In case you needed another reason to love chocolate, here it is: you can drive your car with it!
Well, OK, maybe not your car (not yet anyway), but these guys drove from the UK to Timbuktu using the "waste chocolate" from a chocolate manufacturer. They left the UK on November 26 and got to Timbuktu in about a month. The group, Ecotec, donated (and delivered) one of their biodiesel production units to a charity in Timbuktu.
Now that's alternative fuel. I wonder if we can get cars to drive on Yodels or maybe Funyuns?
I haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, so I don't know if Al Gore covers this, but it looks like one of the biggest contributors to global warming is the food we eat and the processes that give us that food.
According to this press release from the Bon Appetit Management Company, "the average American creates 2.8 tons of CO2 emissions each year by eating - even more than the 2.2 tons each person generates by driving." The company is pushing a "Low Carbon Diet" and trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The first "Low Carbon Diet Day" will be held next April.
So the moral to the story? Just stop eating completely and drive your car more, you selfish jerks!
Burning your tongue on a hot drink is no picnic, but burning it while drinking from an insulated commuter mug is worse. Not only does the cup disguise the temperature of the beverage it contains, making you more likely to subject your tongue to overly-hot drinks in the first place, but they do not allow drink not cool down fast enough to prevent repeat burns. Combine that with a morning commute in rush hour traffic and you will probably discover the source of many cases of "road rage."
Fortunately, there is a cup that offers a solution. The Tip and Sip Cup keeps coffee hot at up to 205 degrees, which is the temperature that most coffee is brewed at. When it is tipped (for a sip), the coffee passes into a patented Temperature Control Chamber, which lowers the temperature of the coffee to the "Perfect Zone" of 150-170F, leaving you with a satisfying swig of coffee and no burns. The triple function lid has a spill-proof lock setting and a regular "sip" setting that bypasses the temperature control chamber, in addition to the cooling function.
It is available in raspberry, lime, orange, forest, black, or blue and is priced at $19.95. The cost of never burning your tongue again? Priceless.
Even though it is dangerous to drive while eating or drinking, most morning commuters still want to have their coffee on the way to work. Car designers know this, which is why they install cup holders that are easy for the driver to reach. Audi took the idea a step further and designed their concept Roadjet with a fully-functional espresso machine (above left) on the arm rest between the driver and passenger seats. This enables the driver to get his or her caffeine fix without having to pull into a Starbucks, though hopefully they will wait until the car stops before pulling a shot.
One enthusiastic Audi fan couldn't resist making a mod with his own Audi and installed a Capresso 1500 (above right) in the back seat. It is securely tied down to the seat and is powered with an inverter that is mounted on the dash. It's also a bit safer than the Roadjet model because, since the machine is in the back seat, the driver cannot operate the machine while behind the wheel.
Some of you are no doubt familiar with the technique of cooking food on your car's engine while you drive. Perhaps you've even read Manifold Destiny. A great site called Instructables has a step-by-step guide with plenty of annotated photos showing how to make things like marinated chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, ramen noodles and apples with brown sugar. Mileage ranges and speeds are suggested, as is placement on different parts of the engine. The tutorial was posted by a mechanical engineering student who goes by Trebuchet03. He also adds that the striker plate inside your car door can double as a bottle opener in a pinch.
How many times does a journalist get to use "Blame it on Tony the Tiger" as their lede? A Florida man, distracted by the bowl of Frosted Flakes he was eating, recently drove his 1999 Toyota Tacoma into the car of a local police officer. Luckily, no one was injured. The accident did cause a reported $5,000 worth of damage to both vehicles, according to the St. Pete Times. "They were in a bowl, but they were dry," a spokesman for the local sheriff's department told the Times, adding "I think the fortunate thing is nobody was really hurt so we can talk about the Frosted Flakes.''
