Friday, 19 June, 2020

Tennis champ fires up; Australia’s own T-rex; India’s virtual pets; and Pokemon Snap returns.

LINKS

What’s Up Fox?

Reading: https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/book/bad-dad/

Listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6dMFF_yts

Watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1NAXupaj0

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

 

THE LOWDOWN

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He’s won 16 grand slam titles, been victorious at Wimbledon, the French Open and the Aussie Open here in Melbourne. He’s a remarkable tennis player with an indomitable spirit. And now Dylan Alcott is angry.

Organisers of the US Open yesterday announced that while they were forging ahead with the competition at the end of August, despite coronavirus cases still rising at a rapid rate in the United States, there would be no wheelchair competition at this year’s tournament.

Taking to Twitter, Alcott made his feelings about the decision clear: “Disgusting discrimination” he labelled it. “That choice should’ve been up TO ME. It is blatant discrimination for able bodied people to decide on my behalf what I do with my LIFE AND CAREER. Not good enough.” Meanwhile, organisers say they’ve had to shave the program significantly to get it up and running at all. That means the qualifying rounds, mixed doubles and junior tournament are also off. 

It was a big day for dinosaur fans yesterday with the discovery of ancient footprints in Queensland that revealed a cousin of the t-rex dinosaur – which measured about the same length of a bus and ate pretty much every animal it came across – once roamed Australia. The dinosaur lived about 90 million years before its more famous cousin, the T-rex terrorised the Jurrassic period. And you thought cane toads and the State of Origin team were the scariest things to come out of Queensland.

 

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 India .. where people who live in the city are adopting virtual pets to help them through the coronavirus lockdown.

For about $40 a month, anyone can adopt a pet, and then spend time with that pet on a Zoom or FaceTime call whenever they want. 

Sure. it’s not the same as having a dog lick your face or a cat weave its way between your legs. But with many people isolated in their apartments in India where cases of the coronavirus have been on the rise, the virtual pet concept is proving extremely popular as a way to stave off loneliness. 

Imagine too: you wouldn’t have to pick up a virtual pet’s pooh from the backyard. Winning!

 

SPORT TIME!

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Matilda’s fullback, the exceedingly talented Ellie Carpenter, has just signed a deal to move to a soccer club in France widely considered to be the best club in all of women’s soccer.

Ellie will join the ranks of Olympique Lyonnais – a club that is based in Lyon, in the south of France, and which not only boasts the most number of top women players in the world, but has also won 14 consecutive titles in France’s top division as well as six UEFA Women’s Champion League trophies. 

Not since Aussie striker Sam Kerr signed on to play for English club Chelsea has an Aussie player sealed such a significant deal.

An awesome achievement! Go Ellie!

 

POP CULTURE CORNER

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In exciting news for gamers – and fans of the little yellow cartoon character, Pokemon – Nintendo yesterday announced that an updated version of Pokemon Snap – a game that was popular 20 years ago – is set to be released for Nintendo Switch. It’s a non-violent video game – where players visit magical Pokemon islands and photograph the weird and wacky wildlife they encounter. The only shooting that gets done is with a camera. Game on.  

 

WHAT’S UP FOX?

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Every Friday we check in with Squiz Kids ambassador, Flynn – known as The Fox to his friends – to see what he’s been reading, listening to and watching.

And this week, he’s reading Bad Dad by David Walliams. All about a boy called Frank who breaks his father out of prison to return the money he’s stolen. 

On the listening front, his earphones have been blaring all week with Fun’s hit song We Are Young.

And as for watching: well, he’s a rugby tragic you see. Loves the stuff. So he’s been watching the repeat of last weekend’s Blues vs Hurricanes match from New Zealand’s Aotearoa Super Rugby comp. And he’s also been dipping into repeats of ABC Me’s Little Lunch – because Rory just never gets old.  

There are links to all of these cool things 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 …

  1. Name the Aussie tennis champ unhappy about the US Open cancelling this year’s wheelchair tournament.
  2. In which country are virtual pets proving popular?
  3. Name the Aussie soccer player who’s just signed a contrast with European champion team, Olympique Lyonnais.

 

SHOUT OUTS

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It’s June 19 … the birthday of American rapper Macklemore and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

It’s also a big day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … George from Kew, Molly from the Gold Coast, Lillian from Caboolture, Matt from Oran Park, Matisse from Doncaster East, George from Sandringham, Abigail from Sydney, Oslo & Harry from Valentine, Mabel from Abbotsford, Leah from Darwin, Aarav from Wentworth Point, Max and Georgina from St Kilda, Toby from Bellevue Hill, Leon from Perth and Rohan from Bathurst.

And some belated birthday shoutouts… Lulu from Adelaide and Sasha and Lisa from Melbourne. 

And some shoutouts to all the kids celebrating birthdays over the weekend… Kha from Heidelberg, Piper and Logan from Wallacia, Jesse from Maroochydore , Aydin from Derrimut, Sonny from Seddon, Toby, Abubaker, Fatima and Rose from Sydney, Isla from Middle Park, Bella from Clayfield, Kayden from Ashmont, Emma from Menai, Mat from Macleod, Rem from Blacktown, Summer from Baldivis, Rick from The Mount, Claire from Potts Point, Meg from Brunswick West, Louisa from Putney and Isaac from Newport.

Happy birthday to you all. 

The S’Quiz Answers:

  1. Dylan Alcott
  2. India
  3. Ellie Carpenter