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What happens when you fall into a black hole? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice give us the step-by-step on spaghettification, explain Schrodinger's cat, and explore quantum tunnelling… Or do they? NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/things-you-thought-you-knew-quantum-cat/Thanks to our Patrons Peter Nguyen, Noah Narh, Oliver Anderson, Oleksandr, TULAKAR JHA, Marziee, Carmen, Erica Trebesch, Joan Cotkin, Steve, Kevin, renee porter, Knatrueall Phliights, Jacque Walker, ThatOofcaGuy, Ian Ulsh, Robert Vest, Oslo Johnson, Colin T, Patricia Brennan, Mac Lamken, Josh, Derek Holiday, ShieldsGaming18, Adam Gotch, Mike Starnes, Ryan, AnJ, William Rosati, Chris Ose, Becker the Brewer, Jennings.Bass, LAZU, Alissa Wilson, Logical Haus, Dave Blair, Brad, Kaleo Hubert, soogun shongwe, Caleb Pelletier, Toby Murray, McGrumps the Curmudgeon, Joshua, Knutte Söderberg, Albert Dávid, Jim Prescott, John Wooters, Chris Raines, neoghaleon, Roy Roddey, PJ, TC, Micheal Bartmess, Arwa, Hasemano, Brian Thompson, Stetson, Goerc Goerc, Dennis Shields, Spike, Ian Hebert, Kasheia Williams, Tess, Aren Moy, Robert, LittleBoBliue, Paul, Rick Hanes, Donivan Porterfield, Tony Smith, Penny B, Brett R, Nicholas Falvey, and Stymie Sulik for supporting us this week. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of StarTalk Radio ad-free and a whole week early.Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
fWotD Episode 3071: Yugoslav torpedo boat T4 Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 1 October 2025, is Yugoslav torpedo boat T4.T4 was a seagoing torpedo boat operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1932. Originally 79 T, a 250t-class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in 1914, she was armed with two 66 mm (2.6 in) guns and four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, and could carry 10–12 naval mines. She saw active service during World War I, performing convoy, patrol, escort and minesweeping tasks, anti-submarine operations and shore bombardment missions. In 1917 the suffixes of all Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats were removed, and thereafter she was referred to as 79. Underway during the short-lived mutiny by Austro-Hungarian sailors in early February 1918, her captain realised the danger and put her crew ashore. She was part of the escort force for the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought Szent István during the action that resulted in the sinking of that ship by Italian torpedo boats in June 1918.Following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, 79 was allocated to the Navy of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and was renamed T4. At the time, she and the seven other 250t-class boats were the only modern sea-going vessels of the fledgling maritime force. During the interwar period, T4 and the rest of the navy were involved in training exercises and cruises to friendly ports, but activity was limited by reduced naval budgets. In 1932, she ran aground on the island of Drvenik Mali off the central Dalmatian coast and the hull broke in half. The bow remained on the island, and the stern was towed to the Tivat Arsenal in the Bay of Kotor. As a result, it became a standing joke among Yugoslav sailors that this made T4 the "world's longest torpedo boat". Eventually both sections were scrapped where they were.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Wednesday, 1 October 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Yugoslav torpedo boat T4 on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ivy.
rWotD Episode 3072: Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Wednesday, 1 October 2025, is Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad.The Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad was built between Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia and was completed by 1858. The line was 85 miles (137 km) of 5 ft (1,524 mm) track gauge.It played a role on the American Civil War (1861–1865), and became part of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O) in 1870. The AM&O became the Norfolk and Western (N&W) in 1881. About 100 years later, the Norfolk and Western was combined with the Southern Railway, another profitable carrier, to form the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982.In the 21st century, almost all of the original well-engineered N&P, including the corduroy roadbed through the Great Dismal Swamp and 52-mile tangent alignment is still in service. It forms part of a major coal export route terminating at Lambert's Point near Hampton Roads. In addition to coal, most of the route is in active use in the 20th century for intermodal container and automobile parts and completed vehicle shipments.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:09 UTC on Wednesday, 1 October 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Ivy.
pWotD Episode 3073: Pete Hegseth Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 253,405 views on Tuesday, 30 September 2025 our article of the day is Pete Hegseth.Peter Brian Hegseth (born June 6, 1980) is an American author, former television personality, and former Army National Guard officer who has served as the 29th United States secretary of defense since 2025.Hegseth studied politics at Princeton University, where he was the publisher of The Princeton Tory, a conservative student newspaper. In 2003, he was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Minnesota Army National Guard, serving at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Hegseth worked for several organizations after leaving Iraq, including as an executive director at Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. He became a contributor for Fox News in 2014. Hegseth served as an advisor to President Donald Trump after supporting his campaign in 2016. From 2017 to 2024, Hegseth was a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend. He has written several books, including American Crusade (2020) and The War on Warriors (2024).In November 2024, President-elect Trump named Hegseth as his nominee for secretary of defense. In a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing held days before Trump's second inauguration, Hegseth faced allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and excessive drinking. Hegseth was confirmed by the Senate that month, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote. It was only the second time in US history that a Cabinet nominee's confirmation was decided by a vice president (following Betsy DeVos during the first Trump administration in 2017). Hegseth is the second-youngest secretary of defense (after Donald Rumsfeld).This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:53 UTC on Wednesday, 1 October 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pete Hegseth on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Joanna.
fWotD Episode 3070: Battle of Morlaix Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 30 September 2025, is Battle of Morlaix.The battle of Morlaix was fought near the village of Lanmeur in Brittany on 30 September 1342 between an Anglo-Breton army and a far larger Franco-Breton force. England, at war with France since 1337 in the Hundred Years' War, had sided with John of Montfort's faction in the Breton Civil War shortly after it broke out in 1341. The French were supporting Charles of Blois, a nephew of the French king.A small Anglo-Breton army under William, Earl of Northampton, besieged the Breton port of Morlaix. Charles led a force several times larger than Northampton's from the town of Guingamp to relieve Morlaix. Warned of this, the English carried out a night march and prepared a defensive position just outside Lanmeur. When they sighted the English position, the French deployed into three divisions, one behind the other. The first of these, probably made up of Breton levies, advanced and was shot to pieces by the English archers using longbows; it then broke without making contact. The second division, of French and Breton men-at-arms, attacked but their charge was halted when they fell into a camouflaged ditch in front of the English position. Presented with a large, close-range target the English archers inflicted many casualties. About 200 French cavalry made their way over the ditch and came to grips with the English men-at-arms, who were fighting on foot. This band was cut off by the English and all were killed or captured.Northampton was concerned that the English archers were running out of arrows and that the ditch was so full of dead and wounded men and horses as to be ineffective as an obstacle. Therefore, when the third French division was seen to be preparing to attack the English withdrew into a wood to their rear. The French were unable to force their way in, so they surrounded it and besieged the English, possibly for several days. Northampton broke out with a night attack and returned to Morlaix. Charles gave up his attempt to relieve the town and retreated. This was the first major land battle of the Hundred Years' War and the tactics used foreshadowed those of both the French and the English for the rest of the 1340s.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:47 UTC on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Battle of Morlaix on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Aria.
rWotD Episode 3071: Landscape painting Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Tuesday, 30 September 2025, is Landscape painting.Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works, landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an element of the composition. Detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects.Two main traditions spring from Western painting and Chinese art, going back well over a thousand years in both cases. The recognition of a spiritual element in landscape art is present from its beginnings in East Asian art, drawing on Daoism and other philosophical traditions, but in the West only becomes explicit with Romanticism.Landscape views in art may be entirely imaginary, or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy. If the primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific place, especially including buildings prominently, it is called a topographical view. Such views, extremely common as prints in the West, are often seen as inferior to fine art landscapes, although the distinction is not always meaningful; similar prejudices existed in Chinese art, where literati painting usually depicted imaginary views, while professional artists painted real views.The word "landscape" entered the modern English language as landskip (variously spelt), an anglicization of the Dutch landschap, around the start of the 17th century, purely as a term for works of art, with its first use as a word for a painting in 1598. Within a few decades it was used to describe vistas in poetry, and eventually as a term for real views. However, the cognate term landscaef or landskipe for a cleared patch of land had existed in Old English, though it is not recorded from Middle English.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:55 UTC on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Landscape painting on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ayanda.
