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Cream of the crop

The Cleveland Centennial half dollar was designed by Brenda Putnam, which was approved by the Commission of Fine Arts after suggestions by sculptor Lee Lawrie.

This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 9 to 29 October.
Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.

Featured articles

SMS Kaiser Karl der Grosse in 1902
Cover of the May 1952 issue of Weird Tales, art by Virgil Finlay
Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead.
Sudeep, Nani and S. S. Rajamouli during the filming of Eega
Alyssa Milano recorded her last song in 1995.
Clacton Cliffs and Foreshore is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Essex.

Fourteen featured articles were promoted.

  • The Divisional Cavalry Regiment (nominated by Kges1901) was an armoured cavalry regiment of the 2nd New Zealand Division during the Second World War and was New Zealand's first armoured unit. It served as a reconnaissance force for the 2nd New Zealand Division. Formed in 1939, the regiment embarked for Egypt in 1940. It fought with the division, as part of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy. The regiment formed part of J Force, New Zealand's contribution to the occupation of Japan at the end of the war. Stationed in southern Kyushu, it was disbanded in 1947.
  • SMS Kaiser Karl der Grosse (nominated by Parsecboy) was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, built around the turn of the 20th century for the Kaiserliche Marine. It was built in Hamburg, at the Blohm and Voss shipyard. Completed in 1902, it served with the active fleet until 1908, when it was withdrawn from active service and placed in the Reserve Division. At the outbreak of World War I, the ship was placed back in active duty as a coastal defense ship, though in 1915 she was again placed in reserve. Kaiser Karl der Grosse was briefly used as a training ship and ended her career as a prison ship. Following the German defeat in 1918, she was sold to ship-breakers and scrapped in 1920. The ship was armed with four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns in two twin gun turrets and had a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).
  • Weird Tales (nominated by Mike Christie) is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in 1923. The first editor, Edwin Baird, printed early work by H. P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, and Clark Ashton Smith, but within a year the magazine was in financial trouble. Henneberger sold his interest in the publisher to Lansinger and refinanced Weird Tales, with Farnsworth Wright as the new editor. The magazine was more successful under Wright, and despite occasional financial setbacks it prospered over the next fifteen years. In 1938 the magazine was sold to William Delaney, and within two years Wright was replaced by Dorothy McIlwraith as editor. The magazine is considered by critics to have declined under McIlwraith from its heyday in the 1930s. Weird Tales ceased publication in 1954, but since then numerous attempts have been made to relaunch it, starting in 1973. The longest-lasting version began in 1988 and ran for over 20 years under an assortment of publishers. As of 2016, the most recent published issue was dated Spring 2014.
  • Neal Dow (nominated by Coemgenus) (1804–1897) was an American prohibition advocate and politician. In 1850, Dow was elected president of the Maine Temperance Union, and the next year was elected mayor of Portland. As mayor of Portland, Dow enforced the Maine Law with vigor and called for increasingly harsh penalties for violators. In 1855, his opponents rioted and he ordered the state militia to fire on the crowd. One man was killed and several wounded, and when public reaction to the violence turned against Dow, he chose not to face the voters for reelection. Dow was later elected to two terms in the state legislature, but retired after a financial scandal. He joined the Union Army shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, eventually attaining the rank of brigadier general. In 1880, Dow headed the Prohibition Party ticket for President of the United States. He gained very few votes, but continued to write and speak on behalf of the prohibition movement for the rest of his life.
  • Secretariat (nominated by Montanabw and Jlvsclrk) (1970–1989) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who, in 1973, became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, and was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. His record-breaking win in the Belmont Stakes, where he left the field 31 lengths behind him, is widely regarded as one of the greatest races of all time.
  • Hope (nominated by Iridescent) is a Symbolist oil painting by the English painter George Frederic Watts, the first two versions of which were completed in 1886. Radically different from previous treatments of the subject, it shows a lone blindfolded female figure sitting on a globe, playing a lyre which has only a single string remaining. The background is almost blank, its only visible feature a single star. Watts intentionally used symbolism not traditionally associated with hope to make the painting's meaning ambiguous. While his use of colour in Hope was greatly admired, at the time of its exhibition many critics disliked the painting. Hope proved popular with the Aesthetic Movement, who considered beauty the primary purpose of art and were unconcerned by the ambiguity of its message. In the 20th century Martin Luther King Jr. and Jeremiah Wright both based influential sermons on the painting. Obama took "The Audacity of Hope" as the theme of his 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address, and as the title of his 2006 book; he based his successful 2008 presidential campaign around the theme of "Hope".
  • Heavy metals (nominated by Sandbh) are generally defined as metals with relatively high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers. The criteria used, and whether metalloids are included, vary depending on the author and context. More specific definitions have been published but none of these have been widely accepted. The definitions surveyed in this article encompass up to 96 out of the 118 chemical elements; only mercury, lead and bismuth meet all of them. Despite this lack of agreement the term is widely used in science.
  • Eega (nominated by Pavanjandhyala) is a 2012 Indian bilingual fantasy film written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad and directed by his son, S. S. Rajamouli. It was produced by Varahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of 260 to 400 million, and was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil. The narrative of Eega is in the form of a bedtime story told by a father to his daughter. Its protagonist is Nani, who is in love with his neighbour Bindu. Nani is murdered by a wealthy businessman named Sudeep, who is attracted to Bindu and considers Nani a rival. Nani reincarnates as a housefly and tries to protect Bindu while avenging his death. The performances of the principal cast, Rajamouli's direction, and visual effects received critical acclaim upon release.
  • Chad Harris-Crane (nominated by Aoba47) is a fictional character on the American soap opera Passions, which aired on NBC from 1999 to 2007 and on DirecTV in 2007–08. Developed by the soap's creator and head writer James E. Reilly, Chad was portrayed by two actors over the course of the show: Donn Swaby and Charles Divins. Critical response to Chad was mixed; some reviewers praised the sensationalism of the incest storyline with Whitney Russell, while others criticized his relationship with Vincent Clarkson as an irresponsible and problematic representation of racial and sexual identity. The character marks a notable step in daytime television and soap opera history; as it was the first depiction in a soap opera of two men having sex. Chad has also been cited as expanding the representation of LGBT characters of color on daytime television.
  • Ontario Highway 420 (nominated by Floydian) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects the Queen Elizabeth Way with downtown Niagara Falls. It continues east as a limited-access expressway to connect with the Rainbow Bridge international crossing between Canada and the United States over the Niagara River. West of the Queen Elizabeth Way, the freeway ends at an at-grade intersection with Montrose Road.
  • The Cleveland Centennial half dollar (nominated by Wehwalt) is a commemorative United States half dollar struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1936 and 1937, though all bear the earlier date. It was issued to mark the 100th anniversary of Cleveland, Ohio as an incorporated city, and in commemoration of the Great Lakes Exposition, held in Cleveland in 1936.
  • HMS Alceste (nominated by Ykraps) was built at Rochefort in 1804 for the French Navy as Minerve, an Armide-class frigate. The British seized her in an action in 1806, and the Royal Navy took the ship into service as Alceste in 1807; Alceste then continued to serve throughout the Napoleonic Wars. In 1814, Alceste was converted to a troopship and used to transport British soldiers to North America during the War of 1812. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1815, Alceste carried Lord Amherst on his 1816 diplomatic mission to China. On the return journey, she struck a reef in the Java Sea; her wreck was subsequently plundered and burned by Malayan pirates.
  • "Don't Say You Love Me" (nominated by Freikorp) is the debut single by M2M. The song first appeared on Radio Disney before its official US radio and single release in 1999. It was released on the soundtrack to the film Pokémon: The First Movie and appears in the film's closing credits. The song was featured on M2M's debut album, Shades of Purple, and also appeared on their compilation album The Day You Went Away: The Best of M2M. The song received positive reviews. It reached number 2 in Norway, number 4 in both Australia and New Zealand, number 16 in the UK and number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was certified gold in the United States and Australia and remained M2M's biggest hit.
  • The Turboliners (nominated by Mackensen) were a family of gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were among the first new equipment purchased by Amtrak and represented an attempt to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The new trains led to ridership increases wherever they were used; the fixed consist proved a detriment as demand outstripped supply. The last Turboliner trainsets left revenue service in 2003.

