Friday, 2 December
Socceroo fever; a big day for baguettes; Straya loves Tay-Tay; and Australia’s naughtiest bird.
LINKS
Naughty cockatoo: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/30/cockatoo-throws-drops-pot-plants-from-four-storey-balcony-flinders-lane-melbourne-australia
Taylor Swift: https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorSwift
The Kid LAROI’s song Stay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTJczUoc26U
Bad Bunny: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmBA_wu8xGg1OfOkfW13Q0Q
Newshounds—Get started on our free media literacy resource for classrooms
www.squizkids.com.au/newshounds
Squiz Kids + Lego ‘Build To Give’ Christmas Campaign
Help Lego give away Lego sets to families in need this Christmas.
- Build something using Lego
- Share your creation to Instagram (a story or a post)
- Tag @ squizkids and #buildtogive
We’ll re-share your post on our Instagram, and on December 9, reveal just how generous Squiz Kids are …
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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It’s official – Australia has soccer fever! The Socceroos were just about all anyone could talk about yesterday, after they shocked the world in Thursday’s early hours by beating Denmark, and qualifying for the next round of the FIFA World Cup.
There was talk of a “team that united a nation”… a “golden generation” of soccer in Australia… and a victory that “put us on the world football map.”
Every city other than Melbourne found themselves scrambling to find an outdoor place where people could gather together on Sunday morning to watch the Aussies’ next game. (Melbourne had already sorted that for yesterday’s game, and video footage of the crowd at Federation Square going nuts after the win went viral. They might need a bigger space.)
But while Australia is just starting to go soccer crazy, it’s fair to say that their opponent on Sunday is a fanatical football nation. I’m talking about Argentina… captained by Lionel Messi, arguably one of the best players of all time. Whoever wins Sunday’s game moves on to the quarter finals… and whoever loses goes home.
Now, it’s true that Argentina has won the World Cup twice, and are ranked third in the world … whereas Australia has never made it past this knock-out round of 16, and is ranked 38th. But Argentina were beaten by Saudi Arabia in group play, and they were ranked 51st! Not only that, but Australia was the lowest ranked team in our group, and look how far we’ve come.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold knows that his players won’t be intimidated by Argentina. He said in an interview after the Denmark victory that he had picked his team based on their mental strength. He said, and I’m quoting him here, “I picked the ones who will die for the team, and die for each other, and work for each other. They’re the ones I back, and they’re the ones I know that can get the job done.”
So far, they’re doing an extraordinary job.
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 France, where the humble baguette has had a very big day. The bread that French President Emmanuel Macron calls “250 grams of magic and perfection” has been added to the United Nations’ “intangible cultural heritage” list.
Intangible means that something cannot be precisely measured or touched… you can’t put a dollar value on the importance of the baguette to French culture. But being included on the list means that the UN has recognised how important to world culture the 80 centimetre long loaf is. And yes, the French actually have rules about how long and how heavy a baguette must be.
There are 656 things on the intangible cultural heritage, including the tango – an Argentinian dance – and yoga, which comes from India. But when you search for Australia… nothing. Seriously? How is Vegemite not intangibly culturally precious? I just don’t understand.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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If your family listens to music – and podcasts – on Spotify, then you would have received yesterday something called “Spotify Wrapped”. It’s like a year in review of your listening habits—in fact, one lovely family shared on Instagram that their number one podcast all year was Squiz Kids! Thanks, Southams!
Even though that made us feel like winners, there’s no doubt that the biggest winner here in Australia was Taylor Swift. She was our number one streamed artist in 2022, with her new album Midnights breaking all KINDS of records—including occupying all 10 of the top 10 spots on the Billboard charts. We love Tay-Tay just a little bit more than the rest of the world does… on Spotify’s global list, she was beaten out for the number one spot by Bad Bunny, a Spanish-language rapper from the island of Puerto Rico.
Australia’s most popular homegrown artist – meaning the Aussie musician we listened to the most – was The Kid LAROI… his collaboration with Justin Bieber this year also topped Apple Music’s global song list for 2022, which is quite an achievement. I’ll put links to all the artists’ music in your episode notes.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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A sulphur-crested cockatoo in Melbourne has gone viral after it was caught on video this week dropping pot plants from a fourth-story balcony in the inner city. The video, which is linked in your episode notes, starts with pot number three, which hurtles down onto the awning of a shop, smashes into a parked car, and then lands on the footpath – next to two already-dropped pots. Pot number four comes soon after, before the bird flies off… presumably because the building’s balcony was now freed of all those pesky flowers. Luckily, no one was hurt!
A bird behaviour expert says it’s unlikely that the cockatoo was trying to be naughty—apparently, cockatoos don’t need to spend a lot of time finding food, so they have a lot of time to fill in during the day. They’ve been known to entertain themselves by opening bin lids, even when people put bricks on them… pulling cat’s tails … yoinking rubber seals off car windows… Which, come to think of it, all sounds pretty naughty to me.
SUMMER CONTENT PROMO
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Just before we get to the S’Quiz, I’ve got some exciting news for you. Bryce and I are feeling VERY generous this year, so we’re giving you all presents for the festive season! In fact, all summer long, you’ll get THREE free Squiz Kids podcasts every week.
On Mondays, there’ll be a Squiz Kids Shortcut – a deep dive into a big topic. Every Wednesday morning, the Squiz Kids superfast supersonic jetliner will depart to a different country on our amazing planet… and each Saturday, we’ll have a Kids vs Adults Bumper S’quiz…. your chance to challenge your parents, and prove once and for all that kids are smarter than grownups.
Your ears will be having so much fun all summer long, they’ll hardly miss the daily podcast.
Want a taste of what you’ll get all summer long? Keep listening at the end of this podcast, and you’ll get to hear an awesome Shortcut to The World’s Toughest Animals. I’m talking frogs that freeze solid in winter … creatures that survive the vacuum of space… and worms that live happily in boiling acid water. You won’t want to miss it!
THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Which team will the Socceroos face on Sunday morning in the World Cup? Extra points if you can name their captain.
- Name the type of bird that launched pot plants off a fourth-floor balcony in Melbourne this week
- Which French food was included on a world heritage list yesterday?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s December 2 … And Squiz-E the Newshound wants you to know it’s National Mutt Day!
It’s also a Friday – and you know what that means .. lots of birthday shout outs for today and the coming weekend … for which we’re going to need to crack out the ol’ birthday reggae tune … hit it …
It’s a happy birthday today to… Liam, Thomas and Anna from Forest Lake, Eden from Craigburn, Amelia and Tanika from Munno Para, Mohammad from Dandenong, Harry listening over at the Chadwick International School in Korea, and Lilllian from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Belated birthday shout outs go to…Oisin from Ivanhoe and Harry from the Sunshine Coast.
Not forgetting the Squiz Kids who are celebrating a birthday over the coming weekend… Ella from Waurn Ponds, Milla and Nick from Craigburn, Mitchell from Wallaroo, Abijoy from Dandenong, Milla from Forest Lake, Yufan and Chloe from Brisbane, Beau from Appin, Yasmin from Ashmont, Abbey from Hammond Park and Kees from Mount Hawthorn.
Classroom shoutouts go to … class 3 Green at Holy Family Primary School in Gowrie, class 2 red and Miss Beattie at St Edward’s Catholic Primary School in Daisy Hill,
class 4R and Miss Roberts at Inverloch Primary School, class HB4 at Woongarrah Public School, and happy birthday to their Miss Walsh; and finally, class 4B at Saint Thomas More Catholic School in Ruse—and happy birthday to Ms Jensen for tomorrow.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Argentina/Lionel Messi
- Sulphur crested cockatoo
- The baguette