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Colbert Wins Space Station Name Contest
As we speculated a couple of weeks back, it has come to pass. Reader mknewman writes to tell us that comedian Stephen Colbert has won the vote to have his name immortalized (or at least until it crashes) as the moniker on NASA's newest addition to the International Space Station. We can but wonder what NASA will do now. "NASA's mistake was allowing write-ins. Colbert urged viewers of his Comedy Central show, 'The Colbert Report' to write in his name. And they complied, with 230,539 votes. That clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast by the time the contest ended Friday."
It's not mentioned in the article, but what brought this all up in the first place was the fact that "Xenu" was winning the write-in vote before he asked viewers on his show to write in his own name instead. Xenu is the galactic overlord from Scientology myth. Colbert asked his viewers to write in his own name, and the following day he had already passed Xenu on the write-ins. The show that evening, he declared himself the new galactic overlord.
Incidentally, NASA reserved the write to call it whatever they want; they don't have to go with the vote.
RIP Battletoad :(
that my write in vote for Bigus Dickus didn't win... I thought I had the mobs support. Cheers, endxv
All glory to the Hypnotoad!
This is awful. I've heard him pronounce his *own* name different ways on his show. Oh well, maybe the astronauts will cut off the beginning and just call it the Bert module. I mean, if they scrape some paint off, what can we do?
I hardly think that a 3.3% margin of defeat is worthy of the adjective "clobbering".
Really naming it the "Colbert" room isn't as lame as if everyone voted for "i can haz space station" or something. Plus he may have actually raised public awareness of space programs a little bit. He certainly drove traffic to NASA's website. And if 200,000 people actually voted for him, you can imagine how many people voted for a "real" option or read some of the NASA content.
The Colbert Spaceport?
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
From the article: "NASA reserves the right to choose an appropriate name."
Name it something else, but hang a signed picture of Colbert in the module. The fans are satisfied, a reasonable name can be applied, and Colbert gets a talking point for a show.
But please, for the love of God, no dancing! Colbert dancing with that freaky grin always creeps me out.
Yep, I guess the difference lies in "to kill hundreds of thousands of people".
You just got troll'd!
I wrote in "Candlejack", and apparently i was the onl
On a similar note, what will Time do if Moot wins the #1 most influential person of the year?
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883644_1886141,00.html
I wonder if he'd let it be named Serenity for a date with Inara Serra / Morena Baccarin?
Didn't enter the contest.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Yeah! What the fuck have we ever gotten from NASA? Pretty pictures?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Spinoff
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spinoffs2.shtml
Before you get too excited, note that "Colbert" won the online poll.
Which is a completely different thing than actually getting the space station module named after him.
... Hahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahaha!!!!!
THE MAGIC WORDS ARE SQUEAMISH OSSIFRAGE
Actually, NASA lucked out.
What with the problems with the urine recycling system, naming the new lab after an incontinence pad could, if it ever leaked to the press, dampen public enthusiasm and, uh, tick people off.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
It does explain how bush won twice.
If your speaker isn't very bombastic, you just need more retards.
Kohl-bear Spayss-pore
Karma: Non-Heinous
Yeah! What the fuck have we ever gotten from NASA? Pretty pictures?
Largely. I did enjoy the National Geographic spreads when I was a kid. Your question would have been more relevent if it dealt directly with the space station. I would be interested to know how much scientific knowledge per dollar we are getting out of this program. I do know the Russians are certainly profiting from the tourism aspect of the space station.
It would have been "Ron Paul" if it wasn't a socialist space project!
"That's no moon"
Colbert won the write-in vote. Serenity won the vote
That's why you name these things after Statesmen.
Statesmen are dead politicians.
Lord knows, we need more Statesmen. (Apologies to Berkeley Breathed)
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
And they complied, with 230,539 votes. That clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes.
By 17% does not a clobbering make. More of an "edged out" don'cha think?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
NASA's mistake was allowing write-ins.
