Meet the SpecuFrog

By | June 6, 2007
7 Comments

This blog has been around for several years now, and it’s long past time we adopted an official mascot. (Don’t ask me why; it just is. Sheesh.)

Anyhow, I nominate this newly discovered South American frog who went to all the trouble of evolving itself into a color scheme highly compatible with the CSS styles used by this blog, not to mention my retro 70′s blacklight aesthetic sensibilities. A purple frog is such a good idea that had one not existed, we would have to invent it. This creature has shown a lot of initiative in saving us that trouble.

So without further ado, I give you the Frog of the Future.

purplefrog.jpg

The remote area where the frog was found is a veritable cornucopia of biodiversity:

Including the new species, the scientists observed 467 species at the two sites, ranging from large cats like panthers and pumas, to monkeys, reptiles, bats and insects.

Of the 467 species observed, 24 were completely new species. Normally when there’s talk of finding a whole bunch of new species, we’re talking insects. Not this time. Dung beetles and ants are only part of a picture that includes purple frogs and armored catfish — which is not a new discovery, but rather a species previously believed extinct. This is huge — it’s like a mini, land-based Galapagos.

So now all we need is a name for our mascot. It will temporarily be known as Phil Jr. until somebody comes up with something catchier.

UPDATE FROM STEPHEN:

How about:

fffrog.JPG

  • http://beyondwordsworth.com Kathy

    When I started hearing Prince and Purple Rain in my head, my brain turned to mush and this is the best I could do..The Frog Mascot that in the Future will have been Formerly Known As… :(

  • Phil Bowermaster

    …Phil Jr. I like it Kathy, but it’s kinda long. We’d probably need to come up with some obscure, abstract graphic representation instead.

    Stephen, good thinking on the FFR tie-in. Maybe we’ll just call him F3?

  • Enphilistor

    Well, since purple is the color of royalty, how about Arthur, or Rex, or even better — LONDO!!!!

    Ya don’t suppose it’s related to the Hypno-toad, do ya?

  • Stephen Gordon

    Quantum Leap!

  • http://beyondwordsworth.com Kathy

    Stephen’s idea gets my vote. That’s brilliant!

  • Phil Bowermaster

    Enphilistor –

    Somehow, Arthur the Frog just doesn’t work for me. Rex is a good name. My brother had a pet pig named Rex many years ago. The pig ran off and my brother eventually wrote a song about the whole experience.

    Life is complicated, isn’t it?

    So far I like Rex and F3 — but let’s keep the ideas coming.

  • MDarling

    Purple was a royal color because it was rare.
    “Frog Prince” is the more commonly used expression for royal frogs. And I like “Roy” (or “Roi”) better than Rex as a royal reference.

    I like the name, but I don’t get why this frog would be “fast forward.” Apparently it’s been around awhile- we just didn’t know about him. He hadn’t been catalogued. And in thinking about the Speculist- and it’s desire for a mascot- I see the focus as thinking and noticing the path to the future. Or a future. But not necessarily accelerating the progression to that future. But if it’s speed that needs referencing – I like the name Indy. Or Skip.

    But as a mascot for The Speculist- it seems his name should inspire or evoke images or feelings about speculism.
    Speck- is short, easy to say and write. It evokes a connection to Spock, which seems like a plus.
    But there was a mass murderer named Speck and it also implies an insignificantly small thing.

    As for present references for the future-
    “To Be” is not really a name. 2B, Toby
    “Out of Sight” – Otto
    “Subsequeious” from subsequent, though I’m pretty sure while syntactically logical, it’s not a word.
    Ttroanl (to the right on a number line)
    Plusone

    Or to make an obscure reference to the undefineability of the future
    Dbz. (Divide by zero)