Recommended Links of the Week (No. 536)

The experimental psychology of kawaii, the shortage of cassette tapes, music as we age, and tricks to fool a facial recognition system are part of the five hundred and thirty-sixth edition of Recommended Links. But they are just the tip of a pyramid full of curiosities, videos, and galleries. Don't miss it!

Discovering the meaning of 'kawaii' through experimental psychology: "I have been doing research on kawaii from the perspective of experimental psychology for about 10 years. I presented the results of my studies in the recently published book Kawaii no chikara: jikken de saguru sono shinri (The Power of Kawaii: Experiments to Discover Its Psychology) (Kagakudōjin). There are many publications on kawaii from the perspective of cultural theory, but my study is the first to do so systematically and from a scientific perspective."

Cassette tapes are scarce (iron oxide stuff): "As you know, there is a worldwide shortage of high-quality gamma-ferric oxide, the magnetic material used to make professional-quality audio recording tapes. The only factory refining this material has been under renovation for most of 2019. As a result, National Audio has received only two tons of oxide for recording this year. This is not enough to allow us to manufacture adequate tape supplies to meet all orders within our usual 30-day timeframe."

Why do we stop liking new music as we age?: "It is a fact that very few can refute: as we age, we stop keeping up with popular music, which shows that musical tastes change over time. Common expressions from older people who catalog new music as “noise without sense”, “they all sound the same” or “they don't make music like they used to.” But that same musical perception was had by our parents and it is a phenomenon that has been repeating in every generation."

Follow the blue ball

The story of the guy who lit a cigarette using the explosion of an atomic bomb: "Incredible as it may seem, someone once lit a cigarette with the explosion of an atomic bomb. The ingenious character was a theoretical physicist named Ted Taylor, who was precisely dedicated to designing these destructive devices after the end of World War II."

The real reason why photographs are not allowed in the Sistine Chapel: "One of the best works of art in history, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is a popular tourist destination. If you have been one of the four million lucky people who visit the famous place each year, you surely know that photos and videos are not allowed in the Sistine Chapel! But do you know the real reason?"

The longest traffic jam in history lasted eight years, and those affected ended up forming a micronation: "Let's set the start somewhere in the late 19th century. Arabs and Jews have never gotten along, and since the rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism, both groups have been involved in small conflicts with serious consequences. And yes, war is horrible no matter which side you look at it from, but if there is a story from the Middle East conflict worth telling, it is undoubtedly that of the formation of the Yellow Fleet."

Alien FLIPBOOK: A 40-year journey

Would you rise up against an oppressive regime or would you conform? This is what science says: "For some of us, it is all too easy to judge those who conform to such regimes and label them as evil psychopaths, or at least as having a morality inferior to ours. However, what are the chances that you could be a heroic rebel in such a scenario, refusing to be an accomplice in maintaining or even imposing the system?"

The shocking behavior of macaques that stuns scientists - they eat rats: "The macaques of Malaysia have a diet that researchers did not expect. They knew that, in general, they ate fruit and occasionally hunted lizards and birds. What they did not know was that rats were also on the menu, which they hunt and eat, providing a natural measure against pests."

Four tricks to fool a facial recognition system: "During the Hong Kong protests we have been able to see, as if it were a dystopian future, protesters attacking cameras with lasers and knocking down smart streetlights to fight the country's surveillance systems. The most advanced facial recognition systems can recognize a person quite accurately even if they cover their face with a balaclava. However, there are several tricks that allow you to bypass this technology. These are some of the most interesting ones we have found."

The most popular sites between 1996 and 2019

The best insults are in Latin: "We are going to give you a review of insults in Latin. To do this, we have to understand that the translations of these adjectives, for the most part, do not mean a great offense to us, but in Roman times they were really strong and, deep down, if you know what they mean, they might be enough to “vent” on your interlocutor even if he does not have a clear idea of its meaning."

“A red light in the sky”, the Assyrians recorded solar storms on their tablets: "For the researcher at the University of Extremadura and expert in archaeoastronomy, José Manuel Vaquero, this is a “confirmation” of recent works that propose that there were extreme solar proton events around 660 BC. “The isotopes indicated that there had been a set of important events around 660 BC,” he explains. “The oldest observations were from 500 BC and this team has managed to go further back and have found what appear to be records of auroras."

Ezana Stone, the trilingual stele that tells the history of the kingdom of Aksum in the 4th century: "In the city of Aksum, a piece is preserved that is priceless for Ethiopian Christians because it documents the origin of their faith in the country and that historians and archaeologists also consider extremely valuable for considering it a local version of the Rosetta Stone, as it is written in three languages and records fundamental data about the king who ended the Kingdom of Kush. It is the Ezana Stone."