'War Stories'
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
I think it would be fascinating if marijuana/hashish had been introduced to Western culture at the same time as coffee. I'm betting everybody would have become habituated to its use in exactly the same way as for alcohol and coffee/tea.
Basically, coffee would totally be illegal today if it were introduced into the consumer market. Addictive! Side effects! Performance-enhancing!
Basically, coffee would totally be illegal today if it were introduced into the consumer market. Addictive! Side effects! Performance-enhancing!
There was some mid-Eastern country that banned coffee in (IIRC) the 1500s or 1600s. They were afraid that folks would sit around in cafes drinking coffee and planning revolution.
They should have just introduced lattes and wireless Internet.
1511: Khair Beg, the corrupt governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule. The sultan sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
With all respect to people who can quit it, caffeine is the finest drug EVER. It's cheap! It's on every street corner! They put it in lots of tasty items! It wakes you up and makes you feel better and the only side effect is withdrawal!
Indeed. I love coffee. Given enough coffee, I love everyone else, too. It's a better mood enhancer than booze, and I can drive safely after three cups of coffee. (Safer than without three cups of it, some mornings.)
Coffee history's finest moment:
1453: Coffee is introduced to Constantinople by Ottoman Turks. The world's first coffee shop, Kiva Han, open there in 1475. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.
There's a quota?
Our in-house nutritionist, who is a sweet if optimistic girl, put up displays outside all the company cafeterias on the Evils of Caffeine
Pfah! I would go on the counterattack. How dare she malign my poor innocent little coffee beans, who selflessly give their lives that I might stay up reading till 3 AM and still put in something like a day's work. Why, the history of caffeine is the history of civilization! Liberty, equality, Darjeeling tea! Semper filter! Free Java!
1511: Khair Beg, the corrupt governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule. The sultan sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
Sounds like it woulda paid to find out if the Sultan was a coffee drinker (not to mention a morning person) before giving that a try.
We are now well into the realm of Too Much Sharing. Today our nutritionist featured asparagus outside the cafeteria. She included a poll -- we were to fold up preprinted pieces of paper labelled either "Asparagus makes my pee smell funny" or "Asparagus does not make my pee smell funny" and place them into the provided bowl. At least they weren't signed...
What next? "I had oysters last night and my boyfriend's still sore"?