Speaker 1: Already and this this is the Daily This is the Dailios.
Speaker 2: Oh now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Saturday,
Speaker 1: the twenty fifth of January.
Speaker 2: I'm Zara, I'm Sam, and we are back for another
Speaker 2: week of good news. We've got some excellent stories today,
Speaker 2: ranging again from all over the world. We've got a
Speaker 2: bit of sport for you and a particularly putrid flower.
Speaker 2: But Zara, why don't we start in Thailand where there
Speaker 2: was a really major change of policy this week.
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say where I was
Speaker 1: last week, which is why I wasn't on the good
Speaker 1: News pod last week.
Speaker 2: You could have done a live cross for this good
Speaker 2: news story. Tell us what happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this week in Thailand, same sex couples were
Speaker 1: allowed to legally marry for the very first time. Now.
Speaker 1: Thailand's parliament and the Thai King approved the law to
Speaker 1: legalize same sex marriage back in September last year, but
Speaker 1: it only came into effect this week. So Thai LGBTQ
Speaker 1: plus groups were hoping to set a record for the
Speaker 1: most same sex marriages actually registered in a single day,
Speaker 1: and so many people opted to hold unofficial wedding celebrations
Speaker 1: in the lead up to it being legalized and then
Speaker 1: officiate their marriage at the Civil Registry. So more than
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred same sex couples were married. That's according to
Speaker 1: Bangkok Pride's tally. There hasn't been an official confirmation yet,
Speaker 1: but the group has told media it submitted a request
Speaker 1: to be recognized by the Guinness World Records. Now. The
Speaker 1: THAIPM celebrated the marriages as an historic day for Thailand.
Speaker 2: There were some amazing images and videos to come out
Speaker 2: of that day, you know, massive lines out of the
Speaker 2: Civil Registry offices, some beautifully happy couples being officially married
Speaker 2: in Thailand for the first time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look, just to provide a bit more of
Speaker 1: a context in the region, it's the third Asian jurisdiction
Speaker 1: to allow same sex marriage, following Taiwan and Nepal. The
Speaker 1: country has long been considered a safe haven for LGBTQ
Speaker 1: plus communities and it's home to a thriving drag scene
Speaker 1: as well. So lots of good news coming from Thailand,
Speaker 1: and not just my return.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you're back, Zara. Why don't we go to
Speaker 2: Africa now? And we haven't done one of these stories
Speaker 2: in a little while of lift with this act an
Speaker 2: invention that really changes people's lives.
Speaker 1: Yes, So I was trolling the internet trying to find
Speaker 1: some good news this week and I happened upon this
Speaker 1: unbelievable story from Tanzania. So in Tanzania, of course, an
Speaker 1: African country, an innovator has created solar powered backpacks that
Speaker 1: help children read after dark by using their bags to
Speaker 1: power a reading light. Now, according to BBC, and I
Speaker 1: guess to highlight why this is such an incredible invention,
Speaker 1: less than half of homes in Tanzania are connected to electricity,
Speaker 1: and under a third are in rural areas, which can
Speaker 1: also be a big barrier to children getting education. So
Speaker 1: we've got these two twin problems here.
Speaker 2: And these backpacks will literally mean that as the children
Speaker 2: are walking to and from school and at school, that
Speaker 2: it's collecting electricity for them to use at night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So it's a solar panel fitted school bag.
Speaker 1: So you're right, like, as they're walking and the sun
Speaker 1: is beaming, they are charging light for their education essentially
Speaker 1: later on in the day. So during the night, the
Speaker 1: energy powers are built in light that then lets the
Speaker 1: children read and write among other things, long after the
Speaker 1: sun has actually set. And what's interesting is that this
Speaker 1: can now replace kerosene lamps, which can be expensive, they
Speaker 1: can emit harmful fumes for families, especially if you're indoors,
Speaker 1: and so we've got this low cost and also sustainable
Speaker 1: solution that's helping to bridge this gap and is a
Speaker 1: really important factor in breaking down educational inequality and really
Speaker 1: is a good reminder for us about the power of
Speaker 1: accessible technology and what it can do to transform labs
Speaker 1: all across the world.
Speaker 2: The best thing that happens with these types of stories
Speaker 2: is the invention gets out there, starts to get used,
Speaker 2: and then inevitably a really big tech company picks it
Speaker 2: up and makes it really cheap to make. And that's
Speaker 2: where some really widespread change can happen. When you know,
Speaker 2: let's say it takes twenty dollars to make one of
Speaker 2: these backpacks at the moment, I'm sure as it gets
Speaker 2: more affordable to make at larger scales, it will become
Speaker 2: much more than just a Tanzanian used device and could
Speaker 2: go everywhere across the world. Amazing invention now a sports
Speaker 2: story because I love getting one in there and it's
Speaker 2: an f one Taiale this week yep.
