User:Ryanmcdaniel

Hello! My name, unsurprisingly, is Ryan McDaniel. (Hmm, creative username, you think?) My brother is Robert McDaniel (user NetherlandishYankee).

Interests on Wikipedia
I first joined Wikipedia anonymously in 2003, and have had my account since mid-2004. Among other things that drew me to Wikipedia are:
 * Engineering
 * History, particularly European history/medieval history, late Roman history and military history

Created Pages
36 articles created, not counting Talk spaces:
 * Engineering: Eberhardt Rechtin, Dean Wooldridge
 * Military: Program Executive Officer
 * History: Margaret Peverel, William Peverel, Tarr Steps, Prehistoric sites in England, Category:Prehistoric sites in England, Category:Ancient trackways in Britain (which is now Category:Ancient trackways in England), Herefordshire Beacon, The Rumps, Chang Qu, Origin of the Basques, Christian Topography, Cadell ap Rhodri, Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, Rhodri ap Hyfaidd, Rhain of Dyfed and Brycheiniog, Cloten of Dyfed and Brycheiniog, Gens Ulpia, Lemprière's Bibliotheca Classica, John Ernest Luther, Coffee press, Domenico Morosini, Ager Gallicus
 * Other: Sampford Peverell, Withypool, Parson Drove, River Barle, Exebridge, Gwalchmai, Anglesey, Anacusis, Domenico Morosini

7 articles translated:
 * History: Marcus Terentius Varro (partial; from Spanish), Treaties between Rome and Carthage (from Italian), Draft (hull) (partial; from Spanish), St Mark's Campanile (partial; from Italian), Domenico Morosini (from Italian), Gilded bronzes from Cartoceto di Pergola (partial; from Italian), Ager Gallicus (partial; from Italian)

Contributions
I've made 1595 total edits on 744 distinct articles as of July 12, 2007. Not counting User and Talk spaces, it's 1347 edits on 651 articles.

The ones I'm really proud of are:
 * History: Burgundians, Medicine in Ancient Greece, Origin of the Basques, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, Treaties between Rome and Carthage, William Peverel, Category:Prehistoric sites in England, St Mark's Campanile, Domenico Morosini, Gilded bronzes from Cartoceto di Pergola
 * Other: Dragon, List of tombs and mausoleums, Parson Drove

Other articles to which I've made major/significant edits&mdash;copyediting, wikification, content addition, etc.&mdash;include:
 * Technical: Clapper bridge, Draft (hull), Eberhardt Rechtin, Equirectangular projection, Dean Wooldridge, Isometric illusion, John Dalton, Lunar Surface Access Module, Orrery, Pulsar, Riemann integral, Rotation-powered pulsar, Spin pumping, Statistical Mechanics, Titius-Bode law, Triangular number, Wagner's Law, Zeller's congruence, Zero Defects
 * History: 1755 Lisbon earthquake, Akhenaten, Arnold J. Toynbee, Basque people, Bosnian pyramids, Causewayed enclosure, Chang Qu, Christopher Columbus, Circular ditches, Confucius, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, Eli Whitney, John Lemprière, Merton Thesis, Names of China, Nicholas II of Russia, Otto von Bismarck, Prepared-core technique, Rossignols
 * Antiquity
 * Greek History: Medicine in Ancient Greece
 * Roman/Post-Roman History: Antoninus Pius, Ara Pacis, Christian Topography, Cosmas Indicopleustes, Decline of the Roman Empire, Lapis Niger, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Marcus Terentius Varro, Roman Forum, Saint Andrew, Saint Patrick, Sub-Roman Britain
 * Medieval (esp. UK) History: Château de Rochechouart, Dante Alighieri, Lorenzo de' Medici, Medici, Medievalist, Middle Ages, Morosini, Sebastian of Portugal
 * English History: Cathach of St. Columba, Hengistbury Head, Hereward the Wake, Lady Jane Grey, List of monarchs of Kent and related pages, Melor, Roger Bacon, The Rumps, Tarr Steps, Thomas Becket, Warwick Castle, West Port murders, Witenagemot, Yelland, Category:Prehistoric sites in England and related pages, Category:Ancient trackways in England and related pages
 * Welsh History: Cloten of Dyfed and Brycheiniog, Hywel Dda, List of rulers of Wales and related pages, Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, Rhain of Dyfed and Brycheiniog, Rhodri the Great
 * Military History: 129th Rescue Wing, Battle of Camlann, Battle of Thermopylae, Dolwyddelan Castle, Hundred Years' War, Mulberry harbour, Tantallon Castle
 * Other: Abdomen, Acre, André Bloch, Artistery, Backpack, Bertrand paradox (economics), Bias disorder, Bonny Portmore, Boat, Cadet Airman, Caradog, Cat-eye syndrome, Christmas carol, Christmas cracker, Clothing, Coffee press, Common raven, Crispin, Dvorkin, Epithet, Ficus, Fiscal conservatism, The Fountain (film), Gwalchmai and related pages, Haka in popular culture, The Historian, Ides, If-by-whiskey, James Newton Howard, John Ogden, Kurt Vonnegut, Lady in the Water, Language observatory, Le Mans 1955 disaster, List of California Institute of Technology people, List of idioms in the English language, List of indices of freedom, Little green men, Memento Mori, PEO, Philadelphia Experiment, Robinson Crusoe, Ronald Reagan, Rowena, Scullery, Slaughterhouse Five, The Soldier (poem), Spanish Arch, Voltaire, Woad, The Woad Ode, ==
 * Geography: Amalfi, Belgrave Square, Carneddau, Chew Valley Lake, Dinas Emrys, Exebridge, Haast Pass, Haast River, Hamoaze, Orvieto, River Barle, River Exe, Sampford Peverell, Santikhiri, Schuylkill River, Seisyllwg, Thingwall, Tidworth, Two Moors Way, Valley, Withypool, Zaragoza
 * Harry Potter: Azkaban, Blood purity (Harry Potter), Canonical spells in the world of Harry Potter and related pages, The Burrow, The House of Gaunt, Magic (Harry Potter), Mundungus Fletcher, Non-canonical spells in the world of Harry Potter and related pages, Order of the Phoenix, Patronus Charm, The Riddle House, Template:Weasleyfamilytree
 * Military: F-86 Sabre, Mikoyan MiG-29, Program Executive Officer
 * Images: Image:Bode's law comparison.png, Image:Warwick interior.jpg

