Good Enough

Each dawn begins behind a borrowed face,
A careful mask, a practiced kind of grace.
A painted smile, a borrowed trend to wear,
Yet mirrors whisper, "Someone else stands there."

Shoes carve the skin, while beauty claims its due;
The world applauds the mask—but never you.
The heart grows silent, frightened to confess,
That all this striving still feels meaningless.

The crowd decides what value ought to be,
A throne of fools disguised as royalty.
Each glance a stone, each rumor sharp as glass,
Until your worth seems buried in the past.

You count their beauty, wishing it were yours;
Their flawless smiles become imagined doors.
"I want her eyes... her laughter... and her light."
While blind to stars already burning bright.

At least in books the answers can be found;
Where effort grows on honest, fertile ground.
Yet even wisdom earns another scar—
"Too smart," they laugh, as if that's what you are.

So every evening ends where it began:
Removing all the pieces of the plan.
The curls unwind, the makeup fades away;
The stranger leaves... but why did she still stay?

We chase reflections others taught to prize,
While truth stands quietly before our eyes.
The soul was never measured by the skin,
Nor by the noise that echoed from within.

Comparison's a thief with gentle hands;
It steals tomorrow while in today it stands.
It promises a paradise to see,
Yet chains the heart from simply being free.

The girls you envy fight their own disguise;
Behind their smiles are hidden storms and skies.
The ones you place upon a golden throne
Are often wishing for a life unknown.

The world sells mirrors polished with deceit,
And tells us we are somehow incomplete.
But stars don't shine because they look the same;
They burn because each carries its own flame.

Your worth was never stitched into a dress,
Nor found in numbers, beauty, or success.
No crowd can vote your value into birth—
A diamond does not ask the dust its worth.

So wear your scars as proof that you have grown;
No heart was ever meant to bloom alone.
The greatest freedom life will ever bring
Is needing no applause for everything.

For when the masks dissolve and silence comes,
You'll hear the oldest truth that softly hums:

You were enough before the race began.
Enough before they taught you who I am.
Enough before the mirror learned to lie.
Enough beneath each lonely question: Why?

Not one among billions...

But one unlike any.

#poem #society #youth #system #matrix #humanity #life #destiny #world

I am so frustrated that pretty much everyone is blind in this world. So may loud voices about the "harms" of AI, but what is happening with this tool is TOTALLY NORMAL in a TRADE BASED SOCIETY.

TOTALLY NORMAL!

Companies wanna trade these tools, thus make money at all costs. Users wanna use them to trade, make money. Videos, books, whatever the shit.

The incentive is THE SAME. Big or small groups of people.

There is NO SURPRISE!

Totally normal.

No way we can fix this, or the billions of other issues, unless we change the structure of our society. Sounds daunting but only if you are thinking about it simplistically and in a sci-fi way.

Imagine if we start a Universal Basic Income scheme, also provide the needs of people as trade-free. Housing, food, healthcare, etc.. Free people from this society, so they can be less idiotic and less driven to make profit out of everything. This is a realistic way forward.

That's how you can try to change the infinite blanket of shit that everyone grows on top of.

It drives me INSANE that people do not see this simple fact, that people are consuming idiots in a trade-based society, so ofc they will abuse every tool for trading purposes.

It has been the case for thousands of years.

So yah, I am sick of those who speak about AI slop, destruction of the environment, climate change, etc., but NEVER mentioning the trade-based society that creates all of these.

It's like talking about lung cancer without mentioning smoking at all. And not connecting it with the Tobacco industry. And then hop, back to trade.

This is the world we live in....and won't change in any significant way unless we understand where our problems originate.

#trade #society #ai #aislop #slop #fedi #fediverse #money #TradeRuinsEverything #capitlaism

Starlink increased its "standby" price from €5 to €10 a month. That is for half a MB connection, unlimited data. Basically for calls and emergency things. Since we decided to get Starlink for our motorhome 2 years ago, they almost doubled their prices for all of their subscriptions. They always do that. It is insane!

But Tio why do you even get a Starlink?!
Because living in a motorhome and traveling with it...there is no reliable wifi/mobile converge. Not to mention one across Europe. I hate Starlink and the Elon Skunk, and we already have the dish for which we paid €300...so idk what the options are.

We use Starlink for "emergency" purposes. I thought €5 a month is fine. But now double the price...and I BET they will make it €15 in the following months.

The price of gas has increased because of a war we have nothing to do with. Why not cut down the profits of the big oil companies instead of taxing the struggling people who need gas?

