J. Michels Uranium Index 5/31/07

+$385.00 +0.81%

Record Short Interest on this Market

According to this article which views this as a Bullish sign.

This bearishness has added up to short interest of 154.8 million shares in
the SPDR Trust Series 1 (SPY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating)
exchange-traded fund, which tracks the S&P 500. Another 237.1 million shares
of the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr
- Rating) are also being shorted. If the market heads higher, these all-time record levels of short-selling may trigger a short squeeze of epic proportions.

This is his Bullish critera:

All of these ETFs meet our standards to be considered technically bullish. This means they have reached new 52-week highs within the past five days. Also, the five-day moving average is above the 10-day moving average. And lastly, the moving average convergence-divergence indicator has given a fresh "buy" signal within the last 10 days.

Red Sox Owner Cursed

Now this is bad news if you were a Red Sox fan. John W. Henry the owner of the Red Sox might not be able to afford the 2nd highest salary in baseball if his fund is on its ass.

Henry's business is now in a deep crisis. Long-standing client
Merrill Lynch (MER - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating)
is yanking $500 million from his commodities and futures trading company,
according to reports published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal.

Merrill, as usual these days, declined to comment. Ken Webster,
president of John W. Henry & Co., did not return calls either.

Can't say I blame them.

The move would send Henry's assets under management plunging to
barely $500 million. That compares with a peak of $3.3 billion at the end of
2004.

They're down 70% this year alone.

They are down 70%! When the Dow is up 17% and breaking all-time records? I wonder if they were trying to short the market, or oil, or maybe gold or something. In any case you have to have a special kind of bad luck to be down 70%.

I wonder if John W. Henry will sell off Big Papi to finance another "No-no Nanette" to make back some of that 70% loss. Are we looking at the "Curse of the Papi" and another 80 year drought for Red Sox fans?

Hillary's Private Flights

It sure is good to have friends in high places when it comes to the Clintons. It would be crazy to think that Hillary would stoop to riding First Class on a regular airplane.

Sen. Clinton, who complained about corporate America's largesse and
skyrocketing executive pay during campaign events Wednesday, said she did not
believe her message was undermined by her acceptance of the private flights. In
line with Senate rules then in effect, Clinton's campaign has said she
reimbursed Gupta at the cost of a first-class flight, typically a significant
discount off the expense of a private jet.

Sounds like something the Senate would be cool with. Upgrade to First Class and get a free bump up to private corporate jet. I wonder why people think that politicians can't see eye to eye with the working man? I wonder if Obama or Rudy are getting these perks as well?

Side-Loading a Big Problem for Wireless Carriers

I guess all of those dreams of revenue streams pouring in from games, ringtones, etc. may be coming to an end according to this article.

The biggest challenger to operators is a practice known as
"side-loading," which is the loading of content in phones via PCs or other
devices. The practice essentially bypasses premium services sold by mobile
communication providers, iSuppli said.

"Side-loading is really coming into its own because of the
proliferation of local interface choices in mobile handsets," iSuppli analyst
Frank Dickson said in a statement.

As soon as I saw that USB port on my phone I knew that the era of buying stuff from your phone was over. Now the only thing that needs to catch up is the ease and convenience of loading outside content onto your phone and its curtains for the V-Cast ringtones store.

The Dangers of Web 2.0

I guess a good idea is always followed by people trying to abuse the system.

Kamkar was looking for a way to circumvent MySpace's content-posting
restrictions to jazz up his profile when he found a bug that essentially allowed
him to control the browser of anyone who visited his MySpace page. "A Chipotle
burrito and a few clicks" later, Kamkar says, he created the fastest-spreading
Web-based worm of all time.

Within 20 hours, the worm had spread to approximately 1 million
MySpace users, forcing them to select Kamkar as their "hero" in their profile
page. News Corporation, the site's owner, had to pull down MySpace to fix the
problem.

So this guy effectively bombed MySpace for 20 hours by accident. Now that sounds like a real bad deal waiting to happen. The problem I am having with MySpace now is that people keep bombing me with fake friend requests. I deny the request and it just causes it to send more. I guess they should start calling it "friend spam."

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/30/07

+$521.99 +1.11%

Eventful.com Used by Candidates

Now it looks like the 2008 Presidential Candidates are going the Web 2.0 route.

