting for the apocalypse. But I guess if it came along we would be prepared....
Happy Shooting!!!
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FALLS CHURCH, Va., Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Preparing for the New Electronic Submission Mandates:Mastering the Tools and Strategies**Presented by FDAnews and e-SubmissionsSolutions.com**Dec. 6-7, 2012 Raleigh, NC
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John Lennon: The New York City Years
Ralph Appelbaum Associates Inc, New York, New York, 2009
The John Lennon: The New York City Years exhibition was the first serious museological look at the 10 years Lennon spent in New York City prior to his murder in 1980. It celebrated him as a musician, political activist, visual artist, husband and father. The curatorial expertise provided by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the personal involvement of Yoko Ono allowed the project to address issues and include artifacts that were emblematic of Lennon's political concerns and how those concerns affected his music and visual art during this last period of his life.
The exhibition was installed in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex in downtown New York City. In a stencil typeface referencing the ad hoc street typography of New York City, a word cloud with titles of the songs Lennon wrote during his final years in the city fills the exhibition's entry wall. The "all-white" treatment of walls, casework, seating, exhibit and flooring—in conjunction with "blue halos" around the media projection walls—was intended to create a contemplative viewing experience for visitors. Eight artifact cases and a wall of integrated artifacts and images included clothing, collages, handwritten lyrics and drawings. The exhibition concluded with a respectful treatment of Lennon's assassination and a plea for more rigorous handgun control.
Juror Notes
From John Lennon's wire glasses at the exhibit entrance to the photography and lyrics, all were displayed powerfully against a white canvas.
- Design firm
- Ralph Appelbaum Associates Inc
- Principal
- Ralph Appelbaum
- Project directors
- James Cathcart (design), Francis O'Shea (content)
- Designer
- Carlos Rodriquez (3-D designer)
- Graphic designer
- Wes Kull
- Coordinator
- Caitlin Mennen (Content Coordinator)
- Copyeditor
- Nikki Amdur
- Producer
- George Robertson (Renderer)
- Executive producer
- James Sanna
- Producers
- Natalie Gilhome, David Waggett
- Collecting
- Kevin Stapp (Collections Specialist)
- Clients
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland
- Curators
- James Henke (Cleveland), Meredith Rutledge (Assistant Curator, Cleveland)
- Artist
- Yoko Ono
- Archive
- Karla Merrifield
- Production
- Don Gilmore Productions
- Fabrication
- Great Lakes Scenic Studios (Exhibitry fabricator)
- Fabricator
- Ernesto Gomez (Graphics Fabricator)
- Lighting
- Kyle Chepoulis
- Sound designer
- ACME Professional
- Media producer
- HouseWorks Digital Media, Inc.
- Other
- Geiger Mountmaking + Design (Artifact mounts)
- Photography
- Esto Photographics


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I like MissA!!!!!
Although a bit ... I do not know how to say
But I think this song sounds good
I super love this song !!!!! <3
How about you ? Are you feeling it?
Can you tell me your thoughts?
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Friday, 13 April 2012
In search of a Black Country Legend
"What's your favourite?"
"I don't really have one."
"Have you tried Bathams?"
"Ah. Well then."
Some beers go beyond rationale analysis and objective evaluation, and attain mythic status. The affection people have for them is not based simply on a hoppy aroma and firm malty base; it doesn't have much to do with ingredients or flavour. It transcends the liquid itself -or perhaps, that liquid becomes something divine and attracts all the clothing of religious devotion.
Westverleteren has it, though it's carefully stage-managed by the Belgian monks who take pains to control its scarcity. Timothy Taylor Landlord has it - a beer which excites old ale drinkers and new crafty beer drinkers alike, which elicits simple sighs from beer writers who have used up all the words they have in trying to describe its perfection.
These beers are revered. I knew of them within about five minutes of entering the beer world.
But I happily published two books, made my mark with this blog, and gained at least one column in the pub trade press before I'd ever heard of Bathams.
I was doing some freelance advertising work with a bloke from Birmingham when I first had the conversation above. I've since the same conversation about six times, each time with a native of Birmingham or the West Midlands. Each time, my 'no' got a little less "No?" in that tone that goes up at the end as if to say, "Should I have?", and a bit more "Nooooooo..." swooping down like a Messerschmitt in flames, defensive and frustrated and increasingly certain I was missing something special, fearing I was a lesser man, never mind a lesser beer writer, for not only having never drunk this beer, but for not having even seen any evidence of its existence apart from the word of an increasing number of Brummies who didn't know each other, and therefore could not have been winding me up.
