Dec. 2 News Quiz of the Week: Gaslighting, Hot Lava

Mauna Loa’s summit is 17 km (10.5 mi) above its base – more than 1,000 feet taller than the height of Mount Everest – rising more than 4 km (2.5 mi) above sea level, descending 5 km (3 mi) to the sea floor, and depressing the sea floor another 8 km (5 mi). It is the world’s largest active volcano and makes up roughly 51% of the big island of Hawaii.

Did Mauna Loa erupt in 2022?

Mauna Loa, meaning “long mountain” in Hawaiian, erupted on November 28, 2022, for the first time in 38 years. According to the mayor of Hawaii County, no community downslope appeared to be threatened by the eruption, but government shelters were available if residents chose to evacuate.

During the Nov. 25, 2022, weekend, China deployed police forces at key protest sites and tightened online censorship to quell protests against the country’s zero-covid policy. After citizens tired of being subjected to strict lockdown restrictions staged the largest street demonstrations in decades, on Nov. 29, China’s ruling Communist Party pledged to “resolutely crack down on infiltration and sabotage activities by ‘hostile forces.‘”

Did the China protests fail?

Starting Dec. 6, 2022, the Beijing Capital Airport dropped its negative COVID test requirement. People in China’s capital were allowed to enter supermarkets and offices without showing negative COVID tests – the latest in several nationwide changes after the historic protests.

Following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the social platform made a single-sentence update to its policies: “Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter will no longer enforce the COVID-19 misleading information policy.”

The 2021 census of England and Wales, published Nov. 29, 2022, revealed that over the past 20 years, the proportion of people reporting “no religion” in the UK has soared from 14.8% to 37.2% – 22.2 million – the second most common response after Christianity. England and Wales are now minority Christian countries, with 46.2% of the population describing themselves as Christian, according to the census. The data also shows that Leicester and Birmingham have become the first UK cities to have “minority majorities.”

A 24-year-old political commentator, and live streamer, Nick Fuentes describes himself as a Christian nationalist, a member of the incel movement, and a supporter of authoritarian governments. Holocaust denial and antisemitism are his trademarks. Fuentes joined Kanye West and Ex-President Trump for dinner on Nov. 22, 2022, during which Trump was quoted  saying he liked him because he “gets him.”

According to Merriam-Webster, gaslighting is the act or practice of misleading someone, especially to one’s advantage. The word spent the entire year of 2022 in the top 50 words looked up on Merriam-Webster.com. Gaslighting can occur in both personal and political contexts. The term comes from a 1938 play about a man attempting to make his wife believe she is going mad (and the 1944 movie is based on it). 2021’s word of the year was “vaccine.”

What’s Medical Gaslighting?

Patients who feel their symptoms are dismissed as psychologic are said to suffer from medical gaslighting.

As monkeypox spread to more than 100 countries in 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided on Nov. 28 to rename it mpox to avoid “racist and stigmatizing language.” Monkeypox and mpox will both be used for the next year while the old name is phased out.

Dua Lipa was born to Kosovan-Albanian parents in London in 1995. Her parents left Kosovo three years before she was born, as tensions that eventually led to the 1998-9 war began to arise.

Is Dua Lipa an Albanian citizen?

The Albanian president granted Lipa Albanian citizenship on Nov. 28, 2022, for promoting the country through her music and fame. She ended her world tour in Albania’s capital, Tirana, on the same day with a show commemorating 110 years of independence from the Ottoman Empire.

The 1980s singer Irene Cara, who sang the theme songs to “Flashdance” and “Fame,” passed away on Nov. 25, 2022. She was 63. Her “Flashdance” song “What a Feeling” earned her an Oscar and a Grammy in 1984. She sang the title track and played Coco Hernandez in the film version of Fame (1980).

Gwendoline Christie plays Larissa Weems, Nevermore Academy’s principal, in the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday. Christie is best known for her role as Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones. In a Nov. 24 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Christie says that Wednesday “is the first time I’ve ever felt beautiful on screen.”

In Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, released over the 2022 thanksgiving weekend, the MCU heroes kidnap Hollywood actor Kevin Bacon as a gift for Star-Lord. Watch the hilarious trailer.