Weekly Quiz: Burials, Book Bans, and Beleaguered Orcas

1 2 const title = "Burials, Book Bans, and Beleaguered Orcas"; const date = "July 05, 2025"; const data = [ { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/TwoLonelyOrcas_Final-1-1536x1024.jpg", title: "The Two Captive Orcas Who Can Nearly Taste Freedom", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/marineland-orca/", question: "Since 2016, the Whale Sanctuary Project has worked to create the world’s first ocean sanctuary in Nova Scotia for captive-born orcas. Without orcas to home in the sanctuary, building it is a distant dream, but their hopes rest on a mother and son held in captivity at Marineland Antibes. Despite costing the marine park €500,000 (approximately $800,000) per orca in annual maintenance, why is Marineland Antibes still reluctant to give them up?", options: [ "They want to build their own ocean sanctuary in France", "They want to breed the orcas to replenish their stock", "They want to secure higher bids on the orcas to recoup their costs", "They want to conduct a thorough veterinary assessment before considering a transfer", ], answer: "They want to breed the orcas to replenish their stock", correct: "Lori Marino, a marine mammal neuroscientist and the founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project, believes that the two orcas, a twenty-four-year-old female named Wikie and her eleven-year-old son Keijo, are valuable to marine parks because they want breeders to replenish their captive stock. “They want baby orcas, which bring people through the turnstiles,” says Marino. According to Muriel Arnal, president of the animal rights association One Voice, each orca is worth millions, and they’ve become more valuable in recent years as captures have become less common and since SeaWorld has ended its breeding program.", incorrect: "Lori Marino, a marine mammal neuroscientist and the founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project, believes that the two orcas, a twenty-four-year-old female named Wikie and her eleven-year-old son Keijo, are valuable to marine parks because they want breeders to replenish their captive stock. “They want baby orcas, which bring people through the turnstiles,” says Marino. According to Muriel Arnal, president of the animal rights association One Voice, each orca is worth millions, and they’ve become more valuable in recent years as captures have become less common and since SeaWorld has ended its breeding program.", }, { title: "Alberta’s Book Ban Is a Blatant Act of Cultural Vandalism", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/albertas-book-ban-is-a-blatant-act-of-cultural-vandalism/", question:" It appears Alberta is entering the book-banning business. In late May, the province sent out a survey inviting Albertans to provide feedback on what is “acceptable for school library collections.” What does writer and University of Toronto literature professor Ira Wells note as a major flaw in their survey approach?", options: [ "The survey used isolated graphic novel images to imply excessive pornography in school library books", "The survey failed to offer respondents the opportunity to suggest books they felt should be included in school libraries", "The first draft of the survey was shared with social conservative activist groups before being shared with the general public", "The survey was only accessible to Albertans with internet access", ], answer: "The survey used isolated graphic novel images to imply excessive pornography in school library books", correct: "One major flaw identified by Wells, who also serves as president of PEN Canada, a non-profit advocating for the right to freedom of expression, is the survey’s use of isolated images from graphic novels to imply that schools are awash in pornography. For nearly a century, free speech jurisprudence has emphasized that obscenity be judged in the context of an entire work—its structure, intent, and overall effect on the reader—and not by individual sentences or images. (That was the core of judge John Woolsey’s reasoning in his landmark 1933 decision lifting the ban on James Joyce’s Ulysses.) Those quick to denounce works by Mike Curato or Alison Bechdel should apply the same standard: read the whole book, not just the most salacious pages.", incorrect: "One major flaw identified by Wells, who also serves as president of PEN Canada, a non-profit advocating for the right to freedom of expression, is the survey’s use of isolated images from graphic novels to imply that schools are awash in pornography. For nearly a century, free speech jurisprudence has emphasized that obscenity be judged in the context of an entire work—its structure, intent, and overall effect on the reader—and not by individual sentences or images. (That was the core of judge John Woolsey’s reasoning in his landmark 1933 decision lifting the ban on James Joyce’s Ulysses.) Those quick to denounce works by Mike Curato or Alison Bechdel should apply the same standard: read the whole book, not just the most salacious pages.", }, { image: "https://walrus-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Boyagoda_Pope-1800-1536x1025.jpg", title: "The Catholic Case against Artificial Intelligence", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/pope-leo-artificial-intelligence/", question: "From the start of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has cited artificial intelligence as a major global concern, but he is not the first pope to be troubled by technology. During the 2024 G7 summit in Puglia, Italy, Pope Francis raised many concerns about AI. In what areas did Francis believe its use to be particularly worrisome?", options: [ "Media and politics", "Mental health and spirituality", "Education and transportation", "Warfare and law", ], answer: "Warfare and law", correct: "Addressing the leaders of the G7 on the subject last June, Francis called AI “an exciting and fearsome tool,” particularly worrisome in the areas of warfare and law. He also pointed to the ways in which intensifying interactions with AI programs could have erosive effects on individual people, on their psyches and bodies. Francis made similar points at Davos this past January and, later that same month, the Vatican released a document entitled Antiqua et Nova: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence. It argues that although the rise of AI puts “[t]he vast expanse of the world’s knowledge” at our fingertips, we risk becoming “humanly or spiritually barren” unless we move “beyond the mere accumulation of data and strive to achieve true wisdom.”", incorrect: "Addressing the leaders of the G7 on the subject last June, Francis called AI “an exciting and fearsome tool,” particularly worrisome in the areas of warfare and law. He also pointed to the ways in which intensifying interactions with AI programs could have erosive effects on individual people, on their psyches and bodies. Francis made similar points at Davos this past January and, later that same month, the Vatican released a document entitled Antiqua et Nova: Note on the Relationship Between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence. It argues that although the rise of AI puts “[t]he vast expanse of the world’s knowledge” at our fingertips, we risk becoming “humanly or spiritually barren” unless we move “beyond the mere accumulation of data and strive to achieve true wisdom.”", }, { title: "The Dearly Departed Are Getting Creative with Death", url: "https://thewalrus.ca/death-disrupted/", question: "As more people move away from burials in favour of more affordable and sustainable alternatives, some methods have gained more popularity than others. While environmentalists often disapprove of cremation, today Canada is doing a lot of it. Which province has the highest rate of cremation in the country?", options: [ "Manitoba", "Newfoundland and Labrador", "British Columbia", "Prince Edward Island", ], answer: "British Columbia", correct: "Canada cremates more than 75 percent of its dead, up from 58.9 percent in 2008, with British Columbia reporting the highest rate at 86.8 percent. In 1970, the cremation rate in the US and Canada was 5 percent. While a death certificate must be issued before a cremation can proceed—and that can sometimes take weeks depending on the circumstances, which is longer than journalist Ellen Himelfarb’s Jewish family would abide—they’re usually easier to plan. Old urban cemeteries are closing to new applicants; meanwhile, a “direct cremation” can be triggered at any time (no visitation, no fanfare).", incorrect: "Canada cremates more than 75 percent of its dead, up from 58.9 percent in 2008, with British Columbia reporting the highest rate at 86.8 percent. In 1970, the cremation rate in the US and Canada was 5 percent. While a death certificate must be issued before a cremation can proceed—and that can sometimes take weeks depending on the circumstances, which is longer than journalist Ellen Himelfarb’s Jewish family would abide—they’re usually easier to plan. Old urban cemeteries are closing to new applicants; meanwhile, a “direct cremation” can be triggered at any time (no visitation, no fanfare).", }, ]; The post Weekly Quiz: Burials, Book Bans, and Beleaguered Orcas first appeared on The Walrus.