It starts our calendar of events! Coffee is loved and enjoyed by many worldwide; nowadays, you can find a coffee shop on almost every corner, be it a Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, or your local corner café serving espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, filter coffee, decaf and iced drinks. So, celebrate by enjoying your favorite coffee beverage, whether with friends in your local café or simply enjoying your ritual cup of coffee at home. Fun Facts About Coffee:

• Coffee was originally eaten not drunk. Before learning to brew coffee beans, Africans mixed them with animal fat—making the world’s first energy snack bar!
• There wasn’t always a Starbucks on every corner (now 38,000 worldwide and counting). The very first café, called “Kiva Han,” opened around 1475 in Istanbul, catering to intellectuals, poets and writers—undoubtedly with just as many pretenders as today.
• Finland drinks about 1650 cups of coffee per person, per year. That’s 4-5 a day!
• Kopi Luwak Coffee costs 1,200€ per kilo. It is roasted after being eaten, digested, and pooped out by the Palm Civet in Indonesia. This natural fermentation is said to give the coffee a distinctive taste and aroma. I’ll bet it does!
• Not to be outdone, the world’s most expensive (2,500€ a kilo) and rarest (only 225

kilos produced a year) coffee is Black Ivory Coffee, made similarly to Kopi Luwak, but through the digestive systems of 30 hard-working Thai elephants “fed ripe red coffee cherries handpicked by Acha tribeswomen at an elevation of 1500 meters. Tastes of fruity notes with earth, leather, and butter, with a hint of fresh grass.”

Blake Dinkin – blackivorycoffee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It’s a day when people name their cars. 25% of Americans name their cars, the most popular being “Baby”. Many famous cars from films have had names: “Herbie” from the Love Bug, “General Lee” from The Dukes of Hazzard, “Bandit” from Smokey and the Bandit, and “Lightning McQueen” from Cars. Studies show that drivers who name their cars take better care of them and drive more carefully due to having a more emotional connection with their cars. To celebrate the day, simply give your car a name. Here’s a nice pink Cadillac. What would you name it?

Muldoonsamuel55, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

On a Sunday??

Harrison Keely, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It celebrates sneakers, elsewise known as tennis shoes, kicks, or gym shoes. The first rubber soled shoes were sold in the United States in 1892 and gained in popularity after World War I. Sneakers increased in popularity for everyday use in the 1950s with the introduction of Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers. Sneaker wear today is seen as a fashion statement more than for practical use in sports. Fun Facts about Sneakers:

• The founders of Puma and Adidas are brothers! Rudolf and Adolf Dassler initially started a shoe company together, before parting ways to build their own brand.
• In 1952, Adidas bought their trademark three-stripes from the Finnish footwear company Karhu for 1600€ and two bottles of whiskey. Simpler times.
• The name “sneakers” originally referred to how quiet the rubber soles were on the ground, wearers were able “sneak” up on other people without being heard.
• The five most popular sneakers in world (2025): 1) Nike Air Force 1; 2) Adidas Samba; 3) Air Jodan 1; 4) Adidas Gazelle; 5) New Balance 9060.
• With a couple of exceptions, New Balance’s numbering system reflects its price. Take the model number and divide it by 10 to get the price.
• The Nike Air Force J is one of the best-selling sneakers of all-time, yet it was never advertised.
• Nike Air Jordans have always been released on Saturdays, so young people don’t skip school to get them!

Joseph Mischyshyn / Glashagh – shoes hanging on power wires

It celebrates the 1805 victory of the Royal Navy over the French and Spanish fleets, a pivotal point in European history. The navy, under the command of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, was able to triumph over these two navies during the Napoleonic Wars. The cost of the Battle of Trafalgar was high, with approximately 1600 British seamen wounded or killed, including Admiral Nelson himself who was mortally wounded. Less than Fun Facts about Nelson and the Royal Navy:

• Nelson’s reputation has long been stained by his affair with the married wife of the British ambassador to Naples, a social scandal that produced a daughter defiantly named Horatia—whom, after Nelson’s death, she and her mother’s lives spiraled into poverty, alcoholism, homelessness, and finally debtor’s prison.
• Nelson was also accused of war crimes for his role in the brutal suppression of the Neapolitan revolution of 1799, where he helped the King in executing rebel leaders after they had been promised amnesty.
• As many as half of all sailors in Nelson’s fleet served against their will via press ganging: the brutal process of violently kidnapping men through physical force, mostly from coastal taverns, ports, and in-coming ships. Sound familiar?

It has its origins in “Samhain,” the celebration of the end of the harvest season. Early Gaelic beliefs thought the boundaries between the dead and the living were most blurred during this time of the year and the dead returned to cause devastation among the living. Wearing costumes and masks was a way to scare away these dead invaders. From there, we’ve gone to:

• Americans annually spending around $4.1 billion on costumes (including $700 million for pet costumes); $3.9 billion on decorations; $3.6 billion on candy; and $600 million on cards. That’s $12.2 billion spent on Halloween.
• That $12.2 billion could build 24 mid-sized hospitals or 50,000 homes to house 100,000 homeless people. But, but…priorities! Seen in another way, this money equals the combined military budgets of Ecuador, Bulgaria, Senegal, Tunesia, Bolivia, Kenya, Kosovo, Paraguay, Mongolia, Nepal, and Uzbekistan!
• On average, American children bring home 11,000 calories of candy from a night of trick-or-treating. Throw in regular Big Macs and a diet of overly processed foods and is it any surprise 20% of American children are obese! The 40.3% obese American adults are no doubt sharing in some of that candy!
• Four out of 10 adult Americans believe that ghosts, demons, and other supernatural entities exist. Surprised? 13% believe that vampires are real! Those numbers help explain much of modern-day America.

Alexas Fotos, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons