Thursday, 30 July, 2020
Queensland closes its border; New York’s rat dogs; Thor: the insect version; and Billie Eilish’s new music.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Ker-klunk … and just like that, the Queensland border has gone and closed again. At least for anyone who happens to live in Sydney. It was one of several developments yesterday as governments around the country started tightening restrictions to try to control outbreaks of the virus that Just. Won’t. Leave. Us. Alone …
Queensland Premier Annastascia Palaszczuk said the number of cases in Sydney, plus the arrival into Queensland of a couple of COVID positive teenagers who didn’t tell officials they’d been to virus hotspots in Melbourne was reason enough to close the Queensland border again to Sydney residents from 1am Saturday morning.
It was an announcement that sent our major sporting codes into a flurry. Plans were last night afoot to get as many AFL teams in the competition up in Queensland before the border closure came into effect. And while the rugby league was confident the quarantine measures they have in place for their NSW-based teams were sufficient, they were nevertheless said to be making a Plan B which could involve moving Queensland based clubs down into regional NSW. Meanwhile, Super Netballers are making a bolt to get to the Sunshine State ASAP with the comp starting on Saturday.
And you thought your PE teacher had it tough trying to schedule the athletics carnival …
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 New York city, in the United States, where rats have been taking advantage of the coronavirus lockdown there to run amok on the city’s streets.
Luckily though, the march of the rats is being controlled by a bunch of local residents whose dogs are proving really effective at hunting rats.
One dog, Sundrop, is a real bitser – a mix of Boston Terrier, American Bulldog, Chihuahua, and Australian Cattle Dog. According to newspaper reports, Sundrop can catch up to 20 or 30 a night. Euugh.
During the COVID lockdowns when there were fewer people on the streets to disturb rats – but still just as much garbage piled on footpaths as usual – they were left to feast in peace. Now that people are out and about again, they want the rats gone.
Sundrop is one of a team of dogs leading the fight against the rodents.
Haven’t they heard of the Pied Piper?
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Australian scientists have reached for the comic books to help them find names for a bunch of new flies they’ve recently discovered.
Hang on, what? Scientists are discovering new flies? Don’t we already have enough? Turns out we know only about one quarter of the total number of insects here in Oz. What about that??
Anyway: a bunch of new flies have been discovered and because when you discover a new species, you get to name it, the scientists have come up with Thor Fly (because it has gold markings, like the god of Thunder himself), Loki Fly (in honour of the God of Mischief) and – my personal favourite, Deadpool Fly – because it has red and black markings.
Oh – and in an Animal Kingdom update … remember Daisy the St Bernard who had to be rescued from the mountainside? We’re pleased to report she’s doing fine. Go Daisy.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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Put down the phone and shut the front door … It’s B Day people … that’s B for Billie Eilish – the chart topping singer/songwriter who has announced via her social medias that she is releasing a brand new single today.
The single will be released this afternoon Los Angeles time – which is in the wee small hours of tomorrow morning for us – and other than the fact the internet is having a small meltdown about it, there’s not much else that anyone knows about the song.
Except that it’s called My Future and it could be the first song from an entire album of new songs – following on from the barnstorming success she had with her last album ‘When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?” – which as well as being an excellent name for an album is also a really good topic for you all to discuss in your next philosophy class.
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 …
- Which city in the United States has dogs out patrolling the streets for rats?
- What sort of insect have Australian scientists named after Marvel comic characters?
- Which singer/songwriter is about to release a hotly anticipated single?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 30 … International Friendship Day … awwww … this is a day created by the United Nations recognising that friendship is one of the most powerful forces on the planet … so give your existing friends a hug today and go out and make a new one.
It’s also the birthday of these Squiz Kids … Daniel from Telegraph Point, Chelsea, Easter and Jaxon from Sydney, Dominic from Redlynch, Charlie from Carina, Jade from Port Kennedy, Kaelyn from Valentine, Valerie from Hunters Hill, Delilah from Sheoak Grove , Sienna from Rowville, Jenavieve from Tottenham, Cooper from Villawood and Liam from Inverell.
Happy birthday to you all.
Classroom shoutouts…. 6P and 6H at Ivanhoe Primary School, 6W at Saint Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney, 3Go from Heidelberg Primary School, Years 2 and 5 at Bulli Public School and Andrew’s Creek Primary School in Tassie.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- New York
- Flies
- Billie Eilish