The best of the week

The Signpost welcomes Ron Ritzman (nom), from Atlanta, as a new admin. Ron focuses on maintenance tasks and has a history of contributions going back to 2005, with high levels of activity since mid-2008. He has particularly strong experience at AfD and as a new-page patroller.

Four articles were promoted to featured status. These will be considered for Choice of the week in the next edition.

• Quainton Road railway station (nom). Nominator iridescent says "for somewhere so obscure, Quainton Road has a very tangled history".
• Andalusian horse (nom), a favourite of European kings as early as the 15th century, and still popular among classical dressage enthusiasts today (Dana boomer).
• Don Valley Parkway (nom), a major expressway in Toronto, Canada (Floydian).
• Ray Lindwall with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948 (nom), whom the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack said must "be placed permanently in the gallery of great fast bowlers" (YellowMonkey).

Eleven lists were promoted:

• Minnesota Mr. Basketball (nom), an annual award given to the best high school male basketball player in the state (nominated by Editorofthewiki)
• Billboard Top Latin Songs Year-End Chart (nom), the best-selling Latin song of the year. (Jaespinoza).
• List of Family Guy episodes (nom). Family Guy, an animated television sitcom, lampoons American culture, often in the form of cutaway gags and tangential vignettes (GageSkidmore).
• FC Barcelona in Europe (nom), a compilation of European competition results for the Spanish football club FC Barcelona. Barça has won 54% of its European competition matches (Sandman888).
• Amsterdam Tournament (nom), hosted by the Dutch club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. The tournament is unusual in that it awards clubs points for each goal scored (Argyle 4 Life).
• List of longest streams of Oregon (nom) The Columbia River, originating in British Columbia, Canada, is the longest stream, with a length of 1,249 miles (2,010 km) (Finetooth and Little Mountain 5). (picture at bottom).
• List of Olympic medalists in volleyball (nom), which is played in two disciplines: indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. Brazil's representatives have received the most overall medals (16), while the United States' representatives have received the most gold medals, with 8 (Courcelles).
• 1973 NBA Draft (nom), the 27th annual draft of the National Basketball Association. Dave Winfield, selected by the Atlanta Hawks, was drafted in four leagues: the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the American Basketball Association (Chrishomingtang and Martin tamb).
• List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts: swords) (nom), a list of 110 swords and 12 sword mountings from ancient to feudal Japan (Bamse).
• List of Arizona Diamondbacks first-round draft picks (nom) Nominator Courcelles quipped, "I present to you... a fairly boring set of picks. Sorry, but that's the truth here, I had to look pretty hard to find anything interesting to say about these guys."
• Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine (nom), given each year for semi-professionally-edited magazines related to science fiction or fantasy (PresN).

Choice of the week. Ruslik0 has written three featured lists in astronomy topics, and is a regular reviewer at FLC. Here is his favorite of the week:

“

Among the lists promoted for the last week, one really stands out. I am talking about List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts: swords), which provides a wealth of information not only about swords but also about History of Japan in general. Some of this information is actually quite difficult to come by. The list is also part of a series of articles about the national treasures of Japan written by the same author, some of which I reviewed in the past. All of the them are of the same high quality. So, I find that List of National Treasures of Japan (crafts: swords) is the best of the week, and would recommend everyone to read it.

”

Eleven images were promoted. For medium-sized displays, please click on "nom".

• Benjamin Franklin (nom), the painting of the Founding Father that is displayed in the White House, "showing a younger Franklin that differs substantially from the more common view of him", according to reviewer Howcheng (created by David Martin).
• Sukhoi Su-30 in flight (nom), an advanced fighter jet of the Russian Air Force in flight, June 2010 (created by Sergey Krivchikov).
• Tobacco Hornworm (nom), a high-res macro shot using a home-made ring flash adapter to obtain even, shadowless lighting over the entire subject (created by Dschwen).
• Olive Baboon (nom), (Papio anubis) in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania (created by Muhammad).
• Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill c.1885 (nom), Native American Sitting Bull and vaudeville showman Buffalo Bill in Montreal ca. 1885.
• Cymbiola imperialis (nom), a species of volute, shown from four angles (created by H. Zell).
• Koppelpoort (nom), a medieval combined land- and water-gate in the Dutch town of Amersfoort (created by Bert).
• Mespelbrunn Castle (nom), a medieval moated castle in the Spessart forest – one of the most visited water castles in Germany (created by Rainer Lippert) (Choice of the week: picture at top)
• Blue Wildebeest, Ngorongoro (nom), Connochaetes taurinus in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania (created by Muhammad).
• Bryaninops yongei (nom), a species of sea whip goby fish on a whip coral (created by Nick Hobgood (picture at right).
• Charlton Heston (nom), at a civil rights march in 1963 (created by Sir Richardson).

Choice of the week. Gazhiley, a regular reviewer and nominator at featured picture candidates, told The Signpost:

“

For me this week it's been between two very similar, but entirely different pictures: Mespelbrunn Castle and Koppelpoort. The difference in the architecture of these two castles is striking. I have to say though that I find the Mespelbrunn Castle picture is the best. The outstanding colours, the clarity of detail and the unique setting make this picture extremely attractive. And for a picture to receive just one Oppose is a good sign! This is definitely my Choice of the Week. [Picture at top]

”