The International Star Registry will, for a fee, name a star for you. They advertise this as a nice gift for a loved one, a permanant place in the universe, etc etc, and that the name of the star will be placed “in book form and registered with the US Copyright office.”
Of course, it’s a scam - in a sense. I can write a book filled with measurements of my bowel movements and “register it at the US Copyright Office.” That means nothing as far as international recognitions of my intestinal workings.
The Star Registry does nothing except prey on the ignorance of its subscribers.
I don’t think they’re being especially deceptive. They aren’t claiming any scientific significance for the chosen star name. I suppose they’re implying a sort of official status with the whole “register at the US Copyright Office” thing.
Isn’t this done as a gift/remembrance type thing most often? Oooo, look honey, I named a star after you. Isn’t it romantic? Does the purchaser receive intrinsic value? Perhaps not, but they do get something – the satisfaction of creating a “permanent” record of their romantic, sentimental or self-aggrandizing act of star-naming.
Plus, why should it be illegal for people to buy dumb stuff? So long as the product isn’t deceptively represented, folks should be free to blow their money on whatever stupid crap they want to.
I was thinking of purchasing from the International Star Regisrty, but I am now very interested in purchasing one of the bowel movement measurements of which you speak. Might they be available in in time for Valentine’s day?
There are obvious free speech implications here. My take is that unless they’re saying something that is actually deceptive to consumers, they should be permitted to continue. It’s stupid, but so are people.
This seems to me on a par with the Pet Rock. Nobody expected the Pet Rock to fetch his slippers, and nobody expects star travelers of the future to visit the system Joetta Doakes II, no matter how romantic Joetta Doakes of 2003 may think is the certificate framed and beribboned in her boudoir.
If these people were selling some nostrum that gullible buyers might substitute for real medical treatment, I say you had a point. But If people have money to waste on having stars named after them or buying meaningless “coats of arms” I say let 'em.
No more than $10 for a microbe, maybe up to $100 for an invertebrate (although I could go higher for something really cool looking), and we can negotiate if it’s a vertebrate.
Aren’t you guys/gals being a little rough on the notion of naming a star for someone? I don’t think anyone really believes the star is truly named after them such that sometime in the future people will be travelling to star Maximillian Schnaderinski.
I mean, why is it any worse than flowers or some other equally perishable/disposable item we get as gifts? So it’s silly…big deal. If you think about it a lot of the things you get people are silly and impractical.
[sub]FTR…I do not have a star named after me.[/sub]
Here’s a not-completely-unbiased take on the matter.
We planetarium people tend to get annoyed at ISR and its ilk, especially when someone comes in having named a star after their dear departed grandma and actually want to see the star. Not realizing these stars are typically fainter than 12th magnitude and can’t be located without a computer-controlled observatory on a really clear, dark, still night… if the star even exists at all. How do you tell them that they’ve just spent all that money on what’s for all purposes a meaningless piece of paper? All I can do is show them the general area of the sky where the star is supposed to be… hoping of course that part of the sky is visible from this latitude.
If someone calls asking about ‘how to buy a star’, I tell them exactly what they’ll get. I’m well practiced at doing this diplomatically. If, after I give them the low-down, they still want to spend their money this way, then that’s fine. But I draw the line at giving out ISR’s phone number or web site.
And woe to those who call ISR a “scam”, for they have lawyers.
That “registered at the US copyright office” thing reminds me of the ads in the back of certain magazines, that sell things like “spurious aphrodisiac” and “Spanish fly supplant”. They’re depending on the marks not knowing what “spurious” and “supplant” means, and assuming that it must be something good.
So you want a law attempting to protect people from their own ignorance?
So at what point do we draw a line in the sand where someone who may be considered to be making foolish decision (as defined by whom?) requires a law to protect them?
I used to think this was a cool idea, though I changed my attitude when I realized there was nothing “official” or real about it. I could just pick a star and name it after someone, wouldn’t be any different.
But really, let’s be a bit more philosophical. Who can give you the right to name a star anyway? How can you buy that? (Slightly trippier now) How can you name the star? It’s billions and billions of years old, and compared to it you’re fleeting and highly insignificant.
Certain members of our family gave my husband one of those certificates proclaiming the naming of a star after him. I must say, it was probably the most useful gift they’ve ever given him.:rolleyes: