Archives

Hillary Supporters: Obama ‘Too Skinny’ | 31 / 07 / 2008 | 0

When you thought Hillary Clinton supporters couldn’t go any lower (or get any dumber), here they go again (from The Wall Street Journal):

“He’s too new … and he needs to put some meat on his bones,” says Diana Koenig, 42, a housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas, who says she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

“I won’t vote for any beanpole guy,” another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

The first woman, I understand. She’s a housewife from Corpus Christi, which is as good as braindead. But this second person …how do you attain such grand wisdom so as to think of choosing political candidates based on the size of their gut? Isn’t this sort of discrimination-based-on-physical-characteristics thing supposed to be drowned out of use, along with racism and sexism?

Published under: No F***ing Way, Philosophy, Politics

The Cloud and the Death of the Computer | 31 / 07 / 2008 | 0

There is a monumental shift going on in the computing world. Increasingly, users are using web apps instead of those on the desktop. The shift began with email, but now, people are using web apps to create documents, spreadsheets, store photos and video; even rich applications like photo editing are now available inside of the web browser.

With “the platform” shifted to the web, there is no need to use Microsoft Windows anymore. We can use any old OS (Linux/OSX) with FireFox and we’re good to go.

This shift has created a whole new hardware category: netbooks. Netbooks are a cheap and mobile version of the long-heralded “NC”, or network computer. In the 90’s, tech gurus called the death of the PC more than a decade early, and welcomed a future of ultra-cheap NCs. With NCs, they prophecized, we’d store all our data on the web and get by with tiny (<4GB) hard drives, relatively slow processors, no disk drive, and an internet connection.

The ASUS Eee PC was the first netbook to make it on the scene. Its selling point: a $245 price tag, WiFi, a 7″ screen, a 2GB solid-state disk for storage, 256 MB of memory, and Linux. ASUS promptly sold millions of Eee PCs in its first 6 months on sale, and has since expanded the line to include larger models with bigger solid-state disks, bigger screens, more memory, Windows XP pre-loaded, and even a desktop version.

This development is a huge disappointment for Microsoft and all the major computer makers, including Dell, Lenovo, Apple, and HP. Microsoft will be devastated because there will be no reason to pay extra for Windows Vista. The computer makers will lose because there’s no longer any reason to upgrade one’s computer, and computer sales will shift to ultra-low priced (not to mention low-margin) NCs.

This process, as I’ve described it, is already occurring. The best example is Japan, where we’ve seen more than 5 consecutive quarters of falling PC shipments. The reason: most consumers would rather spend money on a new mobile phone (itself a capable mini-computer), video game console (ditto) or flat-screen television over a new PC.

Laptops have seen their share of PC sales increase, but combined sales of PCs and Laptops have fallen.

This is horrible news for the industry, but it’s also an opportunity for innovative firms that can foresee the future of computer use, and build that future into their products. It’s also a victory for consumers, who will presumably pay much less for their hardware going forward.

Published under: Business, Technology

Apple’s Cleanup Hitters On Deck | 30 / 07 / 2008 | 0

As I’ve said before, Apple is soon poised to unleash its redesigned MacBook/MacBook Pros on us, and the unveiling may provide a significant lift to Apple’s revenues (not to mention their share price).

AppleInsider reports that Apple “issued an advisement bulletin to some of its channel partners hinting at a manufacturing ramp down of iPods and certain Mac notebook models, which will result in limited supplies of those products in the coming weeks.”

This is standard practice indicating that a new product launch is coming. I believe it will be on us by October 1st at the latest.

What he have to look forward to:

-redesigned/updated iPod Touch
-redesigned/slimmed MacBook
-redesigned MacBook Pro

Apple stock isn’t cheap, but it’s trading at a 15% discount to its price in early June. With these impending product introductions and the ensuing monster sales revenue, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple was able to top $200 by Christmas time.

Mark my words.

Published under: Business, Finance, Technology

Cali Shakes | 29 / 07 / 2008 | 0

The tremor today centered in Chino Hills, CA reminded me of a photo my girlfriend took of me and my friend Charlton last year, inside of the Safeway supermarkey just 15 miles from Chino Hills, in Upland/Claremont:

(click to enlarge)

“Earthquake Kit: $8.99 + tax”

We were sure surprised to see it; definitely one of those things that you’ll only see in California.

