2005 Sweet Corn Queen Lindsey Eilbacker
Public Knowledge – June 20, 2007:
Thanks to NBC, we now know who would be most endangered by a free and open Internet – our nation’s corn farmers.
If that argument seems a bit illogical, here’s the reasoning. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission calling for far more regulation of the Internet than even the most vociferous advocate of Net Neutrality, NBC Universal (the combo network and studio) painted a picture of an Internet overflowing with evil peer-to-peer traffic carrying pirated movies that lead to losses of money and jobs in the movie industry.
Now the money shot: “Because of our nation’s interlocking economy, two-thirds of the lost earnings and lost jobs are in industries other than motion picture production. For example, in the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theatres would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment.”
I do not believe it, because I have not bought popcorn at the movies since I was a kid, for the price of the popcorn you can save that money and buy the dvd in 2 or 3 months after it hits the theater.
Well that makes total and comple… WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!
People don’t make popcorn at home?
The new and improved “butterfly effect” theory….
I want me some of that corn queen sweetness.
Once again! Let’s all make this Christmas CD and DVD free!
Pass it on!
Perry
Makes sense to me.
When people make popcorn at home, they make a reasonable amounts. That’s much less than the gallon-sized bins they sell theatres.
Why make only how much you want when you can make twice that and throw away half?
Oh man, so just because I may have, on occasion, not saying I do that anymore… used a P2P network for a bit of “hey look what I have,” I now will have to eat a pickle when I watch a movie because there will be no popcorn!!!
oh the humanity!!!!!
#6 – Yes! Give gift certificates instead so I can just buy the DVDs I need and not have to exchange duplicates.
#5 – Christ… what is she? 15?
Besides, the most of you cranks look, you’d be lucky to date the pork queen.
Less popcorn eaten by moviegoers means more feed for cows, chickens, and pigs.
Actually OFTLO, just between me and you, my wife used to be the Poultry Queen in Staunton Virginia. Thats a true story, and if you tell anyone, I’ll have to hunt you down and feed you McNuggets.
Wow thats KIND of a stretch.
My counter arguments:
1. By not going to the theater you would be saving gas AND cut down on greenhouse gas production. Thereby saving our kids from the consequences of your need for Mike n Ikes and a $10.00 movie. If your against pirating you hate children and want them all to die.
Save the environment…. pirate a movie (TM)
2. By downloading (instead of renting or buying) you help cut the trade defecit with China, since fewer DVDs would need to be shipped over. Because of our interlocking ecomony, by NOT pirating you are only weakening the US economy, which will cost you your job. So which is it, your country or another showing of Norbert?
3. Going to a movie theater means you support terrorism.
They never seemed to give a rat’s ass about farmers when standard corn was under $1.90/bushel (just a few years ago) and foreign grain was still coming in. Now we don’t care about growing popcorn when standard corn is over $3.50/bushel. A popcorn farmer makes less than a nickel on a $5 box of movie popcorn anyway. We don’t give a shit if you eat your popcorn in a theater or in front of a pirated movie at home.
They’re already being paid to not grow corn, what’s going to happen next? Being paid to not produce ethanol?
I think that article is true to the extent there would be pressure or movement in that direction but that there would be offsets ((just as seemingly disconnected)) in the other direction. Its not as complicated or subtle as the butterfly effect, but its there.
Its really no different than saying that the internet saves paper? I don’t use an envelope or a check when I bank electronically==that saves paper and saves trees and lessens CO2 etc. Now there are many jokes about paper use going up in offices–but it goes up for other reasons. So, without the internet, paper use would be even higher than it is so the direct effect of the internet can be hard to see.
It only takes knowledge of the subject matter and access to the data to make the computtions.
Why such a knee jerk reaction to “A NEW IDEA?” Saw the same thing about Cheney not being part of the executive. True–we never thought of it that way before. Exercise your brain. Its fun–whether its ultimately true or not.
I will agree with #13. Save the environment… pirate a movie! (if I knew how to add the trademark, I would.)
If you believe the Bible is the literal truth you should have no problem believing this pile of horse huey.
18. LOL, actually, none of those, although the third one caused some stirrings in me loins.
16–Continuing the point, it goes to what I often think and is on display between contesting parties==I believe X -vs- no X is wrong. Or more complicated, I believe X -vs- no Y is correct. The the argument only goes back and forth each side restating their CONCLUSIONS.
I don’t care what anybody thinks–neither should you. I hear your opinion–now what facts do you base that on? Show me the figures/formula for piracy -vs- corn production. Is there any offset? If not, I know the forumula is a potential maximum value. It becomes the start of analysis, not a point of disagreement.
#15 – They’re already being paid to not grow corn, what’s going to happen next? Being paid to not produce ethanol?
I don’t produce any kind of foodstuffs at all. How much can I get for that?
Oh, yeah… the corn farmers are really hurting…
#23
Oops… wrong image… here’s the correct one…
Piracy is causing harm to corn farmers??
NBC should fund a study to find out why their ratings are so low that the only programming they air are game shows, which become boring fast, and crappy “reality” tv. Maybe NBC should save their money on studies and hire some show creators, or just steal the show ideas from the BBC and continue on with games “duh or no duh” and “who I am”?
This just in from NBC: books, magazines, newspapers, podcast, blogs, computer games, and working for a living cause NBC to have low ratings.
You see, if people did not read anything, or listen to the radio or podcast, or spend time on the computer blogging or gaming, and if they did not work, then they would be at home watching tv, and just maybe the would be watching NBC.
24–Excellent data. I wonder how much of that corn is corporate grown (Archer Daniels Midland) and how much of the corn subsidies is soaked up by said corporate political donors under cover of the
small family owned farm. Everything is smoke and mirrors for the corporate theftocracy.
It is that $15 contractor size garbage bag of popcorn, the $10 drinks, the filthy seats and the noisy cell phone using fucks that have destroyed the movie theatres. I can’t recall ever seeing a farmer at the movie theatre. Tell the farmers to mow the field and bring back drive-ins and shut the fuck up!
And tell the movie studios to produce good movies that I can’t bear to sit through even when I did get the “this movie is the property of MGM” version off the Internet. I’m so glad I didn’t have to pay for that PoS.
Movie Theaters SUCK!
#23, Oh, yeah… the corn farmers are really hurting…
Comment by Jägermeister
Right you are. Look at corn futures from the Chicago Board of Trade at close today:
..... Close Change High LowJly 356.50 -1.25 363.50 356.00
Sep 367.00 unch. 374.00 366.50
Dec 375.00 +1.00 382.00 374.25
Mar 386.25 +1.00 392.75 386.00
Too bad I can’t get the columns to line up on the blog, but here’s the link, and corn farmers seem to be doing righteously (because of the new ethanol push?) Maybe NBC should be selling corn on the cob instead of “entertainment.”
http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/4/6/95061564.html
#22
You can always sell human manure.
Lets see. Watched a movie in my air conditioned home, on a large plasma screen, with microwave popcorn and a DVD from REDBOX for a buck. Gave up on NBC when they replaced their regular programming with night after night of morons going for the big prize on gameshows. Their nightly news-lite is no bargain either.