Any kind of PR pro would have predicted this - its not like it has never happened before in public naming competitions and even elections.
They did predict it- they made a rule ahead of time to make sure they retained control over the name in such an event.
So, suck it up guys. As another poster has pointed out, play the game and make it work for you.
They sent a spokesman on the Colbert Report to play along with Stephen even as they got the word out about the space station. All Stephen's viewers, anyone reading news reports about this "controversy," and everyone in this thread, are all learning about the ISS as well. I'd say NASA has made it work for them quite nicely.
I don't think the distinction between the people voting for Serenity and Colbert is as sharp as you suggest. "Serenity" was the the name of the ship from Joss Whedon's Firefly TV show and Serenity movie, and his fans conducted an organizing voting campaign of their own.
At any rate Stephen is a huge science/NASA geek and an all-around mensch, so I'm certain he's going to be thrilled no matter what NASA decides to do even as "Stephen" throws his outrage around like a monkey's feces. Check out this episode to see the real Stephen's love of space travel seep into his interview with an astronaut on the ISS.
Personally, Joss and Stephen are perhaps my two favorite television types ever, so I'm also happy with the outcome, whatever it may be.
[The RIAA holds musicians' contracts] In much the same way that antebellum slaveholders in the American South had 'contracts' of slaves who used the 'services' provided by the slaveholders.
There is one essential difference between the status of musicians in America in 2003 and the status of slaves in the South before the Civil War: musicians are held by contracts they voluntarily signed.
Oh, and also slaves were human beings held against their will from the moment they were born, subject to forced labor, torture, rape, and murder. Other than that, great analogy.
Considering Guide+ on an RCA TV is a feature that apparently adds no cost to the RCA TV relative to their competitors, I think it is a godsend. It has never "crashed" on me in three years of ownership. It lets me scroll through two days worth of programs along with decriptions and the ability to sort by genre.
What alternatives to those of us without a sattelite or digital cable have? Waiting twenty minutes for the Prevue channel to scroll around to the channel I want to see? Paying for a TV Guide at the grocery store every week?
I bought a television for my parents for Christmas this year, and I went straight to an RCA for the Guide+ alone.
The same guy has been used as a source by Cecil, for whatever its worth. His conclusions in the article above are pretty simillar to what he has said before, namely that toilet seats are pretty clean and everything else not so much.
Price fixing, why does an audio CD still cost about as much as a DVD? Isn't an album much cheeper to produce (as in creating the content, not the physical media) than a full length movie.
Very simply speaking, the price of a good is a result of the supply of it and demand for it. The cost to produce it is a factor in the decision whether it is worth producing, but it has nothing to do with the price the market will bear.
Certainly some studios (Disney / Buena Vista) have burned consumers in the past by releasing a movie-only disc closely followed by a special edition thus conning fans into purchasing both. However, there is no reason Lucas couldn't release all four movies now and announce that special editions would be forthcoming in five or six years. People who want a disc now would be happy, people who want a special edition later would be happy, and Lucas would get to cash in twice! Sigh. As if he hadn't alienated enough of his fans with Episode I...
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Any kind of PR pro would have predicted this - its not like it has never happened before in public naming competitions and even elections.
They did predict it- they made a rule ahead of time to make sure they retained control over the name in such an event.
So, suck it up guys. As another poster has pointed out, play the game and make it work for you.
They sent a spokesman on the Colbert Report to play along with Stephen even as they got the word out about the space station. All Stephen's viewers, anyone reading news reports about this "controversy," and everyone in this thread, are all learning about the ISS as well. I'd say NASA has made it work for them quite nicely.
I don't think the distinction between the people voting for Serenity and Colbert is as sharp as you suggest. "Serenity" was the the name of the ship from Joss Whedon's Firefly TV show and Serenity movie, and his fans conducted an organizing voting campaign of their own. At any rate Stephen is a huge science/NASA geek and an all-around mensch, so I'm certain he's going to be thrilled no matter what NASA decides to do even as "Stephen" throws his outrage around like a monkey's feces. Check out this episode to see the real Stephen's love of space travel seep into his interview with an astronaut on the ISS. Personally, Joss and Stephen are perhaps my two favorite television types ever, so I'm also happy with the outcome, whatever it may be.
Looks like this was the first one with an email address to send the invite to. Apologies if I missed someone else, guess you'll have to go to ebay :-)
I've got one extra invite. First reply to this post gets it.
There is one essential difference between the status of musicians in America in 2003 and the status of slaves in the South before the Civil War: musicians are held by contracts they voluntarily signed.
Oh, and also slaves were human beings held against their will from the moment they were born, subject to forced labor, torture, rape, and murder. Other than that, great analogy.
Considering Guide+ on an RCA TV is a feature that apparently adds no cost to the RCA TV relative to their competitors, I think it is a godsend. It has never "crashed" on me in three years of ownership. It lets me scroll through two days worth of programs along with decriptions and the ability to sort by genre.
What alternatives to those of us without a sattelite or digital cable have? Waiting twenty minutes for the Prevue channel to scroll around to the channel I want to see? Paying for a TV Guide at the grocery store every week?
I bought a television for my parents for Christmas this year, and I went straight to an RCA for the Guide+ alone.
The same guy has been used as a source by Cecil, for whatever its worth. His conclusions in the article above are pretty simillar to what he has said before, namely that toilet seats are pretty clean and everything else not so much.
Straight Dope article
Very simply speaking, the price of a good is a result of the supply of it and demand for it. The cost to produce it is a factor in the decision whether it is worth producing, but it has nothing to do with the price the market will bear.
Certainly some studios (Disney / Buena Vista) have burned consumers in the past by releasing a movie-only disc closely followed by a special edition thus conning fans into purchasing both. However, there is no reason Lucas couldn't release all four movies now and announce that special editions would be forthcoming in five or six years. People who want a disc now would be happy, people who want a special edition later would be happy, and Lucas would get to cash in twice! Sigh. As if he hadn't alienated enough of his fans with Episode I...