Within the last few months, presidential candidates have begun to pop
up on Eventful.com, a site where music fans and others lobby their favorite
performer and writers for local appearances. Some politicians, like Hillary
Clinton have appeared because their supporters have demanded local campaign
stops. Others, like Barack Obama, John Edwards, Ron Paul, and Mike Gravel,
have actively pursued a place on the site and the feedback it offers.

I guess these candidates will use any technological means they can to put their name out there. Too bad eventful.com seems like the Web 2.0 site that will only appeal to people that aren't in Hawaii. It seems that almost all of the events in Hawaii occur at the Honolulu Club. I guess they have a web savvy employee that just blankets their events on the site. I only saw like 5 events that weren't' Honolulu Club events.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/29/07

-$595.99 -1.25%

Gas Prices Aren't that Bad

This person agrees with me that gas prices really aren't such a big deal to the majority of Americans despite the gloom and doomers out there.

But that ignores the wealth effect, namely that even if today’s gas is
more expensive that it was then, almost every one of us has (even in real terms)
a lot more money to spend on gas than we did then. Will people who spend $20 for a music CD, $50 for ticket to the ballgame or $25 for a haircut really drive
less just because a tank of gas costs $45 instead of $35 or $30?

Yeah it is just one less fast food meal or a few days without your morning Starbucks fix. I think that most Americans can absorb an extra $10 a week. If gas does get to like $5 or so a gallon then it will start to become a real problem.

Rosie Won't be Back on the View

It looks like that heated exchange with Elisabeth Hasselbeck was enough for Rosie.

O'Donnell asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract.
She was due to leave "The View" in mid-June.

I would be willing to lay even money that she will pop up on HBO or maybe Showtime to spout more of her "wisdom" uncensored.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/25/07

+$1,857.00 +4.05%

Secret World of Uranium Traders

Now this is a very interesting article on how Spot Prices for Uranium is currently done. I agree with this article's assertion that there needs to be more transparency and visibility in this market.

In mid-town Manhattan, near Grand Central Station, a lesser known
‘commodity exchange,’ run by New York Nuclear, has real-time screen trading
every Wednesday morning between 7:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. And the screen trading is for the real thing – the physical delivery of U3O8. The processed uranium is offered for delivery within a 30-day period at a licensed uranium conversion facility. Real product trading in real-time by real professionals, who mine uranium, consume uranium or act as a broker for either side.

No, the public is not invited to this clubby function. One must be
a certified market participant to bid for or sell U3O8 through New York
Nuclear’s Uranium Online. While NYMEX paper trading is open to amateurs and
professional traders, Uranium Online only permits recognized persons to bid or
offer uranium for sale.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/24/07

-$1,856.00 -3.89%

Hillary Aide Says to Skip Iowa

Just as I had hoped Iowa is looking to be less important to Primary Candidates. Hillary's camp is already thinking of spending the money elsewhere

"I believe we need a new approach to winning the Democratic
nomination," Henry wrote. "This approach involves shifting the focus away
from Iowa and running a campaign that is more focused on other early primary
states and winning this new national primary."

So we may not see Hillary eating in the same idiotic Iowa Coffee shop over and over and instead focusing on the rest of America. It is interesting that he is actually calling it a national primary instead of the Iowa/New Hampshire Primary.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/23/07

+$997.00 +2.13%

Heroes for Hire #13: Sickening Cover

Now Marvel is really falling into the Abyss with this mainstream cover that is not appropriate outside of the pages of Heavy Metal. This isn't an adult book or anything like that but a mainstream book that will be right on the shelves if front of everything. Here we again have an on-the-shelf Marvel product showing women bound and about to be violated by tentacles in what I guess is the new "Merry Marvel Tradition."

The really bad thing about this is that Heroes for Hire is another almost totally female book that might have gone right after this neglected demographic that makes up half of the human race. It could have been just like a Birds of Prey for Marvel but instead it panders to the same repressed nerd, power-fantasy demographic that I guess is buying that Mary Jane statue.

Oh well, I guess this new Marvel is just totally bankrupt when it comes to depicting women with any sort of respect. It seems to Marvel that women are just a bunch of body parts that live only to bow down before their Marvel Zombie masters. It is too bad because I used to read almost 85% Marvel in the 90s. However, I won't be sending any more of my comics dollars their way until they clean their managerial house.

Blackstone to Incure Tax Troubles for the Little Guy

Buried in their prospectus we have this little gem that will prevent me from buying into this IPO I think.

