Colorodo High School Bans Spike Energy Drink After Students Become Sick

According to a video report by CNN, Doherty High School, in Colorado Springs, Colorado has banned it's students from consuming Biotest's Spike Shooters Energy Drink after "In a span of a week, 18 Doherty High School students [...] reported becoming, after drinking an energy drink called "Spike Shooter". The principle of the school banned the drink "on campus" and then "convinced a near-by convenience store to pull [Spike Shooters] off the shelves".

Dr. Jill Martin, the high school's principle, is quoted as saying "If this product is so potent that you have to read the instructions and consider whether to drink it or not something is wrong." Although CNN clearly points out that the label states very clearly that drink should not be consumed by anyone under eighteen. However, it is unreported at this point as to whether any of the students at the high school who consumed the energy drink and reported sickness were over this age, one girl in the report, a 14 year old diabetic, Rachael Woodrum (I'm unsure if I am spelling her name correctly due to a lack of transcript of the video), consumed the drink and become violently ill. According to doctors, the drink may have actually increased her metabolism, something that would be a selling point for any supplement product on the market that would advertise itself for weight loss.

Yet, there appears to be a discrepancy in the report and what is actually written on the products label. An image from the video clearly shows that the label reads: "WARNING: DO NOT IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 OR ELDERLY." (I wonder what the standard age for "elderly" is? When you can get the seniors special at IHOP or your hair starts turning gray?) But, on a can of Spike Shooter I purchased a few weeks ago at Vitamin Shoppe, the label reads
"...IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 16 OF ELDERLY." This is also reflected on the label on the Bodybuilding.com store. This is quite a strange age range to limit users of a dietary supplement to (as Spike Shooter would be classified as a dietary supplement). Click the thumbnail image below to view the enlarged label as shown in the CNN video report.



Warning: Extremely Potent

Spike Shooter is an offshoot energy product, introduced by BioTest Laboratories last August. It was initially only sold in cases of 48 off of the Biotest/T-Nation website. Although it is known that Spike is a creation of Biotest, the manufacturer on the can and in the interview is listed as Spike LLC, possibly a move by the company to limit it's liability in case lawsuits start flying. The original incarnation of Spike is an energy pill, which contains a completely different set of ingredients than the Spike Shooter drink, although both have identical packaging. The Spike energy pill comes as a single serving size tablet, which contains a proprietary formula called T-MAX. The ingredients of T-MAX are labeled as:

Spike Tablet: 400 mg
-T-MAX™[Biotest proprietary thiamine di(2-methylpropionate) disulfide], caffeine

It is believed that this is nomenclature for a "gray area" compound known as Sulbutiamine. Sulbutiamine is sold as a drug in some countries, and is precursor to thiamine (Vitamin B1). It's known as a stimulant and a nootropic (smart drug). The caffeine is included to enhance the stimulant effects of the compound, although a caffeine free version of the Spike tablets are available. Spike tablets were sold at stores such as Walmart and Walgreens for a time, but recently mysteriously disappeared off the shelves, while other similar fat burners and energy pills, such as VPX Redline, continue to be available. Reviews of Spike tablets have been mixed, however, other supplement companies have added this same ingredient to their post-ephedra stimulant products, such as Anabolic Xtreme's Stimulant X.

Spike Shooter has a completely different formula than it's predecessor, and sets itself apart from most energy drinks in that it isn't loaded with sugar as one of it's main ingredients. Spike Shooter contains no calories, no carbohydrates, no fat, no protein and no sugar. The first major ingredient on the can is Vitamin B12 in the form methylcobalamin, a version of B12 mostly studied for reducing homocysteine levels, but also thought to be more effective in areas of the brain. The rest of it's ingredients are also in the form of a proprietary blend.



Two of the most controversial ingredients in this product are Yohimbine HCL (incorrectly labeled here as "Yohimbe HCL" (a non-existant ingredient - either a typo on this printed label or from the manufacturer) and the staggering 300mg of caffeine.



Yohimbine HCL is another "gray area" supplements that is also sold as a drug in other countries for erectile dysfunction, but classified in the US as an "Unclassified Therapeutic Agent" according to the PDR. Prior to a few underground manufacturers selling this synthetic alkaloid, it was only available as Yohimbe, often standardized for Yohimbine, which is thought to be the alkaloid responsible for it's main effects on libido and fat burning by way of blocking alpha(2) adrenoreceptors, responsible for fat storage. α2 receptor sites are located in areas known for fat storage, such as abdominal adipose tissue. Yohimbe and Yohimbine also have a very low dosage required for its stimulating effects, with users not recommended to take more than 3mg at a single serving. Since Spike Shooter has a proprietary blend, it is unknown how much Yohimbine HCL is in the drink, although it is the last one listed, so it should be the smallest dose in the formula.

