SquizKids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
SquizKids!
It's your daily news fix.
Fun.
Free.
Fresh.
Hello and welcome to SquizKids Today, your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.
I'm Bryce Corbett.
It's Thursday, November 20.
In SquizKids Today, new rules for Roblox.
AFLW footy finals kick off, Squizzy sniffs a cricket fake, and Buddy the Owl takes off.
That's what's making news, kids style.
There are big changes to Roblox on the way, with new rules set to be introduced preventing kids from talking online to people who are older than them.
Now, I have a sinking feeling that a few of you out there are familiar with Roblox.
With 150 million people playing the online game every single day, there's a better than average chance.
You're at least aware of it.
And as part of new government rules cracking down on social media platforms, Roblox will now enforce something called facial age estimation, which means the game will guesstimate how old you are by looking at your face, and it will only allow you to interact with other people your own age
It's all about protecting kids from stranger danger and making sure that any contact you have with people you don't know on Roblox is only with people who are about the same age as you.
From next month, users will be placed into one of several age groups.
Under 9, 9-12, 13-15, 16-17, and so on.
It's all part of the teen social media ban.
New laws making it illegal for social media platforms to allow kids under 16 to be on them.
The laws kick in on December 10 and we'll have a lot more information about what it all means closer to the date.
Each day we give the world globe a spin and find a news story from wherever it stops.
And today we've landed in England, where bird watchers have been told to be on alert for an owl that's flown the coop.
Buddy is an eagle owl, a massive bird with a wingspan of five foot, which is to say, when his wings are outstretched from wingtip to wingtip is about the same size as your average 14 year old kid.
Wow.
Buddy has spent most of his life in an enclosure in a wildlife park in the English countryside.
But keepers came to feed him the other morning and discovered the lock on his gate was busted and Buddy was gone.
No doubt he's popped out on an adventure somewhere, maybe to stretch his wings and go and visit some cousins somewhere.
Eagle owls, after all, are really good hunters and can fend for themselves in the wild.
I tell you what, I wouldn't want to be a mouse in the English countryside right about now.
Footy fans, it's time to get excited.
And that's because it's AFLW finals season, with a big weekend of footy action coming your way.
And the question seems to be, who is going to stop the Red Hot Roos from going back to back?
I'm talking about the North Melbourne Kangaroos, who go into this weekend's finals as favourites to claim the premiership.
Hoping to stop them will be the Brisbane Lions, with all of Brisbane crossing their fingers that the home team can bring home another trophy to add to the Lions Men's Premiership Cup, plus those two premierships that were won in the Rugby League by the Brisbane Broncos men's and women's team.
As we reach the pointy end of the AFLW comp, there are only four teams left.
North Melbourne face the Melbourne Demons in the first game this Saturday afternoon in front of a Melbourne home crowd, followed in the evening by the clash between the Lions and Carlton at the Lions' home ground in Brisbane.
May the best teams win.
And while we're talking all things sport, it's a big day for cricket lovers tomorrow too, when the Ashes begins with the bowling of the first ball at Perth's Optus Stadium, scheduled for around 1020 local time.
Settle in for a long summer of cricket folks.
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 online.
And today, with the Ashes cricket competition about to begin, he's been knocked for six by a piece of disinformation he's stumbled upon on social media.
There's a famous Aussie cricketer called Adam Gilchrist.
He played for Australia in the 90s and early 2000s and is widely considered one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen to pull on a baggy green.
He's never involved himself in politics or world affairs, but then curiously, in the past week, a series of posts on social media claiming to be written by Adam Gilchrist are making some pretty inflammatory comments about a recent bomb attack in India.
Inflammatory is a fancy word for something that's likely to make people angry.
Except the social media accounts are fakes.
They are people pretending to be Adam Gilchrist trying to make it seem that he has said things that he never said.
And sadly, that's all too easy to do these days.
And it's why we need to always do as Squizzy the Newshound tells us, and that is to stop think and check before believing everything we see online.
And teachers.
If you're looking for a fun, stimulating end-of-term activity to do with your kids, why not join the more than 5000 classrooms around Australia who have already signed up to do Newshounds, our free media literacy course for primary school kids.
The perfect activity before the social media ban kicks in.
Just jump on over to our website and get involved.
This is question time, not sledge time.
Order.
Order.
Prime Minister, resume your seat.
Members will cease interjecting.
I'm issuing a general warning.
There's no point in me repeating myself over and over again.
I have asked for silence.
I've asked for silence.
It applies to you.
Order.
Today's the day, folks.
The first ever Squiz Kids Question Time Takeover podcast drops today.
We sat down with House Speaker Milton Dick and put to him suggestions that you had sent in on things he might say or techniques he might use to calm noisy politicians during the often shouty question time.
Part of federal parliament proceedings.
From cheeky interjections to tried and true classroom techniques.
Your suggestions were all excellent and Milton goes through the top ten in the podcast today.
And the best bit?
He was so impressed... he's going to try and use some of them in an upcoming sitting of parliament.
How good is that?
If you're listening on an app, keep listening at the end of this podcast and it should play automatically.
Or hop on over to our website and find it in the Evergreens QA drop-down menu.
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.
What sort of an owl is Buddy?
The owl that's on the run in England.
Yeah, that's right.
He's an eagle owl.
Question number two.
What's the name of the Aussie cricketer caught up in a social media fake?
Well done if you said Adam Gilchrist.
Question number three.
Which team is currently favourite to win the AFLW Premiership?
Yeah, that's right, it's the North Melbourne Kangaroos.
Yay!
Shout out.
It's Thursday, November 20.
Big night tonight for Aussie music as the ARIA Awards take place in Sydney.
And it's a big day for witches all over the world too as the Wicked sequel hits cinemas today.
It's also a special day today for these squiz kids celebrating a birthday today.
And a special shout out to And classroom shout outs today go to Year 4 with Ms Perry at the Australian Christian College in Singleton.
Class 5B with Miss Beaumont-Jones at Knox Grammar Preparatory School in Wurrunga.
Class 2AC with Andy at Clairvaux Catholic School in Geelong.
And Classes 5TQ and 5DH with Miss Quinn and Mr Ham at John Henry Primary School in Pakenham.
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 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.
