Squiz Today – Friday, 3 September

THE SQUIZ
It was 120 years ago today that the Australian flag was first flown over the dome of Melbourne’s Exhibition Building. At the time, it was known as the Commonwealth blue ensign, and in true local fashion, we’ve trimmed that name down to ‘the Aussie flag’. It has 3 elements on a blue background: the Union Jack, representing the history of British settlement; the Commonwealth Star, which has 7 points representing the 6 states and 1 for the territories; and the Southern Cross, the constellation of stars that can only be seen from the southern hemisphere.

WHO CAME UP WITH THAT?
A few people actually. It came out of an international competition announced by our first PM Sir Edmund Barton in 1901 to find a national flag for the newly federated nation. Before that, it was Great Britain’s Union Jack that was used by the colonies. There were 32,823 entries, and 5 nearly-identical entries were awarded a £200 shared prize. Those winners were: Annie Dorrington, an artist from Perth; Ivor Evans, a 14yo Melbourne schoolboy whose father owned a flag-making business; Lesley Hawkins, an 18yo from Sydney who was apprenticed to an optician; Eggbert Nutall, an architect from Melbourne; and William Stevens, a Kiwi (gasp…). Two designs were approved in 1903 by King Edward VII: a blue ensign for official and naval purposes and a red ensign for the Merchant Navy (aka a country’s ships that carry goods and aren’t used for military purposes).

THAT’S CONFUSING…
That’s what Aussies thought too. So in 1941, then PM Robert Menzies made the recommendation that the blue ensign would be the national standard. That was legislated in 1953, and an amendment was passed in 1998 that said the flag can only be changed with the agreement of the Aussie people. Changing it to ditch the Union Jack has been a topic of debate for years… Fun facts: Australia also has 3 other official flags: the Australian Aboriginal Flag, the Torres Strait Islander Flag and the ensigns of the Australian Defence Force. And there are strict protocols for how the flag should be handled and used: including that it should be raised “briskly” and lowered “ceremoniously”. It’s a mood…

Image source: Pexels

Kids front and centre in the COVID divide

It’s Friday, so get your National Cabinet pants on… Front of minds: children and COVID vaccinations. It’s a debate that heated up after Annastacia Palaszczuk said she wouldn’t open Queensland’s borders until young children were vaccinated. Yesterday, federal Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly said no vaccination program in the world has given jabs to children under 12yo, adding they are generally not getting “severe illness”. Of the 3,815 Aussie kids under 12yo who have had the virus this year, 134 have been hospitalised. Most of those were for “social reasons”, like having parents who were infected and in hospital. Kelly said immunising parents was the best way to “protect yourself and protect your children.” As for how that’s tracking – 60.5% of Aussies over 16yo have had one dose, and 36.4% are fully vaccinated. And NSW became the first state to get 70% of the eligible population with at least one shot down.

Image source: Unsplash

Ida’s destruction continues…

At least 14 people have reportedly died from flooding across New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey as remnants of Hurricane Ida brought torrential rains to the region. Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Monday morning our time, killing 6 people and leaving millions without electricity and running water. Overnight it brought 152 to 203mm of rain to a swath of the Northeast from Philadelphia to Connecticut, flooding apartments and subway platforms. New York’s Central Park was drenched with a record 80mm of rain in an hour. A state of emergency was declared in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and play on the outside courts at the US open was also suspended. US President Joe Biden is heading to Louisiana today, and overnight he said he believes the hurricane, mass floods and raging wildfires are evidence of a “climate crisis”. “We need to be better prepared. We need to act.”

Image source: AP

Termination turmoil in Texas

The most extreme abortion law in the US took effect in Texas yesterday, despite legal efforts to block its passage in the Supreme Court. Under the new law, all terminations will be banned in the state once the fetus develops a heartbeat – usually about 6 weeks into pregnancy. Citizens can dob in clinics that violate the laws, which critics say will see increased harassment from anti-abortion activists. And there are no exceptions, including for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. President Joe Biden yesterday slammed the new law for “blatantly” violating women’s rights, and critics are concerned about what the law could mean for the landmark Roe v Wade Supreme Court ruling, which decriminalised abortion across the US in 1973. Although a dozen other mostly Republican states have already passed so-called ‘heartbeat’ bills, they have all been blocked by the courts so far. But the US Supreme Court – which has a conservative majority – voted 5-4 in favour of upholding the Texas law. What that means for other states remains to be seen.

Image source: AP

The Paralympics: Dylan Alcott

Next time we speak, the Tokyo Paralympics will be over. Boo… But for today’s profile, it’s all about Dylan Alcott.

Aussie tennis star Dylan Alcott has his sights set on the Golden Slam title – that’s sports talk for winning all 4 tennis majors and Paralympics gold. The world #1 has already won the Aussie and French Opens and Wimbledon this year, and he needs to beat world #2 Sam Schroder for the gold in Tokyo. It was meant to be on like donkey kong in the quad wheelchair singles last night, but the game has been postponed to tomorrow at 11am because of weather and a backlog of matches on the centre court. Alcott has already won silver in the quad doubles with fellow Aussie Heath Davidson, and he comes into the singles as the defending champion. But Schroder is not just looking for gold – it’s a chance at redemption after losing to Alcott in the 3 major finals so far this year. Clear your Saturday morning, it’s going to be a belter…

Heading into day 10 of the Paralympic Games, Australia is 8th on the medal tally with 17 gold, 23 silver and 26 bronze.

