Soaring gas prices have motivated people to do some positive things from driving more efficiently to looking for alternative fuels to heat their homes.  These tough times also motivate people to do some strange things that raises eyebrows or in some cases things that make Bill O’Reilly seem sane…

This is one of the five that I welcome with open arms, but it’s not something you’d see if gas was $1.19 a gallon.   Today ladies wearing lettuce lingerie will hand out free Tofurky sandwiches and free gas (2 gal.) to the first 50 people at a Hess station in NYC.  PETA is taking advantage of the high price of gas and sending these delightful delegates to spread the word that eating 1 pound of meat is the environmental equivalent to driving 40 miles in your SUV and switching to a vegan diet will reduce your carbon footprint more than switching to a Prius!  If you’re in the area you can find the lettuce ladies at 502 W. 45th St, in NYC at 2PM today.  If you’re not in the area and want to see more of these lettuce ladies you can check them out at LettuceLadies.com.

In response to high gas prices the Airlines are grasping at straws to make ends meet.  One solution they are batting around to offset the cost of fuel is making passengers pay per pound.  There is a chance they are just trying to torture us because the 3 hour long lines to get body cavity searches before being packed into a sardine can is not bad enough, now they want to put your luggage on one scale and you on another.  I guess it isn’t any more embarrassing than their x-ray vision scanners that see through your clothes, and it’s not that far fetched considering they treat us like freight, why not charge us like freight. 

Blood banks recognize the rising prices of gas as an opportunity to pull in more donors and leveraging that in their marketing.  “Donate plasma for gas money,” is plastered across a banner outside Las Cruces Biological, in Las Cruces, N.M.  Their not actually giving out gas, just money but they have been seeing sharp increases of donors since March and lab workers claim the new donors are not the typical drug addicts looking for some quick cash, they are regular Joes and Janes looking for some extra gas money… quick cash.  “Blood for Gas” is a strange appeal, but it appears to be working.

I will forgo all the “Horsepower” jokes and get right down to it…  I have no idea what these people are thinking, but if you do, they may give you the patent to this contraption.  Clearly this is a horse driven vehicle that requires no gas, what is not clear is whether the inventors were high or crazy when they thought this would be a good idea.  There is very little information on their web site other than the details of their contest:

If you want the patent of this cruelty-free invention, plus $100,000 to get you started on the road to making the idea a success, all you have to do is tell us why you think it was invented!

 Cruelty-free?  I’m not sure the lettuce ladies above would agree.

Some resourceful people have turned to bartering for gas, but generally speaking you have to have some kind of skill to offer in exchange.  This didn’t stop Angela Eversole who traded sex for a $100 gas card, unfortunately rather than getting a full tank she got a prostitution rap. 

This is the second “Sex for Gas” incident in just a few months.  Back in March Kelli Still negotiated a deal with an acquaintance to exchange oral sex for gas money.  Still apparently had too much self respect to go through with the lewd act and instead stabbed her friend in the face with a pair of scissors. Needless to say it’s cases like these that make it easy to liken America’s addiction to oil to that of crack.  So does that make the oil companies the crack dealers?