Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-08-20/Featured content

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Featured articles

Thirteen featured articles were promoted this week:

Pedro I of Brazil (nom) by Astynax, Lecen, and DrKiernan. Pedro I (1798–1834) was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. Raised in Portugal, he and his family went to Brazil following a French invasion. In 1820 he was made regent of Brazil, and he declared the country's independence in 1822. During his reign as emperor, he quashed numerous uprisings and spent a period as monarch of both Brazil and Portugal but abdicated in 1831.
Dorset (nom) by Ykraps. The English ceremonial county of Dorset has a long history of human settlement. It is mostly rural, with roughly half its population in the South East Dorset conurbation. The county's varied landscape covers 2,653 square kilometres (1,024 sq mi), over half of which has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The county is accessed by railways, ports, an international airport, and numerous A-roads.
? (film) (nom) by Crisco 1492. ? is a 2011 Indonesian drama directed by Hanung Bramantyo which follows the interactions between families of different religious backgrounds in Semarang. Meant to counter the portrayal of Islam as a "radical religion", the director had difficulty finding sponsors owing to the film's pluralist nature; this pluralist message later led to protests against ?. The film was a critical and commercial success.
Joseph B. Foraker (nom) by Wehwalt. Governor of Ohio (1886–1890) and senator from that state (1897–1909), Foraker was a Republican who was a political rival of William McKinley and Mark Hanna, and who lost re-election as senator after opposing President Theodore Roosevelt when Roosevelt dismissed over 150 black soldiers from the Army without any hearing in the Brownsville Affair.
Olmec colossal heads (nom) by Simon Burchell. The Olmec colossal heads consist of at least seventeen monumental stone representations of human male heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. Distinctive feature of the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica, they date back to 900 BC and have physical attributes similar to the inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz. There are 17 confirmed examples, from four different sites.
Boden Professor of Sanskrit election, 1860 (nom) by Bencherlite. The hotly contested election for the position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford in Britain was between two men with different approaches to Sanskrit scholarship; Monier Williams viewed it as a way to help convert India to Christianity, while his competitor Max Müller viewed the discipline as an end in itself. Williams won, in what proved to be the last election for the position.
HMS Bellerophon (1786) (nom) by Benea. HMS Bellerophon was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy completed by 1787. She saw three fleet actions in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, narrowly escaping capture during the First Battle of Groix before hosting Napoleon's surrender in 1815. Bellerophon spent the rest of her career as a prison ship before being broken up in 1836.
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet in Australian service (nom) by Nick-D. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has operated McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft since 1984, having purchased 75 Hornets in 1981. The aircraft have only seen combat in one war, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although they have been used for providing security. Currently 71 remain in service, but they are to be phased out in the late 2010s.
California State Route 57 (nom) by Rschen7754. State Route 57 is a north–south state highway in the Greater Los Angeles Area of California, United States. The freeway was built in the 1950s, partly over a previously existing road, and connects the interchange of Interstate 5 and SR 22 near downtown Orange to the Glendora Curve interchange with I-210 and SR 210 in Glendora.
Muckaty Station (nom) by Hamiltonstone. Muckaty Station is an Aboriginal freehold landholding in Australia's Northern Territory. Originally under Aboriginal ownership it changed hands several times over the 20th century before being returned to its Indigenous custodians in 1999. The area has a sub-tropical climate and is often arid, with mostly scrubland vegetation. The station has controversially come under consideration for radioactive waste storage.
Typhoon Chataan (nom) by Hurricanehink. Chataan, a 2002 typhoon, was the deadliest natural disaster in the history of Chuuk, Micronesia; it also hit Guam, Rota, and Japan. The storm produced floods which caused deadly landslides in Chuuk that killed 47 people; a further seven were killed in other areas, with one missing. Damage from Chataan exceeded $660 million, most of it in Japan.
Reginald Heber (nom) by Brianboulton. Heber (1783–1826) was an English clergyman, man of letters and hymn-writer who served as the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta. After gaining an early reputation as a poet, he was ordained in 1807 and spent 16 years as a parish priest. In 1823 he was sent to Calcutta to serve as bishop, where a combination of the tropical climate and his arduous duties led to his sudden death.
Pelican (nom) by Casliber, Maias, MeegsC, and Jimfbleak. Pelicans are a genus of large water birds comprising the family Pelecanidae, characterised by a long beak and large throat-pouch. They have a fossil record dating back at least 30 million years and are most closely related to the Shoebill and Hammerkop. These fish-feeders have a patchy relationship with humans: the birds are sometimes persecuted and sometimes feature in mythology.

