Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-02-28/Featured content

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 1 January through 9 January. Quotes are generally from the articles, but may be abridged or simplified for length.

I do feel my attempts to have relevant titles related to monthly holidays is getting increasingly desperate, but, well, here we are. It's either that or we go with the list off a few random things featured in the list, which seems fine on occasion, but does get a bit repetitive if done every month. And I struggle enough to avoid getting my biases into this when it's just down to which articles get images - for the record, the rule is: if it has a good-quality, freely-licensed image, directly relevant to the article (so no sister ships of the same design, no stadiums where a game took place on a different day, and so on), it goes in if at all possible. I then rearrange the lists to try to hve enough text between each image that they don't start pushing down the one below them, with taller images (as they take up more vertical space) ideally getting cut first if there's too many. Still means that "good quality image" might have some bias, but it's about as fair as I can manage. I don't love the idea of having to choose which articles and images to highlight as well, which puts in all sorts of extra bias.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying any of the articles are bad or anything. But Wikipedia isn't a group that came together to share interests I selected, we came to try to cover the sum of human knowledge. The things that interest me most aren't going to be the things that interest you most, and I'm writing for you, dear reader, not for me.

This one is, unfortunately, quite short, because your Signpost writer is dealing with quite a few personal issues connected to his country locking down yet again. Maybe we should just cancel 2021. The last time I remember being unambiguously happy was back in February 2020, when I went to the Kirkcaldy Gilbert and Sullivan Society brilliant performance of The Gondoliers which, although I didn't know it at the time, would be the last live theatre I'd get to go to before everything shut down, cancelling a whole host of plans. The theatres shut down so abruptly that the Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society had brought in the sets and begun the tech rehearsals for Patience on stage, which would have had a performance had the theatres stayed open one more day.Edinburgh is a major theatre town - it hosts the Edinburgh Festival, has at least eight major theatres, and a lot more if you're willing to travel half an hour by train, and it's felt like the city's been dead for some time now.


 * -Adam.

Featured articles
Eleven featured articles were promoted this period.
 * Charles I of Anjou, nominated by Borsoka: Charles I (early 1226/1227 – 7 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) in the Holy Roman Empire, Count of Anjou and Maine (1246–85) in France; he was also King of Sicily (1266–85) and Prince of Achaea (1278–85). In 1272, he was proclaimed King of Albania; and in 1277 he purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
 * The youngest son of Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, Charles was destined for a Church career until the early 1240s. He acquired Provence and Forcalquier through his marriage to their heiress, Beatrice. His attempts to restore central authority brought him into conflict with his mother-in-law, Beatrice of Savoy, and the nobility. Charles received Anjou and Maine from his brother, Louis IX of France, in appanage. He accompanied Louis during the Seventh Crusade to Egypt. Shortly after he returned to Provence in 1250, Charles forced three wealthy autonomous cities—Marseilles, Arles and Avignon—to acknowledge his suzerainty.
 * Charles forced the rebellious Provençal nobles and towns into submission and expanded his suzerainty over a dozen towns and lordships in the Kingdom of Arles. In 1263, after years of negotiations, he accepted the offer of the Holy See to seize the Kingdom of Sicily from the Hohenstaufens. This kingdom included, in addition to the island of Sicily, southern Italy to well north of Naples and was known as the Regno.
 * Charles was crowned king in Rome on 5 January 1266. He annihilated Manfred's army and occupied the Regno almost without resistance. In 1270 he took part in the Eighth Crusade organized by Louis IX, and forced the Hafsid Caliph of Tunis to pay a yearly tribute to him. Charles' victories secured his undisputed leadership among the Papacy's Italian partisans (known as Guelphs), but his influence on papal elections and his strong military presence in Italy disturbed the popes. They tried to channel his ambitions towards other territories and assisted him in acquiring claims to Achaea, Jerusalem and Arles through treaties. In 1281 Pope Martin IV authorised Charles to launch a crusade against the Byzantine Empire. Charles' ships were gathering at Messina, ready to begin the campaign when a riot—known as the Sicilian Vespers—broke out on 30March 1282 which put an end to Charles' rule on the island of Sicily. He was able to defend the mainland territories (or the Kingdom of Naples) with the support of France and the Holy See. Charles died while making preparations for an invasion of Sicily.


