The Coming Week: 3/15/15-3/21/15

Articles of the Week: Eclipse and Israel

Article: Eclipse

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2)
Pageviews in March 2014: 38,278

What's coming: 2015's total eclipse of the Sun will occur on March 20. In previous year's, eclipses are associated with a spike in pageviews for Eclipse. Already, Eclipse is averaging 10% more daily pageviews than it received in March 2014. A big push here could move Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2), currently at 4th place, into a very tight race for second with 50 Shades of Wiki and The Google, the Veto, and the Mr. Mom.

Article: Israel

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: E-Cigs in Space (Team 5)

Pageviews in March 2014: 293,677

What's coming: Israel has been in the news this month; its pageviews are up 22% from this time last year, probably because of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to U.S. Congress. This speech was fortunately (or, deliberately) well timed for the Prime Minister, just a couple weeks before Israel's Election Day. On March 17, Israel will vote in the Knesset (legislature) elections. It's not clear if Netanyahu will retain his role as Prime Minster; he has recently spoken of a "a tremendous effort, worldwide, to topple" him.

Sustained pageviews for Israel would keep E-Cigs in Space comfortably in 7th place, making 8th place Wiki Wiki What?! needing a March miracle to get out of last place. 

Last Week: 3/8/15-3/14/15

Articles: Giant Clam and Iran

Article: Giant Clam

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Giant Clam (Team 1)

Pageviews in March 2014: 9,386

What happened: Giant Clam's pageviews increased more than tenfold, from 314 on March 4 to 3770 on March 5. It's hard to tell why this happened, but my best guess is it's from a recently published article in Nature. The article, published on March 4th, is entitled "Middle Holocene daily light cycle reconstructed from the strontium/calcium ratios of a fossil giant clam shell." Scientists at the University of Tokyo and Hokkaido University examined an old giant clam shell to learn about ancient light patterns.

Article: Iran

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: Hot Chicks and Jesus (Team 2)

Pageviews in March 2014: 212,660

What happened: It's been a good month so far for Iran. When Israel's Prime Minister spoke to the U.S. Congress, the subject was Iran. Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry continued negotiations with Iran regarding their nuclear program. This prompted a group of Republican Senators to send a letter to Iran independently, challenging what Kerry is attempting to negotiate. The supreme leader of Iran criticized the letter, citing it as evidence of American decline. All this has led to steady pageviews for Iran and more potential points for Hot Chicks and Jesus. 

The Coming Week: 3/8/15-3/14/15

Articles of the Week: Eiffel Tower and Snow

Article: Eiffel Tower

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: Giant Clam (Team 1)
Pageviews in March 2014: 217,978

What's coming: Eiffel Tower is in the "arts" category as one of the few works of architecture in Fantasy Wikipedia. This year, the Eiffel Tower joins other famous buildings such as the Empire State Building with a race to the top. On March 20, sixty runners will ascend the Eiffel Tower in the first such race in the Tower's history.
Whether this will lead to more pageviews is uncertain. Empire State Building did not get many more pageviews on the date of its race last year, February 5 2014. However, with the recent violence in Paris and the Tower's newly installed wind turbines, it's possible that Paris will do more to promote the race over the next couple weeks than New York did for the Empire State Building. That could provide a boost to Eiffel Tower which so far has not been a strong performer for Giant Clam (Team 1).

Article: Snow

Category: Business, Science, & Technology

Owner: Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7)

Pageviews in March 2014: 38,057

What's coming: Despite the heavy snows in the Northeast this year, Snow has not had significant pageviews for Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7). That may change in March. In January and February, Snow was up against a strong performance in 2014, with 73,000 pageviews in January and 60,000 in February. With fewer pageviews in March generally, it will take less for Snow to break out as a strong performer in March. Currently, it is just under the average for March last year. If a major snow comes this month, expect a big jump for Wiki Wiki What?!

Last Week: 3/1/15-3/7/15

Article: Hillary Rodham Clinton

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: E-Cigs in Space (Team 5)

Pageviews in March 2014: 147,893

What happened: Former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was criticized last week after it was revealed she did not use a government e-mail address in her role as Secretary of State. She used personal e-mails over this time, and it's possible she or her aides violated the Federal Records Act by failing to preserve the e-mails on State servers. The usual political reaction occurred: Rachel Maddow at MSNBC said the controversy was "stupid and hypocritical," and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush called the e-mail system "baffling." 

For Fantasy Wikipedia, it led to more pageviews for Hillary Rodham Clinton, doubling her daily pageviews from Monday to Tuesday and maintaining the higher level of pageviews at least through Thursday (Friday data are unavailable so far). If Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains a high level of pageviews, that will bring E-Cigs in Space from 8th place to 7th, pushing Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7) into last place.

Month in Review: February

Team Farticles

Congratulations to Farticles (Team 4), who has pulled ahead in February!

