Three-cent nickel(nominated by Wehwalt) – To readers from America, the idea of a three-cent nickel—which was, indeed, American coinage—might seem strange, as "nickel" is now the name of the American five-cent piece. According to the nominator, the three-cent nickel was conceived during the American Civil War thanks to "public disgust with dirty paper money, an industrialist's desire to market his product, and a mysterious political deal we still don't know much about." The five-cent piece proved the most popular, and the three-cent coin was eventually forgotten.
The 2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game(nominated by Toa Nidhiki05) was an American college football game played between the prestigious and historically successful University of Michigan and a small university from the second-tier subdivision of the game, Appalachian State. Despite the latter's two straight championships at that level, the nominator tells us that "they were not expected to even come close to beating the Wolverines." Furthermore, their victory "was immediately hailed as one of the biggest in college football history."
The Rainbow trout(nominated by Mike Cline) is a ray-finned fish from the salmonidae family. While its native habitat is in freshwater tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America, it has been introduced into waters around the world. While the fish can be considered an invasive species, it is also a major game fish.
4 (Beyoncé album)(nominated by JennKR) was, as the name suggests, the fourth studio album put out by Beyoncé. Created after a year-long hiatus from music, Beyoncé was lauded for 4's "fusion of various genres" along with her own "strong vocal ability".
Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172(nominated by Gerda Arendt), German for "Resound now, ye lyrics, ring out now, ye lyres!", is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. First performed on Pentecost Sunday of 1714, Erschallet, ihr Lieder is in six movements and scored for four vocal soloists, four-part choir, three trumpets, timpani, oboe, bassoon and a string orchestra of two violins, two violas, and basso continuo.
Bobby Peel(nominated by Sarastro1) was a cricketer from England who professionally played the game for fifteen years in the 1800s. He played his best season in 1896, but left the sport a year later after being suspended for drunkenness during a match.
Japanese battleship Nagato(nominated by Sturmvogel 66) was a Japanese warship with what the nominator called a "curious history" that was built during the First World War and served in the Second. Although Nagato was one of the few capital ships of Japan to survive that conflict, the ship did not last long—it was sunk by the United States in 1946 during atomic bomb testing.
Ezra Pound(nominated by Victoria, SlimVirgin, and Ceoil) was, in the words of one of the nominators, "a complicated man": he "helped develop the early careers of James Joyce, T. S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway, among others, but was charged with treason and spent 12 years in an asylum." Pound, who lived from 1885 to 1972, witnessed the carnage of First World War from England, the rise of Mussolini in Italy, and the inside of a six-by-six-foot outdoor steel cage after being charged with treason by the United States. He was also a major catalyst in the development of modernism and poetry's imagism.
The Great Eastern Highway(nominated by Evad37) is a 590 km (370 mi) road in Western Australia. The road's route was originally constructed with convict labor, and it served as the region's major road artery. Today, there are proposals to replace the road with a more northerly routing, but no money has been allocated by the federal government for the task.
Canadian drug charges and trial of Jimi Hendrix(nominated by GabeMc, Cullen328, and Doc9871) – In 1969, Canadian authorities arrested famed American rock musician Jimi Hendrix for possessing drugs in his bag as he passed through customs. Through a shrewd legal strategy that cast doubt over whether Hendrix was aware of the drugs, he was acquitted of the charges. Shockingly, the story was initially carried by only a few newspapers (all inside Toronto), despite the huge popularity of Hendrix, who was then at the height of his brief career. Hendrix's public relations manager has since revealed that he bribed a local member of the Associated Press to prevent it from hitting the news wire.
Pedro Afonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil(nominated by Lecen, Astynax, and Alex) was once the heir apparent to the throne of Brazil. Born in 1848, he was seen by the monarchy as "vital to the future viability of the monarchy", but he died of fever when he was less than two years old. He was the second son of Brazil's ruler, Pedro II, to die in three years. Afonso's death was a major cause of the later decline of Brazil's imperial system:
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In the Emperor's eyes, the deaths of his sons seemed to presage the end of the imperial system. His younger son had represented his future and that of the monarchy. Although the Emperor still had a legal successor in his daughter Isabel, he had little confidence that a woman could rule Brazil in the male-dominated social climate of the time. He did nothing to prepare Isabel for the responsibilities of ascending the throne, nor did he attempt to encourage acceptance of a female ruler among the political class. The lack of a male heir caused him to lose motivation in promoting the imperial office as a position to be carried on by his descendants; he increasingly saw the imperial system as so inextricably linked to himself that it could not survive him.
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Ian Smith(nominated by Cliftonian) was Rhodesia's Prime Minister from 1964 to 1979. According to the nominator, his "15-year tenure played out like a Greek tragedy": "To some he was a visionary who understood problems outside observers did not, a hero whose Unilateral Declaration of Independence had saved Rhodesia from disaster. To most, however, he was an almost cartoonish figure of derision, a deluded, bigoted racist who had tried to stop the tide of history. The truth, as I hope this article shows, is somewhere between these two extremes."
Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award(nominated by Bloom6132) contain the awardees of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award which is given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player "whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement."
Popjustice £20 Music Prize(nominated by ChrisTheDude) lists the recipients of Popjustice £20 Music Prize, also known as the Popjustice Twenty Quid Prize, which is an annual prize awarded by music website Popjustice to recognise the best British pop single of the previous year.
Six pictures were promoted to featured status this week.
Wells Cathedral(created and nominated by Rodw) A very pretty image of Wells Cathedral - located in Somerset, England - and the reflecting pool in the grounds of the nearby Bishop's Palace. Considered one of the most beautiful cathedrals in England, and is one of a very few whose stained glass survived the English Civil War.
Auriga(created by Sidney Hall and Richard Rouse Bloxam, after Alexander Jamieson, restored and nominated by Adam Cuerden) The constellation Auriga comes from the Latin for charioteer, but is traditionally depicted with the reins of the chariot shown in one of his hands, the other holding a goat over his shoulder and two baby goats in his hand. Why goats? Because the goat Amalthea suckled Zeus as a baby, and the constellation representing her and her kids got combined into Auriga by Ptolemy in the 2nd century A.D.. This depiction is from Urania's Mirror (1824).
Daedongyeojido (created by Kim Jeong-ho, nominated by User:Crisco 1492) Dating back to 1861, this map consists of twenty-two separate booklets, which can be combined into a map too large to fit in most rooms: 6.7 metres (22 ft) wide and 3.8 metres (12 ft) long. The scan is, naturally, gigantic, and actually breaks the large image viewer on Commons, at least on this author's computer, so you may want to use the offsite option. Make sure to read the article on it - it's sadly rather short, but good as far as it goes.
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