I enjoy discovering and documenting connections (both shallow and deep) among superficially disparate topics.
I edit a very eclectic and wide array of Wikipedia articles, including those on a number of women artists, such as Niki de Saint Phalle, Marisol Escobar, Isabelle Collin Dufresne, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Remedios Varo, Lucia Moholy, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, Sarah Sze, Muriel Cooper, Felice Frankel, Taylor Davis, Laura McPhee, Rosamond W. Purcell, and Jacqueline Casey. I have also done work on male artists such as Jean-Robert Ipousteguy, Eadweard Muybridge, Ed Kienholz, Paul Delvaux, Thomas Eakins, Maxfield Parrish, Daniel Chester French, Cyrus Dallin, László Moholy-Nagy, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder, Richard Estes, Duane Hanson, Ron Mueck, Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Charles Eames, Russel Wright, Isamu Noguchi, Otto Piene, Michael Leunig, James Turrell, Jamie Wyeth, Wen-Ying Tsai, Paul Matisse, Doug Fitch, Arthur Ganson, and Jeff Lieberman (artist engineer). I've also worked on musical artists and related creators, such as Michael Tilson-Thomas, Johannes Brahms, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alan Hovhaness, Teddy Abrams, Jacob Collier, and Phil Spector.
I have done work on Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the less-known but far more effective pioneering electrical engineer, as well as his flashier contemporary Nikola Tesla. Other interesting engineers include Bob Pease, Bob Widlar, Bob Dobkin, Jim Williams, Henry Kloss, Richard Stallman, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Wozniak, Barbara Liskov, Dave Cutler, Chuck Hoberman, John G. Trump, Hal Laning, Margaret Hamilton, Limor Fried, and Charles Babbage. I have worked on scientists and educators, such as George Gamow, Victor Weisskopf, Richard Feynman, Mary Roach, Moon Duchin, Randall Munroe, Erik Demaine, Philip Morrison, John Ochsendorf, Fernando J. Corbató, James Burke, Edward R. Tufte, Frank Oppenheimer, Norm Abram, Gunther von Hagens, Doc Edgerton, and Leo Beranek. I have also worked on the tragic story of the MIT student Philip Gale, and the much happier stories of Hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the MIT Science Fiction Society, and Traditions and student activities at MIT.
I have worked on biographies of assorted other interesting people, such as Joyce Chen (chef), Jules Verne, Elbridge Gerry, Dmitri Borgmann, Piet Hein, Eve Babitz, Agnes Varda, and Mike Jittlov.
I am interested in connections between technology and art, including Neon art, Kinetic art, Light art, Surrealism, Op Art, and Fore-edge paintings. I am interested in scientific phenomena and devices such as Dust explosions, Fulgurites, Lichtenberg figures, Fire pistons, Stirling engines, Euler's Disk, Tippe tops, Rattlebacks, and Plasma globes. I have worked on materials, such as Silicone, Rust, and Vantablack, as well as Conservation and restoration of plastic objects. I am interested in processes, such as Spirit duplicator, Mimeograph, and Laser printing.
I have worked on Mathematics and art, Anamorphosis, Piphilology, and Mnemonics. I have worked on articles about the development of various abstract symbols, including the Infinity symbol, the Recycling symbol, the Valknut, and the Looped square. I have created or significantly expanded Electromagnetic door holder, Erasing shield, Camera bag, Ink ribbon, and miscellaneous other articles when I found to my surprise that they did not already exist, or left much room for improvement.
I have worked on a number of articles about individual artworks, such as the Tarot Garden, Cloud Gate, Sean Collier Memorial, Fearless Girl, Kendall Band, Appeal to the Great Spirit, Bacchante and Infant Faun, Vessel, and The Sphere.
I am also interested in Educational toys, including Erector Set, Meccano, Anchor Stone Blocks, Girder and Panel building sets, Fischertechnik, Minivac 601, Digi-Comp II, Things of Science, Useless machine, and the infamous Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Laboratory. I have worked on the stories of A. C. Gilbert, Friedrich Fröbel, Seymour Papert, and other educational innovators.
