Since it's about rail safety it shares some characteristics with a PSA, but Metro Trains is a commercial operation, who commissioned this viral ad campaign (including obligatory clever supporting web site, also including their logo) from someone, from McCann Group, and paid for it. Their logo can be clearly seen at the end of the ad, so even if it's not trying to sell you something directly it is attempting to increase their brand awareness... quite successfully, too.
>> ^BoneRemake:

kit-kat goes to space = viral
this, not viral
this is just a Public Service Announcement

kit-kat goes to space = viral

this, not viral

this is just a Public Service Announcement

Your claims here are vastly skewed. As an example I'll point out that prostitutes do, in fact, view alcoholism awareness public service announcements, but than again, so does everyone else.
Hell, better yet, I'll go ahead and inform you that fruit flies are among the most commonly used model animal in modern science. That funding could literally be going to just about any biology related field of research in existence.

I'm very much willing to read and consider your viewpoints, but please, try and present the whole facts next time.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Here's some other ways your tax dollars are being spent:
$2.6 Million Spent To Train Chinese Prostitutes To Drink Responsibly
$1,529,220 for an Appalachian Fruit Lab.
$742,764 for olive fruit fly research. ($211,509 of this amount was to be spent in Paris, France)
$172,782 for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, S.C.
$1,128,000 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Alaska Eagle River for an at-risk youth mentoring program.
$50,000,000 for REAL ID grants. Got to be sure to track and trace those unruly American citizens!
$123,050 for a Mother's Day Shrine in Grafton, West Virginia (population 5,489, with a land area of 3.8 square miles)

Me too - The US election is overshadowing all our Canadian Media - This is the prime time where the Canadian Government tries to pull all it's fast deals and closed door decisions hoping no one is paying attention - And it works every time.

It's funny because - this is exactly what my kids are saying. "Why, on every commercial, do we have to see more of these stupid (political campaign) commercials?"

I want to know why these commercials need to be piped into Canada. The technology exists, write over them with local content or public service announcements - we don't need to see them.

It's idiots like Fuqua that make conservatives look so bad. Just like in any political party there are always some hardcore morons, but it is not necessarily representative of the entire party. Idiots like Fuqua need to be called out and excised from public service.
However it upsets me that Cenk is using this idiot as an example of the entire party. It's like me thinking that all democrats are overweight, olive skinned Greeks with borderline pompadours as well having annoying nasal qualities when they speak because of him. And lord knows those Greeks know a thing or two about how to handle an economy.
That's your democratic party.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

For me, and this may not be the exact definition of productivity - but productivity is the cost of getting shit done.

Anyone who has been to the dentist, tried to re-roof their house or start a small business would probably agree that it's pretty expensive to get stuff done here.

Which isn't to say that I don't like how things work here. I like big public services and don't begrudge the high taxes. I like that there is a huge middle class here.

But ... And this is the part that's going to get me some flack, there is a certain softness that comes with a 5% unemployment rate. We feel very entitled to the jobs we have - because there is no one else waiting in the wings to do them for us. Employees have a huge leverage stick here in Canberra because there is literally no one else willing or available to fill the roles.

Lastly, I want to make it clear that I'm not defending the awful views of this lady.

What did I say now?

Seriously it is just the internet where people get butthurt way too easily. Little babbys need something real to worry about.

But I also have no problems with what Dag says and punishing/banning people for being asshats, it just shouldn't be a surprise when it happens because... IT IS THE INTERNET. In my opinion the problem is the sensitive coddled only-child shutins that have to feel special and find it impossible to just ignore some asshole. I've always considered providing a public service to the panty bunchers on the sift.

Alternate title: Do NOT Be BAD at texting while driving.

Look I understand everyone wants me to live and don't want me to kill other people. But what the fuck can't I? What everyones lives are soooo precious that I can't take a few out here or there? There's too many people dammit! I'm doing a public service!

These people aren't "participating in the system" because said participation requires great wealth. Those with great wealth have no interest in such an agenda.