pWotD Episode 3072: Bad Bunny Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 329,063 views on Monday, 29 September 2025 our article of the day is Bad Bunny.Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (Spanish: [beˈnito anˈtonjo maɾˈtines oˈkasjo]; born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and record producer. Dubbed the "King of Latin Trap", Bad Bunny is credited with helping Spanish-language rap music achieve mainstream popularity in the worldwide market. He is considered one of the best Latin rappers of all time. Born and raised in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Soy Peor", which led to a recording contract with Hear This Music. He continued gaining traction with songs such as his feature on Cardi B's Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "I Like It" alongside J Balvin and his top-ten single "Mía" (featuring Drake). Bad Bunny's debut studio album, X 100pre (2018), peaked at number 10 on the US Billboard 200, while his collaborative album with J Balvin, Oasis (2019), reached number nine. His second solo album, YHLQMDLG (2020), became the highest-charting all-Spanish album to appear on the Billboard 200 at the time at number two, and was followed by the compilation album Las que no iban a salir (2020). El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020), Bad Bunny's third solo album, became the first all-Spanish language album to top the Billboard 200, while its lead single, "Dakiti", reached the top ten of the Hot 100. His fourth solo album, Un Verano Sin Ti (2022), spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200, was named the best-performing album of the year, and became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. He followed it with the Billboard 200 number-one albums Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana (2023) and Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025). His accolades include three Grammy Awards, eleven Latin Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, and thirteen Lo Nuestro Awards. He was crowned Artist of the Year by Billboard in 2022. He was the most-streamed artist on Spotify from 2020 to 2022, the second in 2023, and third in 2024. As of April 2024, Bad Bunny has sold over seven million records worldwide. Outside of music, he performs in professional wrestling. Bad Bunny began making appearances on WWE programming in 2021 and made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37. He is a one-time WWE 24/7 Champion and has wrestled at the 2022 Royal Rumble and the 2023 Backlash pay-per-view events. Bad Bunny has also starred in multiple films, including Bullet Train (2022), Cassandro (2023), Caught Stealing (2025), and Happy Gilmore 2 (2025), for which he is credited under his real name.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:29 UTC on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Bad Bunny on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Nicole.
fWotD Episode 3069: Casey Stengel Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 29 September 2025, is Casey Stengel.Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York Mets. Nicknamed "the Ol' Perfessor", he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1890. In 1910, he began a professional baseball career that would span over half a century. After almost three seasons in the minor leagues, Stengel reached the major leagues late in 1912, as an outfielder, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His six seasons there saw some success, among them playing for Brooklyn's 1916 National League championship team, but he also developed a reputation as a clown. After repeated clashes over pay with the Dodgers owner, Charlie Ebbets, Stengel was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918; however, he enlisted in the Navy that summer, for the remainder of World War I. After returning to baseball, he continued his pay disputes, resulting in trades to the Philadelphia Phillies (in 1919) and to the New York Giants (in 1921). There, he learned much about baseball from the manager, John McGraw, and had a number of highlights in his career, including hitting an inside-the-park home run in Game 1 of the 1923 World Series to defeat the Yankees. His major league playing career ended with the Boston Braves in 1925, but he then began a career as a manager.The first twenty years of Stengel's second career brought mostly poor finishes, especially during his MLB managerial stints with the Dodgers (1934–1936) and Braves (1938–1943). He thereafter enjoyed some success on the minor league level, and Yankee general manager George Weiss hired him as manager in October 1948. Stengel's Yankees won the World Series five consecutive times (1949–1953), the only time that has been achieved. Although the team won ten pennants in his twelve seasons, and won seven World Series, his final two years brought less success, with a third-place finish in 1959, and a loss in the 1960 World Series. By then aged 70, he was dismissed by the Yankees shortly after the defeat.Stengel had become well known for his humorous and sometimes disjointed way of speech during his time with the Yankees, and these skills of showmanship served the expansion Mets well when they hired him in late 1961. He promoted the team tirelessly, as well as managing it to a 40–120 win–loss record, the most losses of any 20th century MLB team. The team finished last all four years he managed it, but was boosted by considerable support from fans. Stengel retired in 1965, and became a fixture at baseball events for the rest of his life. Although Stengel is sometimes described as one of the great managers in major league history, others have contrasted his success during the Yankee years with his lack of success at other times, and concluded he was a good manager only when given good players. Stengel is remembered as one of the great characters in baseball history.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:59 UTC on Monday, 29 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Casey Stengel on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Salli.
rWotD Episode 3070: Liðsmannaflokkr Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Monday, 29 September 2025, is Liðsmannaflokkr.Liðsmannaflokkr ("household troop's poem") is the title of a skaldic poem in ten stanzas describing the capture of London by Cnut the Great in 1016, preserved in Óláfs saga helga and Flateyjarbók (fol. 186v), and in a shorter version in Knýtlinga saga.Óláfs saga attributes the poem to Olaf himself, while according to Knýtlinga saga, the poem was composed by members of Cnut's household troops during the London campaign. According to Poole (1991), the latter version is more credible.Stanza 7 praises Cnut's actions in battle, Knútr réð ok bað bíða,baugstalls, Dani alla,lundr gekk rǫskr und randir,ríkr, vá herr við díki;nær vas, sveit þars sóttum,syn, með hjalm ok brynju,elds, sem olmum heldielg Rennandi kennir."Cnut decided and commanded all the Danes to wait; the 'mighty tree of the ring support' (baugstalls lundr ríkr) went bravely under the shields; the army fought by the moat. Lady,where we sought out the enemy with helmet and mail-shirt, it was nearly as if the 'master of the fire of Rennandi' (elds Rennandi kennir) were holding a maddened elk."This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:00 UTC on Monday, 29 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Liðsmannaflokkr on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Ayanda.
pWotD Episode 3071: Ryder Cup Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 250,565 views on Sunday, 28 September 2025 our article of the day is Ryder Cup.The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy, and it is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).Initially contested between Great Britain and the United States, the first official Ryder Cup took place in the United States in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The home team won the first five contests. After World War II, repeated American dominance led to an extension of the team from Great Britain and Ireland to include continental Europe, beginning in 1979. From 1995 to 2014, Europe won eight out of ten Ryder Cups.In the Ryder Cup, competing professionals receive no prize money. The Ryder Cup was held in odd-numbered years until 1999, but it then moved to even years in 2002 after being cancelled in 2001 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It moved back to odd years again in 2021, after the 2020 event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:09 UTC on Monday, 29 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Ryder Cup on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Kajal.
This week on Curmudgeon's Corner Ivan and Sam do a lightning round of current events in the second half of the show. Comey. Russian drones in Europe. The impending Government Shutdown. More tariffs. All that sort of thing. But first, Ivan is tired and busy, and Sam talks about meeting other local podcasters at the Snohomish Podcast Network. Plus something about coconuts. Show Details: Recorded 2025-09-27 Length this week 1:56:35 0:00:27 - But First Everyone Tired Busy Busy Busy Snohomish Podcast Network Um Sir Podcast Podcast Longevity 0:48:30 - Newsy Stuff JukePodder Comey Indictment Airspace Incursions Impending Shutdown More Tariffs Coconut Scare The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch. Our intro is The Oh of Pleasure (Amazon MP3 link) Our outro is Celestial Soda Pop (Amazon MP3 link) Both are from the album Deep Breakfast (iTunes link) Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.
