• I'm a LEGO community activist, I guess you could say, getting involved in lots of LEGO related projects... some might say more to the detriment of the project than the benefit! Lately I've been involved in BrickWiki a MediaWiki based wiki concerned with LEGO, LEGO fans, and LEGO creations. My personal website is Milton Train Works. (yes I realise that the WP:MoS says LEGO isn't to be written in all caps. I'll do my articles that way, but this is my user page!!! Deal!)
• I'm a gamer. Board games, computer games, fusball.
• I like trains. Real ones, and models (especially LEGO ones)
• I like cars. At one time we had 8 in our family but we're doing better now.
• I like planes. Always wanted to get a license, don't have one, but am always willing to spring for gas or rental if you'll take me up in yours.
• I like music. Especially live music. All kinds but especially blues, rock, classical, and things that mix one or more of those together.

Professionally I am a System Architect, working on data and application integration projects and I travel for work a lot (most of the states and countries below are due to work related travel). I live in Michigan with a wife, 2 kids, 0-2 exchange students depending on season, 4 cats, 1 dog, 3 cars and a horse that doesn't live with us.

I believe in WP:NPOV so these beliefs are listed so you know how I feel about stuff and (VERY IMPORTANT) you should call me on any editing that looks like I'm POV pushing!!!! Seriously. Please do if you see it. Mostly I edit technical stuff so hopefully it's not that big an issue, but if you see it, call me on it.

• Politically I'm a libertarian, or a freedom advocate. I come out in the far upper right on the Nolan Chart almost to anarchy. I don't think government is good socially for much of anything except protecting our individual liberties. I've belonged to the ACLU on and off for years.
• Economically I'm a libertarian too, or a free market capitalist if you prefer. I don't think goverment is good economically for much of anything except protecting people from fraud and theft and suchlike.
• I'm pro choice on *everything*. Legalise everything and expect people to do the right thing, or suffer the consequences.
• I'm an atheist, or at best a very skeptical agnostic. Personally I think religions as a whole have done more harm than good, overall, to society since we've been civilised. I oppose any sort of state imposition of a particular religion, but if you want to have one, by all means, be my guest. Just don't impose your views on me and mine.

7 February 2025
Recent research: GPT-4 writes better edit summaries than human Wikipedians News and notes: Let's talk! Opinion: Fathoms Below, but over the moon In the media: Wikipedia is an extension of legacy media propaganda, says Elon Musk Community view: 24th Wikipedia Day in New York City Arbitration report: Palestine-Israel articles 5 has closed Traffic report: A wild drive
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I'm a Wikipedia novice apprentice journeyman, with only a few a few hundred less than just over two three thousand edits to my credit, mostly typos I spotted and WP related advocacy in Wikiproject space, but I have created a few articles here and there. I think Wikipedia is great but it can take up a LOT of time so I've held back. (ha!)

• I am an inclusionist but not enough to join an association.
• User:Karmafist identified me as a metawikipedian. He's probably right.
• I may (see above) have a bit of editcountitis (d'ya think??).
• When I get too proud of my edits, I need to go look at WP:1000

Feel free to mail me with comments or concerns, my mail link should work.

One annoying habit I have, I forget to hit preview before save, or preview, but miss some typo causing multiple edits. I hate that!

• David_B._Steinman
• Niagara Cantilever Bridge
• Svinesund Bridge

Several of my articles have been selected for Did you know? To read more about them, see: User:Lar/DYK

• Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge (made public 21:28, 19 December 2005)
• Poughkeepsie Bridge (made public 22:30, 19 December 2005)
• Redridge Steel Dam (made public 01:50, 23 December 2005)
• Theodore Cooper (made public 23:14, 24 January 2006)

• Peach Drop (Atlanta, Georgia) (made public 10:45, 13 December 2005)

• User:Lar/Industrial_Archeology There is a perfectly fine Industrial Archaeology article out there which I missed... think I merged it all in now.

• user:Lar/Kingston-Port Ewen Suspension Bridge
• User:Lar\Waldo-Hancock Bridge

• User:Lar/Ashfork-Bainbridge Steel Dam
• I made a page on Steel Dams in general... still have to do Ashfork-Bainbridge

• User:Lar/Gaylord_Building in Lockport, Pivotal in the construction of the I&M canal

• User:Lar/Teresa Bagioli Sickles

(Ugh, there is a difference between forward and backward slashes! ack! I am a doofus, apparently. w.r.t. that.)

Bridges and Tunnels NA‑class

This page is within the scope of WikiProject Bridges and Tunnels, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of bridges and tunnels on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Bridges and TunnelsWikipedia:WikiProject Bridges and TunnelsTemplate:WikiProject Bridges and TunnelsBridge and Tunnel NA This page does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

Indigenous peoples of North America NA‑class

This page is within the scope of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Native Americans, Indigenous peoples in Canada, and related indigenous peoples of North America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Indigenous peoples of North AmericaWikipedia:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North AmericaTemplate:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North AmericaIndigenous peoples of North America NA This page does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.