At the top of the Spike Shooter can it reads "WARNING: EXTREMELY POTENT" and "READ LABEL BEFORE DRINKING", which is what the high school's principle was referring to, quoted above. Whether or not this is a marketing technique or an actual warning is up for debate.



Irregular Heart beat After One Can?

The reporter of the story decided to test out Spike Shooter for himself. He claimed to have a healthy heart history, works out several times a week, and drinks several cups of coffee a day. It's unknown whether or not he had any coffee prior to his ingestion of the Spike Shooter drink that day. However, he had a doctor hook him up to an EKG machine and test his results before and after drinking the can of Spike. Before consuming the drink, his heart results were normal, according to the exam. Afterwards, not only did his blood pressure rise, but he reported developed an irregular heart beat - an extremely dangerous side effect for a simple OTC energy drink. This is exactly the same problems that were reported with ephedra before its ban, and now it appears Spike, and possibly even Yohimbine, might be headed towards that same road.

Double Standards?

Despite the fact that CNN was extremely critical of the Spike Shooter drink, they don't seem to have any problems with advertising some of the same (and competing) energy drinks mentioned in this article on their site. As I was doing a search for a text version of the article I could link to for this blog post, I noticed the following advertisements at the top of CNN's "Sponsored Results". Click the thumbnail image below to view the full image.



You can view the full report on this story from CNN through YouTube in the embedded player below. Feel free to post your comments.

Quick Tips for Saving Money When Shopping Online

Whenever you visit an online store and make a purchase, you'll often see an open box towards the end of your purchase that says "Promo Code/Coupon". This is a box specially reserved for coupons and codes you can enter to save money on your purchase. Sometimes the store you're buying from will send you codes and coupons like these in a mailing (either email or postal) if you subscribe to their newsletter. Most of the time, if you're a new customer, you might get a free shipping discount or some other special promotion. Other times they might have a special going on that only select people know about or you have to hunt for online. So what do you do if you don't have one of these promotional codes or coupons for the store you're shopping at?

Three Sites to Find Hidden Promotions or Coupons

There are three easy to use sites that you can use to find promotional codes or coupons that are sometimes only available to certain people, but you might not know about. Let's use overstock.com as an example of a store that we might be shopping at, but looking for a coupon for to save some money on a purchase.








RetailMeNot.com (RMN) is brought to you by the same people who created the BugMeNot site and uses the same basic idea. RMN has two basic ways it works to bring you discounts for stores. First, people who have or know about special coupons (often that might expire soon) can enter them into the free online database and share them with anyone who wants to use them. The other factor is that they are an affiliate with LinkShare, a large company, which I am also an affiliate with. LinkShare represents many large companies in promoting their products online to pay out a referral fee or commission to sites who link to their online sites or stores. Often times these merchants give out discounts and coupons only available to their affiliates, which they in turn post on their site in order to drive traffic to the merchant, and thus make the affiliate money. So, with RMN you get both. I noticed right away when I visited the RMN site on the front page there was a button with a link to get 8% off a purchase of Overstock.com - a company which has an affiliate program through LinkShare. So, when you click the link, you get the discount and RMN makes a commission - a win for both people.

But, I went ahead and searched the RMN database for "overstock.com" (without the quotes) and found two other coupons. One was a code to save $5 off a purchase of $45 or more, and one that didn't specify exactly what sort of savings you got. At the top was RMN's link for the 8% discount, which was stated as "Guaranteed to work". Any other user entered coupons can be voted on whether the coupons work or not and have a red indicator if people have not been successful in using the coupon or green if they have. RMN doesn't say whether or not they remove coupons if they go past their expiration date or if enough people vote on it to indicate it doesn't work or not, but I suspect that they eventually purge their database of old and outdated coupons.

Secret-Coupons.com (S-C) is another site that has coupons for many online stores and merchants. They too appear to be an affiliate with LinkShare and have many coupons and promos for lots of major online stores. Unfortunately, S-C is a little tricker to navigate. Although they have a listing of a lot of stores on the front page, they have everything divided up into categories. This allows you to browse if you want to find a store that has a product you're looking for that might have the best deal at the time. But what if you're looking for a coupon for a store you're already at? Although S-C has a Google search box on the top of their page, this only searches other websites, and not their own. So, in order to search their site for a particular store, you need to use the Google Site Search "Domain Search" function. This is simple to do, especially if you have the Google toolbar. If you are using Firefox, while you are at the S-C site, just enter the merchant you want to look for in the search box, click the down arrow to the right of the search button and choose "Current Site". In IE, you do the same thing, except you click the arrow to the right of the Google "G" in the search box and choose "Current Site". To perform the search manually, all you would do is type in the name of merchant you want to in the search box, followed by the name of the the S-C domain. So, it would look like this "overstock.com site:www.secret-coupons.com" (without the quotes). The first hit you'll get will show you the Overstock.com page on S-C, which includes many links for discounts and promotions. As with RMN, S-C had a button on their front page which offered a 10% discount on Overstock.com (for new customers only). So clearly, you want to make sure and search all the coupon sites (including the one I mention below) for the best deals before you hit the "Confirm Order" button. An important thing to remember is that in order to get the discounts, you have to first click on the link on their site, and then go through placing the order. This is because it has to set a cookie in your browser in order to give you the discount. If by the end of your purchase you don't see the discount, you may have cookies disabled or blocked in some way. Many anti-virus software, firewalls, anti-spyware programs and other software block cookies, so you may have to disable this before using the links or you might need to use another browser. Also, if you already have your shopping cart full, you might have to go through and re-add the items to your cart again and place to order to receive the savings.