On the positive side of the quake: Charlton’s private lemon orchard probably rained down a bounty of citrus:

(click to enlarge)

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I called Charlton today. He said he felt the quake all the way in San Diego.

Published under: City of Angels, Out and About

Seriously. | 28 / 07 / 2008 | 0

I got this phishing scam in my email box today, and, I must admit, if I was some poor idiot and didn’t notice the numerous grammatical errors, I’ probably would’ve clicked on it:

From: Internal Revenue Service
to: Cameron Newland
date: Jul 29, 2008, 12:34 AM
subject: Tax refund (28371231) $620.50
You have get a Tax Refund on your Visa or MasterCard.
Complete the formular, and get your Tax Refund.
(Your Refund Amount Is $620.50)
http://REDACTED-IP-ADDRESS/www.irs.gov/portal/
Copyright © 2008 - Internal Revenue Service. All rights reserved.

You’d have to be completely retarded to even think about clicking through on this.

A few evenings ago, I was dining at Nordstrom Grill with my girlfriend and there was a table full of young Russian wives, mostly in their early thirties. They were AMAZED, just AMAZED at one woman’s suggestion, that you should never click on links in your email that appear to come from banks because it was obviously a phishing scam targeting your personal information. (Banks often note that they will never ask for your personal information in an email.) This realization was some sort of surprise to some of these women.

Never underestimate society’s insatiable need for mindlessly communicating information that we already know. Just look at Oprah and Dr. Phil. They make their living doing exactly that.

THIS JUST IN! Don’t let your kids meet strange adults on the internet. Exercise and eating well may improve your health. Don’t give out all your personal info if an email requests it. You don’t say!

Bashing Dr. Phil and Oprah for raising awareness among the braindead masses is a little misguided. After all, if it wasn’t these two clowns telling us how to live our lives, we’d probably be taking advice from prescription-drug-swilling talkshow host Rush Limbaugh, the adulterer Jessie Jackson, or, GASP, Bill O’Reilly.

The service that Dr. Phil and Oprah provides is unquestionably positive, I just wish people would be intelligent enough to reason on their own so that they wouldn’t need to rely on television personalities for their conversation material.

Seriously.

Published under: Philosophy

The Clover | 23 / 07 / 2008 | 1

Must read for Starbucks fans/customers:

The Coffee Fix: Can the $11,000 Clover Machine Save Starbucks? by Matther Honan, Wired Magazine

Published under: Business, Seattle

Iran vs. The West | 23 / 07 / 2008 | 0

Over the last month, Iran’s tone has changed. Now more than ever, a diplomatic solution is looking likely, instead of a military action on behalf of Israel or the United States.

I believe that a diplomatic solution has emerged only because Iran’s defense improvements purchased from Russia aren’t yet operable. Had they been operable now, Iran would be much less likely to come to the bargaining table with the west. The Iranians’ reticence to bargain is partly due to the fact that strongman, anti-Western babble constitutes a legitimately bankable policy: the people like their leader to stand up against the United States. The policy, however domestically convenient, sure isn’t helping international diplomacy along.

How is this going to end? War? More sanctions (which only hurt the Iranian people and fail to sufficiently punish its leaders?

Really, it would be best if both sides stopped beating the chests for one minute, long enough for them to compromise.

If Iran really just wants nuclear energy, they can compromise and buy their nuclear material from others (subsidized by the West) in exchange for shutting down their domestic production effort.

If the United States really just wants peace, they can stop threatening Iran with sanctions and come up with a diplomatic solution that benefits both sides. I really don’t see how threats can be seen as legitimate peace-seeking policy, but then again, with hawkish firebrands like John Bolton having been installed as US ambassadors to the world, what do you expect?

Published under: Politics

Mile-High Mania | 22 / 07 / 2008 | 3

I’ve often heard that the inflatable exit slides and oxygen masks on airline flights are useless in any real emergency, and are really there just to reassure us. After all, in the event of a water landing, everyone would be dead before they’d have the chance to use the exit slide.

I’ve never thought about the dual-use of oxygen masks in the event of an onboard emergency: the masks help to maintain order. A contraption covering everyone’s mouth ensures that nobody will talk; thus anarchy and fear are suppressed because creating chaos requires communication. Who knew that instead of serving oxygen, they’re really there to shut you up?

