Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-09-17/Featured content

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 7 through 13 September. Anything in quotation marks is taken from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.

Featured articles
Four featured articles were promoted this week.
 * SMS Scharnhorst (nominated by Parsecboy) One of the final three armored cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy, Scharnhorst was assigned to Germany's East Asia Squadron for its entire career. When the First World War broke out, Scharnhorst and several other ships went on a rampage across the Pacific Ocean and around Cape Horn, sinking several British warships. Stung by the losses, the British sent two modern battlecruisers and several cruisers to the South Atlantic to hunt the Germans down; none of the German ships were able to escape.
 * Ontario Highway 61 (nominated by Floydian) This provincial highway runs from the Canada–US border to near Thunder Bay, on the northern shore of Lake Superior. The nominator noted that the most unusual aspect of the road is the international crossing it terminates at. By 1916, roads existed on and terminated at either side of the river, but a bridge would require authorization from both national governments. The local Rotary Clubs were unwilling to wait, so they built one anyway. To their surprise, no one protested. The bridge opened in 1917 with provincial and national politicians in attendance.
 * Franklin Pierce (nominated by Designate and Wehwalt) The fourteenth US president is "almost always denigrated", says one of the nominators, even though "in his time, he was one of the bright young stars of the Democratic Party." Born in New Hampshire, Pierce was a Northern politician at a time when the US was becoming increasingly divided over the Southern institution of slavery. His compromises between the two sides, including the new Kansas–Nebraska Act and faithfully abiding by the Fugitive Slave Act, earned him the ire of both. Worse, historians believe that his actions played a role in kindling the Civil War; unsurprisingly, Pierce frequently shows up on lists of the worst president ever.
 * Epacris impressa (nominated by Melburnian and Cas Liber) Better known as the common heath, Epacris impressa is native to southeast Australia. The pink form of it is used as the floral emblem of Victoria, an Australian state.

Featured lists
Two featured lists were promoted this week.
 * List of heads of government of Russia (nominated by Tomcat7) Dating back to the 1700s, 57 people have been at the head of Russia's government. Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister under Vladimir Putin, is the current titleholder.
 * 59th Academy Awards (nominated by Birdienest81) Held in 1987, the 59th Academy Awards honored 1986's greatest television and cinematic achievements. Paul Newman, Marlee Matlin, Dianne Wiest, and Michael Caine took home the top individual awards, while Platoon was voted as the best picture.

Featured pictures
51 featured pictures were promoted this week.
 * Alexander Hamilton, Oliver Wolcott, Jr., Samuel Dexter, Albert Gallatin, George W. Campbell, Alexander J. Dallas, William H. Crawford, Richard Rush, Samuel D. Ingham, Louis McLane, William J. Duane, Roger B. Taney, Levi Woodbury, Thomas Ewing, Walter Forward, John C. Spencer, George M. Bibb, Robert J. Walker, William M. Meredith, Thomas Corwin, James Guthrie, Howell Cobb, Philip Francis Thomas, John Adams Dix, Salmon P. Chase, William P. Fessenden, Hugh McCulloch, George S. Boutwell, William Adams Richardson, Benjamin Bristow, Lot M. Morrill, John Sherman, William Windom, Charles J. Folger, Walter Q. Gresham, Daniel Manning, Charles S. Fairchild, Charles Foster, John G. Carlisle, and Lyman J. Gage (created by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, prepared and nominated by Godot13) A collection of engravings of all United States Secretaries of the Treasury up to 1902. As the Secretary of the Treasury oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, said secretaries formed part of a series by the Bureau, which is a particularly useful resource to Wikipedia.
 * Lilium bulbiferum (created by Uoaei1, nominated by Crisco 1492) Lilium bulbiferum, better known, perhaps, as the tiger lily, is a popular perennial garden plant, growing every year from bulbs in the soil, with bright orange flowers. Its Latin name refers to bulbs that form on the stem, and drop to the ground, propagating the plant. It is native to the mountains of central and southern Europe.
 * Roundhay Garden Scene (created by Louis Le Prince, nominated by Alborzagros) Very early films - and this is the earliest film surviving - didn't necessarily need to be particularly deep to be interesting. The sight of a moving picture being displayed would be sufficient in itself. Not all of the filmstock survives, but this is likely to be representative of the whole: People walking around a garden, one walking backwards.
 * Ceiling and lantern of Ely Cathedral (created and nominated by David Iliff ) Diliff continues his tour of English cathedrals with the beautiful Ely Cathedral, in Cambridgeshire, England. The image, I think, speaks for itself, and concludes this report.
 * White-headed stilt (created and nominated by JJ Harrison) With breeding populations in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Indonesia, the white-headed stilt is a relatively common shorebird with a wide range. It has black and white plumage with long, bright pink legs.
 * Indian yellow-nosed albatross (created and nominated by JJ Harrison) The Indian yellow-nosed albatross appears a little misnamed. I mean, isn't one of the first lessons in ornithology that birds have beaks and bills, not noses? Nonetheless, this lovely photograph gives an easy view of the gilded schnoz.
 * Lesser whistling duck (created and nominated by JJ Harrison) This whistling duck's tune may not yet be for our ears, but skilled bird photographer JJ Harrison has made its face available for a song.
 * The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (directed by John Emerson, distributed by Triangle Film Corporation, and nominated by GamerPro64) A parody of Sherlock Holmes, particularly emphasizing Holmes' cocaine addiction, The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916) stars Douglas Fairbanks, and was written by Tod Browning and Anita Loos.
 * Venezuelan peso (created by the Government of Venezuela, nominated by Godot13) A one-peso note from the First Republic of Venezuela, issued a mere two months after the country declared its independence from Spain. This note, as with all recent banknote images, was scanned by Godot at the National Numismatic Collection, which holds this specimen.
 * ColecoVision (created by Evan Amos, nominated by Crisco 1492) The ColecoVision, released in 1982, was a fairly popular console, and its arcade ports considered of better quality than those of Atari. However, the console's creator, Coleco, was driven out of the industry after the 1983 crash.
 * Roses. Marie Krøyer seated in the deckchair in the garden by Mrs Bendsen's house  (created by Peder Severin Krøyer, nominated by Belle) Krøyer's Roses, completed in 1893, depicts his wife Marie and his dog relaxing under a rose bush. Which of the three he considered most beautiful is lost to the annals of time.
 * Allegory of Vanity (created by Antonio de Pereda, nominated by Hafspajen) Although the word vanity may make us think of Carly Simon, de Pereda had a rather different concept in mind: futility, the "meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits". In this painting, an angel holds dominion over earthly concerns... though the collection of skulls is admittedly a bit large.