Deep in its IPO prospectus, Blackstone warns that it will most likely
require longer than 90 days after the end of its fiscal year to obtain the
information from its lower-tier entities so that K-1s may be prepared.

"Consequently, holders of common units who are U.S. taxpayers should
anticipate the need to file annually with the IRS (and certain states) a request
for an extension past April 15 or the otherwise applicable due date of their
income tax return for the taxable year," according to the firm.

So that means that they won't be able to give you a K-1 in time for you to file your taxes by April 15. This may be good for those procrastinators but I would hate to have to file an extension year after year just to show that I got an extra $50 in dividends from a foreign source or something like that.

Too bad they can't end their fiscal year in an off quarter like Microsoft does. Oh well I guess I'm going to dodge this IPO unless the dividends are especially juicy. Or maybe I'll just nibble in their LEAP options once they become available instead of purchasing their shares directly. In any case their fancy partnership setup is not for the retail investor.

Red Chinese in on the Blackstone IPO

They have their order in for $3 billion worth of this IPO.

For those just catching up on the news, Blackstone revealed this
morning that it is bumping up its IPO from a planned $4-billion to $7.8-billion
after receiving a $3-billion investment from China. This values the 22-year-old
asset manager at $33.6-billion, which would make it larger than all but a
handful of Canadian companies.

This could mean that the Chinese government is finally going to put that $1.2 trillion in foreign reserves to work getting a higher return then the risk free rate. Could be interesting when they start demanding some board seats after throwing that big cash around.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/22/07

-$450.23 -0.95%

Mary Jane Statue Provokes Outrage

It seems that Marvel is looking dumb again by releasing a Mary Jane statue that is a cheesecake, washer-woman right out of the 40s.



It is an old, school representation of the subservient female comic character that in 1942 gave us Wonder Woman as "secretary" of the JSA and not a full member until years later. You would think that this kind of sexism in comics has been left behind in the 1940s but I guess Marvel is bringing it back.

On the other hand DC Comics has been toiling for years to bring us female characters that aren't just the fantasy servants of male nerds who live in their parents' basements. Some stuff from DC like Birds of Prey (incidentally written by a woman, Gail Simone) show female superheroes as desirable, smart, and bad-assed at the same time.

They really don't need male super heroes in order to stop the menaces that they do. In fact most of the DC heroes actually rely on Oracle to provide them with intel, help them defeat their enemies, and even save their lives. Also Birds of Prey doesn't try to make the women all butch and mannish with tons of muscles popping out all over. These women are smart, sexy and get the job done all at the same time.

There seems to be nothing comparable at Marvel. Even their publisher doesn't give much thought to their female fans. This guy is basically saying that if women happen to pick up a Spider-man book then Marvel needs to funnel them toward comics meant for them like Spider-man Loves Mary Jane. He doesn't say that Marvel wants to make Mary Jane a stronger or smarter character in order to appeal to female fans that pick up Amazing Spider-man. I guess Marvel is still for the "He-man woman haters club" while DC is actually becoming the big tent of comics. It's any wonder why the only Marvel book I read is Amazing Spider-man (and I may drop the book after this Mary Jane fiasco.)

Why Some Sequels Thrive and Others Flop

This seems like a very canny way of making more money in Hollywood.

"Continuity is certainly a plus when it comes to series," said Brandon
Grey, founder of Box Office Mojo. "Sequels should have a similar feel as their
predecessors and should be in the same universe."

Director Peter Jackson understood that when he shot all three "Lord of
the Rings" films at the same time, ensuring that the same cast, the same
director, the same special effects guys and even the same grips were involved in
each film. There was no quibbling from the audience over who made a better
Legolas; it was the same fresh-faced Orlando Bloom each time.

If they love these some actors in these same roles in the first place they will love them again if the story is as compelling as the first three. People are willing to make movies into $300 million domestic blockbusters only if they get more of the same but just slightly different. They want to feel the same way they felt the first time around as long as things are freshened up a bit.

Spiderman 3 was pretty much the continuation of the love story in the first 2 but with different villians and challenges faced by the main character. I think keeping everyone the same and introducing new characters allows the audience to lose themselves in the same world that they has already made the studio $300 million just a few years ago. So now we have Harry Osborn out but Gwen and Capatain Stacy in. Spiderman 4 may not make more then the first three but I would be willing to bet even money that it will break the $300 million mark easily.

