Shaw's Eco-Logic

Spain went down in flames, with a host of awful performances, and Andrés Iniesta really being the only player who showed up.  Inexplicably, in the wake of a hideous defeat by the Dutch, and the tournament on the line, manager Vicente del Bosque elected to make almost no changes on the field.

Bear in mind that there was stellar young talent on the bench, ignored by del Bosque.  This sort of brilliant coaching earned Spain the dubious distinction of being the first defending World Cup champion eliminated with one game left in group stage.

What a way to bow out!   Burned-out stars who couldn't get motivated, led by a coach who couldn't get his head out of his ass.

Yep. Both Spain and Portugal were worked. And for good measure, the Americans broke the curse of Ghana. Lots to like in this World Cup so far...

The takedown of "giants," blow-out scores, drama queen stars—and we're not even out of the group stage yet. Now, if there were only a way to get rid of FIFA.

As disturbing as this HND piece might be, it only scratches the surface regarding one of the most egregiously inhumane experiments in decades. And, for those of you who thought such things ended with Nazi Germany, be prepared for a big shock.

This ghoulish clinical trial was not only done with the full faith and credit of NIH, when the outrageous ethical lapses were discovered, the perps were exonerated. Yes, exonerated by the same HHS agency that accused them, and is supposed to be protecting human research subjects. Here's a tip: Unless you know that you are going to die imminently, NEVER be part of a clinical trial.

The victims here were premature infants. Their (mostly poor) parents were misled (lied to would be more appropriate) regarding the risks, and here's the best part. Even if you don't care about the lives needlessly lost, the experiment proved absolutely nothing. More than that, the "problem" of oxygen concentration in the NICU—whereby too much causes blindness, but too little causes brain damage or death—is total nonsense, and has been known to be such for over 50 years. And if all that weren't bad enough, the research that "proved" this oxygen dilemma was run by champions of eugenics, and their results were shamelessly dinked.

Josef Mengele would sure be proud. Read the complete article.

This HND piece examines the very murky world of BYOD in the workplace. Whoever thought that BYOD would save companies money must have made a career change by now. Of course, BYOD was inevitable, but the security issues are overwhelming, and the standard McAfee/Symantec/Peter Norton approach to computer security does not cut it in the mobile world.

Mobile apps not only dredge all sorts of personal info, but many of them are poorly designed with gaping security holes. We give a shout-out to viaForensics, who have introduced their own app, set up to notify you if your privacy is being compromised--and thus the network that your BYOD is connected to.

Read the complete article.

The Netherlands crushed defending world champion Spain 5-1, and the game wasn't as close as the score indicates. By all rights, the score should have been more like 7-0. After all, Spain's only goal was on a questionable penalty kick. A few observations are in order...

After the first 20 minutes or so, Spain played with no heart, looking flat and slow. Their defenders were frankly awful, and goalkeeper Iker Casillas, a former prodigy, who is no longer a starter for his club Real Madrid, had a bad day. He is also likely past his prime.

As to the Dutch, coach Louis van Gaal's strategy of holding five men back in defense worked brilliantly. Also credit sensational performances from speedster and ball handling wizard Arjen Robben, striker par excellence Robin van Persie, world class midfielder Wesley Sneijder, and young Daley Blind with his essential passes to the forwards.

Will the Dutch win this tournament? Well, they've looked good many times before, including 2010, when they lost to Spain in the final. Is Spain done? Well, they lost their first game in 2010, only to win the whole thing. But their loss in 2010 was 1-0, not 5-1.

We shall see.

Considering that this is the first time that a house majority leader EVER lost in a primary, this was a big deal----even if it was an open primary.

Cantor lost because he became way too much of a DC insider, taking millions from the crony capitalism gangsters.  All of these vultures are in favor of unlimited immigration, since it makes for cheap labor.   The fact that it will eventually undermine the economy of the country does not matter.  Plenty of bucks behind the slave labor lobby---the biggest proponent of which is the US Chamber of Commerce.

One source reported that the American Chemistry Council--a mostly ineffectual lobbying group for the chemical industry--gave Cantor $300K.  This is difficult to understand, as that industry is not a big endorser of slave labor.

But then, the big lobbying groups are ALWAYS in favor of powerful incumbents.

This HND piece casts a critical eye on the disturbing trend of Big Pharma mergers. Sure, it costs a lot to bring a drug to market, and there always the possibility of expensive litigation later. However, in nearly all cases, more mergers mean less R&D, and that can't be good.

Read the complete article.