from the nytimes: A study conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s own advocacy organization for transit riders found that nearly half of the subway stations examined “need more attention,” and that the worst stations had decrepit conditions, including water damage, exposed wires, rodents, foul odors, clogged track drains and general filth.

………….you needed a study to tell you that????? read on!

While calling for additional state and city aid for mass transit — a difficult proposition given the current fiscal downturn — the study also made several proposals: imposing “station impact fees” on new developments built within a quarter-mile of a subway station; enlisting business improvement districts, which are financed by special property assessments, to help maintain stations; and creating an “Adopt-a-Station” program.

The findings, part of a 61-page report released on Wednesday, came as no surprise to many subway riders, as similar complaints have been made by the Straphangers Campaign and other advocacy groups. But they carry particular weight coming from the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the authority, created under state law in 1981 as the official voice for riders.

The stations are not merely subway entrances, but “welcome mats” to neighborhoods, said the panel, which called its report “Unwelcome Mats: New York’s Subway Stations in Disrepair.”

The committee noted with dismay that New York City Transit, the arm of the authority that runs the subway and buses, announced on July 9 that it would postpone various capital projects, including planned renovations at 23 subway stations, because of budget pressures.

In response to the report, New York City Transit issued a statement saying that the effort to keep stations in decent shape was “challenging, ongoing and one of our top priorities.”

The agency said that the new managers appointed to oversee the No. 7 and L lines — as part of an experiment to manage all aspects of subway operation by line — were working to analyze how best to improve stations. The agency also said that it had proposed a $71 million fund to address station infrastructure problems immediately, rather than waiting until a station is due for a full rehabilitation, which can take years to schedule.

For the study, the members and staff of the New York City Transit Riders Council, an arm of the advisory committee, inspected 50 of 422 stations and station complexes late last year and early this year. The sample represented stations from the most heavily trafficked to the least used.

The report said that 23 of the 50 stations had ratings below 70, on a scale of zero to 100, and therefore were “in need of attention.”

The report identified the five worst stations surveyed as Beach 90th Street on the A and Rockaway Shuttle lines in Queens; the 149th Street-Grand Concourse station on the No. 4 line in the Bronx; the 138th Street-Grand Concourse station on the Nos. 4 and 5 lines in the Bronx; the Jay Street-Borough Hall station on the A, C and F lines in Brooklyn; and the 103rd Street station on the No. 6 line in Manhattan.

Three of the stations had evidently never been renovated. The 149th Street station was renovated in 1992, and the 103rd Street station in 1984.

Four of the five worst stations, the report noted, were in sections of the Bronx and Brooklyn that are designated as economic development areas. The report said that the city’s “lack of participation” in maintenance had been “glaringly illuminated,” and it urged the city to do more.

The study found some signs of hope: A pilot cleaning program, started in 2007, appears to have significantly improved conditions at several stations.

from the gothamist.com:

Rats Boldly Swarming Subway Platforms

“People have seen them sitting on benches,” says Andrew Albert, an MTA board member and chair of the NYC Transit Riders Council. “From what riders have told us, they appear to be getting bolder.” That’s the subway rat population he’s talking about, which many commuters say is surging, at least according to an amNY article that’s teeming with great quotes. “Next thing you know the doors are going to open and one is going to come on the train with us,” one exterminator predicts.

Rats have been growing increasingly comfortable hanging out on subway platforms, with popular hot-spots including Chambers Street on the A, Jay Street-Borough Hall, West 4th Street, and Spring Street on the C – though rats who want to party on that exclusive platform have to agree to buy bottle. One theory is that increased interaction with people may, in a way, be domesticating the rats, or at least making them less fearful of humans. “They chase me to work,” says straphanger Yvonne Ouchikh. The MTA blames the rat boom on an increase in subway ridership that’s led to more litter.

starting soon! as nykr’s reflect on the city and 9/11 this week, a wide range of nyc posts raining down on you soon. back to the regular programming…

duh! journal scours the world for stupid(and overtly obvious)news! we found a diverse three course meal for all!

this is from gampepro.com: seems that this is news to microsoft!

‘Xbox vice president Don Mattrick acknowledged that regaining first place from Nintendo is unlikely, but he’s confident in a second place finish over Sony.

Microsoft will do everything within its power to beat arch rival Sony in this generation’s console war — even if it’s for second place.

In an interview with Business Week published on Wednesday, Xbox vice president Don Mattrick admitted the 360 probably won’t catch Wii, but he still believes his company will outsell the PlayStation 3.

“I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” he said, before predicting, “We will sell more consoles this generation than Sony.”

Microsoft has sold an estimated 20 million Xbox 360 units worldwide since November 2005. By contrast, Nintendo has sold 32 million Wiis in half the time, while Sony has sold 15 million PS3s during the same period.’

really? nintendo is going to win? microsoft even declared themselves the winners of this competition at one point! what they meant was that they were ahead. a year ahead as the 360 was released a full 365 before the wii. its like declaring yourself the winner way before the finish line. but now, microsoft is willing to mouth what everyone already knew….the wii is a hit! it is the winner of this round of console wars!

**********************

this is why so many (yankee)fans hate arod…he’s just not aware of his team or seemingly the game. the suspicion that he is self absorbed gets reinforced.

on sunday, the yankees lost and the blue jays won, moving ahead of the yankees in the standings. here’s the q/a from the nytimes that follows:

‘Without realizing what he was saying, Alex Rodriguez wrote off the Yankees’ chances. Asked about falling to fourth, Rodriguez tried to compliment the Blue Jays but made a damning statement about the Yankees in the process.

“I tell you what, a lot of people should be happy they’re not in the playoff race, because they’d be the scariest team,” Rodriguez said of the Blue Jays.

When reminded that the Yankees now trail Toronto — the team he had just stated was not in the race — Rodriguez did not know quite what to say.

“I’m too tired to answer that,” he said. “You confused me on that one.’

can you imagine jeter making the same mistake? no.

sigh. more like duh!

*******************

speaking of the nytimes, here’s some crappy reporting by them at the toronto film festival:

‘Over the last three days parties celebrated movies that were intended as much to be heard as seen. “It Might Get Loud,” a documentary about the electric guitar and what it becomes in the hands of Jimmy Page, Bono and Jack White, had a Friday night bash. “Every Little Step,” a documentary about the musical “A Chorus Line,” held a dance party (naturally) on Saturday, while “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” a film about teenage love and the modern version of the perfect mix tape, rented the Tattoo Rock Parlour club in downtown Toronto a few hours later.’

seems innocuous enough….except look at the accompanying photo with the article: jack white, “bono” and jimmy page:

wow! get your facts right! what makes it even more damning….here’s the accompanying caption for the photo:

‘From left, the musicians Jack White, the Edge and Jimmy Page at a screening of the film “It Might Get Loud” at the Toronto International Film Festival.’

doh! nytimes, you just wrote for duh!journal by accident! (btw, bono plays a terrible guitar)

former nba ref who bet on games that he worked(that’s illegal)had an interesting defense for his crimes: don’t lock me up for gambling….because i have gambling problem!

really? you couldn’t stop gambling because you couldn’t stop gambling??

here are few blurbs from espn.com:

“Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy was a compulsive gambler whose road to professional and personal ruin began on the golf course, where he bet up to $500 a hole, according to an evaluation filed on the eve of his sentencing. “In short, he could not stop himself from gambling,” wrote Stephen Block, a longtime New York-based gambling treatment counselor.

Donaghy, 41, faces up to 33 months in prison at his sentencing Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn after pleading guilty last year to taking thousands of dollars in payoffs from a professional gambler for inside betting tips. The evaluation was filed by his defense attorney, John Lauro, in a bid for leniency.

“In my professional opinion, Mr. Donaghy would never have committed these offenses if he was not a pathological gambler,” Block concluded.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can i defend myself with don’t lock me up! i couldn’t stop killing because i’m a pathological killer? i can’t stop killing because i can’t stop killing? maybe that’s a variation on the insanity plea. i’ve got a disease so i can’t help myself. that doesn’t make me want to let you go….it makes me want to lock you up! besides, you are admitting you did the crime!

i am sure there are fancy schmancy tricky lawyers out there who can out argue my reasoning and set people like this free. this breed of double talkers maybe shocked to find out people hate lawyers.

luckily, the judge in this case reads duh journal and sentenced this joker to a place where others also cannot control themselves.

I guess duh! journal also covers galactically stupid behavior by purported first world, sophisticated nations(see yesterday 8/12/8 )…and dumb deception by countries who want to be known as a first world, sophisticated nation.

in the early 90’s when the little league world series was captured by the taiwanese, they came to nyc to visit my mom’s chinese school. i told my mom that these kids don’t look like they’re in junior high….they look like they’re ready for college. my mom said that i was being ridiculous. i insisted that middle school kids don’t have mustaches and 5 o’clock shadows. later on, it was confirmed by investigators that some of the “little leaguers” were not so little.

the moral of the story is that when you get caught lying in sports at the international level, you look stupid.

this is called foreshadowing, kids.

here’s a trio of disturbing smoke and mirrors stories:

from abcnews: So the Chinese women have their first-ever Olympic team gold medal. Good for them. But their prize will always be viewed under a cloud of suspicion — prior to these Games, several publications, most notably The New York Times, found evidence that at least two of the Chinese gymnasts were only 14, two years younger than the Olympic minimum — and to some extent the image of gymnastics has suffered a black eye. The Olympics is, above all else, based on the principles of fair competition, and the promotion of healthy bodies through sport. There is something mildly discomfiting about the sight of such tiny youngsters weighed down by the hopes of a nation, even after the gold medals are hanging around their feathery necks.

from cnn: Martha Karolyi, the national team coordinator of the second-placed United States team, noticed something. It was another hint that at least one of the Chinese gymnasts may be underage and breaking the rules at these Olympics.

“One of the girls has a missing tooth,” Karolyi said, suggesting that the gymnast had lost her baby tooth and an adult tooth had yet to replace it.

“I have no proof, so I can’t make an affirmation,” she said of the alleged age falsification on the Chinese team. “But it possibly could be true. That doesn’t give an even playing field.”

from NYT: Pigtailed and smiling, Lin Miaoke, age 9, stood in a red dress and white shoes during Friday’s Olympic opening ceremonies and performed “Ode to the Motherland” in what would become one of the evening’s most indelible images: a lone child, fireworks blazing overhead, singing a patriotic ballad before an estimated one billion viewers.

Except that her proud father, Lin Hui, noticed “that the voice was a little different from hers.” On Tuesday, Mr. Lin said in a telephone interview that he had assumed “the difference might be caused by the acoustics.”

Acoustics had nothing to do with it. Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremonies’ production team concluded that the best solution was to use two girls instead of one.

Miaoke, a third grader, was judged cute and appealing but “not suitable” as a singer. Another girl, Yang Peiyi, 7, was judged the best singer but not as cute.

“Everyone should understand this in this way,” Mr. Chen said. “This is in the national interest. It is the image of our national music, national culture, especially during the entrance of our national flag. This is an extremely important, extremely serious matter.”

By Tuesday, the Chinese news media had already pounced on the story, instigating a national conversation that government censors were trying to mute by stripping away many, but not all, of the public comments posted online.

Many remaining comments expressed outrage over the cold calculation used to appraise the girls.

“Please save the last bit of trueness in our children,” wrote one person, who used the online name Weirderhua. “They think Yang Peiyi’s smile is not cute enough? What we need is truth, not some fake loveliness! I hope the kids will not be hurt. This is not their fault.”

Beijing enhanced Olympics show

with faked fireworks

BEIJING, China (AP) — Not all was what it seemed during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Beijing organizers confirmed Tuesday that some of the fireworks display featured prerecorded footage.

