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Last year, the folks planning the launch of Richard Branson's soon-to-lift-off Virgin America line asked us if we'd like to name one of their new planes.
After much swapping of emails among BoingBoing co-editors, we finally agreed on one name that that loyal readers of this lowly blog will no doubt find meaningful:
Just a few minutes ago, we received word that the US Department of Transportation has granted Virgin green light to begin service.
And that, dear reader, means that Unicorn Chaser will soon be flying high and proud among the cumulonimbus, seeking out mythical beasts and banishing goatse jpegs from the eyes of God.
BTW, we did not receive money or any other form of compensation for this, nor did they receive any cash or promises of manually administered happy endings from us. We did it for fun and unicorn love.
Here's the press release from our friends at Virgin. This is not a joke, and we can't wait to fly in this plane, woohoo!
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The co-editors at Boing Boing, one of the world’s most popular blogs, have named a new Virgin America aircraft: Unicorn Chaser. The airline’s first aircraft was named Jefferson Airplane in October by the band’s lead singer, Grace Slick.Link to Virgin's nameourplanes.com. (Thanks, Patrick Kelly / Johnny Vulkan / Anomaly!)“The idea of Unicorn Chaser first popped up on Boing Boing to serve as a cleansing of the palate after a viewer has been subjected to a distasteful internet image or experience” said Xeni Jardin, a tech culture journalist and co-editor of Boing Boing. “Nothing takes away the sting of a jarring experience better than an image of a nice unicorn prancing in the meadow.”
“Unicorn Chaser fits the Virgin brand - compared to my recent experiences of flying domestically, I'm sure Virgin America will be a welcome relief!” adds John Battelle, Boing Boing’s business manager and Chairman of Federated Media.
Members of the public are invited also to name the airline’s new fleet by taking part in Virgin America’s Name Our Planes program at www.virginamerica.com. The airline will announce new names in the lead-up to launch of service which it hopes to introduce in the Spring.
Reader comment: Stephanie Kellogg says,
I don't know if this is already obvious information, but the name "Unicorn Chaser" is also appropriate for an airline called "Virgin" because of traditional medieval beliefs about unicorns--that they could only be caught or tamed by a virgin. Wikipedia mentions this in the article on unicorns: Link.I don't know if their are a lot of art majors who read boing boing, but that's the sort of thing that's useful to know for art history.