I spent a good 40 minutes putting together my usual Friday Links, complete with pictures. Then I hit “Preview” and discovered WordPress had decided to delete it, sans explanation.

So in lieu of that, here’s the short version:

• Thingiverse is an online database of downloadable 3D printer designs. You can even print a new starship in case your old one gets busted up whilst flying Into Darkness.
• Hacking the President’s DNA isn’t possible…yet. But how far off is a future like this?
• Speaking of the future, how about a pill that knows you’ve swallowed it?
• Somebody mailed a package with a tiny camera inside. This three-minute video takes you inside the journey of mail.
• Carrie Fisher confirms she’s playing Leia once more in Star Wars: Episode VII. In spite of the rampant cynicism about yet another trilogy, I think the early signs are positive. It’s too early to get excited, but it’s also too early for prophecies of doom.
• And finally, as always, SMBC delivers.

Have a culturally enlightened weekend – or at least drink some good beer! See you Monday.

Trailer for the Ender’s Game movie! W00t!

Not sure what I think yet…could be good, but I’m not 100% sold. We’ll see.

Harvard’s created a flying robot, modeled loosely on insect anatomy, no larger than a quarter. Extremely light, highly mobile, potentially very cheap. Details and video!

A short essay proposing dead children as a unit of currency. The thesis is deliberately shocking, but he’s making a real (and kind-hearted) point about charity and opportunity costs. This is actually fairly close to the way I think about things, and it gets to the heart of my post on Monday, The Perils of Virtue.

xkcd proposes an alternate use for quadrotors.

And Questionable Content turns to the Dark Side. Uh, briefly.

That’s that, Hypothetical Reader. You may be a construct of my solipsistic hallucinations, but I like you all the same. This weekend, go forth and be excellent, and we’ll meet again three days hence!

“What Happened When One Man Pinged the Whole Internet.” Among other things: he pissed off China.

You’ve got your custom-written DNA source code (GATCCGTAGACCCGGA…) but turning it into a living organism is such an inconvenience. Sounds like you need a genome compiler.

Or maybe you’d rather have an all-terrain robot (or two!) that carries your gear and follows you anywhere. Boston Dynamics has you covered – and that’s far from the only amazing robot they’ve built.

SMBC proves the Riemann Hypothesis in the most delicious way possible.

And finally: the ever-classy Questionable Content. This comic has happened to me personally. More than once.

You stay classy too, Hypothetical Reader. Enjoy your weekend so hard. See you Monday!

Just one this week, but it’s a good one. Watch as Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield explores the age-old question: what happens when you wring out a wash cloth in zero gravity?

The answer is surprisingly cool:

Have a stellar (ah, ha!) weekend. See you Monday!

NASA made a cinematic trailer – for the space program. Narrated by the voice of Optimus Prime. Watch “We Are The Explorers.”

A real-life six-legged all-terrain robot big enough to ride in? Yes please.

A deer slap fight. Yes, it’s a real thing. This is what you miss by not living in the Midwest.

And now: COMICS!

I rarely read Dilbert, or any print comics, anymore. But when they hit the Singularity and Isaac Asimov in the same comic? Even I can’t resist.

xkcd calls out Adobe.

SMBC demonstrates the quickest way to convert someone to Christianity.

And finally, Two Guys and Guy hits us with a double whammy.

THIS CONCLUDES LINK SHARING HAPPY HOUR WE SHALL RECONVENE MONDAY

ThinkGeek’s April Fools’ Day prank was fantastic: a Batman family car decal set. Only question: why is this a prank and not a real thing I can throw my money at right now?

The classiest damn flash mob I’ve ever seen. If the people will not come to Star Wars, bring Star Wars to the people!

I don’t often link to the webcomic Nedroid, but it’s glorious. Here’s proof.

And PvP tackles racism in its own uniquely insightful way.

By the way – remember that unspeakably awful book I linked to last week? The Bible: The Miniseries: The Novel? I actually saw that, in real life, a couple days ago. At a local Kroger, available for $20.

Faith in humanity = lost.

*watches Star Wars flash mob again*

Faith in humanity = restored.

Have a supremely suave weekend, Hypothetical Reader. See you Monday!

