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Help name the new NERC Polar Research ship


trog

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Just out of interest, did the chap who proposed the Boaty name (and later regretted it) have an entirely original idea - or was there something similar that may have sparked it in some other source - a film, book, etc etc?  I make no claim to be au courant with all such things these days.

 

(And I've just heard on BBC News that Boaty etc will be the name of one of the ship's submarine explorers.)

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Just out of interest, did the chap who proposed the Boaty name (and later regretted it) have an entirely original idea - or was there something similar that may have sparked it in some other source - a film, book, etc etc?  I make no claim to be au courant with all such things these days.

 

(And I've just heard on BBC News that Boaty etc will be the name of one of the ship's submarine explorers.)

I *think* there was a children`s book called Boaty McBoatFace many years ago. I think while all of the publicity was going on,there was an image of the book online somewhere.

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Just checked. It`s not a real book. It`s a spoof book,with a picture of Boaty. The sub-heading on the "book" says," A children`s tale about a big ship searching the interwebs for a name". Apparently the image is on a website [which i`ve never heard of ] called Flickriver.com

Edited by Lisa O`Brien
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Just out of interest, did the chap who proposed the Boaty name (and later regretted it) have an entirely original idea - or was there something similar that may have sparked it in some other source - a film, book, etc etc?  I make no claim to be au courant with all such things these days.

 

(And I've just heard on BBC News that Boaty etc will be the name of one of the ship's submarine explorers.)

Not sure if it was original to him although he's never admitted getting it from anywhere else, but he'd proposed the name before, for the new Condor vessel doing the Channel Island route from Poole.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-jersey-35860760

 

I'm a bit surprised at the outrage about this final decision. Seems to me that it's a good one, especially when Sir David has just celebrated his 90th birthday. I can't believe so many people seriously thought that Boaty McBoatface was going to succeed, given the parameters of the competition. Giving the name to one of the smaller boats seems like a reasonable compromise.

 

Mind you, this is what happens in the Internet age. Over here we've just ended up with Trumpy McTrumpface winning a race the experts thought he'd crash out of early, so there you go. People are going to have to recalibrate the effect that "going viral" has on decision-making in the age of Twitter and Instagram.

Edited by Melody
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I read today the Australian Government are going to commission a similar  vessel for Arctic or Antarctic research. It will cost a similar amount of money too.The Government minister responsible for funding it has come out straight away to say that even though they are going to ask the public to name the ship ,the Australian Government will in no way allow a similar event like what happened in the UK with Boaty to happen . So looks like the Ozzies will nip it in the bud before even setting up the poll.

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What outrage? I haven't come across any.

Lots of people on Twitter all morning and afternoon,when BoatyMcBoatFace was the second top Trending story were furious that their decision to vote for it,and the fact that decision had been ignored. People were saying it was undemocratic and what was the point of an online poll if the winner was going to be rejected. I did have to point out to a few people that on the NERC website they had stated all along that the final decision on a name rested with the minister,and that the poll was only ever to invite suggestions. But there were many, many people, from several different countries,Tweeting how unhappy they were and they felt it was unfair. They were,however,happy that a smaller vessel was going to carry the name as a compromise.

Edited by Lisa O`Brien
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