https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/05/16/red-state-cross-border-blues
(to get past paywall, use #Firefox reader view)
#NorthDakota is traditionally a conservative red state.
They FOFO....maybe they should have thought of the vital business and revenue that #Canadians bring to them before they voted in that crazed felon.
The only ones I feel remotely sorry for are the ones stuck in the state that didn't vote for #Felon 47, and are the blue minority.
Taber eller vinder vi?
Did my Easter shopping for my son, sister mum and friend at Darrell Lea today, feels good to buy Australian with all that's going on đ
#BuyAustralian #BuyOzzie #Tariffs #USBoycott #DarrellLea #Chocolate #Easter #Australia
Tim Hortons and Starbucks are right next to each other at YUL US Departures đ«
Guess which one has a long line #USboycott
Why cancel your US-plan?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/18/us-trump-boycott
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
#canadiano #usboycott #boycottusa #trumptariffs #trump #elonmusk #musk
#madeinusa
"User Experience"
Example:
"Salesforce? I'd rather slam my fingers in a car door"
US letter
Ass
Rooster
Example:
"Oh Arse, I've cocked it up, it's A5, not A4."
What's yours?
So much winning!
New York Shopping Trips by Canadians Dwindle Over Trumpâs Taunts
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-13/new-york-shopping-trips-by-canadians-dwindle-over-trump-s-taunts
#Canada #USBoycott #EndTrump #EndMusk #DonaldKrasnov #RepublicansOwnThis #GOPKakistocracy #GOPWeirdos #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol
We've just set up Mollie payments which is EU/UK based as an alternative to Stripe which is US/EU and invested in by Musk, Peter Thiel and Andre Andressen amongst others. It's also slightly cheaper in processing fees as an added bonus!
Hey everyone, so since we're all boycotting US products, especially big tech ones, can we all delete #LinkedIn now. Not even to boycott Microsoft supporting fascism or anything actually political ... I just really hate having to use LinkedIn
They say a principle is only a principle if it costs you something. Well the first week of my #USboycott meant I missed a match on Amazon where my team #Arsenal won 7-1. So it goes. On the plus side, we had to try an alternative to #Heinz beans. #Branston beans are so much better. Not just a little, but much, much better. Why have I wasted so much of my life drooling over Heinz beans? Now all I need is a tomato soup thatâs better and Iâm away.
Mindful March: The Replacements
Some have asked, with all the things we are eliminating, what are we able to replace it with. Iâll try to answer these questions here:
Amazon:
Wow, is Amazon convenient. Just after we finished the move, we had lots of things to replace. (Our last apartment had so many pest issues that we basically brought our clothes, dishes, pots and pans. Everything else was tossed). It also felt useful to have something that could deliver bulky things instead of our figuring out how to go get it. It soon went from the thing we used for stuff we couldnât get in town to the thing we used to get anything we could and shopping locally became the exception.
So when we cancelled our Prime subscription and stopped buying things from them, we simply returned to our local stores. This has actually been a delight as weâre spending more time outside in our city. The added effort has been minimal and the cost has not changed noticeably.
I did have a about 100 or so Kindle books from Amazon including probably 20-30 of my âTo Be Readâ list. I had hoped to be able to break the DRM and keep them but due to a bit of confusion when I was deleting accounts, I thought I was deleting an account of mine I rarely use but instead deleted the one with all my books. Youâd think Iâd be upset but as it turns out, I was fine with it. As I mentioned, we got rid of everything but the most essential things when we moved here including 50 years of family photos so losing a few books was not a big deal.
In fact, even losing the photos and many of the paper books we had didnât make me too upset. In fact, all of this made me question the reasons for holding on to things. Who are our photos for: both digital and not? Memories are wonderful, but they are meant to be ephemeral. My tenth birthday party is something I can never go back to. The relevant parts I remember, the not so relevant ones I donât need.
And ebooks are even less of a loss these days. My reading habits have changed a lot in the past few years. Mostly I read ebooks but 90% of them come from the libraryâs Libby app. I only buy ebooks when theyâre not available from the library. Iâd never re-read any of the ones I have and the ones I havenât read yet I can get from the library if I want to. No issues.
Facebook/Instagram:
This I didnât exactly replace. In some ways it was a âwalled gardenâ where I mostly posted about what I was up to and what I was thinking and chat with people about those things. Guess what? I have one of those here that anyone can find regardless of whether theyâre on Facebook or not. Instagram was the same thing, just in visual form
At the same time I could browse those for the same sorts of information I was giving. But I had to ask myself why I would look at it when I did. What was I searching for? Mostly it was entertainment and distraction. If I really want to know how a friend is doing, Iâll email them. So at its base, I think my time spent in both of these places was literally killing time instead of intentionally using that time for something. Or if I was using that time for entertainment, it was an endless feed, easy to dive in and come up for air an hour later wondering what happened and not really having seen anything interesting. If I was really unlucky Iâd see something upsetting or engage in an argument in the comments section.