Mistake? How so? It's pretty obvious that the purpose of the naming-competition was to get people involved and excited. To raise NASA's profile and garner some free advertising. By allowing write-ins, they opened the door for Colbert to advertise for them. And apparently he drove some 230,000 people to go check out the NASA site, maybe read some other NASA material, talk about NASA with their friends, and so on.
I daresay NASA was quite successful in their effort to gain some publicity. Allowing write-ins was evidently not a mistake.
NASA mission w. asian-american"
Where's Hiu? ... you trained with that crazy Depends-toting Lisa Maire Nowak?
Watt!
What?
Yes.
No, I asked, where's Hiu?
Watt!
What?
Exactly!
Where?
Watt!
What?
Now you've got it!
Just tell me what's with Hiu
No, you've got it backwards.
Who?
That's what I said.
Where?
Watt!
What?
I'm glad we cleared that up.
Let me guess
Ok this is just a bad idea because Aliens will see our space station and see a big sticker of Colbert on the side and then they come to blow us up. Way to go NASA
Its not my fault, someone put a wall in my way.
the Colbert nation reminds me of a botnet. one of these days he's going to ask his viewers to overwhelm the NSA's servers.
weinersmith
The final vote shows Serenity with 70%
Colbert is just listed in the "Top 10 Suggestions"
This is awful. I've heard him pronounce his *own* name different ways on his show.
As I understand it, The Colbert Report is "the coal bear rapport" most of the time, but it was temporarily changed to "the coal bert report" during the first quarter of 2008 to signify the more improvisational format that the striking Writers Guild of America forced on Colbert. Likewise, The Daily Show got replaced with A Daily Show .
But how many of them were registered voters or tax payers? You've got to consider the priorities of politicians, in all this.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
You clearly don't watch his show. He often talks about Nasa and space stuff. He even did a couple of interviews with astronauts aboard the ISS.
Mada mada dane.
To be honest, I find this extremely disappointing. Next time around when nobody at NASA can think of a name, they'll convene some committee of poets and writers, and Slashdot will whine, "What about transparency, accountability, etc.? Why can't we have a direct Internet vote or something?" And NASA will (rightly) say, "We tried that. Sorry, Internet; you're too immature to handle that responsibility."
Colbert should be ashamed of himself. If some elected official put his name on some NASA component, we'd be relentlessly critical. What ever happened to "Colbert-chan is not your personal army"?
And frankly I think Serenity is a pretty boring name too, just another paean to pop culture. The Internet had an opportunity here to really demonstrate the value of volunteerism and free collaboration, and instead it told a boob joke.
To bad Rush didn't get involved.
I would have loved knowing that the bathroom on the space station was named after Rush Limbaugh.
Naming it Serenity, really sucks though, because eventually it will burn up.
But then again they were always fixing Serenity and getting her to fly again.
The most important thing is that you love her.
"Hey, what was that?"
naming the new lab after an incontinence pad [Serenity] could
Isn't that why the incontinence pad changed its name to Tena? Compare the size of "Serenity" on old packaging to that on new packaging.
Doesn't look like Nasa even suggested the name of a great scientist eiter. Unless Legacy, Serenity, Earthrise and Venture are scientists I don't know about.
Dual Opteron < $600
I believe the correct term is actually "damaged Cylon" you insensitive frakin' clod.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
I do watch the show, but if you think that a couple of interviews with astronauts and talking about space stuff is grounds for naming, by all means, go ahead.
Personally, I think he's given more to the Saginaw Spirit than NASA. But i guess that's ok, they did name something after him.
By the way, how would you feel if he did the above acts that I mentioned? How would YOU have felt if NASA named something after Mel Gibson before his anti-semetic tirade? Or OJ Simpson before he killed his wife?
My point is, it'd be insane to name something after a living person. While people will find stuff in space named after living people, generally those people discovered something or gave a great deal more than "talks about Nasa and space stuff [...] even [...] a couple of interviews with astronauts aboard the ISS."
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
This might be a good way to drum up some press, and (gasp) some support and interest from younger persons. I could think of worse things to happen to a NASA initiative. I say they run with it. Why not?