InboxDollars.com (IBD) is somewhat different than the other two coupon sites mentioned above. IBD is what is called a Get Paid To (GPT) site, which means you GPT read emails, sign up for offers, play games, and do other things like shop online. You have to sign up and become a member in order to use IBD, but it's easy to do and you get $5 free just for registering. If you recruit a friend with your affiliate link, you make $5. It's not a pyramid, since membership is optional, and you can cancel anytime. It's not multi-level marketing or anything like that, since levels below you who sign up under your friend don't make you any money. Basically, with IBD, you are just given a variety of options to make cash. But, the reason I mention it in this article is because they have a HUGE list of online stores that they have promotions, coupons, or cash back offers when you shop with them through IBD.

Basically it works like this. After you've signed up for IBD, you can visit the section of the site labeled "CA$H Shopping" on the left, then click the "LET'S GO SHOPPING" button. Then, click "All Stores" on the menu on the left. In your browser, hit the CTRL key plus F and the "Find" box will open up. Just type in the name of the merchant you're looking for and if IBD is affiliated with it, it will find it within the page.

So, IBD also has discounts for Overstock.com. It has the coupon for 8% off your entire order when you click their link and make your purchase, and you also get 2% cashback to your IBD account when you complete your order. They also have a discount and cashback bonus for the Overstock store in Canada. It generally takes a day or so for IBD to credit the cashback to your account, and you'll receive an email once you receive the cashback bonus. If your order is really large, the cashback discounts can really add up. As with the S-C site, you need to click the link on the IBD site and make sure you have your cookies enabled to make sure you get the discount and cashback bonus.



There's a couple other important things to know about IBD. IBD requires you to receive emails (normally daily) that you must click the link on, which takes you to a page that you need to view a small advertisement for. Each time you do this, you get paid (normally about 20-30¢). Not much, but it is required to keep your account active. You must continue to click the links in these emails during the time you wish to keep your IBD up. Along with the payments you get for shopping, there are many other ways to make money in IBD. For example, if you are not a member of eBay, they will pay you $6 to sign up as a new member. There are other trial offers, free offers, surveys, and things that you can sign up for and get paid a varying amount of money. You can also play games through SkillJam to make some money through their system (games like Solitaire, trivia games, and other stuff - not gambling), then IBD pays you an extra percentage of your winnings. So, there is a lot more to IBD than just shopping, but you have to keep those things in mind if you decide to become a member there. You aren't required to do anything except to keep clicking the emails if you want to withdrawal the money you earn there. Clicking the emails normally take about 10-30 seconds, so it's not hard, and you aren't overwhelmed with emails or spammed, so it's not something problematic. Once you decide you want to withdrawal your money from IBD, you simply click the "Request Payment" on the left side of the menu on the main IBD page. They will then send you a check for your earnings, which normally takes a month or so.

There are numerous other ways to find coupons and promotions online, but those are three of the easiest ways to find them. Anytime I make a purchase online, I always check those 3 sites, which normally takes a couple minutes, and if there are any discounts or coupons, I save some money, or even get a cashback reward. That combined with a reward program that many credit cards have nowadays, you have the potential to not only save money, but earn money (or points).

Keep looking around, and you'll find all sorts of other deals on the web. The TalkGold forum has a special section for Freebies and Hot Online Deals that constantly has special deals and cool freebies posted daily. Often a Google search will turn up some matches too. If you have or know of any other cool coupon sites, feel free to email them to me or post them in the comments!

FBI & New York Police on the Trail of StudioTraffic

StudioTraffic was once one of the largest paid to autosurf sites on the net. It had existed for several years and was branded as one of the safest and most long lasting investment sites on the net, somewhat akin to AllAdvantage. StudioTraffic paid out a 1% daily investment on whatever money the user inputted into their account through their own payment processor system, StudioPay. All they had to do was run the auto-surf script everyday to make their 1% income. Investors were assured that the money put into StudioTraffic was being used, by their other companies, such as an upstart record label, a web hosting company, an internet cafe was in the discussion of being open. All the while, the investors did not know that what they were participating in was an age old scheme known as a prime bank fraud and ponzi scheme.

This was the time of the auto-surf boom, and another company just springing up was 12DailyPro, which paid out at a rate of 12% cycles over 12 days of a persons investment. In the end, the SEC shut 12DailyPro down and most of the last investors are left with very little money to be had, and not expecting much from the government.