So no need to replace these two items.
I do still use Mastodon. It is heavily filtered to remove the doom news and has no algorithm so it is generally a lovely experience. However, it doesnât compel me to spend hours like other social media sites do. This can only be a good thing.
Pixelfed is another one Iâm trying. Its interface is very much like Instagram, however like Mastodon, it lacks an algorithm. Things are just in chronological order. Scrolling takes you back in time. So far it appears to be only lightly used and I havenât really found any creators Iâm fond of.
I also admit that up until No-Algorithm March, I was looking at TikTok and Rednote. Mostly they were pretty good. TikTok, however, took my support for the Canadian boycotts as support for more angry and upsetting political news so itâs probably good that Iâm having a break. Rednote continued to be positive though Iâll be going without that also as itâs algorithm-based as well.
Google:
Google started out with a motto of âDonât be Evilâ but eventually got rid of that. Lately that has been embodied in their giving up their vow not to use AI for surveillance or weapons development. But itâs been not so great for a while. Someone explained it well in a video I saw a while back. Theyâre a company that sells data that offers other services. The free mail you get is not free, itâs paid for with the ability to scan your email for things to advertise about. Maps tracks you by default and can use that data to share with its advertisers to better market to you. Your searches, logged for the same reason. The videos you watch? Logged and also used to determine what videos it should market to you. Getting out of that ecosystem was a matter of swapping things I paid for with data or my attention for those I pay money for.
Google was pervasive in our home. We all had Pixel phones, our Wifi router is a Google Nest router. We had three Google Nest devices in our house we could ask at any time to play music (this was mostly what we used it for). Of course we had Gmail and used Google Maps for routing and reviews. Iâll speak to each of these separately:
Google Pixel Phones:
There werenât many great and functional choices. We ended up trading our Pixel phones for iPhones. Apple is not free from reproach but in their case they are more of a company that sells hardware, software and services, and is less interested in our data.
Google Nest:
Everyone who I know that has any voice assistant also wonders if theyâre being listened to â especially when sometimes the ads you see match what youâve been talking about. In our case these were among the easiest to get rid of. For mundane stuff like setting timers we just use our microwave or our phone. For music we just added Tidal to the computer we use on our âMedia Cartâ. We set up an A/V style cart like we used to see in school with an old laptop, monitor, and a pair of speakers. When we want to âwatch TVâ we roll it out, watch our show then put it away. Now we also use this for music. Easy peasy.
An interesting thing â we all notice that for some reason the house feels quieter without the Google Nest devices listening. I donât know why.
Google Maps:
This one was easier than I thought. For general routing we use HERE WeGo, a Dutch offering. Thereâs no StreetView but I donât really miss that. Iâm not sure how good its bike routing is but it doesnât matter. The German site, Komoot, is the best app Iâve found for that â better than Google Maps anyway.
One thing that Google Maps had that I both liked and was also a little creeped out by was Timeline. This had data of everywhere Iâd been with my phone since I got the Google Maps app for the first time back in 2013. Any time I wanted I could go and see, âWhere was I on November 19, 2015â and it would tell me right down to the names of the stores and restaurants I visited and any photos I took that day. Deleting that data was strangely freeing. Now that I no longer have that, my life becomes a bit more ephemeral. Where did I go 12 days ago? Iâm not 100% sure. But if it was interesting, Iâd remember it for sure.
Google Photos:
I had photos going back to 1998 in this app. As much as I have already talked about wanting life to be more ephemeral and lived in the moment I would be a little sad to lose all of those. Fortunately I was able to transfer them easily over to OneDrive. Yes, thatâs Microsoft, a US-Based company. However, I need MS Office for work and there is no alternative. At least at this point, I canât be 100% strict.
GMail:
This was the big one. In the process of going through this project I learned I have over 130,000 emails in my personal email account. That boggles my mind. Itâs around 15 years old so thatâs a lot of time but still, thatâs a lot of time spent sending and reading mail. Who knew? But if nothing else it shows that email is an essential part of my life.
For this one we tried a couple things. I started off by moving us over to Proton Mail. Based in Switzerland theyâre known for excellent privacy and respecting their usersâ data. Unfortunately a little after I moved I learned that their CEO is a big fan of the Republican party. So theyâre out. But I did get one good thing out of that move. The subscription plan allowed me to set up several domain names to use for email instead of addresses like me@gmail.com or them@proton.me. So I set up this domain and tyrtle.com as domain names we can get email on.
This came in really handy when one month later we moved to a new email host, Fastmail. They do not have end to end encryption and reading comparisons with Proton show that some are worried that as theyâre Australia-based, they may be more likely to cooperate with police in sharing data for investigations. However, this is not something Iâm concerned about. Having set up the domain email once before, moving over to this host took about 15 minutes to have the tyrtle.com and gooutsidetoday.com email addresses up and running.
