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Evidence Mounts Linking Head Hits To Permanent Brain Injury
Researchers at Boston University have found more evidence supporting a link between repeated knocks to the head and chronic brain disease.
The results, just published in the journal Brain, add weight to concerns about the effect of repeated mild head trauma in athletes, whether they're pros or peewees.
"The sheer volume of cases I think is going to just overwhelm anybody that wants to be in denial about the existence of this problem," Dr. Robert C. Cantu, a co-director of Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy told ESPN.
Researchers, including Cantu, looked at brain samples taken after death from 85 people (ages 17 to 98) who had experienced repetitive mild traumatic brain injury, such as concussions, throughout their lives. They compared those samples with others from similarly aged people without a history of brain injuries.
The group with a history of head trauma included 17-year-old Nathan Stiles (a high school player who died after a 2010 head injury), 1960s running back Cookie Gilchrist, and other notable professional athletes.
The group was dominated by athletes: 80 altogether, including some men who were also in the military.
Roughly 80 percent (or 68) of all the people with histories of hits to the head showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE for short), which results in gradual degradation of brain tissue.
CTE's mildest symptoms include headache and attention problems. In more advanced stages of CTE, people can experience depression, dementia and aggression.
The researchers found evidence of CTE in 50 American football players — 33 of whom played in the National Football League.
"This study clearly shows that for some athletes and war fighters, there may be severe and devastating long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma that has traditionally been considered only mild," the authors of the study concluded.
The findings come amid controversy over the effect of head trauma on younger players and growing scientific evidence of persistent brain injury in athletes.
There's also a consolidated lawsuit by former players against the NFL. Thousands of them allege that the league withheld data suggesting that head trauma could lead to brain damage.
CTE has been seen in athletes before, but the latest findings of an association with head trauma is the most extensive one to date. "By understanding its evolution from isolated focal disease to widespread devastating disease associated with dementia," Ann McKee, a neuropathologist who led the BU study, told Shots in an email. "We now have much clearer ideas about how to identify this disease in living people and how to treat it."
Even so, the researchers agree that it's hard to know how widespread the problem may be. "It's a gambler's game to try to predict what percentage of the population has this," Chris Nowinski, a co-author of the study and co-director of the Boston University center, told the New York Times.

subset: commoncrawl


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As of late Friday the ceasefire in Gaza seems to be holding, if tentatively. While we should be pleased that this round of fighting appears temporarily on hold, we must realize that without changes in US foreign policy it is only a matter of time before the killing begins again.
It feels like 2009 all over again, which is the last time this kind of violence broke out in Gaza. At that time over 1,400 Palestinians were killed, of which just 235 were combatants. The Israelis lost 13 of which 10 were combatants. At that time I said of then-President Bush's role in the conflict:
"It's our money and our weapons. But I think we encouraged it. Certainly, the president has said nothing to diminish it. As a matter of fact, he justifies it on moral grounds, saying, oh, they have a right to do this, without ever mentioning the tragedy of Gaza…. To me, I look at it like a concentration camp."
The US role has not changed under the Obama administration. The same mistakes continue. As journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote last week:
"For years now, US financial, military and diplomatic support of Israel has been the central enabling force driving this endless conflict. The bombs Israel drops on Gazans, and the planes they use to drop them, and the weapons they use to occupy the West Bank and protect settlements are paid for, in substantial part, by the US taxpayer…"
Last week, as the fighting raged, President Obama raced to express US support for the Israeli side, in a statement that perfectly exemplifies the tragic-comedy of US foreign policy. The US supported the Israeli side because, he said, "No country on Earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders." Considering that this president rains down missiles on Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and numerous other countries on a daily basis, the statement was so hypocritical that it didn't pass the laugh test. But it wasn't funny.
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton traveled to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, but she refused to meet with elected Palestinian leaders. Clintonsaid upon arrival in Israel, "America's commitment to Israel's security is rock-solid and unwavering." Does this sound like an honest broker?
At the same time Congress acted with similar ignobility when an unannounced resolution was brought to the House floor after the business of the week had been finished; and in less than 30 seconds the resolution was passed by unanimous consent, without debate and without most Representatives even having heard of it. The resolution, H Res 813, was so one-sided it is not surprising they didn't want anyone to have the chance to read and vote on it. Surely at least a handful of my colleagues would have objected to language like, "The House of Representatives expresses unwavering commitment to the security of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders…"
US foreign policy being so one-sided actually results in more loss of life and of security on both sides. Surely Israelis do not enjoy the threat of missiles from Gaza nor do the Palestinians enjoy their Israel-imposed inhuman conditions in Gaza. But as long asIsrael can count on its destructive policies being underwritten by the US taxpayer it can continue to engage in reckless behavior. And as long as the Palestinians feel the one-sided US presence lined up against them they will continue to resort to more and more deadly and desperate measures.
Continuing to rain down missiles on so many increasingly resentful nations, the US is undermining rather than furthering its security. We are on a collision course with much of the rest of the world if we do not right our foreign policy. Ending interventionism in the Middle East and replacing it with friendship and even-handedness would be a welcome first step.
Ron Paul is an American physician, author, and politician who has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 14th congressional district, which includes Galveston, since 1997. He is a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012.


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Flying Dog Brewery Launches "Stove Toppers" Series of Clone Kits for Homebrewers
Press Release
Frederick, MD – Good people brew good beer, in and outside of Flying Dog Brewery.
Giving homebrewers a chance to brew Flying Dog beers at home, Maryland's largest brewery is launching Stove Toppers – a line of clone homebrew kits. Stove Toppers are all-grain kits designed for advanced homebrewers that include the brewery's exact ingredients and brewmaster's recipe, all scaled down to a 5-gallon home brewery.
"Like many brewmasters, I started out homebrewing," Flying Dog Brewmaster Matt Brophy said. "Homebrewers spread the gospel of craft beer through their craft and ours, so I think breweries have a responsibility to foster and inspire the homebrewing community."
Flying Dog will launch one kit per month in 2013 and each kit will be on sale for that month only. Beginning Friday, Single Hop Imperial IPA with El Dorado will be on sale at the brewery's gift shop and the Flying Barrel Homebrew Supply Shop, both in Frederick, Maryland.