At the end of StudioTraffic, it crumbled slowly. A hacker broke into StudioPay and posted online thousands of pictures of individuals who had submitted their drivers licenses and other personally identifying information. It is not know what has become of this data and what other security risks might have been brought from that incident. However, the staff at StudioTraffic sent out an email to it's members which seems to insinuate that they not only did not know what happened, how to fix it, or what action to take.

Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 12:52:47 -0600 [02/21/2006 12:52:47 PM CST]
From: service@studiopay.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Hello

Dear Member

Security issues have been our priority recently following claims
from an individual that he/she hacked the StudioPay information on some
members accounts.

At this point in time we are investigating this issue and
working closely with authorities worldwide to trace this person.

In the following link you will find some advice about identity theft,
how to discover it, who to contact and also some preventative measures.

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/identity_theft_learn.html

This information is specific to USA, but any member can enter "identity
theft" into a search engine and get information specific to their
own country.

Until our investigations are complete we feel that we should treat these
allegations seriously. To this end we recommend that you take any
steps you feel necessary to protect yourself.

Our recommendations are:

Report to your local police station the possibility that your
identity information has been compromised. In the event that this
does arise then there will be a record for you to refer to.

Make a report to your credit card company if you used your credit card
statement to verify your account. By doing this your credit card
account will be noted and both you and the credit card company can w
be vigilant and watch for unusual or suspicious transactions.

If you used your bank account statement to verify your account submit a
report to your bank, again this will ensure that your accounts
are noted.

Please follow any advice that your bank or other companies you contact
give you.

At this point in time we are unable to determine how much, if any,
informaton [sic] this person has obtained. As stated earlier, we are
working closely with authorities in different countries try and track
this individual.

We are introducing some new security features. You may recall that you
were asked to change your StudioTraffic password recently. The same
security feature, planned for StudioPay, has now been introduced ahead
of schedule and we would ask that all members change their StudioPay
password immediately. You will be prompted to change it every
three months (every 6 months in StudioTraffic). In doing so please
ensure that you use a strong password that cannot be easily worked
out.

Any steps you take now may be of huge importance in the future. The
security and safety of our members is our utmost priority and we
urge you to err on the side of caution and follow our recommendations.

Should any of our members experience fraudulent use of their personal
information into the future please contact us and we will work with
you and the authorities to resolve the situation.

For now we will continue to investigate the situation and should we
be able to pinpoint any members that may be targetted we will
contact those members directly.

Regards

StudioPrograms Admin Team

Soon, members of the inner circle of StudioTraffic began to break ranks and posted the truth behind ST and it's sister companies. Although it was clear that ST was on it's way out, some people still heldfast to the belief that StudioTraffic could make it, and continued to donate to it to keep it alive, all to no avail in the end.

The StudioTraffic website was taken down with the help of members at the talkgold forum, by contacting the administrators of the ISP who was hosting the site. They decided that the manner in which ST operated was not in compliance with their Terms of Service and/or Acceptable Use Policy. Prior to that, the anonymous John Horan, owner of the site, sent out an email to all users regarding the situation.

After that, all went quite for several months. User's submitted their complaints online, and we did not hear much about it since then. In May 2006 I received a call from the
Onondaga County Sheriff's Dept. requesting information on my interactions with StudioTraffic and StudioPay, which seems to have been registered in Brookport New York, and was operating as an illegal unlicensed money transfer service. I spoke to a detective with the Sheriff's department and told him everything he knew. His name was John Scarson and, with his partner, Jamie Bloomer, they were investigating the StudioPay lead. They told me they had gotten my number off the complaint I filed at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). After that, I hadn't heard much, until I got this email in my inbox a few weeks ago.

Date: 20 Dec 2006 18:08:07 -0500 [12/20/2006 05:08:07 PM CST]
From: Do not reply
Subject: Studiopay/Studiotraffic investigation

Dear xxxxxxxx:

Studiopay/Studiotraffic is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and Onondaga County Sheriffs Department. Investigation of this matter has developed information that you have had financial transactions with one, or both, of these companies. If you have been victimized by either of these companies please file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at the following website:

http://www.ic3.gov/

Please reference Studiopay as the subject of the investigation when filing your complaint. Provide as much detail as possible pertaining to monies invested, individuals contacted, method of contact (telephone, mail, E-mail etc...), amounts, and dates of payment and any amounts received from Studiopay. If possible, include dates of contact, the Studiopay employees contacted and brief summaries of the conversations.

I verified that this email was actually from the FBI's IC3 department by examining the headers of the email. So, now it seems that the FBI and the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department are dedicated to tracking down the operators of StudioTraffic and bringing them to justice for their crimes fraud, deceit, and total disregard for anything but their own selfish money stealing scheme.