 * 1920–21 Cardiff City F.C. season, nominated by Kosack: The 1920–21 season was the 20th year of competitive football played by Cardiff City F.C. and the team's first in the Football League. In a ballot by members of their new league, Cardiff were voted into the Second Division and won their first match 5–2 against Stockport County. Cardiff finished the season tied on points with first-placed Birmingham, with 58 of a possible 84 points. The winner was therefore decided via goal average, with Cardiff placing second by a margin of 0.235. The two sides were both promoted to the First Division.
 * Cardiff also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, becoming the first Welsh side to do so and keeping six consecutive clean sheets in the process. The team caused two upsets by defeating First Division sides Sunderland and Chelsea in the first and fourth rounds respectively. They were eliminated from the competition by fellow Second Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers, losing 3–1 in a replay at Old Trafford. In the Welsh Cup, Cardiff were the holders entering the competition but were eliminated in the third round by Pontypridd after a fixture clash with a league match against Bristol City forced them to field a reserve side.


 * Frances Gertrude McGill, nominated by Alanna the Brave:Frances Gertrude McGill (November 18, 1882 – January 21, 1959) was a Canadian forensic pathologist, criminologist, bacteriologist, allergologist and allergist. Nicknamed "the Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan" for her deductive skills and public fame, McGill influenced the development of forensic pathology in Canadian police work and was internationally noted for her expertise in the subject.
 * After completing her medical degree at the University of Manitoba in 1915, McGill moved to Saskatchewan, where she was hired first as the provincial bacteriologist and then as the provincial pathologist. She worked extensively with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local police forces for more than thirty years, and was instrumental in establishing the first RCMP forensic laboratory. She directed the RCMP laboratory for three years, and trained new RCMP recruits in forensic detection methods. After retiring in 1946, McGill was appointed Honorary Surgeon for the RCMP by the Canadian Minister of Justice, becoming one of the first official female members of the force, and she continued to act as a consultant to the RCMP until her death in 1959.
 * Alongside her pathological work, McGill operated a private medical practice for the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. She was acknowledged as a specialist in allergy testing, and doctors across Saskatchewan referred patients to her care.


 * "O Captain! My Captain!", nominated by Eddie891:"O Captain! My Captain!" is an extended metaphor poem written by Walt Whitman in 1865 about the death of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Immediately successful, the poem was Whitman's first to be anthologized and the most popular during his lifetime. Together with "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", "Hush'd Be the Camps To-day", and "This Dust was Once the Man", it is one of four poems written by Whitman about the death of Lincoln. During the American Civil War, Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked for the government and volunteered at hospitals. Although he never met Lincoln, Whitman felt a connection to him and was greatly moved by Lincoln's assassination. "My Captain" was first published in The Saturday Press on November 4, 1865, and appeared in Sequel to Drum-Taps later that year. He later included it in the collection Leaves of Grass and recited the poem at several lectures on Lincoln's death.
 * Stylistically, the poem is uncharacteristic of Whitman's poetry because of its rhyming, song-like flow, and simple "ship of state" metaphor. These elements likely contributed to the poem's initial positive reception and popularity, with many celebrating it as one of the greatest American works of poetry. Critical opinion has shifted since the mid-20th century, with scholars deriding its conventionality and unoriginality. In popular culture, the poem experienced renewed attention after it was featured in Dead Poets Society (1989), and is frequently associated with Robin Williams.


 * Podokesaurus, nominated by FunkMonk:Podokesaurus is a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur that lived in what is now the eastern United States during the Early Jurassic Period. The first fossil was discovered by the geologist Mignon Talbot near Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1910. The specimen was fragmentary, preserving much of the body, limbs, and tail. In 1911, Talbot described and named the new genus and species Podokesaurus holyokensis based on it. The full name can be translated as "swift-footed lizard of Holyoke". This discovery made Talbot the first woman to find and describe a dinosaur. The holotype fossil was recognised as significant and was studied by other researchers, but was lost when the building it was kept in burned down in 1917; no unequivocal Podokesaurus specimens have since been discovered.
 * Estimated to have been about 1 m in length and 1-40 kg in weight, Podokesaurus was lightly constructed with hollow bones, and would have been similar to Coelophysis, being slender, long-necked, and with sharp, recurved teeth. Since it was one of few small theropods known at the time it was described, the affinities of Podokesaurus were long unclear. It was placed in the family Podokesauridae along with other small theropods, and was speculated to have been similar to a proto-bird. It was suggested it was a synonym of Coelophysis and a natural cast specimen was assigned to it, but these ideas are not currently accepted. The family Podokesauridae is not in use anymore, having been replaced by Coelophysidae, and Podokesaurus is thought to have been a coelophysoid. As such, Podokesaurus would have been a fleet-footed predator, with powerful forelimbs and grasping hands. It is estimated it could have run at 15-20 km/h. Podokesaurus is thought to have been collected from the Portland Formation, the age of which has long been unclear, but is currently believed to date to the Hettangian-Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic, between 201 and 190 million years ago.


