Venice Florida Freedom Boat Club

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Welcome to Freedom Boat Club of Venice: Lush, friendly and Mediterranean.

The quaint, small-town feel of Venice lends to its reputation as a warm and friendly place to visit. A lovely boulevard of Mediterranean-style architecture provides a town center worthy of shopping or lunching under the shady live oaks.

When the surf is calm, divers like to anchor a couple of miles from the Venice Fishing Pier and search for ancient shark teeth brought in by the currents, as this is the sharks tooth capitol of the world.

Speaking of sea creatures...be sure to look for frolicking dolphin as you head out on the ICW. Have your camera ready they move fast!

Roberts Bay, just outside the channel, sports plenty of open water for water activities like skiing, tubing or knee boarding. And Midnight Pass Beach, very near and to the north, is a sunny, sandy spot with mild Gulf waters and plenty of shells. Plus, dogs are allowed on this beach.

Waterfront dining options are countless, but local favorites include the Casey Key Fish House and the Turtle Beach Pub.

Effective October 1, 2001, a person 21 years of age or younger may not operate a vessel powered by a motor of 10 horsepower or greater unless such person has in his or her possession aboard the vessel photographic identification and a boater safety identification.

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Venice Florida Freedom Boat Club

Immigration Agents Discover New Freedom to Deport Under Trump – New York Times

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New York Times
Immigration Agents Discover New Freedom to Deport Under Trump
New York Times
I.C.E. has more than 20,000 employees, spread across 400 offices in the United States and 46 countries, and the Trump administration has called for the hiring of 10,000 more. Credit Clockwise from top left: Ann Johansson for The New York Times; David ...

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Immigration Agents Discover New Freedom to Deport Under Trump - New York Times

Catherine Rampell: Republicans take freedom away, in the name of freedom – Salt Lake Tribune

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But what would repealing Obamacare mean in practice?

It would mean allowing insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions; taking away the tax credits and Medicaid expansions that enabled more than 20 million Americans to newly obtain insurance over the past six years; and, thanks to the elimination of the individual mandate, ultimately causing the exchanges to death-spiral and collapse.

So, in championing the "freedom" that would be unleashed by an Obamacare repeal, Ryan and Pence are really championing the "freedom" for Americans to lose access to any health-care plan.

You know what they say: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to choose.

At least one politician has explicitly rooted for a decline in the insured rate because, duh, freedom.

"If the numbers drop, I would say that's a good thing, because we've restored personal liberty in this country, and I'm always for that," Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Tex., said at CPAC.

Enshrining discrimination against gay and transgender people has likewise been sold as a way of promoting "religious freedom," at least for anyone who believes Jesus would be unhappy about compliance with public accommodation laws or, say, the Constitution.

Sometimes the freedoms nominally being safeguarded are not individual ones but those of the states. Or so White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed when explaining why the Trump administration was rescinding Obama-era guidance for schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choosing.

Financial deregulation and the repeal of consumer protections have also been puzzlingly marketed as pro-"freedom."

"Just like Obamacare, Dodd-Frank has left us with fewer choices, higher costs and less freedom," quoth Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "It's evident that Dodd-Frank has made us less prosperous and less free."

Franklin Roosevelt once declared that the "four essential human freedoms" were freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The "freedom to get scammed by debt collectors" must have slipped his mind.

Given the quantity of American heartstrings pulled by the words "free" and "freedom," declaring one's commitment to "free markets" has also provided cover for all sorts of non-free-market nonsense. A sitting president ordering private companies where to locate, for instance.

"I'm a big free-trader," President Trump has said, while promoting all manner of protectionist measures. "I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me," he said at CPAC, minutes after again calling the media the enemy of the people.

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Catherine Rampell: Republicans take freedom away, in the name of freedom - Salt Lake Tribune

Will Americans submit to despotism in an urge to escape from freedom? Erich Fromm saw it coming – Salon

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President Donald Trump took his rancorousfeudwith the press to afrightening new level last week when he posted an inflammatory tweet that echoed tyrantsof the past,callingthe all-caps FAKE NEWS media the enemy of the American People.

