broadway Final bow for 'Phantom of the Opera' after 35 years on Broadway Rusty Blazenhoff

History In 1858 the Thames smelled so bad that Parliament fled and Disraeli called it a 'Stygian pool' Ellsworth Toohey

crime We Have The Herpes: Arby's worker accused of infecting customer by spitting in food Rob Beschizza

travel Air New Zealand economy bunk beds cost $291, ban snacks and perfume Ellsworth Toohey

crowdfunding An artist painted a monster, an occult poet conjured it to life, and now it wants to kill your Mörk Borg character Gareth Branwyn

Not as advertised Mozilla's VPN is free, limited, and not really a VPN Jason Weisberger

security The "unhackable" Xbox One has been hacked — and Microsoft can't patch it Ellsworth Toohey

Technology Ring's CEO said lost-dog finder was always meant to be a human surveillance platform, says leaked email Ellsworth Toohey

politics "Cronyism in couture": Vanity Fair publishes brilliant new portraits, capturing the "hideousness of this administration" Jennifer Sandlin

mistakes McDonald's AI exposed 64M job applicants because the admin password was "123456" Rob Beschizza

History Box beds were the secret of medieval warmth and privacy Popkin

fashion Talented artist turns thrifted and gifted textiles into creative outfits Jennifer Sandlin

Pence says he won't vote for Trump, not because he wanted Pence hanged, but because Trump's not conservative enough Mark Frauenfelder

Games How old is Tetris, really? Rob Beschizza

science fiction "Big Germs" — short fiction by Rudy Rucker Boing Boing

los angeles Inside Quentin Tarantino's retro coffee shop, Pam's Coffy Rusty Blazenhoff

television The best sci-fi show you aren't watching is getting a spin-off Gail Sherman

bad customer service Incredible AT&T chat transcript with terrible customer support specialist Mark Frauenfelder

game shows The Price Is Right has a protocol if a contestant pees their pants David Pescovitz