Just for Fun

The news these days is pretty scary – so just for fun, enjoy this video of some terrified corn cobs!

Google News Alerts For Corn

I’m making a guess that most of you use Google. How many of you know about Google News Alerts?

If you don’t then you might consider setting up a personal Google News Alert for the key word, Corn.

As of the writing of this post there are 28,296 results for the word “corn” in a Google News Search. You don’t have to worry about getting all of them when you set up a news alert though.

And just in case you’re interested, there are currently 86,100,000 results for the word “corn” in a regular Google search!

True Grits

Now here is a unique “new use” for corn – jewelry made from grits.

Yep – you read that right. The “Grit Lady” – aka Carol Kautz of Lilburn, Georgia – makes the corn based Southern breakfast food into all kinds of wearable fashion items. Some of her creations include the pictured heart-shaped flag, grapes, peanuts, snowmen, Easter eggs, crosses, watermelons – in pins, pendents, earrings, magnets or ornaments.

According to Carol, “I have sent my grits jewelry to government officials as well as various celebrities.”

All of her pieces are handmade and treated to protect them from insects and deterioration. “No two pieces are exactly alike as some dry flat while others curl somewhat when they dry,” she says.

She sells items in bulk – minimum of 12 pieces per order – and I am quite sure she can do an ear of corn. Find out more on her website gritlady.com.

Wonder what the critics will say about using food for jewelry?

More Popcorn Poppycock

Coincidentally coming at the kickoff of the big summer movie season, the theater industry has decided to raise prices for BOTH popcorn and tickets and blame it on ethanol.

If you remember last year, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board popped the myth that ethanol caused higher popcorn prices by dramatically demonstrating just how much popcorn you can get for five bucks. Pictured is ICPB intern Paul Brees with 38.5 pounds of popcorn – the equivalent of about $1280 at the movie theater.

Missouri Corn Growers president Mike Geske was popping mad enough about the movie theaters’ claims that he wrote a letter to the Kansas City Star last week.

Dear Editor: It is ridiculous to blame the rising cost of a movie ticket on ethanol (5/23, A-1, “Corn costs adding pop to prices at the movies; Kansas City-based AMC will increase ticket and popcorn prices at its area locations”). In 2007, the farm price for popcorn was 13 cents per pound. Prior to popping, the average $5 tub contains 0.15 pounds, or about 2 cents’ worth of popcorn. Even if the price of popcorn would have doubled in the last year, there would be only about 4 cents’ worth of popcorn in the $5 tub at the theater. Additionally, the paper pulp used to produce popcorn tubs has jumped 40 percent in the past 36 months. This increase makes the popcorn less expensive than the tub it comes in. Lastly, popcorn and field corn, used primarily for livestock feed and ethanol, are not the same. It is irresponsible to paint ethanol as the scapegoat at the expense of farmers.

Time to get out the popcorn poppers and hold a few more media events to illustrate just how ludicrous it is to blame ethanol for increasing the cost of something they make such a huge profit on already.

King Corn Commentary

“King Corn” wants Corn Commentary to promote it.

We got a comment on the blog from the distributors of this “documentary” that blames corn for America’s obesity problem telling us that it is now available on iTunes and wanting us to direct people to it. They call it a “very entertaining documentary with real educational value” that “speaks to disturbing health trends in America.” And they were hoping we might be able to help them “get the word out” on this site and “spread the filmmakers’ message.”

Fat chance.

Here is the filmmakers’ message – that we are going to have a shorter life span than our parents and that corn is to blame, that corn has no nutritive value, that corn is a poison for cattle, that corn is responsible for making Americans obese and the cause of diabetes, and that it is foul to the human palate, in short – that it is “crap.”

Okay, so here is our review of “King Corn.” It should have a shorter life span than a fruit fly, it has no intellectual value, it is poison for the public, it is responsible for filling American minds with mush and is the cause of misguided thinking, it is foul and unfair to the American farmer – in short – it is “crap.”

Don’t waste your money. Buy something more uplifting on iTunes – like “Schindler’s List.”

New Blogs on the Block

Two new blogs have debuted that make for an interesting contrast in the fuel-food debate that takes up so much of our time. Goodfuels.org is a new blog by the Renewable Fuels Association. Some of its writers also write here, on occasion. Their names and contact information are clearly displayed on the website.

Meanwhile, across the tracks, someone created a blog at “foodb4fuel.com,” a lousy address because it is hard to give out in radio interviews. You’d always have to spell out the “b-4.” And its authors are … get this: named “kernel” and four variations of “foodb4fuel.”

No conspiracy here, folks. No stealth campaign.

 Uh huh. We challenge them to reveal themselves.

 Update 6/4:

• They have removed the contributors list shown on this post.
• Foodb4fuel.com now has an “About Us” page … that fails to list the organizations involved.

Popcorn More Expensive? Don’t Blame Us!

Just in time for more summer blockbusters, several stories are appearing about how cinemas are charging more for popcorn. Advertising Age had the best factoid on this in its story:

“… the price of the paper pulp to produce popcorn tubs has jumped 40% in the past 36 months, making the tub more expensive than the corn inside it.”

Flakey Price

Talk about your food price inflation – this past week a single corn flake sold for $1350. I am not making this up – the Associated Press reported it, so it must be true.

Now, no one has yet blamed this on ethanol, but the flake was shaped like the state of Illinois, so it is possible that could be the underlying cause. The average retail price for an entire box of corn flakes is only about $3.29 for 18 ounces – with the price of the corn in those flakes less than a nickel. No telling how this will impact the entire cereal market at this point. We could end up mortgaging our homes for a single bowl of flakes for breakfast!

The investor who drove up the price of cereal in this case is Monty Kerr of Austin, Texas who is owner of a trivia Web site. “We’re starting a collection of pop culture and Americana items,” said Kerr.

The sellers were two sisters from Chicago, Melissa and Emily McIntire, who made a pretty healthy return on their $3 investment. They are planning to take a family vacation on the proceeds from the sale.

While they did make quite a killing in the cereal market, they are discouraging competition. “We’re going to encourage people to eat their cereal instead of saving it,” Melissa says.

Nonetheless, owners of other state-shaped flakes are hoping to cash in on the market. Reports are that corn flakes shaped like Hawaii and Virginia are now up for bid. Wonder if the CBOT is considering a corn flake futures contract?

Corny News

I don’t know about you but I Google for just about everything. Sure there are other search engines but I can usually find what I’m looking for with the G monster. So I thought it might be interesting to do a little search for some news about corn. Besides us, who else is posting corn info? This might become a regular post. Let me know what you think of the idea. Of course you can always email in links to ones you find interesting too.

Here’s an interesting piece from ABC-7 News about some high school students who converted their school bus in Immokalee, FL to run on corn oil.

Automotive Tech Teacher Phillip Wall challenged his students to convert the gas guzzling bus to run 100-percent on vegetable oil.

“It’s like, mission accomplished. We did something nobody has done. This is the first high school to do something,” said student Andres Garza.