Conversely, the Tea Party was an inadvertently pro-corporate movement quietly backed by millions of corporate dollars. That is why it worked. Ever seen footage of police quelling a Tea Party rally? There is no equivalency between the Tea Party and the Occupy movement.


>> ^Darkhand:

I don't disagree with anything that you've said. I think you are misunderstanding my point.
The problem is from what I have seen the people trying to enact change don't actually participate in the system. So other than marching, and banging on drums, and protesting they aren't actually accomplishing anything.
The Tea Party might not be the most successful group but it sure as hell worked in a lot of their endeavors. I haven't seen the Liberal Version of the tea party yet and I don't think I will.
>> ^petpeeved:
>> ^Darkhand:
>> ^petpeeved:
The revolution will not have a permit.

There will never be a revolution because the only people who seem to be upset about anything are hippies and hippies are non-violent.
Occupy Wall Street was the biggest let down because when asked if they planned on sponsoring any political parties they said "we don't recognize the system so we don't sponsor anyone" or some shit like that.
Unless this "revolution" is going to burn our current system to the ground, or actually get involved in politics nothing will happen.
Feel free to shout and bang your drums if it makes you feel better. But that's not a revolution it's just a mosquito buzzing in the ear of our capitalist government.

You seem to think that only violence can change the system at this point? I honestly don't know if there is any hope of reforming the government via policy and procedure but I doubt violence would change anything for the better either.
I may be a simpleton but there really does seem to be a silver bullet to the mess we're in: remove the money incentive from national politics completely, starting with evicting all the lobbyists from Washington, and gutting the amount of money that flows into the political campaign warchests every election.
If there is one thing we should socialize, it's the political process itself. We have spending caps on pro sports teams; we should have spending caps on political campaigns as well. Give all the major candidates free television and media coverage during the election season. Eliminate corporate contributions entirely etc.
We just need to turn politics into a job that attracts people for the right reason: public service, as opposed to the reason most seem to get involved these days: personal aggrandizement.
Romney's fundraisers are aiming to raise a billion dollars to win this election. I'm sure Obama's are aiming for as close to that figure as possible too.
This is the root of all the problems we face as a nation, imo. It's all about the money needed to buy an election.

I don't disagree with anything that you've said. I think you are misunderstanding my point.

The problem is from what I have seen the people trying to enact change don't actually participate in the system. So other than marching, and banging on drums, and protesting they aren't actually accomplishing anything.

The Tea Party might not be the most successful group but it sure as hell worked in a lot of their endeavors. I haven't seen the Liberal Version of the tea party yet and I don't think I will.

>> ^petpeeved:

>> ^Darkhand:
>> ^petpeeved:
The revolution will not have a permit.

There will never be a revolution because the only people who seem to be upset about anything are hippies and hippies are non-violent.
Occupy Wall Street was the biggest let down because when asked if they planned on sponsoring any political parties they said "we don't recognize the system so we don't sponsor anyone" or some shit like that.
Unless this "revolution" is going to burn our current system to the ground, or actually get involved in politics nothing will happen.
Feel free to shout and bang your drums if it makes you feel better. But that's not a revolution it's just a mosquito buzzing in the ear of our capitalist government.

You seem to think that only violence can change the system at this point? I honestly don't know if there is any hope of reforming the government via policy and procedure but I doubt violence would change anything for the better either.
I may be a simpleton but there really does seem to be a silver bullet to the mess we're in: remove the money incentive from national politics completely, starting with evicting all the lobbyists from Washington, and gutting the amount of money that flows into the political campaign warchests every election.
If there is one thing we should socialize, it's the political process itself. We have spending caps on pro sports teams; we should have spending caps on political campaigns as well. Give all the major candidates free television and media coverage during the election season. Eliminate corporate contributions entirely etc.
We just need to turn politics into a job that attracts people for the right reason: public service, as opposed to the reason most seem to get involved these days: personal aggrandizement.
Romney's fundraisers are aiming to raise a billion dollars to win this election. I'm sure Obama's are aiming for as close to that figure as possible too.
This is the root of all the problems we face as a nation, imo. It's all about the money needed to buy an election.