Featured lists

Six featured lists were promoted.

  • Alyssa Milano (born 1972) is an American actress, producer, and former singer. She recorded songs (nominated by Aoba47) for four studio albums, two compilation albums, and an exercise video.
  • In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoueverable, long-distance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers. Sixteen destroyers have served, or currently serve, in the Indian Navy. (nominated by Krishna Chaitanya Velaga) The navy operates 10 guided-missile destroyers from three classes: Kolkata class, Delhi class, and Rajput class. Six other destroyers (three R class and three Hunt class) have been decommissioned and scrapped.
  • Square Enix Europe is a British video game publisher which is wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix acquired game publisher Eidos plc in 2009, which was then merged with Square Enix's European publishing wing and reorganized as Square Enix Europe. Since its formation Square Enix Europe published 35 retail, downloadable, and mobile games. (nominated by PresN)
  • In professional wrestling, championships are competed for in pre-determined matches and as a result of storylines by a professional wrestling promotion roster of wrestlers. As of 2016 the Mexican Lucha libre or professional wrestling promotion known as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotes 23 different championships (nominated by MPJ-DK); 12 championships designated as World Championships in various divisions, 5 championships on a national level and 6 championships on a regional level. There are thirteen male singles championships spread out over various weight classes, three championships for tag teams, three for Trios (three-man teams), two for female competitors and two for Mini-Estrella competitors.
  • The Ariel Award for Best Director (nominated by Jaespinoza) is an award presented by the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas in Mexico. It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the Mexican film industry. With the exception of the years 1959 to 1971, when the Ariel Awards were suspended, the award has been given annually. Nominees and winners are determined by a committee formed every year consisting of academy members, previous winners and individuals with at least two Ariel nominations. David Pablos is the latest recipient.
  • Essex is a county in the east of England. It has an area of 1,420 sq mi (3,700 km2), with a coastline of 400 mi (640 km), and a population of 1,393,600 (according to the 2011 census). As of August 2016, there are 86 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Essex (nominated by Dudley Miles). There are 19 sites with a purely geological interest, 64 sites for biological interest and a further three sites are designated for both reasons.

Featured pictures

Fourteen featured pictures were promoted.