Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-09-20/Features and admins
Features and admins
The best of the week
Administrators
The Signpost congratulates two editors on their promotion to adminship.
- Magog the Ogre (nom), from Pennsylvania, was a programming major in college and has worked in the finance industry. He specialises in creating maps on his Ubuntu operating system computer. His primary expertise is in media file policy, though he finds time to work on the reference desk, CSD tagging, and anti-vandalism.
- Wifione (nom), has gained considerable experience on the Help Desk, contributes on the tool server as an accountcreator, and is active on new-page patrolling, Criteria for Speedy Deletion (CSD) assessments, and Usernames for Administrative Attention (UAA). Apart from his "gnomish" work and copy-editing, he has recently created WikiProject Villages, which he hopes to develop over the next few months. He is a member of the Wikimedia Strategy Task Force.
Featured articles
- Ambondro mahabo (nom), a broken piece of jaw 170 million years old; its discovery in 1999 set the stage for one of the major controversies of mammalian paleontology (nominated by Ucucha). (picture above)
- Aquaria (video game) (nom), a single-player action-adventure product released in 2007 (PresN).
- Battle of Quebec (1775) (nom), the first big American defeat of the American Revolutionary War, in 1775 (Magicpiano)
- Princess Charlotte of Wales (nom) (1796–1817), one of the tragic episodes of the British royal family (Wehwalt).
- Flame Robin (nom), a small bird native to Australia; the males have a brilliant orange-red chest and throat (Casliber).
- FC Barcelona (nom), founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English, and Spanish football players that has become a symbol of Catalan culture (Sandman888). (picture at right)
- Eshmun Temple (nom), occupied in the 7th and 8th centuries and associated with the nearby Lebanese city of Sidon; now a World Heritage Site (Elie plus).
- Paul E. Patton (nom), a governor of Kentucky (1995–2003), whose second term finished with sex-for-favours and campaign-finance scandals (Acdixon).
- Alboin (nom), a 6th-century Germanic king who played an important role in Italian history; the article is based on English- and Italian-language sources (Aldux). (picture at right)
- Huia (nom), a New Zealand bird (Kotare)
- Wintjiya Napaltjarri (nom), which nominator hamiltonstone says are "the people who have contributed to the last great art movement of the 20th century, and Australia's only domestic art movement of international significance: contemporary Indigenous Australian art".
- William Calcraft (nom), one of the most prolific and incompetent British hangmen ever. Nominator Malleus Fatuorum says "he liked to make a show out of his public executions [to] crowds of up to 30,000, so he didn't want his victims to die too quickly."
- Madeira Firecrest (nom), an avian beauty from Madeira, an Atlantic island off Africa (Jimfbleak).
- Oryzomys antillarum (nom), an extinct Jamaican rat (Ucucha).
- Japanese battleship Haruna (nom), one of the workhorses of the Japanese fleet during World War II (Cam).
Choice of the week. The Signpost asked FA nominator and reviewer Aaroncrick to select the best of the week:
| “ | As always, the FAC process throws up some obscure and fascinating articles, making the choice of the week difficult. William Calcraft and his 450 executions over 45 years was one of the more enthralling articles, describing his 45-year career of 450 executions, many using the unusual short-drop method. Three articles were on my short-list: Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Princess Charlotte of Wales and FC Barcelona—all intriguing reads. Being Australian, I couldn’t help but feel a connection with Napaltjarri, an Indigenous artist whose work is showcased in many of the country’s galleries. More will be familiar with Princess Charlotte, who died in 1817 when just 21, ending her quest to become Queen. However, being a sports lover and contributor, my choice of the week is FC Barcelona. The article is a comprehensive, engaging account of one of the biggest and most successful sporting clubs in the world. | ” |
Four featured articles were delisted:
- Fermi paradox (nom: sourcing)
- Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (nom: sourcing, prose and neutrality)
- November (film) (nom: sourcing)
- Max Weber (nom: copyright, neutrality, weasel words, prose, sourcing, original research, comprehensiveness, structure)
Featured lists
Eleven lists were promoted:
- Venues of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics (nom). Eighteen venues were used for this Olympics; capacities ranged from 500 seats in Kallang Field (archery) to 25,000 in the The Float@Marina Bay (cycling) (nominated by AngChenrui).
- George Orwell bibliography (nom) Known best for his fictional works Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, Orwell wrote 644 complete works, 555 of which were essays, book reviews, and editorials reflecting his left-wing anti-totalitarian views (Koavf).