"The El Dorado hop variety is extremely limited in availability, especially for homebrewers," Brophy said. "It's an ideal hop for our series of Single Hop Imperial IPAs because it imparts tropical and stone fruit notes and great bittering without any harshness."
The Single Hop Imperial IPA with El Dorado Stove Topper is $55 and will be on sale through February 28. The remaining schedule of kits is as follows:
- March: Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA
- April: Woody Creek Belgian White
- May: Single Hop Imperial IPA with Citra
- June: Snake Dog IPA
- July: Dogtoberfest Marzen
- August: The Fear Imperial Pumpkin Ale
- September: Single Hop Imperial IPA with Sorachi Ace
- October: Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout
- November: Single Hop Imperial IPA with Simcoe
- December: Barrel-Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter


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NEW YORK – The National Hockey League announced today the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through December 14. The NHL also announced the cancellation of the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend scheduled for Jan. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio. The cancellations are necessary due to the absence of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL.
A total of 422 regular-season games — 34.3 percent of the season — were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Dec. 14.
"The reality of losing more regular-season games as well as the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend in Columbus is extremely disappointing," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. "We feel badly for NHL fans and particularly those in Columbus, and we intend to work closely with the Blue Jackets organization to return the NHL All-Star events to Columbus and their fans as quickly as possible."


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(PHP 4 >= 4.2.0, PHP 5 < 5.3.0, PECL ncurses >= 1.0.0)
ncurses_keyok — Enable or disable a keycode
, bool $enable
)This function is EXPERIMENTAL. The behaviour of this function, its name, and surrounding documentation may change without notice in a future release of PHP. This function should be used at your own risk.
This function is currently not documented; only its argument list is available.


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Laws, Regulations and Annotations
Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Fee Collection Procedures Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 30. Fee Collection Procedures Law
Chapter 3. Determinations
Article 1.1. Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer
Section 55052
55052. Definitions. (a) "Electronic funds transfer" means any transfer of funds, other than a transaction originated by check, draft, or similar paper instrument, that is initiated through an electronic terminal, telephonic instrument, or computer or magnetic tape, so as to order, instruct, or authorize a financial institution to debit or credit an account. Electronic funds transfers shall be accomplished by an automated clearinghouse debit, an automated clearinghouse credit, or by Federal Reserve Wire Transfer (Fedwire).
(b) "Automated clearinghouse" means any federal reserve bank, or an organization established in agreement with the National Automated Clearing House Association, that operates as a clearinghouse for transmitting or receiving entries between banks or bank accounts and which authorizes an electronic transfer of funds between these banks or bank accounts.
(c) "Automated clearinghouse debit" means a transaction in which the state, through its designated depository bank, originates an automated clearinghouse transaction debiting the person's bank account and crediting the state's bank account for the amount of the fee. Banking costs incurred for the automated clearinghouse debit transaction shall be paid by the state.
(d) "Automated clearinghouse credit" means an automated clearinghouse transaction in which the person through his or her own bank, originates an entry crediting the state's bank account and debiting his or her own bank account. Banking costs incurred for the automated clearinghouse credit transaction charged to the state shall be paid by the person originating the credit.
(e) "Fedwire transfer" means any transaction originated by a person and utilizing the national electronic payment system to transfer funds through the federal reserve banks, when that person debits his or her own bank account and credits the state's bank account. Electronic funds transfers pursuant to Section 55050 may be made by Fedwire only if payment cannot, for good cause, be made according to subdivision (a), and the use of Fedwire is preapproved by the board. Banking costs incurred for the Fedwire transaction charged to the person and to the state shall be paid by the person originating the transaction.
History—Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 923 (AB 2894), effective January 1, 2001.


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Good morning.
President Obama just had a very bad, no good, awful day trying to explain what went so terribly wrong with his administration's health care sign-up website, and Republicans had a field day.
Today, it's Republicans who will be having just such a day.
Three major national polls show, unequivocally, that Republicans are taking the brunt of the public's anger after this month's government shut down and default crisis.
Democrats didn't fare well, either, but the early landscape for the 2014 mid-term elections looks particularly bleak for the riven-from-within Republicans.
Let's go to the numbers.
*A new Washington Post-ABC Poll reveals that the recent budget confrontations have not only "dealt a major blow to the GOP's image," write Dan Balz and Scott Clement, but also "exposed significant divisions between Tea Party supporters and other Republicans."
More than 80 percent of Americans surveyed said they disapproved of the partial government shutdown that began Oct. 1, and ended last week.
Balz and Clement write: "The survey highlights just how badly the GOP hard-liners and the leaders who went along with them misjudged the public mood. In the aftermath, eight in 10 Americans say they disapprove of the shutdown. Two in three Republicans or independents who lean Republican share a negative view of the impasse. And even a majority of those who support the tea party movement disapprove."
Sixty-three percent of Americans surveyed said they had an unfavorable view of Republicans.
The poll found fallout to go around, with Americans expressing deep dissatisfaction with Congress, including congressional Democrats, seen unfavorably by 49 percent of those surveyed.
President Obama appeared the only politician relatively unscathed by the crisis, with his approval rating at about 50 percent, the survey found.
*At USA TODAY, Susan Page writes that the new USA TODAY/Princeton Research Poll showing that only 4 percent of Americans believe Congress would be worse off if every member were replaced holds a special warning for Republicans.
Says Page: "Those findings are similar to the public's views in previous years when voter dismay cost one side or the other control of the House. In 1994, when Democrats lost their majority, 40% said Congress would be better off if most members were replaced. In 2006, when Republicans lost control, 42% held that view."
She notes that there's still a year before voters go to the poll - plenty of time for changes in the political winds. But the USA TODAY poll also finds that Republicans have lost more ground and, by a 2-1 margin, are shouldering more blame than Democrats for Capitol Hill dysfunction."Even Republicans," Page says, "presumably inclined to blame the other side, are divided about whether responsibility belongs to the Democrats or to both parties equally. That's not true among Democrats: Eight in 10 say the GOP is largely to blame."
