Tennessee Center for Policy Research had a headliner today: Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month! Former Vice-President Al Gore catapaulted into fame by being involved in three major historic events of American History:

High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991 which gave birth to the internet today as we know it, The 2000 Presidental Election which for the second time in American history, electorial college trumped the popular vote, and finally this:

“An Inconvenient Truth,” sparking the movement for a better environment into households of Americans.

The article states: “The former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.”

More energy used!? With your own electricity being produced by solars and you STILL take electricity off the Tennessee’s grid?

Mr. Gore, you know, you should “Be the change you wish to see in the world” (Mohandas Gandhi). Don’t go flying everywhere for Obama while your home’s burning enough energy that could feed into 200+ houses. Luxury is a priviledge, Mr. Gore, not a right.

With priviledges come responsibility. C’mon Mr. Gore, Be a Role Model!

-Der Sankt

The world doesn’t get any stranger than this: Reuters reports that a guy kidnapped his ex-girlfriend to get some ironing done. When I came across this article, I immediately sent it to zlotte and she found it hilarious. I’m sure Shakespeare’s Sister has a thing or two say about that. Here’s the reasoning behind this furiously Neanderthal from Italy:

The 43-year-old man dragged the woman out of a pub in the port city of Genoa, shoved her into a car and took her to his home where he made her iron and wash dishes after threatening her, they said.

How about taking lessons, Mr. 43 year old? Put Home EC in your vocabulary, already.

-Ben

In a report from New York Times, the island of Manhattan will be car-less for three days sometimes in August. I recall having a discussion with some of my “greener” friends that NYC was one of the most un-green places on Earth.

I simply had to disagree.

I said New York is greener than most of the world–consider this fact: New Yorkers require less space than most Americans. New Yorkers, for the most part, do not have a yard. Sharing is not a concept unique to New Yorkers. Thousands, if not millions, of New Yorkers use public transportation on a daily basis, including the famed mayor Bloomberg.

The whole idea of cramminig a few million people in 23 square mile island so the rest of the country can be open for agriculture should be considered one of the smartest moves ever done by mankind.

Now, New York wants to slowly drive cars out of the island? Perfect. Let’s show the world that it will not be shut down if cars/trucks are not being used…

-Der Sankt

I’m checking my email tonight and I’m seeing a couple of emails screaming that Al Gore just endorsed Barack Obama. The New York Times, of course beat Obama’s campaign mass email by a good two hours…

I totally missed the whole press fiasco about that.

So, instead, from Obama’s camp, I get a mass email written (apparently, by the man himself) by Mr. Al Gore. To be honest, it’s more of a spam email trying to get me to shell out some money (which I don’t have, at all) with about four links, no less, pointing towards Obama’s site contributions. There’s a gem in all its relentless advertising:

Barack Obama is clearly the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America. (See corny picture on the left–picture him saying this looking like that! haha.)

I wonder if he would have said that with Hillary in the running…uhm!

-Der Sankt

Additional Notes: Al Gore’s Website (with the photo plastered all over it), Barack Obama’s site has the endorsment flick up already

Cross posted at benvess.com

• CBS Chicago puts together a slideshow of unflattering campaign photos. No party is left untouched in this humorous compilation of wacko photos.
• News of the Weird for the week of June 1st: “Most Convoluted Business Plan: Adolfo Martinez, 33, and Mark Anderson, 26, were indicted for fraud in Las Cruces, N.M., in April, accused of passing forged checks. The men’s plan was to buy Domino’s pizzas with the checks, then have one of the men put on a Pizza Hut shirt and resell the pizzas, by the slice, in a local park or at stores (even though the pizzas were still being carried around in the Domino’s boxes). [Las Cruces Sun-News, 4-29-08]“
• BBC News reports that EU lost a billion dollars last year. Der Sankt wonders if the loss isn’t solely due to crime and fraud…How about inflation?
• Overhearing what New Yorkers have to say on the go makes for some of the best reads I’ve ever had online.
• BBC News writes about a brand new Emu owner. Interesting “hatchling” story of an Emu who should have been an omelette, or at least a hard-broiled egg!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I’m Iowa-bound today and I’m trying to muster up enough posts and whatnot to be published daily throughout my time out of town.

-Der Sankt

I’ve published a similar entry to this one not too long ago when BOC began…The blogroll is open to those who want their blogs/sites added. Just let us know, either in comment or through email: webmaster@bucketofcrabs.net

Be sweet!

-Der Sankt

Will gas break $5 before August? Will they ever raise the minimum wage, dammit? Is there an inflation? Are we in recession? Oh gosh, so many questions!

CNN reports, oil has reached $137 a barrel now, with predictions of the prices breaking $150 a barrel in the soon future. See similar report here at MSNBC, Associated Press, and Reuters’ Front Page news.

Well, how about that for a break, eh?

NYSE.com shows 183 point drop with nearly every stock suffering…which brings me to question: How’s the dollar faring now? Reuters’ FXHub paints a dire picture of the dollar losing to the euro nearly at $1.60 to 1 euro.