This is especially good because one big thing that I hadnât anticipated in moving emails was sharing my new email address. I emailed many friends and set up an autoresponder over at my old gmail address for now letting them know where to find me. I also went through over 600 saved user accounts on various sites, deleting some that I no longer needed, but still having to change about 100 from my gmail address to my new one. However, having it hosted on my own domain now means that if I change email providers again there will be no need to change my address with friends or on sites I log into.
While I could upload all of my old emails to fastmail, I decided not to. I do have them still, but in a local email program, Thunderbird, where I can search them if I ever need to.
Video Entertainment:
Using a privacy focused browser means less of my data is being shared with YouTube if Iâm not logged in so I will watch the occasional one there. However, 90% of what we watch is international television. A VPN subscription made it so watching UK TV shows, for example, is free and easy. I will say, though, that Iâm also going to be watching the original BBC Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy TV series on Kanopy soon. Thatâs an old favourite of mine.
Music:
Though Spotify is not American, their support of podcasters like Joe Rogan and now Andrew Tate makes me a little bit ill. Weâve moved over to Tidal. They have an excellent selection and from what I see they also pay artists a bit better than others.
News:
Iâve been having a bit of a break from most news as itâs just been too stressful. At this point keeping up with the news has made me physically ill to the point where it was beginning to look like an endoscopy was necessary. If I do get a bit more able to deal with it, Iâll be using the Pressreader app. Our library has a subscription so I can read most any major world newspaper for free.
Groceries:
This has been much easier than expected. It doesnât hurt that there are sites like Is This Canadian? to help sort out whatâs from where. Thereâs a bit of navigation to be done here as thereâs a whole spectrum from completely made here from Canadian products for a Canadian company to different stages of the process being done here or elsewhere. We aim for as much of the work done in Canada as possible with a target of 100% but sometimes that isnât possible. Sometimes there are Canadian subsidiaries of American companies making things here. Sometimes there are Canadian companies using American ingredients. We give the best effort we can in those instances. If there isnât a Canadian option (citrus fruit for example) we buy Mexican or other countriesâ products. In the rare event there isnât a non-American option, unless itâs absolutely essential, we do without.
Restaurants:
This isnât a big deal for us as we generally go to local restaurants anyway. However, every now and again we do go for a fast food meal. Now, choosing A&W or Harveyâs over McDâs is the new plan.
At the beginning of the boycott I looked at my phone and saw I still had the Starbucks app with $15 left on my card. I ordered three coffees and then wrote them to close my account, letting them know the reasons for my decision. There are so many independent cafes in this neighbourhood thereâs no good reason to go in any case. Funnily enough they did send me a $5 gift card after I left. I wonât be using that one though.
Other things I eliminated and just didnât replace. I used PayPal since around 2002 first for purchasing things online and then later for selling on eBay. As they offered the ability to use it to pay services online we used it for that especially before we got a credit card. However now I no longer need it. That account I just deleted. Iâd already deleted Uber and Airbnb so those were not an issue either. There are local delivery services and other ways to book travel. I wrote to all of the business travel loyalty companies I used including Holiday Inn, National and Hertz car rental and let them know I was no longer doing business with US companies and closed my accounts there, forfeiting any leftover points.
Iâd already sworn off travel to the states for some time. The atmosphere is palpably different there and frankly the massively increased likelihood of being shot is a bit of a deterrent. The dollar exchange also made it pretty expensive to go there except for business in which case I easily can bill at a 30% higher rate just due to the exchange rate. But even with that possibility, Iâve already told two recruiters who called me about possibly supporting projects there that they can check back in 2029 but for the time being I wasnât entertaining offers there.
Overall Iâm really surprised at not just how easy itâs been but how much weâve enjoyed this regardless of the driver for it. Eating locally has in many cases led us to really tasty options. The coffee Iâm drinking today was roasted locally and is absolutely delicious. Last week we got some locally made dill pickles that were out of this world.
And for the Internet changes, itâs made for an even quieter, more comfortable and interesting space. So far going mostly without big commercial software and in smaller spaces like Mastodon that are more labour of love than love of profit is a pleasant space I like to be in.
Thatâs a lot of political-adjacent talk. Enough of that for now. Here are some more good news stories to cleanse your palate:
During the pandemic there was a huge increase in the number of bike couriers on the streets here. Most of them are using ebikes. The problem is that many of them are not well made and can be more prone than many ebikes already are to catching fire. The consequences can be pretty bad â witness what happened on one of our subways recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Nf-EBzTVo
So itâs nice to see that now NYC is handing out better replacement e-bikes to delivery workers who have poorly made, fire-prone bikes.
