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Featured content in Wikipedia Featured content represents the best that Wikipedia has to offer. These are the articles, pictures, and other contributions that showcase the polished result of the collaborative efforts that drive Wikipedia. All featured content undergoes a thorough review process to ensure that it meets the highest standards and can serve as the best example of our end goals. A small bronze star () in the top right corner of a page indicates that the content is featured. This page gives links to all of Wikipedia's featured content and showcases one randomly selected example of each type of content. You can view another one at . Also check out featured content from the other Wikimedia projects.

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Featured article: December 10, 2008 Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel and Marcel Dupré among his teachers. He was appointed organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris in 1931, a post he held until his death. On the fall of France in 1940 Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, and while incarcerated he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four available instruments, piano, violin, cello, and clarinet. Messiaen was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941, and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until his retirement in 1978. Messiaen's music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greek and from Hindu sources), and is harmonically and melodically based on modes of limited transposition, which were Messiaen's own innovation. Many of Messiaen's compositions are for the piano, or contain a part for solo piano, inspired by the virtuosity of his wife Yvonne Loriod; they often depict what Messiaen termed "the marvellous aspects of the faith", drawing on his unshakeable Roman Catholicism. Messiaen found birdsong fascinating; he believed birds to be the greatest musicians and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated birdsongs worldwide, and he incorporated birdsong transcriptions into a majority of his music. (more...) Recently featured: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami – Elaine Paige – USS Nevada (BB-36)

Featured portal U.S. Roads

Featured sound Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech after the Pearl Harbor attacks (file info)

Featured picture: November 20, 2008 A poster for the United States National Park Service, showing a deer drinking from a stream in the forest. This was one of more than 200,000 works created as part of the Federal Art Project, which was the visual arts arm of the Great Depression-era New Deal WPA Federal One program. FAP artists created posters, murals and paintings; some of which stand among the most significant pieces of public art in the country. Poster credit: Frank S. Nicholson Recently featured: Paradise fish – Euhadra peliomphala – Abner Doubleday

Featured list: List of U.S. state name etymologies

Map showing the source languages of state names State name Date of First Original language Year of First Original language Language of origin Word of origin Meaning and Notes Alabama April 19 1742 Choctaw albah amo "Thicket-clearers" or "plant-cutters", from albah, "(medicinal) plants", and amo, "to clear". The modern Choctaw name for the tribe is Albaamu. Alaska December 2 1897 Aleut via Russian alaxsxaq via Аляска "Mainland" (literally "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed"). Arizona February 1 1883 Basque aritz ona "The good oak". O'odham via Spanish ali ṣona-g via Arizonac "Having a little spring". Spanish zonas áridas "arid zones". Arkansas July 20 1796 Kansa, via Illinois and French akaansa Borrowed from a French spelling of an Illinois rendering of the tribal name kką:ze (see Kansas, below), which the Miami and Illinois used to refer to the Quapaw. California May 22 1850 Spanish Unknown Probably named for the fictional Island of California ruled by Queen Calafia in the 16th century novel Las sergas de Esplandián by García Ordóñez de Montalvo. See also: Origin of the name California See full list...

Featured topic: Supernatural (season 1)
| discuss | book 3 articles Supernatural (season 1) "Pilot" "Devil's Trap"

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Articles Pictures Lists 1740 Batavia massacre Singapore strategy Lactarius torminosus Gabriel Fauré SMS Ostfriesland Tichborne case John Sherman Cooper Giraffe Battle of Radzymin (1920) American Cream Draft Steamtown, USA Hedley Verity United States Assay Commission Ficus obliqua John Francis Jackson Saint Catherine's Monastery Lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo Lucky Diamond Rich Saint John the Apostle church, Sheepscombe Anagallis monelli Wood Duck Bald Eagle Portrait The Second of May 1808 Maria Amalia of Saxony African buffalo skull Hammersmith Bridge, London Boston Massacre Monarch butterfly Short-tailed Shearwater USS Arizona on the East River List of amphibians of Michigan 1936 Summer Olympics medal table Casting Crowns discography Timeline of the 1990 Atlantic hurricane season Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play LCD Soundsystem discography List of Liverpool F.C. players (25–99 appearances) List of accolades received by The Lord of the Rings film trilogy List of Malmö FF managers List of Connecticut Huskies in the WNBA Draft Birmingham City F.C. league record by opponent List of Tranmere Rovers F.C. players List of Olympic medalists in art competitions List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2011 (U.S.) List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Waqar Younis Portals Sounds (Inactive) Topics Arts Animation History Conservatism Napoleonic Wars Renewable energy Supreme Court of the United States Michigan Highways London Transport Hudson Valley Arthropods Somerset Law of England and Wales Barack Obama U.S. Roads Grand Prix motorcycle racing World champions Faryl Smith Philadelphia Phillies all-time roster 1997 Atlantic hurricane season Song Dynasty 1952 Winter Olympics 1991 Atlantic hurricane season Crex Minas Geraes-class battleships National Treasures of Japan Lists of Grand Tour general classification winners Fringe (season 2) Hugo Awards Voalavo Thatgamecompany

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