Tate Modern’s Modigliani Exhibition Ventures Into Virtual Reality – Smithsonian

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smithsonian.com August 10, 2017

This November, Tate Modern is unveilingthe U.K.s most comprehensive AmedeoModiglianiretrospective.But the show, simply titledModigliani,is more than a survey of the artists work: Its also an immersive experience complemented by the museum'sfirst foray into virtual reality.

The retrospective, whichruns from November 23 to April 2, 2018, includes almost 100 works by the modernist artist.According to Maev Kennedy ofThe Guardian, the Tate exhibition reflects Modigliani's lasting influence through a selection of the artist'screations, including 10of the nudes displayed at his1917 show, portraits of friends, like Mexican muralistDiego Riveraas well assome lesser-known sculptures. While much of the VR aspect of the exhibitremains under wraps for now,Jonathan Vanian ofFortunereports that the museum has partnered with VR companyHTC Vive to create a digital world reminiscent of early 20th-century Paris.

A native Italian, in his early 20s, Modigliani moved to Paris in 1906 and soon ingrained himself in the citys thriving art world. Working alongside such figures as Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Constantin Brancusi, he developed a distinctive style: Subjects portrayed with a semblance of realism, but with elongated faces and necks, as well as piercing, almond-shaped eyes.

"His art managed to bridge the stylistic chasm between classical Italian painting and avant-garde Modernism," wroteDoug Stewart forSmithsonian magazine in 2005.

Commercially unsuccessful during his lifetimehe had one solo show in 1917, but police shut it down after seeing the artists frank depictions of nude, unshaven womenModigliani struggled financially to pay the bills and would often exchange a sketch for a meal or a drink. Plagued by alcoholism, ill health and self-destructive behavior, hedied at the age of 35 oftubercularmeningitis. At the time, his lover and frequent muse, Jeanne Hbuterne, was pregnant with the couples second child. The day after his death, she threw herself out of a fifth-floor window.

According to a press release, the exhibition will pay special attention toHbuterne and the other women who proved influential to Modigliani, especially theEnglish poet Beatrice Hastings.

As for the VR experience, the press release states that it will be integrated in "right in the heart of the exhibition" and "will bring visitors closer into the artists world, enriching their understanding of his life and art."

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Tate Modern's Modigliani Exhibition Ventures Into Virtual Reality - Smithsonian

‘All the Rage (Saved by Sarno)’ Review: Alternative Medicine Doc Lacks Focus – TheWrap

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Should you ever see All the Rage (Saved by Sarno), youre going to want to embrace it. (Thats as much of a prognostication as it is a warning.)

The directors, David Beilinson, Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley, all seem like warm, emotionally present people. Sometimes their movie, which unmistakably comes across as a labor of love, feels that way too: Alive and engaged. However, its hard to work past the projects limitations, both creatively and budgetary. All the Rage is a documentary with a thesis and not much else.

The central case being made is for Dr. John Sarno, a revolutionary practitioner who devoted his life to the pain epidemic born in America. More specifically, Sarno is responsible for developing TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome). This psychosomatic condition, Sarno contends, is the root of various illnesses regarding physical discomfort, especially in the back. Sarnos protocol for treating this condition is, essentially, acceptance and introspection. You must first recognize that I do have structural abnormalities, he says, and that thats okay. The mind and body are connected.

Also Read: 'Step' Review: Dance and Dreams Bolster Exhilarating High School Doc

The next step includes an exhaustive unpacking of ones psyche. The mind holds onto the idea as a physical problem, says Sarno. But he believes something like chronic back pain is anything but. Its a psychological problem, stemming from unresolved issues in our subconscious.

All of this sounds a bit woo-woo when read in a film review. In fact, it sounds a bit woo-woo when Sarno speaks, too. Thats sort of the movies point. Despite unending testimonials from celebrities like Larry David and Howard Stern, what Sarno is offering seems to good to be true. This is not alternative medicine, he insists. Youd like to believe this. By the end of All the Rage you may be just be a convert. If thats the case, then tally a mark in the win column for the movie.

What I found was something a little messier to grapple with. Sarno, who passed away in June, a day before his 94th birthday, is worthy of our time. Hes a dynamic central subject for a documentary. That much is clear. So why doesnt All the Rage hit harder?

Also Read: Howard Stern Sued for Airing Woman's IRS Conversation

On the surface, the diagnosis is simple: this could just as easily have been a well-reported segment on 60 Minutes, or perhaps an episode on Malcolm Gladwells beloved podcast, Revisionist History. You could see Gladwells eyes lighting up upon meeting Sarno, a renegade MD unafraid of blazing his own trail.

And yet while knocking the movie for its outstretched 94-minute running time is fair, it doesnt paint the full picture. The heart of All the Rages issues, I believe, are with Galinsky. In an attempt to give his film depth and personality, Galinsky often pivots back and forth from Sarnos office at NYU Medical center to his home. Splayed on the floor, we hear Galinsky yelling. Hes one of the 100 million (per the film) suffering from chronic pain.

For a variety of reasons, this is all hard to watch. Without Sarnos inevitable intervention, who knows where Galinsky would be today? But theres something unfocused and lackadaisical about the directors internal probing. He repeatedly tries to open up his world to us childhood, parents, marital strife, professional pressures. Few have managed to pull this off successfully in the documentary format without being trite or egotistical. Sarah Polleys spellbinding Stories We Tell comes to mind. Galinsky and his cohorts lack the ingenuity of Polley, though. Ultimately, his personal journey is more admirable than interesting.

Also Read: Larry David is Related to Bernie Sanders. Yes, Really

This narrative fixation causes other issues. By turning the camera inward, Galinsky forgets to ask more of his core subject. Sarno built an inimitable career. Why not dig deeper? Theres a chance the seasoned doctor is a little fatigued by it all. Decades of fighting against the status quo in a profession that chooses to not acknowledge your existence will do that to you. I got the sense Sarno was open to answer anything, if properly asked.

Those big questions never come. Sarno urged his patients to be mindful and curious. Someone shouldve encouraged the films crew to do the same.

Heres an example: Toward the end, Galinsky is asked to speak at his brothers wedding. Michael stands in front of the crowd, reciting the speech his late father gave to him at his wedding. Its a tender monologue about rolling with the punches, taking life as it rapidly comes at us. His eyes begin to well up as he reads the note aloud. Hes flooded with emotions. For a moment, so are we.

Then, without missing a beat, the film cuts to Michaels narration. Making it through that speech was one of the hardest things Ive ever done, he says. But once it was over, I felt lighter than I have in a long time. Less than two seconds after watching Michael bravely make it through that speech, hes telling us how hard it was to make it through that speech. We know it was difficult. We saw. We felt it. Much of All the Rage does not need explaining, and yet it insists on elementary explanation.

Days after I watched All the Rage, my opinion started to take shape. Ill be honest, though, even writing this now I feel some reluctance to criticize a movie I believe means well, an endeavor with pure intentions. Sarno, especially, comes off as a divine creature and thoughtful force in the world. If All the Rage does nothing else, it will at the very least serve as an widespread introduction to this revolutionary doctor.

Yet there is something frustratingly artless about the movies execution. All the Rage was supposed to be about Sarnos story. Instead its script contains dueling protagonists, competing for screen time. The team needed to pick a lane here. Instead, Galinsky and company find themselves in the middle of the intersection, blindsided by incoming traffic. Its a movie about two people that ends up being about no one at all.

Documentariesand chill?

If you're getting a bit tired of endlessly scrolling through Netflix movies, try these films on for size.

Added plus: You might even accidentally learn something.

"The 13th"

Ava DuVernay's latest documentary, "The 13th" sheds light on the prison industrial system and its relation to historical inequality in the United States. It's titled after the 13th amendment which abolished slavery.

"Blackfish"

We can pretty much credit the downfall of Sea World to Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish," which tells the story of Tilikum, a killer whale living in captivity that killed its trainer in 2010. The film discusses the dangers to humans and the orcas who are confined in theme parks.

"The Black Power Mixtape"

This 2011 documentary showcases the evolution of the Black Power Movement by using footage found 30 years after it was shot by Swedish journalists. It covers the time period between 1967 to 1975 and includes interviews from Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver, along with others central to the movement.

"The Imposter"

This British-American documentary is about a French imposter,Frdric Bourdin, who presents himself to a grieving family as their missing boy Nicholas Barclay -- a 13-year-old from Texas who went missing.

"Room 237"

If you've ever wondered what mysteries lied behind Room 237 in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," this is the film for you.

Each segment of the film, focuses on a specific element in "The Shining" and offers different interpretations.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Academy Award-nominated "What Happened, Miss Simone" features previously unreleased footage and interviews with singer Nina Simone's friends and family that tells the life story of the activist and music legend.

The film was also executive produced by Simone's daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly.

"Into the Abyss"

Werner Herzog's "Into the Abyss" focuses on capital punishment in Texas by profiling Michael Perry, a convicted killer on Death Row for the murder of a 50-year-old nurse, among other crimes.

Some of his interviews were filmed only eight days prior to his execution.

The documentary neither focuses on Perry's innocence nor his guilt.

"Virunga"

This one is for all the animal lovers out there. "Virunga" focuses on four park rangers who risk their lives to protect critically endangered mountain gorillas from poachers in Congo's Virunga National Park.

"Biggie & Tupac"

If you've ever been curious of the mysteries surrounding the deaths of two of rap's most prominent artists, watch "Biggie & Tupac."

While the documentary doesn't give a clear answer of who killed the rap icons, the director suggests that Suge Knight was responsible for the latter's murder.

"The Invisible War"

While the military is known for fighting our wars overseas, there's one silent battle within the armed forces that few are talking about -- sexual assault.

Kirby Dick's "The Invisible War" features interviews with veterans who share their experiences of sexual assault in the U.S. military.

"Super Size Me"

This documentary can pretty much becredited for pushing McDonald's to alter their menu to include more healthy items and getting rid of their super size option.

Morgan Spurlock takes on a 30-day challenge -- he eats at least three meals a day for 30 days from McDonald's. The film documents the changes that occur in his physical appearance, as well as his health.

"20 Feet From Stardom"

Most of us see backup singers providing support to the main act, but rarely do we recognize their talent.

This documentary follows backup singers like Judith Hill, Darlene Love and Merry Clayton and sheds light on their lives through behind-the-scenes footage.

"Hot Girls Wanted"

The appropriately titled doc features interviews with several young porn actresses, as they discuss their experiences in the industry.

Documentariesand chill?

If you're getting a bit tired of endlessly scrolling through Netflix movies, try these films on for size.

Added plus: You might even accidentally learn something.

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'All the Rage (Saved by Sarno)' Review: Alternative Medicine Doc Lacks Focus - TheWrap

Would you buy supplements from Alex Jones? – New Food Economy – The New Food Economy

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Were just going to put this out there: Alex Jones is not the most trusted name in news. The Infowars host has devolved, in recent years, from a shameless peddler of baseless, far-right conspiracy theories into a bizarre, disorienting spectacle. What exactly is happening as Jones, shirtless and goggle-eyed, roars spit-flecked tirades at the camera? Maybe this performance of rage is somehow cathartic, enacting an anger his viewers feel but cant express. Maybe its self-parodic shtickJones lawyer seems to suggest hes in the know. Or maybe hes simply on some varsity league drugs.

