August 11, 2005
Fleeting Fame For a Price
Cool fundraising: Sixteen noted authors will auction the right to have your name (or in some cases the name of a willing designate) be affixed to a minor character, a storefront, or otherwise appear in an upcoming novel. All proceeds benefit the First Amendment Project. (via Copyfight).
I love Neil Gaiman, but all in all do I want my name on a fictional tombstone? Probably not.
Posted by Michael : August 11, 2005 01:22 PM | Internet | TechnoLinks
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The dinosaur Qantassaurus is named after the Australian national airline, which sponsored the work of the palaeontologists who found its fossil remains. See http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/science/dinosaurs/dino_card/115.html .
Sponsored naming has also been mooted for asteroids: http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/sg_prop.html#stakeholders .
Mass sponsorship is a possible solution to the urgent problem of funding the taxonomy of hundreds of thousands of tropical insects and arthropods. The unit cost is low, and there are more than enough beetles to go round. Calvin could pay for a particularly disgusting parasite to be named after Miss Wormwood.
Posted by: James Wimberley at August 12, 2005 07:09 AM