the sweetest and cleanest
ride in Gainesville!RS
352-575-6184
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Chocolate Cab service is temporarily suspended until Mark the Cab Driver connects with a cab. See the article entitled, "Fired!," in the "News From Chocolate Cab" section in the right column below.
Mark is working on getting on the road again soon and looks forward to resuming delivering great Chocolate Cab info-choco-tainment! Check this site occasionally for news of resumption of service. ;) 
Chocolate Cab is the cab in which you can win chocolate for correct answers to questions while riding to your destination!
Chocolate Cab is operated by Mark the Cab Driver in and around Gainesville, Florida. Mark formulates questions from useful and entertaining information that he finds in the media, on the Internet, in books, on DVDs and that he receives from friends of Chocolate Cab. Fares for Chocolate Cab passengers are generally the same as those charged to passengers of most of the cab companies in Gainesville. Mark asks that passengers tip him commensurate with the quality of his service to them and with the info-choco-tainment value of their participation in Chocolate Cab Quiz. Don't worry, if you answer all questions incorrectly, Mark does not eject you from Chocolate Cab. To the contrary, he gives to you a piece of chocolate anyway. :) Call 352-575-5823 to schedule a ride in Chocolate Cab, the sweetest and the cleanest ride in Gainesville! Mascot needed
Do
you have a great “look,” comfortable poise and graceful carriage?
Are you comfortable in photo and video shoots? Would you like to be featured in photo images and in videos on the Internet site of Chocolate Cab? Are you comfortable engaging the public at special promotional events to publicize a service in which you believe? Do you want to experience the glitz and glamor of being the mascot for Chocolate Cab, the most famous cab in Gainesville? Go to the mascot search announcement page for additional information! Chocolate Cab now has a Facebook page
As you would expect, the name of the page is Chocolate Cab. Leave your questions, comments and suggestions for Mark the Cab Driver and he will respond to them. Upload your photo images of your Chocolate Cab rides to share them with other passengers. Direct your friends to the Chocolate Cab page. Additionally, Mark will announce Chocolate Cab news on the page. Mark welcomes the guidance of experienced Facebook users in exploiting the potentials of Facebook. Of Course, if you like Chocolate Cab, this Internet site or the Facebook page of Chocolate Cab, please "like" the Facebook page. |
 Jessie won chocolate in Chocolate Cab,
and you can win chocolate too! News From Chocolate Cab
Chocolate Cab gets a new telephone number
Monday, May 14, 2012 Mark Venzke, citizen journalist Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A. -- Chocolate Cab got a new telephone number today. The new telephone number is: 352-575-6184 Please change the telephone number in any directory or directories in which you have it listed or add the number to any directory or directories in which you would like to find it in the future. Chocolate scarcity is possible by 2020
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Mark Venzke, citizen journalist Gainesville, FL, U. S. A. -- Scientific American reported today that soaring world-wide demand for cocoa products and emerging problems in cocao tree cultivation are threatening a shortage in cocoa products. Increasing prosperity in developing parts of the world is providing increasing numbers of people with the disposable income to purchase chocolate products. Additionally, the caprices of climate change have upset growing conditions in the narrow, equatorial band in which the temperamental cocao trees grow. The online version of the February issue of Scientific American has only a summary of the article. However, an article in the Los Angeles Times provides a few details from the full, original article that do not appear in the online Scientific American summary. The reader comments below the summary and the article are worth reading, especially the comments below the summary entitled "The Dark Side of Chocolate." Note that after years of the unfulfilled promises of Big Chocolate to eliminate oppressive child labor from the supply chains of the member companies, Hersheys disgorged $10 billion to combat the practice shortly after a CNN documentary about it and just before an advocacy organization was to run an advertisement about the practice during the 2012 Superbowl. Big of Hersheys to do that, would not you say? Save the chocolate bars! Reduce your contributions to climate change! Save the children! Buy fair-trade chocolate! App tests sobriety
Thursday, February 9, 2012 Mark Venzke, citizen journalist Gainesville, FL, U. S. A. -- A new application for I-phones, Breathaleyes, allows users to determine an approximation of their blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The application uses the integral cameras of I-phones to capture and analyze the amount of involuntary, horizontal eye movements, or horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN), that increases with increased levels of blood alcohol. The effective range of the application is 0.02% - 0.17% (+/- .02%) BAC. To reduce legal liability exposure for the company, the application is programed to always indicate a blood alcohol level of more than .00--even when the subject has ingested no alcohol. Reviews on the Breathaleyes page of the I-phone application Internet site of the application have been poor, indicating that immediately successive readings of the same subject have varied widely. The application costs $US .99 and is available on the Breathaleyes page of the I-phone application Internet site. The publisher, Breathaleyes, issued the second release of the application on January 25, 2012. An application for android smart phones is forthcoming. Group promotes sober tailgating
