Friday, 3 December, 2021
LINKS
Hooray for whale poo: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/baleen-whales-eat-poop-more-food-ecosystem
Swysh: personalised video messages from your favourite sports stars https://heyswysh.com/?utm_source=TheSquiz&utm_mediumPodcast=&UTM_campaign=211130
Use the code SQUIZ10 to get 10 percent off.
How To Become A Squiz Kids Correspondent
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FH2HA28InnLU6UxE91wrLBAbCMT40Mua/view
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
——
There will be no major women’s tennis matches held in China for the foreseeable future as concerns continue to grow about the wellbeing and whereabouts of Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai.
Peng – who is a former world number one doubles player – has not been seen in public since she made accusations against one of the most powerful men in China.
There have since been appearances by Peng on Chinese TV, and an interview staged between Peng and the head of the International Olympic Committee – but still, many people are worried that because she made a public and very serious accusation against a high-ranking Chinese government official, she has been detained by Chinese authorities.
Why would they do that? China has a different sort of government to the one we have here. In a democracy, like the one we have in Australia, it’s ok to have a bad opinion about the people who run the country – and to express that opinion. It’s also ok to confront those people if you believe they have done something wrong. In China however – which lived for many years under what is called Communist rule – there’s a sort of government where everyone just does as they are told. And people get into trouble if they criticise their leaders.
Why is any of this important? Because sport can often be a really powerful tool to make a political point – and put pressure on governments who the rest of the world thinks is doing the wrong thing. And with Beijing preparing to host the winter Olympics next year, there have been calls from some people to boycott – or refuse to attend.
Meanwhile, the hashtag Where Is Peng Shuai is trending on social media, with big name tennis stars like Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams adding their voices to the chorus. Watch this space.
SPIN THE GLOBE
——–
Each day we give the world globe a spin, and find a news story from wherever it stops. And today we’ve landed in Puerto Rico … an island nation in the Caribbean .. which is the home of the singer Bad Bunny – who was yesterday revealed to be the most streamed artist on Apple Music and Spotify this year.
Puerto Rico is something of a powerhouse when it comes to music. Pop singer and Voice judge Ricky Martin comes from there and Hamilton creator Lin Manuel Miranda has Puerto Rican heritage.
Bad Bunny – which I’m going to suggest is not the name his parents put on his birth certificate – just came in ahead of Taylor Swift, Drake, Justin Bieber and BTS in the top 5 most-streamed artists of 2021.
Olivia Rodrigo also had a good year … her song Drivers Licence was the most streamed song on Spotify this year, with more than 1.1 billion streams … wowsers.
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
—-
And it’s a big Squiz Kid Salute to the teachers of Bedgerabong Public School near Forbes, in regional NSW, who have gone to extraordinary lengths to get to class as rivers rise and floodwaters continue to engulf their region.
Cut off from their school by rising floodwaters, the teachers hitched a ride in a rural fire services helicopter – landing on the school oval in time for the bell and to call the roll.
How’s that for dedication? And I bet the kids were happy …
Bedgarabong is a farming community without shops of its own. Since floodwaters rose there two weeks ago, they’ve been isolated and relying on state emergency services to drop supplies to them – with authorities advising roads in and out of the town are likely to be cut off until Christmas. Yikes!
If you’re out there listening to this Bedgarabong – send us a message at [email protected] to let us know you’re ok …
BONUS HOLIDAY CONTENT
—-
Can you hear that? That’s the sound of kids getting excited about the Christmas school holidays. And because we know how much you’re going to miss us: we’ve prepped a whole bunch of bonus Squiz Kids content for the school holidays … kids v adult quizzes to test how well you’ve been paying attention to the year just gone, quizzes on music, movies, space to get you through those long summer days – and a bunch of shortcuts too: deep dives into cool topics from earthquakes + volcanoes to The Ashes and the World’s Toughest Animals. Search Squiz Kids on Apple Podcasts and sign up for your free trial today to make sure you don’t miss out on a thing.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
———-
Can you imagine eating 30 Big Macs in one day? How about 30,000? That’s what scientists have found out that humpback and blue whales—eat every single day.
Okay, so they don’t ACTUALLY go to an underwater drive-through and order burgers. Scientists have found whales eat 16 tons of krill every day, which contain 20 million calories— which is the equivalent of 30,000 Big Macs. Krill are tiny crustaceans that look a bit like shrimp… and, I have it on good authority, taste nothing like a burger.
The new research – which we talked about in the podcast the other week – found that these whales eat three times more than previously thought. And of course, where there’s food, there’s also poo. Lots of poo. Luckily, whale poo is rich in iron, and lots of things in the ocean need that iron. Personally, I prefer to get my iron from a good steak – but each to their own.
THE S’QUIZ
—————–
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- What’s the name of the singer from Puerto Rico who’s just been named the most streamed artist for 2021?
- Which country is under pressure to confirm women’s tennis player Peng Shuai is ok?
- Humpback whales eat the equivalent of how many Big Macs a day?
SHOUT OUTS
——————-–
It’s December 3 .. it’s the International Day of People with Disability – a really important day. Plus … 29 years ago today, the first ever text message was sent. And what was the message? It said: Merry Christmas. But probably only because the poo emoji hadn’t yet been invented …
It’s also a Friday – and you know what that means …a good excuse to crack out the birthday reggae tune .. hit it ..
It’s a happy birthday today…Charlie from Haberfield, Dylan from Oran Park, Braeden from Gillieston Heights and Jeremy from Queensland.
Not forgetting of course all of those Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday over the coming weekend … Laura from Fairfield Heights, Tylah from Dubbo, Tahni from Kempsey, Abbey from Cardiff, Lucy from Vermont, Dana from Athelstone and Hudson from Ellenbrook.
And altho it’s a Friday and we don’t usually give classroom shout outs – it’s a special day for all of the Year 6 students at Cannon Hill State School as they celebrate the end of primary school with their Graduation tonight. Have a great night kids.
And finally a special shout out to Year ¾ teacher Belinda Bain from Bolwarra Public School, and Tiffany Partington – a mum of Squiz Kids at Cranbrook Junior School who had signed up as fully-fledged Squiz Kids for Schools members — assuring they have access all next year to our daily classroom resources and Shortcuts episodes. Welcome aboard, team! Yewwwww.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Bad Bunny
- China
- 30,000