Friday, 30 April, 2021
The Packed Lunch Olympics; Drone-delivered Girl Guide Cookies; Super Netball is a go; and The Kid Laroi cleans up.
LINKS
Jar Jar Binks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FLhO7ZnKHs
What’s Up Fox?
Reading: Pushing The Limits by Kurt Fearnley: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/pushing-the-limits-life-marathons-and-kokoda-9780143799924
Listening: Love On The Weekend – John Mayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzqLtnBc1dg
Watching: Old People’s Home For $ Year Olds: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/old-people-s-home-for-4-year-olds/series/1/video/DO1803H004S00?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsqmEBhDiARIsANV8H3YMkt92-E35c_9G4eLWmNT5sbTJvIN2d9qlXlj6S8VW_-HMFwfjjAUaAsSmEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
The Fox’s Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Y8yJprftjmzIosbZ8pZGh?si=a4aVF8R5Sc2jyOy1wlN_2Q
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]
Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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The upcoming Tokyo Olympics look set to be remembered as the Packed Lunch Games or the Silent Olympics following reports yesterday of a series of strict COVID guidelines for competitors.
According to reports, athletes will be banned from attending the opening and closing ceremonies, banned from yelling out support for teammates during competition, banned from talking to athletes from other countries and encouraged to eat only pre-packed meals brought with them from Australia.
Gosh. That’s a lot of packed lunches for a sporting event that last for two weeks …
The strict guidelines are all designed to make the Games as COVID-safe as possible. Japan is currently in the grip of a coronavirus outbreak, and only one percent of its population has received the vaccine: prompting many to wonder if in fact the Games will go ahead at all. Watch this space.
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What is most certainly going ahead tomorrow is an election in Tasmania. That’s right, 400,000 Tasmanians of voting age will head to the polls tomorrow to choose which political party, and which leader, will govern the state for the next four years. On the Liberal Party side is a bloke called Peter Gutwein – he’s the current Premier and hoping to be re-elected. On the Labor Party side is Rebecca White – who is hoping to become only the second female Premier in the history of the Apple Isle. May the best team win.
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 Virginia – in the United States, where boxes of cookies are falling from the sky.
Since the pandemic has meant local Girl Guides have been unable to go door-to-door selling their signature cookies, a local drone company came up with the bright idea of delivering the cookies to customers by drone.
And the best bit? The Girl Guides themselves are getting to pilot the drones. Meaning they get to raise money, they learn a new and really useful skill. And they can do it all from the comfort of their couch. Winning!
SPORTS TIME
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Put on your pleat skirt and get ready to yell ‘Contact!” … the Super Netball competition kicks off for another action packed season tomorrow.
Will the Melbourne Vixens repeat their premiership winning effort from last year? How will the West Coast Fever recover from their salary cap points penalty? And what will become of the 2-point super shot and rolling sub rule? A rolling sub rule has to do with a Subway sandwich, right?
All this – and a whole lot more – will be revealed in the coming months as some of the toughest, fittest athletes to strap on a sneaker take to netball courts around the country. Get involved people!
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Aussie rapper, The Kid Laroi had a winning night on Wednesday, winning breakthrough songwriter of the year at the APRA music awards.
The 17 yo, whose real name is Charlton Howard and who’s of Kamilaroi heritage – the indigenous Aussies from north-eastern NSW – became the youngest Australian solo artist ever to hit No 1 on the Aria album charts last year with a mixtape that also reached No 3 on the US Billboard charts. The Kid now lives in Los Angeles – as you would.
Meanwhile – the actor who played Obi Wan Kenobi in the widely-panned Star Wars prequels – Phantom Menace, Attack of The Clones and Revenge of the Sith – has apologised for the movies and acknowledged they were widely disliked by fans. The films were all released between 1999 and 2005. Long before you lot were born. If you haven’t seen them: don’t rush out. Not least because once you see and hear Jar Jar Binks – you can’t unsee or unhear him. I’ve stuck a link to a Jar Jar Binks video in today’s episode notes. You’re welcome.
Q+A CALL OUT
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Don’t forget our next Squiz Kids Q+A is with Peter Titmaniss – one of the people responsible for the Naplan test. Now’s your chance to turn the tables and make the examiner answer YOUR questions.
About a million Aussie kids will be taking Naplan tests in the coming weeks: one test in reading, one in writing, one in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and one in numeracy – which is a fancy word for maths. One million kids, four tests each: that’s four million tests! Gosh. I’d hate to have the job of marking those. I wonder how many questions that adds up to…. Speaking of questions, get yours in before Monday by emailing [email protected]
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.
On the bedside reading table this week is Pushing The Limits – by all round awesome Aussie, Kurt Fearnley – one of the most inspiring Paralympic heroes you’re ever likely to read about. Five stars.
On the listening front: it’s Love On The Weekend by the American singer/songwriter, John Mayer. He really does have eclectic taste.
And on the watching front: he’s been getting into the excellent ABC series, Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds. If you don’t fall in love with Maximillian, you might need to seek medical help.
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 …
- Which Australian state has an election tomorrow?
- What tasty delight is falling from the sky in Virginia in the United States?
- Which Aussie Indigenous rapper won the breakthrough trophy at this week’s APRA music awards?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s April 30 … on this day in 1993, the world wide web was made available for public use … the internet as we know it turns 28 today. Hard to believe it’s only been with us for 28 years …
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …. Ryan Walpole, Thomas from The Gap, Darby from Inverloch, Tom and Jac from Avoca Beach, Justin from Lindfield, Anna and Alec from Sydney, Jasmine from Kempsey, and Taylor from Abbotsford.
And a belated birthday shoutout to Quinn from Sydney
And happy birthday to all the Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday over the weekend… Leah from Mansfield, Makaysha and Louis from Glen Innes, Eliza from Weston Creek, Leander (lee-ann-der) from Taroona, Scarlett from Bellevue Heights, Jagger from Shoal Bay, Eamon from Haberfield Sabrina from Brisbane, Zac from Edithvale, Daniel from Oran Park, and Tilly from Tighes Hill.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Tasmania
- Cookies
- The Kid Laroi