Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2023-02-04/Featured content

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 1 to 15 January 2023. Quotes are generally from the articles, but may be abridged or simplified for length.

Well, here we are again! Thanks to the new twice monthly schedule, instead of covering a full month of content, we can just cover half a month, which should, in theory, have resulted in half the work.

You'd think that, wouldn't you? In the first half of January, we had exactly as many featured articles as in the whole of December (twenty-one). However, featured lists went the opposite direction, and we had only one of them. At least the number of featured pictures makes some sort of sense.

Ah, well. Things tend to get promoted in batches, and I think we just lined up with the promotions oddly. See you next fortnight!

—Adam Cuerden

Featured articles, part 1
Twenty-one featured articles were promoted this period.
 * 23 Wall Street, nominated by Epicgenius: 23 Wall Street (also known as the J.P. Morgan Building) is an office building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broad Street. Trowbridge & Livingston designed the four-story building in the neoclassical style. Constructed between 1913 and 1914, it was originally the headquarters of J.P. Morgan & Co. Since the late 2000s, the building has remained unoccupied for long periods, although it has occasionally been used for events.
 * The Dark Knight, nominated by Darkwarriorblake: The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero, Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and the second installment in The Dark Knight Trilogy. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far Batman will go to save the city from chaos. The ensemble cast includes Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman.
 * "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", nominated by Eddie891: ", your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds,, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
 * "Yes,, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no . There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished."


 * Marina Bay MRT station, nominated by ZKang123: Marina Bay MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) interchange station on the North South (NSL), Circle (CCL) and Thomson–East Coast (TEL) lines in Singapore. Located in the Downtown Core district near Marina Bay, the station serves the Marina One Residences, Marina Bay Suites and the Marina Bay Financial Centre.
 * Marina Bay station was one of the last stations to be completed in the early phases of the MRT network, opening on 4 November 1989. It was the terminus of the NSL until the line's extension to Marina South Pier station in 2014. The station became an interchange station with the CCL upon the completion of the two-station branch extension from Promenade station in January 2012. The TEL station platforms were completed in November 2022 as part of TEL Stage 3, becoming a triple-line interchange on the MRT network.


 * Manos Arriba, nominated by Aoba47: Manos Arriba (English: Hands Up) is an extended play (EP) by American singer Rosanna Tavarez released by her own record label Patacon Productions in March 2008. Tavarez adopted the stage name Chana while pursuing a music career in Latin alternative music and used it for the EP. Chana rose to prominence in 2001 as a member of the girl group Eden's Crush. Following their disbandment, she worked as a host on music television shows and decided to record Spanish-language music after meeting producer Marthin Chan. She had previously rejected working with Latin music producers because she did not want to pursue a career in conventional Latin pop.
 * American transportation in the Siegfried Line campaign, nominated by Hawkeye7: American transportation played a crucial part in the military logistics of the World War II Siegfried Line campaign, which ran from the end of the pursuit of the German armies from Normandy in mid-September 1944 until December 1944, when the United States Army was engulfed by the German Ardennes offensive. In August 1944, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, elected to continue the pursuit of the retreating German forces beyond the Seine instead of pausing to build up supplies and establish the line of communications as called for in the original Operation Overlord plan. The subsequent advance to the German border stretched the American logistical system to its breaking point, and the advance came to a halt in mid-September.
 * The Germans attempted to delay the Allied advance until the onset of bad weather by denying access to ports and demolishing communications infrastructure in order to give their own forces time to recover. Between September and November, the American forces in Europe suffered from severe transportation problems. In September, Cherbourg was the only deep-water port in northwest Europe in Allied hands capable of handling Liberty ships, but it had been badly damaged, and took a long time to restore. Smaller ports could only handle small, shallow-draft coastal trading vessels known as "coasters". Two-thirds of the British coaster fleet, on which critical industries depended, was dedicated to the campaign. Over time rough seas, enemy action and continuous use laid up a quarter of the coaster fleet for repairs. Additional port capacity was obtained through the opening of Rouen and Le Havre in September and October respectively, and of Antwerp in November. The limiting factor then shifted to port clearance. Initially, motor transport was widely used, but as the railways were brought back into service, they shouldered the burden of moving supplies from the ports to the depots. Inland water transport was developed to relieve pressure on the railways. Four waterways were rehabilitated for military use: the Seine, Oise and Rhône rivers, and the Albert Canal. Air transport was the least economic form of transport, but in September and October, with road and rail transport unable to supply even the minimum daily requirements of the armies, it was called upon to supplement them.
 * Although logistical difficulties constituted a brake on combat operations, they were not the only factors that brought the Allied advance to a halt. The American forces also had to contend with rugged terrain, worsening weather and, above all, stubborn German resistance. The German recovery was sufficient to mount the Ardennes offensive in December. This threatened Antwerp and the depot areas around Liège, which also came under attack from German V-weapons and air raids. This placed immense strain on the American communications, but by the new year the American transportation system was more robust than ever, and preparations were under way to support the final assault on Germany.


 * Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, nominated by TheJoebro64: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a 2008 platform game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Set eight years after Banjo-Tooie (2000), Nuts & Bolts follows Banjo and Kazooie as they compete with the witch Gruntilda for ownership of their home. Although Nuts & Bolts retains the structure of previous Banjo-Kazooie games—collecting jigsaw puzzle pieces to progress—it shifts the focus from exploration to vehicle construction. The player designs vehicles, including automobiles, boats, and aeroplanes, and uses them to complete challenges across various worlds. In multiplayer modes, players can compete or share their vehicles over Xbox Live.
 * South Asian river dolphin, nominated by LittleJerry: South Asian river dolphins are toothed whales in the genus Platanista, which inhabit fresh water habitats in the northern Indian subcontinent. They were historically considered to be one species (P. gangetica) with the Ganges river dolphin and the Indus river dolphin being considered subspecies, but genetic and morphological evidence led to their being described as separate species in 2021. They are the only living members of the family Platanistidae and the superfamily Platanistoidea. Fossils of ancient relatives date to the late Oligocene.
 * South Asian river dolphins are small but stocky cetaceans with long snouts or rostra, broad flippers, and small dorsal fins. They have several unusual features. Living in murky river waters, their eyes are tiny and lensless. The dolphins rely instead on echolocation for navigation. The skull has large crests over the melon, which help direct their echolocation signals. These dolphins prey mainly on fish and shrimp and hunt them throughout the water column. They are active through the day and are sighted in small groups. Both species are listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List of mammals. Major threats include dams, barrages, fishing nets, and both chemical and acoustic pollution.


 * New Jersey's 1927 biannual elections proposal, nominated by Wehwalt: An unsuccessful attempt was made to pass an amendment to the Constitution of New Jersey in 1926 and 1927. The intent of the amendment was to have members of the New Jersey General Assembly serve two-year terms instead of one and also lengthen the terms of state senators and the governor from three years to four. The proposed amendment was passed twice by the legislature, and the text was approved by the Attorney General. On September 20, 1927, the people of New Jersey voted down the proposal, and Assembly members were elected annually until New Jersey instituted a new constitution in 1947.
 * MLS Cup 1999, nominated by SounderBruce: MLS Cup 1999 was the fourth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship soccer match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. It took place on November 21, 1999, at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy in a rematch of the inaugural 1996 final that had been played at the same venue. Both teams finished atop their respective conferences during the regular season under new head coaches and advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs. United won 2–0 with first-half goals from Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen for their third MLS Cup victory in four years.
 * Felix of Burgundy, nominated by Amitchell125: Felix of Burgundy (died 8 March 647 or 648), also known as Felix of Dunwich, was a saint and the first bishop of the kingdom of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom. Almost all that is known about him comes from The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed by the English historian Bede in about 731, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Bede wrote that Felix freed "the whole of this kingdom from long-standing evil and unhappiness"
 * Providence and Worcester Railroad, nominated by Trainsandotherthings:The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) is a Class II railroad operating 612 mi of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and ran its first trains in 1847. The P&W operated independently until 1888, when the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) leased it; the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad took over when it purchased the NYP&B in 1892. The P&W continued to exist as a company, as special rules protecting minority shareholders made it prohibitively expensive for the New Haven to outright purchase the company. The New Haven continued to lease the Providence and Worcester for 76 years, until the former was merged into Penn Central (PC) at the end of 1968. Penn Central demanded the shareholder rules keeping P&W alive be rewritten, and also threatened to abandon the company's tracks. In response, a group of P&W shareholders launched a fight with PC, convincing the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to cancel the lease and let the P&W exit the New Haven's merger and go free. Against expectations, the ICC agreed, and following court battles P&W prevailed and began operating independently again after 85 years.

