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By Armbrust
The World Before the Flood, an 1828 oil painting by William Etty, depicts a scene from John Milton's Paradise Lost in which, among a series of visions of the future shown to Adam, he sees the world immediately before the Great Flood. The painting illustrates the stages of courtship as described by Milton; a group of men select wives from a group of dancing women, drag their chosen woman from the group, and settle down to married life. Behind the courting group, an oncoming storm looms, a symbol of the destruction which the dancers and lovers are about to bring upon themselves.
This Signpost "Featured content" report covers material promoted from 30 October to 12 November.
Text may be adapted from the respective articles and lists; see their page histories for attribution.
1907 illustration of Eurasian rock pipits by Henrik Grönvold
Taylor Swift performing during a The 1989 World Tour show in Detroit, Michigan in May 2015.
Tina Maze is one of the two most decorated post-independence Slovenian Olympians, with four medals.

Eight featured articles were promoted.

  • The Eurasian rock pipit (nominated by Jimfbleak) is a small species of passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish-brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. It is territorial at least in the breeding season, and year-round where it is resident. Eurasian rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks with a further 16 days to fledging. Although insects are occasionally caught in flight, the pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water. It is evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  • Allen Walker (nominated by Tintor2) is a fictional character who appears as the protagonist of the manga D.Gray-man by Katsura Hoshino. In the series, set on 19th-century Earth, Allen Walker is a teenager who joins the Black Order, a group of soldiers known as Exorcists. As an Exorcist, Allen is able to use a mysterious object known as Innocence to fight demons known as Akuma. Allen's Innocence takes the form of a giant left arm initially, but evolves over time and gives him new abilities. Over the course of the series, Allen uses these powers to fight the Millennium Earl, who created the army of Akuma to destroy the world, and his super-human followers, the Noah Family. During his adventures, Allen learns he is connected to the Noah and might turn into one of them. Allen has been very popular with D.Gray-man readers, usually ranking in the top three in the series' popularity polls. Reactions to him have also been generally positive in manga and anime publications and other media. His character design has been highly praised, critics noting characteristics atypical of a shōnen protagonist, such as his calm demeanor and mysterious origin.
  • O. G. S. Crawford (nominated by Midnightblueowl) (1886–1957) was a British archaeologist who specialised in the study of prehistoric Britain and the archaeology of Sudan. Working for most of his career as the archaeological officer of the Ordnance Survey, he wrote a range of books on archaeological subjects and was a keen proponent of aerial archaeology.
  • The World Before the Flood (nominated by Iridescent) is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1828 and currently in the Southampton City Art Gallery. When first exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition the painting attracted large crowds, and strongly divided critical opinion. It was greatly praised by many critics, who counted it among the finest works of art in the country. Other reviewers condemned it as crude, tasteless, offensive and poorly executed.
  • Taylor Swift (nominated by FrB.TG and IndianBio) (born 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. One of the most popular contemporary female recording artists, she is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which has received much media attention.
  • Sabrina Sidney (nominated by Worm That Turned and Staceydolxx) (1757–1843) was a British foundling girl taken in when she was twelve by author Thomas Day, who wanted to mould her into his perfect wife. Day had been struggling to find a wife who would share his ideology and had been rejected by several women. Inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's book Emile, or On Education, he decided to educate two girls without any frivolities, using his own concepts.
  • Hands Across Hawthorne (nominated by Another Believer) was a rally held at the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon, in 2011, in response to an attack on a gay male couple one week earlier for holding hands while walking across the bridge. The assault was condemned by Portland's gay mayor, Sam Adams, and its police chief, Mike Reese, and news of the attack spread throughout the United States. The attack prompted volunteers from the Q Center to form street patrols as a means of monitoring Portland's downtown area. Several LGBT and human rights organizations sponsored Hands Across Hawthorne in response to the attack, with the purpose of linking hands across the entire span of the Hawthorne Bridge to show solidarity. More than 4,000 people attended the rally, which had been publicized on a single Facebook page 72 hours previously. The event received attention throughout the United States.
  • Ghost Stories (nominated by Mike Christie) was an American pulp magazine that published 64 issues between 1926 and 1932. It was one of the earliest competitors to Weird Tales, and a companion magazine to True Story and True Detective Stories, and focused almost entirely on stories about ghosts, many of which were written by staff writers but presented under pseudonyms as true confessions. These were often accompanied by faked photographs to make the stories appear more believable. The magazine was initially successful, but began to lose readers, and in 1930 was sold to Harold Hersey. Hersey was unable to reverse the magazine's decline, and Ghost Stories ceased publication at the start of 1932.

Two featured lists were promoted.

  • Ben Affleck (born 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His filming career (nominated by Renamed user henga2423) began in 1981 with a minor part in the independent film The Dark End of the Street. Since then, he has appeared in 47 further films, 2 television films and 39 television episodes. Affleck has also directed six films and wrote the screenplay for four films and a television series.
  • Slovenia first participated as an independent nation at the Olympic Games (nominated by Tone) at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the country has sent athletes to compete at every Games since then. The Slovenian Olympic Committee was established in 1991 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1992. Athletes representing Slovenia have won a total of 23 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 15 at the Winter Olympic Games. Slovenia's most successful Summer Olympics as of 2016 have been the 2000 Summer Olympics where they won two gold medals and the 2008 Summer Olympics where they won five medals overall, including one gold. The most successful winter games were the 2014 Winter Olympics, where Slovenian athletes won a record eight medals, including two gold.

Nine featured pictures were promoted.

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