We have all seen the posts around the internet that a gasoline boycott on May 15th will help put an end to the surging gasoline prices that the nation is dealing with. Chances are if you spend any time whatsoever on the internet you have seen the rants about the boycott on message boards, a friend's blog, forwarded emails from friends...almost everywhere. But is there any truth to the claim that a one day gasoline boycott will help ease prices at the pumps?

As many of you probably already realize, this probably isn't going to do much to alleviate record high gas prices. Sure, thousands, maybe millions, of people might do their part and avoid stopping into their local Exxon station tomorrow, but how many of these same people will need to fill up tonight to make sure they can "do their part" tomorrow? How many drivers are going to manage to make it through Tuesday without stopping for gas in order to "do their part," only to wake up Wednesday morning and cruise on fumes into the nearest station they can find?

Do you see where I am headed with this? What day you buy your gas isn't the key to making a difference. The key to making a difference would be to stop buying gasoline altogether. Or at least finding a way to significantly cut consumption. Changing the day you buy your gas won't make any difference at all.

Gramps always warned that rock 'n' roll would cause permanent damage, but it may be gramps who ends up suffering the consequences.

A Michigan State University study found that iPods, those ubiquitous portable music players from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), could interfere with implanted cardiac pacemakers. Electrical interference was detected half the time when the devices were held to the chests of 100 subjects with pacemakers, as far as 18 inches away from the chest, and in one case caused a pacemaker to stop functioning altogether.

Scary, huh? Of course there's no reason just yet to start tossing iPods onto the bonfire or e-mailing warnings to everyone and his uncle. It's only one study, and the lead author of the study is a high school student from Okemos, Michigan, though he is the son of an electrophysiologist father (who gave him the idea for the study) and rheumatologist mother.

As some have pointed out, however, pacemaker patients don't tend to be iPod users these days. A little caution never hurt anyone, but neither did a little common sense.

This story reminded me of the recent warnings about wildly popular Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) posing a hazard in hospitals (as well as more recently about Crocs and escalators). Yet when I visited someone at the hospital last week, I noticed that the colorful plastic shoes were quite popular with the nurses. So who knows?

Not that these stories necessarily fall into the category, but isn't it funny how the most popular products always manage to spawn urban legends?

I thought April Fool's Day would be a good time to recap a few of the most foolish urban legends that have circulated about America's businesses.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) supports devil worship. For many years, conspiracy theory nuts have pointed to P&G's old man-in-the-moon logo as proof that the company supported Satanism. Sadly, it appears that several Amway distributors helped spread the lies, a slander for which P&G won a $19 million award earlier this month.

Marlboro (Altria Group, Inc., NYSE: MO) is owned by the Ku Klux Klan. One proof, according to the website snopes.com, is that by turning the name upside down and reading the first three letters left to right, one can derive the word 'jew'. Then, by turning the remaining letters right-side up and reading them left to right, one gets the combination 'orobl', which believers translate as the word 'horrible'. Put together, the brand name is obviously code for 'horrible jew'. How could it be any clearer?

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) is owned by China. How could we have missed the signs? C(hina) O(ff) S(hore) T(rading) C(ompany). Someone should alert NASDAQ (N(on)-A(merican) S(ubsidiary of) D(ubai) A(nd) Q(atar)).

Flesh-eating disease arrives on bananas. The rumor claimed the 'flesh-eating bacteria' causing necrotizing fasciitis had managed to live on the skins of bananas from Costa Rica. Some people actually believed this.

Febreze can kill your pet. Another slam at Procter & Gamble, this false rumor has been floating through the e-world for years. Even the ASPCA is on record denying there is any truth to this rumor.

Altoids (Wrigley (Wm) Jr., NYSE: WWY) enhance oral sex. Who among us hasn't seen video of the effervescence brought about by mixing Mentos and soda? Legend has it that the pleasure of fellatio is similarly heightened when the donor freshens his/her breath with an Altoid beforehand (so to speak). Rumors like this cause me to wonder if some guerrilla marketer for Altoids isn't laughing his or her ass off.

However, the Ersatz Research Institute's clinical trials have proven that reading BloggingStocks.com every day will increase your sexual stamina, clear up your complexion and shave unwanted inches off of your waist. Tell all your friends.

Happy April 1st.