This is @Sasha and her most valuable project to date:
A book. But a book is not simply a lot of words or a pile of paper. It is memories, emotions, worldviews, and a lot of work to put them all together. Her book is a story that spans over 15 years. But these years are hardly what most people experience on this planet.
She was born in Russia but at age 8 had to move to the United States and deal with a new world. New language, new culture, new people; her mom, her bother, and some pets. Her father went back to Russia, and that affected her a lot.
A mountain of changes to absorb as a kid which led her to a world of drugs and anger.
She details these struggles which at times feel like hard to believe stories - a 17 year old girl selling drugs in New York, crazy mushroom trips and adventurous thefts.
But she managed to pull herself together and change her life for the better. She was not impressed by the imaginary borders humans create and call countries, so she went on flying like a free bird :). From Canada to Mexico, Australia to Europe, Russia to Thailand. 15 years of adventures with almost no money. Because money won't stop Small Sasha :).
A way to discover the world and yourself.
When you get to experience so many cultures and places, you can understand much better what humans are, and what makes them who they are.
The places she saw and the people she met are extraordinarily described in the book, in a way that you feel like you are there. No photos needed. You'll laugh, wonder, or feel uncomfortable reading some of her uncensored experiences.
It is a galaxy of stories that she had to put together using notes from the past, photos, and her own memories stored in the mushy pile of cells we call the brain.
She managed to compile this massive story in a way that it is super fun to follow, but also to get a feeling of how she grew a mind in all of these years.
That mental growth and her experiences, made her realize how fucked up this society is and how much we are destroying this environment and the creatures in it.
She started to volunteer for some organizations over the years, eventually getting closer to the project I made, TROM. And so here we are, a book later, spending our lives together.
I cannot describe how wonderful this book is, how emotional and funny. So much fun, but also a lot of reality check for many people who are going to have their values challenged.
She crafted this book so much, that at times you feel like Carl Sagan, David Attenborough and George Carlin contributed to the book :).
A wonderful read! A massive CONGRATULATIONS to Sasha for the immense work she put into this. I know too well how for the past 4 years she worked so much on this book that it almost put our relationship under a big question mark. I never saw anyone putting so much effort into anything. It was too intense!
But now it is OVER. Finally! I thought I will never see this happen. Wow!
After so many years of work, and almost no money, she is putting the book for free on her website bigworldsmallsasha.com/ in digital format, despite us not having much money to make a life for ourselves on this planet. But of course, if you want to support her (us) you can buy the physical copy too. Or donate if you can.
I helped design the entire cover and I am quite proud of it :).
Go read it! I know I will read it again. This time the physical copy, in a hammock somewhere in nature.
Sasha you fucking did ti!
PS: The book was made with trade-free software. LibreOffice, Krita, Inkscape.
#nature #traveling #society #capitalism #trade #book #bookrelease #foss
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •"They are as "capitalistic" as USA. Or, in other words, they have a trade-based society. As simple as that. Produce, trade, consume."
That is not what capitalism is. China is functionally capitalist to a degree, yes, but not because they have production and trade and consumption. It's because many of the means of production are held privately, and to a degree they have the capacity to buy and sell as they wish.
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •Well the truth is that capitalism, socialism, or other isms are vague ideals.
The means of production being privately owned means near to nothing since they are always under the weight of a gov. USA or China. You can't just own a business, meaning be able to trade as an individual under your own rules. You are always restrained and directed by gov, laws, rules, regions.
In essence what we have globally is a society of trade, where trade is the main activity and drive. China, USA, Europe, whatever hey call themselves as communist, free markets, socialist, capitalist, in the end is all about a trade-based society.
I wrote a book about it all if anyone is interested - tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-t…
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •Private companies, if big enough, will be bailed out by the gov. See SpaceX, Tesla, and more. The gov will also intervene to stop monopolies from creating, at least in theory. They split apart the largest telecommunication company in the USA not long ago. So gov is intervening, from capping the prices of drugs, providing subsidies, tweaking taxes, etc..
China, USA, Europe or the rest. The gov is always intervening.
A...sorry what? Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google ?? We live in a world of monopolies. In another book I wrote I showcase that in detail tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-t…
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Private companies, if big enough, are sometimes bailed out; I agree. They should not be. That is cronyism, not capitalism. They should be allowed to fail, and indeed sometimes are.
As to monopolies, nearly all of them are enabled by government action, not stopped by it.
Tell me; what does google have a monopoly in? Putting aside, of course, that we absolutely don't live under free market capitalism.
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •But they are....I am talking about the real world we live in not idealistic concepts. I compare USA with China and their self imposed labels, not the official and mushy definitions of capitalism vs communism since these do not exist.
