Austin, Texas | Wikipedia audio article
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Austin, Texas
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
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Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. It is the 11th-most populous city in the United States and the 4th-most populous city in Texas. It is also the fastest growing large city in the United States, the second most populous state capital after Phoenix, Arizona, and the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States. As of the U.S. Census Bureau's August 1, 2018 estimate, Austin had a population of 967,629 up from 790,491 at the 2010 census. The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan statistical area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1, 2016. Located in Central Texas within the greater Texas Hill Country, it is home to numerous lakes, rivers, and waterways, including Lady Bird Lake and Lake Travis on the Colorado River, Barton Springs, McKinney Falls, and Lake Walter E. Long.
In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River. In 1839, the site was chosen to replace Houston as the capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly afterward, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republic's first secretary of state. The city grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a severe lull in economic growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its steady development, and by the 1990s it emerged as a center for technology and business. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin including, 3M, Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Cisco, eBay, General Motors, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Paypal, Texas Instruments, and Whole Foods Market. Dell's worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin.
Residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a diverse mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers, and a vibrant LGBT community. The city's official slogan promotes Austin as The Live Music Capital of the World, a reference to the city's many musicians and live music venues, as well as the long-running PBS TV concert series Austin City Limits. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to a rapid influx of technology and development companies. In recent years, some Austinites have adopted the unofficial slogan Keep Austin Weird, which refers to the desire to protect small, unique, and local businesses from being overrun by large corporations. In the late 19th century, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown, because of the colorful glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name. Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars.U.S. News & World Report named Austin the #1 place to live in the U.S. for 2017 and 2018. In 2016, Forbes ranked Austin #1 on its Cities of the Future list, then in 2017 placed the city at that same position on its list for the Next Biggest Boom Town in the U.S. Also in 2017, Forbes awarded the South River City neighborhood of Austin its #2 ranking for Best Cities and Neighborhoods for Millennials. WalletHub named Austin the #6 best place in the country to live for 2017. The FBI ranked Austin as the #2 safest major city in the U.S. for 2012.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located on the Grand River about 25 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 1,005,648, and the combined statistical area of Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland had a population of 1,321,557. Grand Rapids is the county seat of Kent County, Michigan, second largest city in Michigan (after Detroit), and the largest city in West Michigan. A historic furniture-manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is still home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies, and is nicknamed Furniture City. Its more common modern nickname of River City refers to the landmark river for which it was named. The city and surrounding communities are economically diverse, and contribute heavily to the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation, and consumer goods manufacturing industries, among others.
Grand Rapids was the home of The First Family of U.S, Boxing: Floyd Sr., Jr., Jeff, and Roger Mayweather, World Championship Boxer James Toney, singer and song writer Anthony Kiedis, the filmmakers Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader, the singer Al Green and U.S. President Gerald Ford, who—along with his wife Betty—is buried on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.
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Grand Rapids, Michigan | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
00:01:37 1 History
00:01:46 1.1 Native American settlement
00:03:35 1.2 European-American settlement
00:13:12 1.3 Incorporation and growth
00:15:36 1.4 Economic history
00:15:45 1.4.1 Gypsum mining
00:16:51 1.4.2 Furniture City
00:19:19 2 Geography
00:19:29 2.1 Topography
00:21:25 2.2 Climate
00:25:21 3 Cityscape
00:28:40 4 Culture
00:34:07 4.1 Tourism
00:39:34 4.2 Entertainment and performing arts
00:44:00 4.3 Sports
00:46:19 4.4 Media
00:48:26 5 Economy
00:51:53 6 Demographics
00:52:02 6.1 2010 census
00:54:44 6.2 2000 census
00:57:00 6.3 Ethnicity
00:57:58 6.4 Religion
01:02:00 7 Government and politics
01:03:21 7.1 Mayor
01:04:40 7.2 Politics
01:06:03 8 Education
01:09:56 9 Notable people
01:10:06 10 Transportation
01:10:15 10.1 Transportation history
01:10:25 10.1.1 Roadways
01:10:58 10.1.2 Railroad
01:11:55 10.1.3 Air transportation
01:12:23 10.2 Major highways
01:13:53 10.3 Mass transit
01:14:02 10.3.1 Bus
01:15:36 10.3.2 Air
01:16:29 10.3.3 Rail
01:16:55 11 Sister cities
01:17:15 12 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
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Speaking Rate: 0.9026116770121617
Voice name: en-US-Wavenet-B
I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan and the largest city in West Michigan. It is on the Grand River about 30 miles (48 km) east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 1,005,648, and the combined statistical area of Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland had a population of 1,321,557. Grand Rapids is the county seat of Kent County.A historic furniture-manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies, and is nicknamed Furniture City. Other nicknames include River City and more recently, Beer City (the latter given by USA Today and adopted by the city as a brand). The city and surrounding communities are economically diverse, based in the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation, and consumer goods manufacturing industries, among others.
Grand Rapids is the childhood home of U.S. President Gerald Ford, who is buried with his wife Betty on the grounds of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in the city. The city's main airport and one of its freeways are also named after him.