We've been having a problem with hung httpds, bad data sent to clients, and other mischief since we moved OSDN sites (NewsForge, OSDN.com, Slashdot, etc.) to a new network. Turns out the problem was Apache 1.3.28, which has a nasty bug that allows Apache to steal fds. So Apache would open an fd to a client, and the MySQL libraries would think it is a MySQL server and ping it, and all hell would break lose.
Thanks to Radu Greab for the fix, Theory for pointing out the fix (he experienced similar issues with DBD::Pg), and Rudy Lippan for pointing me to Theory.