Lighten up

 You may have heard of the "27 Club," based on the folklore of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain dying way too young at three over two dozen years.

I hasten to point out to readers under 27 that none of the celebrities above were known for their salubrious lifestyles, so it's not like they should worry, as long as they're following reasonable guidelines for safe living.

But there's an odd subtext to this, called the "white lighter myth," a fable that holds that all or at least several of the club members were toting white Bic lighters when they met their maker.

But the claim was soon reduced to Balderdash when someone noticed that Bic didn't even produce disposable lighters until 1973 (I remember!)

And Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison had long since cashed in their chips by then.

What's more, all the members of Blue Öyster Cult, so beloved for their 1976 anthem "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," outlived their fame by decades, so there's that.