Most Popular Baby Names in 2015

Have you seen this list? The authors of Freakonomics (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner) compiled this list using data from previous years. Apparently rich and popular people set the trends and the unique names that jump the gap between the elite and the average trickle down and become popular.

Here's the list. See what you think.

BOYS
Jackson
Aidan
Carter
Liam
Cooper
Oliver
Asher
Maximilian
Bennett
Anderson
Johan
Will
Aldo
Beckett
Finnegan
Reagan
Keyon
Harper
Ansel
Flannery
McGregor
Sander
Sumner

GIRLS
Emma
Ava
Grace
Ella
Avery
Maya
Isabel
Sophie
Kate
Quinn
Fionna
Annika
Phoebe
Maeve
Ansley
Lara
Aviva
Clementine
Eleanora
Linden
Marie-Claire
Philippa
Waverly

Emma, Ava, Grace, and Ella are the only names listed here that are in the top 23 already. A few haven't even broken the top 1000 yet (Flannery, Ansel, Waverly, Clementine).

I found this website that has tracked the progress of the popularity of these names. It's really interesting to see. So if you're having a child in the near future and what to be a trend setter, name the baby one of these names. They would be the coolest kid in kindergarten.

I really like the name Ansel. Like Ansel Adams. I also like Ansley. But I would rather have it spelled "Ainsley."

Making Bad Choices

A while ago I mentioned a lecture that I heard from Dr. Cherrington, an Organizational Behavior professor here at BYU. Something that he talked about keeps coming back to my mind. He talked about the three things in our lives that influence our decision in deciding whether we do something bad:

1. Our moral character
2. Outside pressure
3. The ease of committing the crime

Some people may say "I will never commit a crime. I will never rob or break the law. I have impeccable moral integrity," but that just isn't true. These three points can be imagined to be on a scale. If two of these things far outweigh the other one, your decision will most likely tip that way.

Here's an example: a hardened criminal who hardly has any scrap of moral character has just found out that his life long friend owes thousands of dollars to a mob boss. If his friend's debt is not paid off in 24 hours, he will be killed. Those weigh in pretty heavily on the criminal, so no matter how hard it is to commit the crime, he will try with all of his might to do so and will most likely succeed. Points one and two far outweigh number three, so he will tip in the direction of crime.

Another example: A clean-cut Mormon guy who majored in accounting at BYU got an excellent job working with a up-and-coming technology company. His wife just got diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Since he is the accountant of this successful company, he can easily move some money around and help pay the medical bills. The outside pressure of his wife's ailment and the easiness of committing the crime will most likely push him beyond the bounds of his moral character.

This is also why we are urged to not put ourselves in situations where it is very easy to do something bad: parties with alcohol, staying out past curfew, addiction to pornography. Just think about Joseph and Potiphar's wife. He ran from the situation that made it very easy to commit sin.

Seeing Seven

I finished listening to The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell today. It was one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read. Here is something that he talked about that was pretty amazing.

Have you ever wondered how many items you can see without counting? I mean, when you look at three apples, you know there are three apples without having to count, "One--two--three!" But if you have fifteen apples, you probably would have to count the apples to know how many there are (unless you're an autistic savant or something like that). It turns out that the average person can see six or seven things without having to count. That's why dice are so effective. We can see the six dots without having to count each dot. That's why 12 or 20 sided die use numerals instead of dots. Imagine if we had to count each dot to figure out if we rolled a 17 or an 18. This is also why phone numbers are seven digits long. Alexander Graham Bell wanted to have a phone numbers long enough to have as many phone numbers as possible, but after about 9 or 10 numbers people began making more mistakes.

This idea of our brain having a limit for processing information also applies to our emotions. If you think about how many people you are really close to (meaning how many people you feel close enough to that you would be truly devastated if they passed away), the number is roughly 12. We usually have about 150 acquaintances. Crazy, huh? We have these natural groups that we are wired for.

Malaria: how you can help

If you haven't read yesterday's post, I would recommend reading it before reading this one. Since malaria is such a big killer, it is important that everyone participates in the relief effort. Dr. Greg Wilson, the guest speaker, told us a story of how one girl decided to help. Dr. Wilson was asked by a Young Women's group to talk about diseases and he told them about malaria. He asked the group what they thought they could do to help. The girl's first response was "Pray for them."

"Sure, prayer is important," he said, "but is your prayer tonight going to prevent a child from dying tomorrow?" Sometimes we have to be the tools in God's hands to bring about the good we want to see in the world. He told them about the campaign for nets in countries that are affected by malaria and that girl had an idea. She organized a 5K run and had the participants in the run pay a $5 sign-up donation. She raised well over $5000, all of which she donated to a charity to provide nets to those who need it.

I found three websites for non-profit organizations where you can donate you money directly online and they will use 100% of the money to provide the nets to those in need. I recommend checking them out and seeing which organization appeals to you the most.

