Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be party sunny with a high of 45. Sunrise is 7:03 AM and sunset 4:22 PM for 9h 19m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 27% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry meets at 4:30 PM, and the Whitewater School Board meets in closed session shortly after 6 PM, returning to open session at 7 PM.
On this day in 1967, the first pulsar (PSR B1919+21, in the constellation of Vulpecula) is discovered by astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish.
One reads that Merriam-Webster has picked ‘gaslighting’ as the 2022 word of the year:
Merriam-Webster’s top definition for gaslighting is the psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator.”
Well, that’s a solid, if tardy, choice.
What is boosterism if not the accentuation of the positive for supposed economic gain at the expense of a honest description of conditions for all? What is toxic positivity if not the insistence that all is well, always and forever?
Welcome, lexicographers. Gaslighting’s a fitting catchall for those distortions and others.
Unicyclist Raises $30,000 for Charity While Cycling from Wisconsin to Arizona: