Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2016-02-24/Featured content
Featured content
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 14 to 20 February.
Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.
Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.
Featured articles
Eight featured articles were promoted this week.
- The 70th Infantry Division (nominated by EnigmaMcmxc) of the British Army fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The 70th Division originated from the 7th Infantry Division, which served in the British Mandate of Palestine during the Arab Revolt. It was then transferred to Egypt on the outbreak of the Second World War and soon became the 6th Infantry Division, which took part in the Battle of Crete and the Syria–Lebanon Campaign. The 6th Division was re-created as the 70th Infantry Division, in an attempt to deceive Axis intelligence concerning the strength of the British military in the Middle East.
- Baron Munchausen (nominated by Lemuellio) is a fictional German nobleman and soldier created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. The character is loosely based on a real baron, Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen. The fictional Baron's exploits focus on his impossible achievements as a sportsman, soldier, and traveler.
- The Last of Us (nominated by Rhain) is an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a man tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. Development of the game began in 2009, soon after the release of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The team chose actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson to portray Joel and Ellie respectively, who provided voice and motion capture for the roles. Both assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story.
- In 1896, William McKinley was elected President of the United States. McKinley's campaign (nominated by Wehwalt) organization was built by Mark Hanna through 1895 and 1896. Hanna raised millions for a campaign of education with trainloads of pamphlets to convince the voter that free silver would be harmful, and once that had its effect, even more were printed on protectionism. McKinley stayed at home in Canton, Ohio, running a front porch campaign and reaching millions through newspaper coverage of the speeches he gave to organized groups of people who came to see him and hear him address them. Supported by the well-to-do, urban dwellers, and prosperous farmers, McKinley won a majority of the popular vote and an easy victory in the Electoral College. McKinley's systemized approach to gaining the presidency laid the groundwork for modern campaigns, and he forged an electoral coalition that would keep the Republicans in power most of the time until 1932.
- William Etty (nominated by Iridescent) (1787–1849) was an English artist best known for his history paintings containing nude figures. All but one of his works he exhibited at the Royal Academy in the 1820s contained at least one nude figure, and he acquired a reputation for indecency. In 1828 he was elected a Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist. Although he was one of the most respected artists in the country he continued to study at life classes throughout his life. In the 1830s Etty began to branch out into the more lucrative but less respected field of portraiture, and later became the first English painter to paint significant still lifes. He continued to paint both male and female nudes, which caused severe criticism and condemnation from some elements of the press.
- Michael Hordern (nominated by Cassianto) (1911–1995) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 60 years. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially that of King Lear, which he played to much acclaim on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1969 and London in 1970. He then successfully assumed the role on television five years later. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor in the late 1930s to a member of the main cast; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 cinema roles. His later work was predominantly in television and radio.
- Black American Sign Language (nominated by Wugapodes) (BASL) is a dialect of American Sign Language (ASL) spoken most commonly by deaf African Americans in the United States. The divergence from ASL was influenced largely by the segregation of schools in the American South. Linguistically, BASL differs from other varieties of ASL in its phonology, syntax, and lexicon.
- Migration of the Serbs (nominated by 23 editor) is the name given to four similar oil paintings by the artist Paja Jovanović, which depict Serbs, led by Archbishop Arsenije III, fleeing Old Serbia during the Great Serb Migration of 1690. The first version is on display at the patriarchate building of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, the second at the Pančevo Museum, and the fourth at Princess Ljubica's Residence. Migration of the Serbs holds iconic status in Serbian popular culture, and several authors repute it to be one of Jovanović's finest achievements.
Featured lists
Three featured lists were promoted this week.
- The 2013 Tour de France was the 100th edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on the island of Corsica on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 21 July. The competition featured twenty-two teams and 198 riders (nominated by BaldBoris). All of the nineteen UCI ProTeams were entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. In addition three second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams received wildcard invitations.
- The Mexican National Lightweight Championship (nominated by MPJ-DK) is a Mexican professional wrestling singles championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.. Although the Commission sanctions the title, it does not promote the events in which the title is defended. The official definition of the lightweight weight class in Mexico is between 63 kg (139 lb) and 70 kg (150 lb), but the weight limits for the different classes are not always strictly enforced. As of 2016, 49 title reigns were shared between 39 wrestlers.
- The County-Designated Highways in Michigan (nominated by Imzadi1979) comprise a 1,241.6-mile-long (1,998.2 km) system of primary county roads across the US state of Michigan. The system uses eight lettered zones which are divided by major state highways. Each county road in the system is designated with the zone letter followed by a number. Six of the zones, A–F, are in the Lower Peninsula while the Upper Peninsula is divided into the remaining two, G and H.
Featured pictures
Four featured pictures were promoted this week.
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