Fireworks that burst into the shape of 29 gigantic footprints were shown trudging above the Beijing skyline to the National Stadium near the start of the ceremony.

Though the footprint-shaped fireworks were real, some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the “Bird’s Nest” stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

“It was confirmed that previously recorded footage was provided to the broadcasters for convenience and theatrical effects — as in many other big events,” Beijing organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei said. “On the day of the ceremony there were actual footprints of fireworks from the south to the north of the city.

“However, because of the poor visibility of the night, some previously recorded footage may have been used.”

The computerized images were produced by Crystal Digital Technology Co. of Beijing.

“We did our best to create a rendering that would look like the shot was taken live,” company spokesman Lei Ming told the Beijing Times. “Most people could not tell the difference.”

NBC said broadcasters Bob Costas and Matt Lauer told viewers the display was cinematic.

“This is actually almost animation,” Lauer said on the air.

The ceremony won rave reviews around the world and was watched by more than 1 billion people.

In the United States on NBC, the ceremony averaged 34.2 million U.S. viewers, making it the biggest American television event since the Super Bowl.

*********************

looks like matt lauer was wrong: it wasn’t almost animation…. it was animation! i’m sure the show would have looked great “regular” or live. nobody in the stadium seemed to complain.

i was trying to figure out why this triggered my duh! alarms. who’s stupid or looks stupid in this story? while the chinese were dumb to think they could pull these things off without anyone knowing, i think unfortunately, its the olympic audience that winds up feeling stupid. here they are enjoying what they thought was spectacular and real sights…a show for the ages…..tremendous athletic competition….but they are actually watching cartoons! imagine thinking star wars was real until someone schooled you about special effects.

mary katherine gallagher thinks our feelings about the beijing olympics can best be expressed in this page from superman by geoff johns and gary frank:

this is a black mark on the olympics…is deception part of the olympic spirit? maybe in china. they sound like they’re ok with it! or maybe they got the real olympic spirit right…the spirit of self promotion.

when you’re trying to make an impression on the world, why would you risk this? don’t they know how fast stories like this spread? its like they don’t have the internet there. at least, not the whole internet. it smacks of arrogance.

if i was agnostic about the olympics before, when i think of the olympics now, i think of arcade fire’s rebellion: “everytime i close my eyes, lies, lies….” the realest thing during these olympics is russia crushing georgia.

i guess duh! journal also covers galactically stupid behavior by purported first world, sophisticated nations:

i’ll let the news and other reports speak for themselves:

from abcnews: A pre-Olympics “slant-eye” pose by the Spanish men’s basketball team could leave the gold medal contenders with a black eye as they compete in Beijing.

An advertisement for the Spanish Basketball Federation that appeared in the Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca featured Spain’s 15 national team members in uniform pulling back the skin on their eyelids, with smiles on their faces. The team photo was taken at a center court bearing a dragon logo.

It’s a racially pejorative pose not often associated with goodwill in the United States and many other countries, where a similar gesture is more likely to be seen on a school playground than coming from Olympic statesman.

“It’s something that I haven’t seen since I was a kid,” said Sarah Smith, a spokesman for the Organization of Chinese Americans in Washington, D.C. “I can’t speak for what is considered funny in Spain. I don’t know if it has the same impact that it would here. It’s clearly racist, and not even in a jovial way.”

from deadspin.com: “The above photo was actually included in a Spanish newspaper according to The Guardian: “Spain’s Basketball Federation has published a good luck advert for their men’s team, the world champions, in which they stand pulling at the sides of their eyes in a slit-eyed gesture.” this ad ran in Spain and not a single person had an issue with it.”

“Spanish news site, Soitu’s article suggests that the international media are making too big of a deal of the “slit-eye” photo. Their article commences: “What began as a simple graceful photo to wish luck to the Spanish basketball team in the Olympic Games has finished with accusations of racism and discrimination in the foreign press.”

Yes, of course, a simple, graceful photo.

