Thursday, November 30, 2023

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THE LOWDOWN

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Tunnelling is dangerous, right? If you’ve ever played Minecraft, you’ll know that tunnelling can result in you falling into lava or running into hostile mobs in an underground cave.

A group of 41 construction workers in Northern India have learnt just how dangerous tunnelling can be. While digging a 4-and-a-half kilometre tunnel right through the Himalayas, they were trapped wayyy back on November 12 when thousands of tonnes of rocks caved in.

Thankfully, workers on the outside immediately started the rescue operation, inserting a 12-centimetre wide pipe through almost 60 metres of rock to enable communication with the trapped construction workers and get food, medicine and oxygen to them. This would prove to be lifesaving as the workers were trapped for seventeen days before being freed earlier this week.

The workers were eventually rescued by being pulled through a 90-centimetre wide pipe while lying on their backs on stretchers. Terrifying!

And coordinating the rescue was Aussie engineering professor Arnold Dix who jumped on a plane as soon as he got the call from Indian officials. Professor Dix says that “It’s about helping your friends. We have shown the world that being good and nice and looking after other people’s kids is what we should do.” Well said.

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 Bangkok… the capital city of Thailand, where the Loy Krathong festival, during which people pay their respects and show gratitude to the river goddess, has just taken place.

Loy Krathong literally means floating basket, and traditionally people crafted baskets from banana leaves and trunks or coconut shells, decorated them with flowers and candles, and floated down rivers as an offering. Unfortunately, in recent years, this meant that the following day, rivers would be clogged with thousands of soggy baskets.

Thai people are now using technology to pay tribute to the goddess. This year, children drew 3000 pictures of beautiful baskets which were scanned and then projected onto a digital representation of the water’s surface. I’ve stuck a link to video in your episode notes. It’s very beautiful. It is hoped that this will become the norm in the future, honouring the goddess by keeping her waterways clean.

SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES

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Imagine you’re on a school bus, just chatting to a mate, and you notice the bus is moving… But there’s no driver on board. That’s the situation that 14-year-old Izzy Miller found herself in this week while sitting on a school bus with 20 other kids in the northern NSW town of Casino.

And what’s worse? The bus was headed straight for a petrol station and motorists pumping fuel into their cars.

Izzy sprang into action, racing to the driver’s seat and planting her foot on what she deduced to be the brake while steering the bus away from danger. The whole episode was captured on CCTV and shows another man holding on to the wing mirror and trying in vain to stop the runaway bus. I’ve stuck the link of the heartstopping moment in your episode notes.

Izzy Miller…Squiz Kids salutes you!

NEWSHOUNDS

Every Thursday, Squiz-E the Newshound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ and reports back on fishy things he’s sniffed out on the internet – and today his snout is twitching because he’s discovered a photograph online that was supposedly taken more than 300 years before the camera was invented. Wait.. what!?

Luckily, Squiz-E’s suspicions kicked in when he noticed a post on X (which was formerly Twitter) claiming to show a rare photograph taken in Florence, Italy, in 1504 featuring a lady named Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci the famous inventor and artist who painted her celebrated portrait.

Squiz-E quickly hopped online and discovered that the first successful photograph wasn’t actually taken until 1836 or 37. Wayyy after this post claimed. A reverse image search, where you take a screen shot of a picture and upload it into a search engine, then confirmed that the picture was in fact generated by AI.

It’s a timely reminder that if something doesn’t seem right online, you too can Stop, Think and Check just like Squiz-E did, so that you aren’t fooled by misinformation or AI-generated content that you might come across on the internet.

Thanks Squiz-E, you’ve done it again!

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CHRISTMAS CONTENT PROMO

Sound of seagulls)

Can you hear that? That’s the sound of summer holidays my friends … and they’re just around the corner.

Which also means an end to school (CHEER) and an end to Squiz Kids Daily News podcasts for the year … (BOO!)

But don’t panic … we’re not about to leave you completely in the lurch. As with every summer holiday – we’ve got a whole bunch of summer content planned to keep you entertained.

Every Friday of the holidays we’ll be putting out a Bumper Kids v Adults Quiz – on topics as varied as the World’s Weirdest Animals and Movies of 2023 – to see who’s smarter: kids or adults.

Every Monday of the hols we’ll publish a Squiz Kids Shortcut – in topics as varied as Xmas Traditions Around The World to Ice-Cream and Rollercoasters.

And don’t forget our Great Big Squiz Kids Joke-A-Thon – which will drop on Monday the 18th of December…just in time for your Christmas Road Trip.

We had SO many excellent jokes sent in – we can’t wait to share them with you.

And of course, a Squiz Kids Book Club episode every Wednesday – where kids review books for other kids.

All this great content will drop in the Squiz Kids feed … subscribe in your favourite podcasting app to make sure you don’t miss out.

So whether you’re on a road trip or hanging at home – Squiz Kids has got you covered this summer! You’re welcome.

# SPONSORED

Once upon a time, in a classroom far, far away, there was no Internet, no iPads, and a very unpleasant sound known as chalk on blackboards… To those parents and teachers listening, you might even remember it… And for the final episode of How Far We’ve Come… our mates at the Squiz are diving deep into the big tech moments that have changed our classrooms… from interactive whiteboards to rudd-tops to AI… A shoutout to NGS Super who worked with them to make the How Far We’ve Come series possible and if the adults listening haven’t had a chance to listen to the series yet – you can find all the episodes from this season in it’s own channel, just search how far we’ve come into whenever you listen to your podcasts.

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 …

How many Indian workers were trapped and then successfully rescued from a tunnel this week?
Loy Krathong is the name of the Thai festival honouring the river goddess. What does Loy Krathong mean in English?
Which two famous people were depicted in the AI generated image that was claimed to be a photo from the year 1504?

SHOUT OUTS

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It’s November 30 … The last day of spring! It’s also Computer Security Day. It’s a great reminder to make sure your passwords are safe and secure and are not 123Password!

And – there are only 25 days to go until Christmas !! So parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles make sure you get online and pick up some Squiz Kids stocking stuffers from the Squiz Kids Merch store .. check it out on our website – squizkids.com.au

It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Riley from Tumut, Akshveer from Schofields, Robbie and Cooper from Gulgong, Lewis from Reynella, Isabelle from Mansfield, Vanessa from Diamond Creek, Millie from Paddington and Puteri-Soraya listening over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Belated shout outs go to… Matilda from Sydney and Lizzy from Goulburn.

Classroom shout outs go to … classes 5/6 A & K at Thornleigh West Public School, class 5B with Ms Barker at Bletchington Public School in Orange, Mr Carver’s class at Aldavilla Primary School, class 5/6CB at Geraldton Grammar School, prep class with Mr Don at Silkwood School in Mount Nathan, class 5/6 with Mrs O’Brien at Ariah Park Central School, prep classes with Gab and Christine at Bell Primary School in Preston, to all of the students at Chester Hill Public School, class 3R with Miss Relay at Oaks Public School and lastly to class G4M at the Prem Tinsulanonda International School in Thailand.

The S’Quiz Answers:

17
Floating basket
Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci

Optional Evergreen Extras!

Think/Feel/Infer 3-2-1 Exercise (3 important details from the Lowdown; 2 other things I learned; 1 question I still have)Find the Main Idea and Details