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

105 - Brain: Nocebo and the Lying Left Brain

This one is going to be a bit behind the curtain. Sure, we've touched on science a fair bit, but we never had to describe experiments this in-depth. I was worried about not only explaining the cross-wiring of the brain (which tripped me up a few times), but also describing the elaborate techniques used in the research cited. I hope you got the gist of it.

This also marks our first time being conscientious of show length. Personally, I think the beauty of podcasts is that one can always pause and come back to it later. But, I do understand that it can be a lot to digest in one episode. We'll be addressing everything we cut later down the line because they are still interesting, and that's another episode for your listening pleasure. 
On a personal note, thank you to everyone listening. We say it a lot, but it's true every time. Nothing feels better than someone showing interested in your niche (borderline smug) passion. Ok, maybe a few other things feel better.

Lastly, our new buddies at Dark Myths have been wonderful to us, and you may see some collaboration in the future. It's crazy being brought into the podcasting community with such open arms, especially since we've only been live for just over a month. Darkmyths.org for anyone interested.

Rambling over, see you next week.

-Ryan