The fact that this photo exists isn’t a huge surprise. Basketball players aren’t renowned for their worldly perspective. What’s unique about this photograph is that it ran in two of Spain’s biggest newspapers. As an advertisement for a courier service, no less. And not one single person in Spain thought it was the least bit offensive. Only when other countries saw the photograph did it become an issue. Put it this way, what would have happened in America if the U.S. Basketball team posed for these photos on behalf of Fed Ex?”

**********************

wow. i’m already agnostic towards the olympic spirit because of sarajevo. now i don’t want to believe. what next? the spectacle of the olympic games were actually doctored images?………

At duh! journal, we report news and ask if its really “news” to anyone?!

Really? China abuses human rights? Duh!!!!!

from the makers of corporal punishment that doubles as capital punishment…..

from the makers of the one child policy in a culture where boys are gods……

from the makers of chinese/tibetian relations…..

from the makers of elementary schools that impode on kids during earthquakes…..

from the makers of chinese church culture……..

this….is cnn: (also getting a mention is north korea!)

WASHINGTON (AP) — China, host of the summer Olympics, is an authoritarian nation that denies its people basic human rights and freedoms, harasses journalists and foreign aid workers and tortures prisoners, the United States charged Tuesday.

Workers install acoustic boards at the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Fast Railway, a key project associated with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

China is still among the world’s human rights abusers despite rapid economic growth that has transformed large parts of Chinese society, the State Department said in an annual accounting of human rights practices around the world.

Torture in China includes the use of electric shocks, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse, according to the report. It includes an account of a prisoner strapped to a “tiger bench,” as device that forces the legs to bend sometimes until they break.

The report details the lengths some Chinese officials have taken to enforce China’s well-known “one child” policy, and says forced relocations went up last year. The report notes claims that people were forced from their homes to make way for Olympic projects in Beijing.

“The year 2007 saw increased efforts to control and censor the Internet, and the government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and the domestic press,” the report says of China. “The government continued to monitor, harass, detain, arrest, and imprison journalists, Internet writers, and bloggers.”

The country-by-country report is compiled separately from U.S. diplomatic efforts, and presented to Congress. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was releasing it at the State Department.

North Korea is called an absolute dictatorship with repressive policies that control the most basic aspects of daily life. The report does not mention the intensive U.S. campaign for nuclear disarmament in North Korea, which included the first regular visits in decades by U.S. diplomats to the secretive regime in 2007.

“Pregnant female prisoners underwent forced abortions in some cases, and in other cases babies were killed upon birth in prisons,” the report noted in its section covering detention and imprisonment in the North.

***********

and the ny times reports:

Networks Fight Shorter Olympic Leash

For several years now NBC has meticulously planned all the details for its coverage of the many sports events at the Summer Olympics in China.

But with the Games only (a few days) away, many at the network are concerned about how they will be permitted to cover any unscheduled events, like political protests or government crackdowns — or whether the Chinese government will allow them to cover such things at all.

One of the most common hypothetical questions NBC officials have bandied about involves the opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.

Hundreds of athletes will parade into a stadium in front of world leaders, including President Bush, and a huge global television audience. If an athlete holds a protest sign or waves a Tibetan flag, how will the Chinese hosts react? Will the television networks show the scene? How will the Chinese handle the media for the rest of the Games?

The stakes are high for both the network, which paid $900 million for broadcast rights for the Olympics, and the reputation of NBC News. If it covers any controversies aggressively, it risks drawing the ire of the Chinese and interfering with coverage of sports events. But if it shies from coverage of any protests, NBC risks being criticized in the West for kowtowing to China — particularly since its corporate parent, General Electric, is aggressively expanding its investments in China.

One thing is for sure, vows Steve Capus, the president of NBC’s news division: “If there’s news, we’re going to cover it.”

At the meeting, on July 9, after months of uncertainty, Chinese officials said that all applications for live broadcasting would be approved throughout Beijing and the other cities where Olympic competitions were planned. Furthermore, the committee said that all broadcasters could tape reports from Tiananmen Square.