Image source: Tennis Australia

A forward thinker

“I’m still pretty young, so I’ve got a while to decide,” said 9yo Allegra Clarke about her dream to become an astronaut/engineer/scientist. At the rate that she’s going, she might have to make that decision quick sticks… The Gold Coast primary schooler has been accepted to study a university physics course in NSW. Allegra reached out to the uni after finding parts of year 11 and 12 physics work “pretty easy”. OMG… But she has form. At 4yo, she was reading encyclopaedias, and by 5yo, she was explaining black holes to her classmates. These days at school, she is in “extension-extension classes”. She hopes that as she gets older, she’ll see more girls in STEM. “Girls can be full of ideas that sometimes boys just don’t know,” she said. Sing it, sister…

Image source: Supplied

A virtual city tour, a go-to sheet mask, and a zingy cake recipe

Remember getting lost while driving in foreign countries? Those were the days… Helping to revive the memories is this road tour of favourite cities. For a full foreign experience, turn the volume up.

With winter wrapped up for another year, it’s time for some skin TLC. Cue: this sheet mask starring fancy natives Kakadu plum and finger lime. It is one of Zoe Foster Blake’s Go-To skincare products, or should we say was…

Pistachio and lemon are 2 of our favourite things, and this light, zingy and creamy cake really fit the bill. It’s also pretty, which means it makes it the perfect decoration atop the kitchen benchtop – if you can keep it out of your gob for long enough. We could not.

Image source: Gather and Feast

Remember getting lost while driving in foreign countries? Those were the days… Helping to revive the memories is this road tour of favourite cities. For a full foreign experience, turn the volume up.

With winter wrapped up for another year, it’s time for some skin TLC. Cue: this sheet mask starring fancy natives Kakadu plum and finger lime. It is one of Zoe Foster Blake’s Go-To skincare products, or should we say was…

Pistachio and lemon are 2 of our favourite things, and this light, zingy and creamy cake really fit the bill. It’s also pretty, which means it makes it the perfect decoration atop the kitchen benchtop – if you can keep it out of your gob for long enough. We could not.

Image source: Gather and Feast

Friday
7.15am (AEST) – Tennis – US Open – Ajla Tomljanović v Petra Martić. Aussie Tomljanović is hoping to make it to the 3rd round in the tournament for the first time

11.00am (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics – Class 9-10 Women’s Table Tennis Team Final – Australia v Poland.  Aussies Li Na Lei and Qian Yang both won individual gold at these games and are hoping to claim another one

12.30pm (AEST) – Deputy PM/Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce addresses the National Press Club – Canberra

1.20pm (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics – Badminton. Australia’s Grant Manzoney is playing, and then Aussie Caitlan Dransfield is on at 7.40pm. Badminton has been around for ages at the Olympics but it’s making its Paralympic debut in Tokyo

7.30pm (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics –  Class 10 Men’s Table Tennis Team Final – Australia v China. Australia’s men’s team of Lin Ma and Joel Coughlan are going for gold. Lin Ma won the silver in the class 9 singles and is looking to go one better in the team event

9.00pm (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics –  Swimming – Men’s 34 Points 4x100m Medley Relay Final. The heats are at midday, but we’re feeling good about a finals berth…

A birthday for Charlie Sheen (1965)

Anniversary of:
• the British Empire adopting the Gregorian Calendar, losing 11 days, causing riots when people thought the government stole 11 days of their lives (1752)
• Britain declaring war on Germany after its invasion of Poland (1939)
• Chris the Sheep breaking the world record for biggest shorn fleece 40kg near Canberra (2015)

Saturday
11.00am (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics – Men’s Quad Wheelchair Tennis Singles Final – Dylan Alcott v Sam Schroder

Start of Spinal Injury Awareness Week (on until 10 September)

World Beard Day

Beyonce turns 40yo (1981). And there are birthdays for Dawn Fraser (1937), Mark Ronson (1975) and Samantha Armytage (1976)

Anniversary of:
• English astronomer Edmond Halley first observing the comet named after him (1682)
• the founding of the city of Los Angeles (1781)
• Britain ending its policy of penal transportation to NSW (1884)
• George Eastman patenting the first roll-film camera and registering under the name “Kodak” (1888)
• English author Beatrix Potter first writing the story of Peter Rabbit for a 5yo boy (1893)
• Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam withdrawing controversial extradition bill to China after three months of massive protests (2019)
• the deaths of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin (2006) and Joan Rivers (2014)

Sunday
7.30am (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics – Men’s Marathon T46 Final. Aussie Michael Roeger is the best chance for a medal

4.00pm (AEST) – Rugby – Bledisloe Cup – Wallabies v All Blacks – Perth9.00pm (AEST) – Tokyo Paralympics – closing ceremony

Father’s Day

International Day of Charity

Birthdays for Michael Keaton (1951), India Hicks (1967) and Rose McGowan (1973)

Anniversary of:
• the First Opium War beginning in China (1839)
• Christine Hardt patenting the first modern brassiere (1889)
• the premieres of The Huckleberry Hound Show featuring Yogi Bear (1958) and The Muppet Show (1976)
• Freddie Mercury’s birthday (1946)
• the death of Mother Teresa (1997)
• Hurricane Irma becoming the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin region with winds of 280km/hour (2017)