Primaries Trying to Move Past Iowa and New Hampshire

For some reason this is a bad thing according to this article.

"The US has adopted what effectively is a national primary without having
made a deliberate decision to do so," said political science professor Linda
Fowler, at Dartmouth College in Dartmouth, New Hampshire.

I think this only means that two states full of white, rural voters no longer get a chance to pick the President anymore. It is asinine to have the future leader of the free world have to eat in the same Iowa diner 10 times in order to pander to a tiny minority of Americans. I think a President needs to know more about the problems of America in general rather then just have a strong position on farm subsidies. Now a larger slice of Americans get a chance to put up the choices for the next President.

It will hurt people without a ton of early money but if they aren't bringing in the cash in big gobs. However a person that can't raise the money usually isn't a viable candidate in the long run anyway. We may not get a come from behind type of candidate but at least more Americans are involved in the picking process then any other time.

Maybe in future elections we won't have to choose between two different white, Yale, Skull and Bonesmen. If all goes well we could have an Italian Yankee fan that went to Manhattan College versus a Hapa-Black guy that graduated from Colombia.

Blackstone Set to Be Biggest IPO of 2007

And I will probably try to get in on this one early. Blackstone seems like a very well run company whos stock could be up big in a few months.

"Blackstone is a heck of an organization, which has built enormous
franchise value and barriers to entry for rivals," said Jeff Schappe, chief
investment officer at BB&T Asset Management in Raleigh, North Carolina. "It
is still able to take companies private at relatively attractive valuations.
That should give it a premium valuation (in an IPO)."

I wish they could give us an exact date though so I can put it into my calendar.

Municipal Wireless Systems a Big Joke

Now this looks like a bunch of money wasted for something that would seem like a good deal at the on the surface.

A $3 million plan to blanket Lompoc, Calif., with a wireless Internet
system promised a quantum leap for economic development: The remote community hit hard by cutbacks at nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base would join the 21st century with cheap and plentiful high-speed access. Instead, nearly a year after its launch, Lompoc Net is limping along. The central California city of 42,000, surrounded by rolling hills, wineries and flower fields more than 17 miles from the nearest major highway, has only a few hundred subscribers.

What they should have did was to provide some kind of tax incentive for another wireless service provider to come in there and set up shop. I think Clearwire would have jumped at a chance to sign up lots of people in that area. Instead it looks like they paid millions so that only a few hundred people would to sign up for the service.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/21/07

+$871.06 +1.88%

Consolidation in the Uranium Space?

I have barely started to study this industry when we already have a potential buyout.

Energy Metals Corporation (Toronto:EMC.TO - News)(NYSE
Arca:EMU) announces that it is in exclusive negotiations with respect to a
potential sale of the company. No assurance can be given that the negotiations
will be successful.

That is one way for the big boys to grow when Uranium prices are near an all time high. Whoever the potential suitor for Energy Metals might be, it made the stock pop 18% today.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/18/07

+$704.95 +1.55%

Wesabe.com is a new Web 2.0 site

This one is more of a financial site for the MySpace set. It is some kind of internet community mixed with financial advice. I would make an account but the idea of one place where all of my financial data is kept is kind of scary. It is a kind of a hack waiting to happen. I'll check back in when this company gets bigger or is bought out by Google or something.

Hot Ice World Found

Another strange world has been found in a distant solar system. This planet has water but in a very weird form:

"Water has more than a dozen solid states, only one of which is our
familiar ice," said study team member Frederic Pont of the University of Geneva
in Switzerland.

In the same way that carbon can transform into diamonds under
extreme pressures, water turns into other solid states denser than both liquid
and ice under very high pressures. Physicists call these alternative forms of
water Ice VII and Ice X.

I wonder if there are any industrial uses of these weird forms of water? Here is an artist rendering of this so called Hot Hoth:

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/17/07

-$804.00 -1.73%

Geron up Big (14%) on Stem Cells Producing Insulin

Now this is some very exciting science if you are suffering from Type-1 Diabetes.

The researchers said they produced islet-like clusters, which resemble
the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

In lab dishes, these cells produced insulin, glucagon and
somatostatin, three of the major hormones produced by islet cells.

The cells secreted insulin when they were treated with elevated
glucose levels -- something they are supposed to do in the body.

