diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index 7eef3bf5d742..1f12b1f9f746 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@
     ('axes_grid', 'axes_grid toolkit'),
     ('units', 'units'),
     ('widgets', 'widgets'),
+    ('misc', 'Miscellaneous examples'),
     ]
 
 
diff --git a/examples/misc/image_thumbnail.py b/examples/misc/image_thumbnail.py
index 4e3a1dafc032..89a87ecd563e 100644
--- a/examples/misc/image_thumbnail.py
+++ b/examples/misc/image_thumbnail.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- noplot -*-
 """
 You can use matplotlib to generate thumbnails from existing images.
 matplotlib natively supports PNG files on the input side, and other
diff --git a/examples/misc/longshort.py b/examples/misc/longshort.py
index 56b121db2cfc..8e2a4367c903 100644
--- a/examples/misc/longshort.py
+++ b/examples/misc/longshort.py
@@ -3,18 +3,18 @@
 csv file, computing the daily returns, appending the results to the
 record arrays, joining on date
 """
-import urllib
+from six.moves import urllib
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import matplotlib.mlab as mlab
 
 # grab the price data off yahoo
-u1 = urllib.urlretrieve('http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=AAPL&d=9&e=14&f=2008&g=d&a=8&b=7&c=1984&ignore=.csv')
-u2 = urllib.urlretrieve('http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=GOOG&d=9&e=14&f=2008&g=d&a=8&b=7&c=1984&ignore=.csv')
+u1 = urllib.request.urlretrieve('http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=AAPL&d=9&e=14&f=2008&g=d&a=8&b=7&c=1984&ignore=.csv')
+u2 = urllib.request.urlretrieve('http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=GOOG&d=9&e=14&f=2008&g=d&a=8&b=7&c=1984&ignore=.csv')
 
 # load the CSV files into record arrays
-r1 = mlab.csv2rec(file(u1[0]))
-r2 = mlab.csv2rec(file(u2[0]))
+r1 = mlab.csv2rec(open(u1[0]))
+r2 = mlab.csv2rec(open(u2[0]))
 
 # compute the daily returns and add these columns to the arrays
 gains1 = np.zeros_like(r1.adj_close)
diff --git a/examples/misc/multiprocess.py b/examples/misc/multiprocess.py
index 510e9001fa3e..1ac93d646355 100644
--- a/examples/misc/multiprocess.py
+++ b/examples/misc/multiprocess.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- noplot -*-
 # Demo of using multiprocessing for generating data in one process and plotting
 # in another.
 # Written by Robert Cimrman
diff --git a/examples/misc/rc_traits.py b/examples/misc/rc_traits.py
index 45bdbe079af2..e5aa417f4cd3 100644
--- a/examples/misc/rc_traits.py
+++ b/examples/misc/rc_traits.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# -*- noplot -*-
 # Here is some example code showing how to define some representative
 # rc properties and construct a matplotlib artist using traits.
 # matplotlib does not ship with enthought.traits, so you will need to
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/mlab.py b/lib/matplotlib/mlab.py
index 07ddd98cd22c..38b09ea2cc46 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/mlab.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/mlab.py
@@ -2387,8 +2387,10 @@ def rec_append_fields(rec, names, arrs, dtypes=None):
             dtypes = dtypes * len(arrs)
         else:
             raise ValueError("dtypes must be None, a single dtype or a list")
-
-    newdtype = np.dtype(rec.dtype.descr + list(zip(names, dtypes)))
+    old_dtypes = rec.dtype.descr
+    if six.PY2:
+        old_dtypes = [(name.encode('utf-8'), dt) for name, dt in old_dtypes]
+    newdtype = np.dtype(old_dtypes + list(zip(names, dtypes)))
     newrec = np.recarray(rec.shape, dtype=newdtype)
     for field in rec.dtype.fields:
         newrec[field] = rec[field]
@@ -2596,8 +2598,10 @@ def mapped_r2field(name):
               if desc[0] not in key]
     r2desc = [(mapped_r2field(desc[0]), desc[1]) for desc in r2.dtype.descr
               if desc[0] not in key]
-    newdtype = np.dtype(keydesc + r1desc + r2desc)
-
+    all_dtypes = keydesc + r1desc + r2desc
+    if six.PY2:
+        all_dtypes = [(name.encode('utf-8'), dt) for name, dt in all_dtypes]
+    newdtype = np.dtype(all_dtypes)
     newrec = np.recarray((common_len + left_len + right_len,), dtype=newdtype)
 
     if defaults is not None:
@@ -2613,7 +2617,7 @@ def mapped_r2field(name):
 
     if jointype != 'inner' and defaults is not None:
         # fill in the defaults enmasse
-        newrec_fields = list(six.iterkeys(newrec.dtype.fields.keys))
+        newrec_fields = list(six.iterkeys(newrec.dtype.fields))
         for k, v in six.iteritems(defaults):
             if k in newrec_fields:
                 newrec[k] = v