1. Nothing But Nets.
   
2. Malaria No More.
3. Netting Nations.

All of these organizations are non-profit and your contributions would count as a 501(c)(3) public charity, for tax purposes.

Malaria

Last week in my microbiology class we had a guest speaker, Dr. Greg Wilson, come in and lecture on malaria. I learned a lot of things about this disease. Did you know that it is the 8th most common cause of death in the world? You can see the entire list here of the most common ways to die. Roughly 40% of the world population is at risk of contracting malaria. About 800 million people per year actually get malaria (that's 800 millions NEW cases per year, not just how many people have it). From all of those with malaria, about 2 million people die a year. The vast majority of those who die are little children.

Those numbers are so big that it's hard to imagine they widespread catastrophe that malaria causes. Dr. Wilson quoted Stalin, who said, "One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic." I know I don't have any real emotional ties to 2 millions deaths. I figure I would have the same emotional reaction if one million people died, or three million. This is the wrong way to look at these numbers. Dr. Wilson then pulled up a picture of a preschool classroom with about 15 kids in it, kind of like this one, and said, "Imagine every kid in this picture died of malaria. Now imagine that 100,000 classes just like this died, too. That's what happens every year."

He went on the describe the pathogenic mechanisms of malaria (how the mosquito gets it, how it is passed to people, how is makes red blood cell explode every 48 hours, and so on). There really is no cure for malaria. Once you contract it you basically will always have it. It hides in your red blood cells and your body doesn't want to destroy them. So instead of eradicating it, your immune system slows down it's growth until you don't really feel sick anymore. There are treatments that help, though. They used to issue a medication called mefloquine to missionaries serving in areas where malaria was common, but that had some very undesirable side effects (extremely vivid nightmares--they had problems with depression and suicide), so they now issue a different medication, doxycycline, that has some better (meaning less bad) side effects.

The big problem with malaria is that it's something like a Teufelskreis. People in undeveloped countries get sick because they don't have the medication or social infrastructure to eradicate malaria. Because they are sick and feel crummy all the time, they are unable to work and earn money. Because they don't have money, they can't afford to get the treatment they need. The problem with malaria is really an issue of poverty. Malaria shouldn't be on that top ten list of most common ways to die. It is within our power as a people to stem the tide of malaria. Dr. Wilson asked us what we can do to help. That's where it gets hard. How can we help?

It turns out that the mosquitoes that carry malaria only bite at night. There are many different types of mosquitoes, but only a certain type can carry malaria, and they only bite ate night time. Up to 30% of deaths can be prevented if people would sleep under a bed net. They are fairly inexpensive (only $10), and with one net a mother and a child can sleep peacefully. He challenged us to raise awareness and donate of our means so that malaria's effects will be lessened.

Mad Skillz

In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills." I don't want to learn these skills to get a girlfriend, but its always good to impress your wife. Here are some awesome skills that I would like to learn someday:

• Sailing. I don't know anything about it. I want to know how you use the wind to steer, what difference the direction of the wind makes in what direction you can travel, how to tie the knots you need, how you use the sun to find latitude, and how to use the stars for direction.
• Killing, skinning, and cooking wild animals. I've never been hunting or fishing before. I think I would enjoy it, but I don't know. I think it could be useful to know. Maybe we'll have to live off the land someday. I want to know know the right way how to kill different animals and how to cure the hide. I want to know what cuts of meat to use and how to divide it up.
• Riding. I think I would like to learn how to ride a horse. I know it sounds kind of dumb, but I figure I will have the upper hand in a situation involving me, my enemy, and a horse. I've only been riding once, and it was for about 2 minutes. It was fun.
• Speed reading. Imagine you could read so fast that you could get all of your homework done in a matter of minutes. I found Howard Stephen Berg's blog, who is the world's fastest reader. Maybe I can get some tips from him. I heard that John F. Kennedy was a really fast reader and that he read 4 entire newspapers every morning.
• Speaking Spanish. This will actually be a useful skill to have nowadays. The Hispanic population continues to rise and I could be helpful to that whole demographic as an optometrist if I could speak Spanish. Maybe I'll enroll in Spanish 101 before I graduate. I probably wont because it's a four credit class and I'm kind of strapped for time, but someday I'll try to learn it.

That's all I can think of right now. What are some things you want to learn?

Poet Laureate

I learned about Poets Laureate (yes, that is the correct pluralization of "poet laureate") while watching West Wing. Robert Frost was the most famous one. It dates back to the time of Charles II. Basically, they are the country's official poet and compose poems from time to time for state affairs. Billy Collins, who was the Poet Laureate for the US during the September 11th attacks, wrote a poem after 9/11 and read it before Congress. The current one is named Kay Ryan. I thought she was a man at first. It's funny how you read someone's poetry differently when you realize what gender they are...I would recommend checking out her poetry.