NPR writes about the NERC naming poll for their $300million polar research vessel:
Britain's Natural Environment Research Council asked the public to help think of possible monikers for the new world-class ship, urging them to look for "an inspirational name" that exemplifies the vessel's mission, a historical figure, movement, landmark or a famous polar explorer or scientist.
"The polar research ship represents a leap forward in securing Britain's place as a world leader in marine and climate change science — and illustrates this government's commitment to invest in research facilities on a record scale," Jo Johnson, minister of universities and science, said in the initial press release. "Can you imagine one of the world's biggest research labs travelling to the Antarctic with your suggested name proudly emblazoned on the side?"
A name like, you know, Boaty McBoatface.
Since the NERC announced the poll, the Internet (as it is wont to do) hijacked it and went full-steam ahead with Boaty McBoatface. While the poll's Web page is experiencing "technical issues" due to what the NERC said was "overwhelming interest," Boaty McBoatface had amassed 27,000 votes as of Monday morning, while the second place pick had racked up around 3,000, according to the BBC.
Other perhaps less-than-inspirational names suggested include Ice Ice Baby, Usain Boat and It's Bloody Cold Here.
Alison Robinson, NERC's director of corporate affairs, said in a statement that the council is "pleased that people are embracing the [naming] idea in a spirit of fun," but noted that the NERC will have the final say over the boat's name.
Good faith would be naming a lifeboat, or a submersible using the results.
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Related story:
Meet The U.K.'s Cutting-Edge Research Vessel ... Boaty McBoatface?
Well, not really. What actually happened is that the Powers That Be (UK's Natural Environment Research Council) decided to run an experiment in participatory democracy, then discarded the experimental data that they didn't like.
We are proud to announce that the selected name of the new £200m Pound [sic] Polar Research Ship, launching in 2019 is the RRS Sir David Attenborough. It is a fitting tribute to a man who has done so much to explain the wonders of the natural world to all of us. The name Boaty McBoatface will live on as the name of the ship's high-tech remotely operated sub-sea vehicle. We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who suggested names, shared tweets and got involved with the #NameOurShip campaign.
Still, an undersea drone is pretty damn cool, so I'm not too bitter.
Previously: Meet The U.K.'s Cutting-Edge Research Vessel ... Boaty McBoatface?
They have raised the Maud!
Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen's ship, the Maud, has been raised from where it sunk in 1930, off of Victoria Island, Canada. Plans are being made to return the wreck to Norway.
Article in Live Science here.
Along with the Fram, these ships were the extreme science platforms of their time. They were built of wooden hulls that could withstand being frozen into the Arctic ice cap, and traveling with it. Amundsen sailed the Maud through the Northeast Passage.
From 1918 to 1920, Amundsen and his crew sailed from Oslo, Norway, along the Russian Arctic coast to Nome, Alaska, traversing a Northeast Passage. Amundsen eventually abandoned the plan to go to the North Pole. Maud spent a total of seven years exploring the Arctic before the ship was seized by Amundsen's creditors and was sold to Canada's Hudson's Bay Co., according to Norway's Fram Museum.
Nice to see the old girl up and about again. They certainly don't make them like that anymore. Now they make Boaty McBoatfaces.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday March 23 2016, @12:46AM
Nickname it 'Boaty'.
Even if you give it a normal name, what do you think of the chances it will be called Boaty, anyways.
So call it Sir Edmund Hillary Clinton for all i care: it wll still probably end up being called Boaty.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Webweasel on Wednesday March 23 2016, @02:51PM
In a country where we have a TV station called "Dave", nothing surprises me anymore.
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @12:50AM
Force compliance with the public's demands! Threaten the NERC!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Wednesday March 23 2016, @01:15AM
I believe a companion to the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory [penny-arcade.com], is the theory that the greater the number of respondents on the Internet you attempt to reach, the inversely proportional amount of seriousness to the subject will be observed.
If you asked 10 people to name the boat, it might be called something appropriate. Perhaps even named after a pertinent scientist. If you ask 1,000,000 people it will be named "Hitler did nothing wrong".
