Tuomas Kaikkonen

I was born in Finland in 1970, where I lived until I moved to the United States of America in 1998. I used the nickname "yaz" in the IRC from about 1989 to 1996. My aim is to keep contributing new articles, and editions to existing ones, both to the English and Finnish Wikipedias.

When I created my username for the Oulubox Bulletin Board System, I picked up nickname YAZMORO based on my recollection of a name of a magician in one of Scott Adams' text adventure games on Commodore64 computers. However, the real name of the magician was Yatzmoro, but that was too late since I already signed up as yazmoro. Then after the multi user chat and later internet relay chat were introduced into the Oulubox BBS, I ended up shortening the nickname to three letters.

Quickly I learned, from US American ircers, that there was a quite famous baseball player named Carl Yastrzemski who used to be known for "Yaz" too. Also I found out later that the word yaz has some Turkish roots, where it means verb "to write", which pleases me greatly because writing is one of my dearest activities. Then I learned that there was a pop band called the "Yazoo" who was also know as Yaz. Also there was a place in Mississippi called Yazoo, and a place called Yazd in somewhere in Saudi Arabia. Well, lately I just found out that somebody namaed their birth control device YAZ. I would be interested if any more words are associated with these three letters. Please add them to this homepage if you find them appropriate.

Interests and hobbies

Music: singing, and playing piano and guitar.
Reading and writing Wikipedia in English and in Finnish
Science Fiction books when I have time
Right the wrongs, and copyleft
Pacifism, non-resistance
Global village citizenship

Requests for transportation policies

Well designed public transportation systems that reduce the need for single occupant vehicle trips.
Motor vehicle free city districts, that still allow motorized emergency vehicle traffic.

Requests for business leaders to alleviate rush hour traffic problems

More flextime
Allow at least one day per week telecommuting by employees if possible
It is better to manage by objectives than to manage by observation.

Personal preferences

Slow food before fast food
Buy local when possible. Support your local farmer, artist, and worker. Supply chain as localized as possible to avoid transportation of goods over long distances.
Written word before spoken word.
Listening and reading before speaking and writing.
If you can do it, do it. If you cannot do it, ask someone who can do it to help you. If someone asks you to do something you can do, help that person.
Follow your conscience before accepting any requests from authorities.
Avoid these three vices: greed, ignorance, and hate.
Strive for these virtues: humility, enlightenment, and love.