popular Wiki of the Day Abulsme Productions

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 211,035 views on Thursday, 16 May 2024 our article of the day is Harrison Butker.

Harrison Butker Jr. (born July 14, 1995) is an American football kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia Tech, and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft. He is second in NFL history in career field goal percentage (minimum 100 attempts) with 89.1. Butker led the NFL in scoring in 2019, and is a three-time Super Bowl champion, having won LIV, LVII and LVIII with the Chiefs. He is nicknamed "Butt Kicker" (a play-on-words on his last name and position).

Butker, a traditional Catholic, made controversial comments stemming from his strong conservative beliefs in two commencement addresses in 2023 and 2024. His comments have been labeled as "sexist", "bigoted", "homophobic", "transphobic" and "anti-semitic". The NFL released a statement condemning his remarks writing, "His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:58 UTC on Friday, 17 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Harrison Butker 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 Matthew Neural.

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 407,470 views on Wednesday, 15 May 2024 our article of the day is Robert Fico.

Robert Fico (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈrɔbert ˈfitsɔ]; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician. He has served as the Prime Minister of Slovakia since 2023, having previously served in the position from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the Direction – Social Democracy (Smer–SD) party in 1999 and has led that party since its foundation. Fico holds a record as the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of over 10 years. First elected to Parliament in 1992, whilst within Czechoslovakia, he was appointed the following year to the Czechoslovak delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe. Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed his first Cabinet. His political positions have been described as populist.

After the 2010 parliamentary election, Fico served as an opposition member of parliament, effectively holding the position of the leader of the opposition. Following a motion of no confidence against the Iveta Radičová cabinet, Fico was re-appointed as prime minister after leading Smer to a landslide election victory in the 2012 parliamentary election, winning 83 seats and forming a government with an absolute majority in Parliament, the first such since 1989. In 2013, Fico declared his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election. Fico lost the election to his political rival Andrej Kiska, in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.

On 15 March 2018, owing to the political crisis following the murder of Ján Kuciak, Fico delivered his resignation to President Andrej Kiska, who then charged Deputy Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini with the formation of a new government.

During the 2023 parliamentary election, Fico vowed to end military support for Slovakia's neighbor Ukraine, which was being invaded by Russia. His party Direction – Social Democracy (Smer), won the most votes in the election, with 22.95% of the vote, winning 42 seats. Fico formed a coalition with Voice – Social Democracy (Hlas) and the Slovak National Party, and began his fourth term as prime minister on 25 October. The Fico government has refused to join a Czech-led coalition of about 20 states in procuring military aid for Ukraine.

On 15 May 2024, Fico was hospitalized after an assassination attempt. Following initial reports of his "life-threatening" condition, he is "not in a life-threatening situation at this moment," according to the Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba, and "is expected to survive".

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 04:03 UTC on Thursday, 16 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Robert Fico 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 Kendra Standard.

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 115,179 views on Tuesday, 14 May 2024 our article of the day is Megalopolis (film).

Megalopolis is an upcoming American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Set in an imagined modern America following a devastating disaster, the film features an ensemble cast, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Grace VanderWaal, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman.

A longtime passion project for Coppola, who first conceived the idea for the film in 1977 and actively started developing it in 1983, Megalopolis underwent significant delays and numerous cancellations over the years. Coppola revived the project in 2019 by spending $120 million of his own money on the film. Filming took place from November 2022 to March 2023. The film is Coppola's first directorial effort since Twixt (2011), marking his longest gap between films.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it is set to premiere on May 16, 2024.

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:04 UTC on Wednesday, 15 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Megalopolis (film) 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 Joanna Neural.

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 113,043 views on Monday, 13 May 2024 our article of the day is Von Erich family.

The Von Erich family is an American professional wrestling family. Originally from Texas, their actual surname is Adkisson, but every member who has been in the wrestling business has used the ring name "Von Erich," after the family patriarch, Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson). Jack took on the name as part of his wrestling gimmick (i.e. in-ring persona) as he originally portrayed a Nazi heel, hence his use of a German name.

By the time Fritz died of cancer in his Denton County home in 1997 at age 68, five of his six sons had predeceased him, three by suicide. His firstborn, Jack Jr., was accidentally shocked and drowned in a puddle at age 6 in 1959, outside his Niagara Falls home. In 1984, David Von Erich died in a Tokyo hotel from enteritis at age 25. Mike, Chris, and Kerry all died by suicide; Mike took an overdose of Placidyl near Lewisville Lake in 1987 at age 23, Chris shot himself in the head with a 9mm handgun in 1991 at age 21, and Kerry shot himself in the chest in the family yard in 1993 at age 33. Kevin Von Erich is the last surviving son.

These deaths are the main basis for a widespread myth about a family curse. The term "Von Erich curse" is also used colloquially to refer to the chain of events. The story of the Von Erich family has been presented as a cautionary tale about parental influence, sibling rivalry, and the various dangers of the professional wrestling business.

The Von Erichs' involvement in wrestling has continued to a third generation: Kevin's sons Marshall and Ross began wrestling in 2012, and Kerry's daughter Lacey wrestled from 2007 until her retirement in 2010.

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:34 UTC on Tuesday, 14 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Von Erich family 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 Emma Neural.

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 225,318 views on Sunday, 12 May 2024 our article of the day is Australia.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, tropical savannas in the north, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period. They settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with European maritime exploration. The Dutch were the first known Europeans to reach Australia, in 1606. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986.

Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories: the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia; the major mainland Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory; and other minor or external territories. Its population of nearly 27 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Australian governments have promoted multiculturalism since the 1970s. Australia is culturally diverse and has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy, which generates its income from various sources: predominantly services (including banking, real estate and international education) as well as mining, manufacturing and agriculture. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.

Australia has a highly developed market economy and one of the highest per capita incomes globally. It is a middle power, and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure. It is a member of international groups including the United Nations; the G20; the OECD; the World Trade Organization; Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation; the Pacific Islands Forum; the Pacific Community; the Commonwealth of Nations; and the defence and security organisations ANZUS, AUKUS, and the Five Eyes. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States.

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:16 UTC on Monday, 13 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Australia 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 Matthew

Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.

With 341,117 views on Saturday, 11 May 2024 our article of the day is Aurora.

An aurora (pl. aurorae or auroras),

also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky.

Auroras are the result of disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from coronal holes and coronal mass ejections. These disturbances alter the trajectories of charged particles in the magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere). The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emit light of varying colour and complexity. The form of the aurora, occurring within bands around both polar regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles.

Most of the planets in the Solar System, some natural satellites, brown dwarfs, and even comets also host auroras.

This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:46 UTC on Sunday, 12 May 2024.

For the full current version of the article, see Aurora 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 Stephen Neural.