Yes!
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-asks-public-to-name-boat-boaty-mcboatface-leads/
Stephen Colbert tried to get a ISS node named after him in a similar vote in 2009. NASA over ruled the voting as "Colbert" actually won (officially named Tranquility), but instead they named the treadmill "C.O.L.B.E.R.T." for "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranquility_%28ISS_module%29
The Irish Examiner reports some of the other popular name suggestions are "RRS Usain Boat, RRS Ice Ice Baby and RRS Boatimus Prime."
These are all GREAT!
When I first heard this I laughed, but then I heard that one of the names getting edged out is RRS Henry Worsley...
kazoospec wrote: Dangers of democracy right there.
LOL, right. Like choosing a silly name for a boat has any relationship to something important like an election for president of the US, for example. Oh, wait....
Trumpy McTrumpface. Same democracy in action. And in both cases powers that be will attempt to alter the will of the people.
Update: It's official:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/18/world/boaty-mcboatface-wins-vote/index.html
NERC has final say on the name.
I see a repeat of the ISS/Colbert. They will give it a serious name and name a dingy Boaty McBoatface.
^That's probably the best decision here, the name is funny and all, but a lot of serious names that have good reason to be chosen got drowned out by it. Even the guy who submitted the name regrets it:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/03/21/boaty-mcboatface-man-sorry-ship-name-suggestion/82068384/
Giving the dingy the name and a funny paint job would be a decent consolation prize.
They need to draw some big googly eyes and a smiley face on it like something out of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Hehe I'm glad it won. I don't particularly care for the name itself, but I love the idea of a bunch of the sort of grey-suited, bespectacled weenies who might be on a "naming committee" being forced to spend their serious meetings discussing it.
Between this and the NHL all star game, I can't believe that there are still "serious matters" that "they" allow to have write-in votes on the internet.
Update: Poll choice overridden, the boat will be named after David Attenborough:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/06/sport/boaty-mcboatface-name-david-attenborough/index.html
Yes, the same David Attenborough who has recently been known for making VHE-ish comments.
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