rWotD Episode 3069: Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Sunday, 28 September 2025, is Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development.Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development was a paper read by B. R. Ambedkar at an anthropological seminar of Alexander Goldenweiser in New York on 9 May 1916. It was later published in volume XLVI of Indian Antiquary in May 1917. In the same year, Ambedkar was awarded a PhD degree by Columbia University on this topic. In 1979, the Education Department of the Government of Maharashtra (Bombay) published this article in the collection of Ambedkar's writings and speeches Volume 1; later, it was translated in many languages.In the paper, Ambedkar made a presentation a social phenomenon that emerged from the strategy of the Brahmins who adopted a strictly endogamous matrimonial regime, leading the other groups to do the same in order to emulate this self-proclaimed elite. He said that "the superposition of endogamy on exogamy means the creation of caste".This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:15 UTC on Sunday, 28 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Kendra.
fWotD Episode 3068: Feather (song) Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Sunday, 28 September 2025, is Feather (song)."Feather" is a song by American singer Sabrina Carpenter from Emails I Can't Send Fwd, the 2023 deluxe edition of her fifth studio album, Emails I Can't Send (2022). Carpenter wrote it with songwriter Amy Allen and its producer, John Ryan. Island Records released its sped-up version on August 4, 2023, and Republic Records promoted its original version to radio stations on September 12, 2023. A combination of pop, dance, disco, and bubblegum genres, "Feather" is a post-breakup track which celebrates the freedom and relief one feels upon ending a relationship and shedding its weight.Music critics praised the production of "Feather", describing it as light and airy. In the United States, the song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Carpenter's first song to reach the top 40; it was also her first number 1 on the Pop Airplay chart. The song reached the top 20 in Honduras, Latvia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. It received a diamond certification in Brazil and platinum or higher in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.Mia Barnes directed the horror-inspired music video for "Feather", which was released on Halloween in 2023. It depicts the deaths of several men who mistreat Carpenter, who then dances at their joint funeral in the Our Lady of Mount Carmel/Annunciation Parish church. The video received a positive critical response but caused controversy when the Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn issued a statement criticizing the church scenes and suspended the priest who allowed them to be filmed. Carpenter performed the song at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show and at the 2023 Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. She included it in her set list for the Emails I Can't Send, Eras, and Short n' Sweet tours.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:18 UTC on Sunday, 28 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Feather (song) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Amy.
pWotD Episode 3070: One Battle After Another Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 310,418 views on Saturday, 27 September 2025 our article of the day is One Battle After Another.One Battle After Another is an American film produced, written, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Inspired by the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti, and follows an ex-revolutionary who must rescue his daughter from a corrupt military official.One Battle After Another had its world premiere in Los Angeles on September 8, 2025, and was theatrically released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on September 26, 2025. It received widespread critical acclaim.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:30 UTC on Sunday, 28 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see One Battle After Another on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Geraint.
fWotD Episode 3067: Stockton and Darlington Railway Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Saturday, 27 September 2025, is Stockton and Darlington Railway.The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darlington and Stockton in County Durham, and was officially opened on 27 September 1825. The movement of coal to ships rapidly became a lucrative business, and the line was soon extended to a new port at Middlesbrough. While coal waggons were hauled by steam locomotives from the start, passengers were carried in coaches drawn by horses until carriages hauled by steam locomotives were introduced in 1833.The S&DR was involved in building the East Coast Main Line between York and Darlington, but its main expansion was at Middlesbrough Docks and west into Weardale and east to Redcar. It suffered severe financial difficulties at the end of the 1840s and was nearly taken over by the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, before the discovery of iron ore in Cleveland and the subsequent increase in revenue meant it could pay its debts. At the beginning of the 1860s it took over railways that had crossed the Pennines to join the West Coast Main Line at Tebay and Clifton, near Penrith.The company was taken over by the North Eastern Railway in 1863, transferring 200 route miles (320 route kilometres) of line and about 160 locomotives, but continued to operate independently as the Darlington Section until 1876. S&DR opening was seen as proof of steam railway effectiveness and its anniversary was celebrated in 1875, 1925 and 1975. Much of the original route is now served by the Tees Valley Line, operated by Northern. In 2025, the Stockton and Darlington Railway celebrates the 200th anniversary of its opening.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Saturday, 27 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Stockton and Darlington Railway on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Danielle.
rWotD Episode 3068: 2016 United States Senate elections Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Saturday, 27 September 2025, is 2016 United States Senate elections.The 2016 United States Senate elections were held on November 8, 2016. The presidential election, House elections, 14 gubernatorial elections, and many state and local elections were held concurrently. In the elections, 34 of the 100 seats—all Class 3 Senate seats—were contested in regular elections; the winners served six-year terms until January 3, 2023. Class 3 had last been up for election in 2010 when Republicans won a net gain of six seats. In 2016, Democrats defended 10 seats, while Republicans defended 24 seats. Republicans, having won a majority of seats in the Senate in 2014, held the Senate majority with 54 seats before this election. Although the Democrats made a net gain of two seats, Republicans retained control of the Senate for the 115th United States Congress. The two Democratic gains came from the defeats of incumbents Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire and Mark Kirk in Illinois by Maggie Hassan and Tammy Duckworth, respectively.Despite Republicans retaining control of the Senate, 2016 marked the first time since 1986 where Democrats made a net gain of seats in Class 3. This is also the only election cycle since the popular-vote election of senators was mandated by the 17th Amendment in 1913 that the winning party in every Senate election mirrored the winning party for their state in the presidential election. This feat had nearly been accomplished earlier in 1920, which also involved the Class 3 Senate seats, and nearly repeated in 2020; in both cases, every state, with the exception of Kentucky in 1920 and Maine in 2020, voted for the same party in the presidential election and their Senate election. In addition, this election marked the first time since 2000 in which the party in opposition to the elected or reelected presidential candidate made net gains in the Senate; both cases involved the election of a Republican president and the Democrats making gains in the Senate.With the retirement of Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer became the Democratic leader after the elections, while Mitch McConnell retained his position as Senate Majority Leader. As of 2024, this is the last time Republicans won Senate races in Arizona and Georgia, and the last senate election cycle where there were no special elections.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:10 UTC on Saturday, 27 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 2016 United States Senate elections on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ruth.
pWotD Episode 3069: Assata Shakur Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 280,211 views on Friday, 26 September 2025 our article of the day is Assata Shakur.Assata Olugbala Shakur ( ə-SAH-tə shə-KOOR; born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947 – September 25, 2025), also known as Joanne Chesimard, was an American political activist who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). In 1977, she was convicted in the murder of state trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million FBI reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the New Jersey attorney general.Born in Flushing, Queens, Shakur grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. After she ran away from home several times, her aunt, who would later act as one of her lawyers, took her in. Shakur became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. After graduation she began using the name Assata Shakur and briefly joined the Black Panther Party, before joining the BLA.Between 1971 and 1973, she was charged with several crimes and was the subject of a multi-state manhunt. In May 1973, Shakur was arrested after being wounded in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. Also involved in the shootout were officers Werner Foerster and James Harper, and BLA members Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur. Harper was wounded, and Zayd Shakur and Foerster were killed. Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping in relation to the shootout and six other incidents. She was acquitted on three of the charges and three were dismissed. In 1977, she was convicted of the murder of State Trooper Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the 1973 shootout. Her defense argued that medical evidence exonerated her, i.e., her right arm was shot and paralyzed while her hands were raised, and she would have been unable to fire a weapon.While serving a life sentence for murder in New Jersey's Clinton Correctional Facility for Women, Shakur escaped in 1979, with assistance from the BLA and the May 19 Communist Organization. In 1984, she was granted political asylum in Cuba, where she remained for the rest of her life despite U. S. government efforts to have her extradited. In 2013, she was added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, as Joanne Deborah Chesimard, and was the first woman on the list.Shakur died on September 25th, 2025 at the age of 78 due to "health problems and advanced age" according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:26 UTC on Saturday, 27 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Assata Shakur on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ayanda.
fWotD Episode 3066: SMS Rheinland Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Friday, 26 September 2025, is SMS Rheinland.SMS Rheinland was one of four Nassau-class battleships, the first dreadnoughts built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). Rheinland mounted twelve 28 cm (11 in) main guns in six twin turrets in an unusual hexagonal arrangement. The navy built Rheinland and her sister ships in response to the revolutionary British HMS Dreadnought, which had been launched in 1906. Rheinland was laid down in June 1907, launched the following year in October, and commissioned in April 1910.Rheinland's extensive service with the High Seas Fleet during World War I included several fleet advances into the North Sea, some in support of raids against the English coast conducted by the German battlecruisers of I Scouting Group. These sorties culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, in which Rheinland was heavily engaged by British destroyers in close-range night fighting.The ship also saw duty in the Baltic Sea, as part of the support force for the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in 1915. She returned to the Baltic as the core of an expeditionary force to aid the White Finns in the Finnish Civil War in 1918, but ran aground shortly after arriving in the area. Significant portions of her armor and all her main guns had to be removed before she could be refloated. The damage done by the grounding was deemed too severe to justify repairs and Rheinland was decommissioned to be used as a barracks ship for the remainder of the war. In 1919, following the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Rheinland was ceded to the Allies who, in turn, sold the vessel to ship-breakers in the Netherlands. The ship was broken up for scrap metal starting in 1920. Her bell is on display at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:54 UTC on Friday, 26 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see SMS Rheinland on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Salli.
rWotD Episode 3067: 1947 Illinois State Normal Redbirds football team Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Friday, 26 September 2025, is 1947 Illinois State Normal Redbirds football team.The 1947 Illinois State Normal Redbirds football team represented Illinois State Normal University—now known as Illinois State University—as a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1947 college football season. The team was led by third-year head coach Edwin Struck and played its home games at McCormick Field. The Redbirds finished the season with a 4–3–2 overall record and a 1–1–2 record in conference play, placing third in the IIAC.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:49 UTC on Friday, 26 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 1947 Illinois State Normal Redbirds football team on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Joanna.
pWotD Episode 3068: ChatGPT Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 157,882 views on Thursday, 25 September 2025 our article of the day is ChatGPT.ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in 2022. It currently uses GPT-5, a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts. It is credited with accelerating the AI boom, an ongoing period marked by rapid investment and public attention toward the field of artificial intelligence (AI). OpenAI operates the service on a freemium model. ChatGPT's website is among the 5 most-visited websites globally as of 2025.By January 2023, ChatGPT had become the fastest-growing consumer software application in history, gaining over 100 million users in two months. Users can interact with ChatGPT through text, audio, and image prompts. It has been lauded as a revolutionary tool that could transform numerous professional fields. At the same time, its release prompted extensive media coverage and public debate about the nature of creativity and the future of knowledge work.Despite its acclaim, the chatbot has been criticized for its limitations and potential for unethical use. It can generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers known as hallucinations. Biases in its training data have been reflected in its responses. The chatbot can facilitate academic dishonesty, generate misinformation, and create malicious code. The ethics of its development, particularly the use of copyrighted content as training data, have also drawn controversy. These issues have led to its use being restricted in some workplaces and educational institutions and have prompted widespread calls for the regulation of artificial intelligence.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:25 UTC on Friday, 26 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see ChatGPT on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Joanna.
fWotD Episode 3065: Joan (collection) Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 25 September 2025, is Joan (collection).Joan (Autumn/Winter 1998) was the twelfth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Continuing McQueen's dual fascination with religion and violence, it was inspired by imagery of persecution, most significantly the 1431 martyrdom of French Catholic saint Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake. The collection's palette was mainly red, black, and silver; colours which evoked notions of warfare, death, blood, and flames. Many looks referenced ecclesiastical garments and medieval armour, including several items that mimicked chainmail and one ensemble that had actual silver-plated armour pieces. The runway show was staged on 25 February 1998 at Gatliff Road Warehouse in London. McQueen caused an upset by banning several tabloid journalists, one of whom responded with an angry editorial. Production was handled by McQueen's usual creative team. The set design for Joan was sparse and industrial: a dark room lit by metal lamps suspended over the runway. The 100-foot (30 m) runway was covered in black ashes, and models entered through a black backdrop backlit in red. Ninety-one looks were presented; primarily womenswear with some menswear. The show concluded with model Svetlana wearing a red beaded dress which covered her face, swaying in a circle of flames.Critical response to the clothing and the runway show for Joan was positive, and it is regarded as one of McQueen's most memorable shows. Academic analysis has focused on interpretation of the styling, the finale, and the meaning of several garments printed with a photograph of children. Several items from Joan have appeared in museum exhibitions, including Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:10 UTC on Thursday, 25 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Joan (collection) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Ayanda.
rWotD Episode 3066: Marble Island (New Brunswick) Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Thursday, 25 September 2025, is Marble Island (New Brunswick).Marble Island (also called Marvel Island, Rouen Islet or Rowan Islet) is an undeveloped island in the West Isles Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada, where the Bay of Fundy enters Passamaquoddy Bay.It may have been occupied 3000 years ago. Archaeological excavation was done on the island by Stephen A. Davis and Albert Ferguson in the 1970s-80s. Four double-grooved stone axes of indeterminate age, possibly from the terminal archaic period, were recovered by Davis from Marble Island in 1982. BfDr8 is on the island.As David Owen had rejected efforts to build a customs house on Campobello Island, objecting to its aesthetic value in sketches and coincidentally reducing his trouble shipping across the international border, the government was forced to build one on Marble Island which proved less than effective.Three trading posts, belonging to James Simonds, William Hazen and White, are believed to have been built on Marble Island. In 1849, Marble Island merchant George N. Kay was wounded in the right lung, one of 120 people injured and dozens killed in New York's Astor Place Riot revolving around whether a British or American actor better cast in Shakespeare's roles.On May 16, 1866 nine armed Fenians landed on Marble Island and took possession of Norwood's house until New Brunswick militia members dislodged them the following morning.The island has been identified as one of those written about in the 1604 writings of Samuel Champlain and Sieur de Monts.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Thursday, 25 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Marble Island (New Brunswick) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ivy.
pWotD Episode 3067: Claudia Cardinale Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 225,773 views on Wednesday, 24 September 2025 our article of the day is Claudia Cardinale.Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (Italian: [ˈklaudja kardiˈnaːle]; 15 April 1938 – 23 September 2025) was an Italian actress.Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition in 1957, the prize being a trip to Italy, which quickly led to film contracts, due above all to the involvement of producer Franco Cristaldi, who acted as her mentor for a number of years and later married her. After making her debut in a minor role with Egyptian star Omar Sharif in Goha (1958), Cardinale became one of the best-known actresses in Italy, with roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Girl with a Suitcase (1961), Cartouche (1962), The Leopard (1963) and Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963).From 1963, Cardinale appeared in The Pink Panther opposite David Niven. She went on to appear in the Hollywood films Blindfold (1966), Lost Command (1966), The Professionals (1966), Don't Make Waves (1967) with Tony Curtis, The Hell with Heroes (1968), The Red Tent (1969), A Fine Pair (1968), The Salamander (1981), and the Sergio Leone Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), a joint U. S.–Italian production, in which she was praised for her role as a former prostitute opposite Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda.Jaded with Hollywood and not wanting to become a cliché, Cardinale returned to Italian and French cinema and garnered the David di Donatello for Best Actress award for her roles in The Day of the Owl (1968) and as a prostitute alongside Alberto Sordi in A Girl in Australia (1971). In 1974, Cardinale met director Pasquale Squitieri, who would become her partner and she frequently featured in his films, including Blood Brothers (1974), Father of the Godfathers (1978) and Claretta (1984), the last of which won her the Nastro d'Argento Award for Best Actress. In 1982, she starred in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo as the love interest of Klaus Kinski, who raises the funds to buy a steamship in Peru. In 2010, Cardinale received the Best Actress Award at the 47th Antalya "Golden Orange" International Film Festival for her performance as an elderly Italian woman who takes in a young Turkish exchange student in Signora Enrica.Outspoken on women's rights causes over the years, Cardinale was a UNESCO goodwill ambassador for the Defence of Women's Rights beginning in March 2000. In February 2011, the Los Angeles Times Magazine named Cardinale among the 50 most beautiful women in film history.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:27 UTC on Thursday, 25 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Claudia Cardinale on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Jasmine.
rWotD Episode 3065: Raichand Boral Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Wednesday, 24 September 2025, is Raichand Boral.Rai Chand Boral (19 October 1903 – 25 November 1981) was an Indian composer, considered by music connoisseurs to be the Bhishma Pitamah, the father of film music in India.He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in Indian cinema, given by Government of India, in 1978, and also in the same year, the Sangeet Natak Akademi award, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:54 UTC on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Raichand Boral on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Salli.
fWotD Episode 3064: Burger's Daughter Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 24 September 2025, is Burger's Daughter.Burger's Daughter is a political and historical novel by the South African Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Nadine Gordimer, first published in the United Kingdom in June 1979 by Jonathan Cape. The book was expected to be banned in South Africa, and a month after publication in London the import and sale of the book in South Africa was prohibited by the Publications Control Board. Three months later, the Publications Appeal Board overturned the banning and the restrictions were lifted.Burger's Daughter details a group of white anti-apartheid activists in South Africa seeking to overthrow the South African government. It is set in the mid-1970s, and follows the life of Rosa Burger, the title character, as she comes to terms with her father Lionel Burger's legacy as an activist in the South African Communist Party (SACP). The perspective shifts between Rosa's internal monologue (often directed towards her father or her lover Conrad), and the omniscient narrator. The novel is rooted in the history of the anti-apartheid struggle and references to actual events and people from that period, including Nelson Mandela and the 1976 Soweto uprising.Gordimer herself was involved in South African struggle politics, and she knew many of the activists, including Bram Fischer, Mandela's treason trial defence lawyer. She modelled the Burger family in the novel loosely on Fischer's family, and described Burger's Daughter as "a coded homage" to Fischer. While banned in South Africa, a copy of the book was smuggled into Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island, and he reported that he "thought well of it".The novel was generally well-received by critics. A reviewer for The New York Times said that Burger's Daughter is Gordimer's "most political and most moving novel", and a review in The New York Review of Books described the style of writing as "elegant", "fastidious" and belonging to a "cultivated upper class". A critic in The Hudson Review had mixed feelings about the book, saying that it "gives scarcely any pleasure in the reading but which one is pleased to have read nonetheless". Burger's Daughter won the Central News Agency Literary Award in 1980.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Burger's Daughter on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Salli.
pWotD Episode 3066: Erika Kirk Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 310,519 views on Tuesday, 23 September 2025 our article of the day is Erika Kirk.Erika Lane Kirk (née Frantzve; born November 20, 1988) is an American businesswoman and podcaster who is the CEO of the conservative organization Turning Point USA. She won Miss Arizona USA in 2012. She founded Everyday Heroes Like You, a nonprofit supporting under-recognized charities, and hosts the Midweek Rise Up podcast.Kirk is the widow of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, with whom she had two children. They were married from 2021 until his assassination on September 10, 2025, shortly after which she was named CEO of Turning Point USA.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:38 UTC on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Erika Kirk on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Niamh.
fWotD Episode 3063: 20 Exchange Place Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 23 September 2025, is 20 Exchange Place.20 Exchange Place, originally the City Bank–Farmers Trust Building, is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 1931, it was designed by Cross & Cross as the headquarters of the City Bank–Farmers Trust Company, predecessor of Citigroup. The building, standing at approximately 741 feet (226 m) with 57 usable stories, was one of the city's tallest buildings and the world's tallest stone-clad building upon its completion. While 20 Exchange Place was intended to be the world's tallest building when built, the plan was scaled back because of the Great Depression.The building has a granite and limestone facade, while its internal superstructure is made of steel. The lower section of the facade fills the entirety of an irregular quadrilateral city block and contains piers with figures depicting the "giants of finance", as well as decorations designed by the British sculptor David Evans. The main entrance on Exchange Place has a round arch with granite medallions representing the countries where City Bank Farmers Trust had offices. The upper stories, consisting of a square tower with chamfered corners, are offset from the base.The City Bank–Farmers Trust Building was built between 1930 and 1931 for the newly merged National City Bank of New York and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company. It remained the company's headquarters until 1956 and was sold in 1979. The 16th through 57th floors of the building, originally used as offices, were converted to residences by Metro Loft Management during the 1990s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 20 Exchange Place as an official city landmark in 1996, and it is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places district created in 2007.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:09 UTC on Tuesday, 23 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 20 Exchange Place on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Jasmine.
rWotD Episode 3064: Drygarn Fawr Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Tuesday, 23 September 2025, is Drygarn Fawr.Drygarn Fawr is a mountain in the county of Powys, Wales. It is one of the highest summits in Mid Wales at 645 metres (2,116 ft) above sea level. It lies to the south of the Elan Valley Reservoirs. Rising above the remote moorland plateau of the Cambrian Mountains, and to the west of the peaks of Radnor Forest, the summit is topped by two distinctive, large cairns. The mountain has a gentle, grassy, conical shape with a few rocks near the summit. Nearby are the summits of Gorllwyn, Y Gamriw, and Drum yr Eira all over 600m.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:06 UTC on Tuesday, 23 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Drygarn Fawr on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Brian.
pWotD Episode 3065: 2025 Ballon d'Or Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 554,969 views on Monday, 22 September 2025 our article of the day is 2025 Ballon d'Or.The 2025 Ballon d'Or was the 69th annual ceremony of the Ballon d'Or, presented by France Football, recognising the best footballers in the world in the 2024–25 season. For the fourth time in the history of the award, it was awarded based on the results of the season instead of the calendar year. This is the period from 1 August 2024 to 13 July 2025 (final of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup) for the men's award, and to 2 August 2025 (final of the 2025 Copa América Femenina) for the women's award. The ceremony took place on 22 September 2025, with the nominees having been announced on 7 August 2025.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:20 UTC on Tuesday, 23 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see 2025 Ballon d'Or on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Matthew.
On this week's Curmudgeon's Corner Sam goes solo. First up, iPhones and birthdays and movies. But then the more serious stuff, with a segment on all the signs of accelerating down the slippery slope with all of the Trump administration's recent abuses of executive power. Then a little bit of a follow up on the killing of Charlie Kirk. And that's a show. Woo! Show Details: Recorded 2025-09-20 Length this week 1:48:51 0:00:26 - But First Line Patience Birthday Stuff Movie: Astro Boy (2009) Movie: Les Miserables (1958) 0:34:26 - Slippery Slope Phone Update Kimmel Everybody does it? Bondi Message Tom Homan Overload 1:29:28 - Kirk Assassin's Motives Lionization Zuck's Glasses The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch. Our intro is The Oh of Pleasure (Amazon MP3 link) Our outro is Celestial Soda Pop (Amazon MP3 link) Both are from the album Deep Breakfast (iTunes link) Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.
rWotD Episode 3063: Charles Henry Chomley Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Monday, 22 September 2025, is Charles Henry Chomley.Charles Henry Chomley (28 April 1868 – 21 October 1942) was an Australian farmer, barrister, writer, and journalist. His non-fiction and fiction works alike reflected his strong interest and involvement in politics and law.He was born in Sale, Victoria, to banker Henry Baker Chomley and his wife Eliza (daughter of lawyer and politician Thomas Turner à Beckett). He was nephew to prominent Victorians Arthur Wolfe Chomley (barrister) and Hussey Malone Chomley (Police Commissioner) and uncle to Martin Boyd, noted Australian novelist.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:02 UTC on Monday, 22 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Charles Henry Chomley on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ayanda.
