Calculus as the math of motion and change; while basic math deals with static objects, calculus uses derivatives to measure how fast something is changing at a specific moment and integrals to add up those tiny changes to find a total result, like distance or area.
The word "calculus" comes from the Latin for "small stone", referring to the pebbles used on an abacus.
Mathematics involving infinitesimals dates back to ancient Greece, where Archimedes developed early methods for computing areas and volumes.
The Babylonians were using a rudimentary form of calculus to calculate Jupiter's displacement each day along the ecliptic, the path that the sun appears to trace through the stars. Historians had thought such techniques did not emerge until more than 1,400 years later, in 14th-century Europe.
On November 11, 1675, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated integral calculus for the first time, finding the area under the graph of y = ƒ(x). Isaac Newton independently developed his own form of calculus around the same time, and the two men became embroiled in a bitter priority dispute. Leibniz is credited with introducing much of the notation still used in calculus today.
Leibniz at his candlelit desk writing the integral calculus notation on parchment.
Nikola Tesla was able to do integral calculus in his head, leading his teachers to believe he was cheating.
Calculus as a formal discipline underpins much of modern science and engineering, from calculating planetary orbits to modelling the spread of disease.
In 1642 Blaise Pascal designed and built a mechanical adding machine. It was the first mechanical calculator in history.
On June 14, 1822 English mathematician, Charles Babbage, proposed a difference engine, an automatic, mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. The proposal was made in a paper presented to the Royal Astronomical Society, titled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables". His proposed machine used the decimal number system and was powered by cranking a handle.
The first difference engine built from Babbage's design. Wikipedia
The American Arithmometer Company was established in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886 to produce and sell an adding machine that William Seward Burroughs was developing. The inventor received a patent for the first successful adding machine in the US on August 21, 1888. American Arithmometer Company, became Burroughs Corporation and evolved to produce electronic billing machines and mainframes, and eventually merged with Sperry to form Unisys.
An early Burroughs adding machine
Beat author William S. Burroughs was a grandson of William Seward Burroughs. He wrote a collection of essays called The Adding Machine.
American inventor Herman Hollerith invented the first device that recorded data on a medium, which could then be read by a machine in the late 1880s. He was inspired by conductors using holes punched in different positions on a railway ticket to record traveler details such as gender and approximate age.
Hollerith developed his electromechanical punched card tabulator to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. He was issued US patent #395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' on January 8, 1889. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine marks the beginning of the era of semiautomatic data processing systems.
Hollerith built machines under contract for the Census Office, which used them for the 1890 census. Clerks used keypunches to punch holes in the cards entering age, state of residence, gender, and other information from the returns.
Replica of an early Hollerith punched card tabulator and sorting box Photo by Adam Schuster Flickr:
In 1896 Hollerith started his own business when he founded The Tabulating Machine Company. Many major census bureaus around the world leased his equipment and purchased his cards, as did major insurance companies.
Hollerith built machines under contract for the Census Office, which used them for the 1890 census.
In 1948 the Curta calculator, a hand-cranked, barrel-shaped calculator small enough to fit in the pocket and capable of basic calculations was introduced.
The mathematics master of Harrow Schhol predicted to the Mathematical Association in a speech on April 9, 1953 that by 2003, schoolchildren would be working out sums on calculating machines and there would be no multiplication tables. He said: "Each maths room will have its calculating machine, and the child on duty for the day will do any calculating needed."
The ANITA Mark VII and ANITA Mark VIII calculators were launched simultaneously in late 1961 as the world's first all-electronic desktop calculators.
Photo of Anita Mk VIII calculator by MaltaGC at English Wikipedia
The first handheld calculator was a 1967 prototype called "Cal Tech", whose development was led by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments in a research project to produce a portable calculator.
The first portable calculator, The Canon Pocketronic, was placed on sale in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed around the world. A development from the "Cal-Tech" project, it was designed around three MOS circuits it could add, subtract, multiply, and divide and sold for less than $400. The Pocketronic had no traditional display; numerical output was on thermal paper tape.
Texas Instruments introduced its first calculator, the Datamath (or TI-2500), in 1972. The device carried out basic arithmetic and sold for $149.95.
The first slimline digital pocket calculator was the Sinclair Executive, which was launched in 1972. It cost about three times the average weekly wage but set the standard. The Sinclair calculators were successful because they were far cheaper than the competition.
The HP-35, the world's first handheld scientific calculator, was introduced by Hewlett-Packard on February 1, 1972. This small, yet powerful calculator, named for its 35 keys, could perform functions like trigonometry, logarithms, and exponentials, which were previously only available on large desktop calculators or done manually using slide rules. Its compact size and innovative features quickly made it a hit, even exceeding sales expectations, and ultimately led to the decline of the slide rule.