Hell is the impossibility of reason...
The whole idea is nice on paper, like communism. However, most people seem to be rather dumb so things they find interesting are pretty boring.
Always wondered what Satan looked like.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The Xenu ship has sailed. Everyone knows what it is now. For instance Colbert mentions it on his show all the time, and his nightly audience is bigger than the total number of votes in this NASA content.
The vote had nothing to with harming Scientology--naming it Xenu was just a nerd joke, just like Battletoad or Stephen Colbert or Serenity.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
All right, but apart from the Pretty Pictures, Light-Emitting Diodes, Infrared Ear Thermometers, DeBakey's Ventricular Assist Device, Artificial Limbs, Aircraft Anti-Icing Systems, Highway Safety Grooving, Improved Radial Tires, Chemical Detection, Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems, Land Mine Removal, Fire-Resistant Reinforcement, Firefighting Equipment, Temper Foam, Enriched Baby Food, Portable Cordless Vacuums, Freeze Drying Technology, Water Purification, Solar Energy, Pollution Remediation, Better Virtual Software, Structural Analysis, Internet-Connected Ovens, Powdered Lubricants, Improved Mine Safety and Food Safety Systems, what have we ever gotten from NASA?
**TODO** [X] Steal someone elses sig.
Good, while their messing with tourists we can do real research. Here's the list of experiments done on each expedition.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/Expedition.html
And no, just because these don't mean anything to you does not mean they mean nothing to anyone else.
You sound like an apologist. It's sad because I never did say anything negative about NASA. There is generally no need to defend if nothing is wrong. OK, I did mention the word "money pit", yes, but I did not say I was against money pits.
Answer this question for me: How much more science could be done here on Earth (or in space) if NASA didn't have to spend billions of dollars every year sending people into space?
You also never answered my previous question as to how much science per dollar NASA and its tax payers are getting for their effort.
My point is, it'd be insane to name something after a living person.
Yeah.
I mean look at all those pre-WWII restaurant's and companies etc... Adolph & Sons Exports, J. Hitler's Bistro, Hilter's Bar and Grill... they were left with no option but to just fold over into infamy and destitution.
Of course, the fact that hey were named after their proprietors before the infamous one was even was in politics is their fault too... and yeah... they were just "insane" to name things to something that could be turned so distasteful. Blame it on their utter lack of omniscience.
Or they could just rename the god-damned thing to something else should Colbert ...whether the one with a TV show, or the future fascist genocidal dictator of the Republic of Fictionland casts an evil specter onto the name...
That's how we usually deal with this problem.
A lot of things NASA does really are rocket science... this isn't one of them.
...you're despicable.
Did you even know there was an addition to the space station before it was on The Colbert Report? I didn't.
Leave your geek card and slashdot ID at the door.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I guess this means we don't get an Angry Dome then.
Brought peace.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Unfortunately for NASA, this is the reason most people would want to get rid of NASA, because it would be many thousands of times more cost efficient to develop those things directly for utilitarian Earth bound industries rather than having indirect spin-offs through NASA. What a waste :(
Rather have my tax money pay for stuff that I can enjoy then say http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAID
That would make a -perfect- name. I wouldn't be surprised if they plan to mention it on the show.
NASA should agree to the name if Stephen Colbert changes his name to Serenity.
how much science per dollar NASA and its tax payers are getting for their effort.
Which units do you want that in? Parsnips per flimflam?
Colbert's gonna have to redo his song/DLC for Rockband "Charlene (I'm right behind you)" to add in "...I think of you when I'm watchin' you from the ISS far above you..."
-=JML=-
Go away, troll.
Unfortunately it is people like you, and the Moderator who labeled me Flamebait who are Trolls. Being a Fanboy, whether it be a Mac Fanboy, a Religious Fanboy, a NASA Fanboy, or any type of Fanboy for that matter, will never help an argument. Just because you and your people label me Troll does not mean you win an argument.
