Featured pictureChoice of the week, "White-spotted jellyfish", one of two new FPs of marine creatures by WikipedianNick Hobgood. It averages 45–50 cm in bell diameter, but grows to larger sizes in the Gulf of Mexico, where it has become an invasive species that is a potential threat to shrimp and fish populations. Read the judge's reasons and Nick's comments below.
New administrator
The Signpost welcomesLooie496 (nom) as ournewest admin. Looie496 is a neuroscientist who specialises in learning and memory, with a focus on the hippocampus; many of his publications have involvedtheta rhythm. He has been contributing since April 2008, and since then has co-maintainedWikiProject Neuroscience. More recently, Looie496 has been involved in an effort sponsored by the AmericanSociety for Neuroscience to encourage more scientists to contribute to Wikipedia. He is interested in dispute resolution, and has participated at ANI, WQA, and various other noticeboards, with an eye to contributing to AIV, UAA, and RPP.
Featured articles
The "bleeding tooth fungus", from new featured articleHydnellum peckii. The "teeth" covering the cap's underside are specialised spore-producing structures.Four articles were promoted tofeatured status. These articles will be considered next week by the judge forChoice of the week.
Typhoon Sudal (nom) (2004), the strongest storm to hit the Pacific island of Yap in half a century, causing major damage to property but no loss of life (nominated byHurricanehink)
Bring Us Together (nom), one of Richard Nixon's political slogans, and another article in the ongoing series prepared byWehwalt on this American politician.
Hydnellum peckii (nom), the "bleeding tooth fungus", aka "strawberries and cream": it looks like candy, but doesn't taste like it, says nominatorSasata. (picture at right)
List of World Heritage Sites in Spain (nom). These sites are selected for their cultural and/or natural significance. One natural site, the Pyrénées – Mont Perdu site, contains the Pyrenees mountain chain and is shared with France (Grsz11).
Celine Dion albums discography (nom), consisting of twenty-three studio albums, six live albums, and seventeen compilation albums. Dion is the best-selling Canadian artist in history (Max24).
"Out of the five lists from this week and the three from the previous week, I'm going to go withKeeper of the Archives from last week. I found it interesting and informative on a subject that was a bit further outside the mainstream than most Featured Lists. I would have suspected any article about a subject going back to the 1600s to be scanty on sources and information, but found quite the opposite with this article. I probably shouldn't have been surprised that Oxford kept good records on their record-keeping position!"
Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian renaissance man and Nobel laureateBright-eyed, open-mouthedLoliginid squidTen images were promoted. Medium-sized images can be viewed by clicking on "nom".
Fridtjof Nansen (nom) (1861–1930):Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel laureate (created by George Grantham Bain Collection and restored bySmalljim (talk·contribs)). (picture at right)
Melo aethiopica (nom), the "crowned baler", is a very large sea snail in the volute family. This specimen was collected by the photographer,H. Zell, in the Indonesia/New Guinea region.
The chemical element zinc (nom), prompting one reviewer to ask "I'd love to see howAlchemist-hp might do one of the non-metallic elements, such as carbon or sulfur. Those ones definitely need better pictures."
The chemical element nickel (nom), Typical view of electrolytically refined nodules. Nickel is used insuperalloys, stainless steel, and other important alloys; green nickel salts are visible in the pores (created byAlchemist-hp).
White-spotted jellyfish (nom): this mollusc is native to the southwestern Pacific, where it feeds primarily on various snail species. PhotographerNick Hobgood toldThe Signpost, "I encountered this jellyfish while I was scuba-diving at a depth of about 12 meters, off a 45-meter wall on the east side of the mouth ofFort-Liberté bay in northernHaiti. Local fishermen say the bay is a breeding area for jellyfish, attracting juvenileLoggerhead sea turtles that feed on the jellyfish, and claim that theMangrove complex in the southern part of the bay is home forManatees." (picture at top)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (nom), a rock formation inWadi Rum, Jordan.The name was given in memory ofT. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and his autobiographical book, its plot based in the area during theArab Revolt. The image was cropped and tilted 1.5º after debate on the review page (created byTomobe03). (picture below)
This was not an easy decision, because there were very interesting subjects to choose from. In particular, three more ofAlchemist-hp's fine pictures of chemical elements were promoted:Nickel andZinc. But all in all, I preferred what isa beautiful underwater shot of a white-spotted jellyfish (phyllorhiza punctata). Although not entirely sharp, the photo still shows many details and amazing colours of a world not often visited by humans. That photo may have convinced me to join that hidden world and possibly even to take pictures there for Wikimedia projects!
Thoroughly exciting and enjoyable read! I still think, though, that it would be even better if the weekly stories would discuss whether or not any delisted FAs/FIs appeared on the Main Page, and when. Otherwise, great!Wilhelmina Will (talk)05:49, 19 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delisted? I thought only featured content appeared on the main page. We do try to keep a cap on the length of the page, sinceThe Signpost is already a pretty long read, and we like to leave the readers wanting more—that way they're more likely to return next week. We struggle a bit with the very fiddly job of copying over the links, noms, and blurbs, inviting judges, and the time-consuming task of selecting and locating the images. Although it is very satisfying to prepare pages that highlight the work of our talented users, we would be pleased if one or two more editors wanted to be in the team to share the workload.Tony(talk)05:36, 20 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Since the TFA is mentioned on every TFA's talk page, it would not be difficult, I think to put in parenthesis (Today's featured article on January 4, 2005) next to the delisted articles that were TFA at one time.--Wehwalt (talk)20:45, 22 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
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