Squeeze Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermary people.
Squeeze Kids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun, free, fresh.
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, May 7.
In Squiz Kids Today.
Meteors and comets in the night sky.
Japan's pop concert prayers Tiger's fan goes viral and fighting deep fake photos.
That's what's making news, kid style.
Earlier this week, we celebrated Star Wars Day.
May the 4th, as in, may the 4th be with you.
And all of the crazy imaginary planets, creatures and characters that have been dreamt up for this epic movie saga set in a galaxy far, far away.
Well, this week you don't have to travel to that far, far away galaxy to be wowed by the wonders of outer space, with a whole lot going on above our heads right here in our very own solar system.
I'm talking about the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which happens every year and is happening right now, above your head, even as I speak.
All over the globe, the night's sky is going to be lit up this week by meteors streaking through the inky blackness as our planet Earth passes through the tail of a famous comet called Halley's Comet.
A comet's tail is famously made up of all sorts of space debris, bits of ice and bits of rock, and when they come into contact with the Earth's atmosphere, they burn up, appearing as meteors in the night sky.
Now, because of the light from the moon that's currently up in our sky, it's going to be kind of hard to see meteors this year.
But if you're up super early before the sun rises and the skies are clear and you don't have too much light pollution from living in a city, you may be in luck.
Don't want to wake up for an early celestial fix?
Then try this on for size.
There's also a comet streaking across the night sky this month.
Called Comet Pan-STARRS or C-2025R3 if you want to get scientific.
It is currently glowing a blue-green colour and can be seen with binoculars just after sunset in the western skies.
And if meteors and comets don't get your lightsaber glowing, then how about this?
Venus and Jupiter will be visible in our night's skies this month too.
Just after sunset, look to the west and they'll appear as bright glowing objects.
And as the month progresses, they will appear to get closer and closer to one another as our orbit around the Sun lines up with their orbits around the Sun.
Because, my friends, there's nothing better than stargazing to be reminded how incredible our universe is.
Spin the globe.
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 music lovers are praying at a religious shrine in the hope of snaring tickets to see their favourite pop stars.
A shrine is a building or a temple where people go to pray.
And one Shinto shrine in Tokyo has become the go-to place for anyone hoping to get hard-to-find tickets to their favourite pop bands.
Shinto is one of the religions practised in Japan.
This particular Shinto shrine in downtown Tokyo, in the middle of the central business district, has developed a reputation as the place to go for anyone wanting luck in a lottery or help getting tickets to see their favorite K-pop or J-pop band.
When tickets for a recent BTS concert in Tokyo sold out within minutes, The shrine was inundated with BTS ARMY devotees people desperate to score a ticket in an online lottery to the concert.
Further proof, I suppose, that for some, K-pop really is a religion.
Ah, there it is my old friend, the dad joke alarm.
Been a while, dad joke alarm.
Good to hear from you.
Sport time.
Think about your favorite netball team or your favorite footy team or your basketball team or maybe your favorite cricket team and think about how much you love them and how exciting it is when they win.
Then think about how devastating it can be when they lose.
Being passionate about a sport or a team or a player is one of the great experiences in life, but it also means that there are lows with the highs, as nrl west's tigers fan noah deguara discovered at the weekend just gone, His beloved West's Tigers got smashed in their clash with the Cronulla Sharks, going down 52-10.
Ouch!
And five-year-old Noah was at Shark Park to watch the demolition of his heroes and the TV cameras captured him crying his little heart out.
Fast forward to yesterday though, and the little fella had recovered, helped in no small part by a video recorded by Sharks player Nico Hines, in which he said that he hoped Noah was feeling better, before adding that the Sharks were always on the lookout for passionate young fans if he ever wanted to swap teams.
Cheeky!
News Hounds.
Every Thursday, Squizzy the News Hound sticks his snout into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he's sniffed out on the internet.
And today his snout is twitching after the Italian Prime Minister got caught in a deep, A deep fake photo is a fake image showing someone doing something that they never did.
And unfortunately, with AI.
These days, it's all too easy to manipulate images, to paint someone in a bad light, to hurt their reputation or to embarrass them.
It's a really big problem in the disinformation world, and no one is safe.
This week, the Prime Minister of Italy posted a deep fake image of her wearing underwear.
The image was fake, made entirely by artificial intelligence, but because the tech these days is so good, it looked real.
The PM nevertheless shared it on her own social media channels, labelling it a fake, but also using the opportunity to educate people how easily these fakes are created and how quickly they can spread across the internet.
Creating fakes like these, that's called spreading disinformation.
It's why Squizzy the News Hound always tells us to stop, think and check before believing everything we see online.
And it's why classrooms all over the country have signed up to do News Hounds, our free media literacy program for primary school kids.
Check it out at squizzkids.com.au.
You're welcome.
Woo-hoo!
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.
In the NRL clash between Sharks and Tigers last weekend, which team won?
MUSIC
Yep, that's right.
It was the Sharks.
Question number two.
In which country can you visit a Shinto shrine to pray for pop concert tickets?
Yeah, that's right.
It's in Japan.
Question number three.
What's the name of the comet whose tail the Earth is currently passing through and causing the media shower known as the Eta Aquarids?
That comet is called Halley's Comet.
Shout out.
It's Thursday, May 7.
Today is World Password Day, where we're reminded to check our online security.
And don't forget, friends, this coming Sunday is Mother's Day.
Have you shopped at the Mother's Day stall at your school yet?
Or made a card?
Or made plans for breakfast in bed on Sunday?
Be sure to show the mums in your life a whole lot of love this Sunday.
It's also a special day today for these squiz kids celebrating a birthday.
Remy from Forest Lake, Grace from Albany Creek, Maria from Finden, Ava from Cobbity and Eva from Mount Cooler.
Classroom shoutouts today go to Class 34W with Mrs Wren from Berwick Lodge Primary School.
Class 56K with Calic from Plumpton Public School.
Class 5B with Ms Norris from Serviston South State School in Inala, and the fifth grade class with Mrs Waltz and Ms Ruffin from Inman Intermediate School, who are listening all the way over there in Nixon, Missouri in the United States of America.
Great to have you on board.
Don't forget if you've got a birthday coming up and you'd like 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 our kids versus adults weekly news quiz.
Your chance to prove who's smarter, kids or adults.
And I think we all know the answer to that.
In the meantime, I want you all to get out there and have yourselves a most excellent day.
Over and out.
Thank you.
