Uni Watch All-Star Look

It's that magical time of year when hockey gets back to its purest form and... alright, who am I kidding? I was asked by Phil Hecken to give some thoughts on the NHL All-Star Game jerseys for the incomparable Uni Watch Blog today, and I am replaying the article here. As you know, the NHL All-Star Game goes today, and there's something that has me excited about the game, but a number of things that do not. The NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft took place on Friday night, and we'll take a look at some of the more garish NHL All-Star Game jersey designs in a Jim Vilk-style "3+1 view". I'll also look back on a few of my favorite images from past All-Star Games. Let's get this review underway using the Paul Lukas "is it good or is it stupid" test!

The NHL decided to allow Reebok to push the envelope in their designs this year for the two teams, and I'm sorry to say that I don't like the look the NHL chose. There's nothing good about random striping that cuts off at the seam of the sleeve and then randomly begins on the back of the sleeve and end at the elbow on the front. Honestly, what is the point of these random lines? If this is some new gradient technology that Reebok has come up with, we've been there, done that, moved on. Stop trying to add flair – it just doesn't work! Random lines that do nothing for the aesthetics of the uniform are just dumb. STUPID.

Have you actually looked at the front of the jerseys? There's just way too much stuff on the front with the NHL All-Star shield logo, the number below the collar, the captaincy designation, and the NHL shield logo. Does anyone actually look at these jerseys before signing off on them? Are there no prototypes made? The easiest solution is to remove the “feature” that the NHL apparently insists on having on the front – the number. The jersey would be much less busy, and would look fairly good if you overlook the random lines all over the sleeves. However, that number can't be overlooked. STUPID.

The font used on the jersey for names and numbers is legible, so that's a plus, but we run into a problem with the numbers on the back of Team Lidstrom's jerseys. Again, what's with the random lines? Do we really need these lines on the numbers? The rear numbers clearly do not match up with the sleeve and chest numbers as it appears those numbers don’t have lines, so this might be the first time in NHL history where back numbers don’t jive with TV numbers. So that automatically makes this STUPID.

Now you’re probably saying, “Teebz, you’re such a downer,” due to my three “stupid” ratings in a row. There are, however, some things I do like about the NHL All-Star jerseys.

For starters, I love the colour used by the teams. Have you noticed that the black on these jerseys is as minimal as can be? The blue is bold, and the home team is wearing white! While I’m not completely sold on the shade of red being used, the game should look good and the fans, for the first time in a long time, will be able to cheer on the good guys in white! GREAT!

I'm guessing that Team Staal will be skating left-to-right tomorrow because the NHL All-Star Game logo is on mirrored shoulders for the two teams. I get that the NHL wants the logo showing in promotional pictures during the ceremonial face-off and stuff, but will anyone not know that this is the NHL All-Star Game? I can’t call it dumb because it serves a purpose, but when you combine that with the individual team logo of each player on the opposite shoulder, this one becomes a PUSH.

Overall, not the worst-looking All-Star Game in history (we'll see those in a second), but the NHL really needs to go back to their star design or a much more simplified design. The KISS rule always seems to work best.

Teebz's All-Star 3+1

Not much needs to be said here, but these are certainly the worst looks seen at the NHL All-Star Games over the years. The "+1" will be my favorite NHL All-Star Game look of all-time. Enjoy!

3. 1982 NHL All-Star Game – Wales Conference vs. Campbell Conference. I like the colours, but how many stars do you need on a jersey?

2. 2003 NHL All-Star Game – Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference. The Western Conference jersey looks good in colour, but the TV numbers on the front left hip for these teams are useless. The Eastern Conference jersey looks like a ripoff of the Mighty Ducks' jersey. Not a fan of these jerseys. They just don't say "all-star".

1. 2000 NHL All-Star Game – North America vs. World. Count the number of different jerseys you see. If you see four different jerseys, you're right. The goaltenders for each team wore jerseys that were different from their teammates. Aren't uniforms supposed to be, y'know, uniform? This is the dumbest idea seen at an NHL All-Star Game yet.

+1. 1992 NHL All-Star Game – Wales Conference vs. Campbell Conference. There is something to behold about the 1992 NHL All-Star Game: the colour, the throwback designs, and the overall aesthetic. These uniforms are absolutely gorgeous, and some NHL team should look at bringing a design like this to life.

There are also a number of pictures that make the NHL All-Star Game special. These are some that I've liked for various reasons.

