Diversions July 1, 2010

What’s in a (Pet) Name?

Turns out that when it comes to pet names, the answer to that question is puns, pop culture references - and a little bit of “number 2”. 

 

Reported by

For the third year in a row, Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), a provider of pet health insurance, has selected 50 unusual dog and cat names from the company’s database of more than 485,000 insured pets – and then narrowed them down by voting for the 10 most unusual names for each species.    

Here are the 10 Most Unusual Dog and Cat Names for 2010:  

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Dogs       

  • Pickle Von Corndog 
  • Lord Chubby Pruneface 
  • Badonkadonk 
  • Ninjastar Dangerrock 
  • Molly Mcboozehound 
  • Dog Vader 
  • Flopsy Squeakerton 
  • Bettie Poops 
  • Geez Louise 
  • Barnaby Bones         

Cats  

  • Purr Diem 
  • Bing Clawsby 
  • Cleocatra 
  • Admiral Pancake 
  • Optimus Pants 
  • Chairman Meow 
  • Boo Manchu 
  • Watts in a Name 
  • Chenoa Azure Marshmellow-Puff 
  • Senor Nachos                

“One of our favorite parts of putting these lists together is talking to the pets’ owners and finding out how they came up with such imaginative names,” said Curtis Steinhoff, director of corporate communications for VPI. “Strangely enough, a lot of them tell us they ruled out names they’d be too embarrassed to shout in public when calling their pets back to them. When you think about the names these owners finally decided on – like ‘Lord Chubby Pruneface’ and ‘Optimus Pants,’ – it really makes you wonder what didn’t make their cut.”  

You can check out the full lists of 50 unusual dog and cat names, pictures of pets who made the Top 10, and the stories behind the unusual names at http://www.wackypetnames.com/.   

Compliance June 30, 2010

FL Woman Sues BP Over 401(k) Stock Losses

A Florida woman who invested in the company stock option in BP’s 401(k) plan has sued the company and State Street Bank & Trust.
Reported by

The suit claimed that participants holding company stock through their retirement accounts lost hundreds of millions of dollars when BP’s stock price collapsed. 

 

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Plaintiff Charis Moule’s suit seeks class action status to represent participants who lost money in the BP stock fund after the April explosion of a BP oil rig and the leak of oil that followed.  State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) was investment manager of the stock fund and trustee to BP’s Employee Savings Plan (ESP). 

The suit charged the defendants committed breaches of their fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by continuing to hold $2.45 billion of BP American depositary shares (ADS) even though they should have known that inadequate safety measures in place by BP made such investment no longer prudent.   

The complaint said the ADS holdings represented 29% of the plan’s total $8.27 billion in plan assets as of December 31, 2009. The ADS plummeted in value by more than 50% from $59.88 the day before the Gulf oil rig explosion, according to the suit.  

A separate lawsuit was filed against BP, its directors and executives by Ralph Whitley, a former BP employee and a participant in the same employee savings plan, in U.S. District Court in New York on June 24 (see Ex-Employee Sues BP Over Plan Losses ).  

The newest suit is available here.  

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