Wikipedia-Joys of the fourth upper premolar (P4)

Did you know about the strenous relationship between professionals and amateurs in 1920s cricket? Me neither. Did you care that, the fourth lower premolar (p4) of Seorsumuscardinus is known from a poorly preserved specimen from Oberdorf and a less worn specimen from Tägernaustrasse? I didn't until yesterday.

One of the major marvellous things about Wikipedia is that it is possible to learn something new and interesting all the times and that even obscure looking topics become interesting when you know a little more about them. My most favourite way of learning through Wikipedia is by writing articles. Almost as rewarding is following featured and almost-featured content on the Wikipedias. While being a reviewer and reader on German Wikipedia (de.wp), I was only a reader on English Wikipedia (en.wp) until three days ago.

One of the minor marvellous things on en.wp is the signpost the weekly "newspaper" about Wikipedia. It's just more thourough and reliable than anything comparable on de.wp. A feature that I have been just discovered is "The best of the week": a listing of featured articles, lists sounds etc. with one guest editor choosing his favorite article. And to make a long story short, this week the editor was me. Good opportunity to discover some really nice articles:

Seorsumuscardinus, a fossil dormouse, surprised me with cited literature like "Kleinsäuger aus der Miozänmolasse der Ostschweiz" but doesn't even have an interwiki to de. One of our German biologist gone rogue? But no, wasn't even written by one of our German specialists. Thourough, professional, detailed, but maybe just a too dry subject matter for a really great article. Lots of info about premolars though,

"The Body" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - yeah, one of the (in)famous episode-articles and finally my choice of the week. About a television series about which I really don't care. Almost everything I'd like to have on de.wp, and another proof that it is possible to write brilliant prose about popular culture. The choice of sources could be a bit less DVD-making-of-like, but still a winner.

Yorkshire captaincy affair of 1927 Actually a nice article about sports and its background, but somehow it didn't click. Maybe because Yorkshire is my favorite English region, maybe because sports and its social background is a longterm topic of mine, maybe I was expecting too much. Nice to read nonetheless but nothing I could get excited about.

Banksia scabrella Boring.

Wandsworth Bridge I took a kind of liking to "probably the least noteworthy bridge in London" as well as to the article. As a fan of 40s/50s/60s/70s architecture this speaks to my heart. One of the things I really admire about Wikipedia is its broad interests. Not only the bridges that everything has been written about by everybody, but also these important buildings with interesting history but unobstrusive design.