Calcium is an essential component of bones, leaves, milk and teeth. It forms 1.5% of the human body by mass.
The element name "calcium" comes from the Latin word "calcis" meaning "lime."
Calcium isn't found free in nature, but it can be purified into a soft silvery-white alkaline earth metal.
Calcium has been known since the first century, when the ancient Romans were known to make lime from calcium oxide.
Though calcium has been known for thousands of years, it was not purified as an element until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy.
Calcium is used for making cheese and cement, removing nonmetallic impurities from alloys, and as a reduction agent in the preparation of other metals.
Calcium is the fifth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, present at a level of about 3% in the oceans and soil.
During pregnancy, the baby growing in its mother's womb needs plenty of calcium to develop its skeleton. If the mother doesn't get enough calcium, her baby will draw what it needs from the mother's bones. Women often lose 3 to 5 percent of their bone mass during breastfeeding, and recover after.
Half of a cup of figs will give you just as much calcium as half a cup of milk.
People who meet their calcium need reduce their risk of developing kidney stones.
Black bears have a way of recycling calcium into their bones while they hibernate so they wake up just as strong as when they nodded off.
England's King Edward III annexed Calais in 1347. Siege guns were used by the English for one of the first times.
The largest English army to serve overseas prior to 1600 was gathered at the Siege of Calais in 1347. It reached a peak amount of 32,000 men.
Auguste Rodin's sculptureThe Burghers of Calais commemorates the siege of Calais in 1347.
The siege ended when Edward III agreed to spare the townsfolk if six of their leaders presented themselves to be executed. Six leaders did so but Edward's wife, Queen Philippa, persuaded him to spare them.
Half the population of Calais in the fifteenth century worked for the British wool trade.
Calais was the last continental territorial possession of England until its capture on January 7, 1558 by the French under Francis, Duke of Guise during the ItalianWar of 1551–1559.
Map showing the situation of 1477, northern France and the pale of Calais
Spain captured Calais in 1596 during their war with Henry IV of France, but gave it back to France two years later.
Guy Fawkes participated in the capture of the city of Calais by the Spanish.
Nelson's mistress Emma Hamilton went to live in Calais after he died to flee her creditors. Penniless, she died there of dysentery in 1814.
Swimming the English Channel was first achieved on 24-25 August 1875 by Captain Matthew Webb (1848-83). He covered the 21 miles from Dover to Calais Sands in 21 hours 45 minutes using the breast stroke.
At 21 miles from England across the Strait of Dover, Calais is the French town closest to the UK.
The line from Calais to Dover is the boundary between the English Channel and the North Sea.
Calais is one of five French towns allowed by royal decree to have their own flags. The other four are Boulogne, Dunkirk, Le Havre and Saint-Malo.
The legend of King Alfred burning a villager's cakes when in disguise dates only from the 12th century, some 300 years after he lived.
The word 'cake' dates from the 13th century. It comes from the Old Norse 'kaka', and is related to modern-day Danish 'kage' and German 'Kuchen.'
In early Yorkshire, England, a plate holding wedding cake was thrown out of the window as the bride returned to her parent's home after the wedding.
The saying "You can't have your cake and eat it" (originally "eat your cake and have it") was first seen in print in 1562 in John Heywood's Proverbs and Epigrams.
Because of the abundance of candied fruits and sugars in fruitcake, it was considered "sinfully rich" and was outlawed in Europe in the early 18th century. It became popular again in the 19th century when it was included at tea time in England.
The earliest known reference to a 'birthday cake' was in 1785.
Putting candles on birthday cakes originated with the ancient Greeks. They made round cakes to honor Artemis, the goddess of the moon, which were often decorated with candles to represent the lunar glow.
Jane Austen wrote in a letter to her sister in 1808, "You know how interesting the purchase of a sponge-cake is to me." This is the earliest known use of the hyphenated word "sponge-cake".
German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany. It was named after an American, Samuel German, who in 1852 developed a type of dark baking chocolate for the American Baker's Chocolate Company. The brand name of the product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him.
Queen Victoria adopted the mid nineteenth century craze for tea parties. The Victoria sandwich cake, named after her was one of the queen's favorites at these culinary events.
In 1867 Charles Ranhofer, the chef of the famous Delmonico's restaurant in New York, created a new sponge cake covered in ice cream to celebrate the American purchase of Alaska from the Russians. It was, at first, called Alaska-Florida Cake, before being changed to Baked Alaska.
A new sponge cake made with apricot jam was named a Battenberg cake in honor of the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Victoria to Prince Louis of Battenberg in 1884.
The oldest known recipe of carrot cake dates from 1892, in a book of the housekeeping school of Kaiseraugst (Canton of Aargau, Switzerland). It did not become popular until the 1940s because of rationing during the Second World War.
