Weekly Quiz: Fixating on Fighter Jets, Compromising Canada Post, and Savouring Spicy Food

1 2 const title = "Fixating on Fighter Jets, Compromising Canada Post, and Savouring Spicy Food"; const date = "May 31, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/AmiriMadwar_Afghanistan-1800-1536x1024.jpg", title: "The Taliban Are Turning Boys’ Schools into Jihadist Training Grounds", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/the-taliban-are-turning-boys-schools-into-jihadist-training-grounds/", question: "The Taliban are transforming boys’ education in Afghanistan, encouraging students to enrol in militant madrassas, which are religious schools that have evolved over the past few decades to become breeding grounds for radicalized fighters. What does the Taliban do to incentivize enrolment?", options: [ "They offer individual student stipends for regular attendance", "They provide on-site health care", "They cover all tuition costs", "They guarantee a job within the government for all madrassa graduates", ], answer: "They cover all tuition costs", correct: "Between 2020 and 2024, the number of madrassas across Afghanistan shot up from about 1,800 to 22,000, with more still being built. In the past, madrassas focused on religious teachings, says Nader Nadery, a human rights activist and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Because madrassas functioned like boarding schools, they were often a way for poorer families to ensure their children were housed and fed while they also learned to read and write. Now, however, there are more and more jihadi madrassas emphasizing military training to churn out fresh, zealous recruits for the Taliban’s security forces and Ministry of Defense. To encourage enrolment, the Taliban cover tuition costs.", incorrect: "Between 2020 and 2024, the number of madrassas across Afghanistan shot up from about 1,800 to 22,000, with more still being built. In the past, madrassas focused on religious teachings, says Nader Nadery, a human rights activist and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Because madrassas functioned like boarding schools, they were often a way for poorer families to ensure their children were housed and fed while they also learned to read and write. Now, however, there are more and more jihadi madrassas emphasizing military training to churn out fresh, zealous recruits for the Taliban’s security forces and Ministry of Defense. To encourage enrolment, the Taliban cover tuition costs.", }, { title: "What Would It Take for Canada to Make Its Own Fighter Jets Again?", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/what-would-it-take-for-canada-to-build-its-own-fighter-jets-again/", question: "Canada needs new fighter jets, but debates over the country’s purchase of American fighter jets are complicating the process. Enter Sweden’s Saab Gripen E, a reemerging competitor for the F-35 that defence experts are now considering as an alternative. What is the Gripen’s biggest drawback compared to the F-35?", options: [ "Its incompatibility with North American communication and data-sharing systems", "Its inability to adapt to extreme environmental conditions", "Its limited scale of production and lack of major export markets", "Its lack of takeoff and landing versatility", ], answer: "Its limited scale of production and lack of major export markets", correct: "Journalist Wesley Wark says the Gripen’s biggest drawback is the limited scale of production and lack of major export markets, which is a constraint on in-service upgrades and lifespan. It doesn’t carry the “prestige” of the top-line US fighter jet, though that prestige may increasingly be tarnished by Donald Trump. The Gripen also lacks the stealth capabilities that are the hallmark of the F-35. It’s not built to conquer the world technologically; it’s not designed to beat any air defence system. It’s designed to be good, even great, in an air deterrence mode. It’s fast (at a top speed of Mach 2, or 2,130 kilometres per hour)—faster, in fact, than the F-35 (top speed of Mach 1.6, or 1,960 kilometres per hour); light; highly manoeuvrable, and, like the F-35, it can carry plenty of weapons. Crucially, it is easier to operate and maintain; it can land on less well-prepared runways (including highways, at a pinch—don’t try that with an F-35); and it has an added fuel tank, an important consideration for any Canadian Arctic defence role.", incorrect: "Journalist Wesley Wark says the Gripen’s biggest drawback is the limited scale of production and lack of major export markets, which is a constraint on in-service upgrades and lifespan. It doesn’t carry the “prestige” of the top-line US fighter jet, though that prestige may increasingly be tarnished by Donald Trump. The Gripen also lacks the stealth capabilities that are the hallmark of the F-35. It’s not built to conquer the world technologically; it’s not designed to beat any air defence system. It’s designed to be good, even great, in an air deterrence mode. It’s fast (at a top speed of Mach 2, or 2,130 kilometres per hour)—faster, in fact, than the F-35 (top speed of Mach 1.6, or 1,960 kilometres per hour); light; highly manoeuvrable, and, like the F-35, it can carry plenty of weapons. Crucially, it is easier to operate and maintain; it can land on less well-prepared runways (including highways, at a pinch—don’t try that with an F-35); and it has an added fuel tank, an important consideration for any Canadian Arctic defence role.