Whatever the case, heres the unfortunate truth: A not-insignificant number of Americans have elected to buy mail order health supplements from this man. The exact number isnt known, but New York magazine estimates between $15 and $25 million dollars worth per year. And thats too bad because, according to a new BuzzFeed investigation, Joness products arent much better than his newsbasically, a waste of time.

BuzzFeed submitted a range of products to Labdoor, a San-Francisco based lab that tests the quality of dietary supplements. The laba for-profit company with a list of venture capital backers including businessman and vocal Trump detractor Mark Cubansubjected each of Joness offerings to a legit-sounding process: We tested samples in triplicate, and wherever possible, cross-checked those results with at least two independent analytical laboratories, so we have complete trust in our conclusions, Brian Brandley, the companys laboratory director, told BuzzFeed News.

Heres the good news. According to Labdoor, the supplementsunlike #pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theorieswerent actively harmful, testing free of heavy metals, illegal substances, and chemicals known to be toxic. But they probably arent doing much good either.

The supplements arent actively harmful. But they probably arent doing much good either.

Some examples: Anthroplex, a daily foundation for men sold for $39.95, cites its zinc content in promotional materials, but Labdoor found that theres actually 31 percent less zinc than promised. At that negligible level, according to the report, even a seriously zinc-deficient person wouldnt see results. This product is a waste of money, the report reads. The claim that Anthroplex works synergistically with the powerful Super Male Vitality formula in order to help restore your masculine foundation and stimulate vitality with its own blend of unique ingredients is fluff on multiple fronts.

Then theres the $29.95 Survival Shield X-2, an iodine supplement that Jones claims is derived from 200+ million year old salt crystals, is tested for radiation and supports thyroid health and healthy hormone levels. According to Labdoor, thats bunkits just everyday iodine sold, at 30 bucks an ounce, at a steep markup. Its the same stuff doctors used to pour on surfaces as a disinfectant, Labdoors report read.

Theres more: a Child Ease concoction that claims to support attention span in kids, made from herbs that havent been tested for safety or efficacy. A $50-dollar Lung Cleanse spray thats basically cheap cough medicine. A Brain Force Neural Activator with B vitamins and amino acids, but at lower levels than youll find in other products.

Taken together, the items in the Infowars store offer imagined, pseudo-scientific solutions to a range of American symptoms. Were scattered. We cant concentrate. Our joints hurt. We dont feel as young and vigorous as we used to. Were afraid of aging. Were afraid of death. And Jones is only the oldest trick in the con artist book: hes tapping into peoples anxieties and insecurities, and exploiting them to make money. Its gross. Its unethical. But, in this case, its actually not illegal.

By their very legal definition, supplements dont have to do anything. Unlike drugs, supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure diseases, according to the Food and Drug Administration(FDA). That means supplements should not make claims, such as reduces pain or treats heart disease. Claims like these can only legitimately be made for drugs, not dietary supplements. In other words, supplements are just like drugsin that you put them in your body. But unlike drugs, they dont have to have measurable benefits. The bar for supplements is extremely low: basically, they just cant be poison.

The Atlantics James Hamblin has a good explainer on how we got here, a huge and growing supplements industry thats based on little more than wishful thinking.

Jones is doing his very thing hes built his brand decrying: namely, abusing power and influence to dupe people and take advantage of them.

This expansive category was set forth in the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994, known as DSHEA, Hamblin writes. Backed by Senator Orrin Hatch and enormous investment from the supplement industry, the law allows any of these products to go directly to market and carry unfounded claims about what the product does. The burden is on the FDA to prove that the product is unsafe, if it later proves to be harming people, and then take the producer to court.

But considering the amount of money that Americans spend on supplementsestimates range from $11 billion to almost $40 billion, which averages out to between about $30 and $120 per person per yearits clear that people dont expect them to do nothing. We spend our hard-earned money on supplements because we want to be more healthy and less sick. Surely some people probably see, in their vitamins and herbal solutions, the promise of a cure.

And thats whats weird about Jones-branded supplements. As Vices Motherboard points out, Infowars makes its products appealing by tapping into peoples fears about Big Government. In this case, the idea is that government doesnt want you to know about health cures, because its in bed with Big Pharma, which makes money by preying on the sick. The only way to buck the tyrannical system is to spend $59.95 on Caveman Pure Paleo Shake Powder.

Like all good lies, theres some truth to ityou dont have to reach very far to find examples of lobbyists weakening laws that protect public health. But the sinister thing is that, by selling the dubious supplements he sells through the Infowars store, Jones is doing the very thing hes built his brand decrying. Namely, abusing power and influence to dupe people and take advantage of them.New Yorkmagazine makes a compelling case that Jones hardly makes anymoney from his news operation. The real revenue driver? Supplements.

Most people would agree that government regulation should protect us from unduly harmful products and especially predatory business practices. Should it protect people from wasting their money on products that are basically harmless? That depends on your point of view. In the end, perversely, the whole thing proves Alex Jones point: the government has turned its back on you on this one. With supplements, youre on our own.

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Would you buy supplements from Alex Jones? - New Food Economy - The New Food Economy

Supplement recalls: Polish, Czech and Hungarian authorities report cases of banned substances – NutraIngredients.com

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European authorities have notified the EU of several incidents of food supplements being found to contain banned substances this week.

A food supplement was withdrawn from the market in the Czech Republic after inspections by Czech authorities found a supplement aimed at sexual appetite and function contained a banned substance.

The State Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) said the batch of Maxxes food supplement, a food supplement containing a blend of botanical herbs, was found to contain the banned substance sildenafil.

Maxxes claims to: increases the libido and confidence, while other properties of Maxxes boost the endurance for long lasting sexual activity and promote circulation to the reproductive organs resulting in a faster, harder and longer lasting erection.

Sildenafil, the substance identified in Maxxes, is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), and is the main acting agent in Pfizers erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Active pharmaceuticals like sildenafil are banned in food supplements.

This drug is only allowed for use in medicines, and preparations containing sildenafil can only be given by the doctor due to possible side effects, said the CAFIA.

Czech authorities immediately withdrew the Maxxes food supplement from sale and the distribution network. Proceedings have also begun to impose a fine.

During inspections, authorities also noted that the product had been distributed to other EU countries, as such as rapid alert has been put out via RASFF.

Poland and Hungary: Unauthorised novel ingredients

Meanwhile, in a second case Polish and Hungarian officials have notified that a foodstuff of special nutritional, imported from the USA and targeted at athletes, was also found to contain banned substances.

The Hungarian National Food Chain Safety Agency (NBIH) said it was notified of the incident via the Union's Rapid Alert System (RASFF) after the issue was initially discovered in Poland.

The product Cellucor C4 G4, Chrome Series, primarily intended for bodybuilders, is a multi-flavoured, special nutritional food. It is available in many EU countries however Polish officials found that the Pink Lemonade flavour contains unauthorised ingredients in the form of creatinine nitrate and teak (a caffeine-like purinase alkaloid).

Both ingredients are classed as novel food ingredients, and are therefore unauthorised for sale within Europe, said the NBIH.

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Supplement recalls: Polish, Czech and Hungarian authorities report cases of banned substances - NutraIngredients.com

Dietary Supplements Do Not Affect Lifespan – Medical News Bulletin

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A large cohort study of an Icelandic elderly population suggests that use of dietary supplements does not lead to excess nutrient consumption, but is not linked to a longer lifespan.

Obtaining the proper amounts of various vitamins and micronutrients is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. For the most part, all of these dietary requirements can be obtained from a balanced diet, but recently dietary supplements have become a popular resource for balancing dietary nutrition. Dietary supplements are especially recommended to elderly people as nutritional insufficiency is commonly seen in this age group. Supplements can go a long way towards building longer, healthier lifespans by protecting against health decline and disease caused by insufficient nutritional intake.Despite the added health benefits, use of dietary supplements increases the risk of exceeding the recommended doses for vitamins and nutrients. Previous studies reported contradicting evidence on the benefits of vitamin use; some showed evidence of improved health while others have observed a higher risk of mortality for multivitamin users compared with non-users.These reports raised safety concerns for long term multivitamin use. A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at dietary supplement use in an Icelandic elderly population to identify how supplement intake contributes to the risks of exceeding recommended nutritional values, and to investigate whether supplement use is associated with mortality.

This study included5764 Reykjvik residents;58% female and 42% male with an average age of 77 at the beginning of the study. Prior to the study, scientists assessed the general health of all individuals in order to account for other factors that could influence mortality. Researchers recorded the educational status, smoking patterns, alcohol consumption, degree of physical activity, and other lifestyle characteristics that have an impact on human health. Participants filled out questionnaires explaining their dietary patterns and frequency of supplement use and submitted their supplements to a registry. To calculate the nutritional content obtained for each individual, scientists looked up the nutritional contents of each specified supplement in a database and multiplied nutritional content by the frequency of weekly use.

Results indicate that 77% of study participants used at least 1 dietary supplement.The most popular vitamin was fish-liver oil, used by 55% of the participants, followed by multivitamins, used by 31% of the participants. There were very few instances where vitamin and mineral consumption exceeded the recommended daily dose; the only notable exceptions were that 22% of the participants who used B6 supplements exceeded the recommended intake, as did 14% of participants who took Zn. Overall, patterns showed that vitamin users were less likely to smoke, were more educated, consumed less alcohol, and had a lower prevalence of diabetes than non-smokers. However, no correlation was found between dietary use and hypertension. Within a 7 year period, there was a total of 1221 deaths among the registered participants, but no significant correlation was identified between the use of vitamins and mortality rates.

This study provides interesting insight into the patterns of dietary supplement intake in an elderly population. However, it didnt take into account the total nutritional value obtained from the regular diets of these individuals. Perhaps dietary supplements and nutritional content from food would actually increase the proportion of individuals whose nutrient dietary intake exceeds the recommended daily amount. Moreover, the study did not clearly state whether it only recorded the dietary supplements taken by people over the course of the study period, or whether it took into account lifelong supplement use. More studies will be needed to fully assess the benefits and dangers of dietary supplements.

Written By:Irina Sementchoukova, B.Sc

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Dietary Supplements Do Not Affect Lifespan - Medical News Bulletin

Government prods producers on extending NWS – The West Australian

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Karratha Gas Plant, North West Shelf Project

The Federal Government is showing signs of taking a more interventionist role in ensuring the life of the North West Shelf LNG project is extended, according to a research report.

The report by resources consultants Wood Mackenzie said the Government was motivated by an NWS life extension being worth up to $US48 billion in additional taxes.

Industry regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator had written to resource owners in North West waters requesting more information about the viability of prolonging the project, the report said.

There are signs the Government is becoming more proactive in the sector, and has leverage under the retention lease system to push developments forward, a summary said.

There are now real drivers pushing for the projects life extension, and conditions are unlikely to get more favourable than what we have now.

The three-decade-old NWS needs new sources of gas in the 2020s to keep its five production train Karratha Gas Plant going.

Wood Mackenzie said a life extension development should be able to take advantage of lower costs during the construction phase and a tightening energy market once production began.

It said a new industry focus on costs and margins had made resource owners more open to sharing third party infrastructure.

NWS operator Woodside Petroleums preferred option for the Browse joint venture it leads is to pipe the gas to Karratha.

While citing Browse as the leading candidate, other developments the report identified as potential suppliers were the ExxonMobil-led Scarborough field and the Chevron-led Clio and Acme fields and undeveloped Greater Gorgon fields.

Woodside in May said the NWS partners had agreed on a proposed toll for resource owners to process gas through the Karratha plant.

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Government prods producers on extending NWS - The West Australian

SBM Offshore Confirms Settlement with Extended Group of Insurers on its Yme Insurance Claim – GlobeNewswire (press release)

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August 11, 2017 01:31 ET | Source: SBM Offshore N.V.

August 11, 2017

SBM Offshore confirms that a settlement contract has now been executed with an extended group of primary layer insurers further to its announcement on July 17, 2017 that Heads of Terms had been agreed. The final settlement includes one additional primary layer insurer. As a result, SBM Offshore has entered into a binding settlement with 83,6% of the US$500 million primary insurance layer against a cash payment of US$281 million in full and final settlement of its claim against participating insurers.

Upon receipt, the settlement monies will be used first to reimburse legal fees and other claim related expenses incurred to date. The balance of the settlement monies will then be shared equally between SBM Offshore and Repsol in accordance with the terms of their Settlement Agreement of March 11, 2013 which concluded the Yme project.

SBM Offshore continues to pursue its claim against all remaining insurers including the two excess layers, the trial of which is scheduled to commence October 2018.

Further details of this settlement and the claim are confidential.

Corporate Profile

SBM Offshore N.V. is a listed holding company that is headquartered in Amsterdam. It holds direct and indirect interests in other companies that collectively with SBM Offshore N.V. form the SBM Offshore group ("the Company").

SBM Offshore provides floating production solutions to the offshore energy industry, over the full product life-cycle. The Company is market leading in leased floating production systems with multiple units currently in operation and has unrivalled operational experience in this field. The Company's main activities are the design, supply, installation, operation and the life extension of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. These are either owned and operated by SBM Offshore and leased to its clients or supplied on a turnkey sale basis.

As of December 31, 2016, Group companies employ approximately 4,750 people worldwide. Full time company employees totaling c. 4,250 are spread over five regional centers, ten operational shore bases and the offshore fleet of vessels. A further 500 are working for the joint ventures with several construction yards. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.sbmoffshore.com.

The companies in which SBM Offshore N.V. directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this communication "SBM Offshore" is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to SBM Offshore N.V. and its subsidiaries in general, or where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

The Management Board

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 11, 2017

Note: dates in bold have changed as communicated in SBM Offshore's press release dated 10 July 2017

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Bert-Jaap Dijkstra

Investor Relations Director

Mobile NL: +31 (0) 6 2114 1017

Mobile MC: +33 (0) 6 4391 9302

Telephone: +377 9205 1732

E-mail: bertjaap.dijkstra@sbmoffshore.com

Website: http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Media Relations

Vincent Kempkes

Group Communications Director

Telephone: +31 (0) 20 2363 170

Mobile: +31 (0) 6 25 68 71 67

E-mail: vincent.kempkes@sbmoffshore.com

Website: http://www.sbmoffshore.com

Disclaimer

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those in such statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of the Company's business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward- looking terminology such as "believes", "may", "will", "should", "would be", "expects" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or the negative thereof, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, or intentions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this release as anticipated, believed, or expected. SBM Offshore NV does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Nothing in this press release shall be deemed an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

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http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/63f1c678-9608-46d8-bc39-842e2bc3dbb8

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SBM Offshore Confirms Settlement with Extended Group of Insurers on its Yme Insurance Claim - GlobeNewswire (press release)

BWXT Canada lands $48M add-on to Bruce Power deal – TheRecord.com

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BWXT Canada lands $48M add-on to Bruce Power deal
TheRecord.com
Refurbishment of the steam generators will extend the life of six of the reactors in the Bruce B Unit 6 reactor. "BWXT values its contributions to Bruce Power's Life Extension Program, which is critical to ensuring the supply of low-cost, clean and ...

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BWXT Canada lands $48M add-on to Bruce Power deal - TheRecord.com

Why Aubrey Plaza Is a Modern-Day Andy Kaufman – L.A. Weekly

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It's Aubrey Plaza's 33rd birthday, and she's curled up on a couch in a deafeningly quiet, concrete-walled room at the Line hotel in Koreatown. She hugs her knees to her chest. Her T-shirt features a hyper-realistic image of Nicolas Cage's face, and I can just see his toothy, maniacal smile peeking out from between her legs it's unnerving. Her hands fidget, knotting and unknotting a black string attached to a Santa Muerte charm. The actor hit stardom with her sardonic slacker character April on the NBC show Parks and Recreation and, like many TV stars on long-running shows, she has found it difficult to escape her monster creation. With a recent succession of mold-smashing projects Legion, The Little Hours and Ingrid Goes West she's about to leave April behind. But who will she become?

"If Andy Kaufman is alive, he should come and find me," Plaza tells me.

Kaufman is one of Plaza's greatest influences. The comic actor died from cancer in 1984 but he melted so deeply into his myriad personas that there are people who still believe he is alive and simply playing a long con on his suffering audiences. If you've only ever seen Plaza on the uplifting comedy Parks & Rec, the Kaufman reference may not immediately resonate for you. But to friends and colleagues, she is a Loki trickster who revels in absurdity.

"She's not just playing at being Andy Kaufman," Plaza's Legion director, Noah Hawley, tells me over the phone. "She is Andy Kaufman."

He shares the story of their first meeting: Plaza shows up 30 minutes late, on crutches, and immediately opens up about her quest to be a director on Parks and Recreation and her disappointment that they denied her the chance while letting the men direct.

"I said, 'That is wrong. They should have let you direct,' but then she said, 'Oh no, I just made that up. I didn't want to direct.'" Hawley sounds simultaneously exasperated and impressed when he speaks of Plaza. "There's a sense she's always testing you I didn't even know if she really needed those crutches." She did, but that's another story.

On Legion, a show about a young mutant who's hospitalized for schizophrenia but realizes he may actually have powers (it exists in the X-Men universe), Plaza plays Lenny. She's a projection of the Shadow King, a psychic mutant who is a kind of gender-fluid parasite who possesses the bodies of others. Essentially, Plaza is playing up to four different characters all of whom have varied mannerisms and speech patterns in the same scene. Her performances are as unpredictable from take to take as the multiple characters she plays: Will she embody a power-hungry therapist, or will she break into a sexy, Fosse-style song-and-dance number?

Aubrey Plaza plays the complex Lenny in FX series Legion.

Courtesy FX

"With her, you never quite know what's going to happen, and that's really for me very exciting," her co-star Dan Stevens says. "She's always kind of looking for the mischievous choice in the scene," which is hell on continuity folks and editors charged with making sure she picks up the coffee cup the same way in every take that never happens. But Stevens and Hawley say Plaza's spontaneity precisely fits the show's tone.

"I needed someone who could be anything and everything in any moment," Hawley explains to me. "There's a sort of slippery quality this character has, very fast-talking. Part of this character's dance is about manipulating people and tricking them, and yet I really wanted her to be likable."

Plaza's had a lot of practice being abrasive but likable most of the characters she plays fall into this category, from the diehard party girl of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates to Depressed Debbie in Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress and perpetually annoyed Julie Powers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But Hawley's casting of Plaza (and changing the character from male to female for her) has begun a small avalanche of projects that could finally leave her Parks & Rec charter behind and let Plaza become whoever she wants.

The Little Hours, a heartfelt nunsploitation period piece from Plaza's longtime romantic partner and creative collaborator, Jeff Baena, opened in June to rave reviews. Plaza not only stars in the film alongside Alison Brie and Kate Micucci but also earns her first producing credit.

"A lot of time you see actors getting producer credits, it's just a vanity title for them," Baena says. He describes watching Plaza naturally morph into the nurturing attitude of a producer, even using her day off to take actor Paul Reiser on a Tuscany tour producers have to keep everyone on set happy. "Whatever she does, she takes it seriously. Ultimately, I think she's going to be a filmmaker with that heightened sensitivity."

Plaza describes that "sensitivity" as a manifestation of her tendency to "please" people, which is a double-edged sword: Acting and producing require a person to be highly attuned to others' needs, but what happens if you can't turn that off?

"I'm such a people pleaser that my natural reaction in interviews and things is to give people what they want. It's like I'm a robot," Plaza says. "'Oh, these people want me to say something weird or mean or sarcastic, so I just do that. That'll make them happy.' I'm just now getting better at feeling more comfortable in my own skin, but it can be hard when people are projecting ideas onto you at full speed, constantly."

But Plaza absolutely emphasizes that she knows her life is not achingly difficult. As a young artist who got cast on a popular network series simply by showing up to an informal meeting in shorts and a T-shirt to talk about the meaning of life and suggest that, hey, maybe a character could be a droll slacker, Plaza sometimes can't even believe that they let her on television back then. And if ever she were to get a big head, she says, her real family and her TV family were there to slap her back down to Earth.

"Nick Offerman knew every single person on set's name, [he] was the most generous man to be working with, and if I would have a bad day and be annoyed or acting like a brat or whatever, he would be the first one to say, 'Just remember we're on network television, and our lives are spectacular,'" Plaza says, offering an ace Offerman impression. "And I'd be like, 'Of course! Thank you. Fucking of course our lives are spectacular!'"

Aubrey Plaza in The Little Hours with Dave Franco

Courtesy Gunpowder & Sky Distribution

Still, this doesn't mean the road ahead to reinvent herself from past characters will be necessarily easy, but it seems the secret key to doing so is to expand her role as a producer. After The Little Hours, she read director Matt Spicer and David Branson Smith's script for the Instagram-stalker tragicomedy Ingrid Goes West and saw something special there. "I knew what it could be, and I wanted to make that happen the script is never the final product," she says. Spicer agrees that Plaza's biggest role in production was pushing for "curve ball" casting choices, like O'Shea Jackson Jr., who most famously portrayed his father, Ice Cube, in Straight Outta Compton, as her character's nerdy but confident love interest.

"[The part] was written for a kind of dorky stoner dude, but I recognized that the chemistry I would have with O'Shea would be really different from something you usually see," Plaza explains. She'd met the rapper-turned-actor at a party and relentlessly waved the script in his face until he committed to the project. "I thought if we could capture that on camera, it would just make the movie that much deeper."

Plaza may be a trickster and comedic actor but she craves depth, and those things aren't mutually exclusive. Her entire life has been dictated by the motto: "Take it as far as it can go." The "it" could be anything a character, a bit, a basketball team because whatever Plaza does, it's gonna be sincere, even if it's just sincerely weird.

Along "Cult House Road," deep in the forest on the Delaware-Pennsylvania border, the skeletal trees lining the pavement angle outward, away from the road and their sun source. Through an overgrown path, there is a burned-out abandoned cabin, which is said to have hosted Satanic rituals, pagan animal sacrifices or DuPont incest weddings, depending on whom you ask. Something about this place seems wrong, even if you can't put your finger on exactly why. This is where M. Night Shyamalan shot The Village. It's also where Aubrey Plaza's mother, Bernadette, would drive her late at night on impromptu road trips with her cousins.

"We'd drive down Cult House Road, and she'd turn the lights off, and we'd all be screaming. My mom is kind of mysterious. She would always do weird things with us," Plaza says, taking a moment to think. "Maybe that's why I'm into witches."

Plaza was raised Catholic and attended an all-girls school in Wilmington, Delaware, with her two sisters. "The power of three is real," she says. She loved The Craft and doing silly spells, but she was also a teacher's pet (damn that need to please!) and class president. In true Plaza fashion, she took her presidential campaign as far as it could go, actually convincing a staffer from Republican senator Bill Roth's office to help her.

"He showed up at my school and was flyering and helping me with my posters, and I remember he helped me set up this archway with balloons at 6 a.m., so everyone who showed up that day had to walk through this thing to get into the door." Plaza shrugs. "Really bizarre. I was just a kid. But he helped me win."

What people most often miss about Plaza's sense of humor is that she doesn't enjoy "mean" comedy. Yes, she is deadpan, once showed up to a national TV interview wearing vampire teeth for no reason, and bewildered ESPN viewers with her re-creation of The Decision to announce that she was trading herself from her infamous Pistol Shrimps basketball team to the Spice Squirrels, but she insists she was never what you'd call a "bad" kid. She was and is a "thrill seeker."

In high school, she and her friend Neil Casey (Inside Amy Schumer, Ghostbusters) would stand on the side of the highway, dress in costume and toss a beach ball back and forth, simply to boggle passers-by. Plaza thinks her fascination with absurdity stemmed from growing up in such a conservative area. "It was satisfying to do something weird for weird's sake, with no purpose, to make people stop and laugh."

Her natural trajectory was comedy and New York. She graduated from NYU and went to work as an NBC page around the time that Amy Poehler was staffed on Saturday Night Live. "I like to think that I walked by her wearing an astronaut costume while she was making up lies to a group of tourists," Poehler wrote to me in an email.

By the time Plaza got an audition for Judd Apatow's Funny People in Los Angeles, Poehler had gone West herself and was prepping to lead her own sitcom with the creators of The Office. Plaza got that informal meeting set up with the Parks folks and quickly thereafter got the casting phone call that would change her life. Los Angeles became her home. And the Parks cast and crew became her new weirdo family.

"Leslie Knope was supposed to be April Ludgate's mentor, and so our first couple of seasons felt like that [in real life]," Poehler says. "But Aubrey Plaza, the person, is an old soul. Very wise. Always watching."

Plaza calls Poehler and Rashida Jones her "big sisters" and gushes about every co-star when asked. For a young woman who'd grown up in a tight-knit family with her two real-life sisters, landing in this supportive cast was something of a godsend.

"Looking back, I am blown away still by just that group of people being in one room doing comedy together, and everyone was a genuinely nice and lovable person," Plaza says. Then she picks up her phone that's been buzzing off and on for the duration of our interview. She holds it up to me and scrolls through an endless series of text messages just fast enough that I can't make out any single one. "Literally this morning, I got a text from every single person. We're on a mass texting chain, that whole cast, and someone will write on it at least every other day, and it's been years. I could show you hundreds of hours of texting. Aziz [Ansari] just sent me a ridiculous picture of him for my birthday. Everyone was commenting while we've been talking."

This adorable text chain feels every bit the real-life extension of the TV show. A large part of the appeal of Parks when it aired, and still today, is its earnestness and the feeling of joy amid darkness it evoked, which Plaza attributes to how pleasant things were behind the scene and how Poehler ran her set.

"I think most people at No. 1 on the call sheet, like Amy is, it's really hard for them to keep things in perspective," Plaza says. "It's easy to take on that No. 1 status and just have your ego take over, and Amy was just so always conscious of the vibe on set, and the idea of gratitude, and respect, but also having fun."

As Plaza has stepped into that No. 1 spot herself, she's tried to take to heart what she's learned from her mentors. But the problem with being a talented character actor zig-zagging from persona to persona with no stop in sight is that the self becomes malleable. "My biggest fear is that I lose myself," she says. Nowhere is that challenge more evident than in the endless press junkets and interviews she does to promote her projects. Seeing how fascinated people are with her personal life is deeply uncomfortable for her. People want to know who her celebrity BFF is, and Plaza has no desire to share yet still feels obliged to entertain. She's the kind of person who makes acquaintances easily but keeps her real friends close she still calls her old high school pals on the phone to chat.

Even this interview brings a certain amount of discomfort to Plaza, which makes me want to apologize for even asking any personal questions do I really need to know her favorite saint? (It's Bernadette, obviously.) She's uneasy with too much attention and especially wary of social media. "It's not real. It's just all in your head, so there's something kind of scary about it. I'm having all these interactions in my head. Physically, I'm just sitting in a chair."

But with all this in mind, it is absolutely no wonder that Plaza was drawn to her most recent project, Ingrid Goes West. The film taps into these fears she has about sharing personal information. Ironically, the actress delivers her most intimate, raw performance yet. Watching this film feels as if you finally know her. But, really, who the hell is Aubrey Plaza?

Actor Chris Pratt may know the real Aubrey Plaza.

"Aubrey is a survivor and alchemist. Her on-screen (and off-screen) personas are equal parts defense mechanism and performance art. She's tough and surprisingly complicated. The very best parts of her are yet to be discovered by audiences and most people. She would deny it, but beneath her signature eye rolls (and accessible to only the luckiest people in her life) is softness, kindness, pathos, creativity and vulnerability."

That's the heartbreakingly sweet assessment Pratt sent via email about his longtime Parks and Recreation co-star. And Pratt's right, because "most people" never will know Plaza. But audiences are now about to see a few new sides to her.

Aubrey Plaza in Ingrid Goes West

Courtesy Neon Distribution

In Ingrid Goes West, Plaza plays a bereft woman with a bag of cash she inherited from her recently deceased mother. Her woeful social ineptitude renders her helpless, unable to reach out to others without becoming too attached to them; think Single White Female "lite" in the age of Instagram. Ingrid stumbles onto the candid photos of lifestyle influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) and maneuvers her way into the stranger's life, forging a "friendship."

"I think the movie could have easily veered into the direction of being an indictment on social media, but I wanted it to be rooted in a human story about human connection," Plaza says. "It's about someone who really wants to have a connection, and they feel lonely and misunderstood, and that's a universal feeling for human beings."

Though Plaza jokes the trailers for the film suggest it is "a crazy, nonstop laugh express train to nowhere," viewers likely will be shocked by how emotional the story gets, or, rather, how emotional Plaza gets. Ingrid walks a tightrope of anxiety, juggling lies; when they catch up to her, her denial and subsequent breakdown turns this comedy into a tearjerker. The success of this film hinges on Plaza's ability to sell drama. And she does.

"There were times when she was in an emotional scene, and we did 20, 25 takes, and she would want to do more," Ingriddirector Matt Spicer says. "I know a lot of people see her as [Parks & Rec's] April Ludgate, but I hope the takeaway from this film is that she's a real-deal actress."

Being a producer on Ingrid, Plaza was forced to watch herself in the dailies, poring over the footage. She says she never watches her own movies or interviews, so this was a little circle of hell for her, but she realized that through watching herself on screen, she was able to overcome her insecurities and simply judge a take on whether it accomplished a goal, not on whether she succeeded or failed. Spicer says she was a dream producer a person who can deliver the impossible again and again, on and off the set.

"Making good movies is sooo hard. That should be the title of this article," Plaza laughs. But however difficult it is, Plaza seems energized by having creative control over her own projects. She tells me that she's never been in a place to be picky. Every role she takes is for a reason. ("Did I think Dirty Grandpa was going to be the best movie in the world? No. But you're telling me I've got a shot to play Robert De Niro's love interest? I'm in.") But more than anything, Plaza is excited to age; she's tired of playing a 20-year-old.

"In Dirty Grandpa, I played a college senior, and I was 30," she says. "I've always thought, 'God, when I'm in my 40s, I think I'm going to get some meaty parts.' But everyone is so obsessed with youth, so every movie is about 19-year-olds. I used to watch movies that had adults who were wearing blazers and high heels and going to work and dropping off their kid. Where did those characters go?"

Today, on Aubrey Plaza's 33rd birthday, she tells me she wants to bring the adult woman back into style. She wants to make action films. She wants to make funny films. She wants to revive the screwball romantic comedies of the 1980s, like her personal favorite, Romancing the Stone, maybe with Chris Pratt. (She cites Michael Douglas as another inspiration for producing that film when no one else wanted to make it.) She wants to be and do everything yet, she tells me, if she ends up like Adam Sandler's character in Funny People "where I'm all alone and lost all my personal relationships" well, it's not worth it.

Next up for her is a bizarro comedy called An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn, from Greasy Strangler director Jim Hosking. The script was so out-there that her agents had put it in their trash pile before she told them she thought it was genius. It's impossible to nail down exactly what Plaza will think or what she will like. Or who she is.

At the end of our interview, she gives me a hug. She's been candid and forthright with me in this brutalist hotel room for an hour and a half, and I'm surprised by how normal it all seemed.

An hour later, I'm at home, listening to my recording of our conversation, when I hear myself leave Plaza's hotel room momentarily. I left the recorder on while I was gone. Before I can speed through what I expected to be ambient sounds of shuffling, I hear a demonic voice growl coming from the recorder. "Satan-Satan-Satan-Satan!" it yelled. It was Plaza pulling another trick. Then I hear her deadpan voice emerge from the recorder again: "Hello? Hello? ... Huh, wow, that was weird."

Yes, Aubrey. Yes, it was.

Original post:

Why Aubrey Plaza Is a Modern-Day Andy Kaufman - L.A. Weekly

Mutant Yippies, LSD, and Cyberpunks: The Story of the Space Age Newspaper ‘High Frontiers’ – Motherboard

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Motherboard
Mutant Yippies, LSD, and Cyberpunks: The Story of the Space Age Newspaper 'High Frontiers'
Motherboard
There are ads for nonsensical inventions straight out of an episode of Rick and Morty. There are comics making fun of Yuppies, talk of early nootropic brain enhancement and life-extension, and the assertion that 'science without feminism is apocalypse.'.

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Mutant Yippies, LSD, and Cyberpunks: The Story of the Space Age Newspaper 'High Frontiers' - Motherboard

Cover Stories: Thoughtfulness in design (11 August 2017) – MarkLives.com

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by Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) Lets delve into great media design from South Africa and around the world:

Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @shanenilfunct. Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our Pinterest board!

As an establishment in the South African surfing community, one would think that the recent redesign of Zig Zags masthead could have gone pear-shaped. But it didnt. The updated logo, accompanied by a major layout refresh, has made the magazine look a great deal more contemporary. The rustically rendered lettering, superimposed over an energetic action shot, compliments the theme of the issue: Made in Africa. Imbuing a sense of rawness and angst reminiscent of the doodles that teenagers carve into their classroom desks in school, the textured, almost juvenile use of typography is effective, simultaneously suggesting the vibrating pulse of the continent and the ocean, and the free-spirited veneer of surf culture.

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Wired has never been shy to experiment with the left-inclined side of its editorial design sensibility. The latest issue is an example of its culture and its sophisticated design palate, proving that formalism can be contemporary and speak experimentalism. With its orthodox use of typography and colour blocking, contrasted with glitch-inspired abstract forms indicative of the digital age, this cover reminds one of the classic album by British electronic music producers, Autechre, titled Tri Repitae. Aside from the music production that set the bar for the time, the 1995 album is famous for its cover designed by Designers Republic, which uses a similar marriage of High-Modernism and Post-Modernism set forth in this months issue of Wired.

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Aptly referencing George Lois infamous Mohammed Ali cover for Esquire in 1968, the cover for the 31st issue of independent/niche iJusi magazine is a witty commentary on the current sociopolitical state of South Africa and the man at the helm of it all. From a graphic-design perspective, iJusi is undoubtedly an institution in SA; its documented an important visual record of what it means to be African over the past two decades since independence.

Note: Shane de Lange worked on this issue of iJusi.

Australian Fashion magazine, Frankie, is noted for its tasteful, well art-directed covers. Issue #78 is a testament to the refined curatorial sensibility of the editors eye, displaying an illustration that is simultaneously child-like and sophisticated. A more-innocent and nave version of the avant-garde aesthetic propagated by the Fauves in Europe during the early 20th century, this cover illustration is supported by the simple and uncluttered layout, with a masthead that is unobtrusive, effectively framing the vibrancy of colour, gestural mark-making and expressive ability of the artist. Most importantly, it stays true to Frankies tone of voice.

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Dada-data is an online publication celebrating the centenary of the historically influential Dada movement. Embracing the interactivity that the internet brings to the field of editorial design, this publication is a living document, remaining loyal to the conceptual mechanisms and anti-art tactics that were used by the original Dadaists.

The site allows one to participate in Dada-hacktions (staying true to the notion of automatism and the happenings that Dada arguably helped to invent), and to visit Dada-depots to learn about the history of the movement. The bold use of typography, subdued greyscale visuals, and parallax motion of the landing page all play into the zeitgeist of the inter-war, avant-garde period during the early 20th century in Europe.

A Dada tone is instantly struck by the landing page, a homage to the famous 1922 poster collaboration between Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters a poster titled Kleine Dada Soire (used during their tour of Holland and their so-called Dada Campaign).

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Dot Zero was a quarterly produced by Unimark International, the firm where iconic Modernist designer, Massimo Vignelli, started out. Five issues were printed between 1966 and 1968, with the second cover arguably being the most experimental for its time.

The magazine dealt with the overall rubric of visual communication, effectively mapping what we now see to be normal forms of communication in the media. Modernist to the nth degree, the highly formal almost Minimalist use of black-on-black is still considered sexy today, exhibited by the cover to the new single by Oneohtrix Point Never, titled Leaving the Park, which clearly uses the same visual language that Vignelli contributed to over 50 years ago.

Shane de Lange (@shanenilfunct) is a designer, writer, and educator currently based in Cape Town, South Africa, working in the fields of communication design and digital media. He works from Gilgamesh, a small design studio, and is a senior lecturer in graphic design at Vega School in Cape Town. Connect on Pinterest and Instagram.

Cover Stories, formerly MagLove, is a regular slot deconstructing media cover design, both past and present.

Sign up now for the MarkLives email newsletter every Monday and Thursday, now including headlines from the Ramify.biz company newsroomservice!

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Cover Stories: Thoughtfulness in design (11 August 2017) - MarkLives.com

Young and vibrant – The Voice Online (blog)

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At 41 years of age, Dr Alfred Madigele is Botswanas youngest Cabinet Minister.

After completing his studies in Ireland, Dr Madigele was employed for a year at one of the biggest hospitals in Ireland called Limerick Regional Hospital, as a Medical Officer and he decided to quit and come back home.

Dr Madigele was employed by Princess Marina Hospital for a year before opening his own private clinic as a general practitioner before contesting for Mathethe/Molapowabojang Constituency in the 2014 general elections.

Voice reporter Portia Ngwako-Mlilo had a chat with the youthful minister about his political journey, challenges and growth opportunities at his ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology.

Q. What inspired you to join politics?

A. When I was at junior school I read a lot about former South Africa leaders of the struggle like Robert Sobukwe and Oliver Tambo and got inspiration from their stories and what they did for their people.

I think I developed interest at that age and I thought perhaps when I grow up I would be interested in joining politics.

One of the things I really wanted to do was being a medical doctor which I managed to achieve and after 10 years of practice I joined politics.

Q. One would say you were not known much in the BDP until you stood for elections, when did you join politics?

A. I joined politics a long time ago behind the scenes because I had established a business of private clinic and I didnt want my professional life to mix with politics.

I came into the picture two years before the election.

Q. What was the response from people in your constituency?

A. People were very appreciative and according to them it was a breath of fresh air.

They appreciated that I was a professional and young compared to previous leaders.

The message that I put across was also appealing to the electorate.

Q. It is said you come from a family of BNF activists, why did you choose to join BDP?

A. Growing up I read a lot of literature from Russia- the former USSR, because my uncle was a communist and a councilor in Lobatse.

It didnt mean I was pro socialism, and as I grew up I evolved into a situation of a free market of capitalist tendencies because I also felt that I was an aspiring entrepreneur, so I couldnt go with socialists.

BDP is a natural home for me.

Q. What have been your achievements so far in your constituency?

A. There is a lot that has been done so far and I believe there is still a lot that needs to be done.

There is a primary hospital and a bridge on the cards for Molapowabojang village as well as a police station and housing currently under construction.

In Mathethe we have developed an Agricultural Centre which is under construction.

Other areas include Lorolwane village where electrification is underway and there is also a maternity clinic coming up at Gasita village, just to mention a few.

Q. You were employed at Limerick Regional Hospital in Ireland for a year. Why did you decide to quit and come back home?

A. I really wanted to achieve that agenda of business and I had to come back so that I could develop a conducive environment for myself and eventually join politics.

Q. Dont you miss your days at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, considering that it was in line with your qualifications?

A. Yes I do, but for me it was a blessing to shift from the Ministry of Health because it is good to try other new things in life and it was good for growth.

I was happy that the leadership appreciated my leadership skills and I believe so far I have done a good job in starting a ministry from scratch.

Q. There were rumours that you were suppose to defect to the opposition, what happened?

A. I heard about that too but it was just that, rumours! Defection has never crossed my mind.

I think people mistake my character. I like to engage in discourse even with opposition politicians and some of them are my friends.

I would spend some time with them and people tend to believe I am considering joining them.

Q. Are you standing for the next elections?

A. Right now I am the Member of Parliament and the decision to stand or not has not arrived yet.

Q. Whats next after politics?

A. To continue being a reputable entrepreneur.

Like I said I am not a career politician and I am still a professional at heart.

Q. Should BDP be worried by the merging of opposition parties?

A. I dont think so. BDP should get strengthened because for us to govern we need a strong opposition.

In a democracy like ours there has to be strong institutions that will make sure that the government is able to deliver.

We shouldnt take change just for the sake of change.

BDP has so far done a lot of good things in terms of provision of basic things.

As we speak there is no other country that gives free health care or education.

Q. What challenges do you face at your ministry?

A. There is a lot of challenges like provision of quality relevant training.

We talk about programmes that are fully accredited and our graduates can be compatible with graduates from the region and the world at large with regards to relevance.

One of the problems we find is skills mismatch. Creation of HRDC will make sure that we train looking at the economy demand.

Our mandate is to migrate from a resource based to a knowledge based economy.

Q. We outsource skilled labour especially from neighbouring countries.

What are you doing to ensure that your ministry benchmarks in those countries?

A. This is a result of skills mismatch and we trained more people for white collar jobs and there was stigma attached to vocational schools.

We are very much working on that and we believe that a strong Technical and Vocational Education Training is very very key towards attaining a good level of employment.

We studied new models like that of Israel and Singapore and those countries do not have natural resources and depend only on their skills.

Q. What criteria is used to upgrade colleges to universities?

A. We have what we call National Credit and Qualification Framework which grade the level of qualification.

The purpose of a university is not only teaching but also for research and strategies.

Q. Why are other institutions intakes higher than others?

A. As government we have an obligation towards our institutions and we should be able to support them.

For the economy to grow it needs a strong private sector and that is why for the past 15 years- through a parliament Act, we allowed the emergence of private institutions.

Allocation of students is upon institutions to ensure that their programmes are fully accredited.

HRDC gives us an idea of which courses we can sponsor.

This year we have concentrated on construction, auto motive industry and others.

Q. Kindly share with our readers, progress on the Target 20 000.

A. It was introduced to up-skill and to re-tool our young people. More than 9 000 students benefited.

It is a great idea but I believe and agree with some critics that maybe the implementation was not great.

This year we suspended enrollment of new students for the programme and next year we will have a new and revamped Target 20 000, more appropriate and responsive to what we need from our students.

Q. How is the BQA transition process going?

A. I am working closely with the Board of Directors and BQA management to make sure that all the challenges we are facing are addressed.

BQA was formed in 2013 from two organizations BOTA and TEC.

BOTA was responsible for vocational training while TEC was for tertiary.

There was a bit of confusion because with BOTA there are true criteria either the course is accredited or not while TEC there were different levels of accreditation, approved provisionally, fully accredited or rejected.

Q. Do you think the time given to institutions is enough? What happens if they fail to meet deadline?

A. We realized the amount of work that needs to be done is so immense given to a transition within 12 months.

I am still waiting for a report from the board which would advice me on what to do.

Our stakeholders need to be reminded that the transition deadline is nearing so that we can all meet our obligation.

Q. Government funding is drying out.

What are you doing to ensure that scholarship grant beneficiaries pay back the money?

A. BGCSE produce about 35 students every year and our budget only sponsor around 10 000.

The issue is about budgetary constraints.

We are currently exploring a policy shift in tertiary education financing so that we can increase access.

There is need to reform the grant loan scheme which is behind times and really talks to government employment but things have changed.

We are talking with government to open up to the employees to allow them access to education loans for their children.

Q. Who is your inspiration?

A. There are many but I was mainly inspired by political figures like Robert Sobukwe at the level of politics.

On an individual level I was inspired by my late father, Fish.

I always admired his perseverance and hard work.

Q. What legacy do you want to leave at your ministry?

A. Issues of relevance need to be addressed.

there is also the training for the economy which would obviously reduce unemployment.

I would also want to leave a legacy of strong and innovative society.

Q. Thank God is Friday. What are your plans for the weekend?

A. I will be at the farm.

Link:

Young and vibrant - The Voice Online (blog)

Is Automation Anxiety Overblown? – Government Technology

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(Governing) -- There is widespread concern these days that robots and automation will soon be permeating much of the American workforce -- taking over factory floors, performing hospitality jobs, becoming ubiquitous in the casinos of Las Vegas. Even Silicon Valley worries about automations effects, although they likely wont be as severe there as elsewhere.

Some recent studies add to these fears, predicting sizable job displacement from numerous forms of automation and artificial intelligence in virtually all corners of the economy. But just as automation will alter industries differently, its effects will be much more intensive in some regional economies.

To estimate the potential effects of automation in those areas, Governing utilized definitions in a University of Oxford study assessing the automatability of individual occupations, then compared them with the Department of Labors most recent occupational employment estimates for the 100 largest U.S. metro areas. About 65 percent of Las Vegas area jobs were found to be susceptible to automation, the highest in any metro area. Much of that stems from the regions large armies of servers, food preparers, cashiers and other occupations thought to be highly automatable. El Paso, Texas, and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., similarly employ many of these workers, and registered the next-highest shares of potential automatability.

Professors Carl Frey and Michael Osborne, who conducted the Oxford study, assigned a probability to each occupation by evaluating the extent to which its work activities require creativity, social intelligence and perception, and manipulation. Retail sales accounted for the single largest number of possible job displacements as a result of automation in most regions. The New York metro area, for instance, employs more than 500,000 retail salespersons and cashiers. Predominantly low-wage food service jobs are susceptible to drastic change as well, both in the United States and overseas. Robots will start delivering Dominos pizza orders in Hamburg, Germany, this summer.

Regions with higher education levels should fare better. But the Brookings Institutions Mark Muro points out that theres more to it than that. Physical jobs that are more complex or personalized -- the kinds you wont find on assembly lines -- may actually be less vulnerable to automation than routine office jobs. Often, lower-skill but physical, personal or direct-caring occupations seem quite durable, Muro says.

Middle-class, white-collar jobs, on the other hand, can be significantly liable to automation. A forthcoming report from Brookings reviews hundreds of U.S. occupations, finding use and knowledge of digital skills doubled between 2002 and 2016 and led to a wide array of jobs being digitized, including those of office clerks, customer service representatives and accounting workers. The middle is where there will be some of the most disruption, Muro says.

Some well-paying jobs in demand today arent off-limits from automation, either. A McKinsey Global Institute study concluded that some of the jobs most at risk involve data collecting and processing. Around a quarter of the activities of attorneys and physicians were deemed to be potentially automatable.

Large regions with jobs least susceptible to computerization, using the Oxford studys definitions, are high-tech centers, such as San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., and Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. Other metro areas with highly educated workforces such as Washington, D.C., and Boston similarly appear to have fewer jobs vulnerable to displacement. Regional economies relying heavily on education and health care may be less prone to automation because jobs requiring a high degree of human interaction are thought to be among the most resilient.

(Larger markers represent regions more susceptible to automation based on a University of Oxford study. View an interactive map here.)

Of course, widespread automation wont happen overnight. McKinsey projected that half the work activities across the economy today could be automated by 2055. An analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that 38 percent of American jobs were at high risk of automation by the early 2030s. McKinsey studied prior cases of technological upheaval, finding that the time between initial commercial availability and peak adoption ranged between eight and 28 years.

The biggest unknown at this point is whether automation will eliminate more jobs than it creates. Automation itself isnt new, and prior advances in technology and industrialization havent brought about higher overall unemployment over the long term. But a growing number of academics are concluding that automation this time around could, in fact, wield noticeably more harmful effects on the workforce. One highly cited paper by economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo forecasts lower overall employment resulting from the introduction of more robots into the workplace.

Other researchers, notably ones at the Economic Policy Institute, argue that automation has not led and will not lead to higher joblessness. Experts appear to be divided almost evenly on this question: A 2014 Pew Research Center survey of experts found 48 percent agreeing that automation, robots and artificial intelligence will displace more jobs than they create by 2025.

While many unknowns remain, it wouldnt hurt for policymakers to start thinking about how to respond.

Some state workforce boards are looking at the issue. States already typically maintain labor market information divisions that project which occupations will be in demand in future years. Preparing farms and their workers for automation was the subject of a recent meeting of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture. While there arent yet many programs that specifically address automation, some states are engaged in activities that could help alleviate the impact of job losses. Apprenticeships are gaining a lot of attention and are expanding to health care, finance and other fields where they havent been common before. The model is being modified and theyre really trying to ramp it up, says Scott Sanders, executive director of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

For workers displaced by automation, community and technical colleges will play a crucial role in the pursuit of new careers. The federal government, however, has historically focused little on workforce training, spending much less than other wealthy nations do. We dont do training in America, we do education, says Anthony Carnevale, who directs the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Our policy is: Go to college.

It was only a few short decades ago that computers began revolutionizing the American workplace. Regions and employers that were early adopters with skilled workforces are well ahead today, and its likely they will continue to be in the years to come.

This article was originally published by Governing.

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Is Automation Anxiety Overblown? - Government Technology

BLOG: Is automation an opportunity or a threat? – Your Money

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As automation advances, concerns are mounting over the security of human jobs. But should we worry and is there a way for investors to profit from the digital revolution?

The digital revolution that has transformed whole industries is still gathering pace. It has enabled the globalisation of capital, goods and services, as well as the fluid movement of people, helped businesses to pursue lower input costs and enhanced competitiveness.

Now, as automation continues to advance in leaps and bounds, some commentators are suggesting that the future of work itself is at risk from next generation technologies, including artificial intelligence.

A recent PWC survey suggested that in the next 15 years, 10 million jobs may be under threat from intelligent automation. In aggregate, 30% of jobs were put at risk, but in some sectors as many as half of jobs could disappear.

Clearly technology can foster new opportunities for work and drive the emergence of new skills; however, in reality there could be a large surfeit of excess labour caused by automation, as it is likely to first take hold in industries where there are high numbers of relatively low-skilled, repetitive jobs.

While some employees could learn the skills needed to take advantage of the new types of role created by automation, this will not be the case for all. Given the type of work that is at the forefront of seeing these developments, men are more likely to be affected 35% compared to 26% for women.

Sectors most and least at risk from intelligent automation

As companies begin to automate, some organisations have suggested there may be a need for a made by humans label or human production quotas mandated by law; others more prophetically link growing automation with a breakdown in social cohesion as societal norms built around long-term paid employment break down.

The retail sector is particularly vulnerable to these pressures. As costs from implementing the National Living Wage increase, companies are rapidly reducing their overall number of frontline staff through automation. British retail employs around 1.7 million people close to the National Minimum Wage; even modest increases are therefore likely to distress margins and profitability still further. Online retail has led to new areas of work in warehouses and delivery services all largely un-regulated through zero-hours contracts.

Sectors where skills are difficult to automate such as education and health may be more secure, while areas of work that have been staples of employment for over a hundred years, such as train drivers, may completely disappear.

Undoubtedly, business models will adapt and others will emerge which will seek to capitalise from developments in automation and artificial intelligence. In cases such as these, it is a question of balancing the demands of the modern workplace, which are becoming ever more advanced and smarter about how work is done, contrasted with the needs of society, where work is central not only to how we survive but also a source of pride, self-value and purpose in our day-to-day lives.

That is the line that we are walking as socially responsible investors recognising the opportunity to be found in companies that are poised at the cutting edge of automation while ensuring that, as society evolves around the implications of this, we are fully conscientious of a potential world without work and be an advocate for change only when it is to the benefit of wider society.

An example of this from our holdings is Blue Prism, a UK-based pioneer of automation software which enables process-driven work tasks to be conducted robotically. Blue Prism is perfectly positioned to benefit from the continuing shift towards automation in the workplace and its recent H1 results show how the company is achieving this momentum.

Despite the companys founding concept of the creation of a digital workforce, Blue Prism does not seek fully to replace humans in the value chain instead it enables the employees it works for to work more effectively and accurately by deploying automation alongside. It inspires a positive development of workplace, being, as a recent ISG Research Report described it, the future of work and not the end of it.

Alphabet, the parent company for tech giant Google, is also shaping the new world of automation. It is the most prominent global player in artificial intelligence to date, having completed several key acquisitions in the space since 2013 and is successfully developing one of the most comprehensive machine-learning systems (Google Brain) in existence.

This future of work is also a matter for governments and how they prepare and adapt to the possibilities brought by automation. But it is also hugely important that businesses and investors recognise the extent to which there is a corporate responsibility towards managing a changing world of work in a responsible way. At EdenTree, it is no small concern for us and our clients, and we continue to engage with companies over changes to work practises while actively recognising the opportunities it brings too.

Ultimately, automation may be as significant a disrupter as the shift was from agricultural to industrial and from rural to urban in the 19th century. Considering and addressing these issues at the earliest opportunity will be of vital importance to us all.

Neville White is head of SRI policy and research at EdenTree Investment Management

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BLOG: Is automation an opportunity or a threat? - Your Money

Does Over-Automation in Recruitment Help? – HR Technologist

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Technology is pervading each and every aspect of an organization. With advanced technologies, the number of new applications innovated and introduced as seen an overwhelming rise. Today, we see different apps/solutions that take care and automate different aspects of work in an organization. But while technology is helping to improve the results and effectiveness of tasks and processes, a recent study by Randstad US study which examined perceptions, expectations, and attitudes of job seekers in a job search process, finds that humans are often frustrated when a job search experience is overly automated.

"The findings reinforce what we've believed for quite some time, that successful talent acquisition lies at the intersection between technology and human touch," says Linda Galipeau, CEO, Randstad North America. "By leveraging emerging technologies, we are able to deliver on our clients' and candidates' expectations in a predominately digital world, but with more freedom to focus on the human connection. If done correctly, the right combination of personal interaction with the power of today's intelligent machines can create an experience that is inherently more human."

About 82% respondents of the study, which took feedback from 1,200 people, said that they were regularly frustrated when job experiences were overly automated, with 95% saying that automation should aid and not replace the recruitment experience. In fact, 87% respondents rue that technology has made the job search experience impersonal.

While adoption of emerging technologies offers a seamless digital experience, it is also drastically changing how people connect to jobs. But, 82% of the survey respondents reveal that these innovative technologies come second to human interaction and personal touch. Job seekers find companies that prioritize human interaction, more appealing compared to companies that prioritize technology.

The things that most influenced a candidate's positive impression about a company were the amount of personal and human interaction they experienced during the job search process, and the hiring manager/recruiter they worked with.

While 91% agreed that technology has significantly enhanced the job search process and made it more effective, the time taken and the communication level during the hiring process could greatly affect the impression about the potential employer, and these impressions had lasting effects. According to the survey, 33% of the respondents said that they will never reapply or refer a friend to the company where they had a negative experience during the job search process.

"Employers today, and in the future, will be judged by the experience they create for prospective new hires," adds Galipeau. "Job candidates are empowered to provide instant feedback on employers, rating a company's candidate experience just as they would rate a movie or a product. In a tightening labor market, companies cannot afford to lose potential talent due to a poor hiring experience. And in a technology-driven world of talent, it's not only about how a company markets itself, but what others say about the company that has a positive impact on employer branding."

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Does Over-Automation in Recruitment Help? - HR Technologist

Worldwide Infrastructure Automation Market 2016-2022: Key Vendors are GE, Schneider Electric, ABB, Rockwell … – Markets Insider

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DUBLIN, August 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Worldwide Infrastructure Automation Market - Drivers, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts: 2016-2022" report to their offering.

According to this research, the Worldwide Infrastructure Automation Market is expected to reach $65.48 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of around 19.9% during the forecast period 2016-2022. Increasing labor costs, human errors, demand for improving consistency & compliance, and technological advancements are forcing organizations to focus on automating their traditional infrastructure to speed up the productivity. The increasing demand for alignment of IT with business needs is one of the major drivers for adopting automation into the business environment.

The adoption of automation for streamlining the tasks is being introduced into systems mainly to address the changing business requirements and to fulfil the demand for improved productivity. Further, rapidly growing urbanization and advancements in technology have created a huge demand for infrastructure automation. Infrastructure automation is the process of scripting the environment, which enables organizations to manage and monitor IT processes without any human intervention. The scripting comprises of installation of OS, configuring servers on situations, and configuring the software & situations to communicate with each other. Infrastructure automation offers agility, flexibility, and improvement in productivity in less time.

These benefits are driving the organizations to adopt automation into their infrastructure to compete in the ever-changing market. The major software companies such as Wipro, HPE, and IBM are investing in the growth of technology to offer enhanced services to end-users.

Companies Mentioned

Key Topics Covered:

1 Industry Outlook

2 Report Outline

3 Market Snapshot

4 Market Outlook

5 Market Characteristics

6 Solutions: Market Size and Analysis

7 Services: Market Size and Analysis

8 Infrastructure: Market Size and Analysis

9 Deployment Model: Market Size and Analysis

10 End-Users: Market Size and Analysis

11 Regions: Market Size and Analysis

12 Competitive Landscape

13 Vendor Profiles

14 Other Dominant Vendors

15 Global Generalists

16 Companies to Watch For

For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b856h6/worldwide

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager rel="nofollow">press@researchandmarkets.com

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Worldwide Infrastructure Automation Market 2016-2022: Key Vendors are GE, Schneider Electric, ABB, Rockwell ... - Markets Insider

She Battled the Capitalists Tooth and Nail – Jacobin magazine

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For seventy years, Ella Reeve Mother Bloor was a union organizer and womens rights activist in left-wing political parties in the United States. Peripatetic in her search for the organizational path to socialism, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I, she joined the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). In the 1920s and 1930s, Bloor became the partys most prominent female leader.

Largely forgotten today due to Americas ongoing anticommunist crusade, Bloor remained committed to womens equality and uplifting working people both of which she believed only could happen by advancing beyond capitalism. Her life story is as fascinating as it is educational.

Ella Reeve was born on Staten Island in 1862 during the Civil War. She grew up in middle-class suburbs but when her mother died during her twelfth childbirth, the seventeen-year-old Ella took over the care of her four youngest siblings. Bloor first became interested in political reform as a teenager, influenced by her great-uncle, who was an abolitionist, freethinker, and Unitarian.

While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, she read Marx and Engels and witnessed the brutal lives of Philadelphias working-class women and men, who struggled to survive while a small group at the top lived in aristocratic opulence. (Another future CPUSA leader, William Z. Foster, grew up in nearby South Philadelphia, where in 1895 he learned about class struggle by building barricades in solidarity with striking transit workers.)

She first married at twenty and had seven children, though three died in infancy a tragic if common reality in her time. Then, one day in the late 1880s, as she wrote in her autobiography, I suddenly realized that in spite of all the things I planned to do I was well on the way to become just a household drudge.

She explored suffrage, prohibition, and, more generally, womens rights while searching for something to believe in. She spoke at her Unitarian church and joined the reformist Womens Christian Temperance Union, a leading advocate for both prohibition and womens suffrage. In 1896, she divorced, moved to New York, and to help support herself authored the childrens books Three Little Lovers of Nature (1895) and Talks About Authors and Their Work (1899).

During this era, she married Louis Cohen, who shared her commitment to socialism. With him, Bloor had two more children before divorcing again in 1905. She chose to remain single supporting herself and six children until, in 1930, marrying one last time, to a communist farmer on the High Plains.

As Bloor later wrote, she increasingly identified the political and economic inequalities of women with the oppression of the working masses and came to see socialism as the solution to these twinned problems.

In 1897 Bloor became a founding member of the Social Democracy of America, established by her friends Eugene V. Debs, then the nations most famous labor leader, and Victor Berger, who later became the first Socialist ever elected to Congress.

When Debs founded a paper called the Social Democrat, he requested Bloor write its childrens column, which she did. Demonstrating an ever more militant streak, she soon joined the rival Socialist Labor Party (SLP), led by Daniel De Leon. While many, past and present, considered De Leon a divisive ultra-leftist, there was no dominant left party in the late 1890s. As Bloor recalled, The Socialist Labor Party was a revolutionary party in those days and De Leon, its leader, was a brilliant theoretician and speaker, a courageous fighter against capitalism.

She worked for its New York Labor News Company, publisher of revolutionary books and pamphlets. The Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, the SLP trade union affiliate, elected her to its general executive board and assigned her to organize streetcar workers in New Jersey and Philadelphia. The SLP contained members of the old Knights of Labor and, in 1905, folded itself into the newly created Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), though this merger was short-lived, as the groups split in 1908. By this time, Bloors commitment to radical unionism and a political path to socialism appeared set, though her specific allegiances continued to shift.

In 1902, she joined the Socialist Party of America (SPA), in which she spent eighteen years organizing unions. She led strikes of hatters, miners, needle-workers, and steelworkers all while raising six children. She also worked for both the SPA and various womens organizations as a paid organizer on state and national campaigns for womens suffrage. In 1910, she introduced an amendment at the Socialist Partys congress in support of womens suffrage.

When author and fellow socialist Upton Sinclair started researching wage slavery in the Chicago stockyards, she traveled there with another socialist, Richard Bloor, to assist in this investigation. They posed as a married couple so she used his last name, which for unknown reasons, stuck. In 1906, Sinclair published his best-selling, enormously influential novel The Jungle. In the 1910s, people started calling her Mother, a common honorific for older women, and, henceforth, she became known as Mother Bloor.

In 1913-14, Bloor traveled to Calumet, in Michigans Upper Peninsula, during a major copper miners strike to help the strikers and their families. Her later account of the shocking deaths of seventy-three strikers and their family members, called the Italian Hall tragedy, later became the basis of a famous Woody Guthrie song, 1913 Massacre. Given her importance as an organizer, it is unsurprising that she also was present in 1914 when Colorado National Guardsmen brutally shot and killed at least thirty-six men (striking coalminers), women, and children in the Ludlow massacre, about which Guthrie also wrote.

During World War I, Bloor continued to organize for unions and womens suffrage while opposing the war. During what now is called the First Red Scare, civil liberties increasingly came under assault, so Bloor raised money for and spoke on behalf of those arrested for opposing the war. Part of the left-wing of the SPA, she ran for lieutenant governor of New York.

In 1919, as the SPA split over Bolshevism, Bloor helped found the Communist Labor Party that soon joined the CPUSA. Like millions the world over, the Bolshevik Revolution inspired her to believe that a society prioritizing people rather than profit not only was preferable but possible. In 1921 and 1922 she traveled to Moscow for international gatherings. Back in the US, Bloor worked as a CPUSA organizer, riding the rails with working stiffs while writing articles for Communist papers, including the Daily Worker and Working Woman. She served on the partys Central Committee from 1932 to 1948. In all these capacities, she made a point to highlight womens issues.

Among her many assignments, she wrote for the Labor Defender, the organ of the International Labor Defense (ILD), a civil liberties organization affiliated with the Communist Internationals Red Aid network. Most famously the ILD helped save the lives of the Scottsboro Boys nine African-American boys and men wrongly convicted of raping a white woman from a legal lynching in Alabama in 1931. Bloors writings and activism inspired other women, such as the Red Angel, Elaine Black Yoneda, who quoted Bloor on the need to protect those wrongly accused: We must not fail these fighters, our defenders, those who go to the front.

In 1929 the CPUSA dispatched Bloor, then sixty-seven, to work with struggling farmers in the Great Plains. In South Dakota, she worked as an organizer for the United Farmers League fighting bank foreclosures and organizing mass demonstrations, during which time she met and married Andrew Omholt. With her oldest son (also a communist), she promoted the Farmers Holiday Association, which engineered the Iowa Milk Strike of 1932. In 1934, while protesting on behalf of striking female chicken pluckers in Loup City, Nebraska, Bloor was arrested one of more than thirty such arrests. After appeals failed, the seventy-three-year-old served most of her thirty-day jail sentence.

In 1937 Bloor made her fourth visit to the Soviet Union, this time to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Upon her return, she published Women in the Soviet Union (1938), a pamphlet praising the Soviet system of child care. In the 1930s and 1940s, the party began to celebrate her birthday and even hosted Mother Bloor picnics, further raising her status beyond the party.

Its fair to ask whether Bloor had doubts about the Soviet Union, the then-leader of the communist project, and communism more generally. By the 1930s, Stalin had demonstrated an utter lack of concern for democracy or human rights, imprisoning and killing millions of his own people. Stalin, and Lenin before him, had also sought to destroy anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists, Trotskyists, and other on the Left who questioned Soviet policy, most notoriously in crushing the Kronstadt rebellion.

However, in the 1930s, the Soviet Union and Communist Parties around the world embraced the Popular Front. In the United States, the CPUSA seemed to act quite independently of the Soviet Union and attracted a great many to its ranks and countless more fellow travelers with its bold commitment to working peoples struggles during the Great Depression. Moreover, as demonstrated in the Scottsboro case, American Communists, white and black, boldly led the fight for racial equality and industrial unionism. Bloor, who referred to the CPUSA as her family, was hardly alone in excusing Soviet crimes in the hope that socialism was just around the corner.

In 1940, at the age of seventy-eight, she published her autobiography, We Are Many. In the books introduction, fellow Communist (and former IWW) leader Elizabeth Gurley Flynn wrote:

We love and honor this extraordinary American woman as a symbol of militant American farmer and working class, of the forward sweep of women in the class struggle and in our Party, as an example to young and old of what an American Bolshevik should be.

Bloors book also inspired Woody Guthrie to pen songs about rapacious capitalists willing to murder innocent women and children to defeat strikes in the nations copper and coal mines. Mother Bloors outsized role resulted in radical American soldiers writing letters to her from overseas during WWII.

In her autobiography, Bloor touchingly recalled how she knew Walt Whitman as a child, a product of regular visits to an aunt in Camden, New Jersey, discussing her love of riding the ferry between Camden and Philadelphia (decades before a bridge spanned the Delaware River). As she wrote, Perhaps it was on those ferry-boat rides that the course of my life was determined, and that Whitman somehow transferred to me, without words, his own great longing to establish everywhere on earth the institution of the dear love of comrades.

Despite her nickname, which may seem dated and essentialist, Bloor lived a modern feminist life. She divorced several men who didnt bring her happiness and desired something better. She married several times for intellectual and political companions. She supported herself and her children. She fought for suffrage, the premier womens rights cause of the 1890s, until women won the right to vote in 1920. She became a union organizer and socialist, getting to know every prominent leftist of her time and countless ordinary ones too.

By the 1890s, she concluded that womens oppression included both patriarchy and capitalism. Committed to revolutionary change, she believed unions necessary to achieve her long-term goals as well as to improve the immediate lives of workers, women and men. Truly, she predicted the rise of socialist feminism in the 1970s.

Though some might indict such views for being restricted to middle-class white women as Barbara Ehrenreich said in 1975, the term socialist feminism is much too short for what is, after all, really socialist, internationalist, anti-racist, anti-heterosexist feminism Bloors life remains a signpost for all: fight for equality and expect as much in ones own life. Support unions and get others to do so. Strike, as needed. Take risks, even if that means getting arrested. Join the struggle while you can.

Ella Reeve Bloor died on this day in 1951 in Richlandtown, Pennsylvania and was buried in Camden, New Jersey. In tribute, Langston Hughes, the legendary African-American poet, declared, Mother Bloor was in person as sweet and full of sunshine as could be yet she battled the capitalists tooth and nail for seventy years.

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She Battled the Capitalists Tooth and Nail - Jacobin magazine

What is modern slavery and how big is the problem in the UK? – LincolnshireLive

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The government estimates the problem of modern slavery is higher than expected and Anti-slavery International claims the business is "thriving" throughout the UK.

An investigation by Lincolnshire police led to the conviction today, August 11, of 11 people for being part of a modern slavery ring which targeted victims that were vulnerable and homeless - one person was held for 26 years.

The group are set to be sentenced on September 7, 8, 11 and 12 at Nottingham Crown Court for the crime.

What is modern slavery?

In the UK the common form of modern slavery sees people trafficked into forced labour for very little pay.

This applies to a variety of industries but is most commonly seen in agriculture, hospitality, car washes, and manufacturing.

Women may also be trafficked for sex.

Children can also be forced to commit crimes such as petty theft or cannabis production.

Horrific stories of victims held as slaves that helped police snare notorious travellers revealed

Who are victims of modern slavery?

Anyone can be a victim of slavery but people who are classed as vulnerable are often targeted. This also includes those who are from a minority and socially excluded groups can also be targeted.

The Government says that two-thirds of victims of modern slavery are women and one in four victims is a child.

A variety of things can contribute to someone being a victim of modern slavery this can include lack of education, poverty and limited opportunities at home.

How are people targeted?

Generally someone is offered what seems like a decent job but then when they start the job the conditions are completely different.

Violence can also be used against the victim once they have started work.

How common is slavery in the UK?

Anti-Slavery International claims it is much more common than people think with around 13,000 being exploited in the UK alone.

But the National Crime Agency have said it's just the tip of the iceberg and there are lots more people up and down the country who are being kept as slaves, but their cases have never come to light.

How can you spot modern slavery?

There are a variety of signs to look out for which may mean that someone is a victim of modern slavery. A person may have false identity.

Director of Anti-slavery International, Aidan McQuade, said: "In terms of observations if you see people living in crowded conditions, they are not using proper work clothes, they are not mixing with other communities, and are driven around from one house to the next.

"If you get a sense they are a slave you need to find out if their identity documents have been taken off them."

He added people also have to find out whether they are paid minimum wage.

To report modern slavery call the government's hot line on 0800 0121 700.

Operation Pottery, which led to the conviction of eleven people in Nottingham Crown Court, was one of the largest investigations of its kind in the country.

It probed the group - largely from the same family of travellers - who targeted victims because they were "vulnerable and homeless".

Some of the victims had learning disabilities or mental health issues, while others were dependent on alcohol or drugs. Some were forced to sign over their homes.

Officers carried out seven raids across Lincolnshire, Nottingham and London simultaneously on September 22, 2014 to smash the slavery ring.

Mr McQuade added it is good news the gang has been convicted.

He said: "The fact this has been going on is not a surprise - it's shocking, but it's not a surprise.

"It's positive that they've been prosecuted and the police have stopped cruelty and it has raised awareness of the issue.

"It does highlight a problem we need to face."

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What is modern slavery and how big is the problem in the UK? - LincolnshireLive

Cordant hotline allows employees to raise slavery and trafficking concerns – Recruiter

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The group said its hotline will enable employees to raise concerns confidentially, without fear of repercussion about colleagues or suppliers. The hotline will be promoted during inductions, on wage slips, in worker handbooks and on noticeboards around its sites across the country.

Trained telephone operators will categorise each call on severity, alerting the appropriate level of management, or Cordants HR, legal or compliance teams, to investigate or respond to the concerns raised. Cordants compliance team will monitor all responses and report back to the groups senior leaders weekly.

Additionally, following the lead of PMP Recruitment, other Cordant brands have committed to becoming Stronger Together business partners.The campaign requires organisations to upload evidence to publicly demonstrate their commitment to tackling hidden labour exploitation.

Yesterday the BBC reported on a warning from the National Crime Agency claiming modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK is "far more prevalent than previously thought," with the NCA estimating there were tens of thousands of victims of modern slavery with cases affecting "every large town and city in the country". The agency added that it has more than 300 live policing operations.

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Cordant hotline allows employees to raise slavery and trafficking concerns - Recruiter

China in Latin America – HuffPost

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In the past ten years, the world has taken notice in Chinas growing interest for trade and investment in Latin America.

As a major import country for consumer food products, such as cereals, legumes, cattle and processed foods, as well as mineral raw materials and energy, its inevitable for China to focus on resource-rich Latin America. This comes with multiple facets of how each will benefit from building a relationship.

Take note: With China having a GDP value of over 18 percent of the worlds economy, and a 6.9 percent growth in Q1 and Q2 2017, it is without question how great the Chinese economy impacts global markets. In addition, Chinas population is over 1.38 billion, which makes it the most populous country in the world its more than double the total population of all Latin America and more than four times the population of the United States.

On the other hand, Latin America has half the GDP and nearly half the population as China. China is also the third largest exporter and second largest import partner for Latin American goods, including commodities due to the regions arable, agricultural, and resource rich lands. While it is a supplier of raw materials, its lack of industrial manufacturing makes it a prime buyer for Chinas products, such as toys, household goods, clothing, appliances, technologies and more.

Given this information, and since Chinas arable land is less than 13 percent, in the context of a desertification process that has not proved possible to stop, the country has understandably very high levels of demand, and thereby has become a major importer, for raw materials and food, and exporter for consumer products.

In the 2000s, this demand has contributed to growth and economic resilience in Latin America, but the regions slight deceleration due to global economic trends and political transitions in recent years has had a very negative impact on the region and its economic projections.

Furthermore, given its energy needs, China is convinced that it must innovate and lead the way in the search for alternatives to oil. However, since China will continue to rely on oil and raw energy resources until alternatives have been fully developed, its investment in the industry and relationship with Latin America has not faltered, despite losses for Latin American exporters due to a decline in crude oil and iron ore prices. For example, China has committed $65 billion USD for 500,000 barrels of oil per day from the reduced production capacity of PDVSA, a Venezuelan state oil company this is in addition to a number of infrastructure investment projects and a greater quantity of exports to the South American country.

As an exporter for consumer products, Chinas labor force has seen a major influx in industrial jobs. This has caused nearly 400 million Chinese citizens to move from rural areas to urban centers since the end of the 1970s. However, given that supply has not been able to keep up with demand, many of these factory jobs were met with inhumane conditions and dismal wages between 15 and 20 times lower than international averages since inception (aka labor slavery). Currently, although the wage differential gap has lessened, China continues to produce goods at costs well below those of other countries. From this perspective, Chinas huge industrial base, supported by an exploited labor has allowed for the industrial powerhouse to monopolize the market and expand globally, even when the quality of its products is constantly subject to criticism. This issue of labor and humane standards has been the source of endless disputes and negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO). Under pressure from their trade unions, several G8 countries have demanded wage homologation to ensure fair trade terms.

In the container import sector, the U.S. reigns with receiving over 20 percent of its goods from China, amounting to 4 percent of the U.S. GDP. This has caused a domino effect for the U.S. originated, number one retail giant in the world, Walmart, to import nearly 80 percent of its consumer goods from China. As low-cost manufacturing and middle-class wealth has expanded in the country, China has also become an important market for many North American companies.

However, as previously noted, inhumane treatment and internal labor pressures is among the most controversial issues for electoral debate in the U.S. and G8 partners.

The rise of China as a great importer and exporter adds to its financial power. To fully convey the tenacious and tremendous climb of their economy to become a main rival of U.S. trade and financial markets, it would take more than the limited space that this article allows. Furthermore, Chinas capacity for buying, selling and financial investment resources has permitted the country to become a systemic and significant player in the Latin American marketplace.

Due to their growing trade relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping developed an ambitious five-year plan from 2015-2019 for exchange with Latin America that includes: $500 billion USD in trade and $250 billion USD in foreign direct investment over its course. This has been more than fulfilled already and China is gaining greater economic influence in the region than the U.S. on a daily basis.

The Chinese model is clearly mercantilist, not political a B2B, you-do-you, I-do-me approach. For example, the Sino-Venezuelan cooperation model previously described has provided the Chvez and Maduro governments with weapons and financial aid, and in turn with a pragmatic silence regarding violations of human rights, political freedoms, and the prevalent hunger and disease that exists in the country. The two countries offer each other mutual voting support in the various multilateral global organizations every time the community of democratic nations tries to demand compliance with international law or human rights.

The big question is how are the benefits of closer relations with China shared? The answer, in most cases, is that the big beneficiary has been China. In Latin America, it has found a secure flow of raw materials, fundamental for its expansion, at prices below the world average. In the case of Mexico, some of the products that it exports to the North American market have been affected by unfair Chinese competition in the form of goods produced with very low-cost workers.

Furthermore, many economists argue that trade with China hinders the process of regional industrialization. This is due to when demand for raw materials increases in price and in effect strengthens local currencies, importing products finished or manufactured from China as opposed to manufacturing it in the home region is economically more attractive. Consequently, another question is if building China relations are perpetuating a dependence on exporting raw materials making Latin American economies more reliant and vulnerable?

As a larger trading partner with China in Latin America, the case of Venezuela is most eloquent in this regard: it shows that China is a ferocious negotiator, especially if it meets with an interlocutor like the governments of Chavez and Maduro, who have sold oil at giveaway prices in exchange for receiving loan payments in advance. In fact, the terms of successive agreements between the two governments, which total almost 500 from 1999 to date, are not publicly known. Diplomats and experts have pointed out that the commitments made by Venezuela violate its own laws, including the authorization of Chinese companies to ignore the Labor Law that prevails for other companies in their relations with Venezuelan workers.

Finally, another issue where China works without limitations is that of corruption. Unlike the U.S., European Union and the United Kingdom, where laws prohibit and penalize companies and citizens for corrupt practices when conducting business in foreign countries, Chinese businesses are able to execute their plans in America Latina free from any oversight in the matter of corruption. It is precisely these aspects of relations with China that are causing alarm, inside and outside Latin America.

Growing relations between Latin America and China is multifaceted. Beyond the short- and medium-term benefits that can be generated by building economic relationship with the Asian giant, commitments and dependencies are being created. In many ways, these are contrary to human rights, labor rights and, finally, the institutional and economic development of our countries. Above all, China-Latin America relations are not projected to change in the coming years despite political transitions and economic changes. Business is business.

In light of this increasing Chinese presence in Latin America, with the issues associated to the same, one question emerges for United States policy makers and business leaders: Shouldn't we strategically increase and prioritize our engagement and partnerships with our neighbors in the Western hemisphere? The answer is obviously yes, but there has been little action. Plus, it might be too late when we start.

Leopoldo Martnez Nucete tweets @lecumberry.

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China in Latin America - HuffPost