The oldest still existing wedding cake was baked in 1898. It now resides in the Willis Museum in Basingstoke.
Sometimes, early telephone operators would get to know their customers so well, the customers would ask for a reminder call when it was time to remove a cake from the oven.
FUN CAKE FACTS
The actor Alan Alda met his wife Arlene at a dinner party on the Upper West Side, when a rum cake accidentally fell onto the kitchen floor and they were the only two guests who did not hesitate to eat it.
In 2011, a man crashed Paris Hilton's 30th birthday party, stole her $3,200 birthday cake, and served it to the homeless.
Black Forest Cake (see below) consists of layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries between them. The cake is decorated with more whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shaving. The cake is German in origins (early 1900's) and named from distilled cherries from the Black Forest mountain range in southwestern Germany.
The name Brownie comes from the deep brown color of the confection. Its origin is with a housewife from Bangor, Maine who was baking chocolate cake one day and it fell. Instead of throwing it out, this thrifty cook cut the collapsed cake into bars and served it.
Adolf Hitler loved cake. Every night before he went to bed (often in the early hours of the morning), a special cake had to be left out for him. This was typically an apple cake strewn with nuts and raisins, though he was also fond of chocolate biscuits and scones.
The world record for the most layers in a cake is 260 layers. This record was achieved by The Watkins Co. in Winona, Minnesota, on September 14, 2018. The company, which is famous for its vanilla extract, created the towering confection to celebrate its 150th anniversary.
The world record for the tallest cake was set by the Hakasima-Nilasari Culinary School in Jakarta, Indonesia. Standing at a staggering 108.27 feet (33 meters), it was unveiled on November 28, 2008, as part of the "Amazing Christmas" event at Senayan City. To put that into perspective, the cake was roughly as tall as a 10-story building.
The biggest wedding cake in the world was a cake made by chefs at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. It was unveiled at the New England Bridal Showcase on February 8, 2004. The cake measured 17 feet high and weighed 15,032 pounds.
Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa with a metropolitan population of 22.2 million. It is also the largest in the Arab world, and the sixth-largest in the world by population..
By Nina R from Africa - Cairo, Egypt,
It is situated on the east bank of the River Nile eight miles above the apex of the delta and 100 miles from the Mediterranean.
Cairo has long been settled. In the 4th century Romans built a fortress down on the banks of the Nile river.
In 641, Muslims took control of the area and founded the city of El Fustat (Old Cairo) moving its capital there from Alexandria.
In 969 El Azhar, a Muslim university and mosque was founded at El Fustat. From its inception it has been a significant influence in Muslim higher education. It is said to be the oldest university in the world.
A new city was built by the Fatimid ruler Gowhar north of El Fustat in about 1000 to serve as its capital. The city was called Al-Qahira, which translates to Cairo.
In 1168 the Crusaders entered Egypt and El Fustat was intentionally burned down to prevent the destruction of Cairo. Under the Mamelukes (1250–1517) the city prospered.
Cairo's growth began to slow beginning in 1348 and lasting into the early 1500s due to the outbreak of numerous plagues and the discovery of a sea route around the Cape of Good Hope, which allowed Europeanspice traders to avoid Cairo on their routes east.
Cairo became the capital of the virtually-autonomous kingdom of Egypt established by Mehmet Ali in 1805.
In 1882 the British entered the region and economic center of Cairo moved closer to the Nile. At that time 5% of Cairo's population was European.
The intercontinental airline service made its debut in 1927. The flight, by Imperial Airways, was from London to Cairo.
During World War II Cairo was the headquarters of the Allied forces in north Africa.
In 1952 much of Cairo was burned in a series of riots and anti-government protests.
The Cairo Opera House was destroyed by fire in 1970. Ironically the Cairo fire station was located inside the same building.
On January 25, 2011 over 20,000 protesters entered the streets of Cairo protesting over Egypt's government. The protests continued for several weeks and hundreds were killed and/or wounded as both anti and pro-government demonstrators clashed.
As of March 2026, the population density of Cairo (city-proper) was approximately 50,180 people per square mile (19,376 people per sq km). This makes it one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
With the attractions of the pyramids and sphinx at Giza and the Egyptian museum, which has one of the world's leading archaeological collections, Cairo has a very substantial tourist industry.
Cairo's film and publishing industries serve most of the Middle East.
Cairo's metro, one of two in Africa (the other being in Algiers, Algeria), ranks among the fifteen busiest in the world with over 1 billion annual passenger rides.
Michael Caine was born on March 14, 1933 in St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe, London, the son of Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish market porter, and Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell), a cook and charwoman.
Michael Caine in 2012. By Manfred Werner / Tsui - Own work, Wikipedia Commons
Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, he took his stage name from the filmThe Caine Mutiny (1954).