fWotD Episode 3062: Thomas J. Hudner Jr. Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 22 September 2025, is Thomas J. Hudner Jr..Thomas Jerome Hudner Jr. (August 31, 1924 – November 13, 2017) was a United States Navy officer and naval aviator. He rose to the rank of captain, and received the Medal of Honor for his actions in trying to save the life of his wingman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, Hudner attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and the United States Naval Academy. Initially uninterested in aviation, he eventually took up flying and joined Fighter Squadron 32, flying the F4U Corsair at the outbreak of the Korean War. Arriving near Korea in October 1950, he flew support missions from the aircraft carrier USS Leyte.On December 4, 1950, Hudner and Brown were among a group of pilots on patrol near the Chosin Reservoir when Brown's Corsair was struck by ground fire from Chinese troops and crashed. In an attempt to save Brown from his burning aircraft, Hudner intentionally crash-landed his own aircraft on a snowy mountain in freezing temperatures to help Brown. In spite of these efforts, Brown died of his injuries and Hudner was forced to leave Brown's body behind, as a rescue helicopter could not fly in the dark and Hudner had suffered his own injuries in the landing.Following the incident, Hudner held positions aboard several U. S. Navy ships and with a number of aviation units, including a brief stint as executive officer of USS Kitty Hawk during a tour in the Vietnam War, before retiring in 1973. In subsequent years, he worked for various veterans' organizations in the United States. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner is named for him.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:31 UTC on Monday, 22 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Thomas J. Hudner Jr. on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Aria.
pWotD Episode 3064: Wrestlepalooza (2025) Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 401,704 views on Sunday, 21 September 2025 our article of the day is Wrestlepalooza (2025).The 2025 Wrestlepalooza, also promoted as Wrestlepalooza: Indianapolis, was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the fifth Wrestlepalooza, although the first under the WWE banner, and the first since 2000, which was produced by the former Extreme Championship Wrestling, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003. The event took place on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event was the first major WWE event to be streamed on ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service for viewers in the United States. This edition featured John Cena's first and only Wrestlepalooza appearance as an in-ring performer due to his retirement from professional wrestling at the end of 2025. Cena faced Brock Lesnar, who competed in his first match since the 2023 SummerSlam. In addition, the event featured AJ Lee's first match in over 10 years and The Usos' first traditional tag team match on a PPV and livestreaming event since the 2023 Money in the Bank.Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre to retain the SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Stephanie Vaquer defeated Iyo Sky to win the vacant Women's World Championship, CM Punk and AJ Lee defeated Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch by submission in a mixed tag team match and in the opening bout, Brock Lesnar defeated John Cena.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:24 UTC on Monday, 22 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Wrestlepalooza (2025) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Olivia.
fWotD Episode 3061: Caerleon pipe burial Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Sunday, 21 September 2025, is Caerleon pipe burial.The Caerleon pipe burial is a second-century Roman grave from a cemetery associated with the former legionary fortress and settlement, Isca Augusta, in what is now Caerleon, Wales, United Kingdom. The main site, including its large amphitheatre, was excavated in the early twentieth century, largely by the archaeologist Tessa Wheeler, but its surrounding cemeteries were mainly known only through casual finds.In 1927 building works on a site across the River Usk from the fortress led to the discovery of a grave containing a stone-lined tomb. Within the tomb was a lead canister containing cremated bone fragments and a piece of linen bearing traces of frankincense. Also present was a 3.8 cm (1.5 in) broken lead pipe which would originally have reached the surface. This type of burial is rare in Britain and was investigated at the time of its discovery by the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler. He consulted the anatomist Arthur Keith, who determined that the bone fragments belonged to a single adult, findings confirmed at re-examination in 2001 by Alice Roberts.Tombs with vertical lead or earthenware pipes are found throughout the Roman Empire, and graves featuring other means of partial access from the surface also occur widely. These features are believed to have facilitated sacrifices and other offerings to the departed. In particular, pipe burials are thought to have allowed relatives to pour blood or wine into the container to nourish the soul of the deceased.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:46 UTC on Sunday, 21 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Caerleon pipe burial on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Danielle.
rWotD Episode 3062: Knights of Valour Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Sunday, 21 September 2025, is Knights of Valour.Knights of Valour (simplified Chinese: 三国战纪; traditional Chinese: 三國戰紀; pinyin: Sān Guó Zhàn Jì) is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game series released by International Games System (IGS). The plot is loosely adapted from the 14th century Chinese historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, and features the Five Tiger Generals, Zhuge Liang, Diaochan and others as playable characters. The gameplay involves the use of magical powers that are not featured in other games also based on the novel.The series includes eleven games, including five main titles: Knights of Valour (1999), Knights of Valour 2 (2000), Knights of Valour: The Seven Spirits (2003), Knights of Valour 3 (2011), and the remade Knights of Valour (2015). The original games were developed for arcades and released in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English. All but two games in the series ran on the IGS' own PolyGame Master arcade hardware, the exceptions being KOV The Seven Spirits, which was released on Sammy Corporation's Atomiswave (later received a homebrew port for the Dreamcast in 2020), and the Knights of Valour 3D iteration, which was released online for PlayStation 4 and mobile.A 3D installment of Knights of Valour for the PlayStation 4, as a free-to-play game, was originally slated for release in Spring 2015 in Asia and Japan, but was delayed to a summer release. The game is monetized by selling the ability to continue after being defeated and supports up to four players online. A beta version was released for trial for PlayStation Plus subscribers on the PS4. GamesInFlame acquired the rights to publish the game in Europe and Australia.In April 2023, IGS released the IGS Classic Arcade Collection on the Nintendo Switch, a compilation of eight games originally created for the IGS PolyGame Master. Included in the collection are Knights of Valour Plus, Knights of Valour Superheroes and Knights of Valour 2 - Nine Dragons.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:39 UTC on Sunday, 21 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Knights of Valour on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Joey.
pWotD Episode 3063: H-1B visa Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 294,333 views on Saturday, 20 September 2025 our article of the day is H-1B visa.The H-1B is a classification of non-immigrant visa in the United States that allows U. S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, as well as fashion models and employees engaged in Department of Defense projects who meet certain conditions. The regulation and implementation of visa programs are carried out by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Foreign nationals may have H-1B status while present in the United States, and may or may not have a physical H-1B visa stamp.INA section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), codified at 8 USC 1184 (i)(1) defines "specialty occupation" as an occupation that requires(A) theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, and(B) attainment of a bachelor's degree or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States. [1] H-1B visa status holders typically have an initial three-year stay in the U. S. They are entitled to a maximum of six years of physical presence in H-1B status. After reaching certain milestones in the green card process, H-1B status can be extended beyond the six-year maximum. The number of initial H-1B visas issued each fiscal year is capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 visas available for individuals who have earned a master's degree or higher from a U. S. institution, for a total of 85,000. Some employers are exempt from this cap. Sponsorship by an employer is required for applicants.In 2019, the USCIS estimated there were 583,420 foreign nationals on H-1B visas in the United States. Between 1991 and 2022, the number of H-1B visas issued quadrupled. 265,777 H-1B visas were approved in 2022, the second-largest category of visa in terms of the number of foreign workers after the 310,676 H-2A visas issued to temporary, seasonal, agriculture workers.The H-1B program has been criticized for potentially subsidizing businesses, creating conditions likened to modern indentured servitude, institutionalizing discrimination against older workers, and suppressing wages within the technology sector. Economists and academics remain divided on the program's overall effect, including its effects on innovation, U. S. workers, and the broader economy.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:29 UTC on Sunday, 21 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see H-1B visa on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Brian.
fWotD Episode 3060: Myst V: End of Ages Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Saturday, 20 September 2025, is Myst V: End of Ages.Myst V: End of Ages is a 2005 adventure video game and the fifth and final installment in the Myst series. The game was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, and released for Macintosh and Windows PC platforms in September 2005. End of Ages's gameplay consists of navigating worlds known as "Ages" via the use of special books and solving puzzles in each Age. In a departure from previous titles in the series, End of Ages replaces pre-rendered graphics with worlds rendered in real-time, allowing players to freely navigate the Ages. Also new to the series are puzzles based around a species known as the Bahro, who respond to symbols carved into tablets. Control of the tablet, and thus the Bahro, is central to the game's story.The faces of actors were digitally mapped onto three-dimensional character models to preserve realism. The game also includes multiple methods of navigation and an in-game camera.End of Ages was positively received, despite complaints such as lessened interactivity compared to previous games and poorer graphics. After End of Ages's release, Cyan abruptly announced the end of software development and the layoff of most of its staff, but was able to rehire much of the development team a few weeks later.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:43 UTC on Saturday, 20 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Myst V: End of Ages on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm long-form Patrick.