Featured pictures
Eleven featured pictures were promoted this period, including the images at the top and bottom of this article.

Featured lists
One featured list was promoted this period.
 * List of Volition games, nominated by PresN: Volition is an American video game developer located in Champaign, Illinois. It was founded in 1993 by programmers Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog as Parallax Software. The company grew to eight employees while developing its first game, the first-person spaceship shooter Descent (1995), which was released to widespread acclaim. Volition would go on to make Summoner, Red Faction, Saints Row, various sequels and spinoffs to all the above, and a video game adaptation of the 2004 film The Punisher.

Featured articles, part 2

 * Ole Miss riot of 1962, nominated by HAL333: In the wake of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education, Meredith tried to integrate Ole Miss by applying in 1961. When he informed the university that he was African American, his admission was delayed and obstructed, first by school officials and then by Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett. In a bid to block his enrollment, Barnett even had Meredith temporarily jailed.  Hoping to avoid violence and ensure Meredith's enrollment, President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had a series of unproductive telephone negotiations with Barnett.  In preparation for another registration attempt, federal law enforcement were dispatched to accompany Meredith to maintain order, but a riot erupted on campus. Partly incited by white supremacist General Edwin Walker, the mob assaulted reporters and federal officers, burned and looted property, and hijacked vehicles. Reporters, U.S. marshals, and the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach sheltered and were besieged in the Lyceum, the university's administrative building. Into the late morning of October 1, 27 marshals received gunshot wounds, and two civilians—including a French journalist—were murdered. Oblivious to the riot, President Kennedy made an Oval Office Address, saluting Mississippi's help in registering Meredith. Once informed, Kennedy invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 and had U.S. Army squadrons under Brigadier General Charles Billingslea quell the riot, mobilizing over 30,000 troops, the most for a single disturbance in American history.


 * The riot and the federal crackdown were a major turning point in the civil rights movement and resulted in the desegregation of Ole Miss: the first integration of any public educational facility in Mississippi. Further, being the final time troops were deployed during the civil rights movement, it is regarded as the end of the segregationist tactic of massive resistance.


 * Shannon Lucid, nominated by Hawkeye7: Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid (born January 14, 1943) is an American biochemist and retired NASA astronaut. She has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1996, and is the only American woman to have stayed on Mir. From 1996 to 2007, Lucid held the record for the longest duration spent in space by an American and by a woman. She was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and the first woman to be accorded the honor.
 * Hove War Memorial, nominated by Harry Mitchell and Hassocks5489: Hove War Memorial is a First World War memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and located on Grand Avenue in Hove, part of the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. Hove was the site of one of the earliest recruiting events at the beginning of the war and later of several military hospitals. Over 600 men from the town were killed during the war, a quarter of them from the local regiment alone. A war memorial committee was established in 1919 and Lutyens was engaged as architect, designing a Tuscan column on a three-staged base, topped with a statue of Saint George, patron saint of England. The base contains several dedicatory inscriptions but no names, which are instead recorded on plaques in the town's library.
 * Battle of Helena, nominated by Hog Farm: The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. Over 7,500 Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Theophilus Holmes attempted to capture Helena in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on the Confederate army beseiged in Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Helena was defended by about 4,100 Union troops led by Major General Benjamin Prentiss, manning one fort and four batteries. Differing interpretations of Holmes' order to attack at daylight resulted in Brigadier General James F. Fagan's troops attacking Battery D unsupported, and Major General Sterling Price's attack against the Union center was made after Fagan's had largely fizzled out.  To the north, Confederate cavalry commanded by Brigadier Generals John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker failed to act in concert and accomplished little.  The assaults failed, and Vicksburg fell the same day.  Later in the year, Union troops used Helena as a staging ground for their successful campaign to capture Little Rock, Arkansas.
 * Japanese fire-bellied newt, nominated by An anonymous username:The Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) is a species of newt endemic to Japan. The skin on its upper body is dark and its lower regions bright red, although coloration varies with age, genetics, and region. Adults are 8 to 15 cm long. To deter predators, Japanese fire-bellied newts contain high levels of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin accumulated mainly from their diet.
 * Christopher Nolan, nominated by Sammyjankis88 and FrB.TG: Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5 billion worldwide. The recipient of many accolades, he has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five British Academy Film Awards and six Golden Globe Awards. In 2015, he was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, and in 2019, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to film.


 * Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made several short films before his feature film debut with Following (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, Memento (2000), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He transitioned from independent to studio filmmaking with Insomnia (2002), and found further critical and commercial success with The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), The Prestige (2006) and Inception (2010); the last of these earned Nolan two Oscar nominations—Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This was followed by Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020). For Dunkirk, he earned two Academy Award nominations, including his first for Best Director.


 * Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, nominated by Juxlos: Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (EVO: Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo; 29 May 1917 – 9 March 2001) was an Indonesian statesman and one of the country's most influential economists. He held senior positions under Presidents Sukarno and Suharto intermittently between 1950 and 1978. During his career in government, Sumitro served as Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Research in five different cabinets. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia.
 * Born into a Javanese family, Sumitro studied economics at the Netherlands School of Economics and remained there throughout the Second World War. Returning to Indonesia after the war, he was assigned to the country's diplomatic mission in the United States, where he sought to raise funds and garner international attention in the struggle against Dutch colonialism. After the handover of sovereignty in the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference, in which he took part, he joined the Socialist Party of Indonesia and became Minister for Trade and Industry in the Natsir Cabinet. However, during the 1950s, Sumitro favoured foreign investment, an unpopular position at that time which brought him into conflict with nationalists and communists, and in the late 1950s, Sumitro fled Jakarta and joined the insurrectionary Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia in the late 1950s. Considered a leader of the movement, he operated from abroad, liaising with Western foreign intelligence organizations while seeking funds and international support. After the movement's defeat, Sumitro remained in exile as a vocal critic of Sukarno, continuing to agitate for the downfall of the government. After the overthrow of Sukarno and the establishment of the New Order under Suharto, Sumitro was invited to return from exile and in 1967 was appointed Minister of Trade. However, after disagreements with Suharto on policy in the early 1970s, Sumitro was reassigned as Minister of Research before his removal from government posts altogether.


 * Hughie Ferguson, nominated by Kosack: Hugh Ferguson (2 March 1895 – 8 January 1930) was a Scottish professional footballer. Born in Motherwell, he played for Parkhead at junior level as an amateur and was one of the most sought-after young players in Scotland before signing for his hometown club to begin his professional career. He established himself as a consistent scorer playing as a centre forward, finishing as the top goalscorer in the Scottish Football League on three occasions between 1918 and 1921. His 284 league goals remains a record at the club and, by 1925, he was the highest-scoring player in the history of the Scottish League.
 * David Kelly (weapons expert), nominated by SchroCat: David Christopher Kelly (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum.


 * A year after the publication of the 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction—which stated that some of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons were deployable within 45 minutes—Kelly had an off-the-record conversation with Andrew Gilligan, a BBC journalist, about the claim. When Gilligan reported this on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he stated that the 45 minute claim was included at the insistence of Alastair Campbell, the Downing Street Director of Communications—Kelly denied that he said Campbell had forced in the reference. The government complained to the BBC about the claim, but they refused to recant on it; political tumult between Downing Street and the BBC developed. Kelly informed his line managers in the Ministry of Defence that he may have been the source, but did not think he was the only one, as Gilligan had reported points he had not mentioned. Kelly's name became known to the media, and he was called to appear on 15 July before the parliamentary Intelligence and Security and Foreign Affairs select committees. Two days later Kelly was found dead near his home.


 * Following Kelly's suicide Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, set up a government inquiry under Lord Hutton, a former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. The inquiry concluded that Kelly had killed himself. Hutton also stated that no other parties were involved in Kelly's death. There was continued debate over the manner of Kelly's death, and the case was reviewed between 2010 and 2011 by Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General; he concluded that there was "overwhelmingly strong" evidence that Kelly had killed himself.