Episodes

  • 1900 Galveston hurricane

    1900 Galveston hurricane
    Oct 12 2026
    The 1900 Galveston hurricane (otherwise known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm) was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. The strongest storm of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season, it left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline city with 8 to 12 ft (2.4 to 3.7 m) of water. As of 2026, it remains the fourth deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes; every dwelling in the city suffered some degree of damage. The hurricane left approximately 10,000 people in the city homeless, out of a total population of fewer than 38,000. The disaster ended the… Read by Laurascudder. Recorded June 17, 2005; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=15353028 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galveston_hurricane_of_1900.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    18 mins
  • Perth

    Perth
    Oct 12 2026
    Perth (Nyungar: Boorloo) is the capital and largest city of the state of Western Australia. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.2 million in the city and 2.3 million within Greater Perth as of 2023. The world's most isolated major city by certain criteria, Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of Perth's metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which its central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony. The city is situated on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 48,000 years. Perth was named after the city of Perth in Scotland. Initially established as a free settlement, the… Read by Viktor O. Ledenyov. Recorded April 11, 2016; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=714716311 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Perth_article.oga License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    15 mins
  • Tallinn

    Tallinn
    Oct 11 2026
    Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. Located on a bay in northern Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of 452,563 as of 2026, making it the third most-populous city in the Baltics. As of 2024, the population of the Tallinn metropolitan area is estimated at 646,315. Tallinn is the main governmental, financial, industrial, and cultural centre of Estonia. It is located 187 kilometres (116 mi) northwest of the country's second largest city, Tartu, however, only 80 kilometres (50 mi) south of Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It is also 320 kilometres (200 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia, 300 kilometres (190 mi) north of Riga, Latvia, and 380 kilometres (240 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden. From the 13th century until the first half of the 20th century, Tallinn was known in most of the world by variants of its other historical name, Reval. Reval (Tallinn) received Lübeck city rights in 1248; however, the earliest… Read by Unigolyn. Recorded October 3, 2006; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=79315132 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En-Tallinn-article.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    18 mins
  • Brisbane

    Brisbane
    Oct 11 2026
    Brisbane ( BRIZ-bən; Turrbal/Yagara: Meanjin) is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Queensland and the third-most populous city in Australia, with a population of about 2.8 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of South East Queensland, a bio-geographical and urban region with an estimated population of 4.1 million as of 2024. The central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River approximately 15 kilometres (9 mi) from its mouth at Moreton Bay. Greater Brisbane sprawls across the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between the Pacific Ocean and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges, encompassing several local government areas (LGAs). The City of Brisbane LGA forms the inner area of Greater Brisbane, and is the most populous local government area in Australia. The demonym of Brisbane is Brisbanite. The Moreton Bay penal settlement was established in 1824 at Redcliffe as a place for secondary offenders from the Sydney… Read by Viktor O. Ledenyov. Recorded April 11, 2016; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=714716272 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisbane Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brisbane_article.oga License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. Chapter images come from the recorded article via Wikimedia Commons; each chapter links its file page for credits. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    15 mins
  • Wii Sports

    Wii Sports
    Oct 10 2026
    Wii Sports is a 2006 sports simulation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game was released in North America along with the Wii on 19 November 2006, and in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month. It was included as a pack-in game with the console in all territories except Japan and Korea, making it the first sports game included with the launch of a Nintendo system since Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy in 1995. The game was later released on its own as part of the Nintendo Selects collection of games. Wii Sports is a collection of five sports simulations designed to demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote. The five sports included are tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real-life sports, such as swinging a tennis racket or rolling a bowling ball. The rules for each game are simplified to make them more accessible to new players. The game… Read by Anthony2106. Recorded July 26, 2026; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1365398732 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_Sports Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wii_sports_2026-09-23.ogg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    28 mins
  • Pax Mongolica

    Pax Mongolica
    Oct 9 2026
    The Pax Mongolica (Latin for "Mongol Peace"), less often known as Pax Tatarica ("Tatar Peace"), is a historiographical term modeled after the original phrase Pax Romana which describes the stabilizing effects of the conquests of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory that the Mongols conquered in the 13th and 14th centuries. The term is used to describe the eased communication and commerce that the unified administration helped to create and the period of relative peace that followed the Mongols' vast and violent conquests. The conquests of Genghis Khan (r. 1206–1227) and his successors spanned from Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. The Silk Road, connecting trade centres across Asia and Europe, came under the sole rule of the Mongol Empire. It was commonly said that "a maiden bearing a nugget of gold on her head could wander safely throughout the realm". Despite the political fragmentation of the Mongol Empire… Read by ftxs. Recorded December 9, 2017; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=812131231 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Mongolica Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:En-PaxMongolica-article.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    18 mins
  • Klaus Schwab

    Klaus Schwab
    Oct 9 2026
    Klaus Martin Schwab (German: [klaʊs ˈmaʁtiːn ʃvaːp]; born 30 March 1938) is a German mechanical engineer, economist, and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He was the WEF's chairman from January 1971 until his resignation in April 2025. Read by Viktor O. Ledenyov. Recorded January 25, 2016; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=701571520 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Schwab Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klaus_Schwab.ogg License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    15 mins
  • Emu

    Emu
    Oct 8 2026
    The emu (; Dromaius novaehollandiae) is a species of flightless bird endemic to Australia, where it is the tallest native bird. It is the only extant member of the genus Dromaius and the third-tallest living bird after its African ratite relatives, the common ostrich and Somali ostrich. The emu's native ranges cover most of the Australian mainland. The Tasmanian, Kangaroo Island and King Island subspecies became extinct after the European settlement of Australia in 1788. The emu has soft, brown feathers, a long neck, and long legs. It can grow up to 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in) in height. It is a robust bipedal runner that can travel great distances, and when necessary can sprint at 48 km/h (30 mph). It is omnivorous and forages on a variety of plants and insects, and can go for weeks without eating. It drinks infrequently, but takes in copious amounts of fresh water when the opportunity arises. Breeding takes place in May and June, and fighting among females for a mate is common. Females can… Read by Macropode. Recorded August 7, 2006; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=68580161 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emu.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.
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    18 mins