Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-08-06/Featured content

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 27 July to 2 August 2014. Anything in quotation marks is taken from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.

Featured articles
Eight featured articles were promoted this week.
 * Horatio Bottomley (nominated by Brianboulton) (1860–1933) was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine John Bull, and for his patriotic oratory during the First World War. His career came to a sudden end when, in 1922, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
 * The Lewis and Clark Exposition dollar (nominated by Wehwalt) was a commemorative gold coin struck in 1904 and 1905 as part of the United States Government's participation in the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, held in the latter year in Portland, Oregon. The coins are now worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on condition. This is the only "two-headed" American coin, with a portrait of one of the expedition leaders on each side.
 * HMS Indefatigable (R10) (nominated by Sturmvogel 66) was a British aircraft carrier, completed late in the Second World War. The ship and its aircraft saw action against the docked German battleship Tirpitz, and later bombed Japanese land installations in the Pacific. Decommissioned after the conflict, Indefatigable was used in the 1950s as a training ship before being scrapped.
 * Ukiyo-e (nominated by Curly Turkey) is a genre of woodblock prints and paintings, popular with the prosperous merchant class in the urbanizing Edo period (1603–1867). Themes included beautiful women, kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers, scenes from history and folk tales, travel scenes and landscapes, flora and fauna, and erotica. The bold formalist Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa and the serene, atmospheric series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō by Hiroshige are among the best-known works of Japanese art. Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century.
 * Subway Sadie (nominated by Taylor Trescott) is a 1926 American comedy-drama film directed by Alfred Santell. Adapted from Mildred Cram's 1925 short story Sadie of the Desert, the film focuses on a relationship between New York salesgirl Sadie Hermann (Dorothy Mackaill) and subway guard Herb McCarthy (Jack Mulhall). Many publications wrote positively of the film, praising its acting and Santell's direction.
 * Hurricane Iris (nominated by Hurricanehink) was the most destructive hurricane in Belize since Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The second-strongest storm of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season, it reached peak winds of 145 mph (230 km/h) before making landfall in southern Belize. It killed 42 and caused $250 million in damage.
 * The Okęcie Airport incident (nominated by Cliftonian) was a dispute between players and technical staff of the Poland national football team in 1980, starting at the team hotel in Warsaw and climaxing at Okęcie Airport. An incident of footballing insubordination at a time when strike action and other forms of civil resistance were intensifying in communist Poland, it caused a domestic press storm, which led first to the suspension of several prominent players, then the resignation of the team manager, Ryszard Kulesza.
 * The 2013 Rosario gas explosion (nominated by Cambalachero) in a residential area of Rosario, the third-largest city in Argentina, occurred on August 6, 2013. It was caused by a large gas leak; a nearby building collapsed, and others were at high risk of structural failure. Twenty-two people died, and sixty were injured.

Featured pictures
Fifteen featured pictures were promoted this week.
 * Engravings created for U.S. Banknotes based on historical paintings: Landing of Columbus, DeSoto Discovering the Mississippi, Baptism of Pocahontas, Embarkation of the Pilgrims, Declaration of Independence, Surrender of General Burgoyne, and Washington Resigning his Commission (created by American, Continental, and National Bank Note Companies under contract to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, prepared, restored, and nominated by Godot13) Godot13 continues his cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution, this time giving us the original engravings based on historical paintings in the Capitol Dome, from the banknotes' planning stages, for his new article, Art and engraving on United States banknotes.
 * SMS Seeadler (created by Detroit Photographic Co., restored and nominated by Adam Cuerden) An unprotected cruiser of the Bussard class laid down in 1890, SMS Seeadler was a ship of the Imperial German Navy that saw service suppressing the Boxer Rebellion and the Maji Maji Rebellion, before being used as a mine storage hulk in World War I, at which time an explosion caused her to sink, albeit with no casualties. This photograph shows her on a diplomatic visit to New York City early in her service.
 * Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom (created by Edwin Landseer, nominated by Hafspajen) A Midsummer Night's Dream has much of its plot based around færie magic and love potions. A subplot involves "rude mechanicals" – peasants, basically – trying to put on classical theatre. In this scene, one of the rude mechanicals, Bottom, has had his head turned into that of an ass, and the queen of the færies, Titania, has been enchanted to fall in love with him.
 * Portrait of Bindo Altoviti (created by Raphael, nominated by Hafspajen) This portrait of Bindo Altoviti (a redlink ... for now) was completed by the red-headbanded, sai-wielding ... wait, wrong Raphael. The Renaissance master took three years to finish this portrait. The graceful, almost effeminate position of the subject along with the heavy contrast between light and shadow are atypical of Raphael's work.
 * Coventry Cathedral, The Lady Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral, and Cloister of Worcester Cathedral (created and nominated (1, 2, 3)   by David Iliff) David Iliff, one of our best architectural photographers, is currently active on a project, funded by Wikimedia UK, to photograph cathedrals and landmarks throughout Britain. These absolutely gorgeous photographs are just some of the wonderful results of this project so far.
 * Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (created by Édouard Manet, nominated by Hafspajen) Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (The Luncheon on the Grass) shocked audiences in 1863 with its contrast between an otherwise-respectable picture of clothed gentlemen lunching in a rural setting and a naked woman.

Featured topics
Two featured topics were promoted this week.
 * Petropavlovsk-class battleships (Automatic promotion from good topic; originally nominated by Buggie111) Only three of these Russian pre-dreadnought battleships were built, and two of them were at the bottom of the sea within six years of launch. The longest-lived of these ships, Poltava, was sunk by the Japanese in 1904 only to be reraised and captured, used against Germany forces in World War I, and then sold back to the Russians; this "undead" ship supported the Bolsheviks in the Russian revolution, was captured by the British, then abandoned and captured by Russia. It was sunk for good in 1924. Hot potato on the world stage?
 * Audie Murphy (nominated by Maile66) This American soldier, one of the most decorated in World War II, rode his fame to a successful film and music career, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. He was a Mason too... coincidence, or not?