The best of the week

Scroll across to see the new featured picture: User:Muhammad Mahdi Karim's panoramic shot of the Old Fort of Zanzibar and the Stone town in Tanzania, East Africa, shot from the House of Wonders, the tallest building in the vicinity.
Interactive large-image-viewer (non-Flash)

The Signpost welcomes The Bushranger (nom), from the US, as our newest admin. He is an active member of the MilHist and Aircraft WikiProjects, participates in the battleships project WP:OMT, and has many DYKs under his belt. He has expertise in templates and categories.

At the time of publication there are three live RfAs: Boing! said Zebedee, Kudpung, and Neelix, due to finish on 1, 2 and 3 March, respectively.

Eight articles were promoted to featured status:

• Mantra-Rock Dance (nom), a musical countercultural event held in 1967 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. (Nominated by Cinosaur)
• Morgan dollar (nom), one in a long line of US dollar coins that proved unpopular with the general public. Today the coin is probably most famous for its widespread use in Westerns, but the true story of its origin and production is probably just as interesting. (RHM22)
• Leslie Groves (nom), the man behind the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs. (Hawkeye7)
• Empire of Brazil (nom), a 19th-century nation that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil. Its government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Dom Pedro I and his son Dom Pedro II, both members of the House of Braganza—a branch of the thousand-year-old Capetian Dynasty. (Lecen, Astynax, Hchc2009, and Arthur Holland; picture at right)
• Johnstown Inclined Plane (nom), the world's most steeply inclined railway, was built after the catastrophic 1889 flood; it fulfilled its purpose as an escape route for future floods in 1936 and 1977. It is now primarily a tourist attraction. (Nominated by Niagara)
• Grand Coulee Dam (nom), the largest power station in the US and one of the largest concrete structures in the world. (NortyNort; picture at right)
• Pipe Dream (musical) (nom), which nominator Wehwalt says "is a musical derived from a rather raunchy novel by Steinbeck, and even though Rodgers & Hammerstein toned it down considerably, it is probably the most sexualized plot of their joint works. There is just no getting around the fact that the female lead is a prostitute, and her madam is a major character."
• Clathrus ruber (nom), a species of fungus in the stinkhorn family, with striking fruit bodies that are shaped somewhat like a round or oval hollow sphere with interlaced or latticed branches. (Sasata)

Seven lists were promoted:

• List of New York Cosmos seasons (nom) (Nominated by Cliftonian.)
• List of Alabama Crimson Tide football head coaches (nom) (Nominated by Patriarca12.)
• List of Armillaria species (nom) (Nominated by Sasata.)
• 2010 Asian Games medal table (nom) (Nominated by Chrishmt0423.)
• 2010 IIHF World Championship rosters (nom) (Nominated by Salavat.)
• Grammy Award for Best World Music Album (nom) (Nominated by Another Believer.)
• List of Cincinnati Reds first-round draft picks (nom) (Nominated by Courcelles.)

Two featured lists were delisted:

• List of Telecaster players (nom: [Comprehensiveness, style, and formatting])
• Wilco discography (nom: [Lead, referencing, style])

Six images were promoted. Medium-sized images can be viewed by clicking on "nom":

• Batak warriors (1870) (nom; related article), created by early Danish photographer Kristen Feilberg (1839–1919), edited by User:Peter Weis. The Batak comprise a number of groups in North Sumatra.
• African bush elephant (nom; related article), a male African bush elephant in Serengeti; the image was promoted after much discussion about whether the animal had an erection at the time. (Created by User:Ikiwaner.)
• CG image of espresso tamper (nom; related article), an image using the Cobalt computer-aided design program, of a high-end espresso tamper, based on a 3D solid model that allows objects to be easily viewed from different perspectives and yields realistic shadowing. (Created by User:Greg L; picture at right)
• McKinley "Prosperity" campaign poster (nom; related article), used by William McKinley in the 1900 US presidential election. He is depicted as campaigning on the gold standard as a policy, with support from soldiers, businessmen, farmers and professionals, claiming to restore prosperity at home and victory abroad. (Unknown creator, restored by User:NativeForeigner; picture at right.)
• Frogmouth - Cryptic Pose (nom; related article), an Australian variety of Frogmouth, which when threatened will stay perfectly still with eyes almost shut and bill pointed straight. (Created by User:Benjamint444; picture at bottom)
• Old fort of Zanzibar and Stone Town (nom; related article), a panorama of the Old Fort of Zanzibar and the Stone town as seen from the House of Wonders in Zanzibar, Tanzania. One reviewer pointed out that the fort is nearly rectangular. (Created by User:Muhammad Mahdi Karim; picture at top.)

Seven featured sounds were promoted.

Chopin's Scherzo No. 3 for piano Performed by User:La Pianista Problems playing this file? See media help.	Beethoven's 32 Variations in C Minor for piano Performed by User:La Pianista Problems playing this file? See media help.
Claude Debussy's La plus que lente for piano (1910) Debussy's parody of the slow waltz, performed by User:La Pianista Problems playing this file? See media help.	Its a long way to Tipperary (1915 song of World War I) Replaces a previous featured sound file that was judged to be overprocessed; this one is the original. Problems playing this file? See media help.
Take me out to the ball game (1908) An early-20th century waltz song composed by Albert Von Tilzer, which became the unofficial anthem of baseball. This version was sung by Edward Meeker on an Edison Records phonograph cylinder in 1908. Problems playing this file? See media help.	Pietro Mascagni: "Symphonic intermezzo" from the one-act opera Cavalleria Rusticana (1910) Performed by the Fulda Symphonic Orchestra in 2002, conducted by Simon Schindler Problems playing this file? See media help.
James Scott's piano rag, Grace and Beauty Performed by User:Adam Cuerden, assistance from User:Jujutacular Problems playing this file? See media help.

Information about new admins at the top is drawn from their user pages and RfA texts, and occasionally from what they tell us directly.

← Previous "Features and admins"

Next "Features and admins" →

In this issue

28 February 2011 (all comments)

News and notes

In the news

Arbitration statistics

WikiProject report

Features and admins

Arbitration report

Technology report

+ Add a comment

Discuss this story

These comments are automatically transcluded from this article's talk page. To follow comments, add the page to your watchlist. If your comment has not appeared here, you can try purging the cache.

• Why is this feature called "Best of the Week" when it includes new admins? Passing an RFA does not mean the admin is necessarily a great editor, or even the "best". The subheadline needs to be changed to something a little more appropriate. AD 22:30, 1 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Best of the week refers to the practice, not seen this week but usually seen in this section, of asking an outside editor to pick their favorite of the newly promoted articles or pictures as the 'best of the week'. I don't think it has anything to do with the admins. Sven Manguard Wha? 08:20, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
• What an awesome variety of featured content this week! Reading this always makes me feel proud of Wikipedia. -- œ^™ 06:25, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Agreed. Also kudos for discovering and utilizing the ability to put images into the featured sounds. I had no idea that was possible, (I really need to look at template documentation pages more often.) Sven Manguard Wha? 08:20, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]