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, October 23.
In Squids Kids today, heat waves sweeps the east.
Kangaroos shape up for Asher's clash.
AI summaries under a cloud.
And 6-7 gets ready for Halloween.
That's what's making news, kids style.
The Lowdown.
Did you get a little bit hot under the collar yesterday?
Or perhaps you were blown sideways by extreme winds?
Welcome to springtime in Australia, where wild weather has become the new normal.
Sydney sweltered in temperatures usually seen in the middle of summer yesterday, with the mercury there climbing to 39 degrees in some parts of the city, while down south in Victoria, a low pressure system was pushing a cold front across the state, bringing with it destructive winds that had emergency services on alert.
Meanwhile, fire crews were on alert across New South Wales yesterday as the hot winds there tore across the state in the afternoon, sparking fears that the bushfire season may start early this year.
Get this.
The weather bureau was yesterday saying that we're on track to clock the hottest October since records began.
Phew-ee!
And Queensland, don't you sit there looking smug.
It's your turn today.
And up into the high 40s in the Queensland outback, where the town of Birdsville already experienced its hottest day on record this week, with a blistering 46 degrees on Tuesday.
Ay caramba!
Stay indoors, stay hydrated, and I'll be in the pool if you need me.
Spin the globe.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a new story from wherever it stops.
And today we've landed in the United States, where the 6-7 craze has invaded a popular burger chain.
Yes, all right.
You know it was only a matter of time before I said 6-7 on the podcast.
And yes, I know it's sending you kids into a spasm of excitement and sending your teachers and parents into a vortex of despair, but bear with me.
The popular In-N-Out burger restaurant in America is being filled with excited pre-teens, ordering their food and then waiting excitedly, phones at the ready, to record the moment when the dude or dudette behind the counter reads out the order number, you guessed it, 67.
And adults, if you thought that this was a trend that was about to disappear, think again.
New data out of the United States indicates searches online for a 6-7 costume for Halloween are at an all-time high.
Yes, fellow adults, we might need to weather this 6-7 nonsense for a little while longer yet.
But take heart, the internet has given kids notoriously short attention spans, so this too will pass.
Sport time.
Just when you thought NRL had disappeared from the sporting calendar and all roads now lead to cricket, comes one more weekend of footy action.
I'm talking about the Australian Kangaroos, the men's National Rugby League team, who are in England as we speak and preparing to take on the English at Wembley Stadium in London this weekend for the Footy Ashes.
Reece Walsh has been named as full-back for the first game which will be airing here at 1130 on Saturday night.
Snatching the jersey from Panther Dylan Edwards.
And the Brisbane Bronco will be joined on the paddock by two other fellow Broncos and first-time Kangaroos, Gemmett Shibasaki and Katoni Staggs.
But in case you thought England was the venue for all the NRL action this weekend, think again.
With Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane playing host on Sunday to an almighty clash of the Pacific Islanders.
When Samoa takes on Tonga.
Some of the biggest names in footy will run out representing their homeland, including Robert Toya, Sione Katoa, an added Fenua Blake for Samoa and Blaise Taulangi, Jerome Luai and Brian To'o for Tonga.
Game on!
News Hounds.
Every Thursday, Squizzy the News Hound pops his head into Squiz Kids HQ to report back on fishy things he's sniffed out on the internet.
And this week he's kicking back in a deck chair with sunglasses on his snout, sipping on a puppy mocktail.
Because it's Media Literacy Week.
And all of the heavy lifting this week is being done for him.
And because he's letting his friends do the work for him.
This week, we're going to point you in the direction of an excellent episode of Behind the News on ABC TV, which has produced a 30-minute media literacy special.
It's really great, and I've stuck a link to it in today's episode notes.
One of the standouts from that episode?
When a bunch of kids are given a set of questions to research on the internet and they discover that the AI summaries that appear at the top of the page are increasingly wrong.
Oh dear.
The motto?
Stop.
Think and check, which are the three things that Squizzy tells us to always do whenever we're online.
Check that the information that AI Summaries is giving you, or ChatGPT or any of those other chatbots for that matter, is actually correct.
Get out your newshound's magnifying glass and dig a little deeper.
Look for links to reliable sources.
And teachers.
If you're keen for your kids to develop critical thinking skills this Media Literacy Week to better prepare them for a digital life, Jump on into our free media literacy program Newshounds via the SquizKids website.
Nine 30-minute podcast sessions with classroom workbook and a full teacher guide.
It's the perfect term for activity.
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.
Where teens are crowding to hear...
Yeah, that's right.
It's called In-N-Out Burger.
Question number two.
What's the name of the outback Queensland town where temperatures climbed to 46 degrees this week?
Well done if you said Birdsville.
Question number three.
Which other Pacific Island nation will Samoa take on in the Pacific Cup footy this Sunday?
Yeah, that's right.
Samoa are playing against Tonga.
Shout out.
It's Thursday, October 23.
Today is World Snow Leopard Day, which is kind of ironic given how hot it's going to be.
Today is also a special day for these squeeze kids celebrating a birthday today.
Eric from Exeter, Abigail from Curramulka, Charlie from Ringwood, Eden from Launceston, Rhys from Windale and Madeline, who's listening, all the way over there in Minnesota in the United States of America, where I bet it's a whole lot cooler.
And classroom shoutouts today go to Class 5B and Mrs K at Holy Spirit Catholic School in Currie, Currie.
Class 3W with Mrs Mackie and Mrs Mackenzie.
And Class 1L with Mrs Tidy and Mrs Williams, both from St Philip's Christian College in Waratah.
And Class 5-6-F. with Ms Fox at St Colman's Catholic School in Home Hill.
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 Adult weekly news quiz.
In the meantime, get out there and have a most excellent and hopefully cool day.
Over and out.
Thank you.