Friday, September 30, 2011, 1240 Jenna Bittner, Alligator Contributing Writer Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A. -- UF Ambassadors of Civility and Ethics is changing your typical Saturday gameday routine. As an effort to provide gameday attendees with a new method for tailgating, the Ambassadors will be hosting its first "Alternative Tailgating" event, with free food and games, on the Plaza of the Americas on Saturday at 11 a.m. According to Aldreka Everett, marketing chairwoman of the UF Ambassadors of Civility and Ethics, people who attend gameday festivities tend to get out of control while under the influence. The ambassadors hope to provide a sober environment for people to see a different side of tailgating. "We believe that the practice of tailgating can be just as enjoyable and fun for everyone without alcohol consumption," Everett said. The UF Ambassadors of Civility and Ethics is a student-based organization that provides the Student Body with information from the Dean of Students Office regarding the conduct code and their rights as students, Everett said. Laura Matthews, assistant director of student conduct and conflict resolution, says every once in a while a student is found in violation of school conduct on gameday. This event will hopefully provide a positive tailgating atmosphere and show students what proper gameday conduct should entail. For the rest of the story, see the article, "Group promotes sober tailgating," in the online edition of the Independent Florida Alligator.  Chocolate Cab debuts on YouTube
Tuesday September 13, 2011, 18:04 Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A. -- In an unplanned, very informal exhibition of Chocolate Cab Quiz, Mark the Cab Driver gave Rob Castellucci, the co-founder of the Internet abode-mate-finding Internet site, RoomSync, and his staff a taste of the quiz game in their office on this past Friday night. RoomSync enables people find compatible abode mates by using information about them that they post on the social networking site, Facebook. RoomSync is one of several "dot coms" (that includes ChocolateCab.com!) that now populate what is fast becoming the Silicon Valley of the eastern United States, Gainesville, Florida. Well, alright, the Silicon Valley of Florida. The office of RoomSync is located in the Sun Center in downtown Gainesville (less than three blocks north of the intergalactic headquarters of Chocolate Cab). Unknown to Mark, Nik Kundra, the brother of Anjali Kundra, Vice President of Client Relations for RoomSync, shot a video of the exhibition from Mark's right flank. Nik then uploaded the video to YouTube. "It was an out-of-cab experience. Very transcendent, enlightening and transformative," said Mark after the exhibition. "Actually, it was just a fun extra-cab spin through Chocolate Cab Quiz," he continued. You can use the following link to navigate to the video: Chocolate Cab trivia at RoomSync http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7kwg8fKNlg  FIRED! Saturday August 13, 2011, 22:18 Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A. – On Friday, July 1, 2011, Teodoro Neira, the owner of Gator Cab Company fired Mark the Cab Driver because he refused to drive a cab that was equipped with a meter that was over-charging passengers. The following day, Mr. Neira fired Mark's colleague, Roger, for the same reason. Three weeks before those firings, Kevin, one of Mark and Roger's colleagues quit working for Gator Taxicab Company because of many grievances including the grievance of having to drive the cab that was equipped with the overcharging meter. In addition to mis-assessing cab fares, the defective meter, #142553, had no state-required seal or state-required inspection sticker from the Florida Bureau Of Weights and Measures. Because of the firing, Chocolate Cab service has been suspended for the past six weeks. "I appreciate all of the calls from Chocolate Cab fans that I have received over the past six weeks. To be unable to provide rides for my customers has been very frustrating. I have been telling them to call me again soon as I have been hoping to find another cab company for which to drive or a venture capitalist to finance the starting of a new, high-quality cab service," Mark said. "I have also appreciated their expressions of support upon hearing the reason for the suspension of Chocolate Cab service," Mark offered. In the course of the telephone conversation in which Mr. Neira fired Mark, Mr. Neira told Mark, "There is nothing wrong with the meter," "The government minister [the inspector for the Bureau Of Weights and Measures] told me that he would check it [the meter] [at the usual time] in October." After Mark stated that he and the other drivers noted that the meter had been assessing $1.50 per minute while standing instead of $.50 per minute as the lettering on the exterior of the cab and as the text on the rate card inside the cab stated, Mr. Neira angrily told Mark, "You don't know anything about anything!" Mark said, "This is very unfortunate for me, for Gator Cab Company and for the cab riding public. I lost work, Gator Cab company, in the course of three weeks, lost three of the best drivers in Gainesville and the cab riding public was being over-charged. In fact, as late as four days ago, cab thirty-three, the one that I had driven and that had the defective meter, was still on the road with an un-stickered meter--probably the same one that was in it when I last drove it!" Additionally, according to Chris, one of Mark, Roger and Kevin's colleagues, who himself quit working for Gator Cab about two weeks ago for a long history of serious problems, told Mark yesterday days ago that when he quit, the meter in cab thirty-three still had no state-required seal. "With all of the justified criticism that University Of Florida students have leveled against some cab drivers and some cab company owners, with all of the investigative reporting of cab industry abuses that have appeared in local newspapers and with all of the scrutiny to which the industry has been subject by the University Of Florida student government, the Gainesville