Monday, 8 August, 2022

Text scam targets mums and dads; a beluga whale sightsees in Paris; why playful dogs are clever; and Mr Beast gives away an island.

 

LINKS

Mr Beast gives away an island: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2isYuQZMbdU

 

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

 

THE LOWDOWN

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Mums and dads all over the country are being warned to think twice when responding to text messages from their kids, after a major scam was uncovered over the weekend.

Called the “Hi Mum” scam – it involves scammers texting parents pretending to be their kids. The text comes from a number the parent doesn’t recognise, with a message saying ‘Hi Mum, I’ve lost my phone and this is my new number’.

So far, so believable.

Then more text messages come in asking the parents to urgently transfer money. Again, so far, so believable. Because kids are always hitting their parents up for money … 

Except it’s not their kids sending the messages and asking for money. It’s scammers. People who make a living out of tricking other people. 

Sounds like a job for Squiz E the Newshound. 

Meanwhile: to all the parents out: do as Squiz E is always telling your kids to do … when you see, read or hear something that smells a bit fishy … Stop, Think and Check.

As  the Commonwealth Games draw to a close – Australian runner Ollie Hoare made a little bit of history over the weekend, becoming the first Aussie in 64 years to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 1500 metres.

In what commentators have called ‘a race for the ages’ – meaning it was a memorable one, and will be talked about lots in years to come – the lad from the Sutherland Shire threw every last bit of himself into the final 100 metres to just nose out fellow racers – including the current world champ in the event.

After the race, Ollie – who was overcome with emotion – dedicated the win to his grandfather – who had trained him as a young fella, and passed away a week ago – just before getting to see Ollie run.

Ollie Hoare – Squiz Kids salutes you. 

 

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 Paris, in France, where animal experts are trying to work out how to get a beluga whale out of the River Seine.

The Seine is the famous river that runs past the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame through the heart of Paris. And while it’s a beautiful scenic river – with some of the world’s most famous sites alongside it – it’s about as far away from the waters of the North Pole where belugas usually live.

Wildlife experts are puzzling over the sudden appearance of a beluga whale in the Seine and trying to work out ways to lure it back out to sea and home to the Arctic. 

The latest plan involves injecting the whale – which has started to appear tired and disoriented (which is a fancy word for lost) with an injection of vitamins to hopefully give it the strength to turn around and swim back out to sea.

I was lucky enough to live in Paris for ten years. It’s a beautiful city. Maybe the whale just wants to see the Eiffel Tower? 

 

POP CULTURE CORNER

Ah Mr Beast … you’ve done it again …

Watchers of YouTube will be familiar with the YouTube channel Mr Beast. Famous for its incredible give-aways to subscribers.

This weekend the Beast set a new high water mark – which is a fancy way of saying he took his stunts to new heights – by giving away an island to one of his subscribers. 

In a challenge that saw 100 of his 100 million subscribers put themselves through zany physical challenges – including a Squid Game inspired challenge – one subscriber managed to beat all others and won a tropical island for her troubles. 

Because who doesn’t want their very own tropical island.

Oh – and if you’re wondering how Mr Beast makes the money to give away an island – since the video was uploaded to YouTube on Friday it has had almost 36 million views. Whoa ..

 

ANIMAL KINGDOM

What do chasing a ball and learning new words have in common? Well, according to animal researchers, dogs that love to play are also more likely to be super smart at learning words.  In a new study of border collies, a breed of dog already known to be quite cluey, the researchers compared the personalities of dogs that were “gifted”, meaning they had an unusually high ability to learn words, and those that were not. They looked at lots of different doggie personality traits – like whether they were aggressive, fearful, easy to train, and playful. 

The only area where they saw a difference was in playfulness. The smartest dogs were much more likely to enjoy playing with toys and chasing balls. Now, does that mean that the playful dogs were born smarter? Or does it mean that they have more opportunities to learn words, because their owners are regularly naming the toys they’re playing with? The jury is out on that one… but I’m off to the park with Louis and a tennis ball, just in case. 


THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …

  1. What distance race did Australia’s Ollie Hoare win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games?
  2. What sort of a whale has ventured up the Seine river towards Paris?
  3. Name the YouTuber that gave away an island this weekend?

 

SHOUT OUTS

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It’s August 8 .. birthday of pop singer Shawn Mendes and tennis player, Roger Federer … and it’s also International Cat Day … so if you have one, give it a cuddle today. 

And it’s a happy birthday to these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… 

Poppy from Kempsey, Adam from Forest Lake, Jordan from Floreat, Jden from Hammond Park, Matias from Moorebank, Ryusei from Upper Mount Gravatt, Noah from Cairnlea and Gypsy and Zeva from Yass.

Belated shout outs go to… Evelyn from Lakemba and Georgie from Dee Why.

Classroom shoutouts go to… class 5MU and Mrs Murray at Scots All Saints in Bathurst, class BM6 at Labrador State School with Miss Morton and Mr Bosworth, year 2/3 waratah and Miss Preston at Somersby Public School, year 5 with Mrs Liu and Mr Nguyen at All Saints Catholic College in Liverpool and lastly to year 3 at Annandale North Public School. 

The S’Quiz Answers:

  1. 1500m
  2. Beluga whale
  3. Mr Beast