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/OToole_CanadaPost-1800-735x490.jpg", title: "The Political Stunt That Killed Canada Post’s Last Chance at Relevance", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/the-political-stunt-that-killed-canada-posts-last-chance-at-relevance/", question: "With letter mail continuing to decline and more and more parcel delivery work being taken up by independent contractors for e-commerce companies like Amazon, Canada Post is on the brink of collapse. Since 2017, how many pieces of letter mail have declined annually?", options: [ "800 million pieces of mail", "1.5 billion pieces of mail", "2 billion pieces of mail", "3 billion pieces of mail", ], answer: "3 billion pieces of mail", correct: "Today, Canada Post is facing an existential crisis that was forecast back in 2013. The current facts and figures surrounding the Crown corporation are grim: since 2017, they’ve lost $3 billion. Over the same period, letter mail declined by over 3 billion pieces per year, giving Canada Post less revenue to help their efforts to serve 3 million new homes. In 2025, the government had to provide $1 billion in special funding to keep them solvent, and an additional government subsidy of at least $1 billion is expected to be required every year beginning in 2026.", incorrect: "Today, Canada Post is facing an existential crisis that was forecast back in 2013. The current facts and figures surrounding the Crown corporation are grim: since 2017, they’ve lost $3 billion. Over the same period, letter mail declined by over 3 billion pieces per year, giving Canada Post less revenue to help their efforts to serve 3 million new homes. In 2025, the government had to provide $1 billion in special funding to keep them solvent, and an additional government subsidy of at least $1 billion is expected to be required every year beginning in 2026.", }, { title: "My Guilty Pleasure: Getting Destroyed by Spicy Food", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/my-guilty-pleasure-getting-destroyed-by-spicy-food/", question: "Growing up, journalist Robert Jago had “the diet of a cautious senior” until he was introduced to his guilty pleasure: extra spicy food. What is the main reason why spicy foods are so addictive?", options: [ "Spicy foods contain natural sugars that can quickly be converted to energy", "Spicy foods release endorphins and dopamine, which trigger your brain’s reward centre", "Spicy foods speed up digestion, which causes the body to crave more food more often", "Spicy foods fight foodborne pathogens, as many spices have antimicrobial properties", ], answer: "Spicy foods release endorphins and dopamine, which trigger your brain’s reward centre", correct: "There’s some proper science behind the badassery of eating ultra spicy food, says Jago, and it involves a thing called capsaicin, the main active ingredient in hot peppers. Surprisingly, it can be good for you. Studies show that capsaicin may improve vascular health, reduce chronic pain, and possibly extend your lifespan. Capsaicin-laden foods also give you a runner’s high that makes you want more. That’s because when you consume them, your brain is flooded with endorphins and dopamine, which trigger your brain’s reward centre. The downside is the more you eat, the more you need to eat to get the same effect. And that means your hot sauces need to keep getting hotter.", incorrect: "There’s some proper science behind the badassery of eating ultra spicy food, says Jago, and it involves a thing called capsaicin, the main active ingredient in hot peppers. Surprisingly, it can be good for you. Studies show that capsaicin may improve vascular health, reduce chronic pain, and possibly extend your lifespan. Capsaicin-laden foods also give you a runner’s high that makes you want more. That’s because when you consume them, your brain is flooded with endorphins and dopamine, which trigger your brain’s reward centre. The downside is the more you eat, the more you need to eat to get the same effect. And that means your hot sauces need to keep getting hotter.", }, ]; The post Weekly Quiz: Fixating on Fighter Jets, Compromising Canada Post, and Savouring Spicy Food first appeared on The Walrus.