Earlier today, a Continental flight from Houston to Washington, D.C. demonstrated this theory flawlessly:

“Continental Airline’s personnel and staff were exceptional; executing what seemed to me a textbook performance in emergency procedure. I was very impressed,” [Congressman Nick] Lampson said in a release.

[…] the flight was about an hour late leaving Houston because of mechanical difficulties with an engine. Things went downhill from there not long after taking off from Bush Intercontinental Airport.

“Suddenly, we started to descend more rapidly than normal and the oxygen masks came out,” Poe said. The pilots told everyone to fasten their seatbelts.

“There wasn’t any talk because a lot of people had their oxygen masks on,” according to US Rep. Ted Poe. “Everyone seemed to be quite calm.”

It’s amazing that little mask with instructions can keep people so calm in chaotic circumstances. What will they think of next?

Flight carrying members of Congress makes emergency landing

Published under: Quotes, Technology

Apple Falls | 22 / 07 / 2008 | 1

Apple stock has fallen 14.5% in the last two weeks, to $153/share (it sold for as little as $147 this morning). Apple has just reported third-quarter earnings, and though they beat expectations, their tempered outlook for the future gave analysts cold feet and sent shares lower. Steve Jobs’ health problems surely didn’t make analysts any happier.

Mac sales, however, are through the roof. This is particularly cheery news considering Mac computers haven’t had any significant redesign (less the MacBook Air) in ages. If people are going nuts buying the old, outdated Macs, they’ll surely buy more of them (or pay a bigger premium for them) once the redesigned MacBook Pros/MacBooks are available (sometime in the next 12 months). Count me as one of those who is waiting for the redesign(s) to buy a new Mac.

This quarter’s iPhone sales clocked in at only 717,000, due to the shortage of first-generation iPhones prior to the iPhone 3G’s launch (remember, 1 million iPhone 3G’s were sold in the opening weekend alone). Next quarter’s report will be much more telling as to the iPhone 3G’s sales numbers, which will be stellar (somewhere in the realm of 2 or 3 million units).

Apple stock is no bargain even after its recent fall, but those growth investors looking for a well-branded firm with solid growth prospects and a reliable track record of innovative design (not to mention intense consumer loyalty) need look no further. Apple isn’t leaving the stage anytime soon.

Published under: Business, Finance, Technology

First Space Needle Mockups | 22 / 07 / 2008 | 1

VintageSeattle.org just threw up some of the first Space Needle mockups, made before the World Fair in 1962:

Check it out.

Balloon + Saucer = Needle - VintageSeattle

Published under: Seattle

iPhone Now Tethers For Data | 21 / 07 / 2008 | 0

My Motorola Q9C tethers easily to my MacBook running Vista so that I can browse the internet at broadband speeds from anywhere, even on a Metro bus. The iPhone didn’t allow this sort of tethering (in fact, it’s banned in the service agreement).

That’s changed as of today. The hack isn’t convenient, but it works.

Check it out over at http://cre.ations.net.

Published under: Cellphones, Technology

Watch This | 21 / 07 / 2008 | 0

DGENERATE NATION - Skate With Me @ Vimeo.

Published under: City of Angels

Europe Aids Africa (In The Worst Way) | 20 / 07 / 2008 | 0

I’ve translated the following from a Spanish-language article from El Blog Salmon: Europa ayuda a Africa de la peor forma

The European Commission has proposed an aid package to poor African farmers in light of rising global food prices.

The idea is to help them with auxiliary goods, including seed and fertilizer, so that they can increase production. In the midst of rising prices, this production bump is to have a double positive-impact for poor farmers: more production and higher prices for their goods.

This all sounds good and fine; however, there are two problems with the announced project.

First, the €1.5 billion that have been announced for the project will come from leftover funds from the EU’s agricultural subsidy fund. If there would have been €2 billion left instead, would that have been the amount of aid given to African farmers? And had there been nothing left in the fund, where would this agricultural aid project’s budget come from?

This is definitely not the way you finance a serious aid project. If the project is legitimate, there would have been a professional evaluation of project cost and financing would come from the pertinent fund, as opposed to being sourced from unplanned leftovers.

It sounds like the authorities are wasting this money that’s ended up in their coffers instead of spending it on a project that’s considered necessary and important.

