User:Macrakis

Stavros Macrakis
Cambridge, Massachusetts I've worked in software for 50+ years, in a variety of areas: Macsyma, a computer algebra system, and now on its open-source version Maxima; on Lisp language implementation and design; on Ada language design and compilers; on programming language design in general; on operating system kernels; on an architecture-neutral distribution format; on database management systems; on enterprise storage systems; on Web infrastructure software; on Web search; on airline pricing; on enterprise search with rich structured data; etc. My dissertation was on the design of programming languages.

I am now working on the open-source search engine OpenSearch, and my travel guide project is on the back burner.

I have a variety of other interests.

I'm interested in linguistics and languages, especially English, Greek (fluent in modern, rusty in ancient), French (fluent), Italian (good), Latin (rusty), Arabic (basic), and Turkish (including Ottoman) (basic).

I'm interested in encyclopedias both for their form and their content, and have in my personal collection several English, French, and Greek encyclopedias from the 19th and 20th centuries.

I'm interested in architecture and design of various periods, and have a collection of kilims.

I enjoy eating and cooking, and am very interested in food history.

About Wikipedia
Wikipedia has tremendous potential, but it is discouraging to see how much effort we have to spend to deal with mindless vandalism, puerile boosterism and nationalism, and crank POV-pushing. It is also time-consuming to correct well-meaning but ill-informed enthusiasts, and to try to educate people about good research practices, but at least there you feel you're acting in an educational role.

I guess my philosophy on participating in WP is to try to be reasonable with reasonable people, and even more reasonable with unreasonable people.

I'm interested in the history of food, and contribute to WikiProject Food and drink. There is a lot of folklore and invention around the history of food, so it's especially important to have reliable sources, not just cookbooks and certainly not random Web pages, which is why I started the page on sources for food history. It's also important to maintain a neutral point of view in food history articles, and not uncritically adopt such terms as "original", "authentic", "traditional", etc. to describe foods and recipes; see my essay "Original", "traditional", "authentic", and other distracting terminology for some further thoughts.

Articles I've given up on
These are some articles where the amount and virulence of edit-warring and tendentious editing is just too much, so I've given up on editing them:


 * Baklava
 * Vlachs

Articles
These are articles I've created, articles I've contributed a lot to, or simply articles where I think I've made a difference.

Language
English words of Greek origin · Idiot · Tiffany (name) Grecs du roi · Greek Font Society · Ottoman Turkish alphabet Thesaurus · Triantafyllidis dictionary Heteronym (linguistics) · Homophonic translation · Irreversible binomial · Libfix · Palindrome · Pseudo-anglicism · Synonym

Proverbs and phrases
A language is a dialect with an army and navy · Five Ws · Straw that broke the camel's back · What does not kill me makes me stronger

Cambridge and Boston
List of companies founded by Harvard University alumni (actually its predecessor article List of companies founded by Harvard and Radcliffe College alumni) Design Research (store) · Norumbega Tower · Technology Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts) Stony Brook (Charles River tributary, Weston) · Stony Brook (Charles River tributary, Boston) · Stony Brook (Merrimack River tributary) Five Fields
 * List of companies founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Dishes
Baked apple · Baklava · Beef bourguignon · Beef Stroganoff · Cappon magro · Christmas ham · Crème caramel · Custard · Dolma · Fettuccine Alfredo · Fondue · French fries · Fried clams · Greek pizza · Hummus · Key lime pie · Ladera · Meat chop · Mont Blanc (dessert) · Moussaka · Panna cotta · Pastitsio · Russian dressing · Steak Diane · Tête de veau · Welsh rabbit · Whipped cream

Foods and ingredients
Bottarga · Brined cheese · Caramel color · Cured pork tenderloin · Filo · Herbes de Provence · King of Cheeses · Red meat · Scrod · Strained yogurt

People
Curnonsky · Robert Courtine · Lancelot de Casteau · Prosper Montagné · Cristoforo di Messisbugo · Jane Ellison (Borden) · Menon (cookbook author) · E. N. Anderson · Beniamino Schiavon, "Mr. Nino" of the Drake · Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq · Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi · Marcel Rouff

Cuisines
Mediterranean cuisine · Mediterranean diet · Greek cuisine · Cuisine bourgeoise

Restaurants
The Colony (restaurant) · Quaglino's · Waldorf System · Joel's Bohemia

Other
Bonne Maman · Culinary name · Milkshake machine · USENET Cookbook · Colonial goods store · Salad bowl · Chimney starter · Instant sauce · Fifth (unit) · L'Art culinaire · Le Pot-au-feu · La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange · Celebrity wall · Gueridon service · Repast (magazine) · Sources for food history · Original, authentic, and traditional (essay)

Mathematics and logic
Floor and ceiling functions · Polynomial decomposition Consensus theorem · Blake canonical form · Inclusion (Boolean algebra)

Software and computing
Wide-spectrum language · ECL programming language · Execute instruction · Repeat instruction · Short-circuit evaluation · Lisp reader · LISP 2 Datacomputer · Massachusetts Computer Associates · Object Design, Incorporated · Javelin Software · Infinite Disk Marvin Minsky · Jean Ichbiah · Anthony Oettinger USENET Cookbook · DEC Radix-50

France
Michel-Philippe Bouvart · René Le Pays · Michel Le Quien · Adrien Marx (Jean de Paris) · Hameau de Chantilly · Hameau de Chantilly (Paris) · Le Boulevard (Paris) · Maison pompéienne · La Grande Encyclopédie

United States
Springfield Industrial Institute · School for Christian Workers · Bible Normal College · The White House (department store) · Carlo de Fornaro · William Cleaver Wilkinson · Indian Wedding Blessing

Byzantine, Ottoman, Greek worlds
Kalderimi · Decare Megalo Embolo · Giannitsa · Gazi, Crete · Agios Myronas · Myron of Crete · Yazılıkaya, Eskişehir · Salonica Vilayet · Lakki, Leros · Alexandria Hyphasis · Jonas Otter · Cyrrhus Joannes Gennadius · Carasso family · Isaac Carasso · Emmanuel Carasso · Yanaki and Milton Manaki · Cretan Turks · Simeon Seth · Dalle Carceri · Myro of Rhodes · Vallahades · Central Turkey College

Italy
Bauer Hotel (Venice) · Big Fence · Ca' Giustinian · Casa del Fascio · Chronicon Altinate · Era Fascista · Scuole Piccole of Venice · Touring Club Italiano

Other
Salting the earth · Golindouch · John Bulteel (writer) · N. J. Higham · J. O. Prestwich · Historicity of King Arthur · Our Lady of Solitude

Scholars
Kathleen Schlesinger · Henry Marion Howe · William L. MacDonald · Walle Nauta

Other
Dry measure · American Legend Cooperative (Blackglama) · Indefinite and fictitious numbers · Industry classification · Barnacle goose · Lifestyle store · Ethics of philanthropy · Private citizen · Pharmacological dissection · Atlantic International University · Shipping tube · Course (education) · Fukagawa Edo Museum · Museum shop · City ticket office · Poor Knights (disambiguation) · Gearbox Records · Butcher Brown

Geography
Big Bend (Missouri River) · Boston Corner, New York · Dangerous Ground (South China Sea) · Karakuş Tumulus

Common misconceptions
Tryptophan in turkey doesn't cause drowsiness · Spices and bad meat · Steak tartare not Mongol · Vatel not inventor of whipped cream · Catherine de' Medici not responsible for French cuisine · Coffee doesn't dehydrate · Not all religions have gods · The Hopis and time · The plowing of Carthage

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