Thursday, 22 April, 2021
Black Lives Matter verdict delivered; Chile’s mystery dinosaur; football’s big Super League backflip; and Big Bird is back!
LINKS
Chile’s new dinosaur: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/scientists-chile-dinosaur-worlds-driest-desert/100083924
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https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
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Squiz Kids is proudly supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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In a court case verdict that was watched around the world yesterday morning – a police officer in the United States city of Minneapolis was found guilty of using excessive force that led to the death of Black citizen, George Floyd.
His death at the hands of police last May sparked months of rioting in America and brought to international prominence the Black Lives Matter movement.
Friends and family of Mr Floyd welcomed the guilty verdict – and crowds outside the courthouse cheered the outcome.
Mr Floyd died on a Minneapolis street while being arrested by policeman Derek Chauvin. Mr Chauvin now faces up to 40 years in jail.
George Floyd’s death angered many Americans – and many people around the world – and gave rise to widespread protests in the street and a global call for an end to racial inequality.
Racial inequality is when someone is treated badly or differently simply because of their skin colour.
US President Joe Biden said he hoped the court case and guilty verdict would be the start of a change in his country.
Black Lives Matter – as it name suggests – is a movement that is dedicated to fighting racism and the mistreatment of Black people at the hands of police.
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 Chile – in South America – where scientists have discovered the remains of a dinosaur species that’s never been seen before.
Part of the titanosaur family – the massive creature, which is believed to have walked the Earth some 70 million years ago – had a small head, a long neck and tail and an unusually flat black.
And get this: though its remains were found in the Atacama Desert – one of the driest places on the planet – it’s believed that when this dinosaur was alive, the Atacama Desert was a lush landscape of ferns and flowering plants and palm trees.
The dinosaur’s remains are going to be put on display in Chile’s Museum of Natural HIstory .. but I realise that’s a long way away, so I’ve stuck a link to a photo of it in today’s episode notes.
SPORTS TIME
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It may go down in history as the shortest-lived soccer league in the history of the world – with news yesterday that the big name European football clubs that had signed up to create a breakaway Super League have backed away from the plan following days of very vocal protests from fans.
Clubs like Man Utd, Chelsea, Real Madrid and AC Milan announced on Sunday that they were banding together to create their own league – but fans, the leaders of European countries and even Prince William condemned the move – which is to say they came out very strongly against it.
And so, the six English clubs backflipped: announcing yesterday they had made a mistake and would no longer be going through with the plan.
So that makes the official score one-nil in favour of the fans.
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In other sporting news: a great big Squiz Kids salute to Collingwood star Brianna Davey and Fremantle Dockers’ Kiara Bowers who tied on Tuesday night for best and fairest in the AFLW’s 2021 season. What’s better than one best and fairest player in the AFLW? Why, two of course!
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Everyone relax! Big Bird has been returned! Remember on Monday we talked about how thieves had made off with a life-size Big Bird costume from a circus in Adelaide? You’ll be pleased to know the thieves had a change of heart and handed the Big Bird back. Which probably makes sense .. afterall, where would you hide a big yellow-feathered costume if the police came knocking?
Big Bird was found in the wee small hours of yesterday morning, propped against an electricity box in a main street of Adelaide, with a note from the thieves stuffed in its beak. In the note, the thieves – who call themselves the Big Bird Bandits – apologised for taking the costume – which its owners say is valued at $160,000 – and wrote that ‘no harm had come to Mr Bird’.
And just as well too. Anyone hurting Big Bird would have me to answer to. Not to mention Oscar the grouch. And Elmo. He can get angry when he wants to that Elmo …
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 …
- In which South American country have scientists found the remains of a titanosaur?
- Which teams did the joint winners of the AFLW’s best and fairest come from?
- In which Australian city did Big Bird disappear, only to be returned by thieves?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s April 22 … it’s Earth Day – which is a day for all people all around the world to show how important is protecting the environment. I’ve stuck a link in today’s episode notes for anyone wanting to learn more.
It’s also a special day for these kids celebrating a birthday today … Cooper from Lysterfield, Frank from Broken Hill, Yousef from the Gold Coast, Casey and Saxon from West Wallsend, Indiana from Elanora, Eken from Forest Lake, Lila from Eltham, Taylor from Cannon Hill, Jacinta from Glen Innes, Amariah from Newington, Mia from North Epping and Elizabeth who’s listening all the way over there in Singapore.
And not forgetting of course all of those kids who celebrated a birthday over the Easter Holidays — whose names we are working through all this week with the help of the birthday reggae tune … happy belated birthday to… Naomi from Ormeau Hills, Sammy from Glebe, Will from Gosford East, Jacqueline from Abbotsbury, Jude from Ferny Hills, Jake from Craigburn, Richard and Aditi from Sydney, Amber from Dawesville, Carter from Pimpama, Jasmine from Ipswich, Anastacia from Ruse, Mia from Oran Park, Hannah from Bexley, Alex from Ashmont Danny from Cannon Hill, and Tarow (Tar-oh), Leah and Julius from Ashmont, Cara from Mount Isa, Toby from Fingal Bay, Noah from Wentworth Falls, Coen from Melbourne, Ethan from Forest Lake – and Jesse who’s tuning in all the way over there in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in Canada — hope it’s starting to warm up, Jesse.
And welcome back to school for the following classrooms… Mr Verhoeven and the kids in 5Lime and 5Orange at Mona Vale Public School, class 5C at Werrington County Public School, class 5/6JE at Wauchope Public School, class 6D at St Joseph’s Catholic School in Cloncurry, and class 6/5E from Jerrabomberra Public School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Chile
- Collingwood and Fremantle
- Adelaide