Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Meteor shower madness!; Echidna burglar on the Sunshine Coast; Thor director Star Wars-bound; and Rosie’s Recipes.

LINKS:

SQUIZ KIDS SURVEY LINK:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SquizKids 

Echidna escapades:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-05/adorable-echidna-breaks-in-through-carers-sliding-door/12215400

Rosie’s Recipes:

https://www.squizkids.com.au/rosies-recipes/

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

THE LOWDOWN

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Hands up who wants to set the alarm to wake up at 2am tomorrow morning for a shower? No, not a shower in your bathroom – but one in the heavens above ..

We’re talking about a meteor shower – and the fact that very early tomorrow morning will  be the best time to see what astronomers are saying will be the most spectacular meteor shower we’ll see all year.

It’s called Eta Aquariid – it occurs every May – and between the hours of 2am and 5am tomorrow morning is the best time to catch a falling star. 

A meteor shower occurs when the Earth passes through the tail of a comet, and all the dust and rubble that it leaves behind enters our atmosphere and burns up in a flash of light that streaks across the night’s sky. 

Why is this meteor shower expected to be more impressive than others that happen throughout the year? Because the angle at which the rubble enters the Earth’s atmosphere is relatively shallow – and that means the meteor burns brighter for longer. Space. It’s dead cool.

**

Novak the echidna has assumed celebrity status on the Sunshine Coast after he repeatedly used his impressively long snout to break into the home of wildlife carer, Donna Brennan.

Nosy little Novak has been captured on video scampering up to Donna’s sliding door and using his snout to push it open and lever himself inside. 

Donna took little Novak in when he was just a puggle – which is actually the name for a baby echidna – i know, right, how cute? – and he was found walking disoriented by the side of a road. 

And despite being released back into the wild, it seems Novak quite likes being at  Donna’s house and has come back for more.

There’s a link in today’s episode notes to the video…

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 Japan … where workers at an aquarium in Tokyo have appealed to the public to send in videos of themselves to show to the aquarium’s resident garden eels. Garden eels are just about the cutest-slash-weirdest animals around. Kind of like a mix between an eel and a worm – with a facial expression straight out of a comic book. Turns out the eels have become so unaccustomed to seeing humans because of the lockdown, that they retreat into the sand every time a keeper approaches – making it hard for the aquarium staff to keep track of the eels’ health. So they’ve started Face Timing kids into the tank each day to get the eels used to humans again. Face Time a garden eel. Yep, makes perfect sense …

SPORTS TIME!

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A quick wrap on the state of play of the two footy codes.

The NRL comp looks set to resume at the end of the month after players yesterday agreed to a 20 percent pay cut. Training starts again today – with full contact training beginning on the weekend.

And in AFL news: coaches have begun to express concerns about the level of fitness among their teams when they hit the paddock again next month. Players have all been left to do their own individual training during the lockdown, and coaches are worried it will be the sporting equivalent home schooling – not quite as effective as the real thing.

POP CULTURE CORNER

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If you’ve seen the very excellent movie ‘Hunt For The Wilderpeople’, or ‘JoJo Rabbit’ or ‘Thor Ragnarok’ then you’ve seen the work of  the very clever film director, Taika Waititi.

The New Zealand movie maker has just been named as the director and writer of an upcoming Star Wars movie. Yeah bru.

ROSIE’S RECIPES

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Each Wednesday, we check in with Squiz Kids’ ambassadress, Rosie, to see what’s cooking in her kitchen. And today, she’s gone savoury with a delicious Ricotta and Tomato Tart.

It’s a super simple, hearty and nutritious lunch or dinner option. And she would have put basil on it except the possums ate all the basil in her herb garden earlier this week. Boo fingers. 

The recipe and photos of the process and finished product are all on the Squiz Kids website. 

Remember, if you have a recipe you love that you’ve love Rosie to test and feature on the podcast, email it through to [email protected].

SURVEY

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Before we get to The S’quiz, a quick reminder to all the adults out there of the Squiz Kids survey we’d really like as many of you as possible to fill out.  Be you a parent, carer or teacher – we’re keen to understand how you use Squiz Kids and what we can do to improve it. Do it as a favour to me … go on. The link to the survey is in today’s episode notes or accessible off the website. And thanks to all of you who’ve taken the five minutes already to do it. Much appreciated. 

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 …

  1. Meteors occur when the Earth passes through the dust tail of what spacey phenomenon beginning with ‘c’?
  2. What sort of Aussie animal has been breaking into a wildlife carer’s home on the Sunshine Coast?
  3. Which animals in a Japanese aquarium have become shy of humans?

SHOUT OUTS

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Today’s birthday shoutouts go to… Ivy from Gosford East, Sienna from St Clair, Charlie from Crookwell, Ella from Sunbury, Indi from Glen Huon, Charlotte from Moruya, Alessia from Brunswick, Hugh from Mount Kembla, Maeve from Wollongong, Luca from Five Dock, Anise from Double Bay, Jonno, Molly and Roby from Goulburn, Baxter from Hawthorne, Joshua from Newport, Samantha from Eden Hill, Ewan from Surrey Hills, Ruby from Kempsey, Lara from Melbourne, Aiden from Cairns, Sarah from Glenbrook, Eve from North Sydney, and Margot from Welland. 

Happy birthday one and all.

Today’s classroom shoutouts… a big Squiz Kids hello to 3P from Carlingford Public School, 4F and 4P at Kiama Public School, Baradine Central School and St Mary’s School in Orange. 

The S’Quiz Answers:

  1. Comet
  2. Echidna
  3. Garden eels