So, if you have further information about StudioTraffic or StudioPay or any of their related dealings, please send them to the IC3 site above. You may also contact the FBI at their HQ in Washington, DC. At the time I spoke to the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department their phone number was (315)435-1401 and fax (315)435-1402, although I am not sure these two numbers are still valid.

You can find more information about the legacy of StudioTraffic on these sites.

• Studiotraffic.co.uk: living memory of one of the biggest Internet scams
• StudioTraffic Scam
• Wikipedia's entry on StudioTraffic
• Many old posts with quite a bit of information (albeit very disorganized) can be found in the TalkGold forum archives. Simply do a search for "StudioTraffic" in that section and you will come back with many results.
• Internet Archive: StudioTraffic & StudioPay
• Two Better Business Bureau in Canada's reports on ST at two different addresses. BBB Reliability Report: Studio Traffic (1) BBB Reliability Report: Studio Traffic (2).
• Many reports on Ripoffreport.com on StudioTraffic

With your help, we can put the owners, operators, and propagators of StudioTraffic where they belong and finally bring this criminal regime down to smoke, ash, and to the rust bin of history.

Where Did all the Ephedrine Go?

Please note: I am not advocating in any way, shape or form the illegal purchasing of prohibited products. I am not a licensed doctor, so please check with a doctor before taking any of the products mentioned below. However, because of the abuse of many illegal drug users, people who have a legitimate need to use ephedrine based products are being strictly limited in access to them and this article attempts to shed light on sources to purchase these products for legitimate medical needs.

As you may have noticed if you have been shopping around for ephedrine lately is that almost none of the supplement shops are carrying it in stock anymore. Due to recent legislation and the continuing risk of lawsuits, most companies that manufacturer or even sell ephedrine have stopped. The cause of this is the drug epidemic of methamphetamine production and abuse, which is illicitly manufactured from ephedrine or it's chemical cousin, pseudoephedrine. The herbal ephedra formulas have all but disappeared after an Appeals Court judge struck down a ruling that the FDA ban against the herb was illegal.

So, what's left for the people who use ephedrine as a staple in their supplement regiments? There are a couple options. SupplementPriceMatch.com is having a final closeout sale on many popular ephedra and ephedrine products, even some that have expired several years ago, but were some of the most popular blends available. But, the prices are quite high for many of the generic products and even the synthetic ephedrine hcl tablets in small amounts. Most of the products in the closeout sale are made by a company called American Generic Labs and the formulas are knock-offs of supplements like Ripped Fuel, Xenadrine, Yellow Jackets & Hydroxycut. They do also have some original brands, like D&E's Bolt Ephedrine, Megapro Vasopro, NVE's Stacker line and others. Before the first ephedra ban went into place, I stocked up on some of my favorite products. Now, however, stimulants like Stimulant X, AMP and Spike blow those formulas out of the water in terms of jitter free energy with no crash. Still, it's hard to match the good old reliable ECA stack in terms of successful fat loss.

Another place to get ephedrine online, which will probably remain available, is D&E Pharmaceuticals. D&E makes a wide variety of ephedrine hcl products, including the very popular Bolt Ephedrine without guaifenesin, which some people claim can hinder the effects of ephedrine. Unfortunately, one problem with D&E is that you have to submit a valid ID card so you can order ephedrine, and you cannot exceed purchasing a certain alloted amount per month. Bolt Ephedrine now costs a staggering $89.95 for one box of 272 25mg tablets. That amount is clearly intended to dissuade people who would want to buy this to manufacture speed, but it is also outrageously over priced for any normal customer, even people who suffer from nasal congestion would be turned off by a price like that.

eBay seems to be another place to find ephedrine, although their policies strictly forbid it. Some of the products you may find there might be from other countries that don't have as tough laws on the drug as in the US, and others might just be fake, so be cautious when ordering. If you do order, eBay and it's payment system PayPal, might not afford you any protection you would get from other auctions, since they are just as able to cancel an auction of ephedrine, even after it's been sold - voiding out any insurance that would have been kept on the auction otherwise.

Another obvious place to find ephedrine would be at your local pharmacy, where ephedrine was once commonly found in many cold medicines, only to be replaced by pseudoephedrine, and now phenylephrine - an extremely expensive compound with little in the way of options (such as time released formulas). However, there are still a few ephedrine products available. Although they don't seem to be listed on any of the pharmacies websites, many of them do still carry ephedrine products, but they can be tucked away behind the counter, up high on shelves or in other places that you would need to ask for help from an employee to find and purchase. Yet, another haven for ephedrine is your neighborhood gas station. Although most convenience stores like 711 don't carry it, many gas stations near highways still sell Minithin tablets at the register or in the isle with small packets of cold medicine. Sometimes you may have to ask at the register for them, and you will probably have to show ID for it. Many truckers still use ephedrine to stay awake for long hauls, but many new energy drinks are fast replacing it as a cheaper means to keep from falling asleep on the highway.

