Walls, Work, and Trips to the Moon

Plus: A profile of a premier up for re-election

Saskatchewan’s provincial election is officially underway, with voters heading to the polls on October 28. Annie Hylton recently tracked the quiet rise and loud populism of Premier Scott Moe, who kicked off his campaign Tuesday:

For many Canadians, Saskatchewan—a province of over a million people in a space roughly the size of Texas—is something of an afterthought, a land of rolling prairies and infinite blue skies. But for those paying attention, Moe has become the face of a province that may have considerable sway over the nation’s climate policies and the heart of an increasingly Donald Trump-esque ideology. A man of nebulous personality, which shape-shifts as per the moment’s needs, Moe has established himself as one of the most popular premiers in the country. March data from the nonprofit Angus Reid Institute indicated that Moe had a 53 percent approval rating—one of only two provincial leaders in the country to exceed the majority mark that quarter. [Read More]

In Germany, Tesla managers have been showing up at the homes of sick employees to appeal to their “work ethic.” Workers weren’t thrilled. It makes you wonder, as Samia Madwar did in her May cover story, “Are Workplaces Inherently Toxic?”:

Workplaces rarely invest in dealing with conflict, because profits tend to be prioritized over well-being. You could argue that the two go hand in hand: from a business perspective, work stress can result in lost productivity, absenteeism, medical costs, and high turnover, among other consequences. Given how much time we spend at work, how much self-worth many of us associate with our careers, and how job stress inevitably spills into the rest of our lives, the true damage may be impossible to quantify. [Read more]

NASA is getting into gardening and trying to see if plants can be grown on the moon’s surface. Perhaps greenery will someday line the walkways of moon hotels. Nicole Schmidt spoke to Chris Lewicki about why the ol’ ball of cheese in the sky is the next travel frontier:

I see two types of space tourism emerging. The first will be more focused on adventure, not dissimilar to climbing Everest. It’s going to be more of a challenge: cramped quarters, limited supplies, bad food. The other type will be more of a luxury approach. Space stations that orbit Earth are roomier and can be built with better viewpoints and amenities—not to mention a way for people to wash their underwear during their trip. [Read more]

CNN, one of the most popular news sites around, just put up a paywall, while Vox Media is considering one for The Verge. (The Walrus doesn’t have a paywall—cough, cough, please support.) In 2013, Shelley Page looked at why it’s so hard to make money off online media:

According to former Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker, newspapers charge advertisers an average of $3.50 (US) for every 1,000 page views, and a measly seventy-five cents for the same number of views on a smart phone or other mobile platform. So even a popular article on a newspaper website would typically generate just $350 worth of ads. Some recent Postmedia numbers suggest how this affects the bottom line: compared to the same quarter last year, digital revenue from September to November 2012 increased by about 10 percent, a $2.2-million gain. This was obliterated, however, by a $16.6-million drop in print advertising. Amid this free fall, newspapers are looking to readers to save them, by making a rather awkward request: please pay for content you have previously enjoyed without charge. [Read more]

Check out our new podcast, What Happened Next, hosted by Nathan Whitlock . This week’s conversation is with Waubgeshig Rice, about Moon of the Turning Leaves.

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