What I say is honest and based on logic. I'm not going nowhere. Just because you don't like what I say does not change reality.
I tried to help people here to prove their points by giving them reasonable questions to answer, but instead of answering the questions people like you just re-frame the argument and try to make me look like a Troll. It's very hypocritical, but it certainly is a successful propaganda technique.
I bet that those establishments were named after Der Fuhrer.
By the way, I call Godwin's Law. You lose.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
Asserting that everything NASA accomplished would have been cheaper if done outside of a space program isn't based on logic, it is based on assertion (it isn't something that can be reasonably proved or disproved, history is). Repeatedly making un or weakly supported assertions is a great way to troll, you can just keep pretending they are facts.
You are a self loving fanboy.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Re-framing again, congratulations. You and your Fanboys have unclaimed assertions and you say I am a Troll for asking you to be accountable. No that is a dishonest argument on your part.
Well, 4500 or so US troops probably included a lot of registered voters. Whether they're taxpayers or federal debits is another issue.
That's one way to look at it.
On the other hand, I think it's an example of how quickly a large group of people can be mobilized when prompted by someone they like. It seems obvious you've not spent much time watching his program.
Colbert, Stewart, and others prove that serious discussion can happen while laughing. I don't think for one second that Stephen was mocking NASA; he actually saved it from the prior leading write-in: Xenu.
You are repeatedly modded as a troll in your comment history. This isn't some conspiracy and is not entirely explainable by the lackluster quality of moderation, so it indicates that you are either actively trolling, or that you are unable to consistently communicate in a way that other people find useful.
Also, note that the only thing that I have asserted is that you are a troll (and I am willing to admit that you may simply be unaware of how ineffective your style of communication is; maybe style shouldn't matter, but that's life.).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
It was obvious NASA wanted Serenity when you looked at all of the subpar default options and the similarity in the name Serenity with the names of other modules. What they DIDN'T count on was the raw might of the Colbert Nation (of which I am one)!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Well, I've been told before in the real world that I'm not the sharpest knife in the kitchen.
Welcome our new Galactic Overlord Colbert.
First it was a bridge and now a space station.
Most people aren't thought about after they're gone. "I wonder where Rob got the plutonium" is better than most get.
...are the people behind nearly all that is evil in the world!
Ah come on not all evil, leave some room for bankers and republicans!
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everybody agrees that it is old enough to know better." - Unknown
NASA has a long history of naming missions and modules after rather arbitrary, but dignified sounding, things. For example, the arts (Apollo Theater, Orson Welles' Mercury theater company, etc.) as well as pseudo-scientific things like signs of the zodiac and crypto-geographic places and cryptozoological creatures. Not to mention South American countries featured in drug-oriented movies, science fiction space ships, and even abstract contestants on a game show. "Colbert" seems pretty consistent with this non sequitur trend.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
I doubt the russians are "profiting" from space tourism. More like offsetting a small fraction of the budget.
Mistake? How so? It's pretty obvious that the purpose of the naming-competition was to get people involved and excited.
Howard Stern could get legions of his fans excited about the project too. I still wouldn't want a station module named after him.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Sometimes the direct route is not always the best route. The river meanders for a reason.
What?
Tang.
I really like Stephen Colbert, but I've got to say, this is a pretty lame situation. I hope NASA runs with the runner up.
With the word 'Wriststrong' on it?
Sig this!
Unfortunately for NASA, this is the reason most people would want to get rid of NASA, because it would be many thousands of times more cost efficient to develop those things directly for utilitarian Earth bound industries rather than having indirect spin-offs through NASA. What a waste :(
In that case, why didn't anyone develop any of this stuff before NASA ?
That's pretty much a Troll question. You should obviously be asking the people who would have developed the stuff. But because you are a NASA Fanboy who is playing the role of the ignorant fool, then I really don't see the point in answering. Riddle me this Troll-boy; how did the Pyramids get built if NASA wasn't around to build them?
I'm obviously out of my league here, as I am in the Mac discussion areas.