Speaker 1: So we are turning our brains now to the Formula
Speaker 1: One and that's because this week American Formula One team
Speaker 1: has appointed the sport's very first female race engineer. Her
Speaker 1: name is Laura Mueller and she was previously a performance
Speaker 1: engineer but will now work with incoming driver Esteban Oconn.
Speaker 1: So she started with a team in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: She was working in a simulator department. And for those
Speaker 1: perhaps unacquainted with the sport like myself, a race engineer
Speaker 1: is the main link between a driver and their team.
Speaker 1: So during a Grand Prix, the the race engineer communicates
Speaker 1: with the driver over the radio to assist with strategy,
Speaker 1: to help solve problems the driver may be facing. So
Speaker 1: they're playing a really huge fundamental role. And I cannot
Speaker 1: believe that this is the very first female race engineer
Speaker 1: in the sport, Like that is a huge milestone.
Speaker 2: How many pieces do you think are in a Formula
Speaker 2: one car? Like if you broke broke it down there
Speaker 2: you have the answer to this, yeah, and did like
Speaker 2: a flat lay of a car? How many pieces are
Speaker 2: there on the ground?
Speaker 1: Can I have?
Speaker 2: Like a guy, give me your first number eight. There's
Speaker 2: fourteen and a half thousand individual pieces in a Formula one.
Speaker 1: Car, so no way I was set up there.
Speaker 2: It is no small feast. Another interesting angle to this
Speaker 2: is and I don't think she was in the position
Speaker 2: of race engineer, which is like the captain of the
Speaker 2: engineering team, but the founder of Lune Croissants in Australia
Speaker 2: was previously a Formula one engineer as well, and she's
Speaker 2: applied that sort of incredible detail to making some yummy pastries. Okay, Zara,
Speaker 2: one more story to take us out today, and this one.
Speaker 1: You're gonna end on any other man.
Speaker 2: You're going to have to convince me why this is
Speaker 2: good news actually.
Speaker 1: Honestly because it has galvanized the Australian population in a
Speaker 1: way that perhaps we haven't been in a little while.
Speaker 1: So if you don't know what I'm talking about, it
Speaker 1: is the story of Pwtricia. Now, Patricia is a corpse
Speaker 1: flower and it bloomed in Sydney this week for the
Speaker 1: very first time in fifteen years. It was named Patricia
Speaker 1: by the Botanic Gardens in Sydney and it was threatening
Speaker 1: to bloom all week, so everyone was jumping online watching
Speaker 1: this live stream of this very very very smelly flower
Speaker 1: waiting to bloom.
Speaker 2: I don't get that.
Speaker 1: When it did bloom, it only bloomed for twenty four hours. Now,
Speaker 1: thousands of people lined up for a whiff of the flower,
Speaker 1: and it smells like rotting flesh, and I was trying
Speaker 1: to understand why that matters. But it turns out the
Speaker 1: rotting smell and the heat of the flower attracts pollinating
Speaker 1: insects that may want to lay eggs in a rotting animal.
Speaker 1: It also is you don't look impressed. The flower is
Speaker 1: also in danger and can only be found in the
Speaker 1: wild in western Sumatra.
Speaker 2: So you could have led with that. If you'd led
Speaker 2: with an endangered flower has bloomed, I'd be on board.
Speaker 2: You led with the worst smelling thing you could possibly
Speaker 2: imagine has bloomed for quite a short period of time.
Speaker 1: I don't need to convince you, because the Cidney Morning
Speaker 1: Herald reported sixteen thousand people visited in the last week
Speaker 1: alone for a whiff of it. Well there you go,
Speaker 1: and Patricia, as I said, also became an internet star
Speaker 1: thanks to that YouTube live stream got quite the workout.
Speaker 1: In the TDA office. We had editor M and copy
Speaker 1: editor Lucy, both refreshing that live stream, not wanting to
Speaker 1: miss a moment. It is also important to note, in
Speaker 1: full fairness to our Victorian counterparts, that Putricia isn't the
Speaker 1: first of her kind. In November last year had different
Speaker 1: corps flower bloomed in Geelong, Victoria and that attracted over
Speaker 1: twenty k visitors in my month.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the beauty of good news is that
Speaker 2: it is in subjective the nose of the beholder. And
Speaker 2: you know, if people get a kick out of having
Speaker 2: a whiff of some that smells like quote rotting flesh,
Speaker 2: then if it's their good news, I'm more than happy
Speaker 2: to entertain it. Zara, thank you so much for that
Speaker 2: good news, Rundown, and thank you for joining us on
Speaker 2: the Daily Ods this morning. It's been a huge week
Speaker 2: of news, so glad that we can bring you some
Speaker 2: good news today on your beautiful Saturday. We'll be back
Speaker 2: again on Monday morning for another episode and deep dive,
Speaker 2: but until then, have a wonderful weekend. My name is
Speaker 2: Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda bunjelung Kalkotin woman
Speaker 2: from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that This podcast
Speaker 2: is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and
Speaker 2: pays respect to all.
Speaker 1: Aboriginal and Torres Strait island and nations.
Speaker 2: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 2: both past and present.