City Commission and the University Of Florida police department, I still find hard to believe that a cab company owner would engage in blatant fraud and fire drivers who refused to participate in that fraud," Mark said. To reduce the likelihood that a driver would overcharge a person, Mark recommends that he or she never board a cab that has a meter that lacks a seal or current certification sticker from the Florida Department Of Weights and Measures on it. The state meter inspector adheres the sticker to the front and top of the meter, so people can see the sticker by looking through the windshield of the cab before boarding it. The seal is a loop of thin, steel cable that a compressed ball of lead permanently closes. The loop of the seal passes through holes in tabs on the meter and the meter mounting base. The seal makes impossible replacement of the meter--with a possibly over-charging one--between inspections without cutting seal. Until Chocolate Cab resumes service, Mark recommends that the cab riding public call the following drivers for cab rides: DAYS
NIGHTS
Mark asks Chocolate Cab fans to be patient and watch for e-mail news dispatches and stories in the News From Chocolate Cab section of the Chocolate Cab Internet site for announcements about resumption of service. He also asks Chocolate Cab fans to inform him of any reliable minivan that he could rent to own and could convert into a cab.  Mark the Cab Driver offers rewards for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of his attacker Thursday, 2011, July 21, 3:31 p.m. Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A.--- Mark the Cab Driver announced today that he will pay thirty dollars U. S. and two pounds of chocolate to anyone who provides to him information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a man who attacked Mark on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at Saint Francis House social service center in Gainesville, Florida. Details about that attack are available in the news dispatch immediately previous to this one that is archived in the "News From Chocolate Cab" section of the Chocolate Cab Internet site. Mark's attacker is a medium-light-complected black man. He is about forty-two years old. He is of slightly thinner-than-average build. He is 5'-9” tall and weighs 165 pounds. He has 1 1/2” long hair that is typically discheveled. He has a full, untrimmed beard that is 1/2” long. He has no hair on his upper cheeks, so his beard covers his intermediate and lower cheeks and his neck. At the time of the attack, he wore a white T-shirt, khaki-colored long pants and black athletic shoes. One week almost to the hour after the attack, Mark's attacker briefly visited Saint Francis House. Mark sighted him two blocks east of Saint Francis House. At the time of that sighting, Mark's attacker was wearing a red, sleeveless basketball jersey that had black trim on the shoulders and on the sides from the sleeves to the waist. He wore black, knee-length basketball shorts and black athletic shoes with red shoe laces. See the photo images of the attacker in the attachments to this e-mail dispatch. Mark took the first photo image on the morning of the attack. Mark took the second image from the stopped video from the surveillance system of Saint Francis House. The video was from one week after the attack. Two people have stated that his first name is Gregory. One person said that he frequents the Porter neighborhood of Gainesville where he has been seen smoking crack cocaine. One person said that he sent a threatening letter to a Saint Francis House staff member in the wake of the attack. Because he appears rather fit and occasionally wears basketball attire, he may play basketball at local, public basketball courts. Because he punched Mark unusually hard for a man of his stature, he may have been a member of a boxing club. Persons with information about Mark's attacker can find contact Mark at 352-575-5823 or at ChocolateCab@yahoo.com.  "If it bleeds, it leads." 
Man attacked and injured Mark the Cab Driver while off duty Police and Mark are seeking the attacker Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 15:27 Gainesville, Florida, U. S. A.--On Wednesday, June 29 at 11:30 a.m., a man struck Mark the Cab Driver once with an elbow and repeatedly with his fists and fled the scene of the attack. Mark sustained numerous bruises and a cut under his left eye that required surgical adhesive to close. A physical examination and readings of diagnostic images by staff members in the emergency room of North Florida Regional Medical Center found no broken bones or internal bleeding. For the rest of the story, see the "News From Chocolate Cab" section. What people are saying about Chocolate Cab:
"Chocolate Cab is much better than Cash Cab!" Elisa undergraduate student University Of Florida "You are a fresh of breath air in the cab business." [ed. Yes, after having consumed a considerable amount of alcohol, he actually said that.] anonymous male undergraduate student University Of Florida "[It was] the greatest cab ride I've had since I got to the University Of Florida." John undergraduate student University Of Florida "Chocolate Cab was ******* amazing!" Shannon Undergraduate student University Of Florida "This is the best cab in the world!" Mackenzie undergraduate student University Of Florida "Thank you for rescuing us this morning from our unexpected fate." Lisa Manager Hangmen rock band "It was wonderful." Michelle undergraduate student English University Of Florida "This was the best cab ride ever!" anonymous female undergraduate student University Of Florida "I heard about Chocolate Cab, but tonight I lived it. This made my night." anonymous male undergraduate student University Of Florida "I have had few positive cab experiences, but this was definitely one of them." anonymous female undergraduate student University Of Florida "I think it was great!" Kelly Home Care Assistant "I just love what you're doing for Gainesville." anonymous male undergraduate student University Of Florida |
