Our post about companies giving their food away for free wasn't a joke. After you've had your morning ice coffee from Dunkin Donuts and sampled the new Southern Chicken Biscuit thing from McDonald's today, wait until next week for a free ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins. They're making May 21, Wednesday, traditionally known as "Hump Day" into "Bump Day." It's a debut of their "newest addition," soft serve, which they'll be serving from 11 am to 10 pm.

That means, of course, you have to be sporting a baby bump to get your free cone. (Don't worry, we'll likely post a reminder when the day gets closer.)

We might start feeling the squeeze on savings accounts, but we all know that there's an entirely separate account for ice cream!

Even still, Baskin Robbins is reducing the price on its single scoop tonight from 5-10 PM from whatever $1+ price it is (it's probably different everywhere) to a mere $0.31!

The 31 Cent Scoop Night is to honor America's firefighters, so grab your change purse, hurry over to your nearest Baskin-Robbins, and order a scoop of Jamocha Almond Fudge (that's what I like, but you order what you want).

There is still a little time to get your free Ben and Jerry's cone. However, if you missed it, you can get a thirty-one cent cone tomorrow (Wednesday) at Baskin-Robbins. Busy tomorrow? Head to Carvel on Thursday a free arctic blender or blended coffee.

Thursday is my birthday and free birthday ice cream would sure be nice, but the only Carvel near me is at the airport. The ice cream is no longer free when you have to pay for airport parking.

On an unrelated note, does anyone else find this Carvel creature creepier than clowns? We don't get Carvel TV ads in St. Louis. Can anyone tell me what this thing is supposed to be?

[via Scoopalicious]

AOL Money & Finance has a feature on the origin of some famous brands named after people. Here are some of the ones that I found particularly interesting:

• Arby's stands for R.B., the initials of the Raffel Brothers. Many people think it stands for roast beef.
• Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell. I thought they just liked the bell logo. Who knew?
• Baskin-Robbins was a combination of two ice cream stores, one started by Irvine Robbins and the other by Burton Baskin. This one shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.
• Wendy's was named after Dave Thomas' (the founder) daughter's nick name. He had 5 kids. You have to wonder what the other ones thought of his choice.

Check out the rest of the 39 brands for more interesting facts.

Do people still eat Baskin Robbins ice cream? Maybe it's a regional thing, because when I was little in Texas, we used to get Baskin Robbins all the time, but here in LA, I only know of one location within a 10 mile radius of my house. And the place is always deserted.

Well maybe it's deserted because people have wised up to the fact that Baskin Robbins has been gypping you out of an average of 4 ounces of Quarterback Cookies and Pralines in the hand packed pints! The State investigated in San Diego CA, and slapped the ice cream company with a lawsuit. Baskin Robbins is paying almost $500,000 in fines.

[via: Yum Sugar]

If you are tired of buying the same flavors of ice cream all the time, this could possibly shake things up a little for you. Baskin-Robbins has teamed up with Hershey to create Candy Bar Madness ice cream treats - nine different treats that mix various Hershey candy bars (Heath, Kissables / Kisses, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) into ice creams, shakes, sundaes, and ice cream cakes.

A typical example? The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Sundae is made from a triple layer of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, hot fudge, Reese's Peanut Butter Sauce, and chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I think I gained five pounds just typing that. Decadent, indeed.

As good as it all sounds though, I'm not really sure how different this is from what Dairy Queen is already doing, and I can't help but feel that the last thing we all need is to not just have one dessert or treat, but add another one on top of it at the same time. That said though, I'm willing to bet they sell like crazy.

Cookie dough ice cream is a favorite of ice cream lovers young and old, but Baskin Robbins is taking the popular flavor to the next level with some new fall flavors. Makin' Cookies ice cream has a base ice cream that blends of brown sugar and butter flavors ice with chunks of baked chocolate chip cookies, mini chocolate chips and swirled with a cookie dough ribbon. Oatmeal Cookie Crunch ice cream is vanilla ice cream packed with oatmeal spiced cookies and swirled with a crunchy cinnamon graham cracker ribbon.

On top of the straight ice cream offerings, they have the Cookie Overload Sundae, which pairs the two cookie ice creams with caramel, whipped cream, and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.

Head over to a store to try the new flavors when you get a chance because they'll only be available to a limited time. Besides, how could you resist brown sugar and butter flavored ice creams? These cookie flavors may not be around for too long, but I don't think anyone would complain about those being added to the permanent menu.