Thursday, October 19, 2023
Scam school for grandparents; a Disney detour; cricketers to the rescue; and some very hot stuff!
LINKS
The ABCs of Cyber Safety: https://nationalseniors.com.au/afp-videos
Bella – the cat with the world’s loudest purr: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2023/10/17/Guinness-World-Records-loudest-purr-living-cat/7331697575347/
Find out about Water Night: https://thewaterconservancy.org/water-night/register-for-water-night-2022/
Squiz Kids Book Club: https://www.squizkids.com.au/book_club/
Newshounds
Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms
https://www.squizkids.com.au/about-newshounds/
Classroom Companion:
Teachers! Want to access free, curriculum-aligned classroom resources tied to the daily podcast? Sign up to be a Squiz Kids Classroom and download the Classroom Companion each day. Made by teachers for teachers, differentiated to suit all primary school ability levels. And did we mention it’s free?
Stay up to date with us on our Squiz Kids Instagram!
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 / NEWSHOUNDS
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[HOWL] Hello Squiz-E, what are you doing at this end of the podcast?
Every Thursday, Squiz-E the Newshound pops his head into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he’s sniffed out on the internet .. and this week, his tail is wagging frantically because he’s found a new way that you can help to combat scammers on the internet.
In my house and at school, whenever I need help with tech, there’s usually a clued-up 10-year-old that I can ask for advice. So kids, Squiz-E and the Australia Federal Police, or AFP, want you to help your grandparents and other oldies in your life to learn their ABCs this Cyber Awareness Month.
In this case, that’s ‘A’ for avoiding clicking on unfamiliar links, ‘B’ for blocking calls from suspected scammers, and ‘C’ for contacting your bank immediately over any suspicious transactions.
The AFP has created a whole heap of 90-second videos specifically about cyber safety for older Australians; the link is in the episode notes. Squiz-E hopes that you’ll take the time to watch them with your nan and pop so that they, too, know how to Stop, Think and Check when they come across fishy things happening on the internet. Great work, AFP and Squiz-E, you’ve done it again! [HOWL]
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…Disneyland!? Wait… this isn’t where we’re supposed to be!
Imagine you’re on a train, on the way to a pretty boring appointment, and you look out the window only to see that you’re on Main Street USA in the heart of Disneyland.
Well that’s what happened to hundreds of member of the European parliament and their staff recently. They were all aboard a train, travelling from Brussels, the capital of Belgium, to Strasbourg (a French city that borders Germany), for a planning meeting, when, due to a signalling error, they were rerouted to Paris Disney!
Unfortunately, the politicians were not allowed to leave the train, even though one parliamentarian lamented that he could see the top of Space Mountain out his window.
After a 45-minute delay, they were back on their way. Some people think that Goofy may have made his way onto the train, but that’s an unconfirmed report.
SPORT TIME
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How great are mates!? It’s so important to have friends who’ve got your back, especially when you’re going through tough times. That’s why it was so great yesterday when the body that represents Aussie Cricketers, the Australian Cricketers Association (or ACA), announced that they would put aside $200,000 to help Aussie netballers who are currently in a dispute with Netball Australia over how they should be paid.
You see, Aussie cricketers had the same fight over fair pay back in 2017, so they know what it’s like. The netballers want a share of the profits that will naturally increase as the sport becomes more popular, as more people head out to games, watch the coverage on TV or online, and purchase merchandise.
The ACA has also put the call out for other sports to chip in, because until the dispute can be resolved, the netballers, whose contracts expired at the end of September, can’t get paid.
If you want to support the Aussie Women, you can tune in this evening to watch the Diamonds sparkle as they take on New Zealand’s Silver Ferns in the 3rd game of the Constellation Cup. Come on, Aussies!
BIGGEST, FURTHEST, LONGEST
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We’ve got two very different Guinness World Records to tell you about today.
Firstly, to South Carolina in the US of A where the man who grew the world’s hottest chilli, The Carolina Reaper, has broken his own World Record, creating a chilli called Pepper X, that is three times hotter!
The chilli has been described as “brutally hot” with the heat lasting for hours and causing intense stomach cramping. Hmmm, that I can do without.
And finally, meet Bella! She’s a 14-year-old house cat residing in Cambridgeshire, England, who has recently been rewarded for her acoustic excellence as the house cat with the loudest purr in the world! Bella’s vociferous vocalisations measured and found to be 54.59 decibels, which is a bit louder than your average dishwasher but not quite as loud as a vacuum cleaner. Which her owner thinks is just purrr-fect!
THE S’QUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Where were the politicians who made an unexpected stop in Disneyland on their way to?
- Which Aussie sporting code is financially supporting netballers through their pay negotiations?
- What’s the name of the new ‘World’s Hottest Chilli’?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s October 19 … and tonight is Water Night. Between 5 and 10pm tonight, all Ausiies are encouraged to turn off their taps and think about how precious our water supply is. There’s a link in your episode notes if you’d like to find out more.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …
George from Yass, Liam from Oak Park, Manreet from Cannon Hill, Issy from Upper Mount Gravatt, Kieren from Jindabyne, Thomas from Mareeba, Sadie from Forde, Jasper from Currumbin, Simba from Forestville and Isaac from Andrews farm.
A belated shoutout goes to… Julien from Kingsgrove.
And classroom shout outs go to … year 3 with Ms M, Miss Black and Mr Jones at Andersons Creek Primary School in Warrandyte, year 6 with Mrs Trowell at St Patrick’s College in Shorncliffe, year 4 with Miss Lewington at Esperance Primary School, class 4H with Mr Hauser at Nightcliff Primary School, years 3 to 6 with Miss Taylor at Jerilderie Public School, class 5/6M with Ms Matias at Enfield Public School and class 4R with Mr Perez at Haberfield Public School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- A planning meeting in Strasbourg
- Cricket
- Pepper X