Urban Legends

Jem

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With warmer weather here, the conversation about pools has begun. And I had a conversation with someone about pee reaction chemicals in pools. But then I thought it would be fun to post an Urban Legend and it's true nature and see who believes it or not.
Join in with your urban legends...

So to start, is there really such thing as a chemical that is put in pools that will turn color if you pee?

Answer : NO

No matter what your parents might have told you, no magical chemical exists that when added to a swimming pool will reveal the presence of urine in the water by producing a brightly-colored cloud.

“There is no chemical that can function as an indicator for urine in a pool.” Others in the industry concur: this belief is all chimera and no substance.

Those in the pool supply business are routinely confronted with requests for the “urine-indicator dye” (as the mythical substance has come to be known). The belief in such a chemical spans many countries, as does the juvenile certainty particular pools are spiked with it.

Experts on such matters say although a reliable urine-detecting dye could be produced, the trick would be getting it to react only to urine and to not trigger in the presence of similar organic compounds likely present in swimming pools. It’s not a compound anyone appears to be working on either, and with good reason: who’d want it? Kids are kids, and their expected reaction to the news that pissing in the pool would produce bright purple or red trails would be to jump right in with the intent of putting that theory to the test. Especially in a public pool where one’s indiscretions can be blamed on the fellow swimming by, what kid wouldn’t avail himself of the naughty pleasure of invoking billowing clouds of dye?
 
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Willowy

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Hehe. When we lived on a military base in Japan, the pool employed an elderly Japanese man who came out every hour and tested the water. We'd all watch him carefully when he appeared. If the test water turned blue, everything was fine. If the test water turned purple, we all had to get out and wait 15 minutes while they added chemicals and ran the filters on high. I have no idea what the test showed. But you'd better believe anybody who peed in the pool felt really guilty when everybody had to get out!

My brother refused to get anesthetic when he had his wisdom teeth out because he heard too many stories about people's kidneys being stolen. I'm pretty sure that didn't happen in the US, especially by an accredited oral surgeon.
 

mightyboosh

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You are never more than six feet from a rat. Answer below.

Thankfully, it's nonsense – even if you live in a city centre. The BBC's brilliant statistical team at More or Less examined the best estimates of rats in cities: outside and around houses (they're near 3% of homes), in sewers, and elsewhere. That gives an estimate of around 3.1 million rats in the UK in urban areas. Even if they were spread out absolutely evenly (though, of course, they're not), that would represent a good 5,000 square metres for each rat.
 

Mia6

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If you say "Bloody Mary" five times in front of a mirror, she'll come and get you.

I know this sounds absurd but I've tried and can never get past four!
 

di and bob

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The 'spider bite' one almost got me....a traveler to another country was bit by a spider, when they returned home a bump grew and eventually spewed forth dozens of baby spiders! Impossible, but many believed it.
Another one that I came real close to believeing was back in the 70's or early 80's when all the planets and the sun lined up. Something that doesn't happen very often. it was believed that the lining up would mess with the gravitational pull of the earth and we woudl be pulled out of our orbit. Scary fro a while!
What about the great 'computer scare' of 1999? That changing the century would screw up all the computers in the world?
 

DreamerRose

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The Y2K scare was a real thing. Most computers were not programmed to change the first digit, so programmers were frantically writing code and getting it installed. If they hadn't, when the year changed, it would roll over to 1000 instead of 2000.
 

Willowy

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The Y2K scare was a real thing. Most computers were not programmed to change the first digit, so programmers were frantically writing code and getting it installed. If they hadn't, when the year changed, it would roll over to 1000 instead of 2000.
Yes, but all things considered, it probably would have been a very minor thing, not the catastrophe that was predicted. Some computers weren't updated, rolled over to 1000, and they didn't blow up or end the world or anything. They just had some dates mixed up.
 

bbdoll22

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A ArchyCat yes I remember it well, it could have been disastrous.
Anyone involved in our billing department was involved. Our IT department had to replace many of our computers and we all had to learn a new
Software system that was in place late summer but implemented in November. I worked many overtime hours as well as half of the company.
 
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Jem

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This is more of an "old wives tale" but..

Your going to get sick if you go out in the cold with wet hair.

Not true. Although if you get really really cold, you COULD be susceptible to hypothermia which COULD weaken your immune system which COULD allow a virus that you MAY be exposed to, to take hold. But that's quite a few "coulds" and "mights" that would need to line up just right. So I'll stick with the, not true.
 

Mother Dragon

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How about alligators in the sewers of New York?

The doctored photo of a gigantic shard right behind a surfer in a big wave?

The evil man waiting under your car to slash your Achille's tendon and have his way with you?

The "perfume sample" that really contained a substance that would immediately knock you out?

Rat urine on the tops of soda cans?

HIV infected needles in change returns?

The 12 foot long rattlesnake and the 24 foot long alligator found after Hurricane Katrina (or Ike or Harvey)?

The teenage couple who were making out when approached by an evil stranger. In some versions they got away but found a hand in the car's door handle.
 

Lari

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I don't know if this is a real urban legend, but I saw it on Facebook and love it.
Capture+_2019-06-19-16-59-49~2.png
 
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tarasgirl06

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I know someone who truly believes you can catch cold from being in cold weather and no matter how many times I explain to him that a cold is a virus and you cannot catch a virus from the ambient temperature, he still does not believe me.
As to "urban legends", I honestly haven't paid much attention to them, as they are all designed to scare gullible people.
 
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Jem

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Rat urine on the tops of soda cans?
Well...I have to think this may be true (sort of), when you're dealing with product sitting in warehouses, and warehouses tend to have rodents..:barfgreen:..But having said that, I still drink out of the can and have not been sick so....IDK.
 
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Jem

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As to "urban legends", I honestly haven't paid much attention to them, as they are all designed to scare gullible people.
But they're fun!!! Scary urban legends are the best when your sitting around a camp fire. I have so many ghost stories that "are true", although I have not told them in a while, so I would have to think about how they go before repeating them.
 

catapault

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Never put your real home address on your GPS. If you do someone who steals your car can go to your house and rob it. Now why your house could not be robbed by a robber with their own car who happens to drive by . . .
 

Willowy

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Rat urine on the tops of soda cans?
I left some cans out of their wrapping/box in my garage for a few weeks, and now I have to wash the tops before I drink one :cringe:. Pretty sure it's not rat urine, just dust and junk though. So I would believe it, but they must clean the cans before you get them or you could definitely tell.
 

DreamerRose

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I know someone who truly believes you can catch cold from being in cold weather and no matter how many times I explain to him that a cold is a virus and you cannot catch a virus from the ambient temperature, he still does not believe me.
As to "urban legends", I honestly haven't paid much attention to them, as they are all designed to scare gullible people.
This is one I believe. But not in the way you think. If you get super chilled, I think it lowers the body's immune system, and the viruses are always lurking in you, and with the lowered response, you come down with a cold. It's happened to me too many times. One time, I was ice skating on a pond, and the ice gave way. I managed to get out but had to wait 45 minutes for someone to pick me up. I got a terrible cold from that, and there was no one else to catch it from.
 
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