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NASA Names Space Station Treadmill After Colbert
willith writes "The SF Chronicle reports on the results of the International Space Station Node 3 naming contest (which we previously discussed). Comedian and fake-pundit Stephen Colbert conducted a bombastic write-in campaign and repeatedly urged his show's fan base (the 'Colbert Nation') to stuff the ballot box with his name, which resulted in 'Colbert' coming in first in the write-in contest with almost a quarter-million votes. Although the Node 3 component will not be named 'Colbert' — NASA has instead chosen to call it 'Tranquility' — one of the Node 3 components will bear the honor: the second ISS treadmill, which will be installed in Node 3, will be named the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. The formal announcement was made on the air yesterday at 22:30 EDT on the Colbert Report by astronaut Sunita Williams."
Maybe we could get the toilets named RIAA or something?
I thought serenity was the runner up?
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
How long did it take them to come up with the acronym "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill"?
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While I think it's cool that his name is appearing in the space station, I think it's idiotic for them to not name the node Colbert. They had a public vote for the name. They allowed write in suggestions. The write in suggestion won because a TV personality made sure to make it a big deal. Name the node Colbert and, maybe, that TV personality will keep NASA in people's minds. If people are thinking about NASA a lot, it will be easier for NASA to do business (get funding, recruit minds, etc., etc., etc.). It's just stupid for them to not name it what the people voted for. What does it cost them? Oh noes! The name of the node isn't something "proper" like Tranquility! Whatever. Such a stupid decision.
Less than five minutes? Seriously, it's a better use for my tax dollars than at least 60% of government spending.
It's not hard to come up with acronyms.
--ANONYMOUS nagging oxymorognic neogeodesic yuppie-man on universal soapbox COWARD of wayward and radical dichotomies.
Among all the choices that weren't being driven by bots or ballot stuffers.
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This is probably the best thing they could have done. By naming the treadmill after him, they didn't have to name the whole module after him and they still get good publicity from Colbert's show.
"I don't have to think. I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news." - Meat Puppets
So, fellow browncoats, we were on the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one though ;)
To be fair, they DID say from the beginning that they reserved the right to pick a name themselves regardless of the poll's outcome.
I suspect that Colbert himself played a big role in this decision. He isn't going to drop out of character to say so, but Colbert-the-pundit is a character, and I imagine Colbert-the-person wasn't entirely comfortable saddling an "important" component of the space program (all ISS contempt aside) with the name of a comedy character. Their final decision still gave his character plenty of mileage -- "the treadmill is the really important part, the 'module' is just a box that the treadmill comes in" -- while preserving a bit of what many would perceive as decorum.
one of the Node 3 components will bear the honor: the second ISS treadmill, which will be installed in Node 3, will be named the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill.
You better watch your back Article Summary writer. Colbert doesn't take kindly to your type of folk who honor bears.
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On the contest page, NASA has an explanation of why they chose the name 'Tranquility', as well as a little write-up of the COLBERT thing.
This guy's the limit!
I think it's great. It shows that NASA can take a joke, even a rigged election, and give it a nod. Which is what they have done. Other than naming the module after him, which would have been great too, they acknowledged Colbert with out making a big deal out of it.
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Worlds greatest backronym. The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. Much better than the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
cool fact about democracy: If you don't agree with something, vote against it.
What you are suggesting is throwing away legitimate votes - cast by real people and not bots - because *you* have some arbitrary rules about which votes should count and which should not. And that is not democratic.
1) According to the site, 1190437 people submitted votes or named selections. "Colbert" got 230539 and "Serenity" got about 190k. Even combined, the top two choices only got about 35 percent of the vote. Alone, "Colbert" got about 19% of the vote. Even if the poll results were not biased by ballot stuffing, all they make clear is that no matter what choice NASA made, 80 percent of the voters disagreed with it. In no reasonable sense did "Colbert" win an election -- if a candidate was voted into office with a plurality of only 19% of the vote, there would be calls for his head and the system would probably be reformed.