The price for our servers and backups increased like crazy because of these "AI centers" that eat up computer resources...

The price of food and goods has increased too...

Little by little, like a vampire, this society sucks you dry,

Did salaries increase? I doubt.

Did the financial support for TROM increased? No.

Where is this going? Steadily downhill 😁

I am trying to live with as little money as possible, perhaps around €400 a month, all included (food, gas, internet, etc.), but it is getting very difficult.

Welcome to our Trade Based society where you have to trade in order to survive. You have no choice. And even when you trade there is NO guarantee you will survive.

The ONLY planet harboring life in the Universe. As far as we know. And this is how we are managing our stuff over here.

A bunch of idiots. The idiots of the Universe 😛.

I should not mention that we throw away more than half of our edible food and that we have a lot more empty places than homeless people, and how a tiny minority own more than the rest of the humans?! I won't mention that.

Ok. Rant done. Our society sucks.

#rant #money #society #prices #starlink #internet #motorhome #vanllife #camper

Want the best proof that this trade-based society needs to change and cannot be "fixed"?

Global recycling rates have fallen for eighth year running, report finds - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/16/global-recycling-rates-have-fallen-for-eighth-year-running-report-finds

Only 6.9% of the 106bn tonnes of materials used annually by the global economy came from recycled sources, a 2.2 percentage point drop since 2015, researchers from the Circle Economy thinktank found.

The problem is systemic, they say: the rise in consumption is even more rapid than the growth in global population, and although some companies are increasing the amount of recycled material they use, the majority ignore the issue with no apparent penalties. This means that societies generate more waste than recycling systems can handle.

Even if all recyclable goods were recycled, which is unlikely as many goods are simply too difficult or costly to recycle, global recycling rates would only reach 25%, meaning that consumption must be slashed in order to tackle a growing global waste crisis.

Yah....so recycling is not not solution let us be serious.

The solution?

People and the society needs to change radically but in simple steps.

1. Make the basic needs trade-free. Healthcare, transportation, housing if possible, access to Internet, basic food, etc.. Do it via taxes or whatever you prefer.

2. Give people a Universal Basic Income without strings attached so when some essential service cannot be provided as trade-free, such as housing or food, people can still "trade" for it. You can get the money for this UBI again via taxes, via ending all sorts of unemployment and benefits programs, and so forth.

This way you can have a chance of creating a society where people are not consumers, but humans. So that these humans have the time and mental ability to focus on relevant stuff and not just consume. To volunteer, discover, create, become smarter and saner.

This is the way!

#society #capitalism #money #recycling #plastic #world #TradeRuinsEverything

Sure "democracy"....a way for the "majority" to decide ha?!

Yet we live in a world where the ones with a lot of financial power always decide. They own the messengers, social platforms, streaming platforms, newspapers, TV stations, they give money to politicians, bribe, abuse, and so forth....

It may be hard to accept, but there is no democracy. And never was. No one voted to go to war in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Afghanistan. No one voted for the use of fossil fuels instead of renewable energies. No one votes for the prices of medicine, if we should do space missions, build a park, or basically anything else.

People vote to elect a handful of tribe leaders, after a fierce battle of influence over these voters, to then have these leaders do as they please once they are elected. And some of these leaders can't even do shit since the rich control the world anyway.

And now that we talk about democracy, in principle it is a bad idea for most decisions that need to be taken by the experts in the field. Of course we should not have a vote about how to deal with cancer screenings, surgeries, building bridges, or most of these things.

Instead of floating these fantasy ideas around we should keep it simple and reasonable: all people need access to a basic life without any strings attached. Then they can have some autonomy and get involved into all sorts of things. Become engineers, doctors, write for Wikipedia, do open source software, volunteer and so forth. Free people from this primitive trade society, and let them grow. Like creating a fertile soil to be able to grow flowers.

That's what we need. Therefore basic and good services, regardless of the party or leaders. Good healthcare, housing for all, access to education and food, access to free transport, and our basic needs. The rest will emerge out of this good environment.

#democracy #usa #elections #trump #society #communism #capitalism #socialism #voting

TROM in numbers

Some TROM numbers!

TROM.tf

Social (friendica): we have 1.100 users and this year it was a record of sane registrations. Still the majority of accounts are likely not active. Our database is around 50GB in size and we store 23GB of files.

Files (nextcloud): we have 100 users and 81 of them are active. We store a total of 370GB of files. We are still able to provide trade-free accounts with 10GB storage space for each.

