Tuesday 2 June, 2020
Protests flare in the US; the Queen hops on a pony; Jamaican bobsledders return; and beware the Lego bin chicken.
LINKS
Lego bin chicken
http://www.wallercustoms.com/the-bin-chickens
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Violent protests on the streets of the United States have continued for a sixth night as thousands join in the call for justice for George Floyd and the prosecution of the police officers involved in his death. Demonstrators across more than 75 cities are also calling for the end of racism against America’s black citizens.
As the number of protestors climbed to the tens of thousands, and police arrests around the country numbered some four-and-a-half thousand – it was revealed that President Trump had been rushed into a bunker for his protection as protests outside the White House – the US President’s home – turned violent.
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Is it just me, or is it getting cold in here? I;m talking about the weather, and the fact that Jack Frost has decided to mark the arrival of winter in Australia with what meteorologists are describing as an “icy blast”. South Australia has already copped the brunt of it, Victoria is in the midst of it with damaging winds and bucket loads of rain falling on the state yesterday, and the chilly weather ought to be hitting NSW today with the weather bureau predicting snow on the state’s Central Tablelands. Might be time to get the electric blanket out of the cupboard.
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 Windsor Castle, on the outskirts of London – where the Queen has made her first public appearance in months … riding a horse. The 94-year-old monarch was photographed riding a Fell Pony in a park nearby Windsor Castle where she has been holed up in isolation, FaceTiming her grandchildren but otherwise separated from her family since the coronavirus swept through Britain. Fell Ponies are a type of horse most commonly found pulling carriages and buggies. They’re renowned, according to horsey types, for their reliability and surefootedness. Which is a fancy way of saying that they walk carefully. Which is probably a good attribute for a horse carrying a 94 year old who also happens to be The Queen.
SPORTS TIME!
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If you’ve ever seen the movie Cool Runnings, you’ll know about Jamaica’s Olympic bobsled team. Jamaica, is a tropical country in the Caribbean. Bobsledding is a sport that requires ice. The fact that Jamaica sent a bobsled team to the Calgary Winter Olympics back in 1988, made headlines around the world – and ended up being made into a movie. Now the team hoping to represent Jamaica at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, has taken to a peculiar form of training. Without a bobsled or an icy surface to practice on, the team have instead started practicing by pushing a Mini Cooper car along their suburban street. Fair to say the neighbours have been watching on in bemusement.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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It’s perhaps one of the strangest mash-ups of the year – but thanks to an Aussie Lego designer, the world now has the Lego bin chicken. What’s a bin chicken? It’s only the Aussie slang name for the white ibis – that strange, very common bird with the white plumage, long black legs and long black beak that hangs out in parks and scavenges in bins for food. Bin chicken. It’s perfect.
Lego designer Brent Waller has even uploaded instructions on how you can build your own Lego bin chicken at home.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes – including to a funny video about the bird – for any of you out there who are bin chicken enthusiasts .. or Lego enthusiasts. Or preferably both.
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 …
- Name the kind of horse that the Queen was spotted riding this week?
- Which country’s bobsledding team has been practicing with a car on a suburban street?
- Which bin scavenging bird is also known as a bin chicken?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s June the 2nd … the birthday of Aussie cricketing great, Steve Smith, English author, Thomas Hardy, and Australian explorer, William Lawson.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today… Frank from Eastwood, Will from Echuca, Hugo from Newtown, Freya from Walpole, Cameron from Avoca Beach, Kirsten from Dural, Chloe from Buderim, Sue from Elwood, William from Melbourne, Addison from Bungendore, Lucy from Gilberton, Luca from Bulli, Isabel and Coco from Longueville, Cyan from Cronulla, Lulu from Gilberton, Lainey from Rowville and Adam from Orange.
And some belated birthday shoutouts… Betty from Rowville, London from Woongarrah, Amelia from Leichhardt, Darcy from Evans Plains and Tahnee from Lake Macquarie.
Happy birthday to you all.
Today’s classroom shoutouts: Stage 3 Newtown North Public School, Mrs Barron and 4Green at St Peter and Paul’s School in Bulimba, Scone Grammar School and Class 2B at St Bernadette’s in Port Kennedy.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Fell Pony
- Jamaica
- White Ibis