Weekly Quiz – September 20, 2025

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const title = "Fighter Jets, First Ladies, and Figurative Art"; const date = "September 20, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Jones_F35Canada_1800.jpg", title: "Buying the F-35 Could Be Canada’s Biggest Strategic Mistake", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/buying-the-f-35-could-be-canadas-biggest-strategic-mistake/", question: "Canada’s F-18 fighter jets are rapidly nearing the end of their lives, but investing in F-35s to replace them comes with risks, namely handing over power to the United States. What critical component of the F-35 is exclusively managed by the Pentagon’s Joint Program Office?", options: [ "Source codes", "Navigation systems", "Communication encryption keys", "Structural design blueprints", ], answer: "Source codes", correct: "The F-35’s performance hinges on frequent updates to its operating system. All of this comes from the Joint Program Office, or JPO. The JPO is the Pentagon’s nerve centre for the F-35, steering the aircraft’s design, costs, and upkeep. Critically, the JPO controls the “source codes” of the F-35—the basic software which allows the jet to receive the latest improvements to keep going and evolve. These source codes are not shared with the purchaser of the aircraft (though Israel, owing to its unique ties with the US, can make changes other F-35 partners can’t). This obviously creates a critical dependency. If the upgrades are cut off, the F-35 soon becomes unusable. And without the source codes, the operator of the aircraft cannot make upgrades themselves.", incorrect: "The F-35’s performance hinges on frequent updates to its operating system. All of this comes from the Joint Program Office, or JPO. The JPO is the Pentagon’s nerve centre for the F-35, steering the aircraft’s design, costs, and upkeep. Critically, the JPO controls the “source codes” of the F-35—the basic software which allows the jet to receive the latest improvements to keep going and evolve. These source codes are not shared with the purchaser of the aircraft (though Israel, owing to its unique ties with the US, can make changes other F-35 partners can’t). This obviously creates a critical dependency. If the upgrades are cut off, the F-35 soon becomes unusable. And without the source codes, the operator of the aircraft cannot make upgrades themselves.", }, { title: "Canada Is Wasting the Talent of Immigrants It Invites Here – Just Ask Your Uber Driver", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/canada-is-wasting-the-talent-of-immigrants/", question: "Canada actively seeks out skilled immigrants to support its labour force, but those it recruits remain undervalued and underpaid. According to a 2019 report by RBC Economics, by how much more could Canada grow its annual gross domestic product if it brought immigrants up to the wage and employment levels of people born in Canada?", options: [ "$20 billion", "$30 billion", "$40 billion", "$50 billion", ], answer: "$50 billion", correct: "The report, titled Untapped Potential, says that the Canadian economy can add up to $50 billion in annual gross domestic product by bringing immigrants up to the wage and employment levels of those born in Canada. It highlights that the Canadian economy is missing out on the talents and skills of immigrants by forcing them into professions not suited to their professional backgrounds, noting that only 38 percent of university-educated immigrants aged twenty-five to fifty-four work in an occupation requiring a university degree, compared with 52 percent of those born in Canada. What the report also points out is that the immigrant earnings gap has worsened in the past thirty years even though immigrants have become significantly more educated than the Canadian-born population.", incorrect: "The report, titled Untapped Potential, says that the Canadian economy can add up to $50 billion in annual gross domestic product by bringing immigrants up to the wage and employment levels of those born in Canada. It highlights that the Canadian economy is missing out on the talents and skills of immigrants by forcing them into professions not suited to their professional backgrounds, noting that only 38 percent of university-educated immigrants aged twenty-five to fifty-four work in an occupation requiring a university degree, compared with 52 percent of those born in Canada. What the report also points out is that the immigrant earnings gap has worsened in the past thirty years even though immigrants have become significantly more educated than the Canadian-born population.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/WEB_TheReluctantFirstLady_SEPT25.webp", title: "Diana Fox Carney Is Trying Hard Not to Be Noticed", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/diana-fox-carney-is-trying-hard-not-to-be-noticed/", question: "She’s a climate expert, a hockey player, and an Oxford alumna, but being the wife of Canada’s new prime minister means Diana Fox Carney still faces the typical scrutiny first ladies do when it comes to their appearance. Although Fox Carney hasn’t expressed an explicit interest in fashion, what aspect of the industry does writer Wendy Kaur believe she would turn her attention to?", options: [ "Responsible supply chains and resisting consumerism", "Textile innovation and ethical garment manufacturing", "The importance of supporting Canadian-owned brands", "The mental health impact of conforming to beauty standards", ], answer: "Responsible supply chains and resisting consumerism", correct: "For first ladies, fashion is never just fashion—it ends up being a form of signalling. And for political watchers, even understated choices can seem to offer insight into policy values. Fox Carney’s well-toned silhouette could be said to suggest a disciplined, pragmatic side; her clothes are more about movement than ornament. Whatever interest Fox Carney has in fashion seems focused on pushing responsible supply chains and resisting consumerism. In 2012, she said that “having more stuff doesn’t make us happy,” adding that she has “seen first-hand the devastation that our willful refusal to challenge consumerist habits is wreaking on marginal communities.” But advocacy comes with complications—especially for a political spouse. “If you’re choosing to be active and talking about things, you put yourself up for criticism,” says former first lady of Iceland Eliza Reid.", incorrect: "For first ladies, fashion is never just fashion—it ends up being a form of signalling. And for political watchers, even understated choices can seem to offer insight into policy values. Fox Carney’s well-toned silhouette could be said to suggest a disciplined, pragmatic side; her clothes are more about movement than ornament. Whatever interest Fox Carney has in fashion seems focused on pushing responsible supply chains and resisting consumerism. In 2012, she said that “having more stuff doesn’t make us happy,” adding that she has “seen first-hand the devastation that our willful refusal to challenge consumerist habits is wreaking on marginal communities.” But advocacy comes with complications—especially for a political spouse. “If you’re choosing to be active and talking about things, you put yourself up for criticism,” says former first lady of Iceland Eliza Reid.", }, { title: "How Instagram Upended the Art World", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/how-instagram-upended-the-art-world/", question: "Wunderkind painter Anna Weyant has been part of a recent shift in the art world to figurative, representational painting. What Baroque artist does writer Tatum Dooley believe Weyant mirrors in her work?", options: [ "Leonardo da Vinci", "Johannes Vermeer", "Thomas Gainsborough", "Edgar Degas", ], answer: "Johannes Vermeer", correct: "Boasting a following of over 175,000 on Instagram, Weyant blurs the line between influencer and artist, and she is equally adept at both. Her paintings are traditional and flawless, taking after the seventeenth-century Dutch masters—a contemporary version of Vermeer with stark chiaroscuro, anatomical accuracy, and deftly painted fabrics. The subtle colour palette is executed with precision, and the texture appears to have aged over time, so that looking at her work makes it feel as if you were looking at a painting at the Met. Weyant often sticks to painting realistic vignettes of everyday life, and throughout her work, there’s a specific thread of feminine melancholy that’s relatable, if not hyperbolic.", incorrect: "Boasting a following of over 175,000 on Instagram, Weyant blurs the line between influencer and artist, and she is equally adept at both. Her paintings are traditional and flawless, taking after the seventeenth-century Dutch masters—a contemporary version of Vermeer with stark chiaroscuro, anatomical accuracy, and deftly painted fabrics. The subtle colour palette is executed with precision, and the texture appears to have aged over time, so that looking at her work makes it feel as if you were looking at a painting at the Met. Weyant often sticks to painting realistic vignettes of everyday life, and throughout her work, there’s a specific thread of feminine melancholy that’s relatable, if not hyperbolic.", }, ];