Friday, 6 November, 2020
Still counting … the US election drags on; how a web-cam saved a pig; Wallabies’ last chance game; and calling all frog hunters!
LINKS
Pig fire live stream pics: https://nypost.com/2020/11/04/woman-watching-livestream-saves-new-york-pigs-from-barn-blaze/
Frog ID Week: https://www.frogid.net.au/frog-id-week
What’s Up Fox?
Reading: Storm Boy – the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80461.Storm_Boy
Listening: Wrap Me In Plastic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIgC1EwZczk&vl=en
Watching: Storm Boy – the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cBOvn18yeQ
Vote for Squiz Kids in the Australian Podcast Awards: https://australianpodcastawards.com/vote
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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Are we there yet? Is a question that often comes from the back seat on long family car trips – and it’s a question Australia has woken up asking this morning, wondering if there’s finally an outcome in the US election.
And the short answer is: no. Not yet. The counting of votes continues in four states. Joe Biden needs to win one, or possibly two more of those states to become President – and most news outlets are predicting that’s what will eventually happen.
But in the meantime, Donald Trump has started taking legal action to stop the counting of votes. A move which his critics have described as undemocratic – which is to say, against the spirit of a free and open election.
‘STOP THE COUNT!” Trump tweeted. To which Biden, doing his best to remain calm replied – referencing the red of trump’s Republican Party and blue of his own Democrat Party: “There will be no red states and blue states when we win. Just the United States of America.”
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 the United States … no, not for the election, we’ve covered that off already. But rather, for the remarkable story of how a live-stream of two pigs in a barn saved them from a fire. After Eric the parrot yesterday, there seems to be a trend here…
A woman who tuned into the web-cam live stream of the pigs noticed one of them kick over a heat lamp – which set the hay in its pen alight. The woman – who was 100 kilometres away – quickly phoned the fire brigade and then called the farmers, who raced out to the barn and extinguished the flames.
Were it not for the web-cam and woman’s quick thinking – the outcome could have been a whole lot more dramatic.
Ah internet, you’ve done it again …
SPORTS TIME
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The Kiwis have already won the Bledisloe Cup – but there is still plenty for the Aussies to be playing for tomorrow night when they take to Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for the final match of the rugby series.
First and foremost: there’s the honour of not allowing the All Blacks to stage a repeat of the thrashing they dished out to the Wallabies last weekend in Sydney.
All Black man of the moment, Caleb Clarke has been dropped for the clash – while Wallabies coach, Dave Rennie is using the match before a sold-out Brisbane crowd to give a couple of rookies their first run-on in a Test match. What you and I might call ‘nothing more to lose’, sports experts are calling ‘a good chance to let some young players get very important experience playing for their country’.
Go Wallabies! You can do this!
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Calling all frog hunters! The Australian Museum needs you to help it compile the most comprehensive map possible of Australia’s frog population. And from today, it’s launching Frog ID Week – where amateur conservationists – like you and I – are invited to go to their nearest creek, water-hole, billabong, dam, swamp or drain – and record the frog calls you hear there.
All you have to do is download an app – use it to record the frog calls near you – and the magic of technology will do the rest.
Last year, Australians recorded more than 5,400 frog calls belonging to 71 different frog species.
And this year, the museum is hoping to at least double that number – and I reckon with Squiz Kids’ help – it can easily do just that.
Following the bushfires earlier this year, scientists at the museum are especially keen to see how populations of Aussie frogs are faring.
So don’t just sit there! Download the app and get thee to your nearest frog hollow.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to the app and a cool video explainer.
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 been reading Storm Boy – that timeless Australian classic about a boy and his pet pelican. If you’ve never read it: do yourself a favour. Mr Percival will fly into your heart and never leave.
On the listening front: it’s been Wrap Me In Plastic, by Chromance that’s captured his ears this week. I just watched the video: and the moral of the story seems to be: if you spend too much time on social media, life will pass you by.
And as for watching: this week he watched the movie Storm Boy .. the new one, not the old one. And it’s really, really, good. A beautiful, modern take on a classic Australian story.
And yes: there are links to all of these cool things in today’s episode notes.
VOTE 1 SQUIZ KIDS
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Are you frustrated at not having had a chance to vote in the US Presidential Elections? Then why not exercise your voting muscle and cast a vote for Squiz Kids in the upcoming Australian Podcast Awards.
The Listener’s Choice award is an open vote: meaning the podcast with the most votes wins. There are a whole bunch of adult podcasts vying for the prize – but i reckon if we all band together – we can win this one for the kids of Australia.
Visit australianpodcastawards.com/vote to cast your vote – or see the link in today’s episode notes.
https://australianpodcastawards.com/vote
Voting Closes 18 Nov ]]]
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 animals were saved from a barn-fire by a woman watching a live-stream?
- In which Aussie city is the final match of the Bledisloe Cup being played tomorrow night?
- What animal – from the amphibian family – are we all encouraged to get out this weekend and record for scientists at the Australian Museum?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s November 6 … National Nachos Day in the USA .. who doesn’t love nachos? The cheesier, the better, I say.
It’s also only 49 sleeps ‘til Christmas … the elves are getting busy…
And it’s a Friday – which means an extra long shout outs segment – so let’s have a little musical accompaniment .. hit it …
Happy birthday to these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Matthew and Charlie from Wellington Point, Emma from Bathurst, Liam from Newcastle, Radhikaa from Sydney, Zara from Jindalee, Imogen from Elderslie, Seth from Brisbane, Alyssa from the Gold Coast, Claudia from Vaucluse, Milli from Albury, Max from Murwillumbah, John from Wallacia, Finn from Redlynch, Issy from Seaforth, Alfie from Foster, Ivy from Voyager Point, and Jack and Mia who are Aussie twins living in Singapore.
And some belated birthday shoutouts…. Ruby from Perth and Jack from St Leonards
Weekend birthday shoutouts… Ayan from Birrong, Angus from Macleod, Arash from Mooroolbark, Tanya from Mitcham, Luka from Wilston, Toby from Cammeray, Abel from Craigburn, Ned from Coolamon, Hudson from Bungendore, Gabriel from Perth and Joel from Newcastle.
Happy birthday one and all!
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Pigs
- Brisbane
- Frogs