(I'll lay my head on the alter for replying to a Troll, and wait for the Moderation to commence).
Yours is a thoughtful response. Everybody else seems to knee-jerk a response into the ribs.
For pointing out the obvious. Like those 4chan kiddies who think it's cool to rickroll.
Yeah, what the hell have the Romans ever done for us?
Which is worse, the fanboi or the antiboi?
It does not matter either way. It would have taken much longer, or perhaps never, for such items to ever make it to the free market because the free market does not like to spend money on short-term money pits like the technology which has been brought to us by the "space age."
We have plenty of Terran technology which is "good enough" and does not cost extra money, just maybe a life here and there. But "good enough" for Earth is not good enough for space. The space program sank money into an expensive necessity and then found ways to produce it inexpensively. Then some smart person or group of people figured out how to use it to make Earth-bound life better, and how to manufacture it even more inexpensively.
We still have a lot to learn from our space travels. I personally cannot wait to get off this fekking planet.
It would have taken much longer, or perhaps never, for such items to ever make it to the free market because the free market does not like to spend money on short-term money pits like the technology which has been brought to us by the "space age."
OK; a reasonable argument. Minimally it costs $450 million to launch a space shuttle (that's assuming nothing goes wrong like explosions, etc). Now, lets take some of the spin-off technologies that were mentioned: artificial limbs. Now it would seem like artificial limbs could be researched for far less than $450,000,000.00 a day (or the hour or so it takes to fly a space shuttle into space). Of course I'm making assumptions, but I could assumed that the government could just as easily spend 450 million dollars on Earth (and without the transportation and training costs) to subsidize all sorts of artificial and bionic limbs. Realize that this would be money that is not being diverted from scientific research, but it is merely being diverted from transportation into space.
The same could be said for Zip-lock bags. As for me, I'm a big NASA fan and I hope they do a lot of exploration and science. What I don't want to see is Fanboys who ignorantly tout that we wouldn't have zip-lock bags without spending billions upon billions of dollars on what is mainly just transportation costs. I personally think spending billions of dollars for R & D for the possible spin-off of a civilian use product like a zip-lock bag is inefficient and probably something that, like artificial limbs, could just as easily be produced by private industry. It is far cheeper to fun a war, and wars are the mechanism that inspired the prosthetics industry. If people have moral hang-ups on war than they could just spend a money on things like prevention and education (at the very least) and robotics that directly effects little children getting real robot arms. A one day flight into space would certainly pay for a lot of research and development that wouldn't be just a lucky civilian spin-off. But hey, NASA is better at PR than cripples are. If you asked somebody that was paralyzed if they would rather have the money spent on spinal research or on NASA for possible spin-off effects that could possibly help spinal research, I'm guessing people would choose NASA because NASA fanboys have better arguments and get modded Insightful. Or maybe not. Maybe its just a disingenuous argument that is lacking in thoughtfulness and honesty, and maybe, just maybe people people are getting upset because I'm calling them out on reality.
42 science per dollar, at today's exchange rate
rewriting history since 2109
Next thing you know, more parts will be up for naming. Suggestions:
Others?
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
Being a Fanboy, whether it be a Mac Fanboy, a Religious Fanboy, a NASA Fanboy, or any type of Fanboy for that matter, will never help an argument. Just because you and your people label me Troll does not mean you win an argument.
I don't really care one way or the other on this particular issue, but I am absolutely sick of this sort of thing. Yes, calling someone a "troll" is a mindless way of dismissing someone, every bit as logically invalid as "reductio ad Hitlerum". That's old news. But why can nobody figure out that dismissing a "fanboy" is the EXACT SAME TACTIC?
Just because you and your people label him Troll does not mean you win an argument.
Oh, PS: Your argument isn't much better than his. I'll give you "honest", just because I believe in presumption of innocence. "Based on logic" I'm not so sure about. The pyramids are just about the worst counterexample I can think of. I sure wouldn't consider the thousands of man-years of slave labor for a fancy tomb a great alternative, or at best not much different, to the NASA "money pit".
