Episode Transcript

OPENING STING – LEELA: “Hey, hey, hey. Listen up. New, new, newsy – Newsy Pooloozi!”

LEELA: Centum. Cent. Centinaio. Sau. Hundra. Miaya (mee-ah). Bǎi.

MAMA: Whaaaaat?

LEELA: One hundred – that’s what! This is our one-hundredth episode of Newsy Pooloozi!

THEME MUSIC

LEELA: Hello and welcome our centennial celebration!

MAMA: Ewww, listen to those big words there, girlie.

LEELA: Centennial as in the hundredth anniversary episode of Newsy Pooloozi – the weekly world news podcast for kids.

MAMA: And adults like it too!

LEELA:  They sure do! And boy do we have a special episode in store for you! We’re gonna look back and listen to when and why we started producing this wacky extravaganza.

That’s not all – we also have a super-duper special guest who’s gonna help us celebrate – none other than one of the biggest names in children’s podcasting. Clue: she’s always got food in her pocket and she’s bonker-brains wowsers!

And – we also have a very special announcement about what’s next for Newsy Pooloozi!

LEELA: I’m Leela Sivasankar Prickitt and this is my mama.

MAMA: Hello, I’m Lyndee Prickitt.

LEELA: And we’re Newsy Pooloozi – the news pod for curious kids and adults.  Let’s dive in with…

BIG NEWS STORY STING – VARIOUS VOICES: “The big news story of the week!”

LEELA: It’s us!

MAMA: OK – there is other world news – and we’ll get to that – but allow us for a moment to celebrate because…

LEELA: Without fail, every week for the past 100 weeks –

MAMA: Newsy Pooloozi has been bringing you the most important –

LEELA: And interesting!

MAMA: If not downright –

LEELA: Wacky!

MAMA: News stories every week! And why, you may ask?

LEELA: Why?

BOTH: Because we’re curious!

MAMA: We can’t stop asking: what’s happening?

LEELA; What’s going on with this?

MAMA: Or that.

LEELA: Over here.

MAMA: And over there. –

BOTH:  Basically everywhere!

LEELA: Aaaaaand there was a little thing called COVID stopping us from going here, there and everywhere.

MAMA: Yep – stuck in a hot New Delhi apartment with curiosity and nowhere to go

LEELA: We decided to bring the world to us! And, voila! Our podcast was born.

MAMA: Yeah, a lot of our listeners don’t know our backstory actually

LEELA: Now they do!

MAMA: Yep. And we haven’t missed a week yet.

LEELA: Nope.

MAMA: And it’s just the two of us, searching around for the most interesting news every week.

LEELA: Especially anything to do with poo.

MAMA: Oh, Leela! We research it, write it, record it –

LEELA: Under the bed – because that’s the best sound.

MAMA: Indeed. Then we find, or make, lots of sound effects so the stories come alive in your ears. We hope!

LEELA: We hope!

MAMA: And we do this every week. Because we’re curious cats.

LEELA: Meeeoow!

MAMA: And we’re pretty sure –

LEELA: You are too!

MAMA: But just to be certain…

LEELA: We thought we’d ask some of you.

MAMA: And our correspondents and podcasting friends… what y’all think about curiosity.

VOX POPS: Curiosity is ummm…. wanting to know that you don’t know yet… curiosity to me means to be I think quiz about something. curiosity is asking of questions group of knowledge all the time… yeah i think it’s the pursued of knowledge… it’s something wonderful that bubbles and rows inside you. and wondering how did things works

LEELA: Thanks guys

MAMA: So interesting. And did you know that the etymology – or history – of the word isn’t as clear cut as you might think.

LEELA: What? Surely it comes from some Latin or Greek word for inquisitive or exploration or something like that?

MAMA: Well, are you curious to know?

LEELA: Yessss.

MAMA: It is from Latin, the word curiosus, which means to be careful or diligent. It’s related to the word cura meaning “care.”

LEELA: Huuuuh. Well, I never have!

MAMA: Well, if you think about it – taking care of something is to give it a lot of attention, to watch it closely to be curious… Ah! I do love finding out how words evolve dont you?

LEELA: Me too!

MAMA: And because we think curiosity is something to cherish – we decided to put that to the test too.

LEELA: Yep, we’ve been asking which people which they would prefer money, power or curiosity. And the answers might surprise you…

VOX POPS: Ohhh definitely curiosity… I think curiosity is a good thing, probably because being rich and wealthy doesn’t mean your growth is really good. I think curiosity is the most important because there are so many things you can do with curiosity and the power of your brain… I think curiosity because I hope to just find out things… My personal experience will be curiosity cos i have no experience of wealth and power… But having wealth and power can open more doors to explore and learn even more in person about the world. None of say curiosity because if you are wealthy and powerful it might not be that interesting if you are not curious about anything.

