Spongiforma squarepantsii

Spongiforma squarepantsii is a species of fungus in the Boletaceae family, genus Spongiforma. Found in Malaysia, it was described as new to science in 2011. It produces sponge-like, rubbery orange fruit bodies that have a fruity or musky odour. The fruit bodies reach dimensions of 10 cm (3.9 in) wide by 7 cm (2.8 in) tall. Like a sponge, they will resume their original shape if water is squeezed out. The spores, produced on the surfaces of the hollows of the sponge, are almond-shaped with rough surfaces, and measure 10–12.5 by 6–7 micrometers. The name of the fungus is derived from the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. S. squarepantsii is one of two species in Spongiforma; it differs from S. thailandica in its colour, odour, and spore structure.

Taxonomy and classification

The species was first described scientifically online in May 2011 in the journal Mycologia, authored by American mycologists Dennis E. Desjardin, Kabir Peay, and Thomas Bruns. The description was based on two specimens collected by Bruns in 2010 in Lambir Hills National Park, in Sarawak, Malaysia. The species had first appeared in the literature in 2010 in a study of the ectomycorrhizal mushrooms in a tropical dipterocarp rainforest in Lambir Hills, although it was not formally described in this publication. Because of its unusual form, Desjardin and colleagues were initially uncertain whether the new species was a member of the Basidiomycota or the Ascomycota. Further analysis showed that the species was aligned with Spongiforma, a genus that was newly described from dipterocarp forests of Thailand in 2009. The similarity between the species collected in Borneo and Spongiforma thailandica was confirmed with molecular analysis, which showed a 98% match between ribosomal DNA sequences of the two.

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. The series chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series' popularity has made it a media franchise, as well as the highest rated series to ever air on Nickelodeon, and the most distributed property of MTV Networks. The media franchise has generated $8 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.

Many of the ideas for the series originated in an unpublished educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in 1989. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, and turned to Tom Kenny, who had worked with him on that series, to voice the titular character. SpongeBob was originally going to be named SpongeBoy, and the series was to be called SpongeBoy Ahoy!, but these were both changed, as the name was already trademarked.

Mr. Krabs

Eugene Harold "Armor Abs" Krabs, or simply Mr. Krabs is a fictional character in the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. He is voiced by actor Clancy Brown, and first appeared on television in the series' first episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999. Mr. Krabs was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg.

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants

Mr. Krabs is the greedy founder and owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant, where SpongeBob works as a frycook, and Squidward works as a cashier. The success of the restaurant is built in part on a lack of competition and in part on the success of the Krusty Krab's flagship sandwich, the Krabby Patty. The formula for the Krabby Patty is an extremely closely guarded trade secret.

His rival and former best friend, Plankton, has a struggling restaurant called the Chum Bucket located across the street from the Krusty Krab. A recurring gag throughout the series is Plankton's futile attempts to steal the Krabby Patty formula, under the assumption that it would eventually put the Krusty Krab out of business. To avoid this, Krabs goes to extreme lengths to prevent Plankton from obtaining the formula (going so far as to refuse to allow him to even buy a Krabby Patty legitimately, out of fear that Plankton might reverse-engineer the formula) or to prevent the Chum Bucket from having any business whatsoever, not even just one single customer (as seen in the episode Plankton's Regular).

Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards

The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which online cartoonists nominate and select outstanding webcomics. The awards were been held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a The New York Times column on webcomics in 2005, and have been mentioned as a tool for librarians.

The WCCA represent a form of peer recognition, with voting rights granted only to creators working on online webcomics. Winners of awards receive an individualized web banner for their site, although MegaCon announced in 2007 that a live presentation would be made for the first time. In 2003, 2005 and 2006 the awards were presented in an online ceremony depicted in comic strip form and involving a number of creators.

The WCCA were started by Scott Maddix and Mark Mekkes in 2000, with the first awards made in 2001. Mekkes noted his motivation as being to "create a webcomic award process that would do the most to help the webcomic community and encourage creators to strive toward greatness." Mekkes set up a committee to run the awards, initially known as the Cartoonists' Choice Awards, assuming the position of chairman, a role he was still holding in 2007. A press release on The Dreamland Chronicles' nomination described the committee as "an independent organization dedicated to the promotion and recognition of online comics and their creators." However, committee member Lewis Powell has criticised the awards as being "horribly mismanaged, they are not well organized and they don't do what they are supposed to" and that "Problems with the WCCAs [include] making people aware of them, getting people to care about them."

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids Choice Awards, is an annual awards show that airs on the Nickelodeon cable channel, which is usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, that honors the year's biggest television, movie, and music acts, as voted by Nickelodeon viewers. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine, a logo outline for much of the network's 1984–2009 era, which also functions as a kaleidoscope.

The show features numerous celebrity guests and musical acts. In recent years, slime stunts have been incorporated into the show. The KCAs also host live entertainment. It has also been known to overwhelmingly cover people with the network's trademark green slime. The series SpongeBob SquarePants has won the most KCA awards, with twelve overall through the series' run. Individually, Will Smith has won the most trophies with ten, followed by Selena Gomez (9), Miley Cyrus and Amanda Bynes (7), Britney Spears (5), Hilary Duff and Justin Bieber (4), Beyonce (4), Ross Lynch (3), One Direction (3), Drake Bell and Taylor Swift. Whoopi Goldberg is the only person to have won a Kids' Choice Award, along with the mainstream "EGOT" combination of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Rosie O'Donnell (8) and Jack Black (3) have hosted the show the most times.