NASA In Colbert Conundrum Over Space Station 398
After Stephen Colbert won the vote in NASA's contest to name a new module on the International Space Station, NASA found itself in a tough spot. According to Reuters, "Contest rules stipulate that the agency retains the right to basically do whatever it wants," but it may not be all that easy. At first NASA floated the idea of naming the new module's toilet "Colbert." But Last Thursday Congressman Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., urged the agency to respect the people's wishes. And Colbert turned up the heat on yesterday's weekly show: "So NASA, I urge you to heed Congressman Fattah's call for democracy in orbit. Either name that node after me, or I too will reject democracy and seize power as space's evil tyrant overlord. Ball's in your court."
OMG Ponies (Score:1, Interesting)
April fools?
Re:NASA should be grateful. (Score:5, Interesting)
So what you're saying is that the 2 most powerful groups on the Internet are Stephen Colbert fans and 4chan users. Let us hope that they never come to virtual blows or it'll be the Internet Apocalypse! (Or at least very entertaining.)
Grow some balls NASA... (Score:5, Interesting)
Flush an effigy of Colbert out the air lock of the ISS and broadcast the event live.
About time.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm from Minnesota. We elected Rudy Perpich and Jesse Ventura as governors. We elected Michele Bachmann as representative from the Si(x)th Congressional District. I've watched the hardest-hitting coverage of the last election on the Daily Show. I saw in the paper this morning that the courts have ruled only 400 more ballots will be recounted in the Senate race, making Al Franken's victory almost assured.
I think it's time we recognized the need for real comedians in our government structure. Now, Colbert is still alive and being funny, so he's not a good candidate for naming a government something after him, so I'm going to propose naming it after George Carlin.
Fun has been had, now move along.. (Score:3, Interesting)
He won the vote - that proves his point that he can cajole the (fifteen to seventeen year-old North American male) public into stuffing a ballot box.
I have to say that if he continues down this road, one he's clearly been down before, it signals the beginning of the end to those of us not wearing the jersey.
April Fools or no, give it up and be a man, Coal Bear. Rather than suggest something interesting or meaningful (I submt 'The Colbert Brown Eagle'), he perpetrated this out of pure vanity, and I for one, have to offer him the North American finger gesture signifying my indignance.
There. I did it. Now I will move on with my life.
Re:NASA (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not so sure about what you're saying. I think there is a significant difference between a campaign ad that affects people's votes because it colors their view of what's in their own interest (how campaign ads in real elections work, and a valid part of the election process), vs. Colbert's request that affects votes of people who have no interest in the matter. If you don't see that difference, then consider this: how much luck has Colbert had getting people to write his name in for any actual public election?
So NASA set the rules and they should live by them, right? If they didn't want to be stuck naming the module Colbert, they should've set the rules so it wouldn't happen, right? Well, they did exactly that -- they made it clear that the vote was non-binding. Sure there are other ways they could've done it... so what?
The fact is, this wasn't a regulated election. Drawing connections to campaigning, or the electoral college, or any other trapping of a real election is just silly. This was a NASA publicity stunt that Colbert leveraged into a Colbert publicity stunt. NASA should do what they want; it'll give Colbert something to rant about for a while.
Re:NASA (Score:4, Interesting)
So you're the joker in this thread?
I voted for Colbert too. I have two reasons: one was curiousity what NASA (and Colbert) would do, and the other is to give an infinitesimal increase the popular relevance to ISS.
I am 52 and the space program during the '60's was a significant contributor to my education and my career choices.
Re:Humor in Space (Score:4, Interesting)
SC has stated in interviews that the family pronounces it with the hard T. His father wanted to use (revert to?) the French pronounciation, but did not do so in deference to HIS father. So, in honor of his (by then) late father, SC changed from the hard T as he left South Carolina to go to Northwestern.
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Re:I got it a long time ago.. (Score:4, Interesting)