*A post-shutdown CNN/ORC International surveyfound that 75 percent of Americans say that most Republicans in Congress "don't deserve to be re-elected."
The survey found that Democrats have an eight-point approval edge over Republicans, "in an early indicator in the battle for control of Congress," noting, as did USA TODAY, that "there's plenty of time for these numbers to change" before the 2014 midterm congressional elections.
"A majority of those questioned," CNN reported, "blamed congressional Republicans for the government shutdown and said the President was the bigger winner in the deal to end the crisis."
Let's take a turn from polls and shutdown politics for now to a crisis that has captured the attention of the nation, including Congress and the White House: sexual assaults in the military.
The new edition of Washington Monthly contains two must-read stories that will no doubt generate conversation and controversy as Congress continues to debate how best to improve the safety of women, and others, in the military, and to better investigate and prosecute cases of alleged sexual assault.
Writers Laura Kasinof and Stephanie Mencimer take in-depth looks at whether women are more affected by the trauma of combat, and at the veracity of one woman's highly-publicized account of rape by a military contractor — an account that helped galvanize action around military sexual assault.
Kasinof, noting that the Defense Department in January lifted its ban on women service in combat roles, writes: "While it's clear that war is hell for everyone, men and women alike, it's unclear how the unique female experience in the barracks, on the battlefield, and back at home may affect them differently. Female veterans are already more likely than male veterans to be homeless, divorced, or raising children as single parents. Female vets under fifty are more than twice as likely as their male counterparts to kill themselves. And a growing body of research suggests that female vets may also be more susceptible than men to psychological disorders, including PTSD."
And she anticipates the controversial nature of questioning trauma and gender differences, but says the discussion is necessary:
"Those facts and new research—indeed, the very discussion of gender differences in the armed forces—are often incendiary, but they should not be taken as an argument against equality in the armed forces. Instead, they should be the catalyst for a worthwhile discussion. After all, we owe it to our veterans to study how some women experience war and homecoming differently, and to determine what can be done to better support female soldiers—women who are now poised, for the first time in history, to be deployed in large numbers in combat positions overseas."
Mencimer, in "The War of Rape: What happened to Jamie Leigh Jones in Iraq?" delves deeply into the case of Jones, whose "terrifying story" of being raped by men working in Iraq for a subsidiary of Halliburton was covered heavily by the media.
Mencimer goes into Jones' complicated medical and personal history, reviews reports of physical evidence collected after her claim, and pores over court documents that detail how the case fell apart.
The writer says that after a jury dismissed Jones' case, she was troubled that reporters and news organizations that highlighted the story for years did not follow up.
She writes: "The story has continued to nag at me, even two years after the trial and a decade after the start of the Iraq War. Now that the trial is over, and the evidence the jurors used to come to their decision is publicly available, there haven't been many mea culpas from the reporters who helped put Jones in the limelight. Brian Ross, who scored the first on-air interview with Jones back in 2007, and whose exposé prompted Congress to act, referred my requests for an interview to a flack for ABC News, who called to ask what I was writing about and then never answered a single question. Rachel Maddow, who essentially used Jones's story to accuse thirty Republican senators of being rape apologists, never responded to repeated requests for comment. Only the Houston Chronicle, which failed to cover more than a day or two of the sensational trial in its own backyard, went back a few months later to revisit the verdict with a serious story."
Mencimer also interviews Jones, who says her claim fell apart because her lawyers couldn't compete with those at KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton for whom her alleged attacker(s) worked.
"It was a David-and-Goliath thing. To be honest with you, I had attorneys that were small potatoes, and they had these lawyers that were sharks. I was eaten alive in there," Jones told Mencimer. "If you go against KBR, they could make anybody look crazy.... They wanted to give that impression to people and to the jury that I'm just a liar. And that's not true."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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In a previous blog post we dealt with the reaction kinetics and modeled plug flow of a monolithic reactor in the exhaust system of a car. The goal was to determine the ideal dosage of ammonia to reduce the nitrogen oxide levels emitted into the air. After understanding the chemistry of our problem, it is now time for the second part in our "Modeling Chemical Reactions" blog series. Here, we will go through the steps of generating a 3D model of our monolith reactor to determine the ideal size and design of our system.
Recap of Kinetics and Plug Flow
First let's bring you up to speed on where we left off in the last blog post. We have now analyzed the reaction kinetics of nitrogen oxide (NO) reduced by ammonia (NH3) to determine the ideal working conditions for the reduction to take place. We generated plots that gave us a good indication of the range of NH3:NO ratio, but we wanted to be more specific than that. Next, we used a plug flow model to figure out what the least amount of NH3 we would need in order to reduce the NO. Our model suggested an NH3:NO ratio of 1.3.
Building a 3D Model of a Monolith Reactor
We noted that reaction kinetics, and thereby the optimal ammonia dosage, would vary depending on the temperature and that this in turn depends on the over-all design of the reactor. Let's create a full 3D model of our monolithic reactor to find out what our air-purifying system will look like. Doing so, we will be able to understand the full space-dependency aspect of the problem. At the end of our simulation we will have either confirmed our dosage or adjusted it accordingly. Our full 3D monolith reactor model will include mass transport, heat transfer, and fluid flow.
Here's a visual of our reactor:
Geometry of a 0.36-meter-long monolith reactor with a 0.1-meter radius. Each reactive channel has a cross-sectional area of 12.6 millimeters2 and the void fraction of a channel block is 0.75.
The NO reduction chemistry occurs in the channel blocks, with supporting and impermeable walls between blocks of the channels. The modeling domain is reduced to 1/8 of the full monolith reactor geometry thanks to symmetry.
Assumptions About Our Model
Let's take a pseudo-homogeneous approach to modeling the multitude (hundreds) of channels in the reactor. Each channel will be described by 1D mass transport equations because no mass is exchanged between the channels. Let's also assume fully developed laminar flow in the channels. That way, the average flow field is proportional to the pressure difference across the reactor. Mass and energy are transported by fluid flow in the channel direction only. The temperature of the reacting gas in the channels as well as the conductive heat transfer in the monolith structure and supporting walls are described by an energy equation. This equation happens to be what "seals the deal" in terms of connecting the reactor channels and turning this into a 3D model. This is because the temperature affects both the reaction kinetics and the density and viscosity of the reacting gas.
