Vote now to name El Reg space plane

Our announcement yesterday, that El Reg would be giving the UK's moribund space programme a touch of the defibrillator with its audacious space paper plane project, certainly seems to have caught readers' imagination. We're obliged to all those who submitted initial technical comments/suggestions. We'll look at those over the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Ingrates

All you commentards should be jump at any and all opportunities for the Righteous Glorification of Her Most Majestic Moderatriceness.

Fucking ingrates. I'm off to get "Queen Bee" tattooed on my face.

[Ryan 7]

MR SPLASHY PANTS

^ I demand this as an option

[Emo]

Even better

That you can go back and keep voting for your fave!

[Anonymous Coward]

@John Dee

I so wanted to but a Register plane has to have Vulture in the title somewhere!

We all still love you really Sarah :)

[James O'Shea]

There can only be one...

<http://www.lyricstime.com/grand-funk-railroad-queen-bee-lyrics.html>

That's all.

[E_Nigma]

Three Outstanding Proposals

It was a tough call for me between El Shag, Ballistic Vulture From Hell (BVFH) and Queen Bee, but I eventually went for the Ballistic Vulture (from Hell ):-D ). Good luck in the space race, El Reg!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why am I not surprised?

At the name which is currently top of the poll.

At least it confirms everyone is nicely conforming to the 'Geek Stereotype'.

Paris? well duh......

[Anonymous Coward]

Vote for Vulture

"Houston*, the El Shag has landed"

doesn't have the same ring as

"Houston*, the Vulture has landed"

*Or whatever city mission control will be in

ps I hope there's plenty of insurance

[the spectacularly refined chap]

Vote early, vote often...

It seems that you have voted already (or maybe someone else on the same IP did it - xx.xx.xx.xx). If you can't resist voting more than once, come back in an hour for another go.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ AC 13:16

That would be:

"Hoxton, the Vulture has landed".

Although that does imply some sort of Barley-esque nightmare is about to be unleashed ...

[Chris Funk]

Write in option?

I've got to go with "Colbert". Need to come up with what that would stand for. Suggestions?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're really serious about this

then I'll donate an HTC Artemis PDA as on-board electronics package- AGPS, GPRS, small camera (never used for aerial photography so not sure of the quality), and can either accept the standard Li-Poly battery or any +5v source through the USB port. Can store pics on SDHC micro-SD cards. Weighs in at 122 grams, so it may be a bit heavy- removing the bodywork would probably help.

Runs WM6 so software isn't a problem- there genuinely IS an app for everything and has been for a few years... Touchscreen's a bit cracked, but a replacement is a few quid off eBay...

Also I'm sure I could rig up a lightweight release mechanism and (if required, say for aeliron control) a hardware interface for it pretty quickly.

And finally, "the El Shag" is a godawful name. AC 13:16 gives a good reason why. The Vulture or even The Queen Bee would be far more appropriate.

[Anonymous Coward]

Twatdangle 1

And just why isn't this a choice? Is ElReg scared of being hoisted on its own petard?

[Stevie]

Bah!

I agree With Hazel Rees. The whole point about being British is the reserve and sardonic humour we are justly famous for. It's what separates us real British from Canadian actors who vainly strive to pretend to be British. Or something.

"Clever" "jokes" like "ELSHAG" blow the national mystique in front of the Americans, and someone in the editorial department should be fired for dropping the ball and giving aid and comfort to the foreigners.

(Cue brass band playing "Rule Britannia")

Remember: If the national stereotype is damaged, The Terrorists win.

[Spot the Cat]

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Twatdangle 1, registration G-ODFO, got to be.

[Adam 52]

First past the post

A prime example of how to fix an election by dividing the vote.

[robert cooke]

you guys (and sarah) at el reg are all mad

and we love you for it. this is the sort of silliness that we all secretly love. british eccentricty at it's best. the rest of the world may have nicer mountains, bigger rivers, nice food etc. but we have the best silly people anywhere in the world.

God bless you all!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ms Bee should be honoured

Come on lads, let's all show our appreciation of Ms Bee, if nothing else stop it with the "El Shag" votes.

[Hermes (nine inch) Conran]

The common shag

is of course the correct english name for the cormorant, a bird known for swallowing piscines whole. Only a few letters out!

[Xris M]

It has to be...

