Happy Birthday To Soda Pop

May 8, 1886 was the happy day in history when Coca-Cola, the soft drink was invented.

Happy Birthday To Soda Pop

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May 8, 1886 was the happy day in history when John S. Pemberton invented Coca-Cola, the soft drink. The Atlanta, Ga. Pharmacist originally called it the "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage." It's obvious he wasn't drinking any of his brain tonic when he came up with that name, right? On the other hand, seeing as the tonic's ingredients at that time included traces of cocaine (a proven fact), maybe he was actually drinking it when he named it! But, not to worry, they removed the coke from the Coke long ago and replaced it with something far less dangerous. Sugar. And then they Supersized it!

Coca-Cola's first year of sales averaged a humble nine drinks per day, priced at five cents a glass. Word on the street now, is that the jumbo beverage giant is up to 1.8 billion servings a day. That's roughly the current population of China. At a global average price of $1.39, that equates to some astronomical figure that doesn't even fit on my calculator, so we'll just say, that's one super-duper-sized bankroll!

Back in the 70s, the company's most popular slogan was, "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke." So, let's see … if the current population of the entire world is roughly 7.4 billion … and you divide that by something, and then multiply it by something else, and carry the one … Coca-Cola will have bought the whole world a Coke by the year 2579. Or way sooner if we all pitch in and help to commemorate this 131st anniversary of the day soda pop was invented. We could all "Have a Coke and a Smile!" If we make it a normal, civilized-sized Coke, rather than an insanely senseless Double-Gulp, 64-oz. Coke, and we'll have way more to smile about.