While he has always used "Michael Caine" professionally, his legal name was Maurice Micklewhite until 2016. He legally changed it to Michael Caine because of the rise in airport security checks. Airport security guards know him as Michael Caine but his passport had a different name which made him wait hours.
Young Maurice wore surgical boots as a toddler because his poverty-stricken diet had given him rickets.
Things got no better when, during World War II, Maurice was evacuated to the country, where he lived with a family who starved him and locked him in a cupboard.
Caine was called up for national service in the British Army in 1951 when he was aged 18 and was deployed to South Korea to help in the aftermath of the North Korean invasion. He served as part of the Royal Fusiliers. He said he had gone into it feeling sympathetic to Communism, coming as he did from a poor family. But he has said the experience left him permanently repelled.
Michael Caine had a near death experience in the Korean War that "formed his character" for the rest of his life. He learned to live every moment as if it were his last and to always look on the bright side of life.
Some time after his mother died, Caine and his younger brother, Stanley, learned they had an elder half-brother, named David. He suffered from severe epilepsy and had been kept in Cane Hill Mental Hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in the hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992.
In 1957, at Brighton University, Caine appeared in a one-act play written by a fellow actor who went by the name of David Baron. It was Baron's very first play. He later changed his name back to Harold Pinter, the name under which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
Caine lodged with composer John Barry in the early 1960s for a few months, after being forced to leave his own flat, penniless.
Caine shared a London flat with actor Terence Stamp early in his career.
The role of Alfie was turned down by Anthony Newley and Terence Stamp before it was offered to him.
His first American accent was in the film Hurry Sundown (1967). He was taught the Southern drawl by Vivien Leigh, who told him to say "four door Ford" all day long for weeks.
When he starred in 1969 heist film The Italian Job, Caine didn't have a driving licence.
In 1971, Caine was watching television when he saw a commercial for Maxwell House coffee. Actress and model Shakira Baksh was dancing in the background, and Caine was immediately smitten. He asked a friend in the advertising business to find out who she was, and they were introduced soon after.
Caine and Shakira were married at the Algiers Hotel in Las Vegas on January 8, 1973 and they have been together ever since. They have one daughter, Natasha.
Throughout the 1960s he was by his own estimation drinking two bottles of vodka and smoking at least eighty cigarettes a day. He quit smoking cigarettes following a stern lecture from Tony Curtis at a party in 1971, and finally quit smoking cigars shortly before his 70th birthday in 2003.
Trivia books written by Caine include Not Many People Know That!, and And Not Many People Know This Either!. Proceeds from the books went to the National Playing Fields Association (now Fields in Trust) of which Caine was a prominent supporter.
Most Caine impressions include the catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that." Peter Sellers initiated this when he appeared on BBC1's Parkinson show on 28 October 1972 and said: "Not many people know that. This is my Michael Caine impression. You see, Mike's always quoting from the Guinness Book of Records. At the drop of a hat he'll trot one out. 'Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground?' Now there's not many people who know that!".
The production offices of Mona Lisa (1986) were located in the disused St Olave's hospital, the very hospital in which Caine was born.
Has been nominated for an Oscar at least once in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s).
Caine wasn't present at the Academy Awards ceremony when he won best supporting actor for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) because he was filming Jaws: The Revenge (1987), for which he was nominated for worst supporting actor at the Razzie awards the following year.
"Michael Caine", a top 10 song in Britain in the mid-'80s by the group Madness, had his "My Name Is Michael Caine" quote sampled into the song.
Michael Caine only agreed to be in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) because his 7-year-old daughter was too young to see his other films, and he wanted her to watch him in something.
He was awarded the CBE (Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire) in the 1993 Queen's Honours List for his services to drama and formally knighted in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his contribution to the performing arts.
He officially changed his name from Maurice Micklewhite to Michael Caine in July 2016 at the age of 83. He said: "An airport security guard would say, 'Hi, Michael Caine,' and suddenly I'd give him a passport with a different name on it. I could stand there for an hour. So I changed my name."
Educating Rita (1983) is his favourite folm of his own, and the performance he's the most proud of.
The 24 year-old German analytical chemist Friedrich Runge started conducting chemical experiments at a young age. In 1819 the writerJohann Goethe encouraged him to analyze coffee. Arising from these investigations he isolated a major purine alkaloid found in coffee - caffeine.
Fibrous crystals of purified caffeine. Dark-field microscopy image. By Zephyris
Most mid nineteenth century writers habitually took a stimulant to help them keep awake
at night to write. Often this would be caffeine consumed in strong
coffee, or green tea.
The first commercially successful decaffeination process was accidentally discovered in 1903 after a German coffee importer, Ludwig Roselius, observed that a freight of coffee beans accidentally soaked in seawater had lost most of their caffeine content without losing much of their flavor. He turned a batch of ruined coffee beans over to researchers and the process was patented in 1906. Although
not the first to remove caffeine, they perfected the process of
removing caffeine from the beans without destroying their flavor.
