Ambigram of "ambigram" by Basile Morin, one of December's featured pictures. Basile has created huge numbers of clever and creative ambigrams for the ambigram article, and it's about time we recognised his work. Perhaps I'm childish, but my favourite is this one.
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted in December 2022. Descriptions are generally summarised from the articles, but may be abridged or simplified for length.
The Signpost is trialling a bi-monthly issue frequency, which is a very good thing: Next issue, we'll have a more reasonable half a month's worth of featured content, which I think is a lot more digestible than the summaries of twenty-one articles and fifteen featured lists we have this issue. In addition, if we keep this up, when I inevitably miss a deadline at some point, instead of having to spike an entire month of featured content, I can just do a full month of coverage next issue. (You can't put two months of content in an issue – it makes the article too long – but we've proven for years you can put one month in them.)
So, Happy New Year, and may the new reign of bimonthly issues reign eternal, as long as "bimonthly" never gets its other meaning of "once every two months".
This month, I've borrowed two descriptions, Robert Nimmo and Thomas Hardy, from the other newsletter I work on, The Bugle. They were written by Ian Rose after Nick-D.
The Corp Naomh is an Irish bell shrine made in the 9th or 10th century to enclose a now lost hand-bell, which probably dated to c. 600 to 900 AD and belonged to an early Irish saint. The shrine was rediscovered sometime before 1682 at Tristernagh Abbey, near Templecross, County Westmeath. The shrine is 23 cm (9.1 in) high and 12 cm (4.7 in) wide. It was heavily refurbished and added to during a second phase of embellishment in the 15th century, and now consists of cast and sheetbronze plates mounted on a wooden core decorated with silver, niello and rock crystal. It is severely damaged with extensive losses and wear across almost all of its parts, and when discovered a block of wood had been substituted for the bell itself. The remaining elements are considered of high historical and artistic value by archeologists and art historians.
Sometimes, users name themselves after a Billie Eilish song or other media when creating their account. Particularly awesome users then raise that song to featured article. "Your Power" is a folkballad backed by an acoustic guitar that serves as a plea for people to stop abusing their authority.
The Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector is a connector freeway in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It is a 2.37-mile (3.81 km) extension of the Atlantic City Expressway, connecting it to Route 87, which leads into Brigantine via the Marina district of Atlantic City. Locally, the freeway is known as "the Tunnel", due to the tunnel along its route that passes underneath the Westside neighborhood.
The Northolt siege was a hostage situation which developed in Northolt, West London, England, on 25 December 1985 and resulted in the shooting of Errol Walker. It was the first shooting by an officer from the Metropolitan Police's specialist Firearms Wing. After a domestic dispute, Walker forced entry into his sister-in-law's flat. He took the woman, her daughter, and his own daughter hostage and shortly afterwards fatally stabbed the woman. Negotiations eventually secured the release of Walker's daughter but he still held the other child hostage with a large kitchen knife. Senior police officers were keen to resolve the situation without use of force and adopted a policy of appeasing Walker, which included withdrawing armed officers from Walker's vision. Almost 30 hours into the siege, Walker ventured onto the communal balcony to pick up an abandoned riot shield. Armed police officers attempted to intercept him but he made it back to the flat before they reached him. The officers threw stun grenades through the windows and climbed through the kitchen window. One officer found Walker lying on a sofa, holding the knife to the child, and fired three shots, hitting Walker twice. Walker was knocked unconscious but both he and the girl survived. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, attempted murder, and other offences.
Matangi is the fourth studio album by British rapper and singer M.I.A. It was released on 1 November 2013 on her own label, N.E.E.T. Recordings, an imprint of Interscope Records. The album was recorded in various locations around the world and featured uncredited input from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Its title is a variant of M.I.A.'s real first name and references the Hindu goddess Matangi. The lyrics feature themes related to Hinduism, including reincarnation and karma, and the music blends Western and Eastern styles.
Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath (Arabic: عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن الأشعث; died 704), commonly known as Ibn al-Ash'athafter his grandfather, was a prominent Arab nobleman and military commander during the Umayyad Caliphate, most notable for leading a failed rebellion against the Umayyad viceroy of the east, al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, in 700–703.The crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia in space, before the disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a fatal accident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003. During the STS-107 mission, Space ShuttleColumbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board. During the STS-107 launch, a piece of the insulative foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's left wing. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous Space Shuttle launches, causing damage that ranged from minor to near-catastrophic, but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. Before reentry, NASA managers had limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed. When Columbia reentered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the orbiter to become unstable and break apart. The mission was the second that ended in disaster in the Space Shuttle program after the loss of Challenger and all seven crew members during ascent in 1986.
U.S. Highway 34 (US 34) is a United States Highway that runs across the southern third of Iowa. US 34 was one of the original U.S. Highways when the system was created in 1926, though it was preceded by the Blue Grass Route, a 310-mile-long (500 km) auto trail that connected Council Bluffs and Burlington. The Blue Grass Route was assigned Primary Road No. 8 in its entirety in 1920, and six years later, No. 8 was renamed U.S. Highway 34. In 1930, the highway became the first road to be fully paved across the state. By the 1950s, increased traffic and larger automobiles proved the original pavement inadequate. The highway was straightened and widened to accommodate modern vehicles.