These seems to be SOP for the Internet :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Marand on Wednesday March 23 2016, @01:35AM
Maybe I just have a soft spot for puns, but I rather like the "Usain Boat" entry. I can see why it and "It's bloody cold here" are popular.
Some others I liked were "I like big boats & I cannot lie", "Red Dwarf", "Mostly Harmless", and "Aunt Arctica". One guy's entry was almost clever: he chose "Feed", so the entry is listed as "RRS Feed". So close to greatness, but still so far away.
Very few serious entries, though, which is about what one should expect from this sort of thing. The list, which I didn't see linked in the article (though it was in one of the BBC links) can be found here [nerc.ac.uk]. (note: I got a redirect loop until I disabled https everywhere, YMMV)
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday March 23 2016, @03:52AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @08:26AM
Of the Silly entries, my favorite was "What Iceberg?".
Now that's just tempting Murphy... It almost guarantees an iceberg hit. Might as well name it "What could go wrong?".
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Wednesday March 23 2016, @03:13PM
Or better yet, the "RRS Hold my beer and watch this."
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 3, Funny) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday March 23 2016, @03:59PM
I thought that was Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings?
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday March 23 2016, @07:29PM
Well, judge for yourself:
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/a-new-temperance-poem-in-memory-of-my-departed-parents [mcgonagall-online.org.uk]
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-great-yellow-river-inundation-in-china [mcgonagall-online.org.uk]
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/attempted-assassination-of-the-queen [mcgonagall-online.org.uk]
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-tay-bridge-disaster [mcgonagall-online.org.uk]
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Wednesday March 23 2016, @02:12AM
And yet there actually exist serious political parties (I'm looking at you Pirate Party) who want to open up online voting for government decision making.
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=16/03/20/2326253 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Hartree on Wednesday March 23 2016, @02:35AM
Hemos, from the green site, was talking about internet voting at a meeting I was at in the late 90s. I pointed out that earlier that year Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf had been voted the winner of the People Magazine Most Beautiful People online poll by a landslide.
After that he allowed there might be some downsides. ;)
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday March 23 2016, @04:18AM
RSS Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf currently has 68 votes.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Wednesday March 23 2016, @04:06AM
But these names are way better than what the government would choose... online voting has been validated!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by VanderDecken on Wednesday March 23 2016, @05:16AM
... was "notthetitanic".
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
(Score: 2) by yarp on Wednesday March 23 2016, @08:24AM
There are some great submissions, some of which put me in mind of Culture ship names [wikipedia.org] :)
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday March 23 2016, @11:38AM
Absolutely. If the late lamented Iain Banks were still with us, a planet-sized GSV, with the power to vaporise a solar system, called "Shippy McShipface" or "Its Bloody Cold Here" or "Comet? What Comet?" would have fit right in. NERC should give it a silly name, launch it with a bottle of decent single malt* and dedicate it to Banks.
(* preferably having first surreptitiously consumed the original contents and replaced it with Aldi Scottish-style distilled beverage)
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday March 24 2016, @12:39AM
I too thought that many of the names had a banksian charm to them, I'd be delighted to see the ship named 'it's bloody cold here'.
Can't resist a small but pick though - I'm pretty sure that most gsvs were in the tens of kilometre range, with some of the eccentrics going up into the hundreds. I don't think the culture had any planet sized ships. Feel free to correct me though, this is off the top of my head.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @10:42AM
if anyone likes it, please submit it? can't be arsed to give my details
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @01:25PM
"Boaty McBoatFace?"
Humor must really be dead. This is the kind of stuff I scold my 13-year-old about.
"If you're going to get in trouble for cracking jokes in class, at least make them GOOD jokes--you need some better material!"
Sheesh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @06:11PM
Humor can't be shocking or edgy anymore, that would hurt millennial sensibilities. The only allowed humor is the kind of stuff you scold your 13-year-old about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24 2016, @03:28AM
It is rather edgy for a Royal Research Ship though, isn't it? Has HM Government used off-colour names for its ships in the past?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 23 2016, @02:37PM
This has 4Chan written all over it. They LOVE internet polls like this.
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Wednesday March 23 2016, @06:01PM
Maybe, maybe not. The grand old game of Silly Buggers existed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before 4chan. :)