There was a whole thread of people hating on Nutella on the deserts that should not exist post. You're wrong but you're not alone in your wrongness.

Eh, I've been to several weddings for couples who have been together since college but waited until they were 30 and ready to really settle down to make it official. Kate and Wills had different reasons than grad school and paying down student loans but the timeline seems normal-ish to me.

Ha! I was about to pipe up that no real New England eats that crap. But apparently some vacation induced insanity makes the occasional Masshole do it? Ick.

It seems that Ms. Lagarde opted not to come because she feared that exact scenario. (Well, probably not literal skunks...)

A commencement speaker isn't just a random guest lecturer. Inviting someone to be a commencement speaker is an endorsement from the college. Objecting to your school endorsing say, a war criminal, is not immature.

She doesn't have a license. The real question is why she was not already in prison since MA law absolutely allows for years of jail time for that many DUIs.

The issue with self-reported stats is that they're self-reported. I've known plenty of fundie homeschoolers who say they homeschool for a better education but what they really mean is an education they can control. (There are definitely great, non-wackadoo home schoolers out there but the wackadoos also know what…

Sophia has been in California's top ten girl's names since 2004. That's actually longer than it's been in the national top ten. The top ten list is a national news story every year. You guys had probably been hearing it around without realizing it (that seems to be fairly common with parents who don't research a…

My mother worked in nutrition and public health and specifically did not become a registered dietician because of the ADA's sketchy practices. This was at least 20 years ago. They are really big on pushing whatever is profitable.

Similarly, Superbowl Sunday is a great day to go to IKEA.

I live in a cluster of college towns. One had a graduation on Friday. Three more are next weekend. I can't imagine what it's like when multiple colleges have graduations the same weekend as Mother's Day.

This post should answer most of your questions.

Sophia had already been trendy for years in 2009 so you tell us. Where did you get the idea?

A lot of new parents seem to assume that names trends haven't changed since they were in school. And if you're naming your first kid you probably don't know a ton of other kids. Jennifer was already super trendy by the late 60s (it was #4 in '68) but your mom couldn't exactly Google that. Parents today have no such…

Very good point. I have two students in my class this year with the same first name. It ranked in the 450s the year they were born.

A lot of countries put out the top 100 names each but as far as I know the US is the only country that releases the volume of data that the Baby Name Wizard database uses. The blog does tend to cover European countries top 10 names, though.

If it's any consolation, Friends was following a trend, not setting it. Emma cracked the top 100 in 1993 and was 13th the year before Friends used the name.

If you combine spellings then the top three names for 2012 were Aidan, Jackson and Jayden. Combining spellings also puts Kayden in the top ten.

Wait, that's taboo? In my family it's just as common as naming sons after fathers.

Brooklyn was 28th, up from 29th last year. That makes it more common than Zoe, Allison, or Sarah.