The second problem: the project changes nothing with respect to the repressive agricultural policy of the EU. Under the proposal, African farmers could indeed produce more and will benefit because global food prices are indeed high, but the EU still won’t let African farmers sell their goods in the EU, so how are we to believe that any of this is helping the Africans in the long-term?

We’re all for aid to the poor in Africa, put this stands as just another botched job by the Europeans.

Published under: Economics, Emerging Markets, Europe, Politics

Pope Hypocritical on Sustainable Humanity | 17 / 07 / 2008 | 1

Pope Benedict, speaking to the people of Australia, said today that the world’s natural resources are being squandered in the pursuit of “insatiable consumption.” What he didn’t tell you was that his position on family planning ensures that our world is less sustainable than ever.

“Perhaps reluctantly we come to acknowledge that there are also scars which mark the surface of our earth: erosion, deforestation, the squandering of the world’s mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an insatiable consumption,” he said.

The Pope failed to note that his policy of denying condoms and birth control to developing nations allows for irresponsible and unsustainable population growth, which increases human resource usage and damages our planet. Such irresponsible policy simply forces our future generations to deal with the problem of environmental destruction, though they will be even less able to act because of their untenable population.

“The concerns for nonviolence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity,” Benedict told the crowd.

My question has always been, “why does the Pope support this garbage population policy that only destabilizes humanity and brings us closer to the demons the church so opposes?”

The answer lies in plain sight. First, the Church thrives off instability. Those who have nothing often come to the Church as a last hope and seek salvation, which the Church is only so happy to provide –in exchange for complete devotion.

The second reason that the Church supports unsustainable population growth is that doing so furthers its own means. Membership has risen exponentially in the last 200 years. In 1970, the Church counted some 654 million adherents. In 2007, due to a lack of family planning in church ranks, membership now numbers 1.131 billion — a 73% increase.

What the world needs is reason, and little or none of it is coming out of the Catholic Church. To them, it’s like the Enlightenment never happened!

Pope says world’s resources being squandered - AP

Roman Catholic Church - Membership

Published under: Philosophy, Responsible Population

Stocks in Pakistan | 17 / 07 / 2008 | 1

At the Karachi Stock Exchange:

In Karachi investors today broke windows, threw plant holders in the parking lot of the building, burned shareholder statements and at least one protester was injured, prompting intervention by police and the paramilitary.

“We demand that all stock prices be frozen at current levels,” said a fellow called Kauser Javed, who heads the Small Investors Association.

Right.

Hopefully, the Small Investors Association will learn their lesson. Stocks are the best tool for building wealth, but at times they can be volatile. The wealth you build in stocks may only be apparent in the long term, when the upside and downside volatility is averaged out.

Pakistani Investors Stone Karachi Exchange as Stocks Plunge
Looking At International Solutions To Falling Stock Prices

Published under: Economics, Emerging Markets, Finance

WaMu: Vultures Are Circling | 15 / 07 / 2008 | 1

Outside of Washington Mutual headquarters this morning, things didn’t look so rosy. The local CBS affiliate sent a news crew to report on WaMu’s potential insolvency and the big hit the stock took yesterday.

(click to enlarge)

If the media keeps blowing on the flames by reporting on potential bank failures, they might just come up with a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Published under: Business, Finance, Seattle

WaMu Rumors | 14 / 07 / 2008 | 2

Shares of Washington Mutual slid 35% during the trading session today, on fears of the bank failing after IndyMac Bank was taken over by the FDIC over the weekend.

The bank’s position is solid, with over $40 billion in liquidity and $150 billion in retail deposits, according to a Business Wire brief sent out at the end of trading.

Unfortunately, people aren’t very trusting of bank CEOs right now, what with Bear Stearns’ outright denial that it was troubled up until the day it was bought for pennies on the dollar by JPMorgan.

My mother rang me just now and told me that she’d just returned from Washington Mutual, where she’d withdrawn all of her money after hearing from her boss’ lawyer that WaMu was going down.

Now, there is no reason to foolishly panic. The only people who need to do anything with their bank accounts are those who have more than $100,000 deposited at any single bank. Those people ought to withdraw money and put it into similar accounts at other banks, so as to ensure that all their deposits are FDIC-protected.

Washington Mutual may not be the best-managed bank in the world, but it’s an important employer in my state, and I’d like it to stay solvent. Tell your friends the truth, and correct them when they spread inaccurate rumors.

