Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-08-16/Features and admins

The best of the week

The Signpost congratulates Mkativerata (nom), a lawyer from Brisbane, Australia, on his promotion to adminship. Highly active since last December, he has been with us since 2007. His significant contributions include the sourcing of BLP articles, copyright cleanup, and the detection and resolution of sockpuppet issues. He has one FA and two GAs to his name, and has begun more than 100 well-sourced articles on Malaysian politicians.

Eighteen articles were promoted to featured status:

• Wally Hammond (nom), "one of the best cricketers of all time" from the 1920s and 30s, says nominator Sarastro1, "and a moody so-and-so". He was captain of the England team.
• Daniel Lambert (nom), gaol keeper and animal breeder from Leicester, England, famous for his unusually large size. Upon death, his body weighed 335 kg (739 lbs) and rapidly began to putrefy (iridescent, with assistance from Parrot of Doom) (right).
• Miss Meyers (nom), possibly of similar weight to the previous subject, but a 1950s racing American Quarter Horse. Nominator Ealdgyth says this article will eventually form part of an application for featured topic on the horses in the AQHA Hall of Fame.
• Siege of Godesberg (nom), which grew out of the article on the Cologne War in 16th-century Germany. Reviewer Iridescent said, "you've done a good job of keeping a complicated story on track" (auntieruth, and JN, who added valuable German material).
• Quietly Confident Quartet (nom), the self-named Australian men's 4 ×ばつ 100 m medley relay swimming team that against expectations won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. All four of the swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three had been suspended or expelled from the Australian team during their careers. (YellowMonkey)
• Fossa (animal) (nom) a cat-like, carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar. It tears open and disembowels its victims—among them the Grey Mouse lemur, a primate—and is known to participate in arboreal mating sessions of up to 14 hours (Sasata, Ucucha, UtherSRG, and Visionholder) (right).
• Belle Vue Zoological Gardens (nom), a 140-year-old place of entertainment for the genteel middle-classes in Manchester, offering formal gardens and open-air dancing. It evolved into the third-largest zoo and one of the earliest and largest amusement parks in the UK, a major venue for exhibitions and sports such as boxing, speedway, and greyhound racing, and housed a fine symphony orchestra (Malleus Fatuorum, J3Mrs, WebHamster).
• Midshipman (nom), a commissioned officer of the lowest rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies (Kirk).
• Sweet Track (nom), constructed in 3807 or 3806 BC in Somerset, England, is one of the oldest engineered roads known. Its discovery in 1970 revealed crossed wooden poles driven into waterlogged soil to support a walkway that consisted mainly of planks of oak, laid end-to-end (Rod).
• Hurricane Guillermo (1997) (nom), one of the most powerful Pacific hurricanes ever recorded, producing deadly swells across the Pacific Ocean that affected areas from Hawaii to coastal Mexico (Cyclonebiskit, and Mitchazenia).
• Stan Musial (nom), a Polish-American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 (Monowi).
• SMS König (nom), which led the German line at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the largest single fleet action in history (Parsecboy).
• Tower of London (nom), a historic castle on the Thames in London, founded in 1066 by William the Conqueror. It has played an iconic role in English history. (Nev1)
• Statue of Liberty (nom), a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor; it was dedicated in 1886 as a gift to the US from the people of France, and has become an iconic symbol of American freedom (Wehwalt).
• Robert Catesby (nom), the leader of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Preparing the article required careful navigation around historical uncertainties (Parrot of Doom).
• Courageous class battlecruiser (nom), comprising three fast and lightly armoured vessels that saw service in the Royal Navy from 1916 to 1944; they were the first battlecruisers to use geared steam turbines and small-tube boilers, which maximised their speed (Sturmvogel 66).
• Pipistrellus raceyi (nom), a species of bat in Madagascar, not formally named until 2006 (Ucucha).
• Brill Tramway (nom), privately built in 1871 as a horse tram-line to transport goods from the Aylesbury Vale, northeast of Oxford, to the national railway network (Iridescent).

Choice of the week. We asked regular FAR delegate, FA reviewer and nominator YellowMonkey for his opinion (disregarding his own nomination): "I chose the Tower of London because I've always had a soft spot for history, and the Princes in the Tower is a source of high school nostalgia. More generally, the older the topic, the more quaint and fascinating the story tends to become, especially as society evolves over time, making such things stand out in contrast to modernity. The subject is a rich blend of medieval history, architecture, political intrigue and supernatural phenomena, so it should have something for everyone. It's also very comprehensive—the predominant theme of my concerns at FAC, much to the chagrin of many a nominator. I'd like to give a special mention to Wally Hammond."