Coffee decaffeinated Roselius' way was sold as Kaffee HAG in most of Europe, and later as Sanka brand coffee in the US. Café HAG and Sanka are now worldwide brands of Kraft Foods.
When the pilot Amy Johnson flew from Cape Town to London in a record time of seven days and seven hours in 1932, she said she had kept awake by drinking strong coffee and taking caffeine tablets.
Athletes who test positive
for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine may
be banned from the Olympic Games. This level may be reached after
drinking about five cups of coffee.
There are 100 to 150
milligrams of caffeine in an eight-ounce cup of brewed coffee, ten
milligrams in a six-ounce cup of cocoa, five to ten milligrams in one
ounce of bittersweet chocolate, and five milligrams in one ounce of
milk chocolate.
In 2015, two students at Northumbria University in North East England were accidentally given a lethal dose of caffeine during a scientific experiment. They received 30g instead of the planned 0.3g and immediately suffered side effects, including dizziness, blurred vision, shaking and a rapid heartbeat. The error was caused by a misplaced decimal point on the phone used to calculate the caffeine dosage. The university was fined £400,000.
Caffeine does not give you energy, it blocks the action of adenosine on its receptors and consequently prevents the onset of drowsiness. Thus not giving you energy, but just keeping you from feeling tired.
Caffeine in coffee beans is thought to serve as a toxic substance protecting the seeds of the plant, a form of plant defense, against herbivores. Its production has evolved independently to caffeine found in cacao and tea.
Coffee represents 75% of
all the caffeine consumed in the United States.
Tea contains half the amount of caffeine found in coffee.
Retail espresso vendors
report an increase in decaffeinated sales in the month of January due
to New Year's resolutions to decrease caffeine intake.
Special studies conducted
about the humanbody revealed it will usually absorb up to about 300
milligrams of caffeine at a given time. About four normal cups.
That excessive caffeine ingestion leads to symptoms that overlap with those of many psychiatric disorders. In psychiatric in-patients, caffeine has been found to increase anxiety, hostility and psychotic symptoms.
The American Psychiatric Association's DSM-V handbook classifies caffeine withdrawal as a mental disorder.
In Canada it's illegal for clear or non-dark sodas to contain caffeine.
Decaf coffee is not caffeine-free. About 1-2% of the caffeine is still present in decaffeinated drinks.
Certified organic decaf coffee must be made with the Swiss Water Method, which only uses water to extract caffeine from the beans.
After the decaffeinating
process, processing companies don't throw the caffeine away; they
sell it to soft drink and pharmaceutical companies.
Caffeine acts as a natural pesticide in plants and it can also be toxic to household pets such as cats and dogs,
The chemical dichloromethane (DCM), used to extract caffeine from coffee and tea, is very bad for the ozone layer — with twice as much in the atmosphere in 2017 as there was in 2000.
The tiny borer beetle can ingest high levels of caffeine—the equivalent of a 150-pound person throwing back 500 shots of espresso.
You would have to drink 100 cups of coffee in four hours to get a lethal dose of caffeine–ten grams.
After the Turks were seen off in the Siege of Vienna in 1683, a Polisharmy officer, Franz Kolschitzky, retained the 500 sacks of coffee beans left by the fleeing Turkish army. He had previously lived in Turkey and, being the only person there who knew how to use them, claimed the coffee for himself.
The following year, Kolschitzky opened central Europe's first coffeehouse in Vienna with the stock of coffee beans. He established the habit of refining the brew by filtering out the grounds, then heating up some milk and whisking it to create a foaming liquid before sweetening it with honey and adding a dash of cream. This drink became known as café au lait.
Milk as an additive to coffee became popular in the 1680s, when a French physician recommended that café au lait be used for medicinal purposes.
The earliest written reference to café au lait appears in the letters of Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, the Marquise de Sévigné, a celebrated French aristocrat who corresponded extensively in the mid-to-late 17th century. Her mention of the drink is among the first recorded uses of the term.
In New Orleans, café au lait took on a distinctly local character. During the American Civil War, Union naval blockades cut off the Port of New Orleans and coffee became scarce, so the city's French Creole community began blending roasted chicory root into the grounds to stretch their supplies. The resulting brew — stronger, slightly bitter, with a hint of chocolate — became so beloved that it remains the standard version to this day. Café du Monde, the open-air coffee stand that has operated in the New Orleans French Quarter since 1862, still serves café au lait made this way, traditionally accompanied by beignets dusted with powdered sugar.
In France, café au lait is traditionally served not in a cup but in a wide, handleless ceramic bowl. The broad opening makes it easy to dip a croissant or chunk of baguette into the coffee — a breakfast ritual so ingrained in French culture that a specific style of bowl is named after the drink. The most collectible vintage examples, produced in the early 20th century, carry Art Deco designs in bold reds, blues, and yellows.