But the broadcasters say they will not believe it until they see it. One I.O.C. commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid further complicating the situation, said matter-of-factly that Chinese officials had “put a tourniquet” on the Olympics.

“Had the I.O.C., and those vested with the decision to award the host city contract, known seven years ago that there would be severe restrictions on people being able to enter China simply to watch the Olympics, or that live broadcasting from Tiananmen Square would essentially be banned, or that reporters would be corralled at the whim of local security, then I seriously doubt whether Beijing would have been awarded the Olympics,” the commissioner said.

****************

maybe the IOC needs to read duh! journal more often!!!!

the parents of teens in my youth groups used to dismiss my assertion that more kids die driving to the mall than walking around the city. in fact, my city is not even in the top 100 most dangerous cities in america. this is more astounding if you attempted to name 100 cities in america.

so some parents raged against taking kids into the inner cities to serve the poor and then proceeded to give keys to their teens so they can go somewhere safe, like the mall.

i always thought that giving keys to a 16 year old was bad policy. nearly all my teens driving at 16 got into accidents. (nearly)ALL. so what can you expect when you get into a car with a teen? i expect trouble.

this is from msnbc:

Half kids who died in crashes had teen drivers

Two thirds of young passengers also weren’t wearing seat belts, study says

CHICAGO - Car crashes are the leading cause of death for tweens and teens, and a new study outlines some of the most dangerous circumstances: Riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads.

These were the three biggest risk factors contributing to car crash deaths for passengers aged 8 to 17, the study found.

While young drivers have higher chances of dying, the six-year study focused on nearly 10,000 children passengers who were killed in car crashes. More than half — 54 percent — were riding with a teen driver. Drivers younger than 16 were the most dangerous.

Also, more than three-quarters of the fatal crashes occurred on roads with speed limits higher than 45 mph, and nearly two-thirds of the young passengers were not wearing seat belts, the researchers found.

Other dangerous circumstances for young passengers included drivers who’d been drinking alcohol, male teen drivers, and driving on weekends.

The message for parents is simple and sobering: Don’t let your teen ride with a teen driver who has less than a year’s experience driving. Insist on seat belts. And practice ways teens can resist peer pressure to ride with other teens, said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the study’s lead author.

“Knowing the risks can help parents and teens make smart decisions about which rides are safe, and which ones are off limits,” said Winston, the founder of the hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

The researchers examined national data on serious car crashes including those resulting in death between 2000 and 2005. During that time, 2.5 million children aged 8 to 17 were involved in crashes and 9,807 died.

Risk of death is double if driver is a teen
The risk of death for kids riding with drivers aged 16 to 19 was at least double that of those riding with drivers aged 25 and older. There were about two deaths per 1,000 crashes for young passengers with 25-plus drivers, versus more than four deaths in the younger group.

The study, conducted with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., appears in the March edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. State Farm funded the research.

Recent federal data indicate that the percentage of U.S. 16-year-olds with driver’s licenses has fallen since 1998 (from roughly 44 percent to about 30 percent), during a time when restrictions on teen driving generally increased.

But no states have all the restrictions recommended by State Farm, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Philadelphia hospital.

For example, they say the minimum age for a learner’s permits should be 16. But nine states grant them to 14-year-olds and at least 30 others give them to 15-year-olds. Also, the groups say drivers younger than 18 should not be allowed to have more than one teen passenger without adult supervision, but only 34 states have that restriction, according to data provided by the hospital and State Farm.

Rosie Jermakian, a Bethesda, Md., 16-year-old, said the study results hit home, particularly because of a recent spate of teen car crashes in the Washington, D.C. area, including one that involved a friend. Rosie’s stepmother does research at the Philadelphia hospital but was not involved in the study.

“Teen drivers don’t always think,” said Rosie, who has a learner’s permit and hopes to get her license soon. “Sometimes they think they’re just in this little bubble where they can’t get hurt and they don’t really think of the consequences.”

DUH!