The best of the week

Featured articles

Six articles were promoted to featured status:

• Norwich Market (nom), which visits the lost world of whifflers, dick fools, mass public executions, and "a girl of sixteen with no bones". Nominator Iridescent says, "Norwich Market is one of the few institutions of Norman England to survive substantially unchanged through the intervening 900 years, although Norwich has dwindled from one of Europe's great port cities to something of a backwater." The Signpost thought "whifflers" might refer to something lewd, but learned from the article that this was far from the case. (picture at the right)
• Evelyn Waugh (nom) (1903–66), the English novelist. Nominator Brianboulton says, "The critic Clive James considered Waugh to be the culmination of centuries of English prose development. Sharpness of wit was his trademark; when told that Randolph Churchill had had a non-malignant growth surgically removed, Waugh remarked that it was a typical triumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it." (Picture at the right)
• William Cragh (nom), the story of a 13th-century Welsh rebel who was hanged twice, pronounced dead, and then brought back to life by the intercession of a saint (Malleus Fatuorum and Ealdgyth)
• Speed of light (nom), a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Think of whizzing around the equator a little more than seven times a second; that is the speed of light. Going that fast, you'd arrive at the Moon in just over a second, and the Sun in about eight minutes (TimothyRias).
• Buffalo nickel (nom), the fifth in nominator Wehwalt's numismatic series. The Buffalo nickel, he says, is considered beautiful by many people, "but it had its problems in production, and was replaced after the minimum 25 years, leaving only the questions: Who is the Indian on the front, and who is the bison on the back? We may never know for sure."
• SMS Kronprinz (1914) (nom) fought at the Battle of Jutland in the front of the German line, but emerged completely unscathed, while her three sister ships directly ahead were the most damaged German battleships in the engagement. Kronprinz engaged and forced the retreat of the Russian battleship Tsarevitch during the Battle of Moon Sound in 1917, and was ultimately interned in Scapa Flow at the end of the war and scuttled by her crew (Parsecboy).

Featured sound

One sound was promoted: Northern Mockingbird singing

(nom and link to a related article), the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. The recording was praised by reviewers for its clarity (created by ZooFari in June 2010).

Featured pictures

Six images were promoted. Medium-sized images can be viewed by clicking on "nom":

• Stephen Merchant (nom and link to a related article), a British writer (co-creator and co-writer of The Office and Extras), director, radio presenter, and comic actor. Nominator Nehrams2020 said "after contacting Merchant's publicist for an image to support his article, I received this great portrait. I also reached the author of the image and she acknowledged it was able to be released under the CC-BY-SA (created by Carolyn Djanogly).
• Tasmanian Devil (nom and link to a related article), the only high quality shot we seem to have. The photo was taken in captivity. There are many devils in captive breeding programs in an attempt to provide some insurance from the Devil facial tumour disease (created by Noodle snacks).
• Portolan chart by Jorge d'Aguiar (nom and link to a related article, The oldest-known signed and dated chart of Portuguese origin. This photograph at full resolution is a massive 5,016 × 3,878 pixels, which shows in exquisite detail the features of this almost Tolkein-like map. The original is held in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, New Haven (tip—at that link, the pictures of the Library's architecture are worth checking out). Image created by Alvesgaspar; picture at the top.
• Dusky Robin (nom and link to a related article), a brown-plumaged bird of the open woodlands in Tasmania, not related to robins of Europe and North America (created by Noodle snacks).
• Bay of Kotor (nom and link to a related article), in south-western Montenegro (formerly part of Yugoslavia) is a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea; the bay is sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord (created by Ggia).
• 3D glass molecular model (nom and link to a related article), of value for demonstrating refraction, Fresnel reflections, caustics, and other effects achieved by ray-tracing and photon mapping (created by Purpy Pupple; picture below).