The World of Holiday Gift Returns

Last week, holiday shoppers sent back over five million gifts through UPS alone. Many of these unwanted items never end up at their original retailer and, instead, they’re shipped to returns facilities that service various sellers. WIRED visited one of these returns specialists, Shorewood Liquidators, to find out exactly what goes on behind the scenes and where these millions of rejected purchases eventually end up.

Vale, Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman, the British actor best known for his roles as Hans Gruber and Severus Snape, has died at the age of 69 after battling cancer. Rickman began his career on stage, portraying the manipulative Vicomte de Valmont character in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”—a role he later won a Tony Award for. A year later, he garnered international attention co-starring with Bruce Willis in the action …

The Juicy History Behind the ’90s POG Craze

Many will remember the POG craze of the 1990s—the simple playground game that made use of cardboard caps—but few can recall its origins. The viral game actually got its start from a Hawaiian school teacher who taught her students to use the tops of POG (Passion Orange Guava) juice bottles for a simple recess game. Eventually, the Hawaii trend spread nationwide and then across the …