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Revision as of 12:17, 13 September 2006

File:Wickedmain.png
No rest for the wicked -- and hopelessly addicted editors

A friend introduced me to Wikipedia in early April, and it was like waking up from a nap, with warm sun on my face.


I love sharing about nifty subjects, so Wikipedia is like crack for me. There's something — magical in passing on what you've learned to a friend, and in learning from them in return.


I like crafty things, and making gifts for other people, although it sometimes gets me in trouble. I also like beautiful, symmetrical things, which means that I end up studying too much science. So that's what I write about.

Writing is fun, although words aren't tame; they never seem to say what I want them to. My favorite book is Middlemarch by George Eliot, which I can read over and over. I also love vivid, poetic language, ranging from Homer and Sappho to silly, fun stories like those of P. G. Wodehouse.

I also enjoy music, especially musicians like Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls and (early) Tori Amos. My own playing is lame, though, so I only play when no one's around; I'm better at riffing on this keyboard.


I'm a wiki-newbie, so I'm still figuring out how to do things, although the Help pages are great. If you have any suggestions or helpful hints, please let me know. Thanks for stopping by!


Fun articles

I contributed to an article about No Rest for the Wicked, a wonderful webcomic that I read.

Did I mention that I like to knit?

I've also created some craft-related pages:

and helped out with another


I'd also like to add some articles about clothing design. I've begun with

I really need to add some pictures/figures to these articles. :( I also added some polishing touches to


A few other random crafty contributions...

Biographical articles

A Fayum portrait, sometimes said to be Hypatia

I've created mini-biographies of people and places that I admire...


...and contributed to a few others


Biochemistry articles

Biochemistry students have it rough - so much to learn! And so few good textbooks - it's a recipe for Confusion Stew. Here's my dash of paprika ;)

One of the most common proteins in your body; immanent beauty, no?

I spiffed up a few articles as well

Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology, although I'm just beginning to contribute to the project. I set up our article worklist and make some linked navigational templates on protein structure

and on biochemicals (under construction — don't look, please!...unless you want to help out, mwahaha)

They were fun, I've learned a lot making them! :)

Physics articles

Physics is beautiful; I always wish I understood more. I started a few articles about nifty topics...

The whole universe could be discerned from a single scene, if we could only see it in sufficient detail — Leibniz

...and helped out with a few others

I try to write articles about topics that puzzled me when I was a student, so as to help the next generation. Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics, although I haven't contributed much there.

Mathematical articles

Making new mathematics articles is fun, especially if geometry is involved

File:MargaretHamiltoninTheWizardOfOz.jpg
Euclid: There is no Yellow Brick Road to Geometry. (Margaret Hamilton is cool! :)

I love that feeling when you choose just the right coordinates and a big, terrifying problem dissolves into something trivial. It's like throwing water on the Wicked Witch of the West. ;)


I've contributed to existing articles as well

Someday, I'll add some stuff about my first love, map projections. Wikipedia's already pretty good, though! Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics, although I haven't contributed much there, either.

Chemistry articles

I've never been good at chemistry - bleh :p So I've only fixed up a few articles

Categories and user boxes

I was really timid when I made my first few categories...

...but then I went a little wild...

Hopefully, more Wikipedians who love the same crafts will find each other by following these links. Unfortunately, I don't really know what I'm doing, so I really hope that someone knowledgeable about Userboxes will fix mine up.


As part of a proto-WikiProject(s?) on clothing/textiles/fashion, several of us have been organizing categories into a coherent framework. Here are a few of the new categories

Inter-Wiki stuff

Original sources are great for encyclopedia articles since they are the ultimate references and, strangely, they're often written more understandably than secondary works. Unfortunately, many original sources (or translations thereof) aren't in the public domain or simply have never been rendered electronically. I've begun adding some original texts (along with my translations) to the Wikisources

I'm really fond of Aristotle.


Fun dialog written by Leibniz at the age of 27 that gives a good sampling of the themes running throughout his philosophy.


Assertion of the principle of least action by Maupertuis in April 1744, but only for light, not matter. Maupertuis shows the equivalence of minimizing time (Fermat's principle) and action, and asserts without justification that action is more fundamental.


In the fall of 1744, Euler proposed the principle of least action for mechanics, not light, independently of Maupertuis. Euler also notes that the principle holds only when speed was a function of position (in modern langage, when the total energy of the particle is constant).


Assertion by Maupertuis in 1746 that he invented the principle of least action as a general principle, and that Euler merely applied it to determining the motion of planets. Maupertuis does not seem to understand the principle, since he mis-applies it to perfectly elastic/inelastic two-body collisions and mechanical equilibrium.


Remarkably, Euler gives all the credit for the principle to Maupertuis a few years later, in 1752. Ironically, Leibniz may have been the original inventor of the principle, in 1707, at least for mechanics.


Article for which Einstein was awarded the Nobel prize, where he first introduces a "photon"-like concept.
Amazingly prescient talk in which Einstein introduces wave-particle duality (decades ahead of everyone else) and argues forcefully for particles (photons) that carry the energy and momentum of light. Unfortunately, European copyright restrictions prevent the original 1909 Einstein article from being added to the German Wikisource; check back in 2026 (it'll go by quickly! ;)


A breathtakingly beautiful poem from my favorite German poet. Lame translation soon to follow.


I've also entered other nifty works in the public domain, such as

and some brief essays by Kurt Tucholsky, modern, bitter-sweet and beautiful:

Tucholsky's works entered the public domain this year (2006).


Other trivia about me

I share Catherine's optimism that Wikipedia deserves our devotion, despite its vandals and scandals and sometimes silly personality clashes. (She's an INFP, too!) Wikipedia feels like a medieval cathedral of knowledge being built over a century, one that brings together a community of wonderful, well-meaning people.

When I was about seven, my grandmother gave me a Children's Book of Knowledge, a fat, yellow book that I read over and over even after the binding had cracked in three places. I loved all the chapters, especially those about different lands and languages. Somehow, my articles now feel like gifts to my younger self.


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