Wednesday, 2 March, 2022
Sydney in rain bomb firing line; India’s mounted bride; the fake news in Ukraine; and meet T-Rex’s long lost cousins.
LINKS
Aaron Blabey – Bad Guys author – Q+A
Bad Guys movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Xt0yXaDPU
Meet the Bad Guys: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6WAdMEJaqo
Squiz Kids for Schools: https://www.squizkids.com.au/squiz-kids-for-schools/
Squiz Kids Apple Subscriber Content: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/squiz-kids/id1494238283
How To Become A Squiz Kids Correspondent: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FH2HA28InnLU6UxE91wrLBAbCMT40Mua/view
Squiz Kids Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squizkids/?hl=en
Got a birthday coming up and you want a shout-out? Send us an email at [email protected]
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
THE LOWDOWN
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Sydney is next in the firing line of the rain bomb that has already caused widespread flooding to so many cities and towns on the east coast of Australia, as the enormous weather system moves further south today and just refuses to go away.
Called an east coast low pressure system, in weatherman terms, it means a huge, swirling collection of dark clouds, full of rain, are spinning like a very slow cyclone in the skies above.
Usually, these low pressure systems would dump their rain and move on – but because this one is just hanging around – it is dumping a record-breaking amount of rain
Yesterday, as Brisbanites and South East Queenslanders continued the clean up after the worst floods in a decade, it was confirmed the amount of rain that would normally fall there in nine and half months had fallen in the space of only two days. No wonder we’re all wet.
Lismore, Ballina and towns further south on the NSW coast were copping the brunt of the rain yesterday – and forecasters say Sydney is next – with rains expected to intensify today and continue through tomorrow.
Get your gumboots out, Sydney ..
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 India – where a bride has broken with tradition and ridden a horse to her own wedding.
Now – riding a horse to your wedding might sound a little unusual … but in India, it’s a common practice. Except, according to tradition, it’s the groom, not the bride who arrives on horseback.
But Priya Aggarwal from the northern Indian state of Haryana wasn’t about to let her husband to be to have all the fun – and get all the arriving-horseback-glory – so she flipped the tradition on its head and hopped on the horse herself. Making a statement for Indian brides – and brides generally – everywhere.
Priya’s dad says he was the one who had the idea – saying after the wedding that because his son had ridden a horse to his wedding a year ago, it was only fair that his daughter do the same thing.
Girl-power meets horse-power. What a winning combination …
ANIMAL KINGDOM
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Here’s a question for you … what could possibly be more terrifying than a t-rex dinosaur? How about three different types of t-rex dinosaur. Because that’s what paleontologists – who are people that study dinosaurs – believe may have existed way back in the days dinos roamed the earth.
For the longest time, it’s been thought that there was only one species of tyrannosaurus rex – but now, according to researchers, t-rex had cousins – a stocky, muscular version of the t-rex we all know and fear – called Tyrannosaurus imperator – or tyrant lizard emperor; and a more slender, streamlined t-rex, called Tyrannosaurus regina – or tyrant lizard queen.
Hmmm .. tyrant lizard queen and tyrant lizard emperor sound like they’d be perfect for the next Jurassic Park film …
NEWSHOUNDS
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It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to welcome Squiz-E the newshound back into the studio, to tell us about the misinformation he’s sniffed out on the internet this week. And with a war raging in Ukraine, there’s PLENTY of misinformation to be found and SquizE’s nose has been twitching overtime.
It’s often hard to get the truth during a time of conflict… it’s hard for news reporters to go and look at things for themselves, and the sides that are fighting want to make the other guys look bad. But Squiz-E’s found a Twitter account that smells very fishy.
It calls itself CNN Ukraine – and is pretending to be the official Twitter account of the American 24 hour news channel, CNN. In the past few days it’s been making posts that have turned out not to be true.
Because you see: anyone can go online and set up an account pretending to be someone they are not. In the case of Twitter, it uses a blue tick system – for verified, or real, accounts.
Which makes it easy to do what Squiz E says we should always do when we come across any piece of information on social media: stop, think, and check.
In the case of Twitter: look for the blue tick next to the account name. See how long the account has been in operation – check to see how many followers it has. And remember: if it smells fishy … it more than likely is fishy.
SK4S PROMO
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Today is March 2, which means that 118 years ago today, Theodor Geisel was born. Who? Well, you probably know him by another name… Dr Seuss!
Dr Seuss Day is being celebrated today all over the world, in libraries, classrooms, and community centres. And of course, we’re celebrating here at Squiz Kids too!
Amanda and I have put on our crazy hats and recorded a fascinating Squiz Kids Shortcut to Dr. Seuss, available to all classrooms that have signed up to Squiz Kids for Schools, and parents who have signed up for our Apple Subscriber Specials.
If you’re a fan of the Grinch, love a bit of Yertle with your turtle or green eggs with your ham – you’re not going to want to miss this one! Not yet a subscriber? No problem. Jump into your free trial of Squiz Kids for Schools via our website squizkids.com.au or the Subscriber Specials via the Apple podcasting app. There are links to both in today’s episode notes.
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 one of the two new t-rex species that have been discovered?
- In which country is it tradition for a man to ride a horse to his wedding?
- Which wildly popular children’s author, who knows a thing or two about cats that wear hats, celebrates a birthday today?
SHOUT OUTS
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It’s March 2… It’s Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent for Christians around the world. It’s also Dr Seuss Day. And the anniversary of the release of the movie The Sound of Music … doe, a dear, a female deer.
It’s also a special day for these Squiz Kids celebrating a birthday today …
Imogen from Exeter , Lincoln and Milla from Albany Hills, Arnold from the Sunny Coast, Isabel from Abbotsford, Dominic from Queanbeyan South, Edward from Perth, Julia from Tempe and Nellie from Dunkeld.
And belated birthday wishes go to… Poppy from Bicton, William from Wingham and Madison from Exeter Public School.
Classroom shout outs go to …class 5/6EM at Thornleigh West Public School, Year 6A and Mrs Arnold at St Monica’s Parish Primary School in Moonee Ponds and a special shout out to Mr Hull at Abbotsford Public School and happy birthday for today.
Also a very big welcome to Penelope Wirtzbiki – a home educator who has just signed up as a full Squiz Kids for Schools member.
The S’Quiz Answers:
- Tyrant lizard emperor or tyrant lizard queen
- India
- Dr Seuss