Not only that, but if you're wanting to prove that earth based science gives you more "scientific knowledge per dollar", it would be helpful if you could tell us how much scientific knowledge per dollar your example brought us. Oh wait - we don't even know how much scientific it gave us at all, let alone a rate (ignoring for now the basic quantifiability issues others have mocked).
Additive identity, multiplicative cancellation, distributive multiplication over addition: pick any two (unless 1 = 0)
Dang, no matter how many times I proofread I just never catch them all till I hit "submit"...
Just because you and your people label him fanboy does not mean you win an argument.
Additive identity, multiplicative cancellation, distributive multiplication over addition: pick any two (unless 1 = 0)
|| for a date with Inara Serra / Morena Baccarin? Mmm.. don't know who THEY are; I just wanna marry Kirstie Allie! OK then; just a "date".
Oh no you don't: http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Entertainment/Images/kirstie-alley-skinny-and-fat.jpg .
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
This could be a real public relations boost for NASA if they went with the Colbert name. NASA would earn the good will of many tax paying Americans and get the occasional positive plug from Stephen on the show. NASA often has to fight against politicians for funding, but Colbert brings to bear an army of letter writers who will help secure funding to make sure his ISS module gets launched.
Most of the public feels completely disconnected from NASA and this could really help to change that. I hope they take the Colbert plug and run with it!
I mean he took the CRAPPIEST TIME SLOT on just about every channel and turned it into gold. I can't even begin to think about how many failed shows I saw filter through that 11:30 to midnight time slot on Comedy Central where most viewers switch to one of the usuals (Letterman or Leno).
And realistically I think Serenity drew so many numbers only because of the geek crowd and their obsession with Firefly. Had I known about the contest, I might have gone and voted for that.
Serenity is the best name for the module, but Colbert still deserves something. I propose:
The Stephen Colbert BioWaste Recycling Module
Both are cranky, only work for a half hour at a time, and run on waste products. A perfect match.
SD
âoeWho knew something as harmless as willful ignorance could end up having real consequences?â
All right, but apart from the Pretty Pictures, Light-Emitting Diodes, Infrared Ear Thermometers, DeBakey's Ventricular Assist Device, Artificial Limbs, Aircraft Anti-Icing Systems, Highway Safety Grooving, Improved Radial Tires, Chemical Detection, Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems, Land Mine Removal, Fire-Resistant Reinforcement, Firefighting Equipment, Temper Foam, Enriched Baby Food, Portable Cordless Vacuums, Freeze Drying Technology, Water Purification, Solar Energy, Pollution Remediation, Better Virtual Software, Structural Analysis, Internet-Connected Ovens, Powdered Lubricants, Improved Mine Safety and Food Safety Systems, what have we ever gotten from NASA?
If they invented the shift key, I'm comin' after them...
All right, but apart from the Pretty Pictures, Light-Emitting Diodes, Infrared Ear Thermometers, [...] and Food Safety Systems, what have we ever gotten from NASA?
The Aqueduct?
...are all a bunch of child molestors and rapists (in my opinion). It is my belief, that Scientologists have gay sex with children on a daily basis and are the people behind nearly all that is evil in the world!
As a Jew, I take offense to the notion that anyone can supplant my people as the #1 target of paranoid conspiracy theories! Even the Time Cube guy targets us, and I won't let you ruin that.
For doing this, I hope he gets hit by a bus and dies.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
So your saying i shouldn't post this link here?
http://www.mystae.com/streams/gnosis/otiii.html
...Freeze Drying Technology, Water Purification, Solar Energy, Pollution Remediation, Better Virtual Software, Structural Analysis, Internet-Connected Ovens, Powdered Lubricants, Improved Mine Safety and Food Safety Systems...
Wait, what? I'm very pro-NASA, and in favor of human and robotic space exploration in general, but I don't know that an internet-connected oven is what we want the general public to have as their go-to example when thinking, "What good has NASA done for me lately?"