Inaccurate rumors kill banks, and in the end, it may be someone dear to you — a bank employee — who gets fired because of it.

What if my bank fails? - BusinessWeek

Published under: Business, Finance, No F***ing Way, Seattle

Spain Takes Over | 14 / 07 / 2008 | 0

Spaniard Rafael Nadal is just coming off historic wins at Wimbledon and Roland Garros.  The Spanish national soccer team won the European Championship at the end of June, decisively defeating stalwart Russia and then hosing host-country Germany in the final.  Spain is the current world basketball champion, having defeated Greece in 2006, and the world’s undisputed best chef, Ferran Adrià, calls Spain home.  Spain’s economy is steamrolling the rest of Europe’s, having passed Italy in per-capita GDP in 2006, and is on course to overtake France and Germany in that measure in the next 5 years.

The Spanish are bouyed by tourism, a housing boom, population growth from immigration, a strong fashion/retail sector, and banking.  In fact, I used to work for Spanish banking giant BBVA, which has a massive footprint in fast-growing Latin America.  BBVA bought a large bank in the southern U.S., Compass Bancshares, just last year.

BBVA’s chief rival is Santander, a group that has also made significant inroads in Latin America, but has bought into U.K. banks instead of the American ones.

Santander bought British banking giant Abbey National for £9.5 billion in 2004, and today, they’ve announced that they’re buying British retail bank Alliance & Leicester for £2.6 billion;a 50% discount from A&L’s market value in February of this year. Talk about a steal.

This acquisition will give Santander another 8% of the banking market in the U.K., and allow for a combination of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester to realize real cost savings, making this acquisition even more worthwhile for Santander.

Published under: Business, Economics, Europe, Finance

World Population Day | 11 / 07 / 2008 | 0

July 11th is World Population Day!

In 1968, world leaders proclaimed that individuals have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and timing of their children. Forty years later, modern contraception remains out of reach for hundreds of millions of women, men and young people.

This year’s World Population Day reaffirms the right of people to plan their families. It encourages activities, events and information that will help make this right real – especially for those who often have the hardest time getting the information and services they need to plan their families, such as marginalized populations and young people.

When people can plan their families, they can plan their lives. They can plan to beat poverty. They can plan on healthier mothers and children. They can plan to gain equality for women. Plan to support World Population Day this year!

(emphasis mine)

This is my most-favored cause, and I strongly recommend you give to the UNFPA, as it’s extremely underfunded.

Published under: Philosophy, Politics, Responsible Population

Digital Content Fragmenting | 8 / 07 / 2008 | 0

Uncertainty aplenty as Web, media leaders convene

“Media, Internet moguls meet at Idaho luxury retreat, most seeking more online revenue

When media and technology tycoons convene Tuesday in idyllic southern Idaho for five days of dealmaking and outdoor recreation, the mountain air will carry more than a whiff of uncertainty as most arrive with their businesses in various states of disarray.

[...] this year both media and online leaders are grappling with the Internet’s increasing fragmentation. And they’re all looking for more advertising revenue online, where media companies have recouped only a small fraction of what they lost in print and where Web companies want to maximize their investments.

Even the top Internet companies — save maybe Google Inc. — are seeing revenue growth slowing as online audiences fragment. And they worry that, without steady access to high-quality content, they won’t be able to attract enough viewers to keep growing fast.”

Here’s an idea: buy niche content! AOL did it when it bought Weblogs, Inc. With that measly $25MM outlay, they bought access to readers of the web’s #1 blog (Engadget), car nuts (Autoblog), gamers (Joystiq), luxury consumers (Luxist), and Apple fans (TUAW).

Niche digital content is the future. As an example, I used to know some car guys who would spend upwards of two hours per day browsing through a BMW-centered auto enthusiast forum called DTMPower. Tens of thousands of others also browsed the forum regularly, and DTMPower made a perfect niche for advertising. Most of the users drove BMWs and bought aftermarket upgrade equipment, and relevant ads from BMW tuning shops, aftermarket specialists, and BMW sales departments sponsored the site immediately.

If a niche as small as a single auto brand can generate this kind of loyalty and readership, big media should take the hint and buy small niche players.

Media is increasingly fragmented. The future of media is not the newspaper, aiming for the masses. The future of media is the electronic magazine (the blog); it gives the people what they want, and users can decide which niche content they want to consume.