• There's something to be said when you see NHL stars not giving out clichés for a living and just being themselves. That's Grace Doan hugging her dad, Shane, at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game Skill Competition.
• PK Subban caused himself a little uniform controversy when he skated out in Jeff Skinner's Carolina Hurricanes uniform. Subban definitely won the crowd over with that move at this year's Skills Competition.
• Terence Kearns informed me that he likes when the players wear their gloves from their normal teams in contrast with the NHL All-Star jerseys. Here are Vyacheslav Fetisov, Steve Yzerman, and Brendan Shanahan doing just that at the 1997 NHL All-Star Game.
• Everyone knows Bobby Orr wore #4, but the 1968 NHL All-Star Game saw Bobby dona new number as he skated in the game wearing #5!

That's all for today! Enjoy the NHL All-Star Game from Raleigh, North Carolina!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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Boomerang Shaped UFO Spotted Over Oxford Mississippi

Date: January 30, 2011
Time: 1:10 a.m.

Location of Sighting: Oxford Mississippi.
Number of witnesses: 2
Number of Objects: 1
Shape of Objects: Boomerang.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: We were watching the stars in a field when my friend said that she saw some strange boomerang-shaped object moving slowly across the sky. I couldn't see it unfortunately. The first one, according to my friend, "looked like a haze, with no distinct lights, just a boomerang-shaped haze moving across the sky that was lighter than the rest of the sky."

Ten minutes later, she pointed it out again, as it was heading in the opposite direction. I definitely saw this one. It was boomerang shaped and had lights forming a V. When it reached the horizon, it looked like it changed direction, and it was as if the lights changed from (arrow shaped), moving out of sight beyond the tree-line.

It was awesome!

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/

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Oil ETF Call Trades Soar to Record, Crude Futures Back Near Highs; What Will Next Week Bring?

In light of firebombings, riots, and anarchy in Egypt, coupled with social unrest in Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia, call options of those betting on higher oil prices soared to seven times normal activity on Friday.

This weekend we saw the closing of Egyptian banks and the announced closing of Egyptian stock markets on Monday. However, it is hard to know what will happen next week.

To help understanding the possibilities, please consider this analysis of Friday's crude action.

Bloomberg reports Oil ETF Call Trades Soar to Record Amid Egypt Unrest

Trading of bullish options on an exchange-traded fund tracking crude futures soared to a record as oil surged the most since September 2009 after unrest in Egypt raised concern that protests would spread to major oil- producing parts of the Middle East.

Almost 242,000 calls to buy the U.S. Oil Fund changed hands today, seven times the four-week average and almost five times the number of puts to sell. The most-traded contracts were the February $38 calls, which rose sixfold to 48 cents. The ETF gained 4.6 percent to $37.58.

“Bullish players are binging on call options across several expiries,” Caitlin Duffy, an equity-options analyst at Greenwich, Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers Group Inc., wrote in a report. “The massive upswing in demand for the contracts helped lift the fund’s overall reading of options implied volatility.”

Oil for March delivery increased $3.70 to settle at $89.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract has risen 0.3 percent this week. Oil volume in electronic trading on the Nymex was 1.36 million contracts as of 3:18 p.m. in New York. That’s the highest level since April 13, when volume for both electronic and floor trading reached a record 1.42 million barrels on the Nymex.

Volume totaled 1.01 million contracts yesterday, 50 percent above the average of the past three months. Open interest was 1.52 million contracts.

Crude 15 Minute Chart



click on chart for sharper image

Hedging Plays Push Crude Prices Higher

I was watching crude futures Friday morning (3:00AM Central) and the futures were essentially flat. Friday morning, however, as oil future call buying began, followed by equity call buying on OIL ETFs, oil shot up nearly $4.

What happened is options sellers (the market makers on the other side of those trades), cannot risk being naked short those oil calls and had to hedge by buying futures.

To hedge those short calls, the market makers bought crude futures. This delta hedging activity drove up the price of oil this morning as everyone plowed into the "oil might go to the moon" trade.

No one wanted to be naked short over the weekend. (In a similar fashion, I do not believe JPM is naked short silver futures either, but I wish they would come out and prove it).

If nothing happens over the weekend (which so far appears to be a disproved idea already), oil futures could easily sink next week as the trade unwinds. On the other hand, should unrest spring up in Iran or expand in Saudi Arabia crude prices could soar.

Given that a collapse of the Egyptian government seems likely, and unrest in other areas picking up, if crude prices cannot break north here, then look out below. A short or intermediate-term top is likely in.

For more on the crisis in Egypt, please see ...

Egyptian Police Disappear in Widespread Chaos, Vigilantes Defend Homes; Egypt Video With a Message "We Will Never be Silenced!"

