Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-05-13/Featured content

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 26 April through 2 May. 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.


 * Maurice Ravel (nominated by Tim riley) This French Impressionist composer and pianist lived in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An "enigmatic figure," according to the nominator, Ravel demonstrated an ability to change with the times by incorporating elements of jazz into his later performances. He was also one of the first to recognize the potential of distributed musical recordings. Ravel's article is the seventh featured article on a French composer.
 * City of Angels (Thirty Seconds to Mars song) (nominated by Earthh) Jared Leto—perhaps these days better known for his acting career, which includes an award-winning portrayal of a transgender woman and will see him play the Joker in 2016—composed this song using experiences with his family in Los Angeles. According to first-time featured article nominator Earthh, it is "one of the most memorable and iconic songs" from Thirty Seconds to Mars. One reviewer wrote that "'City of Angels' is no ordinary music video; it's an eleven-and-a-half minute ode to a city where the line between success and broken dreams is razor thin."
 * Astatine (nominated by R8R) Fellow first-time nominator R8R brings us this article on astatine, a rare and not-so-amazingly long-lasting radioactive element: at most, it has a half-life of just 8.1 hours. Some isotopes can be found in Earth's crust, albeit only in weights of less than a gram, but elemental astatine can only be produced in a lab. One isotope, astatine-211, is used in nuclear medicine.
 * Hurricane Marie (2014) (nominated by Cyclonebiskit) Marie is the sixth-strongest hurricane to occur in the Pacific in measured history (they are only typhoons if they begin in the northwest Pacific). It caused over US$20 million of damage despite never approaching the shore of a continent; half of this came from the destruction of a breakwater in Long Beach, California.
 * St. Elmo (1914 film) (nominated by Squeamish Ossifrage) St. Elmo is a 1914 lovestruck silent film, in which the main character kills his cousin for the love of one woman, only to later find solace with another. It is also a lost film, meaning that it holds many mysteries: it is not clear who directed the film, and despite much research by the nominator, they were only able to write and source just under two hundred words of plot summary.
 * O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165 (nominated by Gerda Arendt) This church cantata composed by Bach was first performed three hundred years ago, which was the reason for this nomination.
 * Stephen I of Hungary (nominated by Borsoka) Borsoka, a long-time editor of articles related to Hungarian royalty, has their first featured article with Stephen I: the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians and, thanks to the acquiescence of western powers and the papacy, the first King of Hungary. He is venerated by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches for his zealous efforts to convert his people to Christianity.
 * James A. Garfield (nominated by Coemgenus and Wehwalt) Another article in Wehwalt's presidential series, although he is joined here by Coemgenus. Garfield came from a poverty-stricken childhood to rise to the presidency after service in the American Civil War. Although he was assassinated only four months into his term, he was able to accomplish much in that short period, including the groundwork for civil service reform and a resurgence in American naval power.

Featured lists
One featured list was promoted this week.


 * List of awards and nominations received by Parineeti Chopra (nominated by Prashant!) Chopra, a Bollywood actress, has received 18 awards over the course of her film career. Prashant, the nominator, remarked that "film critics and media publications [rank] her as the best actress of her generation."

Featured pictures
Five featured pictures were promoted this week.
 * Chain gang (created by Detroit Publishing Co., restored by Scewing, nominated by Crisco 1492) This image is a retouched version of a photograph by the Detroit Publishing Company. Many of the Company's photos have been placed online by the Library of Congress, a frequent source of public domain historical images for Wikimedia projects.  Taken between 1900 and 1906, it depicts a penal institution in the southern US, the chain gang.   The chain gang could produce productive labor from inmates, but could also be a brutal punishment disproportionately inflicted upon African-Americans.  The incentives for cheap prison labor sometimes led to people being incarcerated for petty crimes, or no crimes at all.
 * Japanese yen coin (created by Empire of Japan, prepared and nominated by Godot13. From the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.) This 20 yen coin is in the National Numismatic Collection of the National Museum of American History.  The text of the coin notes that it is from the third year of the Meiji Period.  The opposite side features a sacred mirror, the Chrysanthemum Seal, and the Paulownia Crest, important symbols of Japan.
 * Farmhouse in Provence (created by Vincent van Gogh, nominated by Crisco 1492) Another masterwork by Vincent van Gogh, sometimes known as Entrance Gate to a Farm with Haystacks. It was created in 1888 in Provence, where Van Gogh began to paint the key works of his career.  It is owned by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
 * Serra dos Órgãos (created by Carlos Perez Couto, nominated by Pine) This image was voted seventh place in the 2014 Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year contest. It features the Serra dos Órgãos National Park, with the Dedo de Deus (God's Finger) in the background. Serra dos Órgãos is a national park of Brazil. founded in 1939. Its most iconic feature is the Dedo de Dues, which resembles a hand with a finger pointing towards the sky. The formation appears on the state flag and coat of arms of Rio de Janeiro.
 * Keeled skimmer (created by Andreas Eichler, nominated by Crisco 1492) The keeled skimmer is a species of dragonfly found in central and southern Europe. It has an orange pterostigma and a striped thorax.