At Starbucks, café au lait is sold under the name "Caffè Misto" — a 1:1 blend of French-press brewed coffee and frothed milk. It differs from a caffè latte, which uses espresso as its base rather than drip or press-brewed coffee.
In Spain, it is common to pour chocolate milk or café au lait over cereal for breakfast.
The first coffee shop, called Kiva Han, opened in Constantinople in the early sixteenth century. Turkey had become the chief distributor of coffee, with markets established in Egypt, Persia, and Venice.
Kiva Han by Perplexity
In Persia coffeehouses sprang up in the sixteenth century where men assembled to drink coffee and play chess or listen to music.
In 1652, a Greek or Turkish servant named Pasqua Rosee opened a coffee shop in London. Rosee's coffee shop was even more successful than Jacob's, and it helped to spread coffee culture throughout England.
These first English coffeehouses were called "penny universities" as a penny was charged for admission and a cup of coffee.
By 1670 coffee had replaced beer as the favorite breakfast beverage for many New England colonists. There were now coffeehouses in most major North American towns including Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. These establishments sold a greater variety of drinks than the European ones as they offered not only coffee but also chocolate, ales, beers and wines.
In London such was the popularity of coffee houses amongst gentlemen by 1674 that their wives were protesting that their husbands were never to be found at home. Instead they were constantly to be found drinking and conversing in the coffee houses. As a result The Women's Petition Against Coffee was set up.
In 1675 England's King Charles II was alerted by his spies to the seditious possibilities of coffeehouses where coffee, chocolate, tea and fruit flavored iced water were drunk whilst political matters was discussed. He was warned they are hotbeds of revolution and seminaries of sedition so he issued a royal proclamation to suppress them. However, such was the public outcry the ban lasted just eleven days. Instead Charles taxed heavily the public sale of coffee.
In 1686 the Sicilian chef Francesco Procopia dei Coltelli (1651 - 1727) opened Le Procope, the first café in Paris. The café faced the Theatre Francais, where it drew the artists and actors of the day.
Within a few years of its opening, customers were gathering in Le Procope, which was elegantly decorated with chandeliers, mirrors and wood paneling, to sample Procopia's choice of around 90 flavors of different ices and sorbets. It also became a meeting place for Parisians to discuss politics and read news-sheets.
Below is a drawing at Café Procope: at rear, from left to right: Condorcet, La Harpe, Voltaire (with his arm raised) and Diderot.
Café Procope is still in business today A plaque at the establishment states that it is the world's oldest continually functioning café.
Before the first French café, coffee was sold by street vendors in Europe, in the Arab fashion.
The owner of the Café de la Rotonde in Paris would allow starving artists to pay for their drinks with a painting or drawing. In the 1900s the walls of the café would have been casually adorned with works now considered priceless.
Bistro is not French for Cáfe, but the word Russian Cossacks would shout at French waiters, meaning "quickly."
Julius Caesar was born on July 13, 100 BC. in Rome. An ancestor had been untimely ripped from his mother's
womb at birth hence his name Caesarian. (Latin Caedere) .
His father and namesake, Caius Julius Caesar, was a Roman Praetor
of the most ancient and aristocratic lineage who had encountered hard
times. His mother was an Aurelia from the Cottae branch, a rich and
influential family of plebeian stock.
As a young child, Caesar used to race around in a little cart
pulled by a goat. A show-off as he grew older he would ride at top
speed without stirrups with his hands behind his head.
As a young boy, he lived in a modest house in the Subura quarter,
where he apparently learned to speak several languages, including
Hebrew and Gallic dialects.
APPEARANCE
Caesar had a large head, set on a sinewy neck broad forehead,
strong and aquiline nose, soft white skin, dark piercing eyes, very
slightly built, wiry figure.
Caesar had a very short cropped hairstyle. He was very vain about
his locks, having began to lose his hair when younger. Baldness was
considered a deformity by the Romans and he was sensitive of it.
Cicero noted: "When I notice how carefully arranged his hair is
and when I watch him adjusting the parting with one finger, I cannot
imagine that this man could conceive of such a wicked thing as to
destroy the Roman constitution."
Below is The Tusculum portrait, perhaps the only surviving statue created during Caesar's lifetime.
Gautier Poupeau from Paris, France. Wikipedia Commons
Caesar was given permission by Roman senate to wear his laurel
wreath all of the time to hide his baldness.
He had his facial hairs individually plucked out with tweezers
every day.
Particular of dress, neat in appearance, Caesar was distinctive in
his scarlet cloak.