After defining our physics and setting up the problem we can analyze our results.
Conversion of NO in the monolith reactor. | Cross-sections of the reactor temperature. |
In the image to the left you can see that the average NO conversion at the outlet is somewhat lower than as simulated in our single-channel model described in the previous blog post (97.5% as opposed to 98.7%). This shows us how the performance of a channel depends on its position in the reactor — it's definitely a 3D problem. Meanwhile, the right-hand plot depicts cross-sections of the reactor's temperature throughout. The central and inlet parts of the reactor show higher temperatures due to the exothermic reactions, but as we get further into it, we note lower temperatures due to a diminishing amount of chemical reactions that are occurring, and through heat loss into the surroundings. Again our 3D model shows slightly different results than our single-channel model: the maximum temperature here is 541.5 K versus 533.9 K in the single-channel version. The supporting walls' thermal conductivity has an effect on the max temperature of our system.
Since we know from our kinetics analysis that temperature influences the dosage, we should look at a selectivity plot to determine the appropriate dosage.
Selectivity plot: r1/r2 is greater than 1. Selectivity favors our initial dosage of ammonia.
Although we can see here that selectivity falls off close to the center of the reactor, NO is still reduced throughout the system.
TIP: Want to build this model? You can access model files and documentations for the monolith reactor model in our Model Gallery.
Advantages of Modeling Chemical Reactions Sequentially
Breaking up our simulation process into smaller steps (kinetics, plug flow, detailed 3D model) is advantageous. The first two steps outlined in our previous blog post are relatively easy to set up, and we arrived at a well-defined problem to model in full-scale. That takes some of the pressure off the more advanced and computational-heavy 3D simulation. We also learned how temperature and space-dependency influence our model during the first steps, enabling us to set up the full model more efficiently than we would have without this knowledge. Moving from perfectly mixed conditions to full space-dependency furthermore helped us decide on the desired level of detail in our full model.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Now we've confirmed the ammonia dosage for our system as well as how the monolith reactor will operate in full scale. This is great, but what about other physics? It's likely that other physics will have an effect on the performance of the catalytic converter. To find out, our next step will be to analyze the thermal stress of the reactor. Stay tuned!
Further Reading
Other Posts in This Series
Comments (4)
May 8, 2013Thank you for this excellent tutorial!
If the solid matrix's porous how could we simulate the flow trough it?
Fanny Littmarck
May 8, 2013Happy to hear you liked it.
The model does not assume that the matrix is made up of porous media. It assumes that it is a system of 'honeycomb' type channels. Therefore, the model solves for 1D laminar flow in the channels, and assumes that mass transport does not occur in the lateral directions. Yet, you can model Darcy's Law, and Brinkmann's extension to Darcy's Law, in COMSOL, if your system was porous. There is even an interface for modeling the transfer from free channel to porous media flow.
Mike burda
July 9, 2017@ Fanny Littmarck
nice blog.
Just a short question about the annotations that you have drawn in the visual. Have they been drawn in Comsol ?
Fanny Littmarck
July 28, 2017Hello Mike,
Thank you for your comment. No, the annotations in that particular visual were added outside of the COMSOL Multiphysics software.


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Kids Furniture
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- Available In Select Clubs Now
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Kids Beds
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A good chair is the centerpiece of every kid's bedroom. After all, chairs are where homework and playtime happen. Treat your child to the perfect kids chairs in the perfect color and style. Whether it reclines, rocks or just rolls under the desk, your kids will love chairs designed with them in mind.
Find high quality kids furniture at Sam's Club today.


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Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts.
Fear of Cycling -
Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05
Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members' Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround, voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these developments, and debates around cycle helmets in general, see The Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation).
Helmet promotion, especially to children, has become an established part of the UK road safety industry. In 2005, Lancashire County Council's road safety team ran a 'Saint or Sinner?' tour, with anyone cycling without a helmet deemed sinful; sinners were given the opportunity to repent by pledging to 'mend their ways', and always wear a helmet when cycling (Lancaster and Morecambe Citizen 2005).Helmet promotion is hugely controversial among UK cycling organisations (Hallett 2005). The 2004 Parliamentary Bill was unanimously opposed by the cycling establishment, with every major cycling organisation and magazine rejecting helmet compulsion (Cycle 2004). The groups opposing the Bill included CTC (formerly The Cyclists' Touring Club, and the UK's largest cycling organisation), London Cycling Campaign, the Cycle Campaign Network, the Bicycle Association, the Association of Cycle Traders, British Cycling, Sustrans and the National Cycling Strategy Board. These groups are not all anti-helmet, but argue for the individual's right to choose. This section cannot hope to do justice to the various arguments for and against (the imposition of) helmets, which can anyway be found elsewhere, but key issues include:
- Efficacy at the individual level. Does wearing a helmet reduce or increase the risk of sustaining a head injury? Here there are three relevant concerns. First, the technical capacities of helmets, which are designed only to resist low-speed impacts, and only then if correctly fitted (Walker 2005). Second, the concept of risk compensation which suggests that both cyclists wearing helmets and motorists in their vicinity possibly take less care (Walker 2007), which therefore increases the likelihood of collision; in implicit recognition of the existence of risk compensation, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in its leaflet, Cycle Helmets, feels it necessary to caution 'Remember: Helmets do not prevent accidents … So be just as careful' (RoSPA n.d.). Third, the greater size of the head, and so increased probabilities of impact, resulting from wearing a helmet;- Efficacy at the aggregate level. Do helmet promotion campaigns make cycling more or less safe, overall? There is evidence that cycling levels decline when helmets are promoted and collapse when they become compulsory (Liggett et al 2004, 12). Australia, the first country to make cycle helmets compulsory, witnessed a post-compulsion fall in levels of cycling of between 15 and 40 per cent (Adams 1995, 146). According to 'the Mole' (2004, 5), in Melbourne 'compulsion reduced the number of child cyclists by 42% and adults by 29%'. Because cycling tends to be safest where there are many cyclists (Jacobsen 2003), and most dangerous in places with few cyclists, and because helmet promotion campaigns reduce the overall numbers of cyclists, helmet promotion increases the risk of cycling. The relationship between increased cycling and increased safety appears to be confirmed by the experiences of the Netherlands and Denmark, which have high levels of cycling, very low rates of helmet wearing, and low rates of death and serious injury among cyclists;* Equity. Mayer Hillman (1993) claims that cyclists are at lower risk of head injury than motorists, pedestrians and children at play, yet none of those groups is encouraged to wear helmets (see also Kennedy 1996). Risk theorist John Adams suggests that equitable application of the logic applied to cycle helmet promotion would result in 'a world in which everyone is compelled to look like a Michelin man dressed as an American football player' (1995, 146)!
