Josh writes: There is a delightful story in the UK news this week:
After Internet users overwhelmingly voted to christen Britain’s new $300 million research ship “Boaty McBoatface” in an online naming poll, a government official suggested the name wouldn’t be used.
“There is a process now for us to review all of the public’s choices,” Science Minister Jo Johnson told the BBC Monday, per Newsweek. “Many of them were imaginative, some were more suitable than others.”
BBC host Nicky Campbell exclaimed that the government would “ride roughshod over democracy” if it did not go through with naming the ship “Boaty McBoatface,” which garnered 120,000 votes — four times that of the next closest choice.
More at the BBC, Graun, Mirror and, well, everywhere.
This reminds me of an online poll I saw some years ago, in which NASA was looking for a new motto. The leading entry at the time was “All your space are belong to U.S.” 🙂
But “Boaty McBoatface” was arrived at by consensus, and the consensus is NEVER wrong!
/sarc
Boaty McBoatface cannot be a research ship. There’s no research to be done. The science is settled.