Egypt Closes Banks, Stock Market; Protests Spread to Saudi Arabia, Jordan; Saudi King Backs Mubarak; Reflections on Misguided US Policy

Mubarak's Acts of Cowardice; Obama Calls Mubarak for 30-Minutes; Cell Service, Internet Total Shutdown; Anarchy in Cairo; How Long can Mubarak Last?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

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Sightings.com UFO Newsletter Issue #3

Date Of Release: January 29, 2011

To join the free Yahoo Sightings.com UFO Newsletter, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Sightings_com/ (Please note: To receive the Newsletter you have to get it through Yahoo Groups)

Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/ and the Jeff Rense radio program http://www.rense.com/. The Vike Factor UFO Blog http://the-v-factor-paranormal.blogspot.com/

Brian Vike can be heard on Rense Radio on the third Friday in each month with special guests.


Enormous Cylindrical UFO Swoops Over Witnesses Car Over Montague New Jersey

Date: 1985
Time: 8:30 p.m.

Location of Sighting: Clove Road, Montague New Jersey.
Number of witnesses: 2
Number of Objects: 1
Shape of Objects: Round.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: My mother and father were on their way home from the Clubhouse at High Point Country Club. They turned left out of the Country Club and headed toward route 206. As they passed Dr. Coburn's office, the local vet, they sited a round cylindrical enormous object over the substation on Robin Hill Road.

My parents are the farthest from UFO believers, that they could not believe their eyes and no sooner than saying "Hun", do you see what I am seeing, the UFO quietly swooped over their car and stayed there for what they thought was an eternity, then it swooped off without a sound.

There a many, many sightings in Montage, NJ and Milford PA. It is well known in the area for those that wish to discuss. My parents kept this a secret for many years and finally told us.

To view the Sightings.com UFO Newsletter on a special page, please follow this link and bookmark: http://sightings-com-ufo-newsletter.blogspot.com/

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/

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Domed UFO With Colored Lights Around It Over Costa Mesa California

Date: January 28, 2011
Time: 1:00 a.m.

Location of Sighting: Costa Mesa California.
Number of witnesses: 1
Number of Objects: 1
Shape of Objects: Circular.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: I usually see lots of aircraft pass by my window, when I saw a light. I thought it wasn’t any different. But, all of a sudden, I noticed that the lights were moving in a circular rotation and had many flashing lights. Spooked the hell out of me.

Additional Information:

About the object I saw: It was a domed saucer, the top dome was bigger than the bottom. The dome shape was not ridiculously domed, but still visible. Where the two domes meet, there was a band of circular lights that seemed to go all the way around in a circle -0-0-0-0-0- (like that) and were red and yellow and another color, blue or green.

I have seen all different types of aircraft fly by my home, but that was the first time I saw something like that. It seemed to meet by the 405 and 73 freeway. I know there's an airport close by and a military base, but I know it wasn't something normal.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

Sightings.com website: http://www.sightings.com/

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Egyptian Police Disappear in Widespread Chaos, Vigilantes Defend Homes; Egypt Video With a Message "We Will Never be Silenced!"

Here is another video to consider, with video credit to Tamer Shaaban. It has close to 400,000 views when I saw it.

I like one protester's message in the video ... "We will not be silenced. Whether you are a Christian, whether you are a Muslim, whether you are an atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and we will have our rights one way or the other! We will never be silenced!



If the embed above does not play, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI&sns=fb

Egyptian Police Disappear in Widespread Chaos, Looting Spreads,Vigilantes Defend Homes

Please consider Egypt vigilantes defend homes as police disappear

Egyptians armed with guns, sticks, and blades have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.

Banks, junctions and important buildings previously guarded by the police and state security were left abandoned Saturday and civilians have quickly stepped in to fill the void.

"There are no police to be found anywhere," said Ghadeer, 23, from an upscale neighborhood. "Doormen and young boys from their neighborhoods are standing outside holding sticks, razors and other weapons to prevent people from coming in."

Police withdrew from the streets when the army was sent in to take over security in Cairo. Witnesses have since seen mobs storming supermarkets, commercial centers, banks, private property and government buildings in Cairo and elsewhere.

Egyptians have called for army intervention to bring back law and order. Saturday, many protesters changed: "No to plundering and no to destruction.

Dozens of shops across Egypt have painted display windows white to hide contents and discourage looting. A cash machine was broken in an upscale neighborhood, witnesses said.

"They are letting Egypt burn to the ground," said Inas Shafik, 35.

Several government buildings were set ablaze during days of protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. They were often left to burn without the intervention of authorities.

Islamic leaders have in the meantime called on people to join vigilante groups to protect their homes themselves. Yet, scenes of looting appeared to spread from upscale parts of Cairo to downtown and poorer areas as well.