One product still sold at most local pharmacies such as Walgreens, CVS, and even some stores like Walmart is Bronkaid. In most states, you are now required to carry a slip with a picture of the product to the pharmacy and sign a ledger to purchase it. In Texas, they will only allow you to purchase a single box, and attempting to purchase more, or go to other stores and purchase more can be viewed as highly suspicious by law enforcement. Bronkaid contains 25mg of ephedrine sulphate and 400mg of guaifenesin (an extremely large amount) per tablet. They are generally sold in boxes of 60 tabs. I found it being sold on Amazon.com as Bronkaid Dual Action Formula Coated Caplets - 60 ea for $9.99 and Bronkaid Caplets - 60 for $12.99 - both appear to have the same ingredients. But, I have a suspicion that the dual action formula might be a slow release form of the product, although I am not sure of that.


Another ephedrine containing product which should be available at the same locations is Primatene tablets, which contain 12.5mg of ephedrine hcl and 200mg of guaifenesin per tablet. It is available on Amazon as Primatene Bronchial Asthma Relief Tablets 60 ea for $10.63 at the time of this writing. Primatene even has a $2 off coupon on their website currently, although it appears to require you to input personal information in order to print out or receive. They also have information on stating that the Primatene tablets are now only available behind-the-counter at pharmacies now.

You may have noticed Primatene® Tablets missing from the shelves of your favorite retailer. Well, that's because in many stores, Primatene® Tablets have moved behind the pharmacy counter. Don't worry-Primatene® Tablets are still available without a prescription. Primatene is still the #1 over-the-counter medicine sold for the relief of physician-diagnosed, bronchial asthma. It's the one that has helped so many asthma sufferers get relief, every time.

BioTek Pharmacuticals also sells ephedrine in boxes with a maximum 24 count per box. As with all the other sellers of ephedrine, it comes with 200mg of guaifenesin included with the 25mg of ephedrine hcl. They also require you to mail in your identification and comply with all state and federal laws. Once you've sent in your info to them, they store it on file, so that once you're an established customer, you don't have to resubmit your information again. They do have reasonable prices and two special offers of buying 3 boxes and get a 4th for free, and if you buy 5 boxes and you get a 6th free plus free shipping.

I've also stumbled across a couple new interesting "legal ephedra" supplements. A company called Viridis Labs sells a product called Ephedra 5 and a bottled tea, appropriately called Ephedra Tea. The Ephedra 5 product contains 100mg of "Ephedra Viridis", a real genus of the ephedra family which is also known as "Mormon Tea". Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information on this compound and it's unknown at this time how much of the active ephedrine alkaloids are contained in ephedra virdis. The tea simply states that it contains "ephedra" as one of it's ingredients, and the FDA specifically mentioned that herbal tea products would be exempt from the original ban.

Are all products containing ephedra affected?

Essentially all currently marketed dietary supplements that contain ephedrine alkaloids will be affected by the rule. The scope of the rule does not pertain to traditional Chinese herbal remedies. It generally doesn't apply to products like herbal teas that are regulated as conventional foods. Ephedra is not Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for foods and not approved for use as a food additive.

Questions and Answers about FDA's Actions on Dietary Supplements Containing Ephedrine Alkaloids



One last refuge for cheap ephedrine may also be in Canada, where sndcanada.com has been selling 8mg tablets of ephedrine hcl under the 4EverFit brand for years. The price for one bottle of 50tabs is $3.99 CAD, which converts to around $3.77 USD. However, I am unsure if they are still shipping this product to the US. Another place I was able to find Vasopro Ephedrine still being sold at a reasonable price was at Taylor's Nutrition. However, as other sites in the US require, they have a details picture and map detailing exactly what you need to file with them and which states the product can and cannot be shipped to.

Finally, many people will probably have some luck checking on Froogle (now called Google Product Search).

• Primatene Tablets
• MegaPro Vasopro Ephedrine
• Bronkaid
• Mini Thin (it appears that Mini Thin has sold their name to a variety of other non-ephedrine related products, such as energy bars and so forth)
• Bolt Ephedrine (looks like some good leads here)

Be sure and check with the BBB before purchasing from a company you haven't dealt with before.

So, would there be anywhere else to find ephedrine? Probably the most unfortunate outcome of the creeping criminalization of ephedrine will be it showing up more and more on the black market, on underground steroid dealers lists and on nefarious online pharmacies. Ephedrine is a legitimate drug with a very legitimate use as a decongestant. Many people find that other compounds that claim to work to help relieve sinus passages aren't as near as effective as ephedrine is, and that leaves consumers out in the cold, no pun intended. Where does that leave people who want an effective fat burner? Probably in the realm of the new and untested world of ephedra free fat loss supplements - some of them good, some not so good.

Good luck in your search and please feel free to post any comments with your results in acquiring ephedrine or any legitimate sources for it.