As many were quick to point out, the phrase enemy of the people has adisturbing and violent history, and has long been used by totalitarian dictatorsto foster resentment and hatred of certain groups, and eventually to crush dissent and opposition. The infamous French revolutionary and Reign of Terror apologistRobespierre declared that the revolutionary government owed nothing to the enemies of the people but death,while the term was widelyused in Stalinist Russia to single outdissidents,who wereeither imprisoned, executed or sent to the Gulag (in the end, almost all of the original Bolsheviks became enemies of the people during the great purge which in reality meant enemies of Joseph Stalin).

Needless to say, the fact that President Trump thought it was appropriate to usethis incendiarylanguage onthe free press long considered thebulwark of liberty is dangerous and alarming, and just the latest manifestation ofthe Trump administrations authoritarian tendencies. Just one month into his term, the president has spent mostof his time in publicscapegoating and demonizing the free press,blatantly lying and espousingconspiracy theories that undermine faith in the electoral system and displaying his contempt for the ideaof separation of powers and judicial review (once again attacking a sitting federal judge).

None of this behavior is particularly surprising fora man who has spent that past two years shattering democratic norms e.g., threatening to jail his political opponent, encouraging violence against peaceful protesters, publiclysympathizing with oppressive dictators, advocatingwar crimesand so on.

Itis tempting to write this all off as Donald being Donald an impulsive, thin-skinned little man-child who cant take any criticismbut that would be a mistake. Trump has surrounded himself with sycophantic enablers and right-wing extremists who appear eager to advance his authoritarian agenda. One of these individuals is the presidents31-year-old senior adviser, Stephen Miller, a weaselly young man who would be perfectly cast as a Star Wars villain. Last week, Miller madethe almost cartoonish assertion that our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, thatthe powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.

Like the phrase enemy of the people, this is the kind of language used by party hacks in a totalitarian state, not a free anddemocratic society.

Not long ago this kind of rhetoric would have provoked outrage from both sides of the aisle and widespread disapproval from the populace. But today, in our hyper-partisan political landscape, many Americans have instead cheered Trump and his administrations increasingly dictatorial and undemocratic behavior. This invites the question of whether the American people will stand up to autocracy if and when it comes, and how much of the populace is actually prepared to give up its freedom and submit to a strongman.

Shortly after the election, Yale historian Timothy Snyder, who recently said that we have at most a year to defend the Republic, wrote a chilling articlein Slate narrating Adolf Hitlers unexpected rise to power without once sayinghis name to draw parallels with our current historical situation, and to highlight how the German people quickly fell in line once Hitler had consolidated power and established his totalitarian regime.

One of the many brilliant Jewishintellectuals to fleefrom Germany after Hitlers rise, philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm attemptedto explain the shocking spread of totalitarianism in his lifetime with his influential and urgent 1941 book, Escape from Freedom. This classic investigation into the psychology of authoritarianism can help elucidate some of what is happening today. In the first half of the book, Fromm surveysthe profound cultural, economic and political changesthat had occurred since the Middle Ageswith the Protestant Reformation and the emergence of industrial capitalism, and explores how these shifts impacted the human psycheand the individuals interaction with the external world.

Fromm posits that industrialization and the rise of liberalismresulted in the complete emergence of the individual (i.e., individuation), along with newfound freedom, but also upended primary ties that hadonce provided men and women with security and a feeling of belonging and of being rooted somewhere. In other words, modernization freed man from traditionalauthorities that had greatly limited him, but also provided him withsecurity and meaning in life. Growing individuation, writes Fromm, means growing isolation, insecurity, and thereby growing doubt concerning ones role in the universe, the meaning of ones life, and with all that a growing feeling of ones own powerlessness and insignificance as an individual.

That brings us to Fromms powerful thesis:

If the economic, social and political conditions on which the whole process of human individuation depends, do not offer a basis for the realization of individuality while at the same time people have lost those ties which gave them security, this lag makes freedom an unbearable burden. It becomes identical with doubt, with a kind of life which lacks meaning and direction. Powerful tendencies arise to escape from this kind of freedom into submission or some kind of relationship to man and the world which promises relief from uncertainty, even if it deprives the individual of his freedom.

The crucialpoint Fromm was trying to get acrossis that personal freedom may not be enjoyable or even desirable to the individual if it also leaves him or her feeling isolated and powerless, or without any kind of meaning or purpose in life. Like Karl Marx, Fromm believed that capitalism had turned human beings into cogs in a machine, sapping them of their individuality and creativity, and leaving them alienated and susceptible to authoritarian forces.

Fromm distinguished between negative freedom, or the freedom from traditional authorities and cultural/social restraints, and the positive freedom to live authentically and realize ones true individual self. If one is granted negative freedom without positive freedom, and thus left uncertain, alone and powerless, he or she may be inclined to escape from freedom and submit to a higher authority. An analogy would be the urge that many adults have feltat least oncein their lifeto return to their mothers womb, where one is deprived of freedom, but safe from the dangerous and chaotic outside world.

It is not hard to see this psychology at work in modern America, where economic inequality has grown rapidly over the past several decades, where livelihoods have been outsourced or automated and where communities have collapseddue to the forces of globalization and the technological revolution, leaving millions of people desperate and isolated. When these economic factorsare combined withotherfactors, includingthe perceived dangers facing America(i.e., Islamic terrorism) which are greatly inflated by the mass media and politiciansand cultural/social shifts over the past few decades, the victory of an authoritarian demagogue like Trump becomes less surprising (as doesthe factthat Trump supporters are more likely to display authoritarian personality traits).

The danger of the increasingly authoritarian Trump administration is heightenedby the growing number of Americans who are nowpreparedto support a strongman if it means restoring, as it were,primary ties that once provided security and a feeling of belonging and of being rooted somewhere.

Seventy-five years agoFromm arguedthat to counteract thisdangerous drive toward authoritarianism,it was necessary to expand the principle of government of the people, by the people, for the people, from the formal political to the economic sphere. Democracy, he continued, will triumph over the forces of nihilism only if it can imbue people with a faith in life and in truth, and in freedom as the active and spontaneous realization of the individual self.

Like Bernie Sanders today, Frommadvocated democratic socialism and believed that only a trulydemocratic society politically and economically could stopthe dark clouds of despotism. Today, as President Trump rehashes the language of past tyrants, one can only hope that the desire for freedom will triumph over the urge to submit.

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Will Americans submit to despotism in an urge to escape from freedom? Erich Fromm saw it coming - Salon

Coronado Sandcastle Pays Homage to Freedom of Press | NBC 7 … – NBC 7 San Diego

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On the same day that the White House barred reporters from CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Politico from a press briefing, a simple, stark message appeared in the sand at Coronado Beach.

A miniature White House was erected at the beach with a message from our third president: Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

Displays at Coronado Beach that reflect current events have become commonplace. In the past, theyve mainly showed solidarity following tragic events.

After the Paris terrorist attacks and the Orlando nightclub shootings, for instance, sand castles emerged to show sympathy for the victims.

Bill Pavlacka, dubbed the Sandcastle Man, has been the artist behind those sand creations.

Pavlacka told NBC 7, he created the White House sandcastle and added the message for press freedom because of his concern over "the way that press has been painted recently."

"I thought that the Jefferson quote was powerful given that President Donald Trump attempted to use another Jefferson quote to discredit the news media. I think that people need to be reminded of the importance of the media, and with the blocking of certain major news outlets today, I think the message has become even more important."

Published at 5:43 PM PST on Feb 24, 2017 | Updated 6 hours ago

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Coronado Sandcastle Pays Homage to Freedom of Press | NBC 7 ... - NBC 7 San Diego

Live: Faith, Freedom and Justice march at Virginia Beach Oceanfront – Virginian-Pilot

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Live: Faith, Freedom and Justice march at Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Virginian-Pilot
The march begins at Rudee Loop and will cover 40 blocks of Atlantic Ave. The Pilot's Alissa Skelton is reporting live from the event. A Twitter List by SeanDKennedy. Alissa Skelton, 757-222-5155, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com. More information. +6 ...

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Will establish an ecosystem of partners in India: Apple to government – Economic Times

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NEW DELHI: Apple has told the government that it plans to make most of its products in India and that it will establish an ecosystem of partners, which may include contract manufacturers and suppliers.

The company is said to be planning a start with local production of its iPhone SE.