Eric Harrison (10 August 1886 – 5 September 1945) was an Australian aviator who made the country's first military flight, and helped lay the foundations of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in Victoria, Harrison was a flying instructor in Britain when, in 1912, he answered the Australian Defence Department's call for pilots to form an aviation school. Along with Henry Petre, he established Australia's first air base at Point Cook, Victoria, and its inaugural training unit, the Central Flying School (CFS), before making his historic flight in March 1914. Following the outbreak of World War I, when Petre went on active service with the Mesopotamian Half Flight, Harrison took charge of instructing student pilots of the Australian Flying Corps at CFS, and maintaining its fleet of obsolescent aircraft. Harrison transferred to the RAAF as one of its founding members in 1921.
Another in a series of featured articles on pop songs by the prolific User:MaranoFan. This one, "Can I Get It" (to Featured Article?), is a song by English singer Adele from her fourth studio album 30 (2021), written with Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback. A pop song with pop rock and country pop influences, "Can I Get It" has acoustic guitar, drum, and horn instrumentation and a whistled hook, which describes moving on from a breakup and explores Adele's search for true love and the thrilling and wondrous parts of a new relationship.
The Rhodesia Information Centre (RIC, also known by various other names) represented the Rhodesian government in Australia from 1966 to 1980. As Australia did not recognise Rhodesia's independence it operated on an unofficial basis. The centre's activities included lobbying politicians, spreading propaganda about white minority rule in Rhodesia and advising Australian businesses on how they could evade the United Nations sanctions that had been imposed on the country. It collaborated with a far-right organisation and a pro-Rhodesia community organisation. These activities, and the centre's presence in Australia, violated United Nations Security Council resolutions, including some that specifically targeted it and the other Rhodesian diplomatic posts. The RIC had little impact, with Australian media coverage of the Rhodesian regime being almost entirely negative and the government's opposition to white minority rule in Rhodesia hardening over time.
The Black Cat was an American fiction magazine launched in 1895 by Herman Umbstaetter, initially published in Boston, Massachusetts. It published only short stories, and had a reputation for originality and for encouraging new writers. Umbstaetter’s editorial approach was unusual in several ways: the cover price was low, at five cents; he paid on merit, not on story length; and he was willing to buy stories by new authors rather than insisting on well-known names. He frequently ran story contests to attract amateur writers. The magazine was immediately successful, and its circulation was boosted by the appearance in an early issue of “The Mysterious Card”, by Cleveland Moffett, which was so popular that two print runs of the issue it appeared in sold out. It ceased publication in 1923.
Rear-Admiral Hardy joined the Royal Navy sometime before 1688 and saw action in the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue in 1692. In 1702 he took command of HMS Pembroke. After fighting in the Battle of Cádiz, he discovered the location of the Franco-Spanish fleet, leading to the Battle of Vigo Bay. In August 1707, while escorting a convoy to Lisbon, Hardy's squadron met that of René Duguay-Trouin, chasing him until dusk and then returning to the convoy. Returning to England, Hardy was court martialled for not fully engaging Duguay-Trouin, but was acquitted and returned to the Mediterranean in 1708 to see further combat. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1711. In 1715 he was second-in-command of the Baltic Fleet during in the Great Northern War. He was dismissed in 1716, possibly because of Jacobite sympathies.
Dish-bearers (often called seneschals by historians) and butlers (or cup-bearers) were thegns who acted as personal attendants of kings in Anglo-Saxon England. Royal feasts played an important role in consolidating community and hierarchy among the elite, and dish-bearers and butlers served the food and drinks at these meals. Thegns were members of the aristocracy, leading landowners who occupied the third lay (non-religious) rank in English society after the king and ealdormen. Dish-bearers and butlers probably also carried out diverse military and administrative duties as required by the king. Some went on to have illustrious careers as ealdormen, but most never rose higher than thegn.
Featured pictures
Twenty-five featured pictures were promoted this period, including the ones at the top and bottom of this article.
Fernando Alonso is a Spanish racing driver who has won the Formula OneWorld Championship twice. The World Championship, however, is made up of many races, so, for example, while his five race wins in 2010 weren't enough to win the championship, he still had five wins that year.
The magazine Billboard published its first chart, a list of popular sheet music, in 1913. Since then, it's become the American standard for lists of the most popular music, both as a whole and by genre.
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Limited Release is an annual award that honors films that received a limited release for excellence in the depiction of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters and themes. It is one of several categories of the annual GLAAD Media Awards, which are presented by GLAAD—an American non-governmentalmedia monitoring organization—at ceremonies held primarily in New York City and Los Angeles between March and May.
Tuvalu is an island country in Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. It consists of six atolls and three reef islands (islands made of rocks from coral skeletons), with a total land area of 26 km2 (10 sq mi). Its climate is hot and humid, with annual rainfall varying from 2,500–3,500 mm (98–138 in). The soil is very weakly developed, consisting mostly of coral sand and calcium carbonate-rich regosols. Vegetation on the islands predominantly consists of coconuts, screw palms, Casuarina, creepers, and grass, although some native forest exists. There are 37 species of birds that have been recorded on Tuvalu, one of which has been introduced by humans.
The FIFA World Cup is considered the most prestigious association football tournament in the world. The twenty-two World Cup tournaments have been won by eight national teams. The role of the manager is to select the squad for the World Cup and develop the tactics of the team. Pressure is attached to the role due to the significance of winning a World Cup and the lack of day-to-day contact with players during the regular club season aside from international breaks.
Cyrano de Bergerac, a 1950 film by Michael Gordon and one of our latest featured (moving) pictures. Click to play, if you have about an hour and a half.
,_argento_e_bronzo_con_cristallo_di_rocca,_da_Templecross,_co._Westmeath,_x_poi_xv_secolo,_01.jpg)
_(50657253887).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Discuss this story