Politics, ships, art, and cyclones

Five featured articles were promoted this week.

• 1880 Democratic National Convention (nominated by Coemgenus) "The 1880 Democratic National Convention met June 22 to 24, 1880, at the Cincinnati Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio and nominated Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania for President and William H. English of Indiana for Vice President in the United States presidential election of 1880." "Hancock and English were narrowly defeated in the race against Republicans James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur that autumn."
• Kronan (nominated by Peter Isotalo) "Kronan, also called Stora Kronan, was a Swedish warship that served as the flagship of the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea in the 1670s. When built, she was one of the largest seagoing vessels in the world... After four years of service, the ship foundered in rough weather at the Battle of Öland on 1 June 1676: while making a sharp turn under too much sail she capsized, and the gunpowder magazine ignited and blew off most of the bow structure." "Its exact position was rediscovered in 1980 by the amateur researcher Anders Franzén, who had also located the 17th-century warship Vasa in the 1950s. Yearly diving operations have since surveyed and excavated the wreck site and salvaged artifacts, and Kronan has become the most widely publicized shipwreck in the Baltic after Vasa. More than 30,000 artifacts have been recovered, and many have been conserved and put on permanent public display at the Kalmar County Museum in Kalmar."
• Sega CD (nominated by Red Phoenix) "The Sega CD, released as the Mega-CD... in most regions outside North America, is an add-on CD-ROM device for the Sega Genesis video game console designed and produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. The add-on was released on December 12, 1991 in Japan, October 15, 1992 in North America, and 1993 in Europe. The Sega CD lets the user play CD-based games and adds extra hardware functionality, such as a faster central processing unit and graphic enhancements. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs." "By the end of 1994, the add-on had sold approximately 2.7 million units worldwide, compared to 29 million units for the Genesis sold by that time. In 1995, Sega began shifting its focus towards its new console, the Sega Saturn, over the Genesis and Sega CD. The Sega CD was officially discontinued in 1996. Retrospective reception to the add-on is mixed, praising the Sega CD for its individual offerings and additions to the Genesis' functions, but offering criticism to the game library for its depth issues, high price of the unit, and how the add-on was supported by Sega."
• Greed (nominated by Deoliveirafan) "Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. It stars Gibson Gowland as Dr. John McTeague, ZaSu Pitts as his wife Trina Sieppe and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus Schouler. The film tells the story of McTeague, a San Francisco dentist, who marries his best friend Schouler's girlfriend Trina. Shortly after their engagement, Trina wins a lottery prize of $5,000. Schouler jealously informs authorities that McTeague had been practicing dentistry without a license and McTeague and Trina become impoverished. While living in squalor, McTeague becomes a violent alcoholic and Trina becomes greedily obsessed with her winnings, refusing to spend any of it despite how poor she and her husband become. Eventually McTeague murders Trina for the money and flees to Death Valley. Schouler catches up with him there for a final confrontation." "Greed was a critical and financial failure upon its initial release, but by the 1950s it began to be regarded as one of the greatest films ever made; filmmakers and scholars have praised it for its influence on subsequent films."
• Russian battleship Peresvet (nominated by Sturmvogel 66) "Peresvet (Russian: Пересвет) was the lead ship of the three Peresvet-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Russian Navy at the end of the nineteenth century. The ship was transferred to the Pacific Squadron upon completion and based at Port Arthur from 1903. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, she participated in the Battle of Port Arthur and was seriously damaged during the Battle of the Yellow Sea and again in the Siege of Port Arthur. The ship was scuttled before the Russians surrendered, then salvaged by the Japanese and placed into service with the name Sagami... Partially rearmed, Sagami was reclassified by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a coastal defense ship in 1912. In 1916, the Japanese sold her to the Russians, their allies since the beginning of World War I. En route to the White Sea in early 1917, she sank off Port Said, Egypt, after striking mines laid by a German submarine."