So these stem cells actually produced these different hormones in a lab test. This shows that there is an actual real world benefit from stem cells research. I wonder if a stem cell created chemical can shut off the stuff that causes cancer?

This also means that the Far Right has no leg to stand on when it comes to blocking Stem Cell research. Any further shutting down of stem cell research could be an actual blocking of new cures for old diseases. Bush better take careful notes of this study.

10 Ways to Decrease Carbon Emissions

Some make economic sense while others could be problematic for some.

1. Buy locally grown food.
-This one is very easy to do and most locally grown food is tastier and fresher then what you can buy at Safeway. Or you could grow your own food and cut out the middle man.

2. Take a different vacation.
-These sustainable vacation places sounds like an interesting idea as long as you don't have to pay extra for them. Some people won't mind a "green charge" but I'm sure others will raise hell if they are on a budget.

3. Work right.
-This is pretty much up to your employer. If your company doesn't require allot of paper documentation then it would be a good deal. However some companies are stuck in the dark ages and have to print tons of stuff for whatever reason.

4. Get a home-energy audit.
-This seems like a good idea so you can identify drafts and see why your heating bill is so much higher. However this sounds like an interesting racket for companies that sell insulation and such. I bet they will probably want you to fail every time you get an audit so they can hook you up with stuff you might not need.

5. Go higher-tech.
-This is a good idea but a laptop will always cost more then a desktop. Also a CRT monitor is sometimes much cheaper then a flat-panel one. As always if you have the bucks you can go that much greener.

6. Unplug.
-This would be a good idea but too bad there isn't an energy saving power strip that would shut itself off after a certain amount of time. Perhaps there is but it just isn't very well publicized.

7. Take a different ride.
-This is sometimes the least feasible thing for some people. If they have kids then it is sometimes hard to get them around in a Prius or tiny car. Also green=more expensive applies here. Finally, all the talk of biking or walking to work doesn't factor in traveling through rain, snow, and heat to get there. Sure you can bike everyday if you are willing to change your clothes twice a day. Also there is the fear of being run down by motorists that you have to contend with.

8. Buy alternative energy.
-This varies on what programs are available in what state. The only thing available in Hawaii is some kind of crap to build solar panels for schools. It just looks like an afterthought that HECO tacked on to make them look "responsible."

9. Avoid the excess.
-This makes the most economic sense. Why throw away a perfectly clean plastic bag when you can save it for later use? Also I save spare napkins from fast food places so I don't have to buy napkins at the store. Everything you can reuse is an item you don't have to buy new.

10. Use less water.
-This one is a no brainer since it will reduce your water bill. Using less water=automatic savings.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/16/07

+$595.00 +1.30%

Could Geron be up 32% by June?

It looks like it may be the case according to this story.

Geron will follow through on a promise made months ago to establish the
exercise price on 4.125 million warrants for its stock. The warrants, issued in
December and February, will be priced based on the stock's value during a narrow trading window ending June 12. Holders can cash in those warrants, beginning
June 13, by paying 120% of the average stock price during the previous five
sessions, with an upper limit set at $12.14 a share.

The stock is currently selling at $8.18 so if these things price at the top of that range then that would make a tidy little profit. And at least a few money managers are buying like there is no tomorrow:

Lawton, for one, has never seen a company arrange to price warrants
during a specific period months after their grant date. When questioned by
TheStreet.com, Geron itself declined to explain the arrangement or identify who
the warrant holders might be. Meanwhile, partly because of this odd scenario,
Lawton's firm has invested heavily in Geron -- a biotechnology company that it
likes anyway -- in anticipation of a quick return.

While this fund got into the thing so heavily that they became the 2nd largest shareholder and completely filled their portfolio to the brim with shares. (I guess they are a Hedge Fund because I can't find much information on them:)

Meanwhile, however, some investors have decided to pounce on the stock
already. During the fourth quarter, when Geron issued a big block of warrants,
Rock Hill Investment Management bought so much stock in Geron that it emerged as the company's second-largest shareholder. Indeed, a Nasdaq filing indicates, Rock Hill owns far more common stock in Geron than it does in all other companies combined.

Whatever the case this stock could see a runup in the near term and some of their pipeline drugs seem pretty interesting. It could be the next Amgen if you are willing on taking the bumpy ride.

