Matt - Ombudsman 03/11/2009 @ 12:26:20 AM
Not all of them are lame. I voted for Serenity.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 03/11/2009 @ 12:28:08 AM
I've already voted, though I don't know if I like it being called "Colbert." It doesn't seem to have that great of a ring to it. "Hey guys, if you need me I'll be in Colbert." They should have gone with "Alpha Squad 7" or something, since that sounds "cooler" and would be sort of apt. Edit: Even though the Tek Jansen skits are by a wide margin the least entertaining reoccurring bit.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy perfected this at 03/11/2009 12:29:11 am

	Micah - I'm flippin' burgers / you at Kinko's straight flippin' copies 03/11/2009 @ 07:55:29 AM
From Houston Chronicle: The count by mid-Tuesday had votes for the comedian just shy of 115,000 and Serenity trailing at 98,641. More than 451,000 people have voted.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 03/11/2009 @ 08:29:56 AM
They'll never stick with Colbert, but just to be part of the fun, I voted.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	craig - 132 Posts 03/11/2009 @ 09:53:15 AM
Matt Wrote - Today @ 12:26:20 AM Not all of them are lame. I voted for Serenity. Serenity is alright, but the obvious choice is Vulture! That's what I voted for. Oh, wait, it actually says 'venture' well that is disappointing.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 03/11/2009 @ 01:15:26 PM
I got all my coworkers to vote for Colbert.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Alex - 3619 Posts 03/12/2009 @ 07:33:05 PM
In a totally unrelated story, did anyone else watch that new show Castle? I thought it was pretty enjoyable.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3941 Posts 03/12/2009 @ 10:09:36 PM
It's not that unrelated. As for the show, I thought it was good. Nothing too special, but, like you said, enjoyable.		Rate this comment Yours: Total: Rated 1 times.

	Alex - You've got to trust your instinct, and let go of regret 03/13/2009 @ 12:18:40 AM
Well ain't that a coincidence		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3443 Posts 03/13/2009 @ 11:54:46 PM
Alex Wrote - Yesterday @ 07:33:05 PM In a totally unrelated story, did anyone else watch that new show Castle? I thought it was pretty enjoyable. I thought it was highly cliched. But when I say that I sound like a pretentious wad, so I'll just say it was ok at best. Which almost certainly means it will top out at pretty good and mostly hover around "average" for up to a season or two. My opinion is that shows are supposed to be really good their first few episodes (though not always in the very first). Those are when the writers still haven't exhausted the original idea yet.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 03/23/2009 @ 06:49:16 PM
Victory! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090323/ap_on_re_us/sci_space_station_colbert		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 03/23/2009 @ 10:40:11 PM
NASA needs all the PR they can get, if they name it after Colbert he'll talk about it constantly.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Carlos44ec - 2079 Posts 04/15/2009 @ 10:47:26 AM
Colbert got hosed; http://tv.yahoo.com/show/38498/news/urn:newsml:tv.reuters.com:20090415:us_space_colbert__ER:20553		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 04/15/2009 @ 11:31:33 AM
Nice. So they didn't go with the top overall vote getter, or the top vote getter amongst the non-write-ins. I'm glad they held this contest.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Ombudsman 04/15/2009 @ 06:44:08 PM
I'm fine with them not naming it after Colbert. I don't see why NASA should be bound by results where, lets face it, many of the voters were not exactly voting in good faith. As for the name they chose, I like it. It was the best out of the write-ins and better than any of the given options except maybe Serenity. As for that, I think they may have realized that a lot of the support for Serenity was from fans of Firefly, and not wanting to deny fans of Colbert while rewarding fans of Firefly, they may have moved away from that option. Of course its also likely that once someone suggested Tranquility, they just realized that was the best name and decided to go with it.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Matt messed with this at 04/15/2009 6:57:11 pm

