Featured picture Choice of the week, "White-spotted jellyfish", one of two new FPs of marine creatures by Wikipedian Nick 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 welcomes Looie496 (nom) as our
newest admin. Looie496 is a neuroscientist who specialises in learning and memory, with a focus on the hippocampus; many of his publications have involved theta rhythm. He has been contributing since April 2008, and since then has co-maintained WikiProject Neuroscience. More recently, Looie496 has been involved in an effort sponsored by the American Society 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 article Hydnellum peckii. The "teeth" covering the cap's underside are specialised spore-producing structures.Four articles were promoted to featured status. These articles will be considered next week by the judge for Choice 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 by Hurricanehink)
Bring Us Together (nom), one of Richard Nixon's political slogans, and another article in the ongoing series prepared by Wehwalt 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 nominator Sasata. (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 with Keeper 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-mouthed Loliginid 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 by Smalljim (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 how Alchemist-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 in superalloys, stainless steel, and other important alloys; green nickel salts are visible in the pores (created by Alchemist-hp).
White-spotted jellyfish (nom): this mollusc is native to the southwestern Pacific, where it feeds primarily on various snail species. Photographer Nick Hobgood told The 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 of Fort-Liberté bay in northern Haiti. Local fishermen say the bay is a breeding area for jellyfish, attracting juvenile Loggerhead sea turtles that feed on the jellyfish, and claim that the Mangrove complex in the southern part of the bay is home for Manatees." (picture at top)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (nom), a rock formation in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The name was given in memory of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and his autobiographical book, its plot based in the area during the Arab Revolt. The image was cropped and tilted 1.5º after debate on the review page (created by Tomobe03). (picture below)
This was not an easy decision, because there were very interesting subjects to choose from. In particular, three more of Alchemist-hp's fine pictures of chemical elements were promoted: Nickel and Zinc. But all in all, I preferred what is a 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!
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Discuss this story
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]