"GRN163L may have the potential to cure (multiple myeloma) by targeting
the cancer stem cells," Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ren Benjamin explained
earlier this month. Thus, "encouraged by the potential of eliminating cancer
stem cells, the company plans to initiate two GRN163L phase II trials in
2Q/3Q07" to expand tests on myeloma and treat a common type of lung
cancer.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/15/07

-$541.00 -1.17%

Nokia Conjecture

Nokia seems to be winning the cell phone wars with Motorola on the ropes so much so that Carl Icahn is stepping in.

Last month, the company posted its first quarterly loss since 2004 and
Motorola has lost about one-third of its market value since October.
The company said last month that its dismal sales likely would continue to vex
profits at least through the second quarter.

And Nokia is not wasting a moment to jump in and get some market share gains.

Cell phone maker Nokia Corp. said Monday its share of the global
handset market will grow during the second quarter to more than 36 percent.
The company had previously said it expected its market share to hold steady
with the 36 percent share reached in the first quarter.

That is all well and good but this little tidbit from an article on how cell phone companies lock their phones so they can't have as many features and how consumers are fed up with it had me thinking about Nokia's long term plans.

Nokia, for one, is looking for a way out of this vise. The cell phone
maker has begun opening "flagship stores," where it sells unlocked mobile
devices ranging from full-featured business smartphones to consumer cell phones.
The first two, in Chicago and New York, opened last year, and Nokia plans to
open additional stores around the world.

I was thinking about what Nokia could do to break this stranglehold on their phone business. One way they could do it is to buy out one of the main European carriers like Deutsche Telekom and then proceed to turn T-Mobile into a force in the US market.

They could compete by providing a better service then the other mobile players in the US. What they would do is make the American cellular experience more like the European/Asian one. The features on a Japanese phone are 100x better then an American phone and the US carriers dominance is part of the reason.

The whole idea behind crippling features in a phone is a bad for the consumer since it slows technological advancement. Maybe Nokia with its massive cash hoard could go the vertical integration route and provide the phone and the service all in one seamless package.

The big drawback to this is that the other US phone carriers will probably try to freeze Nokia out of their own stores. So it will probably be a bad idea for the most part since they might lose a bundle of market share in the short term and one slip-up and it will be a disaster. However, it would certainly be a cool thing to have a company come out with a top of the line phone that doesn't have everything locked down on it. Also I would love a carrier that doesn't charge you for every feature and nickle and dime you to death. Finally it would be nice of a carrier to compete on how they aren't as crappy as the others (ie Cingular with its "not as many dropped calls as the other guys" crap.) In any case Nokia is now the proven leader in the space until Motorola can get its act together. And that is no conjecture.

Kyoto Accord May Sink European Economy

Hmm this should give some pause to all those people investing in Europe. Also Kyoto might be especially hard on the German economy:

Germany is extremely vulnerable to imposed energy caps. It is strongly
opposed to plans for replacing its coal-fired power plants with gas-fired
facilities, as such a move would only increase its already precarious dependency
on Russian gas imports. Furthermore, successive governments have agreed to shut down all nuclear power plants, which account for a third of Germany's
electricity generation. The Greens' anti-nuclear achievement has thus turned
ideological triumph into an energy nightmare.

Thus it might be a bad idea to start investing in the iShares MSCI Germany ETF. I think some energy based inflation may start to creep into the European economy no matter how fast they raise their interest rates. However that part about shuttering the nuclear plants may get reversed if they are on the hook for billions in fines. That means more uranium demand and thus higher then $130/lb uranium.

Yahoo ETF Center is still Broken

Now this is some bush league stuff from Yahoo Finance. I use them to look at various ETFs and it has been down this whole weekend. Below is the error that I get. The main thing is that this error keeps popping up and it has been a few days already. I can see this happening from some tiny webpage but not from a company that has a $39 billion market cap.

ITunes Video has no Future

It looks like the ITunes like pay $1.00 for a show service is going to be a short lived deal according to this study.

Confusion over different video file formats, difficulties watching
downloaded videos on television screens and other technical problems have kept
average users from paying for shows online.

I agree with this because it is just too much trouble to have to connect your computer to your TV and run cable between them both. Sure you can use something like AppleTV but most households would rather just buy or rent the DVD and pop it into their player. Also Video-on -Demand is 100x easier and quicker then anything downloaded from a computer and then passed through to your TV.