 * Smooth newt, nominated by Tylototriton:The smooth newt, northern smooth newt or common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) is a species of newt. It is widespread in much of Eurasia, from the British Isles to Siberia and northern Kazakhstan, and introduced to Australia. Individuals are brown with an orange to white, spotted underside and reach a length of 8–11 cm, with males being larger than females. The skin is dry and velvety while the newts live on land but becomes smooth when they migrate into water for breeding. Breeding males develop a more vivid colour pattern and a conspicuous skin seam (crest) on their back.
 * Smooth newts live on land for most of the year, where they are mostly nocturnal and hide during the day. They can adapt to a wide range of natural or semi-natural habitats, from forests over field edges to parks and gardens. The newts feed mainly on various invertebrates such as insects or earthworms and are themselves eaten by predators such as fish, birds or snakes. Between spring and summer, they breed in ponds or similar water bodies. Males court females with a ritualised underwater display. Females then lay their eggs on water plants, and larvae hatch after 10 to 20 days. They develop over around three months before metamorphosing into terrestrial juveniles (efts). Maturity is reached after two to three years, and adults can reach an age of up to 14 years.
 * The smooth newt is common over much of its range and classified as Least Concern species by the IUCN. It is however negatively affected by habitat destruction and fragmentation and the introduction of fish. Like other European amphibians, it is listed in the Berne Convention as a protected species.


 * SMS Gneisenau, nominated by Parsecboy:SMS Gneisenau was an armored cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), part of the two-ship Scharnhorst-class cruiser. Named for the earlier screw corvette of the same name, the ship was laid down in June 1904 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and commissioned in March 1908. She was armed with a main battery of eight 21 cm guns, a significant increase in firepower over earlier German armored cruisers, and she had a top speed of 22.5 kn. Gneisenau initially served with the German fleet in I Scouting Group, though her service there was limited owing to the British development of the battlecruiser by 1909, which the less powerful armored cruisers could not effectively combat.
 * Accordingly, Gneisenau was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron, where she joined her sister ship SMS Scharnhorst. The two cruisers formed the core of the squadron, which included several light cruisers. Over the next four years, Gneisenau patrolled Germany's colonial possessions in Asia and the Pacific Ocean. She also toured foreign ports to show the flag and monitored events in China during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. Following the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, the East Asia Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, crossed the Pacific to the western coast of South America, stopping for Gneisenau and Scharnhorst to attack French Polynesia in the Bombardment of Papeete in September.
 * After arriving off the coast of Chile, the East Asia Squadron encountered and defeated a British squadron at the Battle of Coronel; during the action, Gneisenau disabled the British armored cruiser HMS Monmouth (1901), which was then sunk by the German light cruiser SMS Nürnberg (1906). The defeat prompted the British Admiralty to detach two battlecruisers to hunt down and destroy Spee's squadron, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. Gneisenau was sunk with heavy loss of life, though 187 of her crew were rescued by the British.


 * Women's poll tax repeal movement, nominated by SusunW:The women's poll tax repeal movement was a movement in the United States predominantly led by women that attempted to secure the abolition of poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in the Southern states. The movement began shortly after the ratification in 1920 of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted suffrage to women. Before obtaining the right to vote, women were not obliged to pay the tax, but shortly after the Nineteenth Amendment became law, Southern states began examining how poll tax statutes could be applied to women. For example, North and South Carolina exempted women from payment of the tax, while Georgia did not require women to pay it unless they registered to vote. In other Southern states, the tax was due cumulatively for each year someone had been eligible to vote.
 * Payment of the tax was difficult for blacks, Hispanics, and women, primarily because their incomes were much lower than those of white men. For women, coverture prevented them from controlling their own assets. Recognizing that payment of the tax as a prerequisite to voting could lead to their disenfranchisement, women began organizing themselves in the 1920s to repeal the poll tax laws, but the movement did not gain much traction until the Great Depression in the 1930s. Both black and white women pressed at state and national levels for legislative action to abolish laws that required paying to vote. In addition, women filed a series of lawsuits to try to effect change. By the 1950s, the intersection of sexist and racist customs and law was apparent to those fighting the poll tax. This created collaborations between activists involved in the poll tax movement and those active in the broader civil rights movement.
 * Louisiana abandoned its poll tax law in 1932, and the number of women voters increased by 77 percent. Women's activism helped bring about the repeal of poll tax legislation in Florida in 1937, in Georgia in 1945, in Tennessee in 1953, and in Arkansas in 1964. That year, the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, prohibiting poll taxes as a barrier to voting in federal elections. Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave federal authority to the Department of Justice to institute lawsuits against the four states that still used poll tax to disenfranchise voters in state elections. The Supreme Court finally settled the four-decades-long struggle, abolishing the requirement to pay poll tax to be able to vote in any election, federal or state, in their ruling on Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in 1966.