Chat (matrix): around 500 users, 22GB of files stored and a 200GB database (too big, needs optimization). Unsure how many of these users are active but we are using this for our own TROM chats every single day.

Videos (peertube): 1.400 users, 2.800 videos stored with a total of 400.000 views and 1TB in size. Unfortunately only a few users are active and uploading but this is our main TROM hub for videos and we will do our best to keep it alive and grow it.

In total our TROM.tf provides 17 services and is around 2TB in size. We do daily backups of the system with Timeshift (some 1.2TB) plus daily backups of our files and services to Borg.

—————–

TROMjaro : This year we have coded from ground up our own custom made Layout and Theme Switcher apps and made them better. We are still managing a library of over 600 curated trade-free apps and have released a new ISO almost every single month!

—————–

TROMnews : This year we did a major upgrade to the website. We made it a lot better, more diverse, and relevant. Every month there are thousands of items that are posted to this website.

—————–

VideoNeat : Since 2012 we kept this website relevant and updated. We have over 1.300 documentaries/courses available trade-free!

—————–

Trade-Free Directory : We have over 750 entries in the directory, manually added and reviewed. A must have database of wonderful projects that we will use more in the future. We are trying to add more to the directory whenever we have time.

—————–

TROMSite : Do not forget that we are still providing 2 huge documentaries, over 30 books, and many videos. All trade-free, all full of relevant information. The hope is that we will start to create new content soon!

Lastly, we are almost half way with the support we need to keep these projects alive and relevant! 94 out of 200 people are donating 5 Euros a month! https://tromsite.com/donate Thank you so much!

If we are not going to fight for a different kind of world, offline or online, and walk the talk, then nothing, for sure, will ever change. We are trying to change the online landscape bit by bit, by providing trade-free, saner services, and scientific content. We need this more than ever in today’s idiotic society.

#trom #tromsite #foss #opensource #peertube #nextcloud #friendica #xfce #linux #tromjaro #capitalism #society

#capitalism #foss #friendica #linux #nextcloud #opensource #peertube #society #tromjaro #tromsite #xfce

Some TROM numbers!

TROM.tf

Social (friendica): we have 1.100 users and this year it was a record of sane registrations. Still the majority of accounts are likely not active. Our database is around 50GB in size and we store 23GB of files.

Files (nextcloud): we have 100 users and 81 of them are active. We store a total of 370GB of files. We are still able to provide trade-free accounts with 10GB storage space for each.

Chat (matrix): around 500 users, 22GB of files stored and a 200GB database (too big, needs optimization). Unsure how many of these users are active but we are using this for our own TROM chats every single day.

Videos (peertube): 1.400 users, 2.800 videos stored with a total of 400.000 views and 1TB in size. Unfortunately only a few users are active and uploading but this is our main TROM hub for videos and we will do our best to keep it alive and grow it.

In total our TROM.tf provides 17 services and is around 2TB in size. We do daily backups of the system with Timeshift (some 1.2TB) plus daily backups of our files and services to Borg.

-----------------

TROMjaro : This year we have coded from ground up our own custom made Layout and Theme Switcher apps and made them better. We are still managing a library of over 600 curated trade-free apps and have released a new ISO almost every single month!

-----------------

TROMnews : This year we did a major upgrade to the website. We made it a lot better, more diverse, and relevant. Every month there are thousands of items that are posted to this website.

-----------------

VideoNeat : Since 2012 we kept this website relevant and updated. We have over 1.300 documentaries/courses available trade-free!

-----------------

Trade-Free Directory : We have over 750 entries in the directory, manually added and reviewed. A must have database of wonderful projects that we will use more in the future. We are trying to add more to the directory whenever we have time.

-----------------

TROMSite : Do not forget that we are still providing 2 huge documentaries, over 30 books, and many videos. All trade-free, all full of relevant information. The hope is that we will start to create new content soon!

Lastly, we are almost half way with the support we need to keep these projects alive and relevant! 94 out of 200 people are donating 5 Euros a month! https://tromsite.com/donate Thank you so much!

If we are not going to fight for a different kind of world, offline or online, and walk the talk, then nothing, for sure, will ever change. We are trying to change the online landscape bit by bit, by providing trade-free, saner services, and scientific content. We need this more than ever in today's idiotic society.

#trom #tromsite #foss #opensource #peertube #nextcloud #friendica #xfce #linux #tromjaro #capitalism #society