Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
A Vote For Mister Splashy Pants Is A Vote For Freedom!
Share:
by pwalmsley | December 5, 2007 at 08:24 am
1656 views | 19 Recommendations | 20 comments
Videos
Photos
DEC 6 - UPDATE! Mister Splashy Pants is up to 78% AND Greenpeace now has cute MSP merch!
OK: So, Greenpeace is holding a contest to name a Humpback whale to raise awareness on such things: Whales, whaling, pollution, the usual cast of characters. 11,000 names were submitted and those were rounded down to 30, and they're currently available to vote on here.
Some are cute (Aiko, Malaya), some are in honor of environmentalists (Suzuki, Jacques) and some are boring (Anahi, Cian).
However: The name with (as of this writing) 73% of the votes is "Mister Splashy Pants."
Today on the popular environmental blog Treehugger, Bonnie Alter wrote a post asking her peers to get over to the contest's website:
"The poll is down to 30 names now, and unlike Mr. Splashy Pants, some of them very beautiful. Among them are Anahi, which means immortal in Persian, Kaimana (divine power of the ocean in Polynesian), and Shanti (peace), Suzuki (after David), Aurora (dawn) and Humphrey (?).
Voting is being extended until Dec. 7, supposedly due to popular demand (and perhaps vain hope on Greenpeace's part that their whale will get a decent name). Do your bit and save a whale's self respect. Vote now."
Hmm, someone's taking things a bit too seriously. Thank goodness for commenters:
"I think Mr. Splashy Pants is beautiful, but then again I'm not a geezer."
"Mr. Splashy Pants is really the most eye-catching, smile-inducing name you could give the whale, and it's the name most likely to increase public perception of whales."
"I would actually argue that "Mr. Splashy Pants" is a fantastic name. Yup, it's silly, but if that whale is named something "beautiful", news coverage is likely to be non-existent. However, a strange, funny name will be more likely to get coverage. You're never going to appeal to Joe SixPack by picking a name like Anahi. Many greenies take themselves WAY to seriously anyway. :)"
"You will not defeat the social networking mob. Resistance is futile"
So there you have it! Get over there and vote Mister Splashy Pants into the hearts and minds of nations everywhere!
Advertisement
NowPublic on Facebook
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
ryan
Vancouver, Canada
speedymarie
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (20)
at 11:49 on December 5th, 2007
pwalmsley, i vote for Ipiktok.
at 13:12 on December 5th, 2007
Booo! Ipiktok lacks character. I don't want to have a beer with Ipiktok. Mister Splashy Pants is a name you can do shots with.
at 13:20 on December 5th, 2007
Is that what you look for in your whales?
at 14:23 on December 5th, 2007
It's what I look for in a name. Ryan for instance is a name I could eat Japanese food for lunch with.
at 15:54 on December 5th, 2007
touche, but I would never want to do shots with a guy named splashy pants, call me boring.
at 13:59 on December 5th, 2007
So strong and so gentle, this great mammal is incredible. The noise of the tail hitting the water is unforgettable. I can´t understand japanese whale hunters. Stop whale killing.
at 14:35 on December 5th, 2007
pwalmsley, thanks for your work here--I find that Greenpeace often takes itself more seriously, and that if they actually lightened up a bit they'd have more people on their side.
Good stuff.
at 14:35 on December 5th, 2007
Mr. Splashy Pants is brilliant. However, my initial thought before reading the article was that the name somehow referred to bladder control issues. But now that I know the context is different I'm all green lights and alrights.
at 14:37 on December 5th, 2007
I reckon the extra coverage will only focus on the name (Mr. Splashy Pants) and not the whale.
at 14:45 on December 5th, 2007
Taken during a whale-watching trip in Monterey Bay, CA. This is the fluke of the mother whale of a mother-and-calf pair of humpback whales that were diving for food in the Bay.
Monterey Bay is an area that whales in the eastern Pacific go to to feed and build up their blubber before migration. The food they eat in this three month period lasts them the rest of the year.
at 15:46 on December 5th, 2007
This hump back whale was one of 22 individuals I saw at a whale watch outside of Cape Cod, Ma, USA. The animals were feeding i a place with massive numbers of small fish.
The whales worked in team swimming together under the school of fish blowing out air under them so that they would be scared up to the surface and be easily caught and eaten.
This activity attracted lots of sea gulls which also could catch some fish.
at 15:56 on December 5th, 2007
I also think Randy or Greg would have been good names.
at 15:58 on December 5th, 2007
If the whale was a step-dad, Randy would be an awesome name.
at 16:08 on December 5th, 2007
So here's the real shame about the writer's strike... I'd be staying up just to see what messr's Colbert and Stewart could do with this... the sweet persian names wouldn't stand a chance once that mob got a hold of this survey. Oh and by the way, I definitely give a damn about all whales... but I'd especially interested in keeping up with Mr. Splashy Pants. Maybe the only down side is that swag is pretty unfriendly environmentally - and there would be tons! I'm sure someone would be commodifying Mr. Splashy Pants faster than you can say, well "Mr. Splashy Pants". I knew I could get that in three times - just kind of rolls off of the tongue.
at 03:52 on December 7th, 2007
Photo taken during a whale watch tour near Gloucester, MA, july 2007
at 13:51 on December 7th, 2007
This picture was taken in the Kenai Fjords National Park off the coast of Seward, Alaska. It was a pair of Humpback Whales and we were so fortunate. They played for what seemed like forever yet it ended too soon... It created a memory like no other...
at 05:58 on December 8th, 2007
humback whale diving in monterey bay, california, usa
at 10:52 on December 8th, 2007
at 17:21 on December 13th, 2007
They are amazing creatures...and I was really glad that I was able to experience them and also capture it with my camera! This was taken off of Newburyport.
at 10:42 on December 20th, 2007
I took this shot of a humpback whale outside Juneau, Alaska in Sept. 2007 with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi.
kelandis has contributed a photo to this story.