Friday 7 August, 2020
Cyber-cops on the internet beat; penguin pooh discovery; one-armed golfing champ; and eagle chick internet stars.
LINKS
Kendall: one-armed golf sensation:
Sea Eagle cam:
What’s Up Fox?
Reading: Nim’s Island: https://www.wendyorr.com/book/nims-island/
Listening: What’s Up Danger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88LVU7MAe4
Watching: World’s Longest Trick Shot: https://youtu.be/ORKJ7MNgZRY
Dancing llama: https://www.tiktok.com/@yos_uwu/video/6851604133032496389
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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What with that pesky coronavirus keeping us on our toes every time we step out the door, you would have hoped that being on the internet was a safe place to be. And mostly it is: but sometimes it’s not.
Which is why the Australian government yesterday announced it would spend $1.6 billion – including on a new bunch of cyber-detectives – to make it safer for all of us when we are online.
You’ve probably seen or heard the term ‘cyber-security’. It means having a police force to monitor the online world in the same way they enforce the rules in the real world.
Most of the internet is a place of marvels: where entertainment and information about absolutely everything is miraculously available at the tap of a mouse. But: there are some corners of the internet that are not so nice: and some people who use the internet to do not so nice things. Like spreading information that isn’t true, spreading viruses, launching scams – and even sometimes sneaking into online games and chat groups that are popular with kids and pretending to be people they are not.
The boost in funding will see extra police employed to keep an eye on what’s happening online – and hopefully making it safer for us all.
And as with the real world: don’t be scared, just be alert – and always speak to an adult you trust if you ever stumble across anything online that doesn’t seem right.
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 Antarctica – the great frozen continent at the bottom of the world – where penguin pooh seen from space has given new hope to conservationists.
Satellite images of Emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica have revealed that there are more colonies of the endangered bird than previously thought. Which is to say: there are more big groups of the penguins than previous surveys of their number led scientists to believe.
How did they make this discovery? When Emperor penguins pooh, they leave a reddish-brown stain on the white ice of Antarctica. And new satellite technology is able to take close up photos that reveal the pooh stains across the icy continent.
Fair to say, these scientists might be the first people in the history of the world to be excited about pooh stains.
And yes, that’s three mentions of the word pooh in a single story. Make that four. I think that’s a new Squiz Kids record …
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
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And it’s a huge ol’ Friday Squiz Kids salutes to 16 year old American Kendall Kemm – whose attempt at one-armed golf has attracted the attention of some of the world’s most accomplished golf champions.
At the age of 11, Kendall lost the use of her left arm after receiving treatment for a rare medical condition. Determined not to let a little thing like that stop her from following her golfing dream, she posted a video online of her hitting the golf ball one-armed. And former world champion golfer Nick Faldo saw it, jumped online himself and sent back a video saying what an awesome job she’d done, and gave her some tips on how to improve.
Kendall was blown away by the attention her video attracted – and is even more determined now to play a full round of golf.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to Kendall in action.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Last week we brought you the story of the albatross chick in New Zealand who’s become an internet star thanks to a live webcam trained on its nest .. and this week, it’s a couple of eagle chicks, closer to home, who have become viral sensations.
What’s an eagle chick? It’s a baby eagle. And these two live in a nest in a tree in Sydney – where their mum and dad – a pair of sea eagles – have been busily feeding them up to get them ready to fly away. And all of the action is being captured on a webcam that is trained on the nest and streams 24 hours a day.
At any given time, the webcam stream is watched by up to 15,000 people – as mum and dad fly back and forth to nearby Parramatta River, collecting fish and bringing them back for their babies to eat.
All going well, the chicks are expected to take flight in November. Which should set the webcam ratings on fire.
In the meantime, the antics of two little fluff balls as they fight over fish guts will be more than entertaining enough.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to the webcam stream.
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.
Because the Fox, he’s got his finger on the pulse ..
The book he’s been digging this week is called Nim’s Island … a bit of kids’ book classic – about a girl who lives on an island with her Dad, an iguana, a turtle and a satellite dish for her email.
As for listening, he’s been delving back in time to a 2018 tune, What’s Up Danger – from the awesome animated film: Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse.
And on the watching front: well it’s been a toss up this week between watching TikTok’s dancing llama over and over again, and watching the super-epic YouTube clip from a bloke called Cree Ossner – who spent two months building a 70-step chain reaction trick shot – involving ramps and drops and matchbox cars and balls and ropes and tracks and toy trains. It has to be seen to be believed. Which is why I’ve put a link to it, and these other 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 …
- What stains in the snow have scientists used as a sign that penguin populations in the Antarctic are larger than they thought?
- What sport has one-armed athlete Kendall Kamm been smashing in online videos?
- What kind of bird has recently hatched two chicks in front of a worldwide webcam audience?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s August 7 ….. International Beer Day – which is of no consequence to any of you, but it’s something I might take an interest in later this evening … just for research purposes you understand.
It’s also a Friday .. and you know what that means? Yep – time to crack out the Friday Shout Outs tune …
A special shout out to these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Angeline from Eastwood, Angelina from Kempsey, Layla from Geelong, Paddy, Sarah, Ziya and Lucy from Sydney, Oliver from Bathurst, Lexie from Silverdale, Elsie from Inverell, Nishchal from Cairns, Sarafeena from Cannon Hill, Jackson from Canberra, Oona from Wahroonga, William from Dandaloo, Annabel from Mt Eliza, Rachel from Woodend, Vienna from Perth, Eloise from Pymble, Nishchal from Redlynch, Jasmine from Valentine, Oscar from Leichhardt, and Aisha from Albany
And some belated birthday shoutouts… Frankie from Bulli and Joshua from Canberra.
Weekend birthday shoutouts… Eliana from Sydney, Finn from Murwillumbah, Scarlett from Fingal Head, Jessica from Coromandel Valley, Sonu from Adelaide, Ethan from Hawthorn East, Dane from Kempsey, Lily from Concord, Maddy from Emerald, Scarlet from Erskine, Yi from Epping, Will from Brunswick West, Jack from
Moonee Ponds, Heidi from Melbourne, Daisy from Tuggerah and Aidan and Marcus from Putney.
Happy birthday to you all.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Pooh
- Golf
- Sea Eagle