Eight lists were promoted:

• List of Tampa Bay Rays first-round draft picks (nom). One pick, Evan Longoria, has received the Rookie of the Year award (nominated by Wizardman).
• List of accolades received by Gosford Park (nom). The film won 25 awards from 61 nominations, including an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and BAFTA Awards for Best British Film and Best Costume Design (JuneGloom07).
• Listed buildings in Rivington (nom). Twenty-one buildings in Rivington have listed status, including nearly half the houses in the village centre. Most reflect Rivington's "rural and historic nature", but other listed structures of interest include Pigeon Tower, a former dovecoat, and an unfinished replica of Liverpool Castle (J3Mrs).
• List of outlying islands of Scotland (nom), those islands "that are not part of the larger archipelagos and island groups of Scotland". Notable islands include Rockall, called "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world", and the Flannan Isles, whose lighthouse keepers mysteriously vanished in 1900 (Ben MacDui).
• List of Florida Marlins first-round draft picks (nom). The Marlins have selected twenty-three players in the first round, of whom two have won World Series championships with the team (Staxringold).
• 1988 Winter Olympics medal table (nom), the count of medals won by participating IOCs at the 1988 Winter Olympics, held in Calgary, Canada. The Soviet Union won the most overall medals (29) and gold medals (11). (Parutakupiu)
• List of battleships of Austria-Hungary (nom), all of which served in World War I. After Austria-Hungary was defeated, it handed over its battleships to France, Great Britain, the United States, or Italy (White Shadows).
• List of NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Champions (nom), the winners of the most prestigious tournament in American college basketball. UCLA has won the most championships, with 11, including an unprecedented seven in a row. Duke University is the most recent winner (Giants2008).

Choice of the week. We asked FL nominator and reviewer Jujutacular for his choice of the best: "I picked Listed buildings in Rivington as my choice for this week. The structure of the list is very appealing, the prose flows well, and it sparks an interest in the subject for the reader. As someone unfamiliar with the area, it makes me want to visit! Beautiful images illustrate many of the entries. Congratulations and thanks to J3Mrs for the wonderful work on this list." (right)

Two featured lists were delisted:

• 50 Cent discography (nom: lead, sourcing, style)
• Natasha Bedingfield discography (nom: lead, sourcing, style)

Ten images were promoted:

• Eastern Barred Bandicoot (nom), a small Australian marsupial with a long, pointy snout; the image was taken at night with multiple off-camera flashes by Noodle snacks.
• Louis-Marie Autissier, Self-portrait (nom), of the 1817 watercolour on ivory by the miniaturist. The image was edited by Papa Lima Whiskey to expand into unused colour space while preserving the details (created by the Swedish National Museum).
• Mantoux tuberculin skin test (nom), but don't look if you're scared of needles (created by Greg Knobloch, CDC).
• Diatomaceous earth (nom), an ingredient of dynamite, among other products. All reviewers praised this micrograph, created under bright field illumination on a light microscope of a total area of a tiny 1.13 ×ばつ 0.69 mm (created by Richard Wheeler (Zephyris). (below)
• Common clam worm (nom), a widely distributed species of marine worm; here, it has turned into a form capable of reproduction, and after releasing its sperm or eggs, the animal will die. Created by Hans Hillewaert (Lycaon) with colour balance by Zephyris after much debate.
• Mimas (moon) (nom). The edge of Saturn is clearly visible in the original, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on 13 February at a distance of about 70,000 km from one of the gas giant's moons, Mimas. This artefact was removed by the creators, NASA/JPL/SSI. (right)
• 360 degrees fogbow (nom). A fog bow is similar to a rainbow, but because of the very small size of water droplets has only very weak colors, and is sometimes known as a "white rainbow". This striking image of an intriguing phenomenon was created by Mbz1. (right)
• Sydney ferry Collaroy (nom). Reviewer Fletcher said, "there is a sense of motion in the image that draws you into it" (created by Diliff).
• Squilla mantis for sale (nom). This species of shrimp is chiefly found and fished in the Mediterranean Sea. Here, it is shown at the fish auction of l'Ametlla de Mar in Catalonia, Spain (created by Lycaon).
• Peter Ustinov (nom), a high-quality portrait of the English actor, writer and dramatist (created by Allan Warren).

Choice of the week. Miya was a member of the 2009 Organizing Committee for the Commons Picture of the Year Award. We asked her to choose what she sees as the best new featured picture: "The three I like most are Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Diatomaceous earth, and 360 degrees fogbow . It was not easy to choose one of these. But at last I've made my choice: Diatomaceous earth. The photo of the micrograph of Diatomaceous earth is beautiful as well as of great scientific interest; it is both encyclopedic and educational. The full resolution‎ allows you to clearly see the fossilized remains of diatoms; this may provide insights into the nature of Diatomaceous earth." (below)