You could apply this to, oh, voting, or college classes, or life itself, I guess.

Or to getting part of the International Space Station named after you. What, you haven't yet heard of the Colbert Room aboard the ISS?

You see, NASA - always sensitive to public opinion - decided to host an online contest to decide the name of this orbiting cubicle-within-a-box. But NASA boldly went where most public-school teachers know better than to go, and included a free-response option to the four choices narrowed down already by NASA.

Sure enough, Colbert, who wasn't able to get his name on the South Carolina Republican presidential primary ticket, encouraged his viewers to submit his name. Et voila, the deed was done. Over 200,000 "Colbert" entries were recorded, with the pre-NASA-approved "Serenity" running a far distant second with 40,000 votes.

Of course, NASA still reserves the right of final approval; after all, it's the agency and not Colbert's viewers who've had to fight so hard for funding. I shudder to think of a room named after Rush Limbaugh, although it's doubtful NASA would ever procure enough funding for a fittingly behemoth monument to the ego of the Republican party's de-facto leader.

But I digress. Other already-named rooms on the ISS include Unity, Harmony, and Destiny.

I'm sorry, Stephen, I enjoy your program once in awhile, but Colbert just doesn't . . . fit.

NASA really should stick with the names evocative of little girls born in the 1960's and 1970's.

PS - if you'd like to have your say in history, you can still cast your vote to name a new Mars rover: