Dan Jones

CSS and SVG filters in HTML, including duotone filters (see my last post for duotone in GIMP).

Since I usually hack up eggs, salmon, chicken, and steaks when I try to flip or test their doneness anyway, a Machete Spatula would probably be an appropriate addition to my cooking arsenal. Plus, if any utensil could be described as magnificent, this grill flipper takes the title. With a trio of built-in bottle openers, a BBQ standard oak handle, and a sturdy stainless steel blade, the spatula's utility isn't even overshadowed by its machete-shaped novelty.

June 21st is Father's Day. If Papa's already got a brand new bag (maybe the Henty you got him for Christmas?) now it's time for a brand new mug. Here's a hand(lebar)y choice for they of the hairy upper lips. The Bucardo Mustache Mug includes a built-in mustache guard to protect its mustachioed sippers from soiling their follicles with coffee or aerated white milk products. The 13 ounce mug also features the portrait of a very well endowed Victorian Mister, original artwork from SoCal artist Jeff McMillan.

In case you're into history, British potter Harvey Adams invented the original mustache cup in the mid-19th century with a removable guard that attached to its inner brim. The useful trend spread throughout Europe, and then made its way to North America, where it remained popular until mustaches went out of style. But mustaches, for better or worse, are back baby, and so their beverage barriers have followed. The Bucardo Mug was inspired by a mustache cup relic "salvaged from the farthest reaches of a kitchen cabinet in Ottawa, Canada."

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad could be here, right now.

Hannelore has a beautiful mind

The worst.

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Old meets new with this pentode radio tube steampunk styled USB

Jeeeeeeez mom, you’re ruining my life!

When the item in question is a house, how do you define "portable"? For me it was always the train car-looking mobile home my grandma's cousin Ella Mae used to live in that could be dragged from city to city in Florida on the back of a big truck. But Ecocapsule, a low-energy house condensed to a completely new version of portable, is small enough in its shipping container to be airlifted anywhere in the world, and then pulled by a unicorn (or other pack animal) to your final destination.

Entirely self-contained and energy-efficient, the Ecocapsule still tries hard to retain some of the "luxuries" of contemporary living. With a cozy bed, running water, and tools for fixing a hot meal inside, the pod is no New York penthouse, but it will serve you and your favorite + 1 pretty darn well on a weeklong glamping trip, or take you comfortably off-grid for as long as your favorite +1 is able to retain the title.

Specifically, the Ecocapsule interior houses a built-in kitchenette with running water and restroom facilities with a flushing toilet and hot shower. Power comes courtesy of a nifty built-in wind turbine, plus an array of 2.6m2 high-efficiency solar cells covering the unit's body. This duo of power sources feeding into a high-capacity battery is intended to cover all bases and keep the Ecocapsule running even during periods of reduced solar or wind activity.

Additional optimized design elements include the capsule's spherical shape, ideal for collecting rainwater and dew, and built-in water filters that enable the conversion of any water source to usable H2O.

Dimensions are 2.55m deep x 4.45m long x 2.25m tall (4.5m with extended pole of wind turbine). Weight is 1500 kg (3300 pounds).

Slovakian architectural team Nice Architects plans to begin taking pre-orders for the Ecocapsule in the last quarter of 2015, with delivery of the initial run of units starting in the first half of 2016. Pricing will also be announced in the last quarter of 2015.

New prints available in store! http://lunarbaboon.bigcartel.com/product/community-pack

"Evolutionary anthropologists tell us that gesture is much older than speech." So begins Romana Lefevre's Rude Hand Gestures of the World: A Guide to Offending without Words. What follows? Pictures! Lots and lots of pictures!

Silent but deadly, the right hand gesture can ensure your opinions are heard loud and clear. And sometimes without intention...and to your detriment...if you don't know that the thumbs up sign means "Up yours" when you're in Afghanistan. In Rude Hand Gestures of the World Lefevre teaches us how to make--and by proxy where not to make--many of the world's most obscene and offensive finger manipulations. Through reading and practice you'll learn how to do everything from requesting some sex in the Middle East to calling someone loony in Italy. All in the voice of a mime.

For each entry, Rude Hand Gestures of the World includes detailed photographs of hand models, a description of the sign's meaning and application, and tips for identifying the right times to haul it out.

After nearly a year of working on it I am pleased to announce that my ebook is finally out.

Learn more about the book

Over the coming weeks I plan on writing a post-mortem mixed with a general guide to writing a book in Emacs.

Time to show off those galactic grilling skills!

T.P

Tepee

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Told

Every once in a while, someone manages to create a pretty convincing fan theory about the Pixar movies. Most of the time, these theories are pretty lackluster, but Jonathan Carlin of “SuperCarlinBrothers” has recently come up with a great theory you might believe in.

Now, if you enjoy my theories and speculations on this site, then I have little doubt you’ll enjoy Carlin’s work on YouTube. We’ve shared multiple theories from each other on our own platforms over the years, and he’s certainly one of the most entertaining vloggers out there when it comes to fan theories.

And so is the case with his latest argument for why Andy from Toy Story has a monster we know from Monsters Inc. I’ll outline and evaluate his theory below, but you can also watch his video on the subject if you prefer (it’s only about 6 minutes long).

OK, so let’s go over SCB’s theory in detail, starting with the overall premise that Toy Story and Monsters Inc. share the same universe.

Of course, longtime readers already know I’m sold on this. The litany of easter eggs shared between the movies (from Jessie’s appearance in Boo’s room to Randall’s imitation of Andy’s wallpaper) share a lot of credence to the idea that these films are connected. And if you believe in my unifying Pixar Theory, then that’s that.

SCB himself points out that in Toy Story 3, we see a young girl who looks like she could be “Boo” (real name is Mary) because they look alike, though it’s not 100% certain. He also makes a connection between a poster we see in Monsters Inc. inside a child’s room and the same poster being on Sid’s wall in Toy Story.

As you can see, though, the posters aren’t situated the same way, and the monster we’re seeing has just been scared by a young girl, not a sadistic kid like Sid. For that reason, I think this is just an easter egg and NOT an indication that this was Sid’s monster.

Next, SCB points out that the movies sort of collide in a comic book series called Monsters Inc: Laugh Factory. Published in 2009, this 4-part series is about what happened after the events of Monsters Inc. Interestingly, a kid who looks like Sid Phillips (minus the skull t-shirt) shows up.

You can actually see several easter eggs in Boo’s room, here. And that’s kind of the point. Laugh Factory is filled with tons of references to other Pixar movies, as this was written by Paul Benjamin, a comic book writer for Marvel (not Pixar).

Keep in mind that Disney bought Marvel in 2009, likely explaining why this comic book series came about. For that reason and several others (including blatant continuity errors), I don’t actually consider these stories canon. They’re very over-the-top and portray situations and overt nods to other Pixar movies that don’t fit the framework of what Pixar has made themselves. Still, it’s a very interesting comic book series you can check out here.

Now on to the crux of SCB’s proposed theory. Could Andy have a monster of his own? Monsters Inc. takes place in 2001, which is 6 years after the events of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (which takes place the summer following the first movie’s ending Christmas scene).

Monsters have been scaring kids for centuries, as we know from Monsters University revealing that the school was founded in 1313. So if the movies are connected, then it’s reasonable to assume that Andy could be one of the children assigned a monster.

In Monsters Inc., I always found it weird that there are commercials and advertisements for what is essentially a power plant. Why would Waternoose be so concerned about awareness?

Monsters Inc. doesn’t sell anything. 

Well, it would seem that Waternoose is concerned with recruiting new scarers. The university trains these monsters to make them the best, but as we saw in Monsters University, Sulley was able to climb the ranks without an education, possibly explaining why Waternoose is interested in hiring recruits anywhere he can find them.

This all leads me to believe that there are lots of children, but not enough scarers. The problem they have is getting enough energy from the kids they scare (because kids are harder to scare these days), but another solution is to hire more scarers to scare even more kids. Scary.

That also explains why kidnapping children was such an appealing solution to Waternoose. If he can’t keep up with demand, then stealing the kids outright can give him enough energy to last years.

Though Roz tells Mike and Sulley that they’ve been onto the kidnappings for quite some time, it’s doubtful that Andy as a kid in 1996 was ever stolen. There’s just no evidence or reason to believe that.

Back to SCB’s theory. He argues that Andy’s closet door looks remarkably similar to a door seen in Monsters University (though he couldn’t find the same door in Monsters Inc.) Specifically, this door from a promo reel on the Monsters University website matches Andy’s door.

The doorknobs even match up because on this side of the closet, the doorknob should be on the right because the one on Andy’s closet door is on the left.

SCB argues that this evidence — in tandem with Randall practicing his camouflage with wallpaper from Andy’s room — proves that Randall is Andy’s monster.

Unfortunately, I don’t agree.

The issue is that Monsters University takes place years before Randall becomes a full-time scarer (he’s just a freshman at the start of the movie). If this is Andy’s door, then that just means Andy had some other monster while Randall was still in school.

That also gives a more logical explanation for the wallpaper thing. Sure, Randall has it as practice, but that doesn’t mean he’s scared a kid with that same wallpaper. It probably just belongs to Monsters Inc. in the same way they have the practice rooms for scaring. Why and how would Randall have this for his own personal use unless he got it from the company?

I think it makes way more sense for the wallpaper to be passed down because it belonged to a kid who moved, giving them an opportunity to collect it and use it for practice. That may even be why the university has this door in the first place. It’s not being used anymore.

Of course, who else would need wallpaper to camouflage themselves against? It’s not like everyone can be stealthy like Randall. Well, I’d say the simple explanation is that Monsters Inc. builds its practice rooms from real rooms, and Randall and his assistant are using wallpaper from these rooms for their specialized training.

Here’s a question that’s bothered me for a while: How much time passes between Monsters University and Monsters Inc.?

This is a question of age, to be sure. In the original movie, Mike and Sulley appear to be grown, well-established adults. From their voice actors, you’d assume they’re in their late 30s or early 40s.

After watching Monsters University, however, you can tell that their voices are basically the same. Mike is in a relationship with Celia not long after he and Sulley get their dream jobs, and neither of them seem settled down romantically. I’d honestly argue they’re really in their mid-20s, which supports the idea that Monsters University occurs during or after Andy’s move in 1995.

SCB also brings up the “Newt Crossing” sticker on Andy’s door in Toy Story 3 as evidence that Andy remembers Randall coming through his closet. But I don’t find that very convincing because why would Andy plaster something that scared him on his closet? I’m more inclined to believe that it really is just a reference to the Newt movie that never came about.

I really enjoy this theory, but I don’t think it’s complete. SCB is certainly on to something, and I definitely want to believe a monster we’ve seen has an old scare card for Andy somewhere. But for now, we can only guess.

Thanks for reading! If you like this blog, you can subscribe for weekly updates by clicking the “Subscribe” button on the right sidebar. Or just follow me on Twitter for the latest updates – @JonNegroni

Richard Stallman, the free software activist and author of some of the world's most used and useful software, probably uses his computer and the Internet a lot differently than you do. For starters, ethics and privacy concerns trump his need for convenience.

I am careful in how I use the Internet.

I generally do not connect to web sites from my own machine, aside from a few sites I have some special relationship with. I usually fetch web pages from other sites by sending mail to a program (see git://git.gnu.org/womb/hacks.git) that fetches them, much like wget, and then mails them back to me. Then I look at them using a web browser, unless it is easy to see the text in the HTML page directly. I usually try lynx first, then a graphical browser if the page needs it (using konqueror, which won't fetch from other sites in such a situation).

I occasionally also browse using IceCat via Tor. I think that is enough to prevent my browsing from being connected with me, since I don't identify myself to the sites I visit.

I never pay for anything on the Web. Anything on the net that requires payment, I don't do. (I made an exception for the fees for the stallman.org domain, since that is connected with me anyway.)

I would not mind paying for a copy of an e-book or music recording on the Internet if I could do so anonymously, and it were ethical in other ways (no DRM or EULA). But that option almost never exists. I keep looking for ways to make it happen.