I would much rather put my money on the Kazaa guys' Joost. Now that sounds like a game changer if they can get the content for it.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/14/07

-$1,499.00 -3.13%

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/11/07

+$1,362.00 +2.93%

House to Starve out the Troops

It looks like the House is determined to win the siege on out troops in Iraq by trying to again cut off funding by July. I wonder what goes through the minds of these guys? This shows how out of touch they are:

"The president refuses to listen to the American people who want this
war to end," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Yes we want the war to end but we want to leave behind something decent and not unrestrained bloodshed and chaos. The Dems plan just seems to be pulling the troops out at all costs no matter what happens after that.

I think the Dems need to create a comprehensive plan for Iraqi security that doesn't involve starving our troops out by July. If the plan is better then the White House plan of surging and getting out then people will be all for it. I think their uncomfortableness with military matters or seeming too hawkish is what is stopping them from coming up with a better plan then the White House. I mean they have intelligent guys on their side that can come up with a Democratic "How to win in Iraq" plan. Whatever the case "How to Win in Iraq" doesn't involve running away and ignoring the resulting chaos.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/10/07

-$2,117.10 -4.36%

Bonds Poll Seperated by Race

It seems that a poll conducted by ESPN/ABC says that whites don't want Bonds to break Aarons record as much as blacks do.

What is new is that the latest poll suggests that black baseball fans
are far more inclined to root for Bonds than white fans. While just 28 percent
of whites say they want Bonds to break Aaron's record, three out of four black
fans are rooting for him to do it.

So it looks like the media is trying to make this a race issue when none exists. Bonds is going after the record of another black guy and not Babe Ruth. Nobody much cared when Bonds passed Babe Ruth while Aaron received death threats. Aaron had to face some of the greatest pitchers of all time while enduring segregated conditions and racism almost his entire career. The whole time Aaron was gracious and likable and wore his hero mantle well.

On the other hand Bonds seems to have just used the Cream and the Clear while being a general ass to almost everyone on his chase for the record. That is the reason why is seems Bonds passing Aaron is getting the same big yawn as when he got the home run title. People just don't like Bonds no matter what skin color he has.

I would be willing to lay even money that when A-Rod or Big Papi pass Bonds there will be allot of hoopla surrounding it. I will certainly be following it more then the big yawn I am getting with Bonds passing Aaron.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/9/07

+$3,707.99 +8.26%

Uranium Futures Trading

The NYMEX introduced Uranium Futures Contracts yesterday and already the price seems to have been pushed up. The spot price was in the $130 range a few weeks ago but now the current futures price is $143. This seems like it would be bad for all those nuclear power plant owners out there. Here are the names of some prominent nuclear power plant owners that might be affected by high prices.

Exelon (EXC)
Entergy (ETR)
FPL Group (FPL)
Dominion Resources (D)

Possibly some short positions or some long dated puts might be good idea since these companies are hovering near they 52 week highs.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/8/07

-$629.99 -1.38%

Added 3 new Stocks to the Index

I will be adding 3 new Uranium stocks to my Index. Here they are:

Fronteer Development Group (FRG) Another Canadian company that also mines gold and copper as well as uranium.

USEC (USU) This is a US company that extracts enriched uranium from nuclear warheads and provides services for 2 nuclear plants in the US. They also operate the only gaseous diffusion plant in the US which is located in Paducah, Kentucky. They also provide storage and transport of spent nuclear fuel.

Cardero Resource (CDY) This is a small cap that mostly explores for gold, silver, copper, and iron ore. They are currently seeking a partner to develop their Peruvian uranium deposits.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/7/07

+$988.01 +2.43%

Yhoo+MSFT is a no-go

Now this is bad news for all those people running YHOO up today.

There's too much overlap between Microsoft and Yahoo, and to try to merge the company cultures of two large companies like that in general is hard," Hallerman said.

Hallerman said Microsoft would be better off buying an ad network to beef up its own operations, the same way Time Warner Inc.'s AOL has seen its advertising revenue grow following the acquisition of Advertising.com's technology and sales force.
I agree with him 100%. I agree that buying out 24/7 Real Media (TFSM) for $575 million and then trying to compete is a better idea then just plunking down $50 billion to get rid of one of your competitors. You do get YHOOs 27.5% of the advertising pie added to your 11%. You would still be down from Google's 48% though. Now Google buying out Yahoo would be interesting though. Anti-trust stuff would kibosh that deal though.

Paris Hilton Going to the Big House

I guess you could say it is all parties and boozing until you have to go to jail.

