The Daily Valet. - 11/29/22, Tuesday
✔️ The Word of the Year
Tuesday, November 29th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
Remember the peaceful days of flights before in-flight WiFi? No pressure to work ...
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Today’s Big Story
2022’s Word of the Year
“Gaslighting” is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. Let’s look into why.
Here's a good news/bad news situation. It seems like conversations around mental health have become more normalized (that's good). But so, too, has the surface-level way we talk about it on the internet (that's maybe not so good). According to Merriam-Webster, the word “gaslight” is the dictionary's word of the year. And it makes you wonder if the nuance and magnitude of the word has been dulled across cyberspace.On Monday, Merriam-Webster made the announcement, saying that “in this age of conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls and deepfakes, gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.” Apparently, it beat out “oligarch”, “sentient” and “cancel culture.”For the uninitiated, gaslighting is defined, according to the dictionary, as the “psychological manipulation of a person over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts and perception of reality, and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem and a dependency on the perpetrator.”Searches for the term increased 1,740% in 2022. More interesting still is that, per the Associated Press, there wasn't one single event that drove “significant spikes in the curiosity,” which has historically been the way with the word of the year. It was simply constantly looked up, every day.Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, says it chooses the word of the year based solely on data. They don't slice and dice why people look up words, which can be anything from quick spelling and definition checks to some sort of attempt at inspiration or motivation. Some of the droves who looked up “gaslighting” might have wanted to know, simply, if it's one or two words, or if it's hyphenated.
FYI:
The term “gaslighting” comes from a 1938 play where a man convinces his wife that she is going insane by lying to her that their home's gas lights are not dimming.
China Clamps Down on Protests
As Protesters Channel Their Anger Directly at Xi
Over the weekend, protests against China's strict COVID restrictions ricocheted across the country in a rare case of nationwide civil unrest. Some demonstrators had gone so far as to call for the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, to step down. But on Monday, police were out in force to stamp out any dissension—even asking people for their phones to check if they had virtual private networks (which have been used to organize protests but are illegal for most people in China).In Shanghai and Beijing, police could be seen on Tuesday morning still patrolling areas of the cities where some groups on social media had suggested people should gather again. Their presence throughout the night ensured no more gatherings took place.According to the Wall Street Journal, President Xi faces a difficult choice between loosening China's zero-tolerance COVID policy or doubling down on restrictions that have locked down neighborhoods and stifled the country's economy over the past three years. Neither option is a good one for a regime focused on stability.
FYI:
Protesters are using few or no words ... by holding up blank white sheets of paper, they're roiling China's sophisticated and stringent censors.
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So Long Airplane Mode
5g connectivity Is coming to some flights, meaning calls just like when you're on the ground
Could the days of airplane mode be coming to an end? They are in Europe, at least. The European Commission will open up the use of 5G technology on planes, paving the way for faster service of data, messaging and phone calls while in the air. Look, I'm all for innovation, but I don't know if every traveler will utilize this technology politely. So can I just say: Please don't FaceTime while flying. The plan will allow travelers to use 4G and 5G on their mobile devices—sidestepping the traditionally laggy and expensive, in-flight WiFi services which have been in use since the early aughts. How? The coverage will be made possible by installing a so-called “pico-cell” in the aircraft. Via that network station, your calls and texts, along with any data traffic, can be sent via a satellite network to a mobile network on the ground.Inflight 5G will use different frequencies than what's used for cockpit communication. While U.S. carriers have been adamant that 5G will cause “catastrophic disruptions” in flights, Inside Hook says the real (and solvable) issue seems to be retrofitting the planes with equipment that won't cause interference.
Dig Deeper:
Do 5G telecoms pose any threat to airline safety? Reuters examines the potential impact of 5G wireless services on aircraft electronics.
In Other News
More than 150 volunteers came together to decorate.
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Clockwise, from top left to right:
James Bond playing cards, $30 (for three-pack) by Theory11; Hand warmer, $23 by Zippo and Rubber band gun, $24.99 by Elastic Precision
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