Teens Leading The Way ⚖️
LISTEN + SUBSCRIBE HERE
Description
In today’s episode: 🗳️ We get an update on what happened with the Presidential Election ✊🏽 We speak to a 15-year-old activist about making a political impact for the causes you believe in 🕙 Dig into why we observe the strange national custom of Daylight Saving Time 🦒 We finally learn the answer to that *burning* question, How do giraffes avoid sunburn?
Links
💻 Learn How to Start a Petition
🕙 Remind me why do we turn the clocks back for Daylight Saving Time
🦒 Get all the very important Giraffe Tongue Facts
📧 Email us funny facts! sizzling stories! quirky questions! and caring comments... hello@thetennews.com
Transcript
Bethany Van Delft: [00:00:00] How about that election? Am I right? And it was Daylight Saving Time. Why is that even a thing? How do giraffes avoid sunburns? I'm Bethany Van Delft and we'll get into all this and more on today's The Ten News. The show where in the time it takes to change the time on all the clocks in your house. We find out what's up in the world.
[00:00:25] Okay, let's get into The Ten News.
Countdown voices: [00:00:28] Ten, nine, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:00:35] So after months of anticipation, Election Day 2020 has come and gone and will no doubt go down in the history books as an election like no other, let's get an update on how it all played out from our correspondent, Pamela Kirkland.
TV news anchor voices: [00:00:53] "One of the most divisive battles in the history of us presidential elections, Nevada and Arizona, of course.
[00:01:00] [00:00:59] And then the other ones on the board will make all the deal. The president trailing Biden by eight points. Now putting them in a weaker position than he was in-person votes usually are the last to be counted except with the mail in ballots that are going to be rolling in mail."
[00:01:14] Wow. Election Day is over.
[00:01:17] And the race for president is still too close to call, but that's okay. We knew this would happen because so many people voted, which is an amazing thing. Some states have already seen more people vote in this election than in the 2016 presidential election. As of Wednesday at 4:00 PM, more than 137 million votes had been cast while we know who the winner will be in a lot of states.
[00:01:50] There are a few that we're waiting on. The ballots that still need to be counted are mostly mail-in ballots. Experts say those are [00:02:00] likely to favor Joe Biden because more Democrats than Republicans voted early this year, but we'll just have to wait and see. But here's a couple things that we do know post election, the city of Baltimore voted to elect its youngest mayor ever.
[00:02:18] Democrat and 36 year old, Brandon Scott will be sworn in as the youngest person to ever run the Charm City, which is the nickname for Baltimore. And Mississippi voted for a new state flag, which sounds like it wouldn't be a big deal, but for 126 years, the old Mississippi flag had the Confederate battle emblem on it.
[00:02:41] The state will now replace something that many people feel is a racist symbol with a Magnolia flower and "in God we trust." So we have a long way to go and many more votes to count.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:02:57] This [00:03:00] election was a big deal and a lot of people have really strong feelings about it. Just remember that no matter who wins or loses an election, when we treat each other with dignity and respect. We make our country a better place for all.
[00:03:24] Kids all over the, the country have been inspired by the recent social justice and political protests to take action on issues they care about. But what if you're not able to join a march or attend a rally in person? Let's go back to Pamela Kirkland who spoke to one young activist who found a way to make an impact without ever leaving home.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:03:45] This summer, we saw protests all over the country over racism, toward Black people. The video that showed the world what happened when a police officer knelt on George Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes, sparked [00:04:00] major protest in cities in June and July. Since then we've heard the names, Jacob Blake, Walter Wallace, jr., Brianna Taylor, and more. What we also saw that kids were leading the way on racial equality by leading their own protest, speaking up and starting petitions. And they continue to lead the way. From Tennessee to California, to Washington, DC kids and teens are still leading the charge for change in this country, on the streets and through activism online, Allie Martinez is just one of those teen activists.
[00:04:39] She spoke with The Ten about a petition she started to get justice for George Floyd.
Allie Martinez: [00:04:45] My name is Allie Martinez.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:04:48] Allie's a 15 year old from Houston, Texas with family roots in Mexico. She really wanted to go to some of the protests to support the Black Lives matter Movement, but her mom didn't think it [00:05:00] was safe for her to go alone.
[00:05:02] She decided she'd take action at home.
Allie Martinez: [00:05:05] As a person of color. I know like what racism is like, and it makes me very sad. I wanted to try and do something and make a difference.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:05:16] Allie started a petition on the website, change.org to make sure the officers who killed George Floyd were given the right punishment. She turned to some of her friends.
Allie Martinez: [00:05:27] As I talked it with some of my Black friends who made sure that the things I said, weren't like over stepping. And I just wanted to bring a little bit of justice to their hearts about it.
Pamela Kirkland: [00:05:39] Her petition was able to get over 3 million signatures, which is huge! After the four officers were charged and arrested, it became the largest petition to ever claim victory on change.org.
[00:05:53] Now Allie's telling other kids to get involved, however they can.