Some 700 prisoners escaped in Fayoum, south of Cairo, and killed a senior police officer, sources said. Another senior police officer was also kidnapped in Damietta, a witness said.

"They are torching down the prisons. Our lives and property are at risk. Get out of the way," one shopper shouted, echoing the anxieties of many as they raced to stock up at supermarkets.

Others stayed penned inside their homes for fear of what they said were marauding gangs in some areas. Friday, looters broke into the Egyptian Museum -- home to the world's greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures -- and destroyed two pharaonic mummies, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist.

In walled-off estates on the outskirts of Cairo, private security locked down gates and refused to let people in.

Ghadeer said: "The looters want to plunder and the government is washing its hands clean of any responsibility."

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

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Egypt Closes Banks, Stock Market; Protests Spread to Saudi Arabia, Jordan; Saudi King Backs Mubarak; Reflections on Misguided US Policy

One sure way to get people fired up is to shut down the stock market and all the banks, thereby denying citizens access to their money. Yet, that is exactly the desperate course of action chosen by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Protests have now spread to Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. So far however, the protests in Saudi Arabia are of a peaceful nature, mostly related to government response to flooding. Recent history suggests that may change at any moment into something far more significant.

In a move that can easily backfire, the Saudi king defended Mubarak and offered support.

Meanwhile, in Jordan, the pace of protests have now picked up as opposition supporters have held rallies in Amman and called for the resignation of Jordan's prime minister.

Egyptian Bourse, Banks to Close

Bloomberg reports Egyptian Bourse, Banks to Close Tomorrow on Unrest

The Egyptian bourse will be closed tomorrow after thousands of protestors congregated in central Cairo for a fifth day and President Hosni Mubarak ignored demands to resign. Banks will also be shut, State TV said.

“No one expected this to take place and at such a fast sequence of events,” said Mohamed Radwan, head of international sales at Cairo-based Pharos Holding for Financial Investment. "The critical time frame for the market is from now until the implementation of economic and democratic reforms demanded by the people."

Soldiers, backed by armored carriers and tanks, are guarding banks and government buildings in the capital after acts of looting and theft yesterday. Forty people were killed and another 1,100 people were injured yesterday and today in the clashes that have swept major cities including Cairo, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry. The government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif resigned today at Mubarak’s request.

Domino Effect

Bloomberg reports Saudi Stocks Decline Most Since May as Egyptians Defy Curfew

Saudi Arabian shares retreated the most since May on concern political unrest could spread in the Middle East after Egyptian protesters clashed with police and the North African country’s president refused to resign.

The Tadawul All Share Index tumbled 6.4 percent, the most since May 25, to 6,267.22 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Riyadh. All but one of the 146 shares fell. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemical maker, slumped 7.5 percent. Savola Azizia United Co., a food producer with subsidiaries in Egypt, dropped 10 percent, the maximum fluctuation allowed in a single trading session.

“There is a lot of worry looming among investors that we’re going to see a domino effect across the region,” said Amro Halwani, a trader at Shuaa Capital PSC in Riyadh. “That is pushing investors away from equities and straight into cash. It is panic selling across the board.”

Mubarak appoints leaders as protests rage

MarketWatch reports Mubarak appoints leaders as protests rage

Mubarak appointed his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, vice president and named former civil aviation minister Ahmed Shafik prime minister. Shafik was charged with setting up a new government.

The appointment of the 74-year-old Suleiman may signal that Mubarak won’t run again in presidential elections in September. But the appointments of Suleiman and Shafik didn’t slow protestors’ demands for Mubarak’s resignation or immediately satisfy the Obama administration.

“The Egyptian government can’t reshuffle the deck and then stand pat,” U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley wrote Saturday on Twitter. “President Mubarak’s words pledging reform must be followed by action.”

Protests Call for Ouster of Jordanian Prime Minister

Anti-government action in Jordan picked up and Jordanian Protesters Say Prime Minister Must Go

Taking their cue from Tunisia and Egypt, an estimated 3,000 Jordanians marched through the streets after Friday prayers, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai and calling for political and economic reforms.

They warned corrupt Arab leaders would face the same fate as ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Peaceful protests were also held in the cities of Irbid, Karak, Maan, and Diban, AFP reported. Jordan has a population of six million, 70 percent of whom under the age of 30. Official unemployment is running at about 14 percent, but other estimates put joblessness at 30 percent.

The government says it is pumping around $500 million into the economy to improve the people's standard of living.

Peaceful Protests in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, Dozens of protesters arrested in Jeddah

Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Saudi Arabia's second biggest city after they protested against the weaknesses of infrastructure of Jeddah.