CHARACTER
Caesar was self confident and very ambitious, he said: "would
rather be first in a little Iberian village then second in Rome"
A brave man, he refused a bodyguard saying "It is better to
die once rather than live always in fear of death."
RELATIONSHIPS
At the age of 17, Caesar married Cornelia the youngest daughter of
Lucius Cornelius Cinna, a leader of the "populist democratic"
party. This angered Cinna's enemy, the reactionary consul, Lucius
Cornelius Sulla, who ordered him to be put her away. Caesar refused
and his life was only saved by powerful friends in Rome, though he
had to flee to Asia for a while. He returned to Rome four years later
when Sulla left office.
Caesar became a widower after Cornelia's death trying to deliver a
stillborn son in 68BC.
Caesar had a child Caesarion, his only known biological son, by
Cleopatra whilst in Egypt. He was 52 and she was 21.
Caesar divorced his second wife Pompeia in 61BC after the tribune
Clodius had entered his house dressed as a woman. Clodius had amorous
designs on Pompeia and he was charged with sacrilege but was
acquitted after bribing the jurors. Caesar divorced his wife
justifying it by saying "Caesar's wife must be beyond
suspicion."
Caesar had many mistresses, one of whom was Servilia, the mother
of a certain Marcus Juncus Brutus. He was nicknamed "the bald
adulterer" by soldiers.
MONEY AND FAME
Caesar threw spectacular games that included the diversion of the
Tiber River for a specific representation in the Circus. He ended
that year in glory but in bankruptcy. His debts reached several
hundred gold talents (millions of dollars in today's currency) and
threatened to be an obstacle for his future career.
In 45BC Caesar was officially recognised as a god and a temple was
erected in his honour in his forum.
Caesar paid his soldiers in salt (a valuable commodity in Roman
times) rather than money-the word "salary" comes from this.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS
In a gluttonous age, Caesar was moderate in his culinary intake. When on a campaign he ate the same food as his men did and
drank the same wine.
The Roman legions marched across the Roman world singing filthy
songs about Julius Caesar, which the Roman authorities tried to ban.
Caesar started one of the earliest newspapers, The Acta Divrna
(The Daily News) containing daily announcements of various orders,
marriages, births, deaths, military appointments etc was written on a
board in public places in Rome. It also included news of gladiatorial
contests, accounts of battles. Scribes from all over the Roman Empire
copied it down and sent it back by letter to their masters.
Caesar's accounts of his invasion of Britain and subdual of
Gaul, Die Bello Gallico and Die Bello Civile were
models of simple and clear writing of military history. He wanted to
ensure he would be recorded in posterity as a victorious hero.
As overseer of public games, Caesar increased his popularity by
preparing magnificent spectacles in the Circus Maximus at a cost of a
crushing burden of debt for himself. He was booed for catching up
with his correspondence during gladiatorial games.
A skilful swordsman and horseman, Caesar had incredible stamina
and endurance and could travel long distances quickly. He could march
besides his legionaries on foot and out tire the best of them.
A superb swimmer with a powerful stroke. When shipwrecked off
Alexandria, Caesar jumped overboard to swim ashore carrying his sword
between his teeth, he held his commentaries with his left hand above
the water while beating it with his right.
Caesar participated in the hobby of sigillography (the collector of
seals). Stamps were used to authenticate documents.
ODDS AND ENDS
On route to a rhetoric course, Caesar was captured by pirates. When informed that they had demanded a ransom of twenty talents, Caesar burst out laughing. They did not know, he said, who it was that they had captured, and he volunteered to pay fifty. He spent 40 days with the
pirates whilst the ransom was being arranged and Caesar spent his
time playing dice with them or joking how he would capture and
crucify them. The pirates laughed once the ransom was paid and Caesar
was set free. He immediately gathered a fleet, to go after the
pirates. Caesar caught them and crucified them to a man.
Caesar got into the senate party due to the lavish bribes he
distributed. He was totally motivated by political ambitions.
Caesar wasn't that strong physically. He was an epileptic who suffered from migraine headaches.
Due to increasing traffic congestion, Caesar had to ban all wheeled vehicles, including chariots in the centre of Rome during hours of daylight in 45BC.
MILITARY CAREER
A very clear mind when thinking out military strategy, Caesar
regarded Alexander the Great as his model war leader.
He summarised his quick campaign against King Pharnaces in Zela
Asia Minor (47BC) as "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I
conquered)
Caesar used a simple cipher for passing secret messages advancing
one letter of the alphabet so his name was Dbftbs.
Even as he approached 50, Caesar remained a fixture of the front lines, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with his troops. Witnessing their commander risk his life in the fray served as a powerful tonic for his men; they viewed him as the "salt of the earth," and his presence alone lent them renewed vigor. He led by grueling example—marching on foot alongside his legionaries to outpace even his own cavalry, or seizing a spade to join them in the grit of digging fortifications.
