Folklore in Our Modern Age

I've decided that no popular culture site is complete without a folklore category . . . so here it is! There are sites on the Internet that explain or explode urban myths/legends/hoaxes. I don't intend to do that here. Mostly, this is a miscellaneous kind of page where I will occasionally comment on stories that are out there. Political commentary, for instance, will probably end up on this page.

I got the idea while reading a book last night about Urban Legends, and I was thinking how the Internet has changed the way stories get circulated and debunked. I was just thinking, "You know, you don't hear of contemporary lore getting spread word of mouth so much these days; the Internet catches up with false stories so fast" (i.e. Rathergate), and then I realized that I myself had reported a possible rumor that day to three other people.

The story/legend/rumor is that when the Tsunami occured, we lost .302 seconds and that the earth tilted x number of centimeters, or whatever. It sounds fantastic, very sci-fi end of the worldish, but it didn't occur to me until last night to wonder whether it was even true. I've heard these "facts" a number of times from various people. I may even have read them somewhere, although I can't be sure of that.

Is it true? Does anyone know? Or is it an example of good old-fashioned folktaling at work?