Monday 10 August, 2020
Biden’s bolt for the Presidency; Germany’s naked boar run; the three-legged elephant ; and why we all need to dance more.
LINKS
Elephant doctor:
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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It will be the most carefully watched election of the year – the battle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden to see who becomes the President of the United States. And one professor in America who has correctly picked the winner in every election in the last 36 years – reckons he knows who’s going to win when Americans go to the polls in November.
And the winner is – or rather the winner will be, according to Professor Allan Lichtman – Joe Biden.
Why is it important to us here in Australia who wins the US election? Because it’s such a big, influential country in the world, the decisions it makes have an impact on our lives here.
Also keep an eye out this week for Joe Biden choosing his running mate: which is to say, naming the woman he has chosen to be Vice President in the event he wins. America has never had a female Vice President, so that would make for a bit of history.
But there are still three months before the election: and Trump is showing no signs of planning to go down without a fight.
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Is it getting wet where you are? Certainly, if you happen to live on the NSW South Coast, you’ll be feeling pretty wet today – with several townships having to be evacuated overnight to escape rising flood waters.
A severe weather warning was issued last night from Sydney to South Coast – with wild surf, damaging winds and heavy rainfall predicted and even the possibility of flash flooding in Sydney, Newcastle and the Blue Mountains – where yesterday it was so cold they even had a light dusting of snow. Brrrr.
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 Germany – where a man has made headlines for running after a wild boar in the nude.
The man was skinny dipping in a public lake – which is to say swimming without his togs on – when a wild boar came to the water’s edge and stole his bag.
Because it contained his laptop – the man chased after the boar – running past other swimmers – and into the nearby forest until he managed to retrieve his belongings.
He emerged from the forest with his laptop – and received a rousing round of applause from fellow swimmers.
Swimming and sun-bathing in the nude in public probably sounds a bit unusual to anyone here in Australia. But in Germany, it’s not thought of as all that strange.
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Doctors at an elephant hospital in Cambodia have pulled off a world first by creating a prosthetic leg for an elephant who lost its limb to a land mine.
Mosha the elephant lost the bottom half of her front right leg when she was only two years old when she stepped on a landmine.
A clever vet at Cambodia’s elephant hospital has worked out a way to create a prosthetic leg (which is an artificial leg) for Mosha – strong enough to hold her considerable weight, and flexible enough that she can walk around on it and do the same things all the other elephants can do.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to a lovely video of Mosha walking with her artificial leg …and using her trunk to steal lollies from the vet’s pocket. If you look closely, you can almost see a twinkle of mischief in Mosha’s eyes …
POP CULTURE CORNER
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If you’ve ever pumped up the music loud and danced it out in your bedroom or living room – you’ll know how happy it can make you feel.
And now there’s scientific evidence that dancing can not only make you fitter and healthier – but it can also make you happier.
A psychologist at a university in England has just published a new book called – The Dance Cure: The Surprising Secret To Being Smarter, Stronger and Happier.
In the book, he says that studies have shown those who dance regularly have higher levels of serotonin – the happiness hormone – with evidence that dancing can also spur creativity, and a boogie in the living room could be a perfect way to relieve the stress of, say, a global pandemic.
But the biggest obstacle to most of us achieving all of these great dance side effects – feeling embarrassed to get up and shake our groove thing.
As we get older, according to the doctor, we become more self-conscious – whereas when we’re kids – we just throw ourselves about not caring who’s looking or what we might look like.
Which is why one of our favourite sayings here at Squiz Kids HQ is: dance like no-one’s watching.
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 animal did a German man have to chase in the nude to retrieve his stolen laptop?
- What sort of animal has just had an artificial leg attached in Cambodia to help her walk?
- What is a professor in England saying we should do more often to improve our health and lift our mood?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s August 10 ….. National Spoil Your Dog Day – which is a day to celebrate our furry, four-legged friends and spoil them extra-special today. I mean, our dog Louis get spoiled every day – but maybe today there might a an extra juicy bone
A special shout out to these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today … Akira from Abbotsford, Noah from Sydney, Kaity from Nunawading, Emma from Cannon Hill, Arkaaz from Cranbourne, Max from Jindalee, Thomas and Keira from Canberra, Imogen from Malvern, Eli from Nambucca Heads, Anoop from St Helens Park, Noah from Sunshine West, Alec from Wollongbar, Cooper from Melbourne, Charlotte from Randwick, Sofia from Cremorne Point, Benjamin from Bowral, Annaleise from Wagga Wagga, and Billie from Kempsey.
And some belated birthday shoutouts… Ridhima from Sydney, Dashiell from Fingal Bay, Liam from Kempsey, and Timothy from Hunters Hill.
Classroom shoutouts… 6W at Saint Andrew’s Cathedral School, Mr Steinmetz and 5Blue St Joseph’s Primary School in Taree, 4M and 1J at Yowie Bay Public School, Years 5 and 6 with Mrs Neilson, and Ms Narayan at Bundoora Primary School, and 3/4K and Mrs Kelly at Mount Warrigal Public School.
Happy birthday to you all.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Boar
- Elephant
- Dance