Caesar once slipped and fell on his face as he disembarked on the coast of Africa. This would have been considered a fatal omen by his army, but instead, he shouted: "Africa, I have tight hold of you!" The expedition proved a success.
In 55-54 BC Caesar crossed to Britain because of help given by
Britons to his enemies in Gaul. He lost many ships as he didn't beach
them high enough, not allowing for tides. The woad painted
inhabitants of Kent outfought Caesar's Romans.
On his second British expedition, Caesar got further, crossing the
River Thames at Brentford. Caesar's stone marked the spot where the
crossing was supposedly effected.
He wrote about the Britons he encountered at Deal and their habit
of going into battle naked except for blue bodypaint, their hair
stiffened into spikes wearing just a bracelet or two. “Briton”
comes from the Celtic word “Pretani”, a tribal name meaning “the
painted ones” or “the tattooed people”.
It is likely that herding dogs were brought to England by Caesar
during his 55BC invasion and that specimens were left behind and interbred with the local dogs.
In military terms the two expeditions were a disaster, but Caesar
was economic with the truth in his reports back home and he succeeded
in impressing the authorities.
Between 58-51 BC, Caesar subdued Gaul selling thousands of Belgic tribes into slavery by a process of total annihilation of Gaelic forces. At the Battle of Alesia which ended on October 3, 52, Caesar's 100,000 troops were outnumbered 4:1 but they still won.
The Fortifications built by Caesar in Alesia Wikipedia
According to Plutarch, the whole Gaul campaign resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes, one million men sold to slavery and another three million dead in battle fields. Ancient historians are notorious for exaggerating numbers of this kind, but Caesar's conquest of Gaul was certainly the greatest military triumph since the campaigns of Alexander the Great.
Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine.
These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of his rival for the leadership of the Roman state, Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate.
With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance on January 10, 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon (a stream that divided Caesar's province from Italy proper) with the 13th Legion, signaling the start of civil war.
Caesar paused on the banks of the Rubicon
When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he uttered the famous phrase "ālea iacta est" ("the die has been cast"). Illegally entering Roman territory under arms was an act
of treason and Caesar fought the ensuing war against Pompey defeating
him at Pharsalus. Having started the civil war, his leniency resulted
in his fighting the same enemies over and over again.
In 48BC Caesar decisively defeated Pompey at Pharsalus, in Greece. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated on the order of Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII. In Rome, Caesar was appointed dictator.
Caesar's final victory in Spain at Munda over the sons of Pompey in
45 BC rubber-stamped him as sole leader of the Roman world.
To celebrate his victory over Pompey, Julius Caesar gave a banquet at which 150,000 guests were seated at 22,000 tables. It lasted for two days.
DEATH
According to Cicero, Julius Caesar once felt ill after dinner and retired to his bedroom instead of the latrine where his would-be assassins were waiting for him, purportedly avoiding assassination.
Caesar's wife Culpurnia had a fearful dream on the night before
the fatal Ides of March and she begged her husband not to take part
in the festival. But Caesar did not look to his laurels.
The day before his death, Caesar was dining with friends and the
question arose "What is the best kind of death?" "A
sudden one" replied Caesar before anyone else.
The night before he died, the ceremonial armor which Caesar kept
in his house fell off with a great crash.
In the street a few minutes before his assassination a Greek logic
teacher named Artemidoros had handed Caesar a note containing a list
of conspirators and warning him that assassins planned to attack him
as he entered the hall. But Caesar put it aside. He ignored the
warnings as he had important business to attend to. He still had the
bit of paper in his hand when he took his seat in the chamber.
Caesar was killed by a republican group during Ides of March (March 15, 44 BC) at
the senate house. The 60
people involved in the plot included Brutus the son of his mistress. They feared Caesar was going to make
himself King of Rome.
23 daggers in total were thrust into Caesar. He struggled until he saw
his supposedly
faithful friend, Caesar ceased to struggle.
The Death of Caesar (1798) by Vincenzo Camuccini
After the murder, Brutus and the other murderers had their homes
set on fire by angry crowds. According to legend Brutus settled in
Britain after the assassination.
When Julius Caesar died, he left today's equivalent of about $270 to each and every Roman citizen.
After the assassination of Julius Caesar a large comet, the Julium Sidus, hit the Earth's atmosphere, It was seen in Rome and China, and may have been brightest daylight comet in recorded history. The appearance of the comet led to Caesar being Deified, an Imperial Cult, and the building of the 'Temple of the Comet Star'.
The King of Diamonds from a deck of cards represents Julius
Caesar.
"Beware the Ides of March" is an anagram of "Caesar: few bothered him".
Soueces 4,000 Amazing Trivia Facts by Gyles Brandeth, The
Faber Book of Anecdotes by Clifton Fadiman
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