Featured lists

Nine featured lists were promoted this week:

List of video games featuring The Simpsons (nom) by Status. The Simpsons have featured in 26 titles since their series debuted in 1991. These games have occupied many genres, including puzzle, action, and race games. The most recent release is 2012's Tapped Out.
Nebula Award for Best Short Story (nom) by PresN. The Nebula Award for Best Short Story is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for the best story under 7,500 words published in English in the United States in the preceding calendar year. The award was established in 1966.
List of Texas hurricanes (1980–present) (nom) by TheAustinMan. At least 69 tropical or subtropical cyclones have affected the U.S. state of Texas since 1980. The most damaging of these caused $19.3 billion in damages and 84 deaths. The most active month for storms is in September, which accounts for almost a third of the total hurricanes.
List of Rosenborg BK seasons (nom) by Arsenikk. The associated football club Rosenborg Ballklubb of Trondheim, Norway, first played in 1928. The team have won numerous league titles, fourteen of them under manager Nils Arne Eggen, and ranked first numerous times.
Timeline of the far future (nom) by RJHall, Spacepotato, Joe Kress, Arthur Rubin, and Serendipodous. Although predicting the future is full of uncertainty, scientists have provided a broad outline of events that will occur more than 8,000 years from the present; these include astronomical, mathematical, cultural, and geological ones.
Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester (nom) by Peter I. Vardy. The English metropolitan county of Greater Manchester is home to 22 Grade I listed churches. Most are of either Gothic or Gothic revival style, with few listed churches having been built in between the eras.
List of songs recorded by Leona Lewis (nom) by Calvin999. The British singer-cum-songwriter Leona Lewis has recorded more than 50 songs since her first demo album in 2004. Several of these have featured on film soundtracks, and one of her songs blends Italian and English. She has also collaborated with numerous artists.
List of Top Pops number-one singles (nom) by ChrisTheDude and Rambo's Revenge. The British music newspaper Top Pops noted 55 number-one singles in the three years it was published, beginning with Gary Puckett & The Union Gap's "Young Girl". Songs on this chart are not all recognised as number-one singles by the official national charts.
CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship (nom) by Wrestlinglover. The CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling junior heavyweight championship owned by the Combat Zone Wrestling promotion. There have been 37 reigns shared among 26 wrestlers since the championship made its debut in 1999.

Featured pictures

Three featured pictures were promoted this week:

Mandelbulb fractal (nom; related article), created by Ondřej Karlík and nominated by Vegard. The Mandelbulb is a three-dimensional analogue of the Mandelbrot set. According to reviewer Diliff, this one resembles a fungus.
Mosque of Ibn Tulun (nom; related article), created by Berthold Werner and nominated by Elekhh. The Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Ţūlūn in Cairo is the largest mosque in the city and one of the oldest to survive in its original form. It dates back to the 9th century.
Map of the Battle of Tinian (nom; related article) by Grandiose. The Battle of Tinian in World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands, occurred between Japanese and American forces. The Americans captured the island and later used it as a base.

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The pics are just great! Tony (talk) 10:24, 21 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Serendipodous really deserves virtually all of the credit for Timeline of the far future. Regards, RJH (talk) 21:27, 22 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the comment. I only based it on what info was available at FLC, which has a long list of editors. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:12, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly, we have recently lost a key GA and FA reviewer, who was also a productive contributor of Featured Articles. User:Tim riley has left the project, unhappy with editors who are uncivil to other experienced Wikipedia editors. It is good that we are concerned with being friendly to newbies, but we should be just as concerned about being kind and considerate to our fellow experienced editors - people edit here because it is a worthwhile project, but if what Tim called the "joy" goes out of it, it is difficult to justify continuing to put in a lot of time. I would refer everyone specifically to WP:CITEVAR. Personally, I think that there should be a corollary to WP:OWN that says that when an experienced editor has brought an article to GA or FA quality and continues to monitor the quality of that article, other editors should avoid arguing with him or her about silly formatting changes that make that editor's life difficult and should respect that editor's preferences regarding non-substantive content issues, unless there is an important technical consideration involved, like WP:ACCESS. -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:32, 23 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Ssilvers. It's sad to see a productive editor leave. I wish User:Tim riley well and hope he's only on an extended wikibreak. Efforts are underway to improve the climate including WikiProject Editor Retention as a start; discovering why editors leave, inviting them back, retaining those who are active and much more needs to be done. Everyone can help. The corollary to WP:OWN is there on the page under stewardship. Stewardship needs to be explained better and emphasized more. Take care, everyone, DocTree (ʞlɐʇ) (cont) Join WER 17:13, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, he's gone for good. And, an editor has just attacked me on my talk page insisting that his style of formatting at The King and I is better than mine; and so he has reformatted the references there over my objection, and without giving me a chance to consider his comments first. After producing quite a few GAs and FAs (and hundreds of other articles) myself, over the past six years, this makes me feel as if it is not worth working on the project. Thanks for pointing me to stewardship. -- Ssilvers (talk) 17:46, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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