>> ^Darkhand:

>> ^petpeeved:
The revolution will not have a permit.

There will never be a revolution because the only people who seem to be upset about anything are hippies and hippies are non-violent.
Occupy Wall Street was the biggest let down because when asked if they planned on sponsoring any political parties they said "we don't recognize the system so we don't sponsor anyone" or some shit like that.
Unless this "revolution" is going to burn our current system to the ground, or actually get involved in politics nothing will happen.
Feel free to shout and bang your drums if it makes you feel better. But that's not a revolution it's just a mosquito buzzing in the ear of our capitalist government.


You seem to think that only violence can change the system at this point? I honestly don't know if there is any hope of reforming the government via policy and procedure but I doubt violence would change anything for the better either.

I may be a simpleton but there really does seem to be a silver bullet to the mess we're in: remove the money incentive from national politics completely, starting with evicting all the lobbyists from Washington, and gutting the amount of money that flows into the political campaign warchests every election.

If there is one thing we should socialize, it's the political process itself. We have spending caps on pro sports teams; we should have spending caps on political campaigns as well. Give all the major candidates free television and media coverage during the election season. Eliminate corporate contributions entirely etc.

We just need to turn politics into a job that attracts people for the right reason: public service, as opposed to the reason most seem to get involved these days: personal aggrandizement.

Romney's fundraisers are aiming to raise a billion dollars to win this election. I'm sure Obama's are aiming for as close to that figure as possible too.

This is the root of all the problems we face as a nation, imo. It's all about the money needed to buy an election.

>> ^Fade:

There is very good reason to be patronizing to people who are pretending that they are knowledgable of a subject they clearly haven't the first clue about. It's a public service.
Liars and charlatans need to be mocked and derided.


Then it is just preaching to the choir, as you won't win them over with such a tone. If your efforts aren't to win them over, but rather call them out on lies and deceit then all you need are facts. I just don't think this is going to win anyone over, and if it isn't, then what is it's purpose exactly? I mean, we don't need to ridicule Aristotle for his theory of movement to know that Newtonian or Einsteinian models are superior. Perhaps not everyone can be as soft touch as Neil Degrasse Tyson, but I can't really support other modes of public criticism with conscience.

There is very good reason to be patronizing to people who are pretending that they are knowledgable of a subject they clearly haven't the first clue about. It's a public service.
Liars and charlatans need to be mocked and derided.

>> ^renatojj:

There are no winners in this sham of an election, they are both the same in terms of policy, they both suck.


I don't disagree with that. I don't like where we tend to put the blame though, on the politicians and such rather than on ourselves. It's our own damned fault.

TV News used to do some investigative journalism, and it used to be a loss leader for the networks and done for a public service to earn them the right to the frequencies they were offered free of charge. But with 60 minutes and others of the sort the networks learned they could turn a profit and examine more personal issues then with Crossfire and others of the sort they lost even the public service requirements which they had on broadcast.

From Vince Foster murder allegations to blowjobs, 911 conspiracy theories and Swiftboating, death panels, foreign born, communist, socialist, we took it all in and never changed the channel or turned off the TV, and it DID shift our votes and opinions.

The fault is with us. We bought all of the deregulation arguments which allowed our current media and corporate system, we kept electing people who would do it some more even as the impact of our prior choices should have been getting more clear, and we kept responding to and watching ever more extreme and confrontational "news" shows and ads. Any politician who even tried to play nice, honest, and so on was simply steamrolled over and we never bothered to notice. And now we complain that we got the system we asked for.

No argument at all, both parties and the whole system these days sucks. And it's our own damned fault. We watched the shows, we voted them in, then reelected them, we echoed every conspiracy theory and accusation, and we never demanded better. We had every opportunity to see it coming and people have been warning us about it for years. We just couldn't be bothered to care.

Can we organise some sort of public service announcement for people to teach them NOT TO VIDEO VERTICALLY?

Please?