Okay, I can't be the only one who skim-read the headline and originally thought the Gloucester library would be handing out 20,000 cans of beer in bookstores across the country. Turns out it's pretty much the other way around, as the plan is to hand out 20,000 beer mats in pubs all over England. The coasters give the Oxford English Dictionary definition of lager lout: "noun, a rowdy or aggressive male" and says: "Fill your head with something you'll remember tomorrow." The image you see at your left is on the reverse side of the coaster, and frankly, I'm not sure this will have binge-drinkers rushing to the bookstore, you know?

Pretzels, on the other hand, that's already a success, as Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels already know - they've had their products in B&N outlets for eight years and Borders for seven years. But it looked like Kim and Scott Holstein, the company's owners, were getting ready to pull their pretzels from Borders - a gutsy move, says the Chicago Sun-Times, for the chain operates 475 stores and that would mean an income loss of half a million dollars. "It was not an easy decision," co-founder Scott Holstein said.

Turns out it was a deal on which they couldn't follow through. The Holsteins learned last week that their existing contract with Seattle's Best Coffee, which runs cafes at Borders stores, requires them keeping their products in Borders. They'll now work on creating special pretzel flavors for sale at Barnes & Noble.