Allie Martinez: [00:05:59] I would [00:06:00] definitely tell them to sign every petition and share every petition, try to donate to every cause possible if they can, of course, and just speak about it.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:06:13] What an amazing way to make change.
[00:06:19] Thank you for your dedication, Allie. And thank you, Pamela, for bringing us that inspiring story.
[00:06:28] Did you know that George Washington was the only US president elected as an Independent, he wasn't a Democrat or Republican or any political party. In fact, in his farewell address, he warned of the bainful effects of the spirit of the party. That sounds spooky. I wonder what he'd be thinking right now.
[00:06:59] Notice that [00:07:00] extra hour of sleep you got a few nights ago. Remember that? Yeah, me neither! But November 1st was the end of Daylight Saving Time, which means that most of the countries set their clocks back one hour. Why do we do this? Our correspondent Anya Schultz has an explanation.
Anya Schultz: [00:07:20] Did you know that more than a hundred years before anyone used Daylight Saving Time, Benjamin Franklin brought it up as a joke about candles.
[00:07:30] He was on a trip to Paris when a loud noise will come up super early in the morning at 6:00 AM. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the sun was already out. This gave him an idea. If the people of Paris moved their clocks to make more use of the daylight, they could save a lot of money on candles. He published his idea in an essay in 1784, fast forward to now.
[00:07:57] And there's 70 countries that use daylight [00:08:00] saving time. So what is it? Daylight Saving is the practice of changing our clocks twice, each year to line up the time we're awake with when the sun's out and easy way to remember it is with the expression "spring, forward", and "fall back" in March, we "spring forward" or move our clocks one hour ahead.
[00:08:19] That way we can get more daylight during the long summer days. And in the fall we move the clock back an hour like we did this week, so we won't have to wake up in the darkness during the winter months. "Spring forward" and "fall back," but why do we do this? Benjamin Franklin wasn't too far off, most countries do use the time change to save money and energy.
[00:08:43] The first countries to use daylight saving were Germany and Austria back in 1916 to conserve energy during World War One. And the United States joined in two years later, but stopped the practice once the war was over in 1919. The [00:09:00] U.S. Adopted again during World War two and then made it a national policy in 1966, but not everybody thinks it's a good idea.
[00:09:10] Some people don't like that their sleep patterns get messed up twice. Each year. They think it should just be the same time all year round. Hawaii and most of Arizona don't change their clocks and there's movement in 40 other States in the U S to end the yearly time change. But states have to wait for the federal government to approve before they can stop changing the clocks.
[00:09:35] If you live somewhere that follows daylight saving time, you might've noticed it started to get darker earlier this week and maybe it was a little easier to wake up in the morning. What was 10:00 AM last week, is now 9:00 AM this week, whatever time it is, where you live, we hope you get a good night's sleep.
Bethany Van Delft: [00:09:55] It's time for your trivia question of the day
[00:10:01] [00:10:00] Because they live on sunny African savannas drafts have evolved a unique biological defense to protect themselves from harsh UV rays, AKA built-in sunblock. Can you guess what's special defense giraffes have against the sun? Is it A) thick eyelids? B) a purple tongue. C) hairy feet. Did you guess it, the answer is B! The tip of his giraffe's tongue can be purple, blue, gray, or black. This unique coloring is caused by the same pigment that gives color to our skin. Melanin. Melanin is a special pigment that helps protect organisms from harmful UV rays by absorbing and redistributing the harsh light energy. People with more melanin in their skin have darker complexions and are more protected from UV rays. Giraffes use their long [00:11:00] tongues to grab leaves from the tops of tall trees sometimes for over 12 hours a day, in the blistering heat.
[00:11:09] Answers theorized that a giraffe's melanin, rich tongue protects them from getting a sunburn on this very important part of their body. Oh, my goodness. Could you imagine a sunburn on your tongue? That sounds horrible. You probably get to eat all of the popsicles you want in the world world though. Time is up! That's the end of The Ten News for today.
[00:11:38] You can catch new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small, But Mighty Media. In collaboration with Next Chapter Podcasts and distributed by iHeart Radio. The Ten News writing team is led by Editorial Director Tracy Crooks, with contributions from Stephen Tompkins and Pamela Kirkland, Anya Schultz, and Laine Farber.
[00:11:59] The [00:12:00] creative producer is Jenner Pascua. Marketing is led by Jacob Bronstein. With social media and web support by Steve Tompkins and Adam Pharr, editing and sound designed by Pete Musto under the Production Direction of Jeremiah Tittle. Executive Producer, Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan round out the team.
[00:12:20] If you have any questions about the show, a story idea, or just a fun fact you want to share with us, email us at hello@thetennews.com. And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review The Ten News on Apple podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I am Bethany Van Delft. And thanks for listening to The Ten News.
[00:12:44] Now go use your extra daylight saving hour to do something fun. And don't forget to put on your sunblock, unless of course you have a purple time, a purple skin, I guess. I don't know. Bye. [00:13:00]
