50 Beers from Around the World- Starr Hill (Charlottesville, Va.)

Today, we shift our focus from beers in sometimes obscure parts of the world, like Paraguay (yes, we did profile a beer from there!), to talk about beers that are closer to home.

Many Virginians are familiar with Starr Hill Beer, a brand that is brewed in Crozet, Va. (Charlottesville), and is extremely popular in Roanoke and Richmond. The beer can also be found in the Carolinas, Maryland, Georgia and Florida among other states.

I recently tried a Starr Hill (ironically I drink beer as often as Donny Osmond or Cat Stevens!) at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke the other night and I really liked it. The venue hosts Nashville-singer Megan McCormick tomorrow night.

Starr Hill was also featured on the reality tv show "Top Chef" and among its brands are the award-winning Jomo Lager which is made from Munich and caramel barley.

Status Update_ Facebook Thinks I'm a Socialist and a Muslim!

Yesterday, I noticed that Facebook sent me an ad to join The National Socialist Party, which really surprised me since anyone close to a socialist that I know accuses me of being a 'closet conservative.' But, not to disappoint anyone, I am hardly Noam Chomsky or Rush Limbaugh as I am a Democrat.

Then, a few minutes later, Facebook sent me a similar ad to join a Muslim singles group. They even had a woman with a head-scarf! I guess they made the assumption since I am half-Turkish, but I really don't think God exists so how can I be a Muslim or a Christian?

So, this got me thinking are there any Muslim socialists out there? I was thinking that it's possible that since he was a former hippie folk singer who sang "Peace Train" that Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens (pictured here) could have been a socialist (or close to it) in the early '70s. He is certainly a Muslim now, but I seriously doubt he is or ever was both at the same time.

But, I had heard that there was an actual Islamic socialist movement in the 1950s and 1960s and it turns out I was right!

In both Pakistan and (ironically) Iran, there was a thriving left-wing intellectual socialist movement which featured the likes of Iranian social philosopher Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (1923-1969) and Parkistani poet Habib Jalib (1928-1993).

So, the term is not the oxy moron that it appears to be!

Of course, a tea bagger friend of mine from Virginia said in effect that Barack Obama was a Muslim socialist. Maybe, he thinks of himself as a 'compassionate conservative'- now there's an oxy moron!

As for the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, he is apparently getting set to tour New Zealand, but I don't how many of our visitors are anywhere close to Auckland?!

There were also two interesting stories about Facebook yesterday on NPR's "All Things Considered," but I always forget about things I hear on the radio.