This should be sufficient detail to indicate why the issue of cycle helmets creates so much interest and controversy among health promotion and accident prevention experts, as well as cyclists. But in the context of my overall argument, my chief point here is to note how helmet promotion campaigns play on people's existing fear of cycling, and contribute to the reproduction and magnification of that fear. One recent UK Government campaign demonstrates my claim in a particularly vivid way.In 2004 the UK Department for Transport launched 'Cyclesense', a multi-media 'teenage cycle safety' campaign centred on a series of images of skull x-rays and helmets, which is now taken offline. Various captions accompany the different images of the helmet-wearing skulls.The script alongside x-ray 01 reads: 'It's no joke: cycling is a fun, convenient and healthy way to get around - but if you don't follow basic safety guidelines the results could be very unfunny'It continues that
'in 2001 nearly 3000 cyclists between 12 - 16 were killed or injured on the roads. If you want to protect yourself you must take your cycle safety seriously'. The text accompanying x-ray 02, a helmeted and apparently laughing skull, reads: 'It's no laughing matter', before insisting 'Get yourself a helmet. No joking - in a study of admissions to an A&E Department nearly 50% of injuries suffered by cyclists were to the head and face'. Elsewhere on the Cyclesense website, on the 'Protection' page, the text reads: 'If you like your face and head the way it is, then wear a helmet!'.These captions make clear the central and over-riding message of the campaign; if you want to cycle and keep your skull intact, you must wear a helmet. The campaign portrays cycling as dangerous, and instils fear.The CTC responded angrily to the images. A rare letter to all members from CTC Director, Kevin Mayne (2004), set out potential consequences of the imagery; children could be frightened from cycling, and their parents and teachers might feel reluctant to let them cycle.
Mayne writes: 'CTC believes [these images] will do huge damage to the perception of cycling as a safe, enjoyable, healthy activity'; and such campaigns 'raise unfounded anxiety about the "dangers" of cycling, and are known to drive down cycle use'.
Against the context of broad governmental support for cycling, Mayne's tone becomes incredulous:"Images which link cycling with X-rays of skulls can only mean one thing - if you cycle you will end up hospitalised or dead. What sort of message is that to give to young people? … The last thing the Government should be doing is frightening children into NOT cycling!" (Mayne 2004, original emphasis)
Of most relevance here is that every call for cyclists to wear, or be forced to wear, helmets demands the association of cycling with danger, and thus the production of fear of cycling. Whilst I am happy to align myself with CTC's position, my wider point is that the promotion of cycle helmets is just one more way in which a fear of cycling is constructed.
People with experience in the politics of cycling might realise how controversial are calls for cyclists to don helmets, but the majority of people in societies such as the UK are much more likely to take such campaigns at face value, and to be surprised by those of us who adopt a more sceptical line (although scientific research into how different audiences receive helmet promotion campaigns is clearly required).In other words, even in this, the most contentious of areas, constructions of cycling as a dangerous practice, and thus the production of fear of cycling, proceeds for the most part in a remarkably insidious way.References:
- Walker, I. (2007) 'Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on the effects of riding position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender', Accident Analysis and Prevention, 39, 417-425.
Series:Fear of Cycling - Part 01 - Introduction
Fear of Cycling - Part 02 - Constructing Fear of Cycling / Road Safety 'Education'
Fear of Cycling - Part 03 - Helmet Promotion Campaigns
Fear of Cycling - Part 04 - New Cycling Spaces
Fear of Cycling - Part 05 - Making Cycling Strange
Dave Horton is a sociologist and lover of all things cycling. He is part of the Cycling and Society Research Group, which has pioneered a 'cultural turn' in cycling studies and which holds an annual symposium in the UK. Dave works at Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, on the project 'Understanding Walking and Cycling'. He tries to do, to write about, and to promote all kinds of cycling, because cycling is essentially good.


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This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News, I'm Scott Simon. Murder charges have been filed against the U.S. Army Sergeant accused of killing 17 Afghan men, women and children. Now, an investigative officer will decide whether there's enough evidence to go forward with a court martial. NPR's Pentagon correspondent, Tom Bowman, walks us through the legal challenges ahead for the defense and the prosecution.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: John Henry Browne is Sergeant Bales' lawyer. He's indicated he may defend his client by putting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on trial. So he's highlighted the stress of the Sergeant's tours in Iraq, his traumatic brain injury, and Brown also had this to say about his client.
JOHN HENRY BROWN: He doesn't remember everything the evening in question.
BOWMAN: Doesn't remember everything, but investigators are trying to recreate what happened. They say before dawn on March 11th, Sgt. Bales walked out of his combat outpost and shot men, women and children, then returned to his base and turned himself in. Military sources say there's video surveillance of him laying down his weapon. There could be shell casings and bullet fragments that could be matched to his weapon.
There could also eyewitness accounts. That could be the basis for prosecution. The first line of defense, challenge the evidence. Sgt. Bales' lawyer says he doubts the Army investigators has much forensic evidence, and John Henry Browne could question whether any evidence, like shell casings, is tainted, whether the crime scene was secured. There are other lines of defense. One way to keep Sgt. Bales from being found guilty is to show he was essentially insane.
GARY SOLIS: It's very possible I think that he will be found incompetent to stand trial and never go to trial.