	Alex - 3619 Posts 04/15/2009 @ 10:48:07 PM
If they wanted to make it a "suggest names so that we can pick one" contest, then that's what they should've called it. By all accounts people who voted but didn't make a new suggestion pretty much wasted their time. Maybe the people who suggested Tranquility work for Tranquility Internet Services http://www.tranquility.net/		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3443 Posts 04/16/2009 @ 06:24:23 AM
I'm a little amused by this part of the article: "Contest rules stipulated that NASA retained the right to name Node 3, but in March U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat, called on NASA to do the democratic thing and use the name that drew the most votes -- Colbert." Now, I'm not sure how seriously or strongly Rep. Fattah went about this. And since this is probably going to be lost in the internet translation, I'm going to make sure to state right now that I'm not outraged by this subject to any significant degree. But I do get a little bothered when people bring up the idea of "the democratic thing" to do, as if it applies to all facets of life at all times. Now, I don't know if Rep. Fattah has any kids. If I'm being honest, I don't even know if Chaka Fattah is a male or female. Not because the representative is androgynous, I'm just not familiar with who the person is. That's irrelevant. And no, I'm not going to look it up. My point, which I was getting to, is that this seems a little like a case where someone is naming a baby. In my mind I'm picturing someone like the congressperson at a party, looking for a little feedback, asking people to choose what baby names they like. Then a bunch of acquaintances, friends of friends, 2nd cousins, and co-workers decide they like the name Colbert best. Surely they'd stick with that name, being that it is the choice of the people. Sure, "the people" happen to be a bunch of disinterested outsiders who have no actual authority over the matter, but hey, democracy is democracy. Even when it's not.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jon screwed with this at 04/16/2009 6:25:31 am

	Scott - Ma'am, can you make sure your computer is turned on? 04/16/2009 @ 08:51:29 AM
It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter. Both quotes by Winston Churchill		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 1.21 Gigawatts!?!? 04/16/2009 @ 02:03:27 PM
Jon Wrote - Today @ 06:24:23 AM My point, which I was getting to, is that this seems a little like a case where someone is naming a baby. In my mind I'm picturing someone like the congressperson at a party, looking for a little feedback, asking people to choose what baby names they like. Well, that might explain how his mother settled on the last name "Fattah" and his name "Chaka" when she changed it from "Arthur Davenport" after attending a Black Panther rally when he was 12. Seriously though, I have no huge issue with this, other than the fact that it has all the appearance of them bungling yet another thing. Don't have an online voting thing if the actual results mean nothing, and, as Alex mentioned, if you really just want people's input on coming up with names they hadn't thought of, then just do/say that. Usually when places do things like this they have the "we reserve the right to not listen" caveat, but they almost universally mean "We aren't going to name the new building on campus 'UncleFu**er Hall' just because it won." They usually don't mean "We're going to ignore the top 10 submissions, and 90% of the voters, because 3% of the people suggested something we really like." Name Node 3 "Colbert," or at least "Serenity," to honor the rules that you set up in the first place, and put "Tranquility" in your pocket for Node 4 and skip the sham pr stunt next time.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy messed with this 2 times, last at 04/16/2009 2:07:52 pm

	Scott - 6225 Posts 04/16/2009 @ 03:43:26 PM
In Dancing with the Stars, the judges actually have a role in determining the winner. On American Idol, the judges play no role in the actual determination of the winner. This is sort of like the Dancing with the Stars thing, but they made it seem like it was going to be American Idol. Although, this year, American Idol has the "save", so maybe that's what NASA did.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9543 Posts 04/16/2009 @ 03:59:16 PM
Yeah, well they added the save to help thwart the deliberate attempts to ruin the contest but even they didn't add a "from now on we can just kick off any future Sanjaya's and declare anyone we want the winner" rule. I guess I look at it this way. The whole point of this contest was to try and drum up some awareness of Node 3, the space station, etc, the same way a "help M&M pick the next new color" contest isn't really because they are just so torn at Mars, Inc. HQ that they need our help. It's just advertising. Thanks to Colbert they succeeded beyond anything they could have previously hoped for. They probably even have Colbert to thank for a large portion of the non Colbert votes. If it wasn't for Colbert only 17 nerds at thenasarulesforum.com would even know Node 3 exists. It seems sort of petty to then turn around and not name it after him, just for the good will gesture of it, if nothing else. It's just a stupid piece of machinery that you're arbitrarily giving a separate name, it's not like this was a contest to rename the White house.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.
Jeremy perfected this 2 times, last at 04/16/2009 4:02:10 pm