Featured content
A mushroom, a motorway, a Munich gallery, and a map
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from May 5, 2013 through May 11, 2013.
Featured articles
Fourteen featured articles were promoted this week.
- Boletus luridus (nom) by Casliber and Sasata. Boletus luridus, commonly known as the lurid bolete, is a fungus of the bolete family, found in deciduous woodlands on chalky soils in Asia, Europe, and eastern North America. Fruit bodies arise in summer and autumn and may be abundant. It is a solid bolete with an olive-brown cap up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter, with small reddish pores on the underside. The stout ochre stem reaches dimensions of 8–14 cm (3–6 in) tall and 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) wide, and is patterned with a reddish meshwork. Though edible when cooked, it can cause gastric upset when eaten raw and can be confused with the poisonous Boletus satanas.
- USS Kearsarge (BB-5) (nom) by Inkbug. The USS Kearsarge (BB-5) was the lead ship of her class of pre-dreadnought battleships. It was a United States Navy ship, named after the sloop-of-war Kearsarge. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia on 30 June 1896, she was launched on 24 March 1898, and commissioned on 20 February 1900. Between 1903 and 1907 Kearsarge served in the North Atlantic Fleet, and from 1907 to 1909 she sailed as part of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 she was decommissioned for modernization, which was finished in 1911. In 1915 she served in the Atlantic, and between 1916 and 1919 she served as a training ship. She was converted into a crane ship in 1920, renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, and sold for scrap in 1955.
- Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 (nom) by Nikkimaria. The Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 occurred on 9 August 1942 during the Second World War, while the city of Leningrad was under siege by Nazi German forces. Dmitri Shostakovich had intended for the piece to be premièred by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, but because of the siege that group was evacuated from the city. The world première of the symphony was held in Kuibyshev with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. The Leningrad première was performed by the surviving musicians of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra, supplemented with military performers. Most of the musicians were starving, which made rehearsing difficult: musicians frequently collapsed during rehearsals, and three died. The orchestra was able to play the symphony all the way through only once before the concert.
A portrait of Norman Selfe. - Norman Selfe (nom) by Wittylama. Norman Selfe (1839–1911) was an Australian engineer, naval architect, inventor, urban planner and outspoken advocate of technical education. After immigrating to Sydney with his family from England as a boy he became an apprentice engineer, following his father's trade. Selfe designed many bridges, docks, boats, and much precision machinery for the city. He also introduced new refrigeration, hydraulic, electrical and transport systems. For these achievements he received international acclaim during his lifetime. Decades before the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built, the city came close to building a Selfe-designed steel cantilever bridge across the harbour after he won the second public competition for a bridge design.
- Gustav Holst (nom) by Brianboulton and Tim riley. Gustav Holst (1874–1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed a large number of works across a range of genres, although none achieved comparable success. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, including the English folksong revival of the early 20th century.
- California State Route 75 (nom) by Rschen7754. State Route 75 is a short, 13-mile (21 km) expressway in San Diego County, California. It is a loop route of Interstate 5 that begins near Imperial Beach, heading west on Palm Avenue. The route continues north along the Silver Strand, a thin strip of land, through Silver Strand State Beach. It passes through the city of Coronado as Orange Avenue and continues onto the San Diego–Coronado Bay Bridge, which traverses the San Diego Bay, before joining back with Interstate 5 near downtown San Diego at a freeway interchange.
- Freedom for the Thought That We Hate (nom) by Cirt. Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment is a 2007 non-fiction book by Anthony Lewis about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of thought, and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The book starts by quoting the First Amendment, which prohibits the United States Congress from creating legislation which limits free speech or freedom of the press. Lewis traces the evolution of civil liberties in the United States through key historical events. He provides an overview of important free speech case law, including United States Supreme Court opinions in Schenck v. United States in 1919, Whitney v. California in 1927, United States v. Schwimmer in 1929, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan in 1964, and New York Times Co. v. United States in 1971.
- God of War (video game) (nom) by JDC808. God of War is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. First released on March 22, 2005, for the PlayStation 2 console, it is the first installment in the series of the same name and the third chronologically. Loosely based on Greek mythology, it is set in Ancient Greece with vengeance as its central motif. The player controls the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. The goddess Athena tasks Kratos with killing Ares, the God of War, who is responsible for Kratos accidentally killing his family. As Ares besieges Athens out of hatred for Athena, Kratos embarks on a quest to find the one object capable of stopping the god: the legendary Pandora's Box. After an epic quest, Kratos is successful and replaces the defeated Ares as the new God of War.
Hurricane Hattie brutally affected British Honduras (present-day Belize). - Hurricane Hattie (nom) by Hurricanehink and TheAustinMan. Hurricane Hattie was the strongest and deadliest tropical cyclone of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, reaching a peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 5 hurricane. The ninth tropical storm and seventh major hurricane of the season, Hattie originated from an area of low pressure that strengthened into a tropical storm over the south-western Caribbean Sea on October 27. Moving generally northward, the storm quickly became a hurricane and later major hurricane the following day. Hattie then turned westward west of Jamaica and strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). It weakened to Category 4 before making landfall south of Belize City on October 31. The storm turned south-westward and weakened rapidly over the mountainous terrain of Central America, dissipating on November 1.