BOWMAN: That's Gary Solis. He's a former Marine lawyer and now a law professor. Sergeant Bales' mental state will be determine by what's known as a Military Sanity Board. Doctors and psychologists who judge whether he's competent to stand trial.
SOLIS: I think that the defense has a pretty good case for mental instability, insanity, lack of mental responsibility.
BOWMAN: But the bar is high for proving insanity. Neal Puckett is also a former Marine lawyer. He says winning an insanity defense will be a challenge for Sgt. Bales' lawyer.
NEAL PUCKETT: John Henry Browne has to amass evidence from experts that the guy lacked mental responsibility, and he has to establish it by clear and convincing evidence to the jury, you know, they'd have - basically have to all find it.
BOWMAN: The reason an insanity defense is tough has to do with the man who tried to assassinate President Reagan in 1981. John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Public outcry at the verdict led to changes in the law. Among them, now only severe mental diseases or defects can form the basis for an insanity defense. But some lesser mental problem, something like post-traumatic stress, could persuade a jury to spare Sgt. Bales from the death penalty even if an insanity defense fails and he's convicted. Again, Gary Solis.
SOLIS: The defense doesn't have a lot of roads to travel right now, and so what they're going to do is blame it on the mental state, which probably has some validity, and blame it on the Army.
BOWMAN: Blame it on the Army for sending Sergeant Bales on four combat tours, which took a toll.
SOLIS: And that's because of the three prior tours that the suspect had in Iraq, the fact that he had been wounded a couple of times, that he objected to being sent back to Afghanistan for a fourth tour. So I think that this is the type of case which is tailor-made for a lack of mental responsibility defense.
BOWMAN: But military lawyer Neal Puckett points out that many soldiers have served multiple combat tours and suffered from PTSD.
PUCKETT: You can't totally displace responsibility on to the Army simply because you say well, he has TBI and/or he has PTSD.
BOWMAN: There's one other defense that may not be an option for Sgt. Bales, that his life was in danger. Neal Puckett defended a Marine accused of shooting civilians at Haditha, Iraq in 2005 after an attack on his squad. The most serious charges were dropped after Puckett argued the Marine felt he was threatened.
PUCKETT: The defense is not going to be able to rely on anything like rules of engagement or threat or self-defense or perception of positive identification of enemy, nothing like that.
BOWMAN: That's because investigators say some of these killed were still asleep. Tom Bowman, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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About THL > How to Participate > Volunteering Time to THL
Contributing Time: Volunteering Time to THL
by David Germano (September 1, 2008)
THL is a non-profit initiative whose survival is based on grants and volunteer activity. Its aim is to benefit Tibetan and Himalayan peoples, the field of Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, and the international public with an interest in Tibet and the Himalayas. THL is dependent upon people (scholars, students, librarians, others) contributing to the input, processing, checking and preparation of data so that it can be in the form necessary for it to be integrated fully into THL's collections. This includes typing in Tibetan texts, doing basic markup of texts that require minimal training, scanning journals, and so forth; it also includes such simple things as checking an online resource to make sure it works properly throughout. No technical background is necessary, and for many tasks even linguistic or content knowledge is not required.
please contact us at to let us know of your interest in volunteering time or to ask us any questions you may have. The present document details various types of volunteer tasks for which we are seeking help, including links to sample data, and/or as more detailed instructions when available. All contributions of time will be fully credited within THL's permanent online credits.
The following subsections offer just a few examples of needs we have - there are many others unmentioned, so contact us whatever your interest might be.
Editing Scholarly Essays in English
Editing – proofing for typos and more rigorous editing to improve grammar and clarity – is an endless process which is crucial for THL. We are constantly in need to editorial assistance in every area of THL – projects, documentation, essays, databases. Such editing can be at the very basic level of agreeing to comb through a specific area looking for basic problems of typos and fundamental confusion, or more advanced levels of providing thorough editing to help significantly improve the style, clarity and organization. All such work will be formerly credited within THL. For the time being, please contact us with your offer of assistance. We gradually plan to implement a system for documenting the level of editing each THL page or resource has received, and also in this context list out areas that we are in particularly dire need of editing assistance. Examples of such essays include:
- Submissions to the Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies.
- Submissions to the Encyclopedia of Tibet and the Himalayas
- Essays for specific THL-published websites on various topics
- Shorter passages that are part of larger databases (Tibetan dictionary, places studies, monastery studies, etc.)
- Summaries and/or translations of Tibetan texts
- Technical documentation
Processing English essays
We have a constant need for editorial help in pre-posting editing of submissions in English. This can be done in Microsoft Word simply on the linguistic level, can include helping standardize submissions in Word in terms of styles and fonts, and can extend to more sophisticated markup of materials in XML. This can also include willingness to help Tibetan and Himalayan scholars improve their own work in English. Please contact us with your willingness to help. These include the same type of essays cited immediately above.
Inputting, Proofing and Marking up Tibetan texts
One of our most pressing needs is the inputting, proofing and markup of Tibetan texts, which requires at least intermediate level Tibetan skills. THL is also willing to facilitate the ordering of input texts from its Tibetan partners
However input texts require proofing and we have a backlog of texts requiring proofing. Proofing can be done at two levels. The first level can be done by any intermediate level student and involves looking for obvious typos in comparison to a print version. The second level requires a high degree of literary competency and deep expertise in the relevant tradition/genre, and involves a critical assessment of the edition beyond mere obvious typos. Thus we are seeking both types of proofers.
In addition, for electronic editions, we are marking up in XML so that citations are identified as citations, verse line as verse line, text titles as text titles and so forth. This work can be done in Word as well, and hence does not require any type of technical expertise. Markup of texts allows for advanced flexibility of display and searching.
Gathering Data
There are many data gathering activities that are held back through a lack of time and which are of great potential benefit. These may involve either a survey of print resources, or involve actual solicitation of information from individuals and organizations using forms. Such things include:
- Documentation of Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Centers around the world
- Solicitation of self-representation about contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries outside of China
- Documentation of NGOs working in Tibet and the Himalayas
- Survey of Universities with Tibetan and Himalayan programs
- Other tasks - contact us
Checking resources for problems, navigation, and functionality issues
We need user assistance in checking specific resources in terms of missing links or other problems, as well as for general problems such as poor navigation processes or confusing interfaces. Please contact us with your willingness to help.
