As one of the more plethoric bloggers and peddlars of twaddle, it tends to be noticed when I am silent and not obviously away somewhere.  Such was the case yesterday when, with nothing to say and limited energy to say it anyway, I opted not to post.  So many thanks to those who checked 'off blog' to make sure I was OK; I am fine and today detect my energy levels rising once more after Friday's street-legal drug-fest.  No doubt in a day or two I'll be back to waffling as much as ever.

Hoax emails and spam are one of the biggest nuisances of the internet age, and some of them are positively dangerous, praying on vulnerable or suggestible people.  There are good websites such as hoaxslayer where you can check out the most common and most pernicious but you do need to be on your guard all the time.  Yesterday I was sent a warning by a friend about a hoax email purporting to be from [sic] John Hopkins Medicine (it is Johns Hopkins)and telling people, it seems, to eschew conventional cancer treatment in favour of weird diets and the right attitude.  Now of course diet and attitude matter - but they aren't gpoing to magic away the sick cells, so such advice is dangerous indeed.

Part of what saddens me is that people have nothing better to do with their time and talents than cause alarm and distress to vulnerable people, to undermine a system that has so much potential for good, to fill email inboxes with garbage or worse.  So to hoaxers and spammers out there - spare a thought for your victims for whom these issues just might be real and your mis-information harmful.