About the author

Name:Timo Lehtinen
Sex:Male
Born:1963, Helsinki, Finland

What do I do?

Short answer. I study subjects that grab my interest, and I create stuff.

Long answer. I started off with the intention of becoming a full time professional musician. Then in the 1980s I got interested in digital sound processing, computer science and the Internet. And in the 1990s in computer graphics, typography, mythology, psychology and the occult. And in the 2000s in marketing, visual arts, metaphysics, personal liberty and global economy. I have earned at least some income from all of these fields and I continue to be involved in them all. More actively in some, while passively following others.

I quit my day job in 1990 and have been self-employed ever since. I pay my expenses from multiple streams of Internet income.

My most recent publication is UnixObjects (primarily of interest to computer programmers). Some earlier works are listed separately. The rest are described elsewhere in their respective contexts.

Gratuitous facts about me

Some say you should refrain from expressing your religious beliefs or political world view, so let's start with those:

  • I am irreligious. At birth, I was baptised to the Evangelical Lutheran state church (like most Finns are). Despite this, I was put into a Catholic school run by American nuns, of which I have nothing but fond memories. Later, as an adult, I resigned my church membership. I consider myself spiritual, but in a metaphysical sense, not in a Biblical sense.
  • My political views can be best labelled paleolibertarian. If it was up to me, Finland would secede from EU, shut down the welfare state, pay off all foreign debt, repeal the income tax, reinstate the Finnish Mark under the gold standard, stop flirting with NATO, and be a great friend and trading partner to both the East and the West. (For anyone interested in this subject, I highly recommend Harry Browne's book Why Government Doesn't Work.)

Other facts:

  • I have been using the Internet since 1986.
  • I have maintained a pescetarian diet since 1988. A pescetarian does not eat the flesh of any animals other than seafood (see my diet).
  • I am a third generation Helsinkian, currently living in a century-old apartment building in the heart of the city. My late father fought against Russia in WW2. In defending Helsinki, his anti-aircraft station was on the roof of a building across the street where I now live.
  • I have no academic qualifications and don't plan to get any. I think our centralised education system actually does more harm than good. I will explain the whyness elsewhere. Or maybe you would like to watch this.
  • I was among the first people in the world to start using a GSM mobile phone, but I haven't touched one since 1998. I came to the realisation that I prefer wires.
  • My Kibo number is 1.  (An inside joke of Internet old-timers.)

Things I'm a fan of:

  • Guitars. Guitar playing. Heavy rock.
  • Opera. Especially the bel canto era. My favourite contemporary soprano is Corinna Mologni. My favourite dead soprano is Maria Callas. I co-wrote a rock song about her.
  • Figure skating. The greatest skater of all time is Shizuka Arakawa. The greatest skating performance is Shizuka's free skate to Puccini's Turandot during the 2004 World Championships.
  • British TV drama. Especially from the “golden age of television” (1970s to mid 1980s). For example, Edge of Darkness by Martin Campbell. And everything by Michael J. Bird.
  • The big cats. Especially panthera tigris, more commonly known as the tiger. One of my dreams is to hold and play with a tiger cub. And with an adult one too.