Finally, for some good news! HuffPost reports, along with few other news networks like CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post (with Financial Market Summary: -325 point loss for Dow Jones), Wall Street Journal that unemployment rates in the United States went up to 5.5%.

Ok, I lied.

Good news will come on the day when there are no news.

-Der Sankt

*EDIT*

New concept for me: instead of throwing in all those links without really making sense of them. I thought I’d throw in my two cents here. For starters, the price of oil barrel might seem arbitrary–and it probably is–does have a direct effect on gas prices (Wiki’s Oil Price Graph, so easy to understand and so amazing).

Wiki’s Unemployment graph shows that unemployment rate in the United States never went above 10% since the 1950s. The current rate is 5.5%, perhaps not as dramatic as the news would like it to be.

Hence the reason why I called it “good news.” Haha.

As for the foreign exchange, as the dollar gets weaker, it’s never good for those who depend on it for their livings (think: Americans). This is good for Europe though, perhaps we should invest more on our tourism since the exchange rate doesn’t look like it’ll improve anytime soon…

-Der Sankt

It is with a heavy heart that I must make this declaration: Bucket of Crabs has formally withdrawn its blog from one of its aggregators: DeafRead. I say this with regret because I was one of the bloggers who joined DeafRead when it was gaining national momentum during Gallaudet University’s second protests. Many warm and fond memories of DeafRead will not be forgotten with me, in spite of a few of my “crazy” entries and the backlash they received.

I joined DeafRead largely because it was an unifying force, bringing in perspectives and ideas from the entire community. I felt DeafRead and Bucket of Crabs would greatly benefit one another like my personal blog and the aggregator have a special relationship.

DeafRead’s decision to ban a certain blog on circumstantial evidence brought a painful revelation to me (and perhaps, my other writers as well) that DeafRead is no longer an unifying force. The editors of DeafRead (since the decision was and absolutely unanimous), along with writers of Bucket of Crabs, knew immediately that their decision would be polarizing, bordering on discriminatory and finally, but not least, blatantly censoring a fellow blogger.

All I ask of you, my readers, is not to feel obligated to us or to DeafRead. You can still fully enjoy the benefits DeafRead may provide for you and continue to come by Bucket of Crabs and read our stuff. In fact, we encourage that.

This disagreement is solely between the writers of Bucket of Crabs and the editors of DeafRead based on difference of principles. There’s nothing more to it and nothing less.

We wish them all the best in their path within the community and the d/Deaf blogosphere.

-Der Sankt

Hey folks – yeah, it has been a while, as I have been busy slacking off in Colorado, then took a three weeks road trip to get to the little brother and sister-in-law’s house out in Washington State. I drove up Route 1 in California, and then later Route 101 through California and Oregon, something I have wanted to do since I was a little kid – there’s no better feeling than fulfilling a dream of yours and having tons of fun seeing friends and sights on the way.

Now, after a couple of weeks of working / settling down on their farm, I have been learning how to raise chicken, a few pigs, and just basically growing a few things. It has been fun, and definitely a great learning process for a girl who lived in Brooklyn for six years with a space of three feet by three feet in the fire escape to try this (needless to say a couple of experiments of my roommate and mine failed miserably).

For those of you that do not know me, I have a confession – I am an addict. I am totally addicted to books. My goddaddy thinks that a drug habit would be cheaper for me than my book addiction, but I guess that’s the way it goes!

So, Green Reading! A few books I have read, one I have not, and plan to. All of these books (in my opinion) are written well so that I do not fall asleep in the middle of the book. People, we are talking about food and growing stuff – these people have a special talent to make it a lot of fun and interesting for a city girl like me to read.

Without further ado, this is the list and my mini review. Keep in mind – these all are resources and information for you to use – I am not saying that you should do everything that these people say, and just try to work it into your lifestyle as you see appropriate. I know that some of these books come off as “lecturing,” ignore that aspect and just absorb the information.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver

This well known writer, who wrote The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven documents her one year of eating almost entirely local food – buying food from the local farmer markets and growing a lot of stuff with her family – very interesting.

Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals – Michael Pollan

Awesome – I could not put this down. Pollan picks four meals and explain where each aspect of each meal comes from, following a journey through the food industry, to making a meal that he made entirely himself (even hunting a boar).

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye-View of the World – Michael Pollan

Here Pollan goes into the history of four plants – made me appreciate the hardiness of some plants and it is just an interesting book about a completely different part of our world.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto – Michael Pollan

Next on my reading list! My brother and his wife love this book and it comes highly recommended by them.

Fateful Harvest – Duff Wilson

Amazing stories about the conflict of a small town and their farmers against the huge industry.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal – Eric Schlosser

Schlosser writes about the fast food industry and its impact on the United States. I salute you if you are able to eat fast food within the next two weeks of reading this book (I swore off for a few months – and I cannot remember the last time I ate at Mickey D’s …).

Happy reading! If anyone has a great book to recommend or disagree with my reviews of these books, please feel free to comment!