But I never see Bathams at festivals. I never see anyone writing about it. I don't see it in shops.
Its acolytes try to describe its power to me. It's a session beer, they say. But that doesn't do it justice. It's more than that, it's... oh, you just have to taste it, they say, and then, every time, they say, "Of course, there are only about five pubs in the world that sell it. And they're all in Birmingham and the West Midlands."
The last person I had this conversation with was Charles Campion, food and drink writing legend and one of the most decent men on the planet. And because Charles really is one of the most decent men on the planet, he resolved to put me out of my misery. So a few weeks ago, nursing a brewers' conference sized hangover, I found myself in the back of a car while Charles directed the Beer Widow to the Vine (or, if you're in the know, the Bull and Bladder), the Batham's brewery tap in the West Midlands.
It's a cracking pub, one of those places that has withstood every single trend, technological development and interior design fad of the last thirty years. It has carpets. And separate rooms. Aged banquettes that create a barrier between groups but still allow those groups to eye each other up. A hierarchy so clear that as you walk in for the first time, you immediately know which rooms are open to you as a stranger, and which are not. And a random collection of brilliant and nonsensical stuff on the walls that could keep you gawking for hours.
I was quite nervous when I got my first pint of Batham's. It's made with Fuggles and Goldings hops, and contains invert sugar for a bit of extra sweetness. It tastes quite sweet. And very nice.
I've noticed in some great session beers that the balance between malt and hops is not just about sensible balance, neither one being too extreme. It's about the combination, the mix of malt sweetness and hop fruitiness that combine to create a kind of glowing, floral perfume that hovers just above your palate. This may sound horrible, cloying, sickly and effeminate, but is actually the opposite of all those things. And Bathams does this very well.
But detailed analysis of the flavour is beside the point - that's not what this beer is about. It's a beer that can be drunk easily and yet is satisfying, and it's a beer that brings a smile to your face. It doesn't overwhelm you - you don't have the first sip and go, "My God, that's awesome!" But the more you like it, the more you drink. And the more you drink, the more you like it.
It also comes in bottles:
and I got to bring a few home with me.
This is not to be taken for granted. Because over the weekend that followed this Friday night session, the stories began to come out.
You can't find many places that sell these bottles, they say. We visited one pub that does, but allegedly you have to take your empties back if you want some more, meaning it's very difficult to get onto the Bathams ladder in the first place.
On cask, demand always outstrips supply, they say. There are only certain pubs that get it, and these are known to serious drinkers. Stocking Bathams wins a landlord instant admiration. Some of these pubs have been known to order an extra cask, and then sell it on at a profit, on the thriving Bathams black market that exists in the West Midlands.
Weeks later, when I opened my final bottle at home, I wrote, 'When you drink Bathams, it just make you feel NICE.'
That might sound like the most facile thing a beer writer has ever written. But I believe there is truth and beauty in its simplicity.
I'm hanging on to the empties.
28 comments:
I once had a bet with a friend who'd come up to Wolves Poly from Portsmouth, that he would get more drunk on Bathams bitter than on Gales HSB. So we went to the Vine and we each had 3 pints of bitter. He fell out of the door. I didn't - even though I only ever drink halves so I was roughly twice as pissed as usual!
- 13 April 2012 at 12:49
You have done The Beer Hunter proud.
Well done, sir. Well done
- 13 April 2012 at 12:59
I had my first taste of Bathams only a few weeks ago and agree it is right up there with the TTs of this world.
I was however unaware of it's rarity - I was eyeing up a bottle of it in my local beer shop only last night... I'd better go back and buy the case!
- 13 April 2012 at 13:03
- tania_nexust said...
Bathams seem to have a very stringent policy of not supplying to festivals - even when one year they were shortlisted for a regional CAMRA award, it still wasn't enough to persuade them to sell the festival a cask for the judging competition!
It's certainly a little more widespread in the West Mids and Black Country than '5 pubs' but nonetheless it's still prize enough that your face breaks into a smile when you walk into a bar and see that it's on. Also great (though rarer) is their Mild - maybe look out for that too next time you're in these parts!
