Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2016-10-14/Featured content

Variety is the spice of life

Contribute —

Featured articles

1897 illustration of *Gomphus clavatus* by Albin Schmalfuss

Twelve featured articles were promoted these weeks.

Josephine Butler (nominated by SchroCat) (1828–1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in British law, the abolition of child prostitution, and an end to human trafficking of young women and children into European prostitution.
The history of Liverpool F.C. from 1985 to the present day (nominated by NapHit) covers the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as manager, the Hillsborough disaster, and the club's return to European competition in 1991. Throughout this period, the club played in the top tier of English football, which in 1992 became the Premier League.
Vladimir Lenin (nominated by Midnightblueowl) (1870–1924) was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as head of government of the Russian Republic, of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and of the Soviet Union. Under his administration, Russia and then the wider Soviet Union became a one-party communist state governed by the Russian Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, he developed political theories known as Leninism.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (nominated by Famous Hobo) is an adventure video game developed by Chunsoft. Released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, it is the second installment in the Zero Escape series, and the sequel to the 2009 game Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. The story follows the player character Sigma, a man who is abducted and forced along with eight other individuals to play the Nonary Game, which puts its participants in a life-or-death situation. As the story progresses, the characters begin to unravel the secrets behind the Nonary Game, as well as its true purpose. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised the story and characters, but were divided in their opinions of the Escape sections.
Bud Dunn (nominated by White Arabian Filly) (1918–2001) was a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer from Kentucky who spent most of his career in northern Alabama. He trained horses for over forty years and won his first Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship at age 74 with Dark Spirit's Rebel; at the time, he was the oldest rider to win the honor. He was inducted into the Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame in 1987 and named trainer of the year in 1980 and 1991. In 1999 at age 81, Dunn surpassed his own record for the oldest winning rider by winning his second World Grand Championship, riding RPM.
The Burke and Hare murders (nominated by SchroCat and Cassianto) were a series of 16 murders committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The killings were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Doctor Robert Knox for dissection at his anatomy lectures. The murders raised public awareness of the need for bodies for medical research and contributed to the passing of the Anatomy Act 1832. The events have made appearances in literature, and been portrayed on screen, either in heavily fictionalised accounts or as the inspiration for fictional works.
Stegoceras (nominated by FunkMonk and LittleJerry) is a genus of dome-headed dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous period, about 77.5 to 74 million years ago. The first specimens from Alberta, Canada, were described in 1902, and the type species was based on these remains. The generic name means "horn roof", and the specific name means "strong". Several other species have been placed in the genus over the years, but these have since been moved to other genera or deemed junior synonyms. Currently only S. validum and S. novomexicanum remain, but the validity of the latter species has also been questioned.
Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé (nominated by Brianboulton) music was originally written to accompany a film of the same name, produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad in 1933–34 and released in 1934. It was Prokofiev's first attempt at film music, and his first commission from within the Soviet Union. After the film's release, Prokofiev adapted the music into what became a popular orchestral suite, his Op. 60. It has remained one of the composer's best-known and most frequently recorded works. Elements of the suite's score have been used in several later films, and in two popular songs of the Cold War era.
Paul Palaiologos Tagaris (nominated by Cplakidas) (c.1320/40 – after 1394) was a Byzantine Greek monk and impostor. A scion of the Tagaris family, Paul also claimed a—somewhat dubious—connection with the Palaiologos dynasty that ruled the Byzantine Empire at the time. He fled his marriage as a teenager and became a monk, but soon his fraudulent practices embroiled him in scandal. During his long and tumultuous career, Paul was appointed an Orthodox bishop, sold ordinations to ecclesiastical offices, pretended to be the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, switched from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism and back again, supported both the See of Rome and the Avignon anti-popes in the Western Schism, and managed to be named Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. In the end, his deceptions unmasked, he returned to Constantinople, where he repented and confessed his sins before a synod in 1394.
The European hare (nominated by LittleJerry, Chiswick Chap and Cwmhiraeth) is a species of hare native to Europe and parts of Asia. It is among the largest hare species and is adapted to temperate, open country. Hares are herbivorous and feed mainly on grasses and herbs, supplementing these with twigs, buds, bark and field crops, particularly in winter. Their natural predators include large birds of prey, canids and felids. They rely on high-speed endurance running to escape from their enemies; having long, powerful limbs and large nostrils.
Gomphus clavatus (nominated by Sasata and Casliber) is an edible species of fungus in the genus Gomphus. The fruit body is vase- or fan-shaped with wavy edges to its rim, and grows up to 15 cm (5.9 in) wide and 17 cm (6.7 in) tall. The upper surface is orangish-brown to lilac, while the lower spore-bearing surface is covered in wrinkles and ridges, and is a distinctive purple color. The species, commonly known as pig's ears or the violet chanterelle, was first described by Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774.
Pallas's leaf warbler (nominated by Jimfbleak) is a leaf warbler that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeastern China. It is named for German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who first formally described it. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in southern China and adjacent areas of southeast Asia, although in recent decades increasing numbers have been found in Europe in autumn.

