Squiz Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
Squiz Kids!
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Hello and welcome to Squiz Kids Today, your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Bryce Corbett.
It's Thursday, February 19.
In Squiz Kids today, Ramadan holy month begins.
America honours a hero, the seabird who went to hospital and helping your grandparents on YouTube.
That's what's making news, kids style.
The Lowdown It's Ramadan, friends.
One of the most important times on the Muslim calendar.
And everywhere around the world.
From now and for the next month, people of the Islamic faith will be fasting during the day and feasting during the night.
Sounds pretty cool, hey?
Well, maybe not the fasting bit.
Do you know what I mean when I say fasting?
It means not eating any food, which is what many Muslims will be doing from sunrise to sunset for the next month.
Maybe you're one of those people observing Ramadan, which is a fancy way of saying taking part in this religious ceremony.
Or maybe some of your classmates will be observing Ramadan.
It's not all that different, when you think about it, to Lent, which is a religious observance that many Christians follow.
Lent is the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter when devout Christians give up something – it might be something they like to eat or something they like to do – as a sort of offering to God.
It's the same deal pretty much with Ramadan, where Muslims fast during the day as a sign of their faith and as a kind of offering to Allah, who is their God.
And this is what makes Australia so good.
Lots of different religions with lots of different traditions and rituals, all living side by side together in harmony.
Difference, after all, is what makes us all interesting.
So what else happens during Ramadan?
Well, it's not just about fasting.
It's also about praying and spending time with family and taking time out of our busy lives to help others in our community and generally work on being a good person.
So Ramadan Mubarak to all of our listeners of the Islamic faith.
And if you're keen to learn more about Islam, be sure to tune in to our From the Vault podcast this Sunday, where we dust off the Squiz Kids shortcut to Islam.
It's a fantastic introduction to a religion that is practiced by some two billion people around the world, or approximately a quarter of all humans on the planet.
So well worth a listen.
Spin the globe.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a new story from wherever it stops.
And today, speaking of celebrating tolerance, we've landed in the United States, where a famous pioneer of black rights has passed away.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson is his name, and he was an important figure in the United States when it came to black people and their fight for equal rights.
It may seem hard to believe, but it wasn't that long ago that black people in parts of the United States were kept separate from white people on buses, in shops, even in swimming pools.
This is what's called racial discrimination, when you treat someone differently simply because of the colour of their skin.
And sadly, it still happens a lot today in all countries of the world.
Jesse Jackson was a warrior for black rights in America, and the work he did in his lifetime paved the way for that country's first black president, someone you might have heard of called Barack Obama.
Rest in peace, Reverend Jesse Jackson.
What an amazing life you led.
Animal Kingdom Here's a question for you this fine Thursday morning.
When humans are sick they go to the doctor or a local hospital, right?
But when birds are feeling poorly, where do they go?
Well, in the curious case of a cormorant in Germany last week, the hospital seems to be the answer.
Hospital workers in the town of Bremen were surprised to find a cormorant, which is a type of seabird, knocking on its glass door last week.
On closer inspection, it turned out that the poor animal had a fishing hook stuck in its beak.
And it had chosen, of all places, the local hospital as the place to go to get help.
What a clever cormorant.
Doctors removed the hook and set the bird free.
But I wonder if it had health insurance.
Every Thursday, Squizzy the News Hound sticks his snout into Squizz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he's sniffed out on the internet.
And this week Squizzy is most upset after coming across a YouTube video which has upset grandparents all over the country.
The video makes all sorts of silly claims, including the government is about to start testing grandparents on how well they can operate digital devices, and also ridiculous claims that new laws will be introduced to aged care homes and retirement communities banning excessive noise like laughing grandchildren.
Now squizzy did what all good newshounds do when he saw the video, and that was to stop, think and check.
Stop before believing the video.
Think about who made it and why, and then check credible sources of information to see whether there's any truth to the claims.
And of course, there wasn't any truth.
It's what's called disinformation.
Information that's been made up intentionally to confuse or cause chaos.
Unfortunately, lots of people believe everything they see online because they haven't been trained to sniff out fakes and disinformation, just like Squizzy and all of you newshounds have.
It's a good reminder that, as grandkids, you have an important role to play to help your grandparents sort out what's real and what's not when they're online.
Because, bless them, they were raised to expect the best of people and not to question everything they see.
Now there's an excellent grandkid-grandparent role-playing exercise in Session 6 of Newshounds, our very own very free digital literacy program for primary school kids.
And if you, your child or your class are not in the process of becoming Newshounds, then don't just sit there.
Sign up for a free account, QuickStix, via the SquizKids website, squizkids.com.au.
Because we like to give.
Woo-hoo!
If you listened to the pod yesterday, you would have heard Christy announce our exciting next guest for Squiz Kids QA, the podcast where you, the kids of Australia, get to ask the questions.
And it's none other than science explainer extraordinaire, Dr. Carl.
So if you have a question that you'd like Dr Carl to answer, be it a curly science question or something about the good doctor himself, Email that question to squizkids at thesquizcomau.
And if we pick yours, we'll ask you to send us a voice recording.
Or head to the Squiz Kids website, follow the instructions carefully and send us your voice recording directly through the website.
But note this.
You've only got until Tuesday, March 3 to get your questions in.
You've got to be in it to win it.
So go on.
What are you waiting for?
Time for the quiz.
This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.
Question number one.
Well done if you said Jesse Jackson.
Question number two.
What sort of a bird took itself to hospital to get a hook removed from its beak?
Yeah, that's right.
It was a cormorant.
Question number three.
Name the holy month in the Muslim faith that kicked off yesterday.
Yeah, well done.
It's called Ramadan.
Shoutouts.
It's Thursday, February 19.
Today is the birthday of Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, the actress who plays Eleven.
As in Eleven being her character's name, not her age.
It's also a special day for these squiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
And belated birthday shoutouts go to Henry and William from Banana.
Classroom shout-outs today go to Mrs Smith's class at Gladstone Public School, Class 5S with Mr Shackcloth at Westside Christian College in Goodner, Class 5-6 Senior Elliotts at Avoca State School in Bundaberg, Class 5-6 with Mrs Hutt at Exeter Public School, Class 2S with Miss Salib at Cogra Public School and Class 4C with Mr Alizzi at Our Lady of the Way Catholic Primary School in Petrie.
Don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you want a shout out, or if you're after a classroom shout out, drop us a line at squizkids at thesquizcomau, or fill out the form on our website.
Well, that's all we have time for.
Thanks for listening to Squiz Kids today.
We'll be back again tomorrow with the Kids vs Adults Weekly News Sook Quiz.
Your chance to prove who's been paying the most attention to the week that just was.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent day.
Over and out.