-Trillian
Godwin's Law is the 2nd dumbest bit of conventional internet wisdom I can think of, the first being "never attribute to malice that which can be played off as an accident", or however people want to word its equivalent. They really are quite similar in application; someone who can't be bothered to think about something needs a quick way to dismiss an inconvenient (but usually accurate) analogy, so they whip out some "law".
And, so you know next time, declaring yourself a winner of a conversation is high-level asshattery comparable to public-restroom-shit-porn trolling, most especially if you lean on one of the fake bits of "wisdom" I mentioned above.
Now get back in there an debate on the merits of your argument, dammit.
Sometimes just pointing out illogic with illogic has its point. I am self-aware. There's method to my madness. It does bring out the hypocrisy in the Moderation process.
I bet that those establishments were named after Der Fuhrer.
Yeah, because he was the only person in all the world named Adolph.
By the way, I call Godwin's Law. You lose.
Its only a godwin if its an unwarranted reference. I think its a perfectly applicable example. As its a very real transition that 'unfortunately named' entities had to deal with. btw, There was a "Mount Hitler" that was renamed too.
... I don't think it can be named after a living person. Now if Mr. Colbert went into space and re-entered in just his skivvies with no braking, the name could be used. I suspect he's not up for that.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29863574/
"Come on, Serenity?" Colbert said on his March 10 show. "That's not a space module, that's a Glade plug-in."
hatemail in 3....2....1....
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Sometimes just pointing out illogic with illogic has its point. I am self-aware. There's method to my madness. It does bring out the hypocrisy in the Moderation process.
Responding to poorly formulated arguments with carefully crafted unsound arguments with the intent to convince the less attentive or less intelligent readers of your position is very dishonest and manipulative. If you're really doing that, I'd say that you're absolutely worthy of the title "troll". And much worse.
And by the way: Hypocrisy is another red herring. Everyone is hypocritical. Hypocrisy in a debater does not make his or her arguments unsound.
Additive identity, multiplicative cancellation, distributive multiplication over addition: pick any two (unless 1 = 0)
I don't think for one second that Stephen was mocking NASA; he actually saved it from the prior leading write-in: Xenu.
But if I read The Fantastic Article correctly, "Serenity" finished in 2nd place, and so Xenu was never in the lead.
Eh, could be...I wouldn't know. At least it's not Hallmark. I hope it isn't anyway. That would suck.
What?
Dirk, I introduce you to the American public. 300M people, most of whom have many, many opinions on subjects of which they possess little or no knowledge. I'm not saying that's a good nothing, but it's worth noting.
Neither "knowledge" nor prior opinion were a prerequisite for voting on that poll. It was open to anyone who cared to vote, which includes Colbert's viewers.
One would think NASA would be happy for the publicity. How often would you say the average Colbert viewer thinks of them at all? While it may not be what they had in mind, Colbert's mention of the ISS is good for NASA, especially in light of what the Obama administration may do to their budget. He also pointed out that it is NASA's final call. They wouldn't be breaking the rules to go with one of their official options. While you can be certain Colbert would call them on it, NASA is the final arbiter of the relevance of any single vote.
"...prior leading write-in..." (emphasis added)
Here's the deal. My core argument was that if you name something after somebody, its because they did something to earn it. Colbert did nothing beyond allow the glow from his spot light to illuminate NASA for a short time.
My next point was that if you named something after a living person and they did an atrocity, it would be a bad thing. If it was uncovered that Edwin Hubble raped and killed children, NASA would have more on its plate than a simple renaming meeting.
If the deli is named after Joe Hitler, who did not do anything more than overcook the pastrami, that's unfortunate, but joe hitler didn't murder millions of people. Having the same name as something is NOT the same as naming something after somebody. If the deli was named after THE Hitler, they might be facing a boycott. If some other Hubble went on a shooting rampage, NASA would not have to answer to anybody, Edwin Hubble earned the honor.
If NASA named something after somebody who killed people or did stuff, there would ALWAYS be that note. The XXXX station (formerly the Colbert station, but was renamed because of YYYYY)... And so on. There are some times when there is such a thing as bad publicity.
