Makin' Chocolate!

Digital Diner Chocolate!

If you walk into Digital Diner and ask, "Whatcha doin?" you are liable to get the response, "Eatin' chocolate!"  It isn't because we are running a confection shop in the back room.  It's because of the follow little rhyme that became popular here.  It's a fictional discussion between a parent and young child.  To properly recite this, the participants must use a bouncy light voice in order for the rhythm to come through.

"Whatcha doin?"
"Eatin' chocolate"
"Where'd you get it?"
"Doggy dropped it"
"Where's the doggy?"
"By the door."
"What's he doing?"
"Makin' more."

Ewwww!

That leads us to today's topic.  Making Chocolate!  No, not the doggy kind.  The delicious kind that makes you fat.  Chocolate is awesome and pretty universally loved, yet very few people make their own.  As you know, we encourage and support DIY around here.  Tribe Awesome is spreading the word that anyone can make chocolate, and while the results may not be the most refined you've ever had on your first try, I can testify to the fact that it is quite yummy... and if it isn't perfect the first time, that is just an excuse to try again.

In true Tribe Awesome style, they not only describe how to make chocolate, they have a paper describing the history of chocolate... all the way back to the big bang!  It is worth a read.
So, get some cacao beans and make your own chocolate!   Fun and delicious - what's not to like?

Cacao beans ready to be made into glorious chocolate

via TribeAwesome

Wacky Sports

Hello everyone!
We hope you had a great summer. Ours was quite busy, but now we are getting back into the swing of the school year.  With the fall semester comes fall sports. Here at Digital Diner, we believe there is a lot more to sports than the traditional football, baseball, basketball sorts of sports that are so popular in America.  Instead, we are preparing for a semester of cross country running and crew (rowing).  As fans we follow the Tour de France and the America's Cup.  Still there are so many other interesting sports out there, and I'm not just talking about the X Games.  In the past we've told you about a few good ones like indoor kite flying, planing and synchronized walking just to name a few.  Well, apparently there are still plenty more good ones out there.  Here are two more for you: Cycle ball, which is essentially soccer played on bicycles, and Combat juggling, which is... well... competitive juggling where players try to disrupt each other's juggling.  Take a look at the videos below to see what it is all about.  No, really, you need to see this.   I think you'll be impressed.

Cycle Ball World Cup

Cycle ball in 1984

(via Neatorama)

Apparently Cycle Ball was an exhibition sport during the Coors Classic bicycle race back in 1984.  At the time, I believe that the Coors Classic was the largest bicycle stage race in the US and there was a big push to make cycling a more popular sport, so these side show events were part of the act.  Unfortunately, entertaining as it might be, Cycle Ball didn't catch on here, and the Coors Classic wasn't really around long enough to warrant the moniker "classic."

Combat juggling

(via HolyKaw)