Topic: Urban Legends

A viral story circulating via email and Twitter claims that individuals who sign up for COVID-19 testing but leave before being swabbed are receiving positive test results by mail. While these anecdotes are widespread in San Diego and Northern California, they are characterized here as potential urban legends. Plans are discussed to personally test this theory by registering for a test and intentionally skipping the appointment.

The "27 Club" is a famous urban legend involving musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin who died at age 27. A related myth claims that many of these artists were found with white Bic lighters at the time of their deaths. This superstition recently caused personal anxiety for a listener's daughter who found a white lighter in a jacket purchased from a thrift store on her 27th birthday.

The discussion shifts to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, focusing on the technical failure of one of the five Olympic rings during the opening ceremony. A viral internet hoax is addressed, which falsely claimed the engineer responsible for the rings was found stabbed to death in his hotel room. The hosts also reference a "Red Book" prediction regarding a stray dog interrupting the event.

John Dvorak shares a story from the "Mysterious Universe" podcast about a naked green humanoid hitchhiker in 1970s Wisconsin. Adam Curry expresses his dislike for the show's production style, finding it "tedious." They discuss the classic nature of the "green hitchhiker" urban legend.

A recommendation is made for Cory Doctorow's short story "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth," which explores the culture and values of system administrators. The segment also references a piracy parody from the British sitcom "The IT Crowd" and discusses an urban legend regarding British police officers being legally required to let pregnant women use their helmets as toilets.

A story from the "Coast to Coast AM" radio show involves a man claiming to be a time traveler from the year 2036 visiting his mother. The hosts discuss the John Titor legend and the nature of paranormal talk radio. They critique the aesthetic of the John Titor website, comparing it to early internet designs with low-quality graphics.

An urban legend circulating in aviation circles describes a tense radio exchange between Iranian Air Defense and a U.S. Marine Corps F-18 pilot. In the story, the pilot dismisses Iranian threats to launch interceptors by inviting them to "send them up." The hosts acknowledge the story is likely a piece of military folklore.

A discussion of exotic meats like hippo and crocodile leads to the examination of a viral video claiming that pouring Coca-Cola on raw pork causes worms to emerge. Fact-checking site Snopes has labeled this claim as false, attributing the visual effect to carbonation rather than actual parasites.