The Beatles NA‑class

This Beatles-related page is within the scope of WikiProject The Beatles, which focuses on improving coverage of English rock band The Beatles and related topics on Wikipedia. Users who are willing to participate in the project should visit the project page, where they can join and see a list of open tasks.The BeatlesWikipedia:WikiProject The BeatlesTemplate:WikiProject The BeatlesThe Beatles NA This page does not require a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. To-do list: For WikiProject The Beatles A list of articles needing cleanup associated with this project is available. See also the tool's wiki page and the index of WikiProjects. Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Articles on each Beatle tour (Category:The Beatles concert tours). See: Missing articles. Expand : The Lost Lennon Tapes, notable radio series which has spawned many bootlegs. Apple Records See also: Adopt an article Stubs : See: Category:The Beatles song stubs Update : Pics/Graphics wanted: Kenwood. Verify : Beatle wives Other : Project: Add {{WikiProject The Beatles}} to the talk pages of all Beatles-related articles. Send a newsletter to members, canvas for new members and coordinate tasks. Enter articles assessed as stubs onto this list, also list articles needing cleanup and other work here. This article does not yet have a related to do list. If you can think of any ways to improve the article, why not create one?

Picture of the day

The oak eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) is a common moth in the family Lasiocampidae found in Europe and northern and western parts of Asia. The larvae feed on a wide variety of plant species, low down, including blackthorn, hawthorn, viburnum, dogwood, ivy and ling, but are not known to feed on oak. They can be infected by baculoviruses, which change their behaviour and cause them to climb out of the protection of low scrub and leave them open to predation, facilitating the spread of infection. Oak eggar larvae eventually pupate on the ground inside a silken cocoon, the exterior of which is hard and yellowish, and resembles an acorn, from which the common name "oak eggar" is derived. This oak eggar larva in the form of a fourth-instar caterpillar, with a body length of 53 millimetres (2.1 inches), was photographed on a branch in Keila, Estonia. The photograph was focus-stacked from 59 separate images.Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

Archive – More featured pictures...

• Wikipedia:Merging_and_moving_pages It's actually not that hard but following the recipe means it gets done right.
• MediaWiki User's Guide: Using tables because I just can't remember table sytax
• Template_talk:Ref How to do footnotes (better example than at Wikipedia:footnote, actually as it explains multiple cites).
• {{Geolinks-US-streetscale|47.147291|-88.763180}} Geolinks code for the map references
• {{Infobox_Conditionals}} all kinds of conditionals, using {{qif}} and Wikipedia:hiddenStructure
• {{TestTemplates}} A big list of Templates for dealing with vandalism.
• Wikipedia:Template_messages/General a BIGGER list of templates.
• Wikipedia:Categorization The ins and outs of categories
• Wikipedia:IRC_channels Guide to IRC channels
• Help:Magic_words Magic words (like subst:, msg: etc)...

• Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation popups The popup page, popups are one of the greatest things since sliced bread
• User:Titoxd/Flcelloguy's Tool A good tool for evaluating contributions of candidates for things. needs clientside install
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2005-12-26/Wiki_tools A shedful of good tools
• User:Trilobite/Tools Need to enhance my .js with this stuff... a BUNCH of good javascript stuff, like add a purge tab!!! (much already added)
• Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts cool script stuff that needs looking at
• Interiot's contribution tree walker (already pointing to me)
• Interiot's edit counter (has distribution info, looks like based on Kate's tool) (already pointing to me)
• User:Dragons flight/AFD summary for statistics geeks, policy wonks, Deletionist Scum, people with grudges against articles, and those noble, heroic or angelic inclusionists out there (all 3 of you), this tool is for you.

• User:CatherineMunro#Why_am_I_here? CatherineMunro is an old hand. Her essay on what participation means to her is thought provoking and very well written. There's something in it for just about every conscientious editor.
• User:Geogre Geogre and I seem to be on the opposite side of just about everything we've both been involved in. But this is good stuff. The section dealing with how one should vote in AfDs is really well put, and the musings on article quality and why no article is better than an inadequate article seem very apt. I need to remember to reread these every so often.
• The Wikipedia Creed
• User:Essjay/Neutrality Not sure anyone could be that neutral but worth striving for!
• User:Essjay/Rules also thought provoking! Don't whinge, fix it yourself (something I could do to remember more often)
• User:Karmafist/wikiphilosophies a bit more "cynical" but pragmatic view of how stuff gets done...
• Meta:Academic standards disease this is a counterpoint to the stance I've been taking that experts should be shown deference or at least given the benefit of the doubt by default.
• User:Vaoverland Just an enjoyable read. Lots of little tidbits on how to be a better Wikipedian and interesting background facts about stuff he's worked on. I hope if I ever get as prolific as he is, that this page is half as good.
• User:Anthere/Values "For any article you vote to delete, vote one to keep, or improve one which is on the border of being thrown in the bin."
• Wikipedia:Xiong's stats Some fascinating analysis of number of edits/articles/sizes/growths and the correlations among them... not sure what it all means but it seems significant

More as I find them. but I'm lazy, so feel free to suggest some!

Template:CatNOTneeded

This article needs less fewer cats. Please help Wikipedia by removing cats from articles, especially this one.

It is suspected that this user might be a sock puppet or impersonator of [[User: ]]. Please refer to this image for evidence. See block log [[Category:Wikipedia:Suspected sockpuppets of  |Lar]]

"This space intentionally left blank" -- common thing to see on a page in an IBM manual.