rWotD Episode 3061: John Boardman (art historian) Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Saturday, 20 September 2025, is John Boardman (art historian).Sir John Boardman, (; 20 August 1927 – 23 May 2024) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian of ancient Greek art. Educated at Chigwell School in Essex and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Boardman worked as assistant director of the British School at Athens between 1952 and 1955 before taking up a position as an assistant keeper at the Ashmolean Museum, part of the University of Oxford. He succeeded John Beazley as Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the university in 1978, remaining in post until his retirement in 1994.Boardman's academic work focused on the art and archaeology of ancient Greece, with a particular focus on Greek colonisation, jewellery and vase-painting. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy, which awarded him its Kenyon Medal in 1995. He was also awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:13 UTC on Saturday, 20 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see John Boardman (art historian) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Justin.
pWotD Episode 3062: Zubeen Garg Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 338,849 views on Friday, 19 September 2025 our article of the day is Zubeen Garg.Zubeen Garg (born Zubeen Borthakur (Assamese pronunciation: [zubin bɔɹtʰakuɹ]; 18 November 1972 – 19 September 2025) was an Indian musician who primarily worked and sang in the Assamese, Bengali, and Hindi-language film and music industries. He had also sung in 40 other languages and dialects, including Bishnupriya Manipuri, Adi, Boro, English, Goalpariya, Kannada, Karbi, Malayalam, Marathi, Mising, Nepali, Odia, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Tiwa. Garg was a multi-instrumentalist and played 12 instruments including anandalahari, dhol, dotara, drums, guitar, harmonica, harmonium, mandolin, keyboard, tabla, and various percussion instruments. He was regarded as one of the most influential musician in Assam, and was also the highest-paid singer.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:53 UTC on Saturday, 20 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Zubeen Garg on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ruth.
rWotD Episode 3060: Disk buffer Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Friday, 19 September 2025, is Disk buffer.In computer storage, a disk buffer (often ambiguously called a disk cache or a cache buffer) is the embedded memory in a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) acting as a buffer between the rest of the computer and the physical hard disk platter or flash memory that is used for storage. Modern hard disk drives come with 8 to 256 MiB of such memory, and solid-state drives come with up to 4 GB of cache memory.Since the late 1980s, nearly all disks sold have embedded microcontrollers and either an ATA, Serial ATA, SCSI, or Fibre Channel interface. The drive circuitry usually has a small amount of memory, used to store the data going to and coming from the disk platters.The disk buffer is physically distinct from and is used differently from the page cache typically kept by the operating system in the computer's main memory. The disk buffer is controlled by the microcontroller in the hard disk drive, and the page cache is controlled by the computer to which that disk is attached. The disk buffer is usually quite small, ranging between 8 MB and 4 GB, and the page cache is generally all unused main memory. While data in the page cache is reused multiple times, the data in the disk buffer is rarely reused. In this sense, the terms disk cache and cache buffer are misnomers; the embedded controller's memory is more appropriately called disk buffer.Note that disk array controllers, as opposed to disk controllers, usually have normal cache memory of around 0.5–8 GiB.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:15 UTC on Friday, 19 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Disk buffer on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Niamh.
fWotD Episode 3059: Homer Simpson Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Friday, 19 September 2025, is Homer Simpson.Homer Jay Simpson is the main protagonist of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Part of the titular family, Homer made his television debut in the short "Good Night" on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Homer while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Initially called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip Life in Hell, Groening instead developed a new set of characters. After two years on The Tracey Ullman Show, the Simpson family received their own series, which premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989.Homer is the patriarch of the family; he is married to Marge, with whom he has three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. As the family's primary provider, Homer primarily works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He embodies numerous American working-class stereotypes: he is overweight, balding, immature, unintelligent, outspoken, aggressive, lazy, ignorant, unprofessional, and deeply fond of beer, junk food, and television. Despite these flaws, Homer is fundamentally a good-hearted man and fiercely protective of his family, especially during critical moments.In the shorts and early episodes of The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta voiced Homer with a loose impression of Walter Matthau. However, starting with the second season of the full-length series, Homer's voice evolved into a more robust tone to better convey a broader range of emotions. Homer has also appeared in various Simpsons-related media, including video games, The Simpsons Movie (2007), The Simpsons Ride, commercials, and comic books, and has inspired a wide range of merchandise. His iconic catchphrase, the annoyed grunt "D'oh!", has been recognized in linguistics, appearing in The New Oxford Dictionary of English since 1998 and the Oxford English Dictionary since 2001.Homer is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential television characters of all time and is widely recognized as an American cultural icon. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly ranked Homer ninth on their list of the "50 Greatest TV Icons", and in 2010, placed him first on their list of the "Top 100 Characters of the Past Twenty Years". The Sunday Times referred to him as "the greatest comic creation of [modern] time", while TV Guide, in 2002, called him the second-greatest cartoon character (after Bugs Bunny). Castellaneta has received four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, along with a special-achievement Annie Award. In 2000, Homer and the family were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:07 UTC on Friday, 19 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Homer Simpson on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Ivy.
fWotD Episode 3058: Alicia (album) Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 18 September 2025, is Alicia (album).Alicia is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter and pianist Alicia Keys. It was primarily recorded at Oven Studios and Jungle City Studios, both in New York, after her 2016 album Here and her judgeship on the singing competition series The Voice, before being released by RCA Records on September 18, 2020. Written and produced largely by Keys, the album also features songwriting and production contributions from Swizz Beatz, Ryan Tedder, Johnny McDaid, Ed Sheeran, and The-Dream, among others. Keys collaborated with more artists on the recording than in her previous albums, enlisting vocalists such as Sampha, Tierra Whack, Diamond Platnumz, Snoh Aalegra, and Jill Scott for certain tracks.Alicia's mostly low-tempo and melodically subtle music reconciles the experimental direction of Here with her earlier work's bass drum-driven R&B and piano-based balladry. Throughout, individual songs incorporate sounds from a wide range of other genres, including orchestral pop, progressive soul, funk, ambient, country, and Caribbean music. Thematically, they explore identity as a multifaceted concept, sociopolitical concerns, and forms of love within the framework of impressionistic lyrics, personal narratives, and self-knowledge. Keys has described the album as therapeutic and reflective of greater introspection in herself, expressing ideas and feelings of hope, frustration, despair, ambivalence, and equanimity shared in her memoir More Myself (2020), which was written during Alicia's recording.The album was originally scheduled to be released on March 20, 2020, then May 15, before being delayed indefinitely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was marketed with an extended traditional rollout campaign that featured various media appearances by Keys and the release of seven singles, including the Miguel duet "Show Me Love", "Time Machine", "Underdog", and "So Done" (with Khalid). After a surprise announcement of its impending release in September, Alicia debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 in its first week and became Keys' eighth top-10 record in the US, while charting in the top 10 in several other countries. However, it fell off the US chart a few weeks later.A critical success, Alicia received praise for Keys' nuanced vocal performances and the music's broad appeal, while her thematic messages were considered balanced, healing, and timely against the backdrop of unfolding world events. The singles "Good Job" and "Perfect Way to Die" resonated especially with the importance of essential workers during the pandemic and with the 2020–2021 racial unrest over police brutality in the US, respectively. The album also won the Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards. In further support of the album, Keys performed in concert from June to November 2022 and in May 2023 on the Alicia + Keys World Tour, which had been postponed from 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:52 UTC on Thursday, 18 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Alicia (album) on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Kendra.
