FWIW, a little history lesson:
Way Back When, Europe drank mostly beer. Water supplies ranged from "sometimes sanitary" to "raw sewage," so drinking water was mostly out of the question, unless you were into catching the latest Cool New Plague (tm). People routinely drank approximately 1 case of beer in an average day, by modern estimates. Pubs abounded, as people needed ready places to purchase beer. More importantly, the discussion that occurred in pubs was much like the discussion you'll find in pubs today -- the same kind of drunken nonsense that occurs everywhere.
Then, shortly before the industrial revolution, coffee hit Europe. Coffee houses became gradually popular as alternatives to beer. Rather than drinking a depressant all day long, people were now drinking a stimulant, and plenty of it!
The economy shifted rapidly -- people were thinking more, doing more, being more active, and generally responding as if the entire culture had been caffeinated, which it had. People in coffee houses talked philosophy and politics, arguing about things that might make a difference to their country and the human race. Coffee houses began to put out simple newspapers. People had more ideas, and better ones.
Some of the biggest businesses of all time started in coffee houses. Lloyd's Coffee House, for example, is one of my favorites. The shipping-types used to hang out at one particular shop in London to discuss shipping issues. Golly boys, what do you think about those new boats from Westfold Shipbuilders? Did you see the boat that Smith just bought? Anybody have any predictions on the price of silks from China?
As with any conversation among men, the conversations among the merchants at Lloyd's eventually shifted to gambling. "You know, there've been some pretty good storms between here and the Ivory Coast these days -- I'll bet that if the storms don't get ol' Johnson, the pirates will. Anybody want to bet me a five-spot?" Well, pretty quick, the house got in on the betting, except the house always bet on a successful shipment. That worked out great for the merchant: If the shipment came through, he lost a small portion of the success to the house, but came out pretty well in the end. If the shipment failed, he cashed in on the bet and did alright anyway. Sound familiar? It should -- Lloyd's of London does exactly the same thing today, having evolved from the humble coffee house to a modern insurance company.
What am I getting at? Hang on, let me go back and reread all this ... Oh, right, my point was that here on a good BB, people openly discuss real issues -- people from all over the place, with all kinds of different background, with no fear of retribution or discrimination. Real issues, real facts, real practical stuff -- discussions among people that could not have met together 10 years ago. Will the advent of the internet BB trigger an industrial revolution, as coffee did so many years ago? Was coffee really that influential in history? Am I completely crazy, drunk, and sick and tired of trying to put dogteeth on gears? Have I lost it, after confusing the bottle labeled "Sierra Nevada" with the bottle labeled "Engine Cleaner" too many times?
Dan