Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children. Pfizer has a vaccine. Last year, the company made more than $6 billion of revenue from that vaccine. This year, they offered to donate a supply of the vaccine to Doctors Without Borders. But the organization rejected the donation. The Atlantic's James Hamblin asks the key question: "How has this system come to such a head that humanitarian doctors would refuse a million vaccines on principle?"

+ Jason Cone, US Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders: Why we rejected Pfizer's offer of pneumonia vaccines.

"What if paying workers more, training them better and offering better opportunities for advancement can actually make a company more profitable, rather than less?" That's a question everyone from academics to employees would like to see answered. And over the past year, Walmart has turned itself into America's largest petri-dish. From the NYT Upshot: How Did Walmart Get Cleaner Stores and Higher Sales? It Paid Its People More.

+ "Americans leave 658 million vacation days on the table each year." From Slate: Vacations are good for us and good for our employers. So why don't we take them?

+ Vox: Why we need to plan for a future without jobs. (That escalated quickly.)

"Now, more than two years after ISIS seized Iraq's second-largest city, the advancing soldiers said they were eager for the chance to help take it back. 'It feels good. We're hoping it's the end of them.'" The much-anticipated (and critical) battle to retake Mosul from ISIS is officially underway.

+ "If the Islamic State's capture of Mosul marked the high point of the group's expansion, its expulsion would mark a major setback for a group that's steadily been losing territory in Iraq and Syria." From NPR: The Battle For Mosul: 5 Key Things To Know.

+ "As Iraqi and coalition forces invade Mosul, the last ISIS stronghold in Iraq, the grim details of the extremist group's rule come to light." NatGeo: Surviving the Fall of ISIS.

"Stop for a moment to consider the magnitude of this transformation: Our republic of drivers is poised to become a nation of passengers." In NY Mag, Robert Moor imagines the American myth, without the driver: The self-driving car and the future of the self. It seems like people are already preparing by moving their road rage online.

"I'm just not that into football this year." That was my sister last night as we flipped back to the baseball playoffs. And apparently, her view is shared. NFL ratings are getting killed this season. Derek Thompson examines some of the reasons why, from concussions to the election. I notice that as I've gotten used to the immediacy of the Internet, I've become more irritated with the onslaught of commercials during NFL games.

+ MIT Tech Review posits another theory: Are E-sports Eating Up Traditional Sports Viewership? (Now that would be the ultimate revenge of the nerds...)

The election is rigged. It's rigged. It's rigged. It's rigged. If you say it enough, will people start to believe it? In a word: Yes. A Politico poll found that 41 percent of voters say election could be stolen from Trump.

+ Here's my highly partisan (yet, wildly accurate) view on America losing faith in its institutions. This presidential election is not rigged. The media is not lying. And Trump didn't start this fire.

+ Is the post-election Trump TV plan already in the works?

+ This election is all-consuming. And so are the dramatic differences of opinion among those backing each candidate. A couple hundred people reportedly bolted an Amy Shumer show after the comedian made some jokes about Trump. "You know what I love? A famous guy that will just take me furniture shopping and just straight up grab my p---y."

+ And here's the SNL debate sketch that sent Trump to Twitter to call for an end to the show. I don't really think Baldwin's Trump is all that funny. But (national treasure) Kate McKinnon is amazing as Hillary.

After we got rid of one air conditioner pollutant that was bad for the ozone layer, we replaced it with another that was hugely dangerous when it comes to climate change. Now those greenhouse gases are being phased out, and the world just took another huge step forward on fighting climate change.

+ "For the first time ever, the army of spinning white turbines that has sprouted across the lush countryside generated enough electricity to power all of Scotland." How Scotland's terrible weather is a boon for renewable energy.

+ CityLab: The British Town That Will Run Almost Entirely on Food Waste.

+ OK, enough with the good environmental news. Here's The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert on the melting of Greenland: The shrinking of the country's ice sheet is triggering feedback loops that accelerate the global crisis. The floodgates may already be open.

"He has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and reduced the pay of civil employees, all part of drastic austerity measures as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is buffeted by low oil prices. But last year, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince, saw a yacht he couldn't resist" (A 440 foot yacht). The NYT with an interesting look at the Saudi royal prince who is shattering a lot of traditions.

"Howard Beige, co-owner of Rubie's, knows your 10-year-old wants to be Jigglypuff. He knows you secretly want to go as Harley Quinn. He can even predict the next president -- usually." From Bloomberg: How the World's Biggest Costume Maker Cracked Halloween. (My kids are dressing up as convertible notes. I gotta get out of this town.)

GQ attempts to answer a couple questions that definitely pop into my head every now any then. Do you really need to worry about your electrolytes? And what the hell are electrolytes?

+ The Nobel panel gives up knockin' on Dylan's door. (Headline writers still refuse to give up Dylan song-inspired headlines.)

+ He removed his robe and began fighting. No, not the boxer. The judge.

+ The strange case of Pamela Anderson's news-hogging vegan sandwich.