1. NASA planned to launch a new crew to the International Space Station from which Middle Eastern country on June 6?
a. Kazakhstan
b. Syria
c. Iran
d. Yemen
2. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 4 that Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination law violated a baker’s First Amendment rights after he refused to make a wedding cake for a same sex couple. How was the decision split?
a. 5–4
b. 6–3
c. 7–2
d. 8–1
3. Which major social media site has been caught sharing private information about their users with over 60 device makers for at least a decade?
a. Instagram
b. Twitter
c. Snapchat
d. Facebook
4. Lulabel Seitz, the Valedictorian of Petaluma High in Northern California, had her microphone cut off after she began to talk about sexual assault during her speech at the school’s graduation ceremony on June 2. What did her classmates do?
a. Chant “Let her speak”
b. Rush the field
c. Cheer for the school
d. Boo Lulabel Seitz
5. On June 7, the Curiosity rover found what on Mars?
a. An increase in carbon in the soil
b. Organic molecules, in 3.5 billion-year-old bedrock
c. Methane pockets, in 2.5 million-year-old limestone
d. Calcium deposits in several craters
Answers:
1. a. According to its website, NASA is preparing to launch a new crew to the International Space Station on June 6 from Kazakhstan.
The launch will come on the tails of the safe return of three astronauts from the ISS.
2. c. According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, in the Supreme Court case involving a baker, Jack Phillips and a same-sex couple’s wedding cake, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phillips, 7–2.
The Supreme Court ruled that Colorado’s enforcement of the anti-discrimination law was not religiously neutral and violated the Jack Phillips’ First Amendment rights. According to the article, “The US Supreme Court found that Colorado’s enforcement of a state anti-discrimination law violated the free speech and religious rights of a baker who refused to make a cake for the wedding of two men.”
3. d. According to MassLive.com, Facebook has been sharing the private data of its users with at least 60 device-making companies.
“A new report by the Times found that Facebook shared extensive data about its users — including religious affiliations, political beliefs, relationship statuses and more — with device-makers.”
Facebook told the New York Times that it “views its device partners as extensions of Facebook itself, making the partnerships immune to some of the privacy limitations set on other third party apps and companies.”
4. a. According to the Los Angeles Times, once Lulabel Seitz’s microphone was cut, her classmates chanted “Let her speak!”
In the beginning of her address, Seitz talked about the hopes and dreams of her classmates, the wildfires that caused the school to close and the teacher’s strike that affected their school.
However, four minutes into her speech, she began to talk about sexual assault allegations, which was not part of her draft to administrators, and her microphone was cut.
Seitz posted her entire speech on YouTube for anyone to hear.
5. b. According to the Boston Herald, the Curiosity rover has found organic molecules preserved in 3.5 billion-year-old bedrock in Gale Crater.
“The chances of being able to find signs of ancient life with future missions, if life ever was present, just went up,” said Curiosity’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