 * "Blindfold Me", nominated by Aoba47:"Blindfold Me" is a hip hop song by American singer Kelis from her fourth studio album, Kelis Was Here (2006). It was written and produced by Sean Garrett and Polow da Don. A remix, featuring American rapper Nas, was released as the album's second single in September 2006. Although the Neptunes were long-time collaborators of Kelis, Kelis Was Here was her first album without their involvement as she opted for a more diverse team of record producers, which included Garrett and Polow da Don.
 * The song's lyrics focus on sex talk. Along with hip hop, music critics associated the track's style with pop rap and club music. Upon its release, "Blindfold Me" received a mixed response. While some critics cited it as a highlight from Kelis Was Here and enjoyed Kelis's sexual personality, others criticized its placement on the album's track listing as resulting in a jarring tonal shift.
 * Marc Klasfeld directed the song's music video, which features Nas tying up Kelis. Premiering September 6, 2006, the video was shown on an episode of the documentary series Access Granted alongside a behind-the-scenes feature. The song was further promoted with a 12-inch single, released on October 3, 2006. "Blindfold Me" peaked at number 91 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.


 * William Feiner, nominated by Ergo Sum:William Feiner, S.J. (born Wilhelm Feiner; December 27, 1792 – June 9, 1829) was a German Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a missionary to the United States and eventually the president of Georgetown College.
 * Born in Münster, he taught in Jesuit schools in the Russian Empire and Polish Galicia as a young member of the Society of Jesus. He then emigrated to the United States several years after the restoration of the Society, taking up pastoral work and teaching theology in Conewago, Pennsylvania, before becoming a full-time professor at Georgetown College. There, he also became the second dedicated librarian of Georgetown's library and ministered to the congregation at Holy Trinity Church. Eventually, Feiner became president of the college in 1826.
 * Despite being the leader of an American university, he never mastered the English language. Long plagued by poor health due to tuberculosis, his short-lived presidency came to an end after three years, just weeks before his death.


 * Acamptonectes, nominated by FunkMonk, Lythronaxargestes, Slate Weasel, and Jens Lallensack:Acamptonectes is a genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur, a type of dolphin-like marine reptile that lived during the Early Cretaceous around 130 million years ago. The genus contains the single species Acamptonectes densus; Acamptonectes meaning "rigid swimmer" and densus meaning "compact" or "tightly packed". This refers to unusual adaptations in the body of Acamptonectes that made its trunk rigid, including tightly-fitting bones in the occiput (braincase) and interlocking vertebral centra ("bodies" of the vertebrae), which were likely adaptations that enabled it to swim at high speeds with a tuna-like form of locomotion. Other distinguishing characteristics include an extremely slender snout and unique ridges on the basioccipital bone of the braincase. As an ichthyosaur, Acamptonectes had large eye sockets and a tail fluke. Its teeth, which were slender and textured with longitudinal ridges, were adapted for impaling prey, which suggests it likely fed on soft, fleshy prey such as fish and squid.
 * The discovery of Acamptonectes had significant implications for the evolutionary history of ichthyosaurs. It was long believed the generalised platypterygiine ophthalmosaurids were the only lineage of ichthyosaurs that survived into the Early Cretaceous following a mass extinction of ichthyosaurs across the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. As one of the first-known ophthalmosaurine ophthalmosaurids from the Early Cretaceous, the discovery of Acamptonectes provided evidence against such a mass extinction.

Featured pictures
Ten featured pictures were promoted this period, including the images of two sets.

