Wikipedia:Today's featured list/December 2015
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December 4
The 1992 Atlantic hurricane season produced six named tropical cyclones, a below-average number. The season officially started on June 1 and finished on November 30; however, Subtropical Storm One formed outside the official timeline on April 21. It was the first recorded subtropical cyclone to form in April since such recordings began in 1968. During the year, three tropical depressions, one subtropical storm, two tropical storms, and four hurricanes formed. It produced seven storms, less than the average of ten usually formed throughout an Atlantic hurricane season. The first cyclone to form inside the official season was Tropical Depression One, which formed on June 25. Of the four hurricanes, Hurricane Andrew (satellite image pictured) was the most intense, reaching Category 5 status. When Andrew struck Florida and Louisiana in August, it became the second-costliest hurricane to hit the United States. Damages were estimated to be about $26.5 billion and 68 people were killed. (Full list...)
December 7
There are more than 20 subspecies of the Eurasian nuthatch, a small passerine bird found throughout temperate Asia and in Europe. The Eurasian nuthatch taxa can be divided into three main groups; the S. e. caesia group of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the S. e. europaea group (pictured) of Scandinavia, Russia, Japan and northern China and the S. e. sinensis group of southern and eastern China and Taiwan. These may have been geographically isolated from each other until relatively recently. Birds of intermediate appearance occur where the group ranges overlap. The female is usually slightly duller than the male with a brown tint to the eyestripe and paler underparts, although the sexes are very similar in the S. e. sinensis group. The precise number of subspecies depends on how small differences between populations are evaluated. Given the similarities between geographical forms of the Eurasian nuthatch, subspecies boundaries are somewhat fluid, although less than half as many are recognised now as in 1967. (Full list...)
December 11
There are more than 60 nature reserves in the London Borough of Barnet. The borough, which is on the northern outskirts of London, is mainly residential, but it has large areas of green space and farmland. The spread of suburban development into the countryside was halted by the designation of a statutory Green Belt around London after the Second World War, and almost one third of Barnet's area of 8,663 hectares (21,410 acres) is Green Belt. Barnet has large areas with designations intended to protect them from "inappropriate development", and to "provide the strongest protection for the preservation of Barnet's green and natural open spaces". As well as 2,466 hectares (6,090 acres) hectares of Green Belt, Barnet has another 690 hectares (1,700 acres) of Metropolitan Open Land, which receive a similar level of protection. Most of Barnet lies over London Clay, which is poor for agriculture, and open land is mainly used for horse grazing, playing fields, parks and golf courses. (Full list...)
December 14
The relationship between the main characters in The Last of Us, an action-adventure survival horror video game developed by Naughty Dog, became the basis of the game's development. The two main characters in The Last of Us are an older man, Joel, and a teenaged girl, Ellie. Joel is tasked with escorting Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States in an attempt to create a potential cure against an infection to which Ellie is immune. Joel is the primary playable character of the game, though players assume control of Ellie for a short portion. Throughout their journey, Joel and Ellie meet various characters. A team at Naughty Dog designed the character appearances, and creative director Neil Druckmann (pictured) was the main writer of their personalities and mannerisms. The actors were given considerable license to improvise the lines and influence character personality, simultaneously performing the motion capture work for their characters. Various characters were influenced by the story progression, ultimately becoming completely different from the initial vision. (Full list...)
December 18
Brad Pitt's acting career began in 1987 with uncredited roles in the films No Way Out and Less Than Zero. Pitt first gained recognition in Thelma & Louise (1991), and received his first Academy Award nomination for the role of a mental patient in 12 Monkeys (1995). To star in the apocalyptic film Fight Club (1999), he had to learn boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. He portrayed Rusty Ryan in the commercially successful heist film Ocean's Eleven (2001), and reprised the role in its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). For his roles in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011), he received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Pitt owns the production company Plan B Entertainment, which has produced films such as Troy (2004), The Departed (2006), Moneyball, and 12 Years a Slave (2013). Among these is the apocalyptic film World War Z (2013), his biggest commercial success to date. (Full list...)
December 21
Sixty-six races have been red-flagged in Formula One, the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, motorsport's world governing body. A red flag (pictured) is shown when there has been an accident or the track conditions are poor enough to warrant the race being stopped. The flags are displayed by the marshals at various points around the circuit. Following a red flag being shown, the exit of the pit lane is closed and cars must proceed to the starting grid slowly, without overtaking. From 2005, a ten-minute warning is given before the race is resumed behind the safety car, which leads the field for a lap before it returns to the pit lane. Twenty-six of the sixty-six red-flagged Formula One races were restarted on the first lap. Thirteen races were not restarted, nine because of rain and four due to accidents involving drivers. Five races were stopped due to incidents that resulted in fatalities. (Full list...)
December 25
There are 49 Grade I listed ecclesiastical buildings in the English county of Cumbria. Buildings in England are given listed building status by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, acting on the recommendation of Historic England. Listed status gives the structure national recognition and protection against alteration or demolition without authorisation. Grade I listed buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important"; only 2.5 per cent of listed buildings are included in this grade. There have been Christian churches in Cumbria since the Anglo-Saxon era. Anglo-Saxon elements to be found in the churches include the lower parts of the towers of St Michael, Beetham (pictured), and St Laurence, Morland. Many of the churches have Norman features. Gothic features are found in churches that originated at a later date, such as All Saints, Boltongate, and in additions to older churches. St James, Whitehaven, is in Georgian style, as is the nave of St Andrew, Penrith. (Full list...)
December 28
HMV's Poll of Polls was an annual list of albums compiled by British music retailer HMV from 1998 to 2012. The listing was created each December by collating year-end polls from approximately 30 music magazines, newspapers and guides to determine the most critically acclaimed albums of the year. An album's placing in the list was determined by the number of different polls in which it was included. In the event of two records featuring in the same number of polls, the album with the highest combined placings was given the higher position on the Poll of Polls. Hello Nasty by American hip hop group Beastie Boys topped the first chart. Subsequent polls were topped by acts such as Daft Punk, Queens of the Stone Age and Kanye West. The only act to top the listing more than once was Canadian band Arcade Fire (pictured), who were number one in both 2005 and 2010 with Funeral and The Suburbs respectively. Commentators observed a disparity between the albums that placed highly in the Poll of Polls and those that were the year's biggest-selling. Albums released through independent record labels often performed well in the poll. (Full list...)