Tuesday, 7 June, 2022
MinJee Lee our new sporting hero; the Alaskan husky that went walkabout; why giraffe necks are for headbutting; and Kung Fu Panda wins again.
LINKS
MinJee Lee’s putt for US Open victory: https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1533584154180427779
MinJee’s video message: https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1533627735523766273
The sweet Tweet from MinJee Lee’s brother: https://twitter.com/Minwoo27Lee/status/1533589077806678017
Leon the Iditarod dog’s reunion with his musher: https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/06/05/lost-iditarod-dog-leon-found-safe-after-nearly-3-months/
Jack Black’s big MTV entrance:
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Australia has a new sporting hero in the shape of MinJee Lee – the girl from Perth who yesterday won the most prestigious golf tournament in the world – and collected a record amount of prize money for her efforts.
I’m talking about the US Women’s Open – a golf tournament that took place over the weekend just gone at a golf club called called Pine Needles in the American state of North Carolina.
It’s the toughest tournament in women’s golf – and comes with a $2.5 million prize for first place – which MinJee walked home with after streaking to an early lead in the competition and never looking back.
It’s the biggest single prize ever awarded in the history of women’s golf – and makes the 26 year old from WA only the third Australian to win the highly coveted tournament.
Coveted means something that lots of people want.
And as impressive as MinJee’s efforts on the golf course were, it was her incredible back story and love of her family that made headlines yesterday too.
MinJee is of Korean heritage – her parents migrated to Perth from South Korea before she was born. Together with her younger brother, MinWoo, MinJee went on to become a young golf champion in their hometown before joining the professional golfing circuit.
Yesterday, her brother MinWoo tweeted that his sister was ‘just a kid from Perth’ and that he had tears of pride in his eyes.
See? Little brothers aren’t all bad!
I’ve stuck a link in today’s episode notes to video of MinJee’s winning putt, a little video she recorded after winning and her brother’s sweet tweet.
You’re welcome.
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 Alaska, where a sled dog has been found, alive and well, after surviving on his own for three months.
Leon, a husky from France, had come to Alaska in March for the Iditarod—a 1,770 kilometre dog sled race across snow and ice.
Sounds exhausting.
Sixteen dogs start the race, but only six are required to finish. And about 800km into the race, Leon’s musher – that’s the human who drives the sled – could see that Leon had had enough. So he left him in the care of race organisers, and continued on. But Leon slipped out of his collar, and ran away.
For weeks, Leon’s musher stayed in Alaska, trying to help find the wandering husky, but eventually he had to return to France. So imagine his excitement when he heard last weekend that Leon had been spotted, 240km away from where he was lost! I’ve put a link in your episode notes to photos of their reunion… the smile on both faces is heartwarming. If only dogs could talk, imagine the things he’s seen and tales that Leon could tell…
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Giraffe necks have long been pointed to by scientists as an excellent example of how animals adapt over time to suit their habitats.
Because they live in the African savannah – and eat the juicy, green shoots on trees that are covered in spiky thorns – it’s long been believed by scientists that they’ve evolved to have long necks to help them pick off the choice bits of food from the top of the tree.
But scientists are now beginning to wonder if giraffe necks also evolved to be long to make them better at head butting.
Male giraffes often take each other on – fighting in the wild for dominance – and they use their incredibly thick skulls as weapons – whacking each other wildly.
And by examining the skulls of the prehistoric ancestors of giraffes, scientists have concluded that the long necks also evolved to make the creatures better at headbutting each other – because of the greater swing you’re able to get with a long neck.
Nature can be so brutal.
POP CULTURE CORNER
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And the stars were out to play in California yesterday for the MTV Movie and TV Awards – with Spiderman No Way Home and the Marvel series, Loki the big winners on the night.
The MTV Awards are kind of like the Oscars – but younger and cooler.
Spidey took home two awards – one for best movie – beating Batman and Dune – and one for best performance for its star, Tom Holland.
Olivia Rodrigo picked up an award for her doco, Driving Home 2 u – but the best moment, to my mind, belonged to the very funny Jack Black who somersaulted in to accept his award for Comedic Genius dressed as a panda.
Why? Because he’s the voice of Kung Fu Panda . and the teacher in School of Rock, and the Bethany character in Jumanji – and the writer in Goosebumps.
The man is seriously funny..
I’ve stuck a link in today’s episode notes to his appearance at the awards. Again – you’re welcome.
SQUIZ KIDS SALUTES
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This Squiz Kids Salutes is brought to you by the Fred Hollows Humanity Award … which, for the last 10 years. has recognised awesome Year 6 kids who are doing positive things in their community. And today, we salute Fremantle’s Leon Valli – who was named a winner in last year’s awards for the awesome work he did helping out a classmate.
Showing maturity beyond his years, Leon not only raised money for the Leukemia Foundation’s Shave For A Cure fundraiser, but when one of his classmates, Yannick was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, he got his grandmother to sew a quilt for Yannick and got the whole class to write messages of support on it.
If you or a Year 6 student you know has done something to show compassion and kindness, you can nominate for the 2022 Fred Hollows Humanity Award, visit hollows.org/humanityaward – that link is also in our episode notes – and keep listening for an upcoming Q+A with all of last year’s winners.
THE SQUIZ
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This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you’ve been listening …
- Which Aussie city did Australian golfing champ MinJee Lee grow up in?
- Which superhero movie won the best movie award at the MTV Awards yesterday?
- What breed of dog Leon, the pup who went walkabout in Alaska?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s June 7 … today is adventurer Bear Grylls birthday … and it’s World Food Safety Day … which is something of a coincidence because I sometimes think the food Bear Grylls eats is less than safe, but there you go ..
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today…
Lachlan from Upper Mount Gravatt, Alexander from Baulkham Hills, Grace from Surat, Emily from Forest Lake, Olivia from Wahroonga, Dot from Gladesville and Addy from Fig Tree Pocket.
Classroom shoutouts are going to…class 5/6 and Ms Coates at Surat State School, classes 2,3 and 4 at Millfield Public School, class 6W at Villa Maria Catholic Primary School in Hunters Hill, class 5/6S at Wesburn Primary School and lastly class 6T and Miss Zee at Labrador State School.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Perth
- Spiderman: No Way Home
- Husky