Finding Reference Resources
As we build the Encyclopedias of Tibet and the Himalayas, systematically locating references in extant scholarships, translations and primary source materials is just as important as soliciting original essays. Anyone can contribute to such work, since it can be as simple as combing through an English language translation for references to people or places. These citations are then either provided as bibliographical citations, or typed in, and keyed to the relevant Encyclopedia topic. All of the following can apply to scholarship, translations, or original literature form the region, and can theoretically be from materials in any language. This can be particularly easy when a printed book has a good index. The reference may be an incidental reference with no explication to an otherwise unknown person or place, or may be a superb chapter long discussion of a specific topic or person. Examples include:
- Find interesting or unusual references or synoptic overviews of people, places (villages, provinces, monasteries, mountains, etc.), and organizations (clans, sects, monasteries, etc.)
- Do the same for any other topic – artistic styles, environmental issues, literary genres, and many other topics
- Specific ideas: go through the English translation of the autobiography of Jamgon Kongtrul to extract information about places, etc.
- Other tasks - contact us either to ask for, or make, suggestions
The creation of bibliographies is central to THL both for citation from any THL resource, and as independent resources in their own right. Thus we are looking for volunteers to contribute Bibliographies, including possibly bibliographical essays on various topics and annotations to bibliographical records. Tasks include:
- Typing in and editing already determined bibliographies
- Collecting bibliographical references on a given topic
- Making summaries of items for their bibliographical records
- Writing an introduction to a thematic bibliography
- Cataloging and checking Web sites


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Solar-powered plane plans flight across US (Update 2)
A solar-powered plane that has wowed aviation fans in Europe is set to travel across the United States with stops in Phoenix, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and New York, the plane's Swiss creators said.
Solar Impulse, considered the world's most advanced solar-powered plane, is expected to be ready to leave from NASA Ames Research Center in California on May 1, although the actual departure will depend on the weather.
Solar Impulse plans to reach New York's Kennedy Airport in early July—without using a drop of fuel, its creators said.
"We want to inspire the young generation to become pioneers, to help them find and develop their passion," said André Borschberg, Solar Impulse's co-founder, pilot and CEO. .
The Solar Impulse is powered by about 12,000 photovoltaic cells that cover massive wings and charge its batteries, allowing it to fly day and night without jet fuel. It has the wing span of a commercial airplane but the weight of the average family car, making it vulnerable to bad weather.
Its creators say the Solar Impulse is designed to showcase the potential of solar power and will never replace fuel-powered commercial flights. The delicate, single-seat plane cruises around 40 miles per hour (64 kph) and can't fly through clouds.
"The more you fly the more energy you have stored in the batteries, so it's absolutely fabulous to imagine all the possibilities the people can have with these technologies in their daily lives," said Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse co-founder and chairman.
In 2010, the solar plane flew non-stop for 26 hours to demonstrate that the aircraft could soak up enough sunlight to keep it airborne through the night. A year later, it went on its first international flight to Belgium and France.
Last year, the Solar Impulse made its first transcontinental voyage, traveling 1,550 miles (2,495 kilometers) from Madrid to the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in 20 hours.
Piccard and Borschberg are planning an around-the-world flight in an improved version of the plane in 2015.
Piccard comes from a line of adventurers. His late father, Jacques, was an oceanographer and engineer who plunged deeper into the ocean than any other person. His grandfather Auguste, also an engineer, was the first man to take a balloon into the stratosphere.
Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones made history in 1999 when they became the first people to circle the globe in a hot air balloon, flying 25,000 miles (40,230 kilometers) nonstop for 20 days.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o will be interviewed by Katie Couric, the first on-camera interview given by the All-American since news broke about the dead girlfriend hoax.
Te'o and his parents will appear on Couric's syndicated talk show Thursday. ABC News announced the interview Sunday, but gave no details as to when it will take place and where.
Te'o gave an off-camera interview with ESPN on Friday night. He insists he was the victim of the hoax, not a participant. The Heisman Trophy runner-up said he had an online romance with a woman he never met and in September was informed that the woman died from leukemia.
Te'o told ESPN that the person suspected of being the mastermind of the hoax has contacted him and apologized.
(Photo: AP)


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Starbucks, PayPal and Google Wallet have recently announced mobile payment deployments that will drive revenue, boost loyalty and increase customer engagement.
While buzz in mobile payments is on the rise, adoption rates are still lagging. And mobile payment solutions through trusted, secure channels will be crucial to driving consumer adoption.
Consumer concern regarding the security of mobile and contactless payments are affecting the growth of the industry and inhibiting mainstream adoption.
In order to achieve mainstream adoption of mobile payments in the United States, banks need to collaborate with key industry stakeholders to educate consumers about the safety of this revolutionary payments technology.
According to a survey my company conducted of mobile insiders at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, 38 percent believe that the leading obstacle to large-scale adoption of mobile payments is the perception that transferring personal financial information over a mobile device is not safe.
Security is not a threat to mobile payments adoption. The threat is the perception that mobile payments are less secure than cash or credit cards.
Banks can eradicate the misperceptions by:
1) educating customers about the security of exchanging personal financial information over their mobile device and
2) working to develop industry best practices and foster collaboration and communication between mobile operators, financial institutions and enterprises to drive mass-market adoption of mobile payments.
Consumer Education
Education is the solution to gaining consumers' trust and confidence in mobile payments. According to Miranda Roberts of the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), a global mobile industry trade association, once consumers understand how a mobile transaction works and why they are secure, they gain empowerment and control.
E-commerce platforms were able to take off in the 1990s, after many years of growing pains, because industry players worked together to perfect the platform and ensure its security.
Today, consumers have embraced e-commerce because they have become familiar with how it works, trust that it is secure and feel empowered to take control and use it.
Consumers need to understand that losing a mobile wallet is not fraught with the same pitfalls as losing their physical wallet.