Featured lists

Twelve featured lists were promoted these weeks.

Evanescence is an American rock band, that was formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by Amy Lee and Ben Moody. They have released (nominated by DannyMusicEditor) three studio albums, one live album, three EPs, eleven singles and eleven music videos. To date, the band has sold nearly 25 million albums worldwide.
The J. C. Daniel Award (nominated by Charles Turing) is Kerala's highest award in Malayalam cinema. It is presented annually by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, a non-profit institution under the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Instituted in 1992, the award is given to honour the recipients for their "outstanding contributions to Malayalam cinema". Recipients are selected by an independent jury established by the Academy and the Department of Cultural Affairs. As of 2016, the honourees receive a statuette, a citation, and a cash prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,200). They are honoured at the Kerala State Film Awards ceremony.
The 14th Parliament of Pakistan is the legislature of Pakistan following the 2013 general election of members of parliament to the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of the bicameral Majlis-e-Shura. The National Assembly is a democratically elected body consisting of a total of 342 members (nominated by Saqib), who are referred to as Members of the National Assembly, of which 272 are directly elected members; 70 reserved seats for women and religious minorities are allocated to the political parties according to their proportion of the total vote.
The 2016 Tour de France was the 103rd edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 21-stage race started in Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Twenty-two teams and 198 cyclists (nominated by Yellow Dingo) competed in the race. All eighteen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited, and four UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard places into the race by the organiser. As each team was entitled to enter nine riders, the peloton on the first stage consisted of 198 riders from 35 countries.
Josephine Butler (1828–1906) was an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. Her bibliography (nominated by SchroCat) consists of sixteen books, seventy-six pamphlets, five newspaper articles and the introduction to Women's Work and Women's Culture. She also wrote for the The Dawn (1888–1896) and The Storm-Bell (1898–1900).
The 88th Academy Awards (nominated by Nauriya and Birdienest81) ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best films of 2015 and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, Academy Awards in 24 categories were presented. Mad Max: Fury Road won six awards, the most for the evening.
Herd Management Areas (nominated by Montanabw) are lands managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management for the primary, but not exclusive, benefit of free-roaming "wild" horses and burros. Today there are approximately 270 Herd Management Areas across 10 states, comprising 31,600,000 acres (12,800,000 ha).
Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The series is based on the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by author George R. R. Martin. The series takes place on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos and chronicles the power struggles among noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. As of 2016 sixty episodes have aired (nominated by AffeL), concluding the sixth season. The show's episodes have won a number of awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series.
Taylor Swift (born 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released (nominated by FrB.TG) four video albums and has appeared in thirty-eight music videos, five films and three television shows.
Gillingham F.C. is an English professional association football club based in Gillingham, Kent, playing in Football League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club's first team have competed in numerous nationally and regionally organised competitions, and 219 players have played between 25 and 49 such matches (nominated by ChrisTheDude), either as a member of the starting eleven or as a substitute.
The Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal (nominated by Flickerd) is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the Melbourne Football Club throughout the Australian Football League season. The award was known as the Melbourne best and fairest until it was renamed in 1943 in honour of Keith 'Bluey' Truscott, a former dual premiership player and World War II fighter ace killed in service.
Arsenal F.C. is an English professional association football club based in Holloway, London. In their first seven seasons (nominated by Lemonade51), the club wasn't part of any leagues, but they successfully competed in local cup competitions. They became the first southern member admitted into the Football League in 1893. Arsenal played in the Second Division for eleven seasons, while also participating in regional competitions. The club was promoted to the First Division in 1904, but were relegated back to the Second Division in 1913. In spite of finishing fifth in the Second Division in 1915, Arsenal rejoined the First Division when football resumed after the First World War. Since that time, they have not fallen below the first tier of the English football league system and hold the record for the longest uninterrupted time in the top flight.