Author: Kirstin Fawcett

American outdoor retailer Patagonia, Inc. made $10 million in Black Friday sales, which isn’t just a lot—it’s a whopping five times more than the $2 million the company expected to earn. As CNN reports, 100 percent of those proceeds will now be donated to environmental causes, just as the brand pledged a week prior to the year’s biggest holiday shopping extravaganza.

According to Patagonia, the money will benefit “grassroots organizations working in local communities to protect our air, water, and soil for future generations. These are small groups, often underfunded and under the radar, who work on the front lines. The support we can give is more important now than ever.”

Patagonia’s commitment to environmental causes has been a hallmark of the brand since 1985. The company donates one percent of its sales to nature and conservation organizations, and last year, it partnered with Portland, Oregon’s Hopworks Urban Brewery to create a beer made from sustainable ingredients. This year’s massive Black Friday giveaway, however, was spurred by current political events.

“During a difficult and divisive time, we felt it was important to go further and connect more of our customers, who love wild places, with those who are fighting tirelessly to protect them,” Patagonia explained on their blog. “… The threats facing our planet affect people of every political stripe, of every demographic, in every part of the country.”

As CNN reports, the company claims that more than 800 environmental groups received a Patagonia grant over the past fiscal year, totaling more than $7 million in donations. Past recipients have included the Wildlife Conservation Society and the New York Botanical Garden.

“These groups often have less than five paid staffers; some are run entirely by volunteers,” Patagonia explains on its website. “Instead of giving large sums to a handful of causes, we give modest grants—which typically range between $2500 to $15,000—to hundreds of groups every year for whom this money makes a world of difference.” You can view the full list of grantees online.

[h/t CNNTech]

Most of us can’t afford a real-life replica of the Addams Family’s house, so a creative LEGO hobbyist named Hugh Scandrett did the next best thing and built a small-scale, plastic toy model of it himself. Now, the tiny, Gothic-style mansion is under consideration by The LEGO Group to become a commercially sold set.

Scandrett, 59, modeled his original Addams Family-inspired design off the mansion from the TV show that originally ran on ABC in the mid-1960s. He didn’t use instructions or an existing template for the three-story structure, which is made from 7200 individual LEGO pieces. Each floor is a removable segment, and the house separates into two halves through the center. It also includes a full glass greenhouse; tiny figures of Morticia, Gomez, and the rest of the Addams gang; and furnishings including a stuffed polar bear and a suit of armor.

After completing the mansion, Scandrett submitted photos and a written project description to the LEGO Ideas website, where users can share their ideas for potential designs. Once 10,000 different fans support a design, it becomes eligible for review to become a licensed LEGO product. Scandrett’s Addams Family LEGO home recently reached this coveted number—and if it passes final muster with toy company execs, you could soon see it gracing toy store shelves near you.

Take a video tour of the mansion below, courtesy of Dread Central.

Smartwatches have their pros and cons. You can browse the Internet with the flick of a wrist, but at the end of the day, their battery life simply isn’t that great. Since most people aren’t crazy about the idea of charging their watch every night, MIT Technology Review reports that a Bay Area tech startup called Matrix Industries has designed the PowerWatch, a smart timepiece that’s powered by body heat.

The fitness-tracking watch runs on “thermoelectric generator technology.” According to CNET, this is a fancy way of saying that the temperature difference between your body and the watch is used to generate an electric current. Then, a transformer boosts the charge to run the smartwatch’s processor. The watch also contains a small backup battery, which helps it run when you’re not wearing it.

The PowerWatch is akin to a Fitbit, in that it counts your calorie intake and steps, and monitors your sleep. But unlike most fitness trackers, the watch actually gets a boost when you exercise. “When you exercise, your skin gets warmer, so you’ll generate more power,” Akram Boukai, the co-founder and CEO of Matrix Industries, told CNNMoney. “It’s kind of motivational.”

The watch is currently available for pre-order on Indiegogo. It costs $129, and is expected to ship in July 2017. Its full retail price after release is expected to be around $170.

[h/t MIT Technology Review]

Next week, art lovers with cash to spare will travel to Florida for Art Basel Miami Beach, the international art fair, which runs from December 1 to December 4. Attendees typically splurge on modern and contemporary art, but this year, The New York Times reports, they have the option to purchase a relic of communist East Germany: an enormous stained glass mural created for the Stasi, the infamous secret police of the German Democratic Republic.

Thilo Holzmann, a German art historian, found the free-standing mural among his uncle’s belongings. It had sat forgotten in a shipping crate for years. Hoping that the work’s history will lend it unique value, Holzmann is hosting a pop-up exhibition during Art Basel at an undisclosed location. There, he hopes to sell the mammoth stained glass creation for more than $21 million.

A Stasi stained glass mural that doesn’t even contain a single Stasi reference priced at $21.4 mln. https://t.co/mYz3GJpKhp

— Yuliya Komska (@ykomska) November 22, 2016

Erich Mielke, the longest-serving head of the Stasi, commissioned artist Richard Otfried Wilhelm to create the three-ton, 65-foot-wide mural in 1979. (Wilhelm was the German Democratic Republic’s chief master of glass for public works.) The mural depicts Lenin, two doves, a hammer and sickle symbol, a Communist slogan, and other iconography. The work also contains precious metals, including 55 pounds of gold pigment. Wilhelm titled the work Revolution: Frieden unserem Erdenrund (“Revolution: Peace to the Whole World”).

The mural was completed in 1983, and it furnished a general purpose room in the Ministry of State Security’s compound (today the Stasi Museum). In 1990—one year after the Berlin Wall fell—Holzmann’s uncle bought the work from the Deutsche Reichsbahn, the state railroad company, which was charged with selling the Stasi’s belongings.

There’s no record of how much Holzmann’s uncle paid for the work, but the art historian is hoping that a museum (or a private citizen who wants to donate it to a public institution) is willing to pony up millions. Some experts question whether the work is truly worth $21 million, pointing out that stained glass works were once common in East Germany, and that Holzmann hasn’t fleshed out the specifics of its history. Also, from an artistic standpoint, the quality simply isn’t that great.

If Holzmann does end up landing a multi-million dollar buyer, “you will see a storm of the same kind of art coming on the market, because many of these kinds of stained glass windows are very often in buildings from the ’70s and ’80s that aren’t used anymore,” Sjeng Scheijen, a Soviet art expert and associate researcher at Leiden University, told the Times.

[h/t The New York Times]

Learning to code can be intimidating, which is why Disney wants to simplify the process for kids, and make it fun to boot. As The Next Web reports, the company just released a free game, “Moana: Wayfinding With Code,” that teaches burgeoning techies the basics of software development.

“Moana: Wayfinding With Code” is inspired by Moana, the 2016 computer-animated Disney film that’s slated for release on Wednesday, November 23. Just like the movie, the coding game features a Polynesian princess protagonist named Moana and her sidekick, a legendary demigod named Maui. Players complete code-based tasks to guide Moana and Maui safely through a dangerous ocean filled with pirates.

Kids don’t actually write individual bits of code themselves—they simply place the correct block into a window, using a drag-and-drop interface. According to TechCrunch, the game is intended to introduce essential concepts of text-based computer programming.

“Moana: Wayfinding With Code” is part of Code.org’s Hour of Code initiative, a worldwide campaign to teach students in more than 180 countries about computer science. Partners include Disney, along with companies and organizations like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and the College Board.

Over the past two years, Disney has released two other Hour of Code tutorials, including Frozen and Star Wars–themed programming games. According to Disney, the games reached over 40 million students.

“We’ve found that kids are much more likely to try computer science if it contains topics they are interested in, like their favorite Disney stories and characters,” said Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org, in a statement. “Our work with Disney over the past two years has helped Hour of Code reach record numbers, inspiring millions of children of all ages to try coding and pursue an education in computer science.”

“Moana: Wayfinding with Code” is currently available online. Eventually, it will be offered to students in more than 180 countries, in 23 languages (including Moana’s native tongue, Samoan Polynesian). Students who want to learn additional programming skills can visit Apple stores between December 5-11 and participate in a workshop based on the game.

[h/t The Next Web]

Boarding an airplane with food can be tricky business—especially during the holiday season. Wondering which Thanksgiving dishes pass muster with airport officials? Here’s a rundown of feast items that can be packed inside your carry-on or checked bags. (To see the full list of permitted edible goods, visit the Transportation Security Administration’s official website.)

You can check cakes and pies in your luggage, or take them on the plane as a carry-on. (The TSA recommends you do the latter so they won’t get squashed.) If you must check a dessert, Condé Nast Traveler recommends wrapping it in plastic, placing it inside a sturdy cardboard box, and swaddling the box in a blanket or bubble wrap. If you’re toting it by hand, make sure the packaging is sturdy enough to survive security checkpoints, overhead bins, and additional TSA screenings.

The TSA’s typical rule for liquids applies to Thanksgiving sauces and spreads. You’ll have to check cranberry sauce, gravy, jams, and jellies if they’re stored inside a receptacle that’s larger than 3.4 ounces. You can bring them on the plane if they’re transported in a 3.4-ounce container that’s placed inside a sealed, clear, quart-sized zip-top bag (just like your shampoo).

Turkeys and turduckens are OK for both carry-on and checked bags, so long as they are packed in a maximum of five pounds dried ice and the cooler or shipping box doesn’t exceed your airline’s carry-on size allowance. If the meat is packed in regular ice, it must be completely frozen as it goes through security.

Check all wine bottles exceeding 3.4 ounces. According to Vine Pair, you can prevent potential disasters by storing bottles in a hard suitcase, lining the interior with soft clothing, and wrapping the bottles in even more clothing before tucking them inside the suitcase’s middle. You can also make things easier by buying a special valise designed to transport wine.

Unsure about additional food items? Ask the TSA by tweeting a picture to @AskTSA, contacting the agency via Facebook Messenger, or visiting TSA.gov and using the “What can I bring?” search function.

Forget turkey gravy—McDonald’s wants customers to ring in the holiday season with the taste of barbecue sauce on their lips. As Fortune reports, the McRib recently returned to select restaurants, and will be available for purchase until December 31. To help fast food fans track down the limited-edition item, McDonald’s created an iMessage app, the McRib Finder, that locates the nearest franchise selling the popular pork-based sandwich.

Open the McRib Finder in iMessage, and a map will pop up showing your location, along with nearby McDonald’s outlets selling the sandwich. Click on the location markers to get the address—and if you’re meeting a friend for a bite to eat, you can even send it to them, along with a McRib-themed sticker. (Sorry, Android users—you’ll have to rely on the McRib Locator website.)

Few McDonald’s menu items are as elusive as the McRib. The franchise introduced the barbecue-flavored sandwich in 1981, but due to poor sales, it was removed from the national menu a few years later. Eventually, the McRib returned—but it wasn’t until 2005, when McDonalds began offering the savory sandwich for limited time spans only, that it truly reached cult status with customers. Today, the McRib returns at random, typically popping up at sporadic locations across America during the fall.

[h/t Fortune]

If you’re a pop culture junkie with a thirst for the open road, consider driving to one of the attractions featured in the infographic below.

UK-based travel broker AttractionTix located the real-life filming locations of movies and TV shows including Friends, Harry Potter, Gilmore Girls, and Game of Thrones. To make the journey easy for fans, they listed the addresses below, along with other handy details including the logistics on how to get there, how long it takes to see the sites, and the best time to go. A word to the wise: Some of these filming locations are abroad, so you’ll have to book a plane ticket and rent a car overseas before channeling your inner Jack Kerouac.

Since Home Alone (1990) is a quintessential holiday movie, it makes sense that the film would inspire the ultimate quirky stocking stuffer. The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—which bills itself as “the world’s largest collection of bobbleheads and exhibits”—recently commissioned a line of limited-edition, Home Alone-themed bobbleheads.

Produced by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) and officially licensed by 20th Century Fox, the toy collection features bratty 8-year-old Kevin McCallister and the film’s bungling burglars, Harry and Marv, a.k.a. the Wet Bandits. (Marv even comes complete with an iron-shaped burn on his forehead.)

The bobbleheads will be sold through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame’s online store, starting on Tuesday, November 22. Only 5000 of the Kevin figurines and 3000 of the Harry and Marv ones will be available for purchase.

All images courtesy of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

Spectrum Toy Store isn’t your typical one-stop shop for kids’ trinkets. As ABC7 Chicago reports, the brand-new nonprofit business in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood caters to kids on the autism spectrum. Its toys and products are specially designed for customers with developmental disabilities, and families can try out the toys before they buy them to make sure they’re a good fit.

Jamilah Rahim, a behavioral therapist, opened Spectrum Toy Store after she noticed that many of the families she worked with were buying their toys online because no local stores carried them. On top of that, there was no guarantee that their kids would even like the products once they arrived.

“Every child with a disability is different and their needs are different,” Rahim told The Mighty. “Being able to come feel and see the product before purchasing it gives the comfort of knowing you have purchased the right product for your child.”

In addition to selling toys, Spectrum—which has a partnership with nonprofit organization Children’s Advanced Recreation and Education—offers programs for customers with disabilities, ages 3 to 13.

“We do different activity groups,” Rahim told ABC7 Chicago. “We focus on different core areas like communication skills, life skills, cognitive skills, gross and fine motor skills and sensory play. All of the classes are play based; since we are a toy store we try to gear everything around play so we do different activities with different toys to help support the skill deficit that children may have.”

Spectrum Toy Store is the first store of its kind in Illinois, and one of several to open across the U.S. Families that live outside Chicago can purchase Spectrum’s toys online.

[h/t ABC7 Chicago]