Sarah

Getting off US tech: a guide I’m in the process of dropping US tech services. Here’s how I did it, and options you should consider.

Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump was a mask off moment and showed the world we can’t depend on US tech companies.

For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!

This is a mezzotint etching by Japanese artist Koichi Sakamoto. The work is titled "Late at Night." It depicts a serene winter landscape with traditional farmhouses with thatched roofs covered in a thick layer of snow.

Japanese printmaker Koichi Sakamoto (b. 1932) is known for his detailed intaglio prints, specifically using the mezzotint etching technique.
His work often focuses on serene, snow-covered landscapes and traditional Japanese winter village scenes, characterized by a muted, monochromatic palette.

How can I become one of the cool people who conduct the LRT trains? I wanna be one of them!

Image of my Galway shawl print (with some of the lyrics to the song of the same name) overlaid on a background of a photograph showing two women wearing Galway shawls. #Art #BlueSkyArt #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm #Galway #Ireland

Galway shawls were a type of heavy-weight shawl once worn by Irish women. Firmly believe we lost our way as a nation when we stopped wearing items that doubled as cosy blankets and would like to propose a return to the wearable bed.

Galway shawl (and lyric) prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

A fractured effort isn’t as strong as a combined effort.

But I’m crushing it with my 548 day streak and THAT’S what’s really important.

Time to divest from major social platforms and join the indie web! (This is my plan.)

I remember being so excited when I planned a new site, putting up the “under construction” gif until it was ready.

I bet he’s just going to get super cozy with them both and sell Ontario, and Canada, out. I have no faith in a man that’s called himself a republican and a supporter of Trump. Those who voted for him should be ashamed of themselves.

Hell yeah! 👏

I can’t get over the colours!

Red wool felt cloche hat, embroidered with flowers & leaves in brightly coloured silk & wool yarn. Label Madeleine Panizon, Paris, c1925, KCI

Red wool felt cloche, silk yarn & wool yarn embroidery, Madeleine Panizon (Paris), c1925. Via KCI, photo by Masayuki Hayashi.

Extremely excited we got to revisit the Mr Mustard cinematic universe

One of my absolute favourites!

I know. My mouth would be too full of bile to respond.

They are all good babies just living their lives the best they know how, within the conditions they were born into.

Portrait of Japanese American artist Miné Okubo, made using water soluble graphites, watercolour, and paint marker. February 2025.

#mixedmedia #portrait

Digital collage of a little girl with her bird protector on her shoulder.

#digitalcollage #digitalart

Digital collage I made a while ago made images I believe I pilfered from the public domain library website.

#digitalcollage #digitalart

So happy you’re here, Cheddar 🖤

And then a HUGE influx of people showed up that stressed their systems? Cuz there’s a huge difference between those two scenarios.

Is it that she doesn’t know how to run it or that she couldn’t anticipate unprecedented user growth after Meta announced it would be scraping their users data to train their LLM?

Give Cara a try! The gal who runs it seems like a genuinely decent person.

This is a VERY GOOD mug collection.

This is honestly one of the reasons I’ve contemplated leaving IG. All my creative sessions were peppered with thoughts of how whether anyone there would like it. It prevented me from following my ideas and trying new things. I’m trying to push past that to just create for the sake of creating.

I’m at the point in my career where I would sooner take a pay cut and work for a smaller organization, or even switch industries, than work for a company that refuses to respect and protect people.

I’ve been there before. It was the most soul crushing experience. Never again.

It is an absolute deal breaker for me if a company does not have measures in place to prevent literal hate crimes or harassment against vulnerable people (or anyone for that matter).

Even if they have a strong DEI program, I keep my guard up as that can absolutely just be performative.

How in the bloody hell everyone is just turning a blind eye to this prick is beyond me. Have we all gone absolutely money-mad that we don’t care that some absolutely despicable prick is going to burn the world to the ground?

I’d take Luigi, myself.

Less date to scrape plus less zero tech oligarchs = probably A.I. that would more closely mirror the useful tool we all sorta hoped it would be?