Tuesday 20 February 2007

Why You Shouldn't Buy from Spammers

Aside from the obvious ("because it only encourages them"), the U.S. Food And Drug Administration offers another, more worrying reason:

A number of Americans who placed orders for specific drug products over the Internet (Ambien, Xanax, Lexapro, and Ativan), instead received a product that ... can cause muscle stiffness and spasms, agitation, and sedation ... Preliminary analysis indicates they contain haloperidol, the active ingredient in a prescription drug used primarily to treat schizophrenia.

Ouch. No surprise here: spammers are Bad People. Lest we forget, spam isn't merely an productivity-sucking irritant.

I'm indebted to the FDA for providing the following photos and captions. More at the FDA site.

Back photo of yellow Haloperidol with “H 2” imprinted on the tablet.
Back photo of yellow Haloperidol with “H 2” imprinted on the tablet.

Front photo of yellow Haloperidol with “Janssen” imprinted on the tablet
Front photo of yellow Haloperidol with “Janssen” imprinted on the tablet

Plastic bag containing yellow Haloperidol tablets as received by consumers
Plastic bag containing yellow Haloperidol tablets as received by consumers

Mailing envelope in which tablets were shipped to consumers
Mailing envelope in which tablets were shipped to consumers

Mailing envelope in which tablets were shipped to consumers
Mailing envelope in which tablets were shipped; yellow tablets, and the clear plastic bag in which they were contained. The ruler was placed for size comparison purposes

Mailing envelope in which the tablets were shipped to consumers. The ruler was placed for size comparison purposes.
Mailing envelope in which the tablets were shipped to consumers. The ruler was placed for size comparison purposes.

White haloperidol in blister pack
White Haloperidol in blister pack

Yellow Haloperidol in blister pack
Yellow Haloperidol in blister pack

Monday 19 February 2007

Normal Service Will Be Resumed ASAP

So a big sarcastic thanks to my now-ex-hosting company, who decided I was about to run out of bandwidth, but didn't bother to, you know, tell me or anything. If you noticed an odd "free host" banner recently, that's why.

Anyway, panic over. I've now moved to Surpass Hosting. If you're quick, you can get the same deal I did: $1 hosting for a year. There's also deals on reseller plans and dedicated plans.