With many solutions, the 'mobile wallet' is not on the device, but rather is stored in the cloud. So if the device is ever lost the account can be locked and then transferred to a new phone, without the loss of funds.
And unlike the cash in your wallet or purse, your mobile wallet, at the very least, is protected by a PIN.
Banks should be responsible for teaching customers about mobile payment security policies and certain techniques like locking their mobile phones and providing educational materials when a customer signs up for mobile transactions.
While smartphones and their respective app stores have been a huge catalyst for the growth of mobile banking and payments in developed markets, this has created a new set of customer behaviors.
We now see that customers are increasingly going to the app store over the bank or payment service's website to download the app.
This is creating two challenges. Firstly, consumers that follow that path expect to be able to enroll via the app on their device.
Secondly, users could potentially download an app that is not from the bank or payment provider and hand over credentials to a third party. Both of these situations demonstrates the need for mutual authentication.
Consumers need to be educated to the risks of handing over credentials (just as every email from a bank will include the phrase 'we will never ask you for your PIN'), consumers should expect the app to prove it is genuine.
Many online banking services have done this for sometime, and similar mechanisms can be extended to the mobile channel.
Education will be crucial to eradicating the misperceptions around security. Material advances for mobile payments will only come about when banks, operators and merchants can converge on a business model, and with it true industry interoperability, leading to a widely-embraced mobile payments system.
Mobile Ecosystem Collaboration
As the mobile payments industry continues to evolve and new features, functions and securities are developed, banks need to work together with mobile operators and merchants to ensure that the technology functions as promised.
Rather than debating who owns consumer transaction security, all parties need to work together to establish technological standards and mobile commerce best practices that will protect all ecosystem participants.
Creating a trusted and secure technical environment that supports a range of business models, including merchants, banks and mobile operators can only be solidified through collaboration.
This will not only ensure that transactions are secure, but will also lead to industry growth and innovation. Once industry standards become established, mobile payments adoption rates will increase.
Why Mainstream Adoption For Banks?
Global smartphone adoption has exploded and has grown faster than any other consumer technology in history, according to a 2012 Flurry report. Traditional commerce channels will be challenged.
However, banks are in a good position to benefit from mobile payments. Mobile payments have the potential to contribute to the bank's revenue stream.
Banks have the advantage over other players in the mobile commerce ecosystem because they already own the consumers' trust to exchange their personal data and financial information.
Engaging with customers directly through their mobile device increases loyalty by providing the added convenience of avoiding long bank lines and creating an extra point of direct contact.
Finally, mobile, with its added convenience, creates a cost-effective way to reach the unbanked, the young and emerging affluent and those that are new to credit.
Challenging the consumer misperception that mobile payments are unsafe or lack the appropriate security features should be a priority for the banking industry.
Collaborating with key industry stakeholders to ensure mobile payment standards and best practices is crucial to the success and widespread availability of mobile payments.
Mobile has the potential to generate additional revenue, reduce customer churn and tap into new market populations.
It's a channel they can no longer ignore and banks will be an important catalyst for driving mainstream adoption of mobile payments.


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How To Buy Funeral Flowers
Funeral flowers are sent to church services or funeral homes. A local florist will deliver your flowers or plants to the funeral or memorial service; the gesture of sending flowers conveys your sincerest feelings and offers a heartfelt message. Plants are often a beautiful way of providing a long-lasting tribute to the deceased, as well as presents an evergreen reminder of the goodwill and sentiment you wish to pass on to the bereaved during their time of grieving.


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by Linda Deutsch
Six former officials of the scandal-ridden city of Bell go on trial this week in a massive corruption case that nearly bankrupted the Los Angeles suburb.
The former mayor and vice mayor and four former City Council members are charged with misappropriation of public funds in a 20-count felony complaint.
Prosecutors claim they looted the city's treasury in order to pay themselves exorbitant salaries. The complaint says sham commissions were created to enrich the defendants.
Two major figures in the scam are not part of this trial. Former City Manager Robert Rizzo and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia are scheduled to be tried separately. They have been accused of making millions while hiking taxes and fees for residents in the modest, blue-collar suburb where many live in poverty.
Jury selection begins Tuesday and the trial is scheduled to last seven weeks. Key witnesses are expected to be former city employees and officials who discovered the shady dealings and were granted immunity from prosecution for their testimony.
A judge who presided at a preliminary hearing for the officials concluded they had shirked their responsibilities and sold out their constituents for financial gain.
"These people were elected to be the voice of the people, to be a safeguard," said Superior Court Judge Henry Hall, who ordered them held for trial. "And they basically sold that off."
Defense attorneys had argued that the council members earned their salaries, working full time on the city's behalf, not only attending monthly council meetings but taking part in community projects that benefited low-income people, the aged and numerous others.
Prosecutors contend that Rizzo had an annual salary and compensation package worth $1.5 million and masterminded a scheme to loot the city of Bell of more than $6 million. His assistant city manager, Spaccia, was paid $376,288 a year
Council members drew salaries of about $100,000 a year, which Hall said was about 20 times more than they were entitled to make.
The six defendants are expected to claim they worked hard for the city and were unaware of Rizzo's financial manipulations.
Those set to go on trial Tuesday are former Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former vice mayor Teresa Jacobo and former council members George Mirabal, George Cole, Victor Bello and Luis Artiga.,
Testimony at the trial is expected to focus on the creation of sham boards and commissions such as the city's Surplus Property Authority which met a handful of times between 2005 and 2010 and never for more than a minute or two. Hall calculated that resulted in council members being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars an hour for sitting on the authority's board.
He said the city's Solid Waste and Recycling Authority was never legally created and, in any case, met only one time in 2006 — to vote its members a pay raise.
"It was a sham agency," said the judge.
Former District Attorney Steve Cooley, who filed the Bell corruption cases, said more than $5.5 million was taken from the city coffers.
After disclosure of the scandal, Bell residents revolted, turning out in the thousands to protest at city council meetings and ultimately staging a successful recall election at which they threw out the entire City Council and elected a slate of new leaders.
This article was written by Linda Deutsch and originally published on usatoday