Simple Diet Trick to Help Shed Pounds

No matter what diet you prefer, there is one diet that almost anyone can follow and still have success. It requires no major dietary modifications, no supplements or drugs, and probably not much more exercise than would be normally recommended for anyone. It's called "The Water Diet" and it's very simple to follow. All you have to do is drink 3 full 8oz glasses of water with each meal. One before, one during, and one after.

So how does it work? Very simply, it reduces your appetite by filling you up with water. Scientists have known that increasing your intake of water reduces your appetite, and thus reduces your caloric intake because of it.


The other interesting benefit is when you add ice to your water. Drinking ice water actually "burns" more calories than drinking plain room temperature water. When you drink ice water, your body actually has to heat up to melt the water, a process known as thermogenesis, which is what most fat burning supplements attempt to replicate in the body. However, drinking ice water by itself doesn't burn off sufficient calories on its own to warrant labeling it as a sole factor in inducing weight loss.

A local Dallas area man reported his success using this diet plan to news station WFAA and was successful losing 70lbs in 7 months, a remarkable feet. However, this wasn't simply achieved by adding water to his meals, it also included an addition of sensible diet and exercise to the regiment.

So, would this diet work for everyone? Many people complained of frequent trips to the bathroom following this plan, but that would be a small price to pay for losing a good deal of weight. That effect would also be typical of any type of water pills, diuretics, or other types of fat loss supplements. So if you're dieting, there's no harm in giving it a try to help out with extra appetite cravings. See the video below for more information.

Cool Random Links of the Moment

Here are some cool links that I've found or discovered that don't have much to do with each other or anything, just that they are cool. So, here they are with descriptions beside them.

• TV Links: A collection of television shows that you can watch online. The site is essentially a directory of a collection of a variety of different shows that range from regular comedies, sitcoms, dramas, and cartoons from recent to old and anime. The site doesn't actually host the shows itself, it just links to them on one of the many various video sites that have sprung up lately in the wake of all the Youtube clones. However, I have a feeling that once the copyright owners see this, they will probably have a fit, so this site might not be around for very much longer, so enjoy it while you can. UPDATE 11/30: As predicted, this site is down. However, a mirror has popped up, along with a discussion about the original site.
  
• RetailMeNot: This is by the creators of the popular username sharing site, BugMeNot. It's got a similar concept in that it works off user contributions. But, RetailMeNot has coupons for sites, and not logins. So, the next time you want to buy something from a retailer, like Amazon for example, just type in the site name and you'll get back a list of coupons that are available. InboxDollars has a similar list of coupons and rebates from companies it's affiliated with, but are only available if you're a member. On InboxDollars, you have a listing of hundreds of companies and a discount you'll get when using them. Both are free services.
• HardToFind800Numbers: Basically, the name says it all. This site contains a collection of phone numbers for companies that generally don't list their phone number, or hide it very deeply. Although the site is small, anyone can help by submitting numbers for companies they've found. If you need to call PayPal or Yahoo you can find their number here.
• OldVersion.com: If you've ever been looking for an older version of some software you're using, this is the place to find it. OldVersion keeps copies of older versions of a lot of popular software hosted on it's own servers, so the links will always be good. Some of the software there is there because maybe the newer versions of software that still work perfectly well have added features that you may not like. Other software, like Napster, I assume is just kept their for historic purposes, like a software museum, of sorts.
• Optimize Guides: This is a very well put together site with guides for helping PC users to Optimize XP and Windows 2000. It includes tips, free software, guides, and a list of myths that are debunked. It also contains a section on Firefox myths, which is a bit controversial and not all people agree with. However, most of these myths are technically true, I still find Firefox my preferred browser, even over Opera or IE7, if nothing else, for the fact that it has a huge collection of free extensions.
• NOD32 Online Virus Scanners List: A well maintained list of all the best free online virus scanners. It contains scanners for a variety of potentially malicious viruses, trojans, spyware and others. Most of the scanners require IE and ActiveX, but it's always good to have these available, even when you have anti-virus software installed, so you can scan your system and get a second opinion. Try scanning with ewido or Panda, you'll probably find something that your regular scanner hasn't found.
• ThingsYouNeverKnewExisted.com: You might have seen their catalog, or remember this company from when you were a kid. I used to love to order stuff from TYNKE, most of which was weird, whacky or just junk. They have all sort of joke and gag items, magic stuff, and all sorts of other neat things you don't particularly need, but would like to have. Just looking through their catalog is fun, you can order a free one today.
• MenuetOS: This is a nifty little operating system that has a lot of features and is written in pure assembly language, something you don't see much today. But what's really novel about it is the fact that it will fit on a 1.44MB floppy. You have to see it to believe it, if you your computer still has a floppy drive, that is. Another cool portable operating system is PCLinuxOS which you can download as an ISO and burn it to a CD-R, and then boot to it. It includes all the tools you would need to run a full fledged operating system, but you don't need to install it at all, although you have the option to do so. It's got a very simple Windows like interface, so anyone could use it. Try it out if you've ever been curious about Linux but didn't want to or didn't know how to install it.
• FunTrivia.com: Like trivia? If so, or any type of word games, crosswords, check out FunTrivia. They have a quiz on just about any topic in existence, and it's easy to take them or create your own and accrue up points to move up the ladder and challenge other members. Any topic you know about, they most likely have a quiz about it - check it out and see what you come up with!
• Streamload: Want 25GB (yes, that's GIGABYTES) of free storage online that you can share with your friends? Streamload offers it! Great for backing up online files. Xdrive, recently purchased by AOL, offers a similar solution, but only has 5GB. Xdrive has the plus of coming with software that allows you to schedule backups and acts as a separate drive letter too.
• vNES: The virtual NES emulator that has a collection of online ROMs that you can play through a Java console in your browser, without having to download an emulator or hunting around for ROMs. Very cool and fun, but like the TV shows site, might not last too long.
• SDF Free Public UNIX Shell: Remember the days of having a UNIX shell with your ISP or hosting account? Maybe not, but if you do you'll appreciate this site. The SDF gives away free UNIX shells which you can maintain if you donate $2 through the mail or $36 PayPal. If you don't want to pay, you can use it just to learn the experience of what a UNIX shell account holds. They have tons of apps installed and you can do most everything you can do on any shell account (with the exception of running eggdrop bots and trying to crack passwords, of course).
• Free Linux Disks: The FLD project gives away free Linux CDs of most of the popular editions of Linux, including SUSE, Fedora, Mandriva (formally Mandrake), Gentoo, Debian, Knoppix, and Ubuntu.