Featured lists
Five featured lists were promoted this period. This does not include one that was included in last month's issue to complete a set.
 * List of heists in the United Kingdom, nominated by Mujinga:A heist is a theft of cash or valuable objects such as artworks, jewellery or bullion. This can take the form of either a burglary or a robbery, the difference in English and Welsh law being that a robbery uses force (which means that some of the heists commonly known as robberies were actually burglaries). In order to be listed here, each heist which took place in the United Kingdom is required to have taken a total sum of £1 million or more in cash or goods at contemporary rates.
 * The largest heist was the almost £300 million taken in the City bonds robbery, although both Charles Darwin's notebooks (announced as having been most likely stolen in 2020) and the Portland Tiara (stolen in 2018) have never been valued. The locations of the heists vary. Railway trains were plundered in the Great Gold Robbery and the Great Train Robbery and in 1935 there was a robbery at the Croydon Aerodrome. Exhibition spaces such as the Ashmolean Museum, the Christ Church Picture Gallery, the Harley Gallery, the National Gallery and the Whitworth Art Gallery, and stately homes such as Blenheim Palace, Drumlanrig Castle, Ramsbury Manor and Waddesdon Manor have all suffered losses. Graff jewellery shops in London have been attacked several times, alongside other shops in Bond Street and Hatton Garden. Banks, secure warehouses and vaults were targeted in the cases of the Brink's-Mat robbery, the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary, the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery, the Northern Bank Robbery and the Securitas depot robbery. Regarding artworks, the Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III by Rembrandt has been stolen a total of four times. Other paintings subject to theft include works by Cézanne, Goya and Henry Moore. The perpetrators range from individuals such as Kempton Bunton to syndicates like the Pink Panthers.


 * Taylor Swift singles discography, nominated by HĐ:American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has released 58 singles as lead artist, five singles as a featured artist, 14 promotional singles, and various charted non-single songs. She had sold over 150 million singles worldwide by December 2016. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recognized Swift as the best-selling female artist (and second overall) in terms of digital singles sales, with 134 million certified units based on sales and on-demand streaming as of November 2020. Her UK singles sales as of August 2019 stood at 17 million. She has amassed 128 chart entries on the US Billboard Hot 100—the most entries for a female artist—including seven number ones and 29 top tens.
 * List of World Heritage Sites in Poland, nominated by Tone:The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. Poland accepted the convention on 29 June 1976, making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the list.
 * , there are 16 World Heritages Sites in Poland, 15 of which are cultural, and one, the Białowieża Forest, is a natural site. The first two sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List were Wieliczka Salt Mine and Historic Centre of Kraków, in 1978. The most recent addition to the list is the Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region, listed in 2019. Three of the sites are transnational. The Białowieża Forest is shared with Belarus, the Wooden Tserkvas of Carpathian Region with Ukraine, and the Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski with Germany. In addition, there are six sites on the tentative list.


 * List of World Heritage Sites in Switzerland, nominated by Tone:As of 2020, there are twelve properties in Switzerland inscribed on the World Heritage List, nine of which are cultural sites and three are natural sites. The first three sites were added to the list in 1983: Old City of Berne, Abbey of Saint Gall, and Benedictine Abbey of St. John at Müstair. The most recent addition was the The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, in 2016. Four sites are shared with other countries. The Rhaetian Railway and Monte San Giorgio are shared with Italy, Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps with five countries, and The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier with six countries. There are also two sites on the tentative list.
 * List of pinnipeds, nominated by PresN:Pinnipedia is an infraorder of mammals in the order Carnivora, composed of seals, sea lions, and the walrus. A member of this group is called a pinniped or a seal. They are widespread throughout the ocean and some larger lakes, primarily in colder waters. Pinnipeds range in size from the 1.1 m and 50 kg Baikal seal to the 6 m and 3700 kg male southern elephant seal, which is also the largest member of Carnivora. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, such as the southern elephant seal, where the males can be more than three times as long and six times as massive as the females, or the Ross seal, which has females typically larger than the males. Four seal species are estimated to have over one million members, while seven are classified as endangered with population counts as low as 300, and two, the Caribbean monk seal and the Japanese sea lion, went extinct in the 20th century.
 * The 34 extant species of Pinnipedia are split into 22 genera within 3 families: Odobenidae, comprising the walrus; Otariidae, the eared seals, split between the sea lions and fur seals; and Phocidae, the earless or true seals. Odobenidae and Otariidae are combined into the superfamily Otarioidea, with Phocidae in Phocoidea. Extinct species have also been placed into the three extant families, as well as the extinct family Desmatophocidae, though most extinct species have not been categorized into a subfamily. Nearly one hundred extinct Pinnipedia species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.