Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-02-21/Features and admins
Features and admins
The best of the week
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New featured picture: Andromeda Galaxy. The light that formed this image took 2.5 million years to get to Earth, arriving just last September on the 18th. The creator, Adam Evans, said last week on his Flickr page, "Check it out, some kind soul has uploaded my photo to Wikipedia's entry for the Andromeda Galaxy. Very cool."
This week's "Features and admins" covers Saturday 12 – Friday 18 February
New administrators
The Signpost welcomes two editors as our newest admins.
- Rami R (nom) has advanced programming skills, takes a particular interest in Israeli topics, and intends to help with administrative backlogs as needed, such as at administrator intervention against vandalism, requests for page protection, and usernames for administrator attention.
- ErrantX (nom) is a graduate in electronic engineering and is completing an MSc in software engineering. He works in computer security and computer forensics. Among his contributions will be a presence at ANI, RFPP and AIV.
At the time of publication there are three live RfAs: The Bushranger and Glane23, both due to finish on Tuesday 22 February, and Snottywong, due to finish on Monday 28 February.
Featured portals
From the new featured portal Law of England and Wales: justice must be seen to be done? An illustration from the 1470s of the execution of Hugh Despenser the Younger
From the new featured portal Somerset, a limestone gorge where Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, Cheddar Man, estimated to be 9,000 years old, was found in 1903
From the new featured article: Rutherford B. Hayes's cabinet in 1877
- Portal:Law of England and Wales (nom) was promoted, with 29 articles (including 8 FAs and 3 FLs), and selected biographies, cases, legislation, pictures, and quotations. (picture at right)
- Portal:Somerset (nom) was promoted, with 36 articles (all FA or GA), and selected biographies, pictures, and settlements. (picture at right)
Featured articles
Six articles were promoted to featured status:
- Rinaldo (opera) (nom), a historically important opera and one of Handel's early masterpieces. Its tercentenary comes up in less than a week, on 24 February. (Brianboulton)
- 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix (nom), a Formula One motor race held in 2008, in which most of the excitement surrounded a duel between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa. (Midgrid)
- History of the New York Jets (nom), an American football team with one championship and much futility; its history goes back to 1959. (Wehwalt, The Writer 2.0)
- Rutherford B. Hayes (nom) (1822–93), the 19th US President who served one term from 1877 to 1881, overseeing the end of Reconstruction and America's entry into the Second Industrial Revolution. Hayes was a reformer whose work was influential in civil service reform. He unsuccessfully tried to reconcile the divisions that had led to the Civil War. (Coemgenus; picture at right)
- Minas Geraes-class battleship (nom), a pair of Brazilian dreadnoughts, in service from 1910, that caused traditional powers around the world to hail Brazil's new-found military potential (said to have "astonished the naval world"). Both ships were rapidly outmoded, but survived through the Second World War before being scrapped. (The ed17)
- John J. Crittenden (nom), a US career politician in the 19th century who served as Congressman, Senator, US Attorney General, Governor, and state legislator. Nominator Acdixon says that "had his 'Crittenden Compromise' been approved, the American Civil War might have been averted."
Featured lists
Seven lists were promoted:
- List of Pittsburgh Pirates first-round draft picks (nom) (Nominated by Staxringold.)
- Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album (nom) (Nominated by Candyo32.)
- List of WWE Divas Champions (nom) (Nominated by Scorpion0422.)
- List of heads of state of the Soviet Union (nom) (Nominated by Trust Is All You Need.)
- List of songs in DJ Hero 2 (nom) (Nominated by Masem.)
- List of Tampa Bay Lightning seasons (nom) (Nominated by Nomader.)
- List of current sovereign monarchs (nom) (Nominated by Night w.)
Four featured lists have been delisted in February thus far:
- Lightning Bolt discography (nom: [lead, referencing, formatting])
- List of current world boxing champions (nom: [lead, referencing])
- List of states with limited recognition (nom: [lead, referencing, comprehensiveness])
- List of YuYu Hakusho episodes (season 2) (nom: [referencing, comprehensiveness])
Featured sounds
Five featured sounds were promoted, in twelve parts:
- Cello Suite No. 1 in G BWV1007, JS Bach (1685–1750), performed by the Canadian cellist, John Michel. The play button to the right is to the first movement; the other five movements are linked to below it.
- Elfentanz by David Popper, a perpetuum mobile piece performed by Hans Goldstein (cello) and Mellicia Straaf (piano), using the spiccato technique on the cello.
- Overture to Mozart's last opera, The Magic Flute, a live performance by the Bangkok Opera Orchestra.
- Swansong by Josh Woodward, a song written and performed by Josh Woodward that was selected as part of the Ubuntu 10.10 Free Culture Showcase.
- Gnossiene Numbers 1–3, by Erik Satie (1866–1925), the French composer; The play button to the right is for the first Gnossiene, the other two are linked to below the button.
Featured pictures
Five images in six parts were promoted. Medium-sized images can be viewed by clicking on "nom":
- Three little pigs illustration (nom; related article), a high-quality scan of a scene from a 1904 adaptation of the fairy tale in which the wolf blows down the straw house of one of the "less intelligent" pigs. (Created by Leonard Leslie Brooke and restored by User:Jujutacular; picture at right)
- Dhow (nom; related article), a dhow in the Indian Ocean, on which crew members can be seen pulling the ropes to adjust sails. The background shows the Island of Zanzibar. (Created by User:Muhammad Mahdi Karim)
- Andromeda Galaxy (nom; related article), the closest spiral galaxy to Earth, distant from us by about 25 times the diameter of our own galaxy, and containing about 10 times as many stars (1,000 billion). The creator, Adam Evans, says the image includes "120 mins of hydrogen-alpha data (shot from the city) to enhance the nebula regions in Andromeda. While I was at it, I also tweaked the overall colour balance." picture at top
- Animation of maze generation: randomised depth-first search and Animation of maze generation: randomised Prim's algorithm as a set (nom; related article). Starting from the seed cell (in both cases, the bottom left), the algorithm selects a random unvisited neighbour and marks that as visited and destroys the wall between. The nominations passed, although there was a highly technical debate with mathematician User:Ozob concerning the presentation. (Created by User:Purpy Pupple)
- Muottas Muragl Winter (nom; related article), a view of the High Engadin valley from Muragl in canton Grisons, Switzerland. The image was cropped, details were enhanced, the village was sharpened, and the colours were adjusted after discussion on the review page. (Created by User:Murdockcrc; picture below)
New featured picture: the Engadin, a long valley in southeast Switzerland, protected by high mountains on all sides and famous for its sunny climate. This is one of the few places in which the Romansh language is indigenous.
Information about new admins at the top is drawn from their user pages and RfA texts, and occasionally from what they tell us directly.
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