2)Can we please stop conflating whoever put this survey on with the entirety of NASA? Some small group of people within the organization are responsible for the survey and the name selection. Complain about Bill Gerstenmaier, as it appears that he bears some responsibility for the survey and the naming, or maybe the ISS Project Office.
3)The rules did make it clear that the contest "winner" wouldn't necessarily be picked for the module name. It even gives reasons why: "NASA reserves the right to ultimately select a name in accordance with the best interests of the agency, its needs, and other considerations. Such name may not necessarily be one which is on the list of voted-on candidate names." The ISS is a big international project, and it's possible that the naming of a module might have a diplomatic effect. Relations with the Russians, our major partners on the station, seem somewhat stressed, maybe even on station. So not selecting what may be viewed as the flippant choice for a module name seems the more diplomatically sound choice.
--sabre86
"Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill"
The "Treadmill" is silent.
Cool fact about democracy: if you're in the minority your vote doesn't count.
Oh it counts in some wishy-washy you've-made-your-voice-heard kind of way, but as for actually counting, no. Winner takes all.
How about a republic with a proportional allocation system like the rest of the civilized world, rather than the insanity we have here in the U.S.? If you're in the minority vote you still get a minority of parliament, and if you have enough minorities they start to outnumber the "majority".
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
Yeah, I'm going to say that Colbert tried to rig the election by using his show as a platform. NASA did exactly the right thing. They acknowledged the attempt with a laugh and a nod. I can't think of any other Gobernment agency that wouldn't have bitched and made a big deal out of it. NASA scores some serous points in my book for still having a sense of humor.
But one poster said they should have named the toilet module after him. That would have been a great backlob for NASA.
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He didn't rig the vote, he campaigned in a single episode. He basically said "I want my name on that station, vote for me." This is no different than any political vote or any other vote of any kind really. He won fair and square, and people are bitching about it because he isn't a serious guy? that is stupid.
It is simple: Colbert won doing what people do in every voting situation and won. If NASA wants to use their loophole and do whatever they want then that is well within their rights, but people need to stop bitching about how he did something wrong and realize this is how voting functions.
The point is that it is always bad to subvert or exploit the voting process when it is made available. And such actions should ALWAYS be protested.
I think that Colbert may very well agree with you. As he turns each exploit into a public spectacle, he raises awareness of these problems and brings them into discussion. Raising awareness of these issues is a very good first step to solving them.
Putting this into another light, what do you think about security researchers who publicly release software exploit information? They have found a weakness in some process, exploited it and then released that information to the public - often receiving acclaim and publicity for their work. Do you protest their acts, as well?
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Democracy is mob rule. The group gets to make the decision based on whatever information they get, regardless of the facts.
So 1/4 million folks voted for Colbert. It wasn't consistent with the theme, but they shouldn't have asked for a vote if they weren't going to accept the answer.
Democracy says, when the people vote, that's the way it works. So you're in a country of with 307 million people and an average IQ of 98. Just because it's what the people want doesn't mean it's the right thing. I think we've already proven that, unless the masses that have chosen to drive SUV's and eat fast food religiously are proof that it's what we should be doing.
The movie Idiocracy had a point. Well, several rather sad points. The Brawndo references were sad in that they were not only similar to current marketing, but working on current marketing concepts, and people honestly fall for it.
I'd prefer for people smarter than me to be running things. Unfortunately, that's rarely if ever the case. I would accept their answers more openly, knowing that they are based on educated opinions, rather than just whims.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
That's what I say!
It's tacky if people in space have to say, "I'm going to the toilet", into a radio that might be heard by anyone on Earth. Instead, they would be able to say, "I'm going to file a Colbert Report."
Isn't that better?
"We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said, adding: "We have invited Stephen to Florida for the launch of COLBERT and to Houston to try out a version of the treadmill that astronauts train on."
Should Stephen be concerned for his safety? /TinfoilHat
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