Around the country and around the world, homelessness is becoming a bigger and bigger issue with many tent encampments being set up. These are often unsafe and fire-prone and are by no means a permanent solution. Fortunately some are working on more workable solutions like this container home village in Gatineau, Quebec.
One of the things I loved about visiting India was finding out about all of the stories of people who just saw a need in their village. The first I saw was my friendâs initiative, Saksham in Jaipur which helps with education of women and children in Jaipur, Rajasthan. On my third trip I visited the School Under the Bridge in Delhi started by a shopkeeper who wanted to help kids from the nearby slum get an education. Another friend whom I met through WordPress started Shikshadaan to provide funding and mentorship to needy students. And recently I heard of an organization in Chennai that has been helping people with dyslexia for over 30 years. The common thread in all of those organizations are regular people who saw a need and realized that there was something they themselves could do to help address it.
â
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Iâll be here reading and relaxing and trying to shake off this cold before the week starts. Lucky for me I have some frozen chole and can make a bit of rice so dinnerâs taken care of â and so I can spend the rest of the day in complete relaxation.
#canada #degoogle #GoodNews #Kindness #life #positivity #usBoycott #writing
Die ganzen Leute, die jetzt meinen US-Waren boykottieren zu mĂŒssen, dann aber den ganzen Tag auf Plattformen gewisser Tech-Bros rumhĂ€ngen. Genau mein Humor! đ
Wer keine US-Produkte nutzen will muss zuallererst zurĂŒck ins analoge Leben. Wird schwierig solange man kein Einsiedler im Wald wird. Ich witzel zwar immer, dass ich in eine Höhle im Wald ziehe, wenn das politisch so weitergeht, aber ich weiĂ immerhin das ich dafĂŒr viel zu krank und zu faul bin.
Das so viele Leute die Aktion einer dÀnischen Supermarkt-Kette so geil finden, wenn diese neuerdings US-Produkte mit einem (schwarzen) Stern markiert.
Bei allem VerstĂ€ndnis dafĂŒr, dass man US-Konzernen schaden will...
Mir stöĂt es sauer auf, da man sich so auf das Niveau von BDS und "Kauft nicht bei Juden" begibt.
Markierung mit einem Stern! Hallo? Kennen wir das nicht aus anderen Zeiten? Echt jetzt?
Es scheint egal zu sein, dass auch Firmen getroffen werden könnten, die stabil sind und sich gegen Trump und seine Faschistenschergen stellen.
Warum nicht eher Firmen und Beteiligungen boykottieren, die mit der US-Regierung verbandelt sind oder ihnen aktiv zuarbeiten.
Da wÀren dann auch europÀische Unternehmen zu boykottieren, die kein Problem haben mit US Faschisten zu paktieren.
aktuelles Beispiel aus Deutschland:
https://m.focus.de/finanzen/news/trotz-unterstuetzung-fuer-trump-und-afd-fuer-die-telekom-bleibt-elon-musk-willkommener-geschaeftspartner_id_260679729.html
Ich habe da bislang noch keinen gröĂeren Aufschrei gehört.
#usboycott #danemark #musk #trump #faschisten
Amerikanske producenter af dagligvarer vi boycotter omfatter bl.a.:
Cambell Soup Co., Chiquita Brands Inc., Gillette Co., Coca Cola Co., Colgate-Palmolive, Dole Food Co., H.J. Heinz Group, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg Co., Kimberly Clark Co., Kraft Foods Inc., Kraft Foods, Co., Mars, Inc., Pepsi Co., Procter & Gamble, Wrigley Jr. Co.
Rather than playing tit4tat over tariffs why aren't ppl in affected nations just boycotting US goods and services??
Any tariffs from Trump need to be met with push back.
Let's pull out of Aukus too. And lets not forget that Dutton (under Morrison) got us into Aukus in the first place.
#usboycott #boycottusproducts #AusPolitics #australia #auspol #auspol2025 #Albanesegovernment #albanesepm #AUKUS #MillionairePeterDutton
The rubber is really meeting the road when it comes to buying eco-friendly cleaning products, especially those that are low or no scent (sorry cleaning vinegar and pure ammonia).
I'm a big fan of Mrs. Meyers Clean Day products, including dish soap and multi-surface cleaner, but they're American products, which I'm trying to avoid at this time.
The Unscented Company does make some of these, but they're all out of stock.
Does anyone have recommendations for Canadian made eco-friendly, low or no scent cleaning products?
Oh #Canada and Viva #Mexico, looking for another way to #USboycott in the upcoming #tradewars? I propose to ditch #BigTech and their Trumpist-friendly empire (Meta, Tesla, Alphabet, Amazon...). No need to panic, the alternatives already exist! Beyond the #Fediverse, why not start #Degoogling where possible and embrace #Linux on your desktop/laptop? Plenty of non-American distros out there, or at least ones that donât bow to the Orangist absolutism.