Views on Wikipedia
Immediatism/Eventualism: I try to strike a balance between immediatism and eventualism: I believe that Wikipedia has some truly amazing potential, and am happy to work toward that goal. On the other hand, I think that at any point in time, the content of an article should be as polished and professional as possible. Thus, copyediting and wikification are big points with me. Sources should be cited. But if it's not perfect, please fix it, don't just remove it!

Inclusionism/Exclusionism: This also means that I am an inclusionist, preferring to keep and improve articles and information rather than delete them out of hand. My standard for "notable" is maybe a little low, leaning closer to "useful" or "informative". On the other hand, this doesn't mean I'm in favor of keeping everything, and unsubstantiated rumors, irrelevant facts, and truly unnotable articles detract from the purpose of the encyclopedia. Listcruft is particularly annoying.

Editor Overlaps
Users I seem to run across over and over again in the articles I edit:
 * User:Neddyseagoon
 * User:Gaius Cornelius

Credentials
I've been employed as a program manager for modeling & simulation software for the the US Air Force, as well as a systems engineer and a test and evaluation engineer on an Air Force satellite communications program. I also have several years experience in spacecraft concept design working for Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Education

 * Certified Systems Engineer, 2006, AFIT
 * B.S., Caltech, 2003, Aeronautical Engineering
 * B.S., Caltech, 2003, History

Background
I've lived in the United States for nineteen years, Spain for five and a half, Germany for two and a half, and Italy for a year. I currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Hobbies & Interests

 * Computer programming
 * Carpentry
 * Blacksmithing
 * Reading
 * Historical non-fiction
 * Fantasy literature such as The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, or Harry Potter
 * Science fiction, notably Dune or anything by Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke
 * British detective fiction, e.g. Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Brother Cadfael

Perspective
Provided in the interest of maintaining a neutral point-of-view (or at least helping others figure out where I'm coming from).
 * Philosophically, I'm a pseudo-Objectivist who believes strongly in integrity and personal responsibility.
 * Politically, I'm roughly fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I don't support either party, and in fact don't believe there should be parties.
 * Religiously, I'm technically agnostic, i.e. I hold the existence of anything supernatural to be prima facie unprovable. However, I'm essentially an atheist as I personally think there is no god, or anything else unexplainable by science or philosophy.

Other Random Facts

 * I'm married
 * I spend way too much time reading
 * I'm a former Eagle Scout