Friday, March 11 News Quiz of the Week: Putin, Poutine

The letter Z does not exist in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet. Yet, Z has become the main symbol of public support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Observers first spotted the mysterious Z-shaped letter hand-painted on Russian tanks massed on the Ukrainian border in Feb. 2022. On March 4, 2022, thousands of Serbs waving Russian flags and carrying Z letters marched through Belgrade to the Russian embassy to support Moscow’s brutality. And on March 5, the Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak sported the Z insignia as he stood next to Ukraine’s Kovtun Illia, the gold medallist at a gymnastics World Cup event in Doha. Kremlin-funded state network RT announced on its social media channels that it was selling Z merchandise, including T-shirts and hoodies, to support Russian troops.

Update: On March 26, 2022, Zurich Insurance removed its Z logo – a white Z on a blue background – from social media. The company said it did not want to be mistaken as supporting Russia in the conflict.

WNBA player and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner was arrested and detained in Russia in late Feb. 2022, upon arriving from New York. Russian Customs Service found vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage.

What was Griner doing in Russia?

Griner plays overseas in the offseason like many other WNBA players, where salaries can be much higher. She has been playing offseason with Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2015.

Stolichnaya (Stoli) vodka has long been marketed as Russian vodka, but its production facilities have been in Latvia since 2000, when its founder, Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler, was exiled because of his opposition to Putin. On March 4, 2022, the maker of Stolichnaya vodka announced a major rebrand – it will no longer be marketed as Russian and will be renamed Stoli. Stoli Group is a unit of Luxembourg-based SPI Group.

Telegram is Ukraine’s most popular messaging app. The app, which has more than 550 million monthly users globally, was banned in Russia in 2018 after its founder Pavel Durov refused to give the authorities access to its user data. Russia lifted the ban in mid-2020. Telegram became a 24-hour news source for civilians, journalists, and even the military in the Ukrainian war.

Does Telegram block Russian and Ukrainian communications?

“We do not want Telegram to be used as a tool that exacerbates conflicts and incites ethnic hatred,” 37-year-old Durov posted on Feb. 27, 2022, as Telegram has been heavily used to spread fake news related to the war. Hours later, he changed his mind, following mass requests from users, who said it was their only source of information. “Double-check and do not take on faith the data that is published in Telegram channels during this difficult period,” Durov advised.

On his first state of the union address, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was launching a task force to go after Russian oligarchs in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. He called the oligarchs “corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime.” “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said, adding that the U.S. and European allies were after the Russian oligarchs’ yachts, luxury apartments, and private jets.

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black female justice in the Supreme Court’s 200-plus-year history. She is the second Supreme Court justice since 1870 to be confirmed without a single vote from the Senate minority party. The first is Amy Coney Barrett.

But what are Ketanji Brown Jackson’s credentials?

In late February 2022, FOX News scandalist Tucker Carlson demanded that Jackson reveal her LSAT scores – implying she hasn’t had the credential needed to be a Supreme Court Justice. In actuality, Jackson attended Harvard Law School, where she was a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. She graduated in 1996 with a Juris Doctor cum laude, spent 15 years as a public defender, and eight years as a trial court judge in the US district court in DC. On the other hand, Amy Coney Barrett holds the records for the first Supreme Court justice without an Ivy League degree since the 2010 retirement of John Paul Stevens and the only Supreme Justice who did not receive her Juris Doctor from Harvard or Yale.

The Bolshoi Theatre is located in Moscow, Russia.

Did the Bolshoi Theatre’s music director resign over the war in Ukraine?

The Bolshoi Theatre’s music director and principal conductor, Tugan Sokhiev, announced his resignation on March 6, 2022. He has also left his equivalent position at France’s Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, saying he decided to resign after “being forced to face the impossible option of choosing between my beloved Russian and beloved French musicians.” Sokhiev did not say whether he backs Russia’s actions in Ukraine but stated, “I have never supported, and I will always be against any conflicts in any shape and form.”

On March 8, 2022, Florida lawmakers passed a Republican-backed bill that would very much limit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Under the law, parents would be allowed to sue school districts they believe violate it. High school students across Florida have staged walkouts to protest the bill. Russia and Hungary passed similar anti-LGBT legislation in recent years.

Jorō spiders, or Trichonephila clavata, are Japanese spiders with colorful yellow, blue and red markings that measure three inches (8 cm) in length. Jorō spiders are venomous but pose little to no threat to humans.

Joro in the USA

The Joro spiders took over north Georgia in 2021 and were spotted in South Carolina. According to a study of the Jorō spider species published in Feb. 2022 in the journal Physiological Entomology, they could also spread into the northeastern United States.

Krypto the Superdog is Superman’s pet dog. The canine character has appeared in numerous cartoon television shows and films, including his own 2005 Cartoon Network series and as a live-action character on The CW’s Smallville. Dwayne Johnson will voice Krypto the Superdog in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets coming out on May 20, 2022. Watch its hilarious Batman (dog) trailer to find the Batdog’s name. 

Directed by Domee Shi, Turning Red is the first Pixar movie directly solely by a woman – with an almost entirely female crew. The film’s protagonist, 13-year-old Meilin Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), is a Chinese-Canadian eighth-grader in the throes of puberty. The film was released on March 11, 2022.

Who was the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio?

Brenda Chapman, co-director of Pixar’s Brave (2012), became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio in 1998 when she helmed DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt.

Pamela Anderson will play Roxie Hart from April 12-June 5, 2022, in the Broadway production musical “Chicago” at the Ambassador Theatre. Dozens of women have played the heroine of “Chicago” since the show opened in 1996, including Melanie Griffith, Brooke Shields, Lisa Rinna, and Ashlee Simpson. Renée Zellweger famously portrayed the character in Chicago’s 2002 Oscar-winning film adaptation.

Apple has announced a new version of its cheapest iPhone, SE, on March 8, 2022. Pre-orders for the new iPhone SE open on March 11, and it will be available starting March 18. Alongside its signature Touch-ID home button, the new iPhone SE will feature a faster processer, more durable 4.7-inch screen, longer-lasting battery, and compatibility with 5G networks. Expect to spend $429 on the new model.

Poutine is a classic Quebec dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with brown gravy. The dish’s name is widely believed to come from the French-Canadian pronunciation of the English word “pudding.” The famous dish shares its name – in French transliteration – with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Poutine restaurants in France received threats following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.