I love the hypnotic effects of urban myths… Urban myths are the ultimate meme… The ultimate group hypnosis of a thouht or a story that flies around a classroom, through an office and into communities and neighbourhoods and groups of friends…

They are not quite like old wives tales… Things like eating carrots helps you see in teh dark, eating your crusts will make your hair curly and that sort of stuff… Although that stuff does tend to stick often… I want to show you some crazy mass hypnotic thought processes that are working their way through towns and villages near you…

In the world today there is a real sense of ‘Obamania’… There is a false myth spreading that Illinois Senator Barack Obama is a radical muslim and will not recite the pledge of allegiance… Though there is also a true urban legend going around that Obama sang the National Anthmem without his hand over his heart… There are photos to prove it…

Those circulating about John McCain are just as interesting… The one about him not being a natural-born US citizen because he was born in Panama…There are true recounts of his diovorce from his first wife circulating the web and a false claim that he announced in a 60 minue interview that he was a war criminal who “bombed innocent women and children.” … These myths spread so dynamicly, fuelled with belief…

Blimey how this stuff spreads… As a kid I heard the one about aligators growing in the sewers… My brother once told me that the filling of After Eight chocolate mints was made from horse saliva, him and I both believed that nonsense for a couple of years… Hahaha… I bet recently you’ve had an email claiming that if it is forwarded you’ll get money from Bill Gates and Microsoft… Some of the testimonials from friends seem very true, don’t they?

What hypnosis!? Nothing demonstrates hypnotic influence and principle better.

I’d love to hear more about some of these, there seem to be so many mind-viruses floating around… One that is certainly going to make its way around my local pub is about New world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko.

Apparently, he has revealed the secret ingredient to recovering from a hard title fight– his son’s wet nappies.

Klitschko, who returned to the ring after four years of injury-enforced retirement to take the WBC heavyweight title from Nigeria’s Samuel Peter on October 11, told a German newspaper that he wraps his fists with nappies soaked with the wee of his three-year-old son Max to combat post-fight swelling.

Reuters reports the champ revealed baby urine is the ideal cure for bruised fists because it doesn’t smell and contains no toxins. The nappies’ ability to seal in liquid keep the urine from leaking onto his hands.

Whenever I find a story or a claim hard to believe, I always say “Oh yeah, don’t tell me… A bloke down the pub told you that, so it must be true…” With an ironic tone. You have to love the power of urban legends…