"Apple plans to move up the value chain in their next phase, in terms of producing the entire suite of products, definitely all iPhone models, for which their entire ecosystem of partners needs to move in," IT secretary Aruna Sundararajan told ET.

The company's main contract manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron, Pegatron and Inventec are closely watching its plans for that reason.

"They (Apple) have two primary asksone that they should be able to import the components that they need, and second that it should be cheaper for them to manufacture here than to import," she said.

"The second question is where government has not yet taken a view, because this is to be decided only after the GST (goods and services tax) is finalised."

Foxconn, which is Apple's largest contract maker, is said to be in active talks with the Maharashtra government, with which it already has a $5-billion investment pact, said a senior manufacturing executive. "It may well be a three-four way game between Foxconn, Wistron, Pegatron and Inventectwo of them are already in India," the person said. Foxconn, Inventec and Pegatron didn't respond to ET's emails.

A query to Wistron, which makes the iPhone 5S and the SE, on whether it will set up a separate, larger plant for Apple went unanswered. Wistron will make the iPhone SE at its Bengaluru facility, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

An Apple spokesperson said, "We've been working hard to develop our operations in India and are proud to deliver the best products and services in the world to our customers here. We appreciate the constructive and open dialogue we've had with government about further expanding our local operations."

Sundararajan said her department has met several contract manufacturing firms from Southeast Asia looking to set up shop in India. "It's a question of when, not whether," she said.

Companies Await Rollout of GST Regime However, companies are waiting for the GST rollout, expected sometime this year, before finalising plans.

This also applies to Indian and foreign companies that made investments based on the 11.5 per cent duty differential between locally made pro ducts and imports.

"They have asked for long-term stability of policy, but the main issue is whether if they manufacture in India, they would not be at a cost disadvantage compared to earlier," Sundararajan said.

"The GST Council is still evolving, so we can't categorically say what kind of view they will take."

The council, a representative body of the Centre and the states, will decide the GST rates.

The key issue will be coping with the transition as GST takes effect, Sundararajan said. Mindful of the situation, the department has set up an Invest India arm to handhold companies, Sundararajan said.

"We have very categorically told them that India is open for investments and that we're there to support them," she said.

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Will establish an ecosystem of partners in India: Apple to government - Economic Times

The Coal ‘Ecosystem’ and Good Regulations – TDWorld – Transmission and Distribution World

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Many of our efforts at optimizing how we run our T&D systems depend upon the value of the underlying electric energy and capacity our generating facilities provide. And when it comes to coal in this regard, earlier this month, some highly placed conservatives proposed A Conservative Case for Climate Action as highlighted in this Feb. 8, 2017 New York Times piece editorial. The editorial references the Carbon Dividends Plan put forth by James A. Baker, George P. Schultz, and others.

It is undeniable that we owe coal the fact that it brought us the industrial revolution. But the forward progression has been driven primarily by efforts by businesses and regulators to make wise economic choices. Loyalties to specific fuels played second fiddle to an informed debate about the best available options at the time.

There is a narrative that was debunked many times but which still emerges at times like this in our industry. It is a narrative about how free market forces alone can lead us to the right energy choices (per this USA Today piece). It states that whale oil was replaced by better forms of light solely due to technological and economic forces. In reality, per this PBS Newshour piece, legislation was also involved.

In any case, youll probably agree with the idea that lighting a home via electricity from coal may have been better environmentally than lighting it with lamps burning whale oil, camphor, turpentine, or kerosene. And whichever side of the spectrum you are on, youll also likely agree it helps us to make better decisions if we start with the reality that our dependency on coal is still very strong.

Our current coal ecosystem

Between the 1990s and the midpoint of our current decade, U.S. electric generation from coal went from 54% down to a bit below the 40% mark. If electricity generation from coal went to zero, the carbon footprint of the electric utility industry would certainly decrease significantly from its current 2 billion metric ton annual CO2 emissions level. But the carbon footprint of some common everyday products could increase, depending on how we address alternatives (and depending on how we account for those changes).

If the last statement makes you cast a quizzical glance in one or another direction, whether you happen to be indoors or outdoors, consider why it is likely you looked at a surface or structure made with some coal by-products in it:

When estimates are discussed regarding additional coal related R&D and associated economic benefits, it is important to look at the propositions with an ecosystem point of view economically.

A coal ecosystem case studyRare Earth Elements

Research highlighted in a January 24, 2017 DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory piece shows the benefits from extraction of vital Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from coal ash. Titled Coal Ash Recovery Could Pump the Domestic Rare Earth Metals Supply, it involves a University of Kentucky project will pilot processing facility for recovering rare earth metals, to be built in September 2017 for testing in 2018.

One evaluation approach is to claim that coal ash would have to be disposed of anyway, so as long as we are utilizing coal, there may be incremental benefits to getting more economic value from the ash and reducing its environmental disposal costs.

But couldnt this approach be splitting hairs? Consider, size-wise in rough numbers, how small the annual U.S. spend currently is in rare earth elements, versus the current utility industry coal spend. The U.S. annual rare earth element spend is about $170 milliona tiny fraction of the tens of billions U.S. electric utilities spend annually on coal supplies. And it is a smaller fraction still of the hundreds of billions in capital investment represented by our existing coal-fired power plants. (Even just one carbon capture plant costs many times more than the $170 million annual U.S. rare earth spend. (See A January 25, 2017 Energy Times piece, Largest Carbon Capture Complex Complete--NRG Partners with JX Nippon on $1 billion Deal ).

So it is only when we take a big picture view that we can put these various elements into the right context for decision-making. And, hopefully, for good regulation-making.

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Emboldening the CISO ecosystem | CSO Online – CSO Online

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CSO | Feb 21, 2017 1:29 PM PT

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Peer to peer leadership mentoring and executive knowledge sharing is a critically important component to building, strengthening and sustaining our national cybersecurity ecosystem.

There are many excellent cybersecurity venues among the priority list of forum offerings. Of the large, annual multi-day offerings Black Hat and RSA, which of course just wrapped last Friday, are top of the pack. SINET, founded and led by legendary cyber warrior Robert Rodriquez and his wife Heather, is another premier knowledge transfer platform. Billington CyberSecurity too is a lead honorable mention.

But for pure play CISO-to-CISO leadership information sharing, HMG Strategy stands out. Simply, there is no better venue (that Im aware of) for CISOs, their infosec deputies and other corporate staff peripherally touching the CISOs office, to come together in a one-day close knit setting to share, explore and learn about the salient issues and their corresponding solutions confronting corporate information security officers today and contemplating the as-yet-unknowns looming on tomorrows horizon.

When it comes to gauging the quality, or what I call the content return quotient, of a professional gathering forum, I do what Im sure many other potential participants do and turn to the published speakers list. The extent of depth and range of pre-eminent thought leaders serving as panelist and/or keynotes usually (not always) correlates to the quality of the knowledge output of the respective summit.

With HMG, the product speaks for itself. Have a quick look at the advisory board, agenda and accompanying speakers list for HMGs upcoming 2017 New York CIO Summit of America, taking place March 9 in Midtown: HMG CIO Summit of America. Note the range of participating CIO luminaries.

And now Hunter Muller and his HMG Strategy team are leveraging the essential playbook they developed over 10 years in building what is widely consideredtheleading peer to peer CIO forum in the market. Im proud to have been invited by HMG to come aboard as a founding advisory board member, to contemplate, formulate, build and collaboratively execute the platform as envisioned by the Hunter and his team.

For the past two years, Ive been serving as a go-to cyber chair on the standing CIO headhunter panel scripted in every HMG CIO Summit agenda. Talent management is now a prevailing issue on the CIO priority list; as is of course cybersecurity.

Ive not been alone; Aileen Alexander and Jamie Cummings, who co-lead Korn Ferrys cybersecurity practice, are also regularly called as participating executive search consultants. Given where cybersecurity now predominates the national discussion across our national security, corporate and Wall Street spheres, its only natural that HMG Strategy would roll out a parallel standalone CISO executive leadership forum, to better serve constituent CISOs (and by association CIOs) and their respective organizations.

In the end, a knowledge-content-leadership summit is only as good and constructively useful as the collaborative range and dynamic exchange of ideas among participating speakers and audience guests. The HMG CISO Advisory Board has formulated a dynamic forward-looking agenda; and in tandem has assembled a fantastic team of keynotes and panelists, ranging from legendary cyber thought leaders such as Ed Amoroso, Mark Egan and Israel Martinez, to veteran CISOs Colin Anderson, Todd Barnum and Shamla Naidoo, and rising infosec leaders Kirsten Davies, Kevin Powers and Tom Sammel, to name just a few. Pretty exciting stuff . . .

On behalf of Hunter Muller and his team at HMG Strategy, I look forward to seeing many of you at the inaugural HMG Strategy CISO Executive Leadership Summit, March 17 in San FranciscoHMG Strategy CISO San Franciscoand/or latterly in New York, April 28HMG Strategy CISO New York. Additional confirmed CISO summits to follow in other US cities throughout the calendar year HMG CISO Summit 2017 Calendar.

See you out there . . .

This article is published as part of the IDG Contributor Network. Want to Join?

Stephen Spagnuolo leads the CyberSecurity Leadership Recruitment & Advisory Practice ZRG Partners, a global executive search firm that embraces data and analytics to underscore the hiring process. He brings over fifteen years of experience recruiting senior and next-generation corporate leaders on behalf of a wide-ranging client base, from leading global investment banks to pre-funded emerging growth companies to a cadre of consultancies of all sizes. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he formerly deployed to multiple overseas contingencies as a Marine Corps infantry officer.

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Tomorrow’s Transportation Ecosystem: From Autonomous Vehicles … – Knowledge@Wharton

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There is growing evidence that tomorrows urban cars will be safe, green and connected, Mary Gustanski, Delphis vice president of engineering, recently told Car Talk. Were going to see more electrification, and the electric car will merge with automated driving and the connected car.

Electric vehicles (EVs) now hold just a 1% share of the global fleet on the road, but it could comprise 15% to 35% of total global new vehicle sales by 2040, according to IHS Markit. Worldwide sales are up more than 1,000% since 2010. In Europe and China, where regulation encourages plug-ins, EVs could be more than half of new passenger vehicle sales by 2040 the same time fully autonomous cars are expected to rule the roads.

Cars That Drive Themselves

The auto industry is moving toward the self-driving car; and semi-autonomous cars able to operate hands-off, but with a driver behind the wheel are already on sale. According to Deloitte, the shift to take our hands off the wheel could occur more quickly and at greater scale than many are prepared for, especially in densely populated areas. Cities will probably be the first laboratories for autonomous technology.

Will these vehicles simply replace our current private cars? Maybe not. With cities in the vanguard, we seem to be evolving toward a growing reliance on shared fleet cars. We will primarily see autonomous cars in on-demand mobility fleets, said Sam Abuelsamid, a senior research analyst at Navigant Research. Theres a distinct possibility that consumers will never actually be able to buy them.

As Abuelsamid pointed out, there are good reasons for fleet ownership of self-driving cars, including the fact that maintenance will be critical. Once a car is sold to a consumer, the manufacturer no longer has control over which parts are put on that vehicle, and when were talking about the sensors that control the car, its critical that they not be replaced with cheap, off-brand parts, he said. But poor-quality parts could also be outlawed by regulation.

We will primarily see autonomous cars in on-demand mobility fleets. Sam Abuelsamid, Navigant Research

Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar, argued that serving our transportation needs with fleets of autonomous electric cars is an ideal scenario for these reasons. Simply eliminating the drivers from cars, and keeping everything else the same, will be a disaster, she said. If we share rides in shared cars, we will only need 10% of the cars we have today. We have the ability to eliminate congestion, transform the livability of cities, make it possible to travel quickly and safely from A to B for the price of a bus ticket, improve the quality of our air, and make a significant dent in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, she said.

The footprint of the [U.S. car rental] industry stretches from coast to coast, and includes both airport and what we call the home-city market, said Chris Brown, executive editor of Auto Rental News. The fact is, the autonomous vehicle model most likely will be well suited for a pay-as-you-go system, especially on the local level. And this plays into car rentals strengths of customer interface and management for the long term.

Jack Nerad, an executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, agreed that fleets will be in the autonomous and electric vanguard. In fleets, it works, he said. Cities are a challenge, because space is at a premium, and theres no place for apartment dwellers to charge. But fleets can be charged en masse at centralized locations.