By the way, it was unwarranted, we were not discussing the 2nd world war, we were not discussing germany, and you were the one who elevated getting drunk and running over a family to the level of killing millions by bringing hitler into this. That's precisely what invoking Godwin's law is supposed to prevent. If you didn't intend to elevate drunk driving and vehicular homicide to the same level as genocide, why weren't you more selective with your example? Leave the truly atrocious people for illuminating and calling the people to act against true atrocities (like genocide).
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
By the way, it is for this very reason that NASA should learn from the past (your example of the mass renamings after hitler) and not name anything big after someone who's alive.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
Colbert did nothing beyond allow the glow from his spot light to illuminate NASA for a short time.
Fair enough.
But how is the 2nd runner up, "Serenity" of any greater merit? It was merely selected by some Nasa committee, presumably because it was thematically consistent with some of the already named modules, and was honestly only highly popular with voters because of a spaceship on a TV series/movie. Colbert may not be a terribly good name, but its not like any of the other choices were in any way 'more significant'.
I mean its not like our choices were between Armstrong, Valentina, Bluford, and Colbert.
My next point was that if you named something after a living person and they did an atrocity, it would be a bad thing. If it was uncovered that Edwin Hubble raped and killed children, NASA would have more on its plate than a simple renaming meeting.
"We didn't know anything about it until now. The honor was bestowed for his contributions to Astronomy. Now that this new information out there, clearly its inappropriate to honor him, and we're renaming it immediately."
Hardly the end of the world. Its not like anyone would really believe it was named the Hubble to secretly honor murder and rape. And yes, while it is a risk, its a small risk... few people in the big scheme of things commit atrocities, and while old people are safer than young people, and dead people are safer than live ones, there is still a risk. For all we know, someone will unearth Hubble's private journal of murder and rape any day now... ok... the odds are low... but are they really that much lower than Colbert murdering and raping children? I'd say they are both: "pretty close to but not quite zilch".
If NASA named something after somebody who killed people or did stuff, there would ALWAYS be that note. The XXXX station (formerly the Colbert station, but was renamed because of YYYYY)... And so on. There are some times when there is such a thing as bad publicity.
Meh. I see what your saying, I just don't agree that its really that big of a deal, especially for something as trivial as a single 'module' of a space station. I mean, its probably going to be decommissioned anyway within 10-20 years. Its hardly going to be a permanent stain.
A school in New York just renamed itself "Barack Obama Elementary School". There's a Barack Obama Avenue in Miami. There's stuff named for the living Bushes, the living Clintons. Are current and former first families safer than a-list comedians? Ok...Probably... but honestly how much safer? What percentage of talk show hosts have committed atrocities?
By the way, it was unwarranted, we were not discussing the 2nd world war, we were not discussing germany, and you were the one who elevated getting drunk and running over a family to the level of killing millions by bringing hitler into this.
Ah, but that was my point, that even if someone did [MAXIMUM WORSE] than "get drunk and run over a family" the whole renaming thing really isn't all that big of a deal. For a godwin to be unwarranted, I'd have to (fallaciously) compare something to hitler and then, because "hitler was bad" then "other things is bad too". But in this case I'm saying,
Its also useful because refutes your point: "If some other Hubble went on a shooting rampage, NASA would not have to answer to anybody, Edwin Hubble earned the honor."
Perhaps a mere shooting rampage, but if some other Hubble does [MAXIMUM EVIL], Nasa WOULD still have to respond by renaming it, even if Edwin Hubble earned the honor.
For example, the public isn't going to accept the 'Hitler Space Telescope' named for a hypothetical "Edwin Hitler the astronomer" who earned it. We'd probably, at the very least rename it to the 'Edwin Space Telescope'.
I vote we make NYCL our fearless leader.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
Oh come on, the whole sarcasm is part of the act. Its a bit of a running gag now for him to run around and try and get things named after him.
09F911029D74E35BD84156C5635688C0
+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused