Blowin' smoke

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Census found incomes rose and poverty rate declined in 2025; how live music balances arousal with emotional regulation; and how scammers use “quishing” at ordinary parking meters.

Let’s get into it!

Live performance is an excellent example of how a state of calm isn’t necessary to achieve physical and mental regulation.

The flow state was described by Abraham Maslow as the state in which a person is at their “happiest, healthiest, and most thrilling.” This is probably the perfect description for what it feels like to be at a concert in a stadium full of people experiencing the same thing.

When people go to concerts, they arrive with all different types of baggage from the days they just had. Many had a good day; many had a rough day, full of anxieties, inconveniences, heartbreaks, and plenty of other melancholy experiences.

Yet when a concert starts, past studies have found crowds tend to achieve levels of physiological synchronicity unlike in any other scenario. This collective regulation goes so far that their heart rates grow more in sync than if they were just watching the show separately online. They may be overwhelmed by thrill, but they’re regulated and in a state of collective flow.

Similar things happen on stage, with musicians executing a well-rehearsed plan in a high-stress, high-intensity environment prone to mistakes and uncertainty. They are physically and emotionally wired, yet operating at their peak.

According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, a certain level of arousal is actually required to achieve maximum performance, and pro musicians and athletes demonstrate that in spades.

“Quishing” is defined as “a form of phishing that uses QR codes instead of clickable links to trick people into visiting malicious websites or giving up sensitive information.”

The thing that makes quishing effective is that QR codes can be placed in ordinary-looking spots that ordinary people wouldn’t be suspicious of. If you’re sent an email from an unfamiliar source telling you to click a link, you may think twice.

On the other hand, if you park your car on a street while you go to a dentist appointment, the QR code on the side of the parking machine may seem like a legitimate thing to scan and click on.

That’s exactly where scammers have been placing their codes, directing their victims to websites that appear to be payment forms, only to find out later that they never actually paid for their parking spot, but they’re out thousands of dollars.

“Our officers have already removed numerous stickers on meters throughout the city,” said Sgt. Andrew Leaver of New Westminster, B.C., where several incidents of quishing were reported in August.

Others have been reported in cities throughout the United States, prompting the FTC to issue warnings and guidelines for avoiding these targeted scams.

For starters, if the QR code appears to be on a sticker attached to the thing you’re paying for, it could be a scam. The link it leads to will also likely have spelling mistakes, questionable grammar, or other errors.

During an era in which the minds of free people everywhere are increasingly preoccupied by the attention-draining lure of short-form video content, Singapore is betting it can get people to put down their phones and pick up a book.

While many express the desire to read more and scroll less, it’s often easier said than done. Recognizing that, Singapore is gamifying the task, offering citizens a little cash on the side for logging their reading minutes on a government website.

“While short-form content helps us stay informed, long-form reading strengthens attention, critical thinking and imagination,” the National Library Board’s chief Melissa Tam said in a statement.

“Ultimately, we want to see a nation of readers who are curious, thoughtful, discerning and equipped to navigate an increasingly complex world.”

They’ll get 50 virtual coins for 15 minutes of reading when the session is logged, though they can only log one session per day. 1,000 coins will equal the equivalent of one US dollar.

It’s not a lot of many by any stretch of the imagination, likely deterring anyone from bothering to game the system. It will likely be more appealing simply for those who wish to have a place to keep track of their progress, while feeling good about how far they’ve come, and how consistent they’ve been.

On a recent episode of the UCR Podcast, Tony Iommi revealed Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward used to be his best prank buddy—and by prank buddy, he meant Ward was the guy he pulled pranks on, including once setting him on fire during the recording of Heaven and Hell.

"We used to have this party piece, Bill and I, where we'd [get] the rubbing alcohol in the studio," he said. "You could put it on you and light it and it would just burn off. You know, you wouldn't feel it.

"So we were using Martin Birch, the new producer [and he] didn't know us, really. Of course, the first time he was in the studio, Bill and I planned to do this trick, where I'd put the liquid on Bill and light him, and it should have burnt off," he continued. "But I put too much on him. I poured it on him, and lit him, and he went woof, like that, like a bomb.

"He's rolling on the floor and I'm still pouring this liquid on him, thinking it was part of the joke. Of course, Martin Birch is freaking out, Bill's shouting and screaming and I thought, 'Oh, it's part of the joke, and God, it wasn't," he said. "I found out afterwards that he got third degree burns on his legs and he had to go to hospital. We [never did] it again after that."

First in line

From fantasy films to disaster flicks, you saw plenty movies in the ’70s and ’80s. When it comes to any category though, do you know which movie came first? Find out with today’s trivia 😏 🎥