Thanks to the success of US television shows like Extreme Makeover, plastic surgery is fast becoming the norm. The latest advertising campaign for Canadian surgery ‘Toronto Plastic Surgery’ takes it one step further. Ad agency DDB Canada dreamt up this clever idea – allowing consumers to test-drive a new nose shape while drinking their coffee. We love it. by Billy T
[link]
~~~
This is pretty interesting…dunno if it's true though 
The Spread of Coffee to the Christian World
Coffee had been a part of Arab culture for centuries but not so in the western European world. Venetian fleets sailed the known world trading spices, silks, and perfumes with the East. It is believed that coffee come to Venice from Constantinople as part of this trade. There was only one problem. When the drink reached Rome the priest attacked it and forbid it consumption.
The priests believed that the coffee was the drink of the devil. That Satan had invented the drink for the Moslem infidels as a substitute for the wine they were forbidden to drink. Since wine in the Western Christian world was sanctified by Christ and used in Holy communion, coffee must then be of the Anti-Christ. If a Christian drank this devil brew they would risk eternal damnation is how the argument went.
It wasn't until the late 1500's that Pope Clement VIII settled the dispute. He asked that the brew be brought before him. Intrigued by its powerful aroma, he sipped the coffee. It was delicious. The Pope blessed the coffee, and baptized it on the spot. He reasoned that banishing this drink from the Christian world would be a larger sin. With the Pope's blessing, imports of coffee to Italy and the Western world came flooding in paving the way for the first western coffee houses.
The English word "Coffee" comes from the Latin name of the genus Coffea. The genus Coffea is a member of the Rubiaceae family which has over 500 genera and 6,000 species that are largely tropical trees and shrubs. All species of Coffea are woody and range in size from small shrubs to trees over 30 feet tall. The species Coffea arabica gives us the arabica beans known the world over. Arabica beans are largely drunk on their own where as the Coffea robusta is usually a lower grade bean used primarily as a blend with arabica beans to make them go farther.
I think that's just silly.
~~~
More cool facts
- October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.
- Sprinkle spent coffee grounds around the base of your garden plants and it will stop snails and slugs from munching them
- A mixture of coffee grounds and sugar, fed to a pot plant and watered regularly, will revive houseplants that have turned yellow in winter.
- Some of the worlds most powerful business, including Lloyds of London and the New York Stock Exchange, started life as a coffee houses.
- In December 2001 Brazil produced a scented postage stamp to promote its coffee – the smell should last between 3 and 5 years.