Published under: Business, Technology

Tennis History | 6 / 07 / 2008 | 0

If you missed the Wimbledon Men’s Final, just go watch it.

John McEnroe himself said that the match was the best he’s ever seen in his life, and he’s seen a lot of matches.

It was the longest final in Wimbledon’s history. The match lasted 4 hours 48 minutes - I’ve ran a marathon in less time. Both players battled it out. At one point, Federer was down two-sets-to-none, then rallied back to win the next two sets, keeping himself in the match. At two-games-to-two in the fifth set, Nadal was making lots of errors, essentially defeating himself. Miraculously, the rain started again, giving Nadal a rain delay and much-needed time to regroup and recharge.

I don’t want to spoil the match for anyone, but when you watch it, don’t miss the end (John McEnroe is overcome with emotion and awkwardly hugs Roger Federer, who immediately marches off).

Published under: Europe, Sports

Paul Pierce | 6 / 07 / 2008 | 0

I’m watching SPORT+, a channel on Greek cable, and they’re replaying a Lakers/Celtics game from this year’s NBA finals. One of the Celtics players, Paul Pierce, was famously featured in a Chappelle Show episode a few years back getting stabbed. Pierce was stabbed 11 times (in real life) at a Boston nightclub in 2000. Miraculously, the following season he was the only member of his team to start in 81 games or more.

Paul Pierce was the MVP of this year’s NBA Finals, and as I watch this game, I can see why. He’s draining 3’s all over the place! Clutch!

Basketball is really popular in Greece. The Greek National team has beat the United States plenty of times, including in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, when they rallied from a 12 point deficit to defeat the Dream Team.

When I consulted the FIBA World Basketball Championships winners table, I found very few US victories (Spain is the current world champion titleholder). Most world titles have been won by Brazil, Yugoslavia, or the USSR. In fact, half the time, the US didn’t even make it into the final game! Well, I guess it’s not really surprising considering it’s not really “our” game, being invented by a Canadian and all.

Next week, the Olympic qualifiers for basketball comes to Athens, and I’m defnitely going watch Canada, Puerto Rico, Greece, and the 9 other contenders battle it out for a chance to play in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Published under: Europe, Sports

Bumbershoot Lineup/Tix | 3 / 07 / 2008 | 0

You should grab your tickets to Bumbershoot now (for a limited time only, they’re $25/day (instead of $40/day) using this link).

The lineup is here.

I’m excited to see the following:

Estelle (she of the Kanye track “American Boy”

Grynch

Brother Ali

Kid Sister

Stone Temple Pilots

T.I.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien

Flobots

The Offspring

Maybe I’ll see you there?!

Published under: Out and About, Seattle

Louis Bacon on Irresponsible Population | 1 / 07 / 2008 | 0

Q: What’s the most pressing issue facing the world?

A: “A Malthusian population explosion intersecting with globalization. We have encouraged all 7 billion of the world’s inhabitants to live like Westerners, and now that they have taken the bait, we are realizing it is impossible on this small Earth. The first big hit has been to the environment; the next, which we are witnessing, is to energy prices, and it is leading to food shortages and eventually more famines.
Governments are only starting to address the problem, and the planet’s most inventive and powerful economy, America’s, is leading only from the rear, if at all, given our present administration.”

From Alpha magazine, June 2008.

More about billionaire investor/environmentalist Louis Bacon

Published under: Responsible Population

Coffee Culture | 1 / 07 / 2008 | 0

Just as the U.S. Congress renamed ‘French Fries’ “Freedom Fries” in 2003 after the French criticized the American invasion of Iraq, so too was Turkish coffee (τούρκικος καφές) renamed Greek coffee (ελληνικός καφές) after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. In fact, Turkish coffee also goes by the name Armenian coffee or Cypriot coffee, depending on which country you’re in.

Coffee originated in Ethiopia and Yemen, but was popularized by the Arabs, and later, the Turks.

The word coffee is derived from the Levantine Arabic qahwa or qahweh. When it was introduced to Constantinople in 1554 by Arabs from Damascus and Aleppo, the Turkish pronunciation of qahweh became kahve, and this Turkish word brought us the German word kaffe, the French and Spanish café, and finally, the English word, coffee.

Published under: Europe