One featured list was promoted this week.

• Ralph Richardson, roles and awards (nominated by SchroCat) "Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–1983) was an English actor who appeared on radio, film, television and stage. Described by The Guardian as "indisputably our most poetic actor", and by the director David Ayliff as "a natural actor ... [who] couldn't stop being a perfect actor", Richardson's career lasted over 50 years. He was—in the words of his biographer, Sheridan Morley—one "of the three great actor knights of the mid-twentieth century", alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud." "After seeing a production of Hamlet starring Frank Benson, Richardson decided to become an actor and made his stage debut, playing a gendarme in The Bishop's Candlesticks in December 1920." "Richardson won many awards for his performances on stage and screen... including a BAFTA award for The Sound Barrier; an Evening Standard Award for Home, which he shared with John Gielgud; and a special Laurence Olivier Award. His final film, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes—for which he received further critical plaudits and award nominations—was released after his death."

Twelve featured pictures were promoted this week.

• Venus and Anchises (created by William Blake Richmond, nominated by Hafspajen) Anchises is the father of Aeneas, hero of The Aeneid. Venus was his lover, and Aeneas' mother. This painting by William Blake Richmond is a gorgeous , glowing depiction of mortal and goddess, Venus springing out from the painting in a blaze of light colours over a much darker background.
• Tower, west gate and east gate of Taman Sari (created and nominated by Chris Woodrich) Taman Sari is a partially-ruined royal garden and palace complex in Indonesia, dating from the 18th century, originally hosting elabourate hydraulic works to fill complicated systems of pools and fountains.
• Alaskan parchment scrip (prepared and nominated by Godot13 from the collections of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution) Alaskan parchment scrip was a currency in use in the Russian colonies in North America, originally printed on parchment, later on seal skin and walrus hides. It was a form of company currency, only redeemable at company stores, and came about due to the Russian-American Company being given a legal monopoly over the Alaskan fur trade.
• Structure of a Supercell (created by Kelvinsong, nominated by EuroCarGT) A supercell is a type of thunderstorm marked by the presence of a deep, constantly rotating updraft in the centre known as a mesocyclone. This structure creates a large area of possibly extremely severe weather which can dominate the local weather patterns for up to 20 miles (32 kilometres).
• The Art of Painting (created by Johannes Vermeer, nominated by Hafspajen) A complex allegorical work showing what is believed to be the artist, Johannes Vermeer in his studio, the various objects are arranged to form allegorical commentaries, such as a map of the Netherlands with a crease between the north and south, representing the division of the Netherlands between the Hapsburgs and the Seven Provinces.
• Springtime (created by Claude Monet, nominated by Armbrust) Springtime is an 1872 painting by Claude Monet depicting his first wife, Camille Doncieux, beneath a lilac bush, reading.
• Marsh frog (created by Marie-Lan Nguyen, nominated by Pine) The marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) is the largest frog native to Europe.
• WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color, and SwanCrystal (created by Evan Amos, nominated by Chris Woodrich) A Japan-only handheld gaming system, noted for its technical accomplishments, and for having, for a time, managed to win a significant, albeit minor, portion of the handheld market from the then-ubiquitous Gameboy.

One featured topic was promoted this week.

• 1990–91 South Pacific cyclone season (nominated by User:Hurricanehink and Jason Rees) The 1990–91 South Pacific cyclone season was a particularly inactive one, with only three named cyclones, Cyclone Sina, Cyclone Joy, and Cyclone Lisa (which did not make landfall and does not have its own article). With two good articles, a featured article, and a featured list, this is one of the smaller featured topics, but covers the subject well.

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  Swedish warship Kronan, the subject of a featured article.
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  Johannes Vermeer's The Art of Painting, a featured picture
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  Alaskan parchment scrip issued by the Russian American Company, a featured picture

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Beautiful array of images. Tony (talk) 12:45, 14 June 2014 (UTC) [reply]