I have worked on articles about various specialized exhibitions, such as Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond, Mathemalchemy, both New York World's Fairs, the Empire State Plaza architecture and Art Collection, Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Museum of Printing, New York Transit Museum, and specialized New York City exhibits at the Queens Museum. I have worked on the MIT Museum, Exploratorium, Ontario Science Centre, American Museum of Natural History, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University Art Gallery, Rose Art Museum, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and numerous other art museums and science/technology centers. I work on architectural articles, such as the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Kresge Auditorium, MIT Chapel, Infinite Corridor, Building 20, and Technology Square; and architects, such as Harry Weese, Benjamin Thompson, Minoru Yamasaki, Paul Rudolph, and Gordon Bunshaft. I expanded the Thomas J. Watson Library article, adding mention of the Nolen Library as well.
I connect many articles via Wikilinks, which I consider to be an important feature of Wikipedia. I crosslinked the articles on the artist Gustave Courbet and geological Karst springs. I have connected the article on Salvador Dalí to the article on the Willis Tower in Chicago, via the article on Glass floors. I have corrected a serious technical error in the article Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles, Wikilinking it to relevant articles on Mechanical impedance and Transformers. I have created or significantly expanded navbar templates, which are helpful in exploring a large set of related articles, such as Template:HVAC, Template:Plumbing, Template:Typewriter, Template:Toilets, Template:Locksmithing, Template:Fire protection, Template:Caves, Template:Nightclub fires, and Template:Road types.
I have added new "Cultural references" sections to articles about mathematical phenomena and artists, connecting mathematics, science, technology, and art. For example, I added a brief section to the article Peaucellier–Lipkin linkage, linking to a new monumental sculpture in the Netherlands which incorporates the linkage. I overhauled the article on Infinity mirrors, including adding a new "Cultural references" section referring Yayoi Kusama, Josiah McElheny, Ivan Navarro, and Taylor Davis as visual artists who have made use of the phenomenon. I have also added a “Cultural references” section to the article on Trolley pole describing some literary connections to Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and James Agee, and added an interesting historical sidelight to the article on Platform gap. I have added some further literary sidelights to the articles Typewriter and IBM Selectric typewriter, as well as extensive technical and historic information.
I am interested in cultural phenomena and artifacts, such as Sidewalk art, Graffiti, Street art, Juicy Salif, and the German Volksempfänger. I have worked on articles about various subcultures, such as Urban exploration, the Hacker ethic, and Hackerspaces.
I have worked on a number of mostly technical articles, such as Gender of connectors and fasteners, Coaxial power connector, Abundance of the chemical elements, Cooling tower, Piping and plumbing fitting, and Knob-and-tube wiring. I have also worked on articles about everyday appliances and services which have significant technical content, such as Dry cleaning, Washing machine, Central vacuum cleaner, and Fly-killing device. I have contributed to articles about the history of computing technology, such as Harvard Mark I, TX-0, ASCII, Punched tape, DECtape, Flip Chip (PDP module), Multics, Incompatible Timesharing System, DECSYSTEM-20, PDP-11, RSX-11, RT-11, ASR33, VT100, Tektronix 4010, Heathkit, and Monrobot XI.
I have edited numerous articles related to transportation and infrastructure, both around Boston and worldwide, such as Tunnel, Rapid transit, Slurry wall, Turnstile, Erie Canal, Escalator, Paternoster lift, Stairs, Utility tunnel, and Gas lighting. I have worked on articles related to health and safety, including Mothball, Airbag, Seat belt, Underride guard, Gas leak, Escape chute, Exit sign, Stray voltage, Laboratory safety, Beryllium, Mercury (element), Electrical outlet tester, and List of civilian radiation accidents.
I have done some very modest editing of the French Wikipedia, crosslinking and importing material to/from the English Wikipedia. I have worked on English Wikipedia articles related to the French language, such as List of French expressions in English, verb framing, Quebec French, Quebec French profanity, and French cultural artifacts such as Asterix. I occasionally import material from the German, Italian, Spanish, or other language Wikipedias, but don't edit them much because I am not sufficiently fluent in those languages.
I also have edited the WP:Manual of Style and various Wikipedia help files and tutorials when I identify common editing issues and errors, or realize that I can make powerful and helpful tools more accessible to all editors, from newbies to experts.
In the future, I hope to work on articles about Jean Tinguely, Anish Kapoor, George Rickey, Claes Oldenburg, John F Pile, some overlooked women photographers, and some pioneering audio engineers such as Roy Allison and Barry Blesser.
_-_Detail.jpg){kind=small}
