Friday, 15 October, 2021
It’s getting wet around here; the meteorite on a pillow; meet the two-headed turtle and five-legged lamb; and Fortnite: the movie.
LINKS
Meteorite in bed: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/meteorite-crashes-into-womans-bedroom-golden-bc-1.6207904
Two-headed turtle: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/12/metro/two-headed-turtle-found-cape-cod/
Five-legged lamb: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-14/sheep-with-five-legs-found-among-orroroo-lamb-flock/100530244
Squiz Kids Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Send us an email at [email protected]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Break out your brollies and dust off your gumboots … the wild and wooly weather we’re having up and down the east coast of Australia might just be a taste of things to come, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a wetter than average summer with floods and cyclones expected.
Rain and hailstorms battered pretty much every eastern state of Australia yesterday – from Tasmania in the south to Queensland in the north. Sydney copped a shellacking yesterday afternoon, with hail falling in large parts of the city, a tornado warning issued and part of a shopping centre roof collapsing under the deluge. While Brisbane woke to pelting rains yesterday while up on the Darling Downs, they ended the day under the threat of giant hailstones.
And according to the Bureau of Meteorology – which is the clever bunch of scientists whose job it is to predict the weather – it’s all a taste of what’s to come.
No fewer than 11 tropical cyclones are predicted to form in waters off Australia this summer, with at least four crossing the coast. And rainfall over the summer – especially in the north and east of the country – is expected to be higher than average. Good time to be a duck, I reckon.
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 western Canada, where a meteorite has smashed through a woman’s bedroom ceiling and landed on her pillow. It all started when Ruth Hamilton’s dog started barking. She’d been asleep for hours, but got up to see what the problem was. Seconds later, she said, there was a huge explosion, and debris—which means scattered pieces of rubbish—all over her face. Not surprisingly, Ruth was in a bit of a panic, so the next thing she did was to call 000. (Although in Canada, it’s 911.) Then, as Ruth was answering the operator’s questions, she leaned back on her floral pillowcase, and felt it. A chunk of rock, centimetres from where her head had been seconds before! Next, she noticed the hole in her roof. Later, university experts confirmed that it was in fact a meteorite that had crashed from the sky into Ruth’s bed. She is sending them the space rock to study more closely… and to get her bed back to herself.
There are photos of the meteorite on Ruth’s pillow in your episode notes.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Fortnite fans … your prayers have been answered. If you’ve ever thought you’d love to see the Fortnite universe up on the big screen – you may be in luck. Reports in the gaming world suggest Epic Games, creators of Fortnite, are thinking about making their world-conquering game into a movie.
And if it comes to pass … it could have a very definite Star Wars feel to it. People who used to work at the company that made the recent Stars Wars films have started working at Epic .. which is reportedly planning to expand beyond video games into scripted entertainment .. which is to say, TV shows and movies.
It wouldn’t be the first time a video game has been made into a movie … PacMan has had his own movie, Super Mario Bros and Sonic The Hedgehog both have their own films. And for the older members of the Squiz Kids audience, who could forget Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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And because it’s a Friday – and we love a bit of freaky on a Friday – today’s animal kingdom features two tales from the wild side .. starting with the discovery off Cape Cod in America this week of a two headed turtle. The hatchling – which is the name given to a turtle that’s just come out of the egg – has one shell, six legs – three on each side – and two identical heads. The vets caring for the Mary Kate and Ashley – as the turtles have been named – say they seem very happy sharing a body, and have worked out a way to swim without going around in circles.
Meanwhile, closer to home, a sheep farmer in South Australia has found among his flock a lamb with a foot growing out of its head.
The fully-formed foot hangs limply from the back of the lamb’s head – making it, technically, a five legged lamb.
And yes, of course, there are links to photos of the two-headed turtle and five legged lamb in today’s episode notes.
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 …
- What sort of animal off the coast of America has been born with two heads?
- What fell through a woman’s bedroom ceiling, narrowly missing her head?
- Which popular online game may be turned into a movie?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s October 15 … Global Handwashing Day … so make sure you give your mits an extra lather of soap and an extra long session under the tap today.
It’s also a Friday – and you know what that means? An extra long birthday shout out segment … for which I’m going to roll out the birthday reggae tune .. hit it ..
And it’s a happy birthday today…Haisam from Perth, Peyton from Walpole, Riley from Oran Park, Holly from Sunshine Beach, Hudson from Brisbane, Josh from Parkside, Kaitlyn from Greystanes, Grace from Rose Bay and Jed from Albany Hills.
And belated shout outs go to…Patience from Perth and Theodore from Adelaide.
Not forgetting of course all of those Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday over the coming weekend …Jonah from South Nowra, Savannah from Woodhill, twins Georgie and Hunter from Mt Eliza, John from Camp Hill, Tobias from Narraweena, Harriet from Canberra, Emma and Sartaj from Springfield and Audrey all the way over in Oxford, United Kingdom.
And because our friends in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney aren’t at school we are sending out home learning herograms …one goes to Ms Alexander and year 2 at Erskineville Public School. Also to Sharit and Prashid from Marayong Public School and all their teachers for working extremely hard during lock down. A herogram to Seb, in class 2W at St John’s Catholic Primary School in Narraweena – for trying his hardest when he has a broken arm. And lastly to class 2D at Warrawee Public School and their teacher Mrs Drury.
And finally classroom shout outs – to those lucky Squiz Kids NOT in lockdown…to class 6A at Oryx International School in Doha, Qatar and a very happy birthday to their teacher, Mr Cassidy for Sunday. Also a shout out to all the students at The Rock Central School, in regional NSW.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Turtle
- Meteorite
- Fortnite