Jamie Condliffe, Gizmodo:

Boston Dynamic’s Big Dog was already one of the most advanced—and terrifying!—robots on the planet. Well, it just got scarier, because now it can accurately throw cinder blocks at you while on the march.

As cool as these videos are, I can’t help being slightly unsettled.

Colossal shares some amazing photos from Russian photographer Andrew Osokin:

We’re all familiar with the most common shapes of ice: snow flakes, icicles, snowmen, cookie dough ice cream. But break out the macro lens and suddenly we’re in unfamiliar territory as ice branches out, curls in on itself, and grows in shapes that look more like the delicate leaves of ferns than solid cold water.

Erik Olsen, The New York Times:

A 30-second video of a newborn baby shows the infant silently snoozing in its crib, his breathing barely perceptible. But when the video is run through an algorithm that can amplify both movement and color, the baby’s face blinks crimson with each tiny heartbeat.

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen in awhile.

Scientists use a process called Eulerian Video Magnification. In short, they take video input and measure the color intensity at each pixel. Next, they calculate the temporal variation in that intensity. That variation is then amplified and added back to the input. The result is a color-amplified video that allows viewers to see slight changes otherwise invisible to the human eye.

Even better, they posted other examples and the source code for their algorithm. Open science for the win!

Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters, on another story involving water and “alcohol”:

Beer consumers have filed a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Anheuser-Busch InBev of watering down so-called “King of Beers” Budweiser and other alcoholic beverages to boost profits, attorneys for the plaintiffs said on Tuesday.

Easy fix - don’t drink Budweiser. You owe it to yourself.

Richard Branson replies to this report that Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer would soon ban telecommuting to work:

We like to give people the freedom to work where they want, safe in the knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to perform excellently, whether they at their desk or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out of an office, and never will.

Agreed. The notion that people must meet at a specific physical location between a set timeframe is antiquated. It is born of an unconnected age. We are now connected.

The Joy of Tech presents another vision for Google Glass. Seems about right.

(via: The Loop)

Mike Trapp, CollegeHumor, offers eight new punctuation marks. My favorite is the Morgan Freemark. You can even download these as a font.

A candidate for a ninth would be the SarcMark.

Joshua Topolsky, The Verge, reporting on his hands-on with Google’s new augmented reality project:

But I walked away convinced that this wasn’t just one of Google’s weird flights of fancy. The more I used Glass the more it made sense to me; the more I wanted it. If the team had told me I could sign up to have my current glasses augmented with Glass technology, I would have put pen to paper (and money in their hands) right then and there. And it’s that kind of stuff that will make the difference between this being a niche device for geeks and a product that everyone wants to experience.

After a few hours with Glass, I’ve decided that the question is no longer ‘if,’ but ‘when?’

This is a really interesting article. Despite previous privacy concerns and creepy advertisements, Glass highlights the best of Google.

(via: The birthday boy, Dr. Michael French)

Misty Harris, writing for the Vancouver Sun, on a recent study from the City University of New York:

The silent treatment is almost universally acknowledged as negative, thanks to its damaging social and psychological outcomes. A new study, however, finds a notable exception when it comes to complete jackasses.

Turns out, when somebody is so obnoxious that it’s exhausting just to talk to them, cutting conversational ties is actually a positive mental health strategy - one that allows people to save their cognitive capital for more fruitful activities. Say, watching paint dry.

The silent treatment may be better for your health, but arguments are more invigorating.

Andrew Sullivan:

Yep, there it is: the result of a scholarly study by Dorothy Gambrell of the “missed connections” section of Craigslist. This is where you thought you saw your future spouse or date or hook-up, state by state. It is, in some ways, a sign of where we are now most likely to see people we don’t know in various parts of the country. It’s also a sign of male loneliness or romance: men seeking to find a possible love-mate outnumber women 86 – 14.

To my fellow Oklahoma males, you didn’t miss any connections - the nice vendors make bacon smoothies for everyone.