Cos sometimes you search for stuff and if you get to spend time with your friends and family so i think curiosity is a better thing… I would choose curiosity one can use curiosity to increase knowledge, knowledge in return gives power and with power wealth can be made…

MAMA: Fascinating. I would have thought most people would choose – if they were being honest with money or power. But to realize that curiosity is not only a path to those things, but without being curious, those things wouldn’t really be enjoyable, man, that’s some sharp insight. Thank you so much Jack from Jack for the future podcast, Jonathan from Dorktales, Leilani, Mirabel and Chaska from Book Power for Kids and our other correspondents Porter Robbin in LA and Yuvraj Sahni in Delhi. Impressive answers! Wouldn’t you say Leela?

LEELA: I know! But if you want another great answer… Wait till you hear what our special guest has to say. Yes, folks, you’ll never believe who was so kind and generous enough to help us celebrate our 100^th episode.

MAMA: Absolutely one of the biggest names in children’s podcasting

LEELA: From the very best kids podcast ever! None other than Mindy Thomas from Wow in the World. OMG!!!

Music

LEELA: So, we have a very big surprise for our 100th episode so I have been dreaming about it since I was like five. Finally, I get a mean Mindy and this is for our 100th episode… Ok why would you like radio so much you work it

MINDY THOMAS: Ohhh ok so i did love radio so much when i was a kid, i love not knowing what the people looked like first of all, I think i had a big imagination as a kid probably like you do Leela! And i think i liked imagining what was happening when i was in third grade when i was nine years old our local radio stations they had broadcasted on our public access tv show, So it’s like camera in the studio and I would get up early in the morning get dressed first my tv my breakfast so i can watch The Q Morning Zoo on tv and i thought it was so cool i never been inside in radio station before so just see like the microphone and these people having fun and playing games and making things up, it was really exciting to me..

LEELA: Wow, that sounds so magical and I think that in the Wow in the World you accomplished exactly what you thought that you always wanted to have fun so…

MINDY THOMAS: I often go back and think oops i can show my nine years old self like get to do now not job, i talk with Janet who make sound brings it all life with sound design and the music and the sound effect,if we knew that half of our job picking the right bachelorette sounds..

LEELA: We are use sound effects for that

MINDY THOMAS: Yeah, it’s really fun so i feel like i still pretending as a kid and i love pretending now and never had a really gave up

MAMA: How do you define curiosity?

MINDY THOMAS: Ohh, that’s a good question! i will define curiosity as a place where like your imagination go go go and that where curiosity comes from… It’s like you are imagining a drink of water and you get conscious somehow. That is curiosity sometimes.

MAMA: Which is better and why curiosity, wealth or power?

MINDY THOMAS: Curiosity a hundred and fifty percent, you like the other words i would tell you could have wealth of curiosity, curiosity brings power there is power in curiosity can you imagine if you don’t have any curiosity in everything yeah curiosity is the best. Obviously, that is the right answer for that.  I can tell Leela if we were nine at the same time, we became good friends like your dream right now with your podcast i would have dreamt of ton… i was just playing idea with my brother my microphone is a toilet paper tube

LEELA: Thats sounds something i would like to do

MINDY THOMAS: My favorite thing ever

LEELA: Thank you sooooooooo much, Mindy for being part of our 100^th episode special. And for like, totally, making my year!!

MAMA: What a cool, generous and totally interesting person! Thank you so much for coming on our episode

LEELA: That was some serious wow in our world!

MAMA: Nice one. Aaaaand if you want to hear, or indeed, watch the whole interview with the fabulous Mindy Thomas of Wow of The World then go to our YouTube page and you’ll find it there. While you’re there – go on and hit the subscribe button. Alright. Now – we are a world news podcast – so this week we’re going to cover the news in a special longer version of our world wrap. Of course, the breaking news story this week is the debate over gun laws in the US and the tragic news in Texas. But because events are still unfolding and it’s a huge, tough topic, we’re gonna hold off right now. But next week we will be doing a special episode explaining the debate around gun control. As for the other news this week…

WORLD WRAP STING – LEELA: “What’s that? I’ll tell you what. That’s the halftime bell! Which means… It’s time to hear what’s making news around the rest of the world. Hold on tight, it’s around the world in 80 seconds.”

MAMA: You may have been hearing a lot about something called

LEELA: Monkeypox! Yikes.

MAMA: Well, it is yikes. when you see the pictures of bumps all over people’s bodies when they get this disease that can be fatal.