I'm sure that plenty of you are familiar with Taco Bell's Cruchwrap Supreme, a quesadilla-like item designed to be
eaten on the go. Well, to give customers and car owners a little bit more to chew on, Taco Bell recently teamed up with
Kelley Blue Book for a study in how much people care about their car interiors. The
study found that almost 60 percent of car owners eat in their cars or allow others to do so. Only about 34 percent
ranked a clean interior as the most important aspect of their car's long-term value, however. The folks at Kelley of
course stress the importance of a squeaky clean interior for a good resale value and Taco Bell steps in to help with
their self-contained quesadilla. A press release for the findings is available here.
I far prefer to stop at a Starbucks than a fast food restaurant when I am on a long drive because, most of
the time, I will pack my own snacks are simply want to get a drink. I'd rather have the extra caffeine of a coffee
versus a soda and prefer the far-better taste of freshly prepared coffee than the "coffee" that comes out of
a dispenser at the gas station convenience store. Starbucks also generally tend to have well-maintained bathrooms,
which I appreciate. But unless I really need to stretch my legs, I will find myself pulling up to the drive-thru
window at many highway-side Starbucks. Driving thru takes about the same amount of time as going inside the store, with
the added benefit that you do not have to get up. This is especially useful when it is cold outside and you don't want
to put on several layers to walk a few hundred feet to the door.
With drive-thru service now accounting for up to 70% of fast food sales, the mind
boggles to hear that companies are trying to speed
up their drive thru service. One method of speeding up service is to route calls to call centers - instead of
simply receiving them inside the restaurant over a speaker or radio - to increase accuracy. Companies have found this
to be relatively effective, particularly in areas where their employees have limited English skills. The call centers
enter the menu items onto a central computer, which transmits the order directly into the restaurant's computers.
Another strategy is to replace the traditional written menu board with a photo illustrated or digital one, hoping that
tempting food imagery will help customers choose their food faster. There are even computer programs that average how
much food needs to be cooking at any given moment.
I haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, so I don't know if Al Gore covers this, but it looks like one of the biggest contributors to global warming is the food we eat and the processes that give us that food.
Burning your tongue on a hot drink is no picnic, but burning it while drinking from an insulated commuter mug is worse. Not only does the cup disguise the temperature of the beverage it contains, making you more likely to subject your tongue to overly-hot drinks in the first place, but they do not allow drink not cool down fast enough to prevent repeat burns. Combine that with a morning commute in rush hour traffic and you will probably discover the source of many cases of "road rage."
Some of you are no doubt familiar with the technique of cooking food on your car's engine while you drive. Perhaps you've even read 
How many times does a journalist get to use "Blame it on Tony the Tiger" as their lede? A Florida man, distracted by the bowl of Frosted Flakes he was eating, recently drove his 1999 Toyota Tacoma into the car of a local police officer. Luckily, no one was injured. The accident did cause a reported $5,000 worth of damage to both vehicles, according to the 
I'm sure that plenty of you are familiar with Taco Bell's Cruchwrap Supreme, a quesadilla-like item designed to be
eaten on the go. Well, to give customers and car owners a little bit more to chew on, Taco Bell recently teamed up with
I far prefer to stop at a Starbucks than a fast food restaurant when I am on a long drive because, most of
the time, I will pack my own snacks are simply want to get a drink. I'd rather have the extra caffeine of a coffee
versus a soda and prefer the far-better taste of freshly prepared coffee than the "coffee" that comes out of
a dispenser at the gas station convenience store. Starbucks also generally tend to have well-maintained bathrooms,
which I appreciate. But unless I really need to stretch my legs, I will find myself pulling up to the drive-thru
window at many highway-side Starbucks. Driving thru takes about the same amount of time as going inside the store, with
the added benefit that you do not have to get up. This is especially useful when it is cold outside and you don't want
to put on several layers to walk a few hundred feet to the door.
With drive-thru service now accounting for up to 70% of fast food sales, the mind
boggles to hear that companies are 
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