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If You Read Only One Anti-Drug Story Featuring Anthropomorphic Horses This Year, READ THIS ONE!

Cover of 'Latawnya the Naughty Horse Learns to Say No to Drugs'.

Mankind’s crowning literary achievement or the winning salvo in the war against drugs? No matter which way you look at it Latawnya the Naughty Horse Learns to Say “No” to Drugs [1MB picture file] will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Excerpt from 'Latawnya the Naughty Horse Learns to Say No to Drugs'.
Click the image above to read the whole story.

“Latawnya, drugs are bad for you,” said Mother and Father horse. “I had a friend who secretly took drugs,” said Father horse. “He accidentally took an overdose and died,” said Father horse.

Someday, “Latawnya” will be as well-known to children everywhere as Goldilocks, Rumplestiltskin or Winnie-the-Pooh.

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Pete Forde’s Adventures at Coachella


Video of the Jesus and Mary Chain performing with special guest vocalist Scarlett Johannson.

Well, it’s all over except for the crying and the filling out of riot police reports: this year’s Coachella music festival — a long weekend’s worth of outdoor music from some of today’s hottest alt-rock acts (with a smattering of yesterday’s) — has come and gone.

I didn’t go, but Pete Forde did, and he wrote about it in this LiveJournal entry (and really, Pete, you’re not disturbed or “I want to kill Mom” enough to have a LiveJournal).

A couple of excerpts:

Friday, 10:00pm: LCD Soundsystem gets the party rolling. James Murphy, looking dashing in a white three-piece suit, informs us that we are “an excellent cultural barometer for the best music.”

I really need to lay down. I hear Red Hot Chilli Peppers in the distance. A girl behind me engages in a loud yelling match with her girlfriend, who I can’t hear: “MY MOTHER IS DEAD!” …. “I DON’T CARE!” …. “I WAS RAPED!” …. “I DON’T CARE!” …. “MY MOTHER DIED!” …. “I WAS RAPED! REPEATEDLY! FOR A YEAR!” …. “I DON’T CARE!” …. “I AM NOT HIGH!”

The lesson: If you want to unearth those repressed memories, put on some Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Saturday, 11:00am: The police were definitely not happy with us. There was much more of a presence, complete with state trooper car parked on an angle just inside the gate. They were being total dicks about what you could bring in, too. No fruit or Advil, apparently. I saw them refuse one guy his allergy meds, because he didn’t bring a copy of his prescription! Regarding my cloth for wiping my glasses:

“What’s that?”

“A cloth.”

“For drugs?”

“For my glasses.”

“Your glasses aren’t dirty.”

[blinks]

The lesson: Apparently sniffing ether-soaked rags has come back into vogue in California.

Sunday, 11pm: Rage Against The Machine hit the stage for the final set of the weekend. What can I say? It was really awesome! I never got to see them before, and watching them do their thing.. it was like they never broke up. There’s a lot of cynical things that should and could be said about them, but I’m glad they have resolved their differences, because at the root of it they are a great band.. and, if someone’s got to scream WAKE UP then it should probably be Zach.

Not one to miss an opportunity, the lyrics to Killing in the Name Of became “some of those who hold office, are the same who burn crosses” [Mary pointed out that you could actually feel the ground shaking] and during the finale when he’s doing his rebellious crouch on the pedestal before his flock, delivering the sermon of the day, it was hard not to feel a perverse excitement when he explained that if the Bush administration was tried under the same laws that the Nazis were, they would be found guilty of war crimes and shot. It continued to be exciting when Zach finished up by restating slightly that we need to try the Bush administration, that they will be found guilty, and They. Will. Be. Shot.

Oh, English! You have so many expressive nuances that can sound so sinister.

The lesson: You’ll get off your ass and vote in the next election, won’t you, hippie?

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Barbie Cars and "Tokyo Drift" Don’t Mix

Well, Barbie Cars and Tokyo Drift-style racing do mix, but they mix disastrously for the driver:

Animated graphic showing Barbie Car wipeout.
Animated graphic courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

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Questionable Branding of the Day, Part 1: Trump Steaks

Sharper Image advertisement for Trump Steaks.
Click the picture to go to Sharper Image’s page for Trump Steaks.

Do you think they’re made from real Trump?

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Tucows Job Fair: Saturday, May 5th

If you’re looking for a job as a Customer Service Representative

'Customer Service Representative' squishy cow.

…or as a Technical Support Analyst

'Technical Support' squishy cow.

…then you might be interested in this Saturday’s Tucows Job Fair:

We’re holding an open house
SATURDAY, JUNE 16TH
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
96 Mowat Avenue

We have a number of openings for Technical Support Analysts & Customer Service Representatives.

Our support groups operate 24×7; and offer full-time and flexible part-time
hours are available in our Retail Services Group.

Come and visit our office at 96 Mowat Avenue and bring your resume. You’ll have an opportunity to meet our Technical Support & Retail Services Group Management, and talk about yourself and the exciting careers @ Tucows.

Can’t make it? Send your resume to hrdept@tucows.com and let us know what position you’re interested in.

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Tucows Email Service: What’s Under the Hood?

Small version of diagram showing layers of Tucows Email Service.

Over at the Tucows Blog, I’ve posted the first in a series of articles about the new-and-improved Tucows Email Service, which is slated to become available on our “Horizon” test environment in a few weeks and then go onto the Live server a few weeks after that.

The first article, titled Tucows Email Service: What’s Under the Hood? covers why we built a new email system from the ground up, the Xen virtualization technology we use and the advantages of running our email servers on Xen virtual machines.

(The diagram on the right is the key diagram from the article — it shows the layers of machinery behind the Tucows Email Service.)

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Amusing Spam of the Day

Normally, I just delete spam that ends up bypassing the filters, but this amusing bit of spam that came into my GMail account earlier today amused me so much that I thought I’d post it here:

Spam ad for 'Miami Investigadores Privados.'

My meager Spanish skills are enough to do the necessary translation:

Miami Private Investigators

Infidelity Service

Services for companies and individuals

  • Confidential information
  • “Tailing” (literal translation is “following”)
  • Wiretaps (literal translation is “phone spying”)
  • Computer taps (literal translation is “computer spying”)
  • Photographs and (Maria! What are fimaciones?)
  • Latest technology (literal translation is “technology of end”) — microphones, recorders, micro-cameras

So if you think your marido or esposa is participating in unsanctioned extracurriculars there’s a spammer who’s got a service just for you.

(Maybe these guys should run ads on late-night TLN, where it seems to be straight-up Hispanic softcore pornonovelas after 1:00 a.m..)