Monday, 3 April, 2023

Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Complete the form on our Squiz Kids website. Link: SHOUT OUTS or / send us an email at [email protected]

THE LOWDOWN

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Here’s the short version of what happened in the Formula One Australian Grand Prix, held in Melbourne yesterday. The world champion, Max Verstappen, started first, and finished first.

And if I left it there, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a boring race. But from the very first lap of this 300km car race, there was drama and controversy.

In all, three race-stopping red flag crashes occurred – meaning that organisers had to stop the race while wheels, bits of metal, and other debris was cleaned off the track. Don’t worry, no one was hurt.

The second red-flag crash came extremely late in the race, so there was supposed to be a two-lap sprint to the finish. But after less than ONE lap of that sprint, five cars crashed out, and ANOTHER red flag went up! The record-breaking crowd went wild, chanting “one more lap” as organisers debated what to do. Eventually, the remaining cars did that final lap, which delivered Verstappen and his Red Bull team their first Australian Grand Prix victory.

It also resulted in Oscar Piastri – the 21 year old McLaren driver from Melbourne – winning his first ever world championship points, the first time he raced his Formula One car in front of a home crowd.

(If you’re unfamiliar with the sport, the drivers who finish from 1st down to 10th all win a differnet number of points at every Grand Prix held over a year, and the person with the most points overall becomes World Champion at the end of the season. Oscar came 8th yesterday in his McLaren.)

I’ve put an explainer to what Formula One racing is all about, as well as some video links to those crashes, in your episode notes. I repeat – no one was hurt.

SPIN THE GLOBE
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Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops .. and today we’ve landed in Jamaica, where I am confident the world’s most unfair school sports race has just been run. We’re talking about the 100 metres for Mums at a local school on the Caribbean island, which became international news when Zyon’s Mum decided to have a go.

Zyon is six, and his Mum is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Yes, that Ms. Fraser-Pryce… ten-time world champion in the 100m, 200m, and relay… three-time Olympic gold medallist… the third fastest woman in history. I’ll put a link in your episode notes – I think you know what happened.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

Okay, for this next news item, I want you to picture 83 of those 100m running tracks that Zyon’s Mum dominated on. As in, 83 x 100 metres… which equals 8,300 metres, or 8.3 km. You with me?

Okay, now imagine diving that deep down into the ocean – and just for good luck, going an extra 36 metres. It’s down here, 8,336 m deep in waters south of Japan, that Australian scientists have filmed a record-breaking snailfish – the deepest-swimming fish ever caught on camera. The previous record holder was 158m shallower.

If you watch the video in your episode notes, you’ll see a graceful, almost luminous creature wafting past a camera that was lowered from the side of a research boat. But scroll down a bit to the photos of snailfish caught a few hundred metres higher on the same expedition, and you’ll see how these creatures have evolved to cope with the extreme pressure of the deep sea. They look, basically, like jelly.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

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If you were driving along at night and saw three police cars blocking the road, lights flashing, and a crowd of people gathered, what would you think had happened? A car crash? Bank robbery?

How about a big old alligator, disturbing the peace? Officers in Tampa Bay, Florida, were called out to solve the problem of a 2.7 metre alligator wandering down a city street. Their body cam footage, which is of course in your episode notes, shows how they fashion a lasso out of yellow rope, get it around the gator’s mouth, and then literally jump on its back to hold the reptile down.

What a shame it wasn’t a crocodile… then I could make all kinds of excellent Dad jokes about the police arresting a crook-adile. Oh, whoops. I just did. [Dad joke alarm]

THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …

What kind of fish was found at a record-breaking depth of 8,336m?
From which Caribbean nation is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, aka Zyon’s Mum?
How did the Tampa police close the mouth of an alligator wandering down their city’s streets?

SHOUT OUTS

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It’s April 3… and 50 years ago today, in 1973, the very first handheld mobile phone call was made by a Motorola executive walking along Sixth Avenue in New York. Guess who he called? A rival company that was also trying to build a mobile phone. Ouch. I’ll put a photo in your episode notes. You will not BELIEVE the size of the thing.

It’s also a very special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… Caroline from Kippa Ring, Chris from Campbelltown, Jasper from Adelaide, Elizabeth from Woollahra, Ayla from Cannon Hill, Noah from Bathurst, Audrey from Canberra, Emilia from Bardon, Jack from North Manly, Bea from Brisbane and Laurie from Shropshire, United Kingdom.

We’re sending belated birthday wishes out to …. Sofia from Sydney, Kyle from Narellan, Mitchell from York Peninsula, Christina from Glenfield and Lilla and Edie from Ballina.

And let’s not forget our Squiz Kids Classrooms… a very happy Monday – and the last week of term – to class 4B and Ms B at St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School in Corinda,

class 4G and Mr Griffin at Elermore Vale Public School in Newcastle, class sp2 and Mrs Graham at St Pius X Parish School in Warrnambool, class 5/6 Dharaban and Ms Aliza at Throsby School and classes S1B and S3O with Mrs Oliver and Mrs Blain at Bolwarra Public School.

The S’Quiz Answers:

Snailfish
Jamaica
With a lasso made from yellow rope

Optional Evergreen Extras!

Think/Feel/Infer 3-2-1 Exercise (3 important details from the Lowdown; 2 other things I learned; 1 question I still have)Find the Main Idea and Details