Sidepodcast

They Call Us Early Adopters

It started with a marmot, and went through otters, bunnies, and wallabies, but the Sidepodcast mascot always seems to return to the panda.

Whilst I am a fan of the baby panda, all the black and white creatures are awesomely cute, and that's why I have officially adopted one on behalf of Sidepodcast.

I'm assuming that my £3 a month doesn't cover an entire panda, so maybe it's just an ear or a paw, but this cute and cuddly representation was sent to me a few days after I clicked donate.

Our adopted panda is called Zhu Xiong (pronounced Ju-Shong) meaning 'Bamboo Bear'. She's a giant panda, and about 11 years old. Here's a little blurb about her:

Zhu Xiong was only two years old when she was found in a small farming village in the Pingwu district of China. WWF staff moved her to the Wanglang reserve, the oldest and most remote reserve in China, where she joined 30 other pandas.

I have a certificate to confirm adoption, I've got some photographs of Zhu Xiong, and apparently I will get newsletter updates three times a year. It was really easy to do, and there's plenty of information on the WWF site, both about our panda and all the other animals that are available for adoption.

All that's left to do, then, is to come up with a name for our new Sidepodcast mascot. Although the cuddly toy represents the actual real life panda, I think it's only fair she has a Sidepodcast name. That's where you come in. I'm thinking something like Jane doesn't really do her justice, and maybe you guys can think of a clever motorsport related name for our newest member. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

What's in a Name?

One of my favourite things about Sidepodcast is the fact that despite broadcasting for over a year, very few people know my real name.

Originally when this all started, I didn't want to be credited on the show because I was conscious not to steal Christine's limelight. You wouldn't know it now, but there was once a time when the lady was a very shy and timid person, so I tried to give her as big a platform as I could.

Nowadays of course this is all academic, as Christine's more than capable of holding her own alongside myself or anyone else. However the 'anonymous podcaster' thing has stuck and now creates all manner of discussion on this site and elsewhere. As I said in a comment earlier, it's a 'conversation starter', in much the same way that the quest to discover who The Stig from Top Gear is.

The problem of course is that while online anonymity is relatively easy, in the real world, it's a tough gig to keep up. Because of this there are many people involved in F1 who know my name, and inevitably the more widespread the knowledge, the harder it is to contain. Eventually someone will mention it.

That happened earlier today when Keith congratulated us on our recent wedding, but unfortunately chose to name me at the same time.

Keith was a recent guest on our show, and because that was a real world conversation it made sense to call me by my actual name, so I understand why he might be confused. I emailed Keith and he immediately changed his post, which is very much appreciated, and hopefully any damage was limited. I guess the question though is how long can we keep this up?

Should we come clean and ruin a good thing, explode the myth and move on, or should we carry on until the next person mentions it and I end up emailing more change requests?

I'm up for more anonymity, for more made up names (but not Claude) and much sillyness. I also appreciate that Alex read the original post but is happy to play along (and the same goes for anyone else who has been, or will do the same).

However, if the consensus is you'd rather just know and be done with it, then that's what we'll do. As ever leave your thoughts below.