110 - Alcohol: A Totally Scientific Experiment

Here we are, season finale! This has been crazy. 
First, let's talk about the episode. This episode was in the works since the show's conception. It was to be a fun episode where we get hammered and knock down every booze myth we come across, but, well, it was much more sobering than expected. If you watch the video, you can likely see my mood change from surprised to worried after I see myself blow a lower BAC than without charcoal in my mouth. It floored me, but then all the sense started falling into place. Think Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, except dumb and less schizo.

My line of work involves removing impurities via activated carbon, including gases. My only hiccup in confirmation that there were no direct studies I could cite involving specifically exhaled breath and ethanol. But if carbon can adsorb gaseous or aerosol alcohols, breath isn't a stretch.

Now, we said this in the episode already, but trying to pull a fast one with activated charcoal is still a bad idea. Judging by muly repeat test, you could only get away with having a 0.09 or 0.08 BAC before the charcoal is negated. Not to mention, as you may have seen, the charcoal leaves you looking like you just gave the smog monster the night of it's life. Cops will suspect something and take you in anyway. Plus, it tastes fucking terrible. Trust me.

That being said, we're totally doing more video for future episodes. It was fun as hell. This season has been fun as hell. When I first thought about putting my less than radio-worthy voice on air, I never dreamed I would have such great partners to share the experience with. Greg and Josh are powerhouses, and this wouldn't work nearly as well without them. And the reception! Oh man, the reception! It's surreal that now hundreds of people have heard me talk about pissing my pants. What a life! Thank you to everyone that has tuned in. We have plenty more in store for you. I'd love to tell you immediately, but I'd be slapped by two people in particular. For now, keep a look out for some supplemental episodes, or check our our extremely friendly podcast family at darkmyths.org. So much greatness there.

All of you are amazing, see you soon.

-Ryan

109 - Remedies: How Carrots Won the War

Greetings, listenerland!

This episode really gets to the heart and soul of the podcast. Almost every episode that we have done is rooted in some sort of remedies or old wives’ tale. When it came time to hash out what we were going to cover it was really exciting to see the podcast, in a sense, come full circle.

That was until we started to research these topics on hand. Apparently people took these rumors, myths, and misconceptions for face value and just ran with it. Thanks a lot science.

We assumed that things like lemon juice dying hair, ginger being used for motion sickness, and tomato juice neutralizing skunk smell would be easy to cover with no problem. We could not have been more wrong.

Finding the origins of these remedies also proved as a daunting task. They have been passed along orally from various sources that we almost needed carbon dating to find any mention of them as we scoured high and low. This was also coupled with the science itself was frustrating so it kind of became a moot point. We found some mentions sporadically but nothing concrete enough to present their evolution.

The one topic I was very glad that we covered was the chicken pox for oatmeal. That was the lone subject that I could vouch for personally. It was a home remedy I used when I was a kid when I caught the chicken pox virus. I can confirm that it did work and the younger me could not be happier.

Even though the research was heavier and more involved than previous episodes, we really enjoyed dismantling these remedies and approaching them as subjectively as possible. It’s hard not to be skeptic approaching these from a science oriented perspective, but we were pleasantly surprised with the end result. We hoped you learned something from this episode because we most certainly did. If nothing else, we hope to be educational and informative. Thanks a lot for listening.

-Jos   

108 - Body: Cracking Knuckles and Power Licking

The body. Another general topic we plan on revisiting because there are so many pervasive and offbeat myths about what we can and can't do with (or to) our bodies. Cracking knuckles was an obvious pick for this week – people constantly refer to it, and even more interestingly, most of these people often say something to the effect of, “I think cracking your knuckles is bad for them,” or, “I'm pretty sure that's not true.” They often follow up with some answer to what is happening when you crack your knuckles, but even then they are still going off vague memories or something they thought they heard.

People seem to get that there is this myth/debate, but we still (yes me included) do not bother looking it up and then doing what we all do best: making commentary on something we don't really get. In my opinion, this is the space where rumors/myths are born and most definitely propagated. Baldness, shaving, etc. also follow this concept. People have a notion that it may or may not be true, but still make claims or at least vague ones. It's really interesting to me.

Last little thing I want to touch on: The Blue Angel. This was one of those that at first I thought, “Really? I know we can be silly and/or obnoxious, but are we REALLY going to cover this?” But ultimately, I still laugh at fart jokes, so I caved. Fact of the matter is a lot of people know this myth and few have been idiotic enough to test it, so we felt it was time to set the record straight and let you watch other idiots try it so we all (your favorite Rumor Flies Guys and our lovely listeners) don't have to.

Anyway, hope this was some fun food for thought. Have a great week and thanks as always for listening!

-Greg

101 - Disney: Death and Turkey Legs

When brainstorming ideas for the Rumor Flies podcast, Ryan and I tossed around a lot of ideas for a jumping off point. After a couple of cold ones and some Rocket League relaxation, it was an almost euphoric reaction when the subject of Disney came up. Both of us immediately knew this was where we wanted to breach the world of podcasting and hopefully lay the foundation of this podcast.

As a little aside about me, the Walt Disney Company is something that has always been part of my life. I grew up visiting the theme parks in Orlando multiple times a year for as long as can remember walking. My parents gobbled up every possible VHS they could get their hands on before they were locked up in the vault for my brother, sister, and family to enjoy. Hell, my mother worked for the Disney Store, and eventually Disney World, throughout my adolescence. To say that Disney was a major influence on my perspective of the world would be a gross understatement. 

For the sake of transparency, I’ll come clean and admit that I didn’t have to engross myself in research like most other subjects that we eventually covered. That’s not to say I didn’t do my due diligence, but most of the subject matter we chose wasn’t foreign to me. I’ve always been fascinated with Disney and how it has been a major impact on the world around me. I’ve spent countless nights reading message boards of rumors of the parks or watching Youtube videos of attractions of yesteryear. Some people are fascinated with WWII or the American Revolution, but it was always about Walt Disney for me. 

The most terrifying aspect of the podcast wasn’t sitting in front of the microphone for the first time, it was knowing how much hostility I would endure if I royally screwed this up. I know my friends and family were going to hang on my every word and be my harshest critiques. Looking back on it, I would like to believe that I did them proud.At the end of the day, I think that we picked a great first episode.

People have strong convictions about the company but that doesn’t necessarily mean all sunshine and rainbows. As I sit here racking my brain, I’ve never met an individual that has ever been apathetic about that Disney. It has left a mark on society that other companies can only dream of emulating. Ryan, Greg, and I managed to be engaging and informative about different avenues of the parks that people may not have been privy to before listening to the podcast. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves for our first episode and I hope that we delivered. We hope you enjoyed our first episode. Have a magical day.

-Josh