The current team ranks are as follows:

Farticles (Team 4): 149.5 points (+88.5 in February)
50 Shades of Wiki (Team 3): 133.5 points (+79.5 in February)
The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6): 113.5 points (+61.5 in February)
Hot Chicks & Jesus (Team 2): 108.5 points (+76.5 in February)
D's Asters (Team 8): 91.5 points (+25.5 in February)

Giant Clam (Team 1): 57.5 points (+25.5 in February)

Wiki Wiki What?! (Team 7): 29.5 points (+7.5 points in February)
E-Cigs in Space (Team 5): 21 points (+3 points in February)

Farticles has a good lead over second place 50 Shades of Wiki. It's not locked up yet for Farticles though; points scored in March are worth twice as much those awarded in January.

In the middle of the pack are three teams: The Google, The Veto, and The Mr. Mom, Hot Chicks & Jesus, and D's Asters. D's Asters was really the only team to change positions this month; last month's first place team is now in fifth place. D's Asters didn't get the strong Oscars performance that pushed up both Hot Chicks & Jesus and The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom. Still, all these teams are still contenders for first place; a 50 point difference could be made up (look at the difference between the top 4 teams and the bottom 4 teams this month).

At the bottom are Giant Clam, who's comfortably in 6th place, and the two teams struggling to stay out of last place. E-Cigs in Space had the unfortunate placement of Beck on the bench, otherwise Wiki Wiki What?! would be at the bottom.

Articles in detail:

Oscars: Unlike last month, there weren't many major trends affecting multiple articles. The Academy Awards ceremony was the biggest one. The articles scoring big from the Oscars are Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, and Stephen Hawking (all +22.5), and both Reese Witherspoon and Clint Eastwood (both +15). 

New movies: The film version of "Fifty Shades of Grey" brought the article Fifty Shades of Grey up to (+22.5 points), and anticipation of "Jurassic World" continued to bring Jurassic Park to the maximum of +22.5.

Musicians: Katy Perry's performance at the Super Bowl gave her a large bump early in the month, bringing the article Katy Perry to +12. Beck saw more pageviews due to Beck's Grammy win, but E-Cigs in Space was unable to capitalize, since Beck was on his bench this month.

International Crises: The terrorist group ISIS reminded people to check out Iraq and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which are both up +12. Other pages for international leaders, including Kim Jong-Un (+22.5), Fidel Castro (+12) and Angela Merkel (+12), got more activity; Merkel in particular was involved in the continued Greek debt drama and the crisis in Ukraine.

Other news events: Ebola (+22.5) and OPEC (+15) continue to get more pageviews in 2015. Israel (+12) has started to flare up in advance of the upcoming elections and Prime Minister Netanyahu's imminent visit to Congress. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (+22.5) has become a sort of cult hero after drinking too much wine and falling asleep at the State of the Union earlier this year.

Unknown: We are all befuddled about Bank (+22.5), whose pageview history can be seen below. The other big movers were Taylor Swift (+22.5) and Google (+12). I'm not sure what Google has done recently that is newsworthy, and I wouldn't even know where to start figuring out the psychology that has driven more people to the Taylor Swift Wikipedia page this year. Here is the bizarre graph for Wikipedia pageviews for Bank:

The Coming Week: 3/1/15-3/7/15

Articles of the Week: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Article: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: Farticles (Team 4)

Pageviews in March 2014: 28,149

Article: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Category: Geography, Politics, Religion, and History

Owner: D's Asters (Team 8)
Pageviews in March 2014: 156,732

What's coming: Here comes yet another round in the seemingly unending legal battles to declare the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The legislation, aka Obamacare, will be challenged once again on Wednesday March 4, as the Supreme Court hears the case "King v. Burwell, Sec. of H&HS." Already there are signs that Chief Justice John Roberts, whose vote maintained the act in June 2012, will continue to back the healthcare law.

It's not the only case to be heard this week. If anything unusual happens during the court session, expect more news for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is a Supreme Court Justice whose Wikipedia page has already been a cornerstone for frontrunner Farticles (Team 4) throughout Fantasy Wikipedia 2015. Justice Ginsburg made headlines in January for falling asleep during the State of the Union, and again in February for suggesting it was because one of her fellow Justices gave her too much wine before the speech.

In addition to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the article Antonin Scalia is held by 50 Shades of Wiki (Team 3). Scalia is another Supreme Court Justice, famously conservative and personal friends with Ginsburg. Major decisions would likely lead to more pageviews for both Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and a surprise decision on "King v. Burwell, Sec. of H&HS" could lead to an explosion at Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Last Week: 2/22/15-2/28/15

Article: Clint Eastwood

Category: Arts, Entertainment, and Sports

Owner: The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6)

Pageviews in February 2014: 213,511

What happened: It was a good week for The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom (Team 6) at the Oscars. Michael Keaton is on that team, and although Michael Keaton did not win Best Actor, he is still getting plenty of pageviews from "Birdman." The big surprise from the Oscars is that Clint Eastwood, director of the film "American Sniper," got a fair share of news.

It's hard to say exactly what was newsworthy. He had some sort of altercation with actress Margot Robbie. Fox News suggested (warning: do not click; moronic content) that his film did not get any awards because of Clint Eastwood's appearance at the Republican National Convention in 2012. And last, the gossips discussed Clint Eastwood's date and whether they would get married, which I will not justify with a hyperlink. 

Whatever the reason, this led to more pageviews for Clint Eastwood last week, making The Google, The Veto, and the Mr. Mom a major contender going into March.