When I heard that Instagram filter names are gaining popularity as names for babies, I wondered if parents were becoming more hip or just lazy.
 
– The famous parenting site, BabyCenter, released their list of most popular baby names for 2015 based off data that was gathered from more than 340,000 parents around the world. Two interesting tidbits that came out of their findings were that Instagram filter names like Lux, Ludwig and Kelvin for boys, and Juno, Valencia and Willow for girls, jumped higher on the list compared to last year. Lux, for example, rose 75 percent since 2014 in popularity. It seems like parents are really being influenced by mainstream media these days, and it doesn’t stop with Instragram. Other names that made a big leap on the website’s list this year are from the show Empire, which debuted in January of this year. The name Royalty jumped 88 percent in popularity for girls, while Dre went up by 77 percent and Lyon by 61 for boys. All of this makes me feel a lot less self-conscious about my own name. Go, millennial parents!
– Some names that weren’t so popular for babies this year, but did make an impression in Paris, France this week included Leonardo (DiCaprio), Al (Gore), Sean (Penn) and Arnold (Schwarzenegger). These celebrities along with over a hundred of the world’s most powerful leaders are still hashing out a climate plan at COP21, as I mentioned last week. The UN conference for climate change will go on for seven more days, which should end with a solid agreement for action by the attendees. Snapchat had a story going for the events at COP21 last week and it looked like the opposite of what I think of when I hear the words “climate” and “conference” together. Celebrity headliners, cycling for cellphone charge and smoothies, parades of bikes and recycled art galleries – Sounds more like Coachella round two than climate talks. I myself am feeling a little FOMO for not being there.
– As Paris is seeing some positive action this week, the same can’t be said for San Bernardino, California. Another violent massacre occurred in the U.S. This time, leaving 14 dead and 21 wounded. On Wednesday, Dec. 2, husband and wife Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were identified as the shooters who were both killed after a shootout with police. Conversations about gun violence have rightfully taken center-stage because of these events, along with the topic of ISIS and if this was an act of terror or not. The NYT reported that the investigation of Farook and Malik was refocused after authorities found extensive arsenal in their home, a recent visit of theirs to the Middle East and that Malik was found to have an open allegiance to ISIS and other Islamist extremists within the U.S. and abroad.
– Who knows what will happen with American gun laws? Republicans in Senate (dimwittedly) shot down a Democratic gun control proposal last Thursday, which would’ve stopped people who are on the terror watch list from buying firearms and it would’ve intensified background checks. The GOP argued that reform within mental health would prevent all these mass shootings from happening. My question is, why can’t we have both? I think The NYT’s Editorial Board feels similarly. An column was published last week on the paper’s front page for the first time since 1920. And rightfully so, since it was an opinion piece on how illogical and immoral the U.S.’s gun laws are.
– From southern California to our own campus, guns made several unwanted appearances this week. Fortunately, nobody at UO was killed, but two separate armed robberies were reported on Saturday morning, Dec. 5. The people involved in both incidents described similar suspects who police are still searching for. Earlier in the week, we were alerted about another campus crime about a student who said she was attacked near Hamilton Hall on 13th Street. Lessons to be learned: everyone should have some pepper spray or an alternative on them at all times; don’t be hanging out outside by yourself during the early hours of the morning ever; have 9-1-1 dialed on your phone and ready to call if you are walking alone late at night; keep your eye out for the big blue emergency buttons around campus.
Please stay safe, UO, and enjoy your vacation time. More news will be pond(ered) over next term – make sure to stay afloat until then!