Ground control to Vulture 1

[The First Dave]

@Hermes

The common shag is a rather smaller bird than the Cormorant. The two species are closely related, but not the same.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Xris M

Ground control to Vulture One

Ground control to Vulture One

Get your protein fix by munching carrion

Ground control to Vulture One

Commencing countdown, engines on

Check iGnition and may Job's love be with you

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,

Four, three, two, one, liftoff

[Dale Richards]

Queen Bee

Beautiful, delicate, inspiring.

Godspeed, Sarah. May you soar with grace and majesty.

Bask freely in the twinkle of a million stars, but never let them burn your wings.

[James O'Brien]

@@Xris M

God that was awful :P

This line is what hurt it

"Get your protein fix by munching carrion"

It just doesnt roll off the tounge. Although I know this isnt much better I think it is more encompassing of TheReg and the comment boards:

Get your protein fix Paris Hilton style

Cheerio

[Anonymous Coward]

Queen Bee Falls From Grace

Black Vulture - it even sounds like the UK 'Rainbow Codes' we still use for developmental craft.

[MnM]

Get rigging

It can't be El Shag. I self-censored my own suggestion, Twat, on the ground that it was puerile, and for what?

Surely this small bug in the voting software will soon be rectified and the Vulture will fly.

[Clive Galway]

Spacecraft name

Personally I think we should call it A4

The americans wouldn't get that one though, I suppose.

Maybe if the launch pad had a huge countdown board with the words "PC LOAD LETTER" flashing in bright lights?

[white_darkness]

Just can't seem to get behind...

Aegypius, due to the mythology behind the name and the "special family relationships involved".

[Anonymous Coward]

Ground Control to Vulture One

Ground Control: Vulture One, please be advised, we see your orbit about to intersect that of a defunct NOAA weather satellite.....

Ground Control: Vulture One, we no longer see telemetry tracking data for the NOAA weather satellite, please respond.....

Vulture One: Buuurrrrrrp!

Ground Control: Never mind....

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Chris Funk

C.O.L.B.E.R.T

Combative

Orbital

Lightweight

Bearing

El

Reg

Treachery

We need the paper to have a skull and bones pattern on it.

[Martin 10]

has to be shag

"Houston*, the El Shag has landed"

doesn't have the same ring as

"Houston*, the Vulture has landed"

Ture.... but as they are well aware of in Ibiza every time a new jet of tourists arrive it will be

"Houston", the shaggers have landed...scorchio!

[jake]

@Clive Galway & names

"Personally I think we should call it A4

The americans wouldn't get that one though, I suppose."

Eh? You talking ISO 216? Some yanks have clues about paper ;-)

That reminds me ... I just ran out of business cards. Pardon me while I fire up the Heidelburg windmill in the garage ...

I still think "Vulture X", "Vulture X II" and "Sarah" should be the names of the three.

[Captain DaFt]

Ok, you guys convinced me...

The Vulture it should be! But as a nod to Clive Galway above, How about The A4-Vulture? has a nice technical sound, and accurately describes the craft!

[Anonymous Coward]

This poll is currupted by jery mandering

If you add the votes of

Vulture

Vulture 1

Vulture Venture

Even without BVFH it is clear that Vulture being a part of the name has a clear majority (Sorry I just don't understand how El Shag is funny? can someone please explain).

[Anonymous Coward]

@clive

if a4 was an option, i'd vote for it. sadly, it's not.

[Mark Monaghan]

What about the launch vehicle?

I propose that the "launch vehicle" should be named "Rover".

It has a Portmeirion guide book in the pocket.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Hermes

What is the airspeed velocity of the unladen common shag?

...Mine's the one with the herring in the pocket.

[bigphil9009]

@ James O'Brien

What are you talking about - ever heard of rhythm??

"Get your protein fix by munching carrion" works brilliantly!

The stupid Paris Hilton meme lost its appeal, well, pretty much as soon as it first appeared... Same as all the appaling "coat" gags that litter this board.

[AlgernonFlowers4]

Live Coverage

There has to be live coverage of the event. There'll probably be lots of wannabe Dan Dare's who will want follow the whole mission with their joysticks, starting from the moment Paris mounts El Shag's mighty erection (the launch tower), to when El Shag starts rising and thrusting upwards until mission climax nears and Vulture Control announces to the world that Paris has cleared El Shag for re-entry, at which point it all begins to deflates and El Shag returns back to earth.

[Mark 91]

@Adam 52

"A prime example of how to fix an election by dividing the vote."

Indeed. All the Vulture Voters probably need to pick one of the Vulture names and get behind that- Otherwise, we'll end up with "The El Shag".