Hilton, who parlayed her name and relentless partying into worldwide
notoriety, must go to jail on June 5 and she will not be allowed any work
release, furloughs, use of an alternative jail or any electronic monitoring in
lieu of jail, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled after a
hearing.

However it looks like they are going to put her into minimum security slap-you-on-the-wrist prison.

She was then ordered to report to a women's jail in suburban Lynwood on
the set date or face 90 days behind bars.

J. Michels Uranium Index 5/4/07

+$1,173.99 + 2.98%

Introducing the J.Michels Uranium Index

I am now actively tracking Uranium Stocks so I might as well post what I have on my blog. So far I have 7 stocks in my index and will add more as they become available. The other players in the industry are either on the pink sheets or only trade in Canada or Australia. Since I have no access to buying those names. I'll just post the stuff I have that trade in the US. Here are the stocks I have in my Index:

CCJ Cameco
RTP Rio Tinto
BHP BHP Billiton
DNN DENISON MINES
URRE URANIUM RESOURCES
EMU ENERGY METALS
URZ Uranerz Energy

I just weighted the index equally because I don't have time to adjust crap to make things fit together. It would be cool to weight these companies by how many tons of Uranium they mine in a year or how much proven reserves they have or something. I don't have time for that because I'm just doing this for fun.

So what I did was just put 100 shares of each stock into my Yahoo Portfolio and I'll post the results. So far this thing is up 5.81% with most of the gain coming from CCJ.

445 is the Greenhouse Number to Beat

It looks like all the Gore Scare Tactics in the world isn't making the quickly growing countries slow down on this issue. Of course the Europeans are 100% behind it because the slower Brazil, China, and the US grow the easier it is for them.

European delegates accused China of trying to strip the 445 figure from
a report being negotiated this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. They also hinted that other countries were backing Beijing.

Here is a prime example of the Scare Tactics that they are using to slow down global growth:

Going beyond 450 parts per million means "there's a good chance that we
would be committed to the melt of the Greenland ice sheets. While it might take
centuries, that would give us five to six (yards) of sea level rise," Mann said.
He said that would mean island nations would be lost and much of the U.S. East
Coast, one-third of Florida and all of New Orleans "would be
submerged."

Of course we have 30 years before this 445 figure becomes a problem and then a 100 more years until these ice sheets melt. So we pretty much have 130 years for us all to be driving hydrogen vehicles and get our power from safer nuke plants. That sounds *very* doable to me. They may even have greenhouse gas scrubbers invented by then. I think the Al Gore lobby needs to focus on security in their global warming talks. If we use less Greenhouse Emitting oil then we can marginalize Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia. Forget this "climate change in 130 years" crap but focus on the fact that the countries that hate us will no longer have leverage over us if we go green. Go Green=Peace in our Time.

Now Chickens Contaminated with Melamine

It looks like pet food isn't the only thing that is affected by Melamine.

Hundreds of other producers may have similarly sold an unknown amount
of contaminated poultry in recent months, they added, painting a picture of much
broader consumption of contaminated feed and food than had previously been
acknowledged in the widening pet food scandal.

We might soon feel the pain at your KFC or a price hike on a Chicken Sandwich.

Band of Bloggers to Air Uncensored Iraq Footage

It seems like the History Channel is going to add to its online trove of non-Hitler footage.

The History Channel promises that soldiers with handheld video cameras
will provide the site with "uncensored news" and a "perspective on war never
before seen in history." An expanding pool of military bloggers will deliver
content from the battlefield via cell phones and the Internet, according to a
news release from History.com.

Now this is the equivalent to "as it is happening" war diaries that would be invaluable to historians who will be writing about the Iraq war in years to come. It should be interesting to check out from a amateur historians point of view.

Sony Apologizes for Gory Goat stunt

And someone needs to get fired over this mess.

Among the games to test bravery was reaching into the guts of the
freshly slaughtered goat, with its head dangling from threads of tissue, and
eating what looked like animal intestines, but were actually Greek food. "They
did a Fear Factor challenge to make people think they were eating the insides of
the goat, but in fact it was a traditional Greek soup," said Dave Karraker,
spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment in the United States.

And for that kind of idiodic stunt I am going to boycott all Sony games until someone gets fired over this event and steps are taken to not let it happen again. Torturing animals to sell a violent computer game is obscene and Sony should know better.