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Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-10-01/Featured content

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Featured content

Mooned

This edition covers content promoted between 23 and 28 September 2012
Earth's moon, a new featured picture.
A common toad
An accordion player, a new featured picture
A new featured picture: Wulfenite from Mexico

Five featured articles were promoted:

  • Common toad (nom) by Cwmhiraeth. The common toad (Bufo bufo) is an amphibian found throughout most of Europe. An inconspicuous animal, it usually lies hidden during the day and comes out at night to hunt insects, slugs and earthworms, moving with a slow ungainly walk or short jumps. Primarily a solitary animal, in the breeding season large numbers converge on certain breeding ponds. The toad is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
  • Joseph Desha (nom) by Acdixon. Desha (1768–1842), of French Huguenot descent, grew up on the Tennessee frontier where two of his brothers were killed in Indian skirmishes, and fought Indians during the Northwest Indian War. First elected in 1807, he represented Kentucky six times in the U.S. House of Representatives and supported the War of 1812. In 1824, after the Panic of 1819 wrecked the Kentucky economy, he was elected governor on promises of debt relief.
  • Hobey Baker (nom) by Kaiser matias. Baker (1892–1918) was an American amateur hockey and football player. Considered the first American star in ice hockey by the Hockey Hall of Fame, he was also a fine football player and a member of three national championship teams at Princeton University. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in World War I. After receiving orders to return home in 1918, he volunteered for a last test flight and died when the plane crashed.
  • Somerset County Cricket Club in 2009 (nom) by Harrias. During the 2009 English Cricket season, Somerset County Cricket Club competed in four domestic competitions. Although the season was successful and its consistent performances kept it in competition, the county did not win any championships. Somerset were captained by Justin Langer, while Marcus Trescothick topped the national batting tables.
  • Corona Australis (nom) by Casliber and Keilana. Corona Australis, or "southern crown", is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere, the counterpart of Corona Borealis, the northern crown. One of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century, it remains a member of the 88 modern constellations and contains one of the closest star-forming regions to our Solar System. Different cultures have viewed the pattern of its brightest stars as a turtle shell, crown, wreath, and rock hyrax.

Three featured lists were promoted:

  • Ricardo Arjona discography (nom) by Hahc21. The Guatemalan recording artist Ricardo Arjona has released 29 albums and 48 singles since his debut in 1985. Throughout his career, Arjona has sold approximately 20 million albums worldwide, making him one of the most successful Latin artists in music history.
  • Usher discography (nom) by Rayman95. The American recording artist Usher has released 17 albums, 1 extended play, and 48 singles since his debut in 1994. He has had nine Hot 100 number-one hits (all with him as a lead artist) and eighteen Hot 100 top-ten hits. Best-received was Confessions in 2004, which sold 20 million copies worldwide and topped the charts in seven countries.
  • Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam (nom) by TIAYN. The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam is the legislative speaker of the Vietnamese parliament, the National Assembly. The chairman leads the activities of the Standing Committee, a permanent body which controls the actions of the National Assembly when it is not in session.

Nine featured pictures were promoted:

  • Moon (nom; related article), created by Grevera and nominated by Dusty777. The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, the fifth largest in the Solar System. The same side of the moon always faces Earth.
  • Accordion player (nom; related article), created by Cayambe and nominated by Tomer T. Accordions are played by compressing or expanding the bellows while pressing buttons or keys, opening valves (pallets) and allowing air to flow across strips of brass or steel that vibrate to produce sound inside the body.
  • Wulfenite (nom; related article), by Archaeodontosaurus. Wulfenite is a common lead molybdate mineral often occurring as stubby, pyramidal or tabular crystals. Sought by collectors, it occurs primarily in lead ores. The featured picture is of a specimen from Mexico.
  • Taagepera Castle (nom; related article), created by Iifar and nominated by Tomer T. The Taagepera Castle is a mansion in Valga County, Estonia. Originally mentioned in the 16th century, the current mansion house was designed by the Estonian architect Otto Wildau in the early 20th century.
  • Eureka Tower (nom; related article), created by Diliff and nominated by Chris857. Eureka Tower is a 297.3-metre (975 ft) skyscraper located in Melbourne, Australia, and currently the ninth tallest residential building in the world.
  • Potter (nom; related article), created by Yann and nominated by Tomer T. In a process called "throwing", a ball of clay is placed in the centre of a turntable, which the potter rotates.
  • Charles F. Bolden, Jr. (nom; related article), created by Bill Ingalls and nominated by Pine. Bolden (b. 1946) is the present administrator of NASA. He is a retired United States Marine Corps major general, a former NASA astronaut, and a former naval test pilot. He is the first African American to lead NASA on a non-temporary basis.
  • Scelophysa trimeni (nom; related article), created by Julia W. The blue monkey beetle (Scelophysa trimeni) is a species of scarab beetles in the subfamily Rutelinae found exclusively in South Africa. Males of the species are covered in minute sky-blue scales while the scales of the females are sienna brown.
  • Windmill in Kuremaa, Estonia (nom; related article), created by Iifar and nominated by Pine. A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally used for milling grain, they have been adapted to many other uses.
Windmill in Kuremaa, Estonia