I've been reading the daily press updates by the Institute for the Study of War on the Russia-Ukraine war here:

https://www.understandingwar.org/user/3100/track

They've also been covering the protests in Iran, which have been going on almost daily for weeks. Yesterday's update had an interesting nugget:
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-crisis-update-october-29

Anti-regime outlet IranWire reported that most arrested protesters told authorities that they sought to overthrow the Islamic Republic, citing a classified Iranian government report. The report allegedly identified the average age of arrested protesters as 17 and assessed that anti-regime demonstrations would continue. The report supposedly added that most protesters told interrogators that they had nothing to lose.  That comment could reflect frustration with endemic economic problems in Iran, but could also reflect a change in the attitude of young Iranians that should worry the regime.  Anti-regime slogans documented in recent weeks reflect a similar willingness to risk arrest and death in order to facilitate change. Protesters have been documented chanting slogans like “we will fight, we will die, we will take Iran back,” and “this is the year of blood, Khamenei will be overthrown” in recent weeks. These chants suggest that regime may have succeeded in its efforts to make Iranians more willing to sacrifice their lives...but not for the regime.

John Stossel says your best bet on learning who wins the next election is bettors:

https://reason.com/2022/10/26/this-election-day-listen-to-the-betting-market-instead-of-pundit-predictions/

If you want to place your own bets, only place for U.S. citizens to go is:
https://www.predictit.org/

Stossel's betting aggregation site:
http://electionbettingodds.com/

Just what the world has been waiting for - another aviation forum! But here's why you might want to try FlyersForum:

https://flyersforum.org/

FlyersForum uses a new user moderation model to provide an open forum for a large robust public community while controlling abuse of and on the forum.

We believe moderation is best applied by each member because they know best the members they prefer to engage in conversation. If you see two members in never-ending squabbles you should be able to block their posts from your view without having to ask a moderator to silence them somehow. Likewise, if someone starts trolling or stalks your posts you should be able to promptly block them from seeing your posts and vice-versa. Member-level moderation is naturally tuned precisely to the member's desires and sensibilities and the most timely mechanism available. We also feel that the ability to promptly block another poster from seeing your posts and vice versa greatly reduces the need for traditional central moderation and the sins that eventually arise from such "absolute power."

We hope you see the advantages of FF's choice of policies and self-moderation tools and will give it a try.

Story: https://reason.com/2022/06/01/california-court-rules-that-bees-are-fish/

"Insects aren't a category protected by the California Endangered Species Act. So state officials classified four bumblebee species as fish to get them listed."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-moral-hazard-lessons-from-nickel-market-disaster-11646923194?st=0jd47xwn5eewsdu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The Moral Hazard Lessons From Nickel Market Disaster

The problems started on Tuesday morning, when traders on the London Metal Exchange smelled blood and nickel prices almost doubled. China’s Tsingshan Holding faced a $1 billion-or-so margin call that exchange officials feared it couldn’t meet. Rather than let it fail, which would probably have taken down several of the smaller LME brokers that had serviced Tsingshan, LME decided to cancel all that day’s trading, more than 9,000 trades worth about $4 billion.

It. Canceled. The. Trades. Not because of a fat-finger error, which exchanges often cancel. Not even because of a rogue algorithm (as regulators claimed in the 2010 flash crash in U.S. stocks). But because someone with too much leverage was going to blow up, with knock-on effects on some members of the exchange.

Hopefully the trader's who would have made money had their trades not been cancelled will have grounds to sue and win against the Exchange. An exchange acting so nakedly on behalf of one client deserves to lose its traders to other exchanges.

Which of these, if any would you be willing to fly?

“A Truck Driver With a Few Thousand Bucks and an iPhone Just Toppled New Jersey's Most Powerful Lawmaker”
https://reason.com/2021/11/04/a-truck-driver-with-a-few-thousand-bucks-and-an-iphone-just-toppled-new-jerseys-most-powerful-lawmaker/