rWotD Episode 3059: Santa Marta de Penaguião Municipal Chamber Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Thursday, 18 September 2025, is Santa Marta de Penaguião Municipal Chamber.The Santa Marta de Penaguião Municipal Chamber (Portuguese: Câmara Municipal de Santa Marta de Penaguião) is the administrative authority in the municipality of Santa Marta de Penaguião. It has 7 freguesias in its area of jurisdiction and is based in the town of Santa Marta de Penaguião, on the Vila Real District. These freguesias are: Alvações do Corgo; Cumieira; Fontes; Lobrigos (São Miguel e São João Baptista) e Sanhoane; Louredo e Fornelos; Medrões and Sever.The Santa Marta de Penaguião City Council is made up of 5 councillors, representing, currently, two different political forces. The first candidate on the list with the most votes in a municipal election or, in the event of a vacancy, the next candidate on the list, takes office as President of the Municipal Chamber.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:14 UTC on Thursday, 18 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Santa Marta de Penaguião Municipal Chamber on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Kendra.
fWotD Episode 3057: Through the Looking-Glass Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 17 September 2025, is Through the Looking-Glass.Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a novel published in December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford. It was the sequel to his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), in which many of the characters were anthropomorphic playing-cards. In this second novel the theme is chess. As in the earlier book, the central figure, Alice, enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a large looking-glass (a mirror) into a world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just as in a reflection, things are reversed, including logic (for example, running helps one remain stationary, walking away from something brings one towards it, chessmen are alive and nursery-rhyme characters are real). Among the characters Alice meets are the severe Red Queen, the gentle and flustered White Queen, the quarrelsome twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the rude and opinionated Humpty Dumpty, and the kindly but impractical White Knight. Eventually, as in the earlier book, after a succession of strange adventures, Alice wakes and realises she has been dreaming. As in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the original illustrations are by John Tenniel.The book contains several verse passages, including "Jabberwocky", "The Walrus and the Carpenter" and the White Knight's ballad, "A-sitting On a Gate". Like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the book introduces phrases that have become common currency, including "jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day", "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast", "un-birthday presents", "portmanteau words" and "as large as life and twice as natural".Through the Looking Glass has been adapted for the stage and the screen and translated into many languages. Critical opinion of the book has generally been favourable and either ranked it on a par with its predecessor or else only just short of it.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:42 UTC on Wednesday, 17 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Through the Looking-Glass on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Matthew.
rWotD Episode 3058: Forensic Science Laboratory bombing Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Wednesday, 17 September 2025, is Forensic Science Laboratory bombing.The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) targeted the Northern Ireland Forensic Science Laboratory (NIFSL) facilities on Newtownbreda Road in the southern outskirts of Belfast with a large 3,000 lb bomb on 23 September 1992. The huge impact of the bomb destroyed the lab and damaged over 1,000 homes within a 1.5 mile radius, including adjacent Belvoir Park, a Protestant housing estate. It was one of the biggest bombs ever detonated during Northern Ireland's Troubles, causing massive damage and being felt over 10 miles away. Hundreds of residents had to be treated for shock. Several military vehicles were damaged. The lab was a key target because it analysed evidence in cases involving IRA attacks. The IRA had given a warning, and British Army bomb disposal experts were investigating an abandoned van when the explosion occurred. One estimate put the repair damage cost at £20 million at the time.According to journalist and author Toby Harnden, the attack was planned and carried out from beginning to end by the IRA South Armagh Brigade. Volunteers from the brigade hijacked a truck near Newry and packed it with explosives weighing 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg). They left the truck outside the Forensic Science Laboratory at 8:40pm. Nearly 45 minutes later, after a coded warning, the bomb exploded.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:19 UTC on Wednesday, 17 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Forensic Science Laboratory bombing on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Emma.
fWotD Episode 3056: Socompa Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Tuesday, 16 September 2025, is Socompa.Socompa is a large stratovolcano (composite volcano) on the border of Argentina and Chile. It has an elevation of 6,051 metres (19,852 ft) and is part of the Chilean and Argentine Andean Volcanic Belt (AVB). Socompa is within the Central Volcanic Zone, one of the segments of the AVB, which contains about 44 active volcanoes. It begins in Peru and runs first through Bolivia and Chile, and then Argentina and Chile. Socompa lies close to the pass of the same name where the Salta-Antofagasta railway crosses the Chilian border.Most of the northwestern slope of Socompa collapsed catastrophically 7,200 years ago to form an extensive debris avalanche deposit. The Socompa collapse is among the largest known on land with a volume of 19.2 cubic kilometres (4.6 cu mi) and a surface area of 490 square kilometres (190 sq mi); its features are well-preserved by the arid climate. The deposit was at first considered to be either a moraine or a pyroclastic flow deposit, until the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens prompted awareness of the instability of volcanic edifices and the existence of large-scale collapses. There are large toreva blocks, which were left behind within the collapse crater. After the landslide, the volcano was rebuilt by the effusion of lava flows and much of the scar is now filled in.Socompa is also noteworthy for the high-altitude biotic communities that are bound to fumaroles on the mountain. They are well above the sparse regular vegetation in the region, which does not extend up the mountains. The climate on the mountain is cold and dry.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:53 UTC on Tuesday, 16 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Socompa on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Russell.
rWotD Episode 3057: Apartment House 1776 Welcome to random Wiki of the Day, your journey through Wikipedia's vast and varied content, one random article at a time.The random article for Tuesday, 16 September 2025, is Apartment House 1776.Apartment House 1776 is a 1976 composition by the American composer John Cage, composed for the United States Bicentennial and premiered by six orchestras across the country in 1976. The work was commissioned jointly by the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. In these performances, the work was performed together with Cage's 1975–76 orchestral work Renga.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:06 UTC on Tuesday, 16 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Apartment House 1776 on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Salli.
fWotD Episode 3055: Red wattlebird Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 15 September 2025, is Red wattlebird.The red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) is a passerine bird native to southern Australia. At 33–37 cm (13–14+1⁄2 in) in length, it is the second largest species of Australian honeyeater, after the yellow wattlebird. It has mainly grey-brown plumage, with red eyes, distinctive pinkish-red wattles on either side of the neck, white streaks on the chest and a large bright yellow patch on the lower belly. The sexes are similar in plumage. Juveniles have less prominent wattles and browner eyes. John White described the red wattlebird in 1790. Three subspecies are recognized.The species is found in southeast Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and southwest Western Australia in open forest and woodland, and is a common visitor to urban gardens and parks. Loud and conspicuous, the red wattlebird is generally found in trees, where it gets most of its food; occasionally it forages on the ground. It is one of the largest nectarivorous birds in the world, feeding from a wide variety of flowering plants. Insects also comprise part of its diet. It is territorial and at times aggressive towards birds of other species, often defending rich sources of nectar. Breeding throughout its range, the red wattlebird builds a cup-shaped nest in a tree and raises one or two broods a year. Although it has declined in places from land-clearing, it is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:31 UTC on Monday, 15 September 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Red wattlebird on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Russell.
Doing a little light hearted hangout with @JamieTheCleaner for a few minutes on his channel before we kick things off with Dr. Patel over on Curmudgeon's Corner. www.phoenixeod.com https://thehouseofrags.com/collections/phoenix-e-o-d It's So Easy, Even A Curmudgeon Can Do It!
This week on Curmudgeon's Corner, Sam and Ivan talk travel and coincidences and movies before they start getting into the serious stuff. The big one was the killing of Charlie Kirk and the subsequent reactions. Then Epstein's book, the Fed Governor's mortgages, Trump's health, security for politicians, some international coverage, and a bit about the revival of some old defunct companies. Woo! Show Details: Recorded 2025-09-13 Length this week 2:04:41 0:00:44 - But First Travels Theater Coincidence Movie: Some Like It Hot (1959) Movie: Ouija (2014) 0:23:47 - Charlie Kirk Blame Game Possible Motives Right Wing Calls for War Left Wing Calls for Peace 0:46:32 - Lighting One Epstein Birthday Book Fed Governor Mortgages Trump Health Politician Security 1:29:14 - Lightning Two Nepal Venezuela Poland Company Revivals The Curmudgeon's Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch. Our intro is The Oh of Pleasure (Amazon MP3 link) Our outro is Celestial Soda Pop (Amazon MP3 link) Both are from the album Deep Breakfast (iTunes link) Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.