Wire Reports: Now We're Cooking!

File this one under "A life of its own."

After the Butterstick campaign made Wonkette and Express early last week, momentum behind the online effort seemed to run out of steam. Then, out of the blue, we get recognition from Bloomberg, of all places. In a story datelined today, the wire service matter-of-factly adopts the culinary moniker for Mei Xiang's cub:

Web logs, such as dcist.com, nicknamed the cub "Butterstick" because zookeepers described him at birth as being "about the size of a stick of butter." According to Chinese tradition, the cub won't be officially named until he's 100 days old.

Butterstick, born through artificial insemination, now weighs more than four pounds. He no longer resembles a "terrible, furry spaceworm," as one blogger wrote, but a chubby miniature panda with the trademark black and white markings.

They even included the name in the headline: "Washington Says 'Ahhh' to New Celebrity, Butterstick the Panda." Hey, Chris, Michael and Tom: Go us!

(Photo credit: Furcafe)