The protests were triggered on Friday after floods swept through the city, killing at least four people, and raising fears of a repeat of the deadly 2009 deluge, in which more than 120 people lost their lives.

On Wednesday, torrential rains caused flooding that swept away cars and downed electric lines in Jeddah.

The oil-rich kingdom lacks the basic necessary systems and structures to drain water out of the residential areas during a heavy rainfall.

Given infrastructure is this bad, I have a simple question: What the hell is Saudi Arabia doing with all the oil money it receives?

I also have an answer: It is going into the pockets of billionaire sheiks who have more money than they possibly know what to do with. The same could be said for multi-billionaires everywhere.

Saudi Protest Video




Saudi king vows support for Mubarak

Inquiring minds are likely pondering the wisdom of this action: Saudi king vows support for Mubarak

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah ensures Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of his support amid nationwide protests against the Egyptian president's three-decade-long rule.

In a Saturday telephone conversation with Mubarak, Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud described the popular movements as "tampering with Egypt's security and stability in the name of freedom of expression,” AFP reported.

The Saudi king branded the protesters as "intruders" and said, “Saudi Arabia stands with all its power with the government and people of Egypt."

The comments came after a Human Rights Watch report lambasted Riyadh earlier in the week for mistreatment of women, foreign labor and the Kingdom's Shia minority.

There is widespread approval among Arabs for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Offering support to someone who is clearly despised does not seem like a prudent move to me.

Reflections on Decades of Misguided US Policy

President Obama is attempting to play this from both sides as best he can. For more details on his phone conversations with Mubarak, please consider

1. Mubarak's Acts of Cowardice; Obama Calls Mubarak for 30-Minutes; Cell Service, Internet Total Shutdown; Anarchy in Cairo; How Long can Mubarak Last?


2. Egypt Calls in Army, Imposes Curfew; Mubarak Orders Ministers to Resign; US Puts Egypt Aid Under Review; Will the US Get this one Right?

It's important to note that I am not talking about mistakes in current US policy but rather misguided policy decisions over the decades.

• We supported a corrupt Shah of Iran and look at the results.
• We supported Iraq on the hopelessly flawed theory "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." There are pictures of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Hussein.
• We gave chemical weapons to Iraq.
• Our intelligence do not see the takeover of the US embassy in Iran coming.
• Our CIA trained Bin Laden to fight Russia in Afghanistan. Now we are hunting Bin Laden and fighting in Afghanistan.
• We have wasted trillion of dollars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and all we have to show for it is more enemies.

Contrast that that with our actions in Tunisia. We did not spend a dime, nor did our intelligence efforts even see it coming. Yet, in Tunisia, a protest by the people overthrew overthrew Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine ben Ali.

Wall of Fear Comes Down

The La Times reports Fearless protesters challenge regimes around Middle East

Reporting from Tunis, Tunisia — A wall of fear has come down.

All across the Arab world, people living under the thumb of repressive leaders are rising up against the rulers who once seemed omnipotent.

They are using the Internet to network and spread the word. They are watching themselves on satellite television. They are drawing strength from the hyperactive energy of the frustrated young people dismissed and discarded by their governments.

It is a contagious spirit.

"It's like a transition moment in the Arab world," said Mohammad Abou Rouman, a political researcher at the University of Jordan, in Amman, where protests erupted Friday. "It's the influence of the Tunisian domino, and it will not stop. It will go to other Arab states."

The uprisings are having a ricochet effect across the Arab world. People are watching the events unfolding on television and Facebook and identifying with the people in the streets.

"I was with my friends on Facebook, and we encouraged each other," said Dali ben Salem, a 25-year-old intern in pharmacy in Tunis. "The solidarity helped me to face the fear."

And whether or not Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak manages to survive what one analyst called a political "tsunami" that is enveloping the Arab world, things will never return to normal, analysts said.

War of the Future

How much money did the US spend on misguided missile programs and misguided missile defense systems, only to be defeated by a group of hijackers with razor blades? Is there more of a threat from a suitcase bomb or a missile?

How much money do we waste keeping troops in 140 countries where they are mostly not wanted?

Please remember Bin Laden's primary objection to the US was that US troops were on sacred Arab soil. So why do we do it? What has it brought us but misery?

We have caused countless trillions of dollars of destruction in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. Sadly, the war in Afghanistan is no more winnable than the War in Vietnam.

Quiet revolutions by the people are the war of the future, and the only kind of war that makes any sense.

Please note that Tunisia did not cost US taxpayers a dime. We should not have wasted a dime to get rid of Hussein either. Iraq was not a threat to the US. Simply put, it was a matter for the Iraqi people to settle, not us.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

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