The Mike Drop - (formerly Mike Reads Wikipedia)

Show Notes: The Spoon Theory and the 10% Battery In this episode of Mike Reads Wikipedia , Mike Dicks explores the invisible economy of energy. When you are living with a chronic illness or a mental health condition , energy isn't just a feeling—it’s a finite currency that must be budgeted with mathematical precision. Starting with the Wikipedia entry for Spoon Theory , Mike traces the history of...

"The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information."   These words, written in 1944 by Henry A. Wallace, Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt, resonate as deeply today as they did during the height of World War II. Wallace’s essay, The Danger of American Fascism , originally published in The New York Times , is a stark warn...

Hello and welcome to Mike Reads Wikipedia. I’m Mike Dicks, your host. Traditionally, on this podcast, I read a random Wikipedia page—hence “Mike Reads Wikipedia”—but recently, I’ve been experimenting with feeding Wikipedia articles into ChatGPT, transforming them into scripts, and then adding my own touches before reading them out. As much as I like the idea of a podcast titled “Mike Gets ChatGPT...

The dark truth about Hugo Boss and the Nazis - great bedtime listening for anyone into uniforms Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britain is in the middle of a General Election, one that promises big change after a long period of austerity, war and privation the nation is ready for a change. It's June 2024 but Mike takes a look back at the Labour Manifesto from 1945 - the election that created the NHS, Free Secondary Education, Nationalised transport, power and industry, the Welfare State and the United Nations. It's not qui...

As it's Eurovision day (well it was when I recorded this) I thought I'd read about it on Wikipedia and I don't see why you shouldn't have to listen along with me. You van read the article yourself here EUROVISION Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was recorded on election day (6/2021) and deals with a character who is standing for the Mayor of London, Count Binface - the article surprised me when I learnt that Binface was previously a version of Lord Buckethead and had to change due to a copyright dispute - it is, asmum always says, a bad day when you don't learn something Read along HERE and HERETOO Hosted on Acast. See acast....

In a vain attempt to pretend this podcast has any listeners I suggest that iepisode's subject was suggested by a listener, called Z (you don't know him, he lives in another town) Anyway, welcome to the Wikipedia page about Jesus's foreskin(s) and how it ended up as the rings of Saturn Feel free to read along HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amongst the many images I create and call 'art' are a series that I call "The Towers of Brighton and Hove and the most popular of those is loosely based on The Brighton Palace Pier, soo today I read the Wikipedia article about Brighton's most famous ico. You can read along here And look at my version of the pier here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since I started this podcast a number of people have asked if it's actually a version of Wikipedia created by 1980's heartthrob Mike Read - it isn't - but I thought I would go a little meta and read the article about Mike Read for Mike Reads Wikipedia - you can read along here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently I've looking back over some of my old projects, the ones I start and never complete and I came across an idea I had to do a book about 3 rubber ducks lost at sea. The idea was inspired by a real story that involved over 28000 bath toys being set free in the ocean that were tracked by scientists and I thought I would find the Wikipedia article about the inspirational event - it's entitled...

Normally I avoid contentious articles on Wikipedia – you know ones that are controversial and badly in need of a brisk edit – but today I was thinking about Apple Crumbles so I went to Wikipedia to find out about the history of the dish, only to discover they had merged the article with one about an American dessert called an Apple Crisp! – you can hear my disbelief throughout this episode and rea...

There are quite a few places in the UK called Devil's Dyke, one of them is near to where I live in Sussex and I thought I would take a look at the Wikipedia entry for it today. You can read along HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I read a newspaper article about a man who had posted himself from Australia to the UK in the 1960s, so I went to look in Wikipedia to find other stories of Human Post - this one, about Henry Box Brown caught my eye - so I read it into a mic and now here we are. Read along HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last few days I've been thinking about Star Trek and drew a couple of cartoons about the show, including a rendition of the HMSS Brexit - my spoof version of the show. The day after First Contact Day (5/4/2021) - thee day that celebrates a fictional event that won't happen till 2063 - I thought I'd turn to the page of Wikipedia that covers Zefram Cochrane Click here to read the article you...

General Jumbo, one of my all time favourite comic book characters, inspired me to do a drawing/photo montage this morning, so I thought I would investigate the, rather short, article about him on Wikipedia - I discovered his name - which I didn't know - and a little bit of his back story in this short episode Follow along here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

These days it seems that statues are becoming a protected species, so I thought I'd read the Wikipedia article about the Statue of Winston Churchill that was being protected by a dozen or so police officers yesterday. Read along, if you like, by opening the article here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is not really a random article, it's a chosen page about David Low, my favourite political cartoonist who allegedly appeared in Hitler's Black Book of people he wanted arrested or killed when he invaded the UK. If you'd like to read the article click HERE - otherwise let me read it for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Returning to the a link in The Boston Molassacre story in Episode 3 - Mike finds out about a flood of beer that swept through Soho in the 1814. Read the article yourself here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a little less random than the previous 4 as it's about a fictional town that part of me now lives in called Trumpton. Surprising, even I found out a little more about my favourite town reading this article, so I hope you do too. Link to the Wikipedia Article here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another random Wikipedia entry read by Mike Dicks - this time about a clock that's being designed and built to measure time over the next 10,000 years - it involves the CEO of Amazon and Brian Eno and a lot of information about how clocks and civil unrest might not play nice together. If you want to read along here is a LINK Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike reads a random article about The Boston Molassacre - and discovers more than we need to know about a 25ft tall wave of liquid sugar that killed 21 people in Boston in 1919 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode looks at the story of the famous Keep Calm and Carry On posters that we all believe were widely seen and used during the war but in fact turn out to have been pulped and forgotten till the 2000's when they were rediscovered by a small bookshop and a Guardian journalist. Link to Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Calm_and_Carry_On Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

In the inaugural episode Mike logs onto Wikipedia reads a "Random Article" for the first time and discusses it, shares his thoughts and then follows a link to the next article Link to Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_the_British Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.