- 13 April 2012 at 13:09
- Ron Pattinson said...
No-one ever writes about Batham's? I did, just last year:
I usually stick with the Mild. Lovely beer.
- 13 April 2012 at 14:37
- John Clarke said...
They have just 11 pubs - 10 in the West Midlands and one, oddly, in remote north Wales. As someone who's known for having quite an interest in beer I'm sometimes asked what is my favourite. I always answer by saying that if I could only ever drink one beer again it would be Bathams Bitter. Cue quizzical and/or disbelieving look.
I think once you "get" Bathams (and I "got" it years ago thanks to an old friend of mine who lived in and around the Black Country) it sort if insinuates itself into your soul - and no matter how many double this, or imperial that you have, no matter how many hop bombs or oak aged this, that or the other, it's still there at the back of your mind, calling you.
- 13 April 2012 at 14:39
They do supply festivals. The XXX winter ale has been on at the Dudley Winter Ales Fayre, held in November for a few years now and the Best Bitter regularly features on the Real Ale Bar at the Black Country Boating Festival in September.
- 13 April 2012 at 16:54
quiote a few years ago , i was with our Burton Branch on the Batham 10 , i still have the beer mat signed by all 10 landlords .
I still remember everything on that trip, a great time was had by all 20 of us , great beer , full of flavour plus the happy memories of great times with the locals too keep up the good work Peter ,"well done"
may A
- 13 April 2012 at 18:30
- Curmudgeon said...
Yes, John, I remember you making that comment and I can well understand why you might. It's deceptively easy-drinking but has great hidden depths. And I'll be drinking some tomorrow in the Great Western in Wolverhampton :-)
- 13 April 2012 at 19:55
- Jeff Pickthall said...
Yes, my mate Black-Country-Jim-who-lives-in-San-Francisco gave me the Bathams schpiel many times. Eventually I found myself in a Black Country pub drinking Bathams with him. Sadly though, it was a flying visit and I was driving. I still intend doing it properly sometime.
- 13 April 2012 at 19:57
one of the absolute best - and you should add it's staggeringly good value
- 13 April 2012 at 20:10
- Dan Brown said...
Great post, which goes some way to encapsulating the aura of Bathams. You are quite right - it does have a mythical quality.
I was in the Vine/Bull and Bladder the other night, and the Mild was sublime - an almost holy experience.
And yes, it is a West Midlands gem. It's also almost the only Bitter my lager drinking friend will touch - and not under protest or anything, he LOVES it!
N.b. in addition to the designated Bathams pubs, it has crept into a couple of Birmingham pubs (Red Lion and Lord Clifden) and when I was in a Holdens pub in Wolverhampton on Monday, 3 people requested it within a 30-min period, and were very disappointed to here it wouldn't be back in stock for 2 days.
- 13 April 2012 at 20:52
- Matt Gorecki said...
Brill - a customer brought me a bottle of this beer a couple of years back, never saw him again, never had the beer again but I dearly wish to... This brings it all back.
Nice one...
- 14 April 2012 at 00:06
I do regular tutored beer tasting evenings in my shop and I have this year started using Bathams as the first beer of the evening - it just blows people away.
- 14 April 2012 at 05:27
- Sarah said...
That's interesting. I had my first taste of Bathams last week in the Plough and Harrow in Kinver, not realising its mythical status. I found it far too sweet for my taste but maybe it would have grown on me. The pub very definitely had a local pub for local people feel about it. I've spent the last fortnight drinking my way from Wolverhampton to Droitwich and back by canal trying at least one and often two pubs a day. Some lovely pubs but the beer largely uninspiring, Marstons-dominated and with all the flavour sparklered out of it unless you catch them in time. Marstons Me Duck has to be the most insipid pint I've ever had.
- 14 April 2012 at 18:01
It's the sugar they add that gets you hooked. White for bitter and brown for mild. And lots and lots of it.
- 15 April 2012 at 09:53
- Paul Bailey said...
Brings back memories of an excellent night in the Lamp Tavern, Dudley over 30 years ago! Ages since I had a pint of Bathams; must rectify that after reading this article.
- 15 April 2012 at 22:03
- delph said...
I spent a lot of my youth in the Lamp Tavern, never found a better beer.
I now live a long way away but always take a few bottles home when I visit the midlands.
- 16 April 2012 at 17:42
Bathams bitter. Posibly the best beer in the world after Simpkiss Ales (also a Black Country ale) closed down. Very close in taste. Try the Unicorn in Wollaston for the bottled supply and again a great unchanged but packed pub (that says a lot these days) but also the Royal Exchange on the way to Stourbridge from Wollaston. Fantastic beer, fantastic pubs and thats not just my youth talking.
- 17 April 2012 at 10:18
- teninchwheels said...
Batham's Best was the 40th beer that I had in my '40 new beers' thing I did a couple of years ago. I'd never heard of it either until my wife's aunt and uncle brought me a bottle down from Nantwich (so it must be sold there, somewhere). I thought it was bloody marvellous.
link here if anyone's interested - http://tinyurl.com/cjmdxyn
- 17 April 2012 at 14:07
- Wyreman said...
I used to work up the road from the Bull for a while very difficult driving by it. There was a TV programme being made one Saturday I was there, by a local station. They interviewed these two brothers in their 70's, who lived together and didn't drive but every Saturday lunchtime made their way there from the other side of the West Midlands by public transport and had done so for the past 50 years !!! Its Not to everyone's taste but it is different and generally very well kept because it is revered by the landlords who have it. They do a tour of 7 of the pubs which is well worth an insight into real pubs of the Black Country.
- 18 April 2012 at 22:23
- Omnivoracity said...
Sounds good. Hope this doesn't spoil the image any, but seems to be available here http://www.wpwines.com/product/bathams_beer/ "Always plenty of stock!" they say...
- 25 April 2012 at 17:49
For brewers who can't source the real thing, there is a recipe for Batham's in Graham Wheeler's book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brew-Your-British-Real-Camra/dp/1852492589). It is definitely the next brew project after reading this post and comments...
- 30 April 2012 at 13:54
Bathams is a local legend and quite rightly so although not as rare as you make out. There's plenty of good pubs around the black country that sell it, you can also buy the bottles (which I always do when back home) from the offy in Kingswinford!
I brewed the graham wheeler recipe too and whilst it wasn't bathams it was a nice tasty Homebrew!!
- 13 June 2012 at 21:57
- Phil said...
Don't know if anyone will see this, but I've just got back from Wolverhampton (where the Great Western, a Holden's pub, has Batham's bitter as a permanent guest) and felt the urge to add my 2p.
Here goes:
Batham's bitter is very nice.
Yes, it's sweet, but it's not a big malty sweetness - it's a surprisingly light flavour. It's uncompromisingly bitter - a front-of-mouth bitterness that hits straight after the initial sweetness. Then you get the full effect - it's beautifully balanced.
When you're drinking it, it tastes like beer ought to taste - it reminds me of the first beers I ever got the taste for, malty Welsh bitters and London Pride, only lighter and more drinkable. And it is very, very drinkable - I had it on two occasions, and both times I was surprised how quickly the level in my glass went down!
Thinking of flavour comparisons, there is a bit of a similarity with Landlord - another beer with the "this is what beer tastes like!" effect. Other than that, I'm honestly reminded of Belgian beers. A session-strength tripel, if there could be such a thing, would taste a bit like Batham's.
- 4 July 2013 at 20:25
Batham's Beer is a gem of a pint and one of the Black Country's best kept secrets but all are welcome.
- 24 July 2015 at 21:54
Thursday lunchtime, Bull and Bladder. Two massive cobs and two pints of bitter - what a way to catch up with your brother for £7.70.
Having travelled around the world and delighted in local food and drink - there is nothing that can outdo to this, apart from maybe faggots and peas of a Friday.
- 12 May 2016 at 23:06
- revjgoode said...
When I was at school in Stourbridge during the 80s I used to skive off school (Old Swinford) to hang out in a second hand record shop on Enville Street. The shop owner & I used to regularly convene to the Exchange for a few pints and a game of pool.
As a consequence, Bathams is my default taste for beer and that slighty woozy feeling of leaving the pub in the mid afternoon after 3 pints, in order to listen to more R&B records. It's one of the seminal experiences of my youth.
- 7 September 2017 at 12:02


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