LEELA: Meaning it can kill you!

MAMA: But, fear not.

LEELA: Though there are nearly 100 cases of Monkeypox reported in several parts of the world, experts say this is no COVID-like pandemic.

MAMA: While the World Health Organization is warning there will be MORE cases of monkeypox, that’s primarily because it’s expanding its surveillance – as in looking closely for it – in countries where the disease isn’t usually found.

LEELA: Also, it’s usually affecting men – not children. Phew! In science news.

MAMA: Well, it’s more news that sounds worse than it really is…

LEELA: An asteroid four times the size of the Empire State Building is heading toward Earth at 47-thousand miles per hour!

MAMA: Rest assure, the asteroid – named 7335 1989 JA

LEELA: Catchy name.

MAMA: Will miss our planet by about 2.5 million miles.

LEELA: That’s nearly 10 times the average distance between the Earth and moon. Once again, I say: phew!

BELL AND WHISTLE

LEELA: And in Sports News… The US Soccer Federation has reached an epic deal.

MAMA: After six years of negotiations, it’s agreed to pay male and female athletes on its national teams the same amount of pay.

LEELA: And it must be said that the US women’s soccer team is one of the most successful teams in the world. Which, uhhh…

MAMA: Is not the case with the men’s US team.

LEELA: Despite this success, the women athletes were paid far less than athletes on the US men’s team.

MAMA: They were paid less but its equal

LEELA: And this might be a quick dip of news – but we still want to leave you with an oddball…

MAMA: We know you’ve heard of salted caramel chocolate…

LEELA: But… how salty or savory are you willing to let your chocolate go, before you say… Ehh-uhh!

MAMA: I mean, I love chocolate, but…

LEELA: cheese and onion chocolate, anyone???

MAMA: Doesn’t appeal right off… but, of course, I’d try. Because it’s always good to taste something once

LEELA: Well, let’s go to Ireland please.

MAMA: I would definitely try if it meant a trip to Ireland.

LEELA: The Irish chip brand Taytos gets it, pah-taytos? is releasing its OWN chocolate bar flavored with one of its most popular flavors.

MAMA: Cheese and onion but of chips! Or crisps, wafers, whatever you want to call them! Not chocolate. Surely

LEELA: It could be a publicity stunt, of course. But they’re putting their money where their mouth is, producing 100,000 cheese and onion chocolate bars. Mmmmmm! And finally… we have a big announcement to make, folks.

MAMA: Yes, we do. But first – we should back up a minute and say a couple of things.

LEELA: Number one.

MAMA: So, we mentioned earlier that a lot of our listeners didn’t know our backstory.

LEELA: Or didn’t think we were really mother and daughter. Some kids think we’re actors. Or maybe… ro-bot-s.

MAMA: That’s probably because you’re sooooooo dramatic.

LEELA: Probably!

MAMA: So, we’ve been thinking of more ways we can connect with our listeners, show them more about us without

LEELA: Without, you know, posting pictures of our breakfast or bad hair days or whatever.

MAMA: Yeah. We’re not doing that. But we are

LEELA: Hold on – number two, yaar.

MAMA: Ah, yes. Something else a lot of people have asked us ever since we began, really is why don’t we have a YouTube channel, why don’t we do video news casts.

LEELA: Well, folks now we do and we are!

MAMA: And from this week we’ll be giving a short weekly news capsule.

LEELA: In viiiiiiiiiision!

MAMA: Don’t worry though it’s just a quick dip. We’ll still have our full audio only version for those who prefer a screen-free, deeper dive into the world of news.

LEELA: Two for the price of one!

MAMA: Uhh, it’s all free.

LEELA: Oh yeah. Well two treats a week now. So check it out! And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Or why not both. Go on! Smash that subscribes button

THEME MUSIC

LEELA: Well before we go we both just want to say a huuuuuuuuuuumongious thank you to all our listeners.

MAMA: Absolutely. We could be curious cats in a closed-door room with no microphone. But it’s a whole lot more fun doing it knowing y’all are listening.

LEELA: Wait. You are listening… right? Hello… Anybody there…

MAMA: Drop us a line and tell us so! We’re at Newsy Pooloozi on all social media handles or Newsypooloozi.com. That’s Pooloozi spelt: p-o-o-l  o-o-z-i.com.

LEELA: I repeat. p-o-o-l  o-o-z-i.com.

MAMA: Okay, she is a robot.

LEELA: Kidding! Check me out on YouTube – I’m real, I promise! No circus.

THEME MUSIC

LEELA: Alrighty then, see you next week in the happy, splashy giant Newsy Pooloozi!

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