Ian McKellan is marrying Patrick Stewart! …to a woman. Yes, the legendary Sir McKellan is presiding over the equally legendary Sir Stewart’s wedding to jazz singer Sunny Ozell. No word yet on whether he’ll appear as Ian the Grey or Ian the White, but early rumors indicate that Patrick will be showing up bald.

We all know that college students cheat, but you may not realize just how much time and money goes into it. This man writes student papers, for a few grand each, as a full-time job. See how deep the rabbit hole goes. My good friend Zeev sent me this article. He said it was fascinating, and he was right.

Profound inspiration for the aspiring artist.

Sometimes, you find something so ridiculous, you just don’t know what to say.

A Story of God and All of Us is a novel, based on “the epic ten-hour miniseries” The Bible. Which is based on, you know, the Bible.

So somebody read the Bible and said, “You know what this needs? A TV miniseries.” And then they watched their own miniseries and said, “If only somebody could put this in book form.”

Head. Hit. Keyboard.

The Amazon reviews are glorious. You know a book is bad when it gets five-star reviews ironically. One reviewer says: “The talent of someone like Mark Burnett is what the Bible needed. He has shown his skill time and time again with successes like The Apprentice, The Voice, Shark Tank and of course Survivor which, at the time of this writing, is in its 26th season.”

Says another: “I any case, I give this book two thumbs way, way up! If you’ve spent your entire life wondering if there is a God that you can put in a box, consume in small, easy-to-chew quantities and exploit in order to feel some arbitrary (albeit fleeting) sense of meaning and happiness, this is the book for you.”

Yeah. Moving on…

For those budding artists not yet fully inspired by the links above, the Onion’s got you covered. Find The Thing You’re Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life. What more could you hope for?

Two Guys and Guy explores the complex logistics of giving a shit.

And finally, SMBC applies the principles of statistics where they’re most needed: children’s birthday parties.

That’s a wrap, Hypothetical Reader. Hope your weekend achieves such heights of self-actualization and neurological bliss as you had not suspected were possible. See you Monday!

How does a hacker propose to his girlfriend? Easy: he hacks her copy of Chrono Trigger so it asks her the question while she’s playing. The, uh, “boss fight” starts at 4:40.

The great thing about Linux is that it’s open-source, so anyone can make their own version. That’s right…anyone. Meet “Red Star OS,” the official operating system of North Korea.

What’s Nietzsche Family Circus? Simple: take a random Family Circus cartoon, replace the caption with a random quote from Nietzsche, and you’re good to go. Really, I don’t know why no one thought of it sooner. Since it’s all random, some are better than others, but it doesn’t take long to find some real winners.

And finally, PvP knows how to keep it romantic.

This concludes the week of bloggery. Enjoy your weekend, and see you Monday!

Somebody asked Randall Munroe a simple question about a hair dryer. His answer includes the phrase “nuclear potato cannon.” Must be doing something right.

The New York City soft drink ban was shot down – for now. But if it’s ever reinstated, don’t worry – SMBC has you covered.

PvP gets to third base. Uh, sort of.

This concludes our broadcast. Have an überweekend, and I’ll see you again on Monday!

Here’s North Sentinel Island: home to a tribe untouched by civilization. I don’t just mean they keep to their traditions. I mean, to this very day, they have virtually no contact with the outside world. They never leave, and they shoot visitors with arrows. No outsiders have explored the island, and because it’s covered in forest, nobody knows much about it. We think there are around 200 people there, but that’s just a guess. They have their own language, which nobody else knows. Even their political status is unclear: they’re kinda-sorta part of India, but there’s never been a treaty, so they’re in geopolitical limbo.

I suppose they don’t mind.

Whenever there’s a blizzard, some poor reporter is always sent to the middle of it, trying to act like there’s anything to talk about besides look at all this snow. Finally, in this video clip, a reporter admits the truth. “I’ve run out of things to say. It is snowing and it sucks here. That’s pretty much it.” Amen.

We all know those irritating people: the ones who are nice, successful, personally fulfilled, and have no real flaws. God, we hate them. Finally, The Onion calls them out on their shenanigans. Now, where did I put that cheeseburger?

This week is finito. Enjoy your weekend, and see you Monday!