They are enabled by a system of trade that incentivizes companies to grow and individuals to seek profit.
Too many things. Mobile operating systems, search engine, browser, online videos, online advertising, etc.. Again see here tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-t… - I spent a year on this book.
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Yes, they are..sometimes. Which still leaves plenty of small companies and some large ones that are allowed to fail; that is a good thing.
LIFE incentivizes individuals to profit from their action. That's true under all economic systems.
Nope; there's iOs/sailfish/Ubuntu touch, duckduckgo/yahoo/ask/dogpile/plenty more, firefox/opera/safari/chrome, peertube and odyssey, plenty of other ad companies.
So, again, what does google have a monopoly in?
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •Those you mention are barely "competitors". Google owns the market of mobile operating systems (over 70%), search prob over 90%, video platform, browser, etc.. They even give Firefox a ton of money to keep google as the default search engine. Basically google has no competition in many areas.
The environment pushes people to become one way or another. Currently we live in a trade-based society that incentivizes people to profit, compete, be selfish. etc..
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Those I mention are competitors. They exist, plenty of people can and do use them, and therefore google does not have a monopoly.
Yes, environments shape people. Please, provide literally any example of an environment where an individual is not incentivized to profit from their action.
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •Yah those are as much competitors as I am for Usain Bolt. I mean I can run...but have no chance to ever win a race with Usain. Same for Firefox and the like.
Sure. We have a directory of such organizations where people volunteer without making any profits directory.trade-free.org/
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Poor comparison. No one imagines you can run anywhere near as fast as him,. PLENTY of people use the products and services of other companies, me included.
Oh, I see the issue here. You're restricting yourself to MONETARY profit. Here you go: merriam-webster.com/dictionary…
Definition of profit
Merriam-Webster DictionaryTio
in reply to AKingsbury • •No one imagines Firefox will overthrown Chrome or Linux Microsoft...these are clear examples of monopolies.
By not making a profit I mean they do not ask anything in return. They just do/help. Good people.
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •It's irrelevant whether anyone imagines that anyone else will "overthrow" chrome or anyone else. Here:
merriam-webster.com/dictionary…
As to "not making a profit', do you imagine that do not see a valuable return for what they do?
Definition of monopoly
Merriam-Webster DictionaryTio
in reply to AKingsbury • •AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •"If no one can compete with google in some domains"
Such is not the case. I challenge you to name me a single domain in which no one, NO ONE, offers a plausible and functional alternative to google.
Tio
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in reply to Tio • • •Please. You linked to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_mar…, which in the SECOND SENTENCE says "Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government", and then went on to nonsense like social.trom.tf/display/dbc8dc4…
form of market-based economy
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Tio
2024-08-03 01:50:17
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Seriously?
"Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government"
"And partially it is present since big companies control governments"
Do you actually not see the contradiction here?
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •AKingsbury
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in reply to AKingsbury • •Sorry to be rude but I'll never drop you anything. I hope you can find other things on the fediverse.
And no one can pay for my books since they are free. And they are books not "books", I think you may not understand the use of quotes.
I hope we can say goodby now and you go on your way :)
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •"And partially it is present since big companies control governments in many cases giving them a "free" hand at doing business."
Then you fail entirely to understand what a free market even is.
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •There absolutely is such a thing as a free market. For example; who regulates who is and is not allowed to make, buy, or sell backpacks in the US?
As to your complaints about things like greed; tell me, are YOU greedy?
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •No one "markets" "freely". There are regulations in place. Even for backpacks.
And mostly no I am not greedy but it depends on what situations I face. Look at what I've been doing for the past 15 years tiotrom.com/projects/ - all free. Never made a profit. So likely I am not greedy most of the time.
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •Please, show me the regulations on who can buy, sell, and/or make backpacks in the US.
Really? You're not greedy? It's rare to meet someone willing to make such a claim. What a saint you must be.
Tio
in reply to AKingsbury • •Of course you need to have a license for producing such a thing, patents, pay taxes, and a license to sell and where to. If you start to make backpacks now and sell them on the street you may be fined. You are also forced to pay taxes for your business and more.
I said probably most of the time I am not. I released 2 huge documentaries, published over 30 books, made videos, articles, run trom.tf (free services for everyone), tromjaro.com linux distro, and more. All trade-free. Not a saint, but prob not greedy either.
AKingsbury
in reply to Tio • • •No, no, no claims. Please link me to actual regulations that say you need, for example, a license to produce backpacks.
No, no, don't sell yourself short. If you're not greedy, don;' engage in false modesty. Just admit you're not greedy.
Tio
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