- List of Texas Tech Red Raiders bowl games (nom) The Red Raiders have an overall bowl record of 11 wins, 22 losses, and 1 tie. Their most recent bowl game resulted in a win against Michigan State University in the Alamo Bowl (NThomas).
- Registrar of the University of Oxford (nom), one of the senior officials of the university. The Registrar is the "head of the central administrative services", with responsibility for "the management and professional development of their staff and for the development of other administrative support" (Bencherlite). (choice of the week, see right)
- List of Washington Nationals first-round draft picks (nom) Of the 63 players picked in the first round by Washington, 31 have been pitchers, the most of any position (Wizardman).
- List of accolades received by Up (nom). This fully animated film about two characters who visit a house suspended by helium balloons received two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Grammy Awards (Tbhotch).
- List of Major League Baseball hitters with four home runs in one game (nom) Called "baseball's greatest single-game accomplishment", this feat has been performed by only 15 players, most recently by Carlos Delgado in 2003 (Staxringold). (choice of the week)
- List of Atlanta Braves managers (nom) Bobby Cox is one of the most successful Braves manager, having guided the team to 1,792 wins, 14 playoff appearances, and 1 World Series victory (LAAFan and K. Annoyomous).
- List of Connecticut Huskies bowl games (nom) The Huskies have played in only four bowl games (all in the 21st century), winning three, including their most recent bowl game: the 2010 PapaJohns.com Bowl against the University of South Carolina (Grondemar).
- 1970 NBA Draft (nom), the 24th annual draft of the National Basketball Association. The 1970 draft class is considered to be one of the best in NBA history, as it produced six Hall of Famers and twelve All-Stars (Martin tamb).
- Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album (nom) With the album 75, Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate, an Austrian group, became the first non-American band to win this award (Another Believer).
Choice of the week. We asked FL nominator and reviewer Wizardman for his choice of the best:
| “ | My original plan was to look past the sports-related articles, since I'm more familiar with them, but due to how many were promoted this week I'm choosing two articles as best, one sports and one not. The sports article that caught my eye was List of Major League Baseball hitters with four home runs in one game. It really shows how significant of an accomplishment hitting four home runs in a game is, though that could be my bias talking. The second article I would choose is Registrar of the University of Oxford. Oxford is not something usually on my radar, but this list is a very nice look at the position and the people who have held it. It was a very interesting read, with the descriptions of each person adding a good deal to what the article is about. | ” |
Featured topics
One topic was promoted: Supernatural (season 1) (nom), concerning an American television series broadcast 2005–06, with 22 episodes. There are two featured articles and one good article (nominator Ophois).
Featured pictures
Seven images were promoted:
- Male impala in Serengeti (nom), which captures many of its attributes; taken in the Serengeti (created by Ikiwaner). (picture at right)
- Reproductive cone of Encephalartos sclavoi (nom), an endangered species, photographed in the capital of Tanzania, East Africa, by Muhammad Mahdi Karim).
- Lambis crocata (nom), a species of sea snail in the family of true conchs (created by George Chernilevsky).
- Portrait of Maurice of Nassau (nom), Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange with a commandant's baton, by Dutch portraitist Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, ca. 1613–20. The details of the gilt suit of armour can be inspected closely in the full-resolution version. The colours were enhanced after comments by reviewers.
- Sceliphron spirifex (nom), a species of insect photographed in East Africa; after reviewers' comments, the image was cropped, a dust spot cloned out, and levels were adjusted (created by Muhammad Mahdi Karim).
- Cactus in bloom (nom), Parodia tenuicylindrica cactus with flowers in bloom (created by (Laitche).
- Buildings along Chicago River (nom), a westward view from Lake Shore Drive's Link Bridge over the Chicago River, showing many of the city's most notable buildings (created by Mindfrieze). (picture below)
Choice of the week. Dschwen, a regular reviewer and nominator at featured picture candidates, told The Signpost:
| “ | My choice this week, the Impala, is not only a masterfully executed shot of a beautiful animal, but it comes as a package. Linked in its image description are two more detail shots of the head and horns, and when viewed through our sister site commons this featured picture has annotations that pop up when you hover the mouse over the animal's various body parts, indicating characteristic traits of its species. It is exciting to see the potential of our online format being used in a way that greatly enhances the educational value of a nice piece of photography (picture above right). | ” |
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