15 June 2024 - Saturday Squiz

The weekend is here and we hope you let loose like this couple in Ibiza. This Saturday, if you’ve ever set a record, have a banger chicken and rice recipe, or have anything else you want to share, hit reply.

⏱️ Reading time: 7 minutes

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🤷‍♀️ IDK: If there’s a better food combination than chicken and rice. Except for potatoes and butter. And potatoes and, well, anything really. But you’ll see where our head was at…

This week's top stories

Streem (radio, print and TV mentions - 8 June to noon 14 June)

1. Another desperate week in the Gaza war - Last weekend, 4 hostages were rescued by the Israeli military from central Gaza, in an operation that was weeks in the making. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 274 people were killed and more than 700 injured in the process. Meanwhile, the US, Qatar and Egypt are still pushing Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire deal to be done… 

2. It’s not an election campaign without… - …a debate on emissions targets. And it’ll be on the agenda next time around with the Coalition and Labor drawing the battlelines on our 2030 target. Team Albanese says we’re locked in at 43% below 2005 levels, but Team Dutton says not so much…

3. Slaying in the pool - The highlight from the Aussie swim trials for the Paris Olympics? Mollie O'Callaghan broke her world record in the 200m freestyle -only to come in second place. That meant the winner Ariarne Titmus smashed the record in the same race. Outstanding stuff.

4. Another legal case relevant to the US presidential election ends… - Hunter Biden, son of Joe, was found guilty on 3 charges related to his purchase of a revolver in October 2018 under laws meant to prevent addicts from holding firearms. Here’s a bit of background on why Donald Trump didn’t go hard on his opponent this week…

5. Vale Michael Mosley - The TV presenter known for championing the 5:2 and Fast 800 diets was found dead on the Greek island of Symi after days of searching. Reports say he likely died 2.5 hours after setting off on a walk and after taking a wrong turn, he was on a treacherous hike in blistering temperatures. His wife Dr Clare Bailey said he was a “wonderful, funny, kind and brilliant” man.

S’Quiz me real good…

Reckon you know where Chinese Premier Li Qiang is visiting this weekend? Have a crack at the Squiz Quiz.

Picture of the week

We mentioned these 2 outstanding women in the week’s top news stories. Geez we’re pumped for Paris…

Question of the week

Have you ever tried Dr Michael Mosley’s 5:2 or 800 Diet?

‘Health fads' aren’t a thing for most people who voted (52%), but plenty of people told us they have tried/highly regard Dr Michael Mosley’s programs.

Tenita - “Yeah… That’s something I tried for about 30 seconds. I realised pretty quickly that it didn’t suit my life and I gave up…“

Ellie - “I can’t deny the grip these had over me when I was a bit younger… I was miserably bad at them though.”

Andrew - “I do the 5:2 and love it. I get a lot of mental clarity from the intermittent fasting.“

Squiz Recommends

Reading - There’s a bit of a story behind the Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup being held in the Caribbean and the US - and it has a lot to do with cracking the American market. This article from The Free Press article gets into it, but we also loved this take in The Athletic (paywall) of an American’s first experience of a game.

Playing - It’s just come across our radar that The New York Times has a new game in circulation - Strands. It’s still in the beta phase so you can only play it online (ie, it’s not in the NYT Games app), but if you like a wordsmith/puzzle challenge, give it a burl. PS. If you’re a Connections fan, they rounded up their top 5 most difficult puzzles here.

Watching - The Hollywood Reporter Roundtables series is known for bringing icons together. The latest episode with Our Nic and Naomi, Jennifer Aniston, and Jodie Foster, to name a few, gets into method acting, imposter syndrome, and whether they’ve lied to get a job…

In the Kitchen

You need a bit of time for this Chicken Biryani recipe, but we reckon it’s worth it, especially as the weather gets colder - the spices pack a nice punch.

What we Squized this week

Doubling back with News Club. We like to regroup on things that were big in the news but drop off in coverage even though they’re still a thing… So this week we focused on some great journalism updating on the situations in Ukraine, Myanmar, and Hong Kong. Catch up on the newsletter here and click here to get the weekly newsletter in your inbox.

Squiz Shortcut to the International Criminal Court (ICC). It recently made headlines when its chief prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This Shortcut will get you across that and the role of the ICC. Have a read or a listen here. 

Joining The Club with ConnectedAU

We’re fans of the work that ConnectedAU is doing to combat loneliness in Australia, whether it’s finding a penpal through the Letterbox Project, or being able to join one of their online clubs from the comfort of your own home. Love books? This month Nicola Moriarty’s Every Last Suspect is up for discussion in the Book Club. Explore how you can get involved here. 

Squiz the Week

Saturday - It’s quite the day… It’s World Martini Day, World Tapas Day, World Juggling Day, International Surfing Day and Global Wind Day (meteorological, not flatulence…). And Princess Kate will make her first public appearance in a while tonight at Trooping the Colour in London.

Sunday - Cricket goes Caribbean when Australia plays Scotland in St Lucia at 10.30am (catch it live on Prime). And whatever your butter to Vegemite ratio is, go nuts on National Vegemite Day 

Monday - Get your green-leafies on with Eat Your Vegetables Day. It’s also the start of Learning Disability Week

Tuesday - This arvo we’ll hear from Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock about the central bank’s latest interest rate decision 

Wednesday - It’s Juneteenth in the US, marking the emancipation of enslaved African Americans

Thursday - If you’re as keen as some Squiz team members… FEDERER: Twelve Final Days doco airs on Prime Video. And if you can’t wait for that, some Federer-related content follows…

Friday - It’s the Winter Solstice - the shortest day of the year (plus a few other technicalities). And pens down at Queensland and the Northern Territory - their public schools finish up Term 2 

*All times in AEST

Double-Tapping

That’s Dr Roger Federer, thank you very much… His commencement speech at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire went a bit viral this week for his funny and revealing distillation of a few life lessons.