Well, that's all the links for today. If you have any other cool links to share, feel free to post them under the comments or email them to me. Enjoy!

Comodo Offering a Wide Array of Freeware Security Products for Windows Users

Comodo, a company that has seemingly come out of nowhere, has released a suite of applications for Windows end-users that are completely free and do a variety of security related tasks that other companies charge a great deal for. One of their most popular products is their firewall, which is well received due to the recent halt in production of several free firewall products, such as Kerio and Sygate. They also have a suite of other security products that are free for Windows users.

Comodo Firewall
Free lifetime license

Comodo Firewall, rated by PC Magazine Online as an Editor's Choice, constantly monitors and defends your PC from internet attacks. It's easy to install and use and passes the industry's most stringent firewall "leak" tests. Unlike some other 'free' firewalls, this is not a stripped down version but is the full, completely functional product. This free solution comes complete with continual updates that are free forever!

Comodo AntiVirus
FREE lifetime license

Eliminates Viruses, Worms and Trojans from Windows XP and Windows 2000 computers. Features on-demand & on-access scanning, email scanning, process monitoring, worm blocking, full scheduling capabilities and more. It's easy to install and configure; will not slow down your PC by hogging system resources and the full program is free for life to the end user.

Comodo BackUp
FREE lifetime license

Comodo Backup is the straightforward and powerful utility that allows users to quickly and easily create backup copies of critical files. Free of charge, it includes complete file and folder-duplication to local network drives and FTP servers, intelligent incremental backups, e-mail reporting, extensive report logs, real time back ups with “synchronization” mode, advanced rule-based filtering, flexible scheduling of backups, space-saving archiving capabilities, and more.

Comodo Verification Engine
FREE for life

VerificationEngine anti-phishing and identity assurance tool for Microsoft Windows offers an extremely simple way to differentiate legitimate web sites from fraudulent ones. Place your mouse cursor over a site logo. If it is authentic, a green border will appear around your browser. So if you really wish to be sure you are looking at the real www.paypal.com site rather than a clever imitation created to steal your identity, install VerificationEngine now!

Comodo AntiSpam
FREE license

Install Comodo AntiSpam for free and reclaim your inbox. Our powerful challenge-response technology authenticates the sender of every mail – a system that automated spam bots can’t get around. This is the full product, not stripped down ‘cripple ware’ and is free forever to the end user.

Comodo iVault
FREE license

iVault saves time by providing instantaneous logins to any username/password secured web pages such as online banking and email account sites. It also doubles up as a 256 bit secure storage for private and confidential information such as credit card details and social security numbers and protects against the very latest key-logging Trojan Horse viruses.

Their anti-virus software seems to have subpar ratings from most, and is probably not recommended for most people. So far, one of the best free anti-virus solutions is still Grisoft's AVG Anti-Virus. I also have not tried their backup software. Since AOL has been on it's spree of giving everything away, they have developed XDrive as a free online backup option for anyone who has an AOL screenname. You receive 5GB of online space with free desktop software that allows you to have the system as an extra drive letter (X:\). Still, Comodo's intentions seem well placed, and any free suites of security software are always welcome, even if it needs more time to develop. Comodo's main way of making money looks to be by selling Enterprise solutions and SSL certificates. Feel free to post any comments on how the software works for you.

Comodo Free Desktop PC Security