- Creek Turnpike (nom) by Scott5114. The Creek Turnpike is a 33.22-mile-long (53.46 km) freeway-standard toll road that lies entirely in the United States state of Oklahoma. The turnpike forms a partial beltway around the south and east sides of Tulsa. The Creek Turnpike's western terminus is at the Turner Turnpike in Sapulpa, while its northeastern terminus is at the Will Rogers Turnpike in Fair Oaks; both ends of the Creek Turnpike connect with Interstate 44. Along the way, the highway passes through the cities of Sapulpa, Jenks, Tulsa, and Broken Arrow, and the counties of Creek, Tulsa, Wagoner and Rogers.
- Japanese battleship Yamashiro (nom) by Dank and Sturmvogel 66. Yamashiro was the second of two Fusō-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1915 and commissioned in 1917, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923 she assisted survivors of the Great Kanto Earthquake. Yamashiro was modernized between 1930 and 1935 with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Nevertheless with only 14-inch guns she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war. By 1944, though, she was forced into front-line duty, serving as the flagship of the Southern Force at the Battle of Surigao Strait. During fierce night fighting in the early hours of October 25 against a superior American force, Yamashiro was sunk by torpedoes and naval gunfire.
Saratoga during World War II. - USS Saratoga (CV-3) (nom) by Sturmvogel 66. USS Saratoga (CV-3) was a Lexington-class aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy during the 1920s. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. She was one of three prewar US fleet aircraft carriers, along with Enterprise and Ranger, to serve throughout World War II. The ship took part in the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the New Georgia Campaign and the Bougainville Campaign. During the Battle of Iwo Jima it was badly damaged by kamikaze hits and was forced to return to the United States for repairs. During this time it was permanently modified as a training carrier. In mid-1946 the ship was a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test.
- Tripura (nom) by Dwaipayanc. Tripura is a state in North East India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers 10,491 km2 (4,051 sq mi) and is bordered by Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, and the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east. As of 2011, the state has 3,671,032 residents, constituting 0.3% of the country's population. Indigenous communities, known in India as scheduled tribes, form about 30 per cent of Tripura's population. The Kokborok-speaking Tripuri people are the major group among 19 tribes and many subtribes; Bengali people form the ethno-linguistic majority.
- Duino Elegies (nom) by ColonelHenry. The Duino Elegies are a collection of ten elegies written by the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke, who is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets", began writing the elegies in 1912 while a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis at Duino Castle. The poems, 859 lines long in total, were dedicated to the Princess upon their publication in 1923. During this ten-year period, the elegies languished incomplete for long stretches of time as Rilke suffered frequently from severe depression—some of which was caused by the events of World War I and being conscripted into military service. Aside from brief episodes of writing in 1913 and 1915, Rilke did not return to the work until a few years after the war ended. With a sudden, renewed inspiration—writing in a frantic pace he described as a "boundless storm, a hurricane of the spirit"—he completed the collection in February 1922 while staying at Château de Muzot in Veyras. After their publication in 1923 and Rilke's death in 1926, the Duino Elegies were quickly recognized by critics and scholars as his most important work.
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Featured lists
Three featured lists were promoted this week.
- Leuchtenberg Gallery (nom) by Fram. The Leuchtenberg Gallery was the collection of artworks of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, on public display in Munich. Widely recognized during the 19th century, it is considered one of the most important private collections of all time. It is located at the Palais Leuchtenberg, in Munich, and several of its elements have been moved to other galleries across the globe.
- Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album (nom) by Hahc21 with Status. The Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album is awarded yearly at the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, and given to vocal or instrumental salsa albums recorded by solo artists, duos or groups. The accolade was first presented in 2000 to cuban singer Celia Cruz.
- Kevin Shields discography (nom) by Idiotchalk. Irish musician Kevin Shields has released three studio albums as a member of the alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Beginning his musical career in the late 1970s, he formed My Bloody Valentine from 1983 until its disbandment in 1997. Later on, he collaborated with a wide variety of artists as a solo singer.
Featured pictures
Three featured pictures were promoted this week.
- Manhattan in 1873 (nom, related article) originally created by George Schlegel, restored by Adam Cuerden, and nominated by Mediran. George Schlegel Lithographing Co. (1849–1957) was a printing company based in New York. This lithograph shows the Manhattan borough of New York City as it appeared in 1873.
- Saint-Augustin drawing (nom, related article) created by Victor Baltard and nominated by Tomer T. The Église Saint-Augustin de Paris (Church of St. Augustine) was built between 1860 and 1871. Victor Baltard was the architect. The church is approximately 100 meters (330 ft) long and 80 meters (260 ft) high.
- Armenian Genocide (nom, related article) created by Sémhur and nominated by Proudbolsahye. The Armenian Genocide involved the post-World War I Ottoman Empire's maltreatment and execution of ethnic minorities in its territory such as Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks. The death toll is estimated at 1 to 1.5 million people. Although the consensus among historians is that "genocide" is the correct term, the government of Turkey disputes this, and government officials attempted to prosecute author Orhan Pamuk in 2005 for his statements concerning the deaths of Armenians. The charges were dropped for technical reasons after an international outcry and an inquiry from the European Union.
13 May 2013 (all comments)
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Re: recent FA Gustav Holst: My colleague and all-round good egg Tim riley was co-nominator and indeed the principal author, so he should receive at least equal credit. Brianboulton (talk) 10:34, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]