Tuesday, 28 July, 2020
A record we didn’t want to break; Daisy the not-so-agile mountain dog; Mars rock returns; and the ultimate choc-chip.
LINKS
Wild weather and coastal erosion
Daisy the mountain dog
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-53543367
World’s best choc chip
Turia Pitt Research Resources:
Turia video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHoAdZfm7eE
Turia video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AQXXMqUPuA
Turia Pitt website: www.turiapitt.com
Send your Turia Pitt questions to: [email protected]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Normally breaking a record is a good thing. Whether it’s your fastest time in the 100m sprint or the Guinness World Record for the number of marshmallows you can stuff in your mouth at one time.
But yesterday, we broke a record we really wish we hadn’t with Australia recording the biggest single-day rise in new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.
Squiz Kids all over greater Melbourne are back doing school from home and wearing masks each time they step outside. And even with those big efforts, the number of people testing positive to COVID-19 continues to rise in Victoria.
The state’s chief medical officer – who is Victoria’s top doctor – yesterday said he hoped Victoria had hit the peak of this new round of infections. And that as long as people continued to practice social distancing and washed their hands and remained vigilant – which is to say, don’t let our guards down – then we would put the coronavirus back in its box.
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As wild weather and monster seas continued to batter the east coast of Australia overnight, home owners in a couple of coastal towns have had another nervous night watching the sea gradually gobble up their front yards.
Dozens of homes built on the beach at Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast were yesterday teetering precariously above huge seas, and coastal towns from Newcastle down to the Victorian border were bracing themselves as a combination of high tides and driving rain were expected to wreak havoc.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to photos and video of some pretty dramatic examples of coastal erosion … of the house-teetering kind.
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 Wales … where Daisy the St Bernard has turned the tables on mountain rescuers.
St Bernard’s are great big dogs which were originally bred in Italy and Switzerland to help rescue people when they became stranded in snow on the Alps – the huge mountain range in Europe.
But the rescuer had to be rescued in Wales, when Daisy hurt her leg and had to be carried off the mountain by a team of mountaineers.
It took 16 rescuers five whole hours to get the 55kg Daisy down off the mountain on a stretcher – carrying her over rocks, through streams and across waterfalls.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to photos of Daisy being carried down off the mountain like a queen. She looks pretty pleased with herself too, it has to be said …
BIGGEST, FURTHEST, LONGEST
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Normally this segment is given over to record breaking efforts and remarkable feats … but today we’re celebrating neither the biggest, furthest or longest of anything – but rather the yummiest.
It’s a festival of superlatives! That’s one for your teachers …
And a big Squiz Kids shout out to Remy Labesque from Los Angeles who has just designed the perfect chocolate chip.
When he’s not engineering chocolate, Remy works designing cars for the electric vehicle company, Tesla. But he’s such a fan of choc chip cookies, he decided to put his design skills to work on the creation of a choc chip with the perfect proportions for a taste explosion.
The result is a choc-chip shaped like a flat pyramid – which Remy says has the perfect surface area for the ultimate chocolate experience.
There’s a link in today’s episode notes to some photos – and they sure look scrummy to me.
SPACED OUT
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The third of three rocketships on a mission to Mars will take off this Thursday, and on board will be a little rock which has been on a massive journey.
Following in the footsteps of China and the United Arab Emirates who both launched Mars missions last week, the United States will this week send its own rocket to Mars.
And in the rocket, making the journey back home, will be a small rock that began its life on Mars, was blasted off the red plant when an asteroid smashed into it about 600,000 years ago and eventually made its way to Earth as a meteorite some 1000 years ago.
It’s been in a museum in London since it was discovered. And now it’s being returned to the red planet. Because even rocks get homesick.
TURIA CALL OUT
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The clock is ticking friends … you only have until this afternoon to send in any questions you might have for Turia Pitt.
A huge thanks to all of you who have sent in questions already. They’re super smart and totally impressive – just as I’d expect from you lot.
If you want to ask a question in our upcoming Squiz Kids Q+A session with Turia, send it to: [email protected]
And then stay tuned for news of when it will be released …
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 breed of dog is Daisy, the mountain dog who’s not so great on mountains, as it turns out?
- What delicious food stuff has a Tesla engineer redesigned for maximum taste?
- Back to which planet will a little rock be travelling this week?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s July 28 … in the United States, it’s National Hamburger Day – celebrating 120 years since the first beef pattie was slapped between two slices of toast at a diner in Connecticut for a customer who said he wanted a meat sandwich that he could eat as he walked …
It’s also the birthday of these Squiz Kids … Giano from Goulburn, Wyatt from Cannon Hill, Grace from Keysborough, Maya from Brisbane, Snow from Kiama, Reba from Wolvi, Holly from Barmedman, Makai from Ringwood North, Fatemah from Paralowie, Delilah from Lowanna, and Lucy from Paddington.
And some belated birthday shoutouts to Malachy from Wahroonga and Ava May from Greenwood.
Happy birthday to you all.
Classroom shoutouts…. Classes 5 & 6 at Cannon Hill State School and Ms Phelan, whose birthday it is today; to 6W and 6F at St Helens Park Public School, where Mrs Fairley and Lilly are also celebrating a birthday today, and to everyone at Elderslie Public School where Mrs Welsh is also celebrating a birthday today.
And finally: a very special Squiz Kids shoutout to Gabriel from Menora, in Perth, who is starting at a new school today. If you’re in Gabriel’s class today: make sure you make an extra special effort to make him feel welcome.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- St Bernard
- Choc chip
- Mars