Gary Survis, a venture partner at Insight Venture Partners and a senior fellow at Whartons Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL), said he believes that at least the early generation of autonomous cars will let their owners take the wheel when they want to, because the love of driving is still strong in todays motorists. A lot of research shows that, even with autonomous cars, people are still going to want to drive, he said. I dont think that goes away.

The Future of Transportation

When it comes to urban transportation, there is a huge amount of disruption to what we consider the norms, said Survis. The whole question of auto ownership is being challenged by sharing services and the autonomous car.

Survis said that accommodating self-driving cars will require cities to adjust their infrastructure for instance, by adding special dedicated lanes, or geo-fenced areas. The infrastructure for modern transportation in the urban environment demands major thinking and federal funding, Survis said. As the population continues to rise in our bigger cities, this should become a major priority.

For Asias growing megacities (with populations above 10 million), new transportation models may not involve four wheels at all. A startup called Gogoro has sold 15,000 of its electric scooters in Taipei, Taiwan, and keeps them on the road with hundreds of battery swap stations. Founder Horace Luke said he plans to expand to other Asian megacities. The company also has a separate scooter-sharing operation in Berlin, Germany with Bosch as a partner.

Automakers will remain a big part of future mobility, but they see their roles changing.

In the U.S., Americans are responding to the renaissance in urban public transit investment. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Fact Book for 2015, Since the early 1970s, public transportation has shown a long-term growth in ridership [60% since 1973]. Bus ridership has grown 15% over that time period while heavy rail and light rail ridership have each more than doubled. Public transportation ridership has increased by over a billion trips each of the past two decades. But more needs to be done, since the U.S. transit system is aging, and the population is expected to increase by 100 million by 2050.

The good news is that despite infrastructure challenges, cities are committing to adding transit options, especially light rail. According to New Geography in 2014, it is legacy cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C. with well-established subways and rail that account for 77% of transit commuting nationally. But thats changing, as newcomers like Phoenix (which opened a 20-mile rail system), Dallas (93 miles in four lines), Salt Lake City (four new lines in one year), Denver (which realigned its downtown around the rail hub) and others become far more transit-friendly.

That said, automakers will remain a big part of future mobility, but they see their roles changing. Volkswagen, for instance, launched a new brand called MOIA, which is providing a ride-hailing commuter shuttle in Germany using electric vans. According to a 2016 article in the Financial Times, [Automakers] are partly being pushed into it by Uber, which has made ride-hailing in cities so convenient and comparatively cheap that it may start to take the place of car ownership. Road transport becomes a utility, something that can be bought by volume, like gas, electricity and water.

John Paul MacDuffie, a professor of management at Wharton, believes that in the near future, urban dwellers will start each day figuring out where they need to go, and will put some options together that might be unique to that day, possibly combining public transit, car rentals, ride-hailing, car sharing and city bikes.

MacDuffie also said that there is likely a market for mobility services providers that can make it all work for you. Ideally, that would mean the traveler would tell the provider where they wanted to go, and they would get a detailed itinerary with all the intermodal links worked out.

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Fragile ecosystem is to fear, not a new tax – Kitsap Sun

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Letters 11:41 a.m. PT Feb. 24, 2017

I read Stephen Moores February 18 column with dismay. ("The carbon-tax scam")

Then I read the introduction in his book about the subject online. He is afraid. Hes afraid that by relying on sources of power such as wind and solar we will go back to a time before electricity. He is afraid that our economy will suffer, and people will lose jobs. Maybe he should study some of the latest technological advances making clean, renewable energy more affordable and reliable. He should also study economic models such as the one done by the Regional Economic Models, Inc., which show the positive economic effects of a carbon fee and dividend.

Even if I did not believe that global warming is the biggest threat our planet has ever faced, even Mr. Moore would have to admit that fossil fuels have some negatives. Just look at the forests destroyed by the tar sands (an area the size of Britain). Mountaintops have been blown off to get at coal and the waste can now be freely dumped in streams. The obvious cost to our ecosystem is evident. Fracking is no better. The waste water pumped into wells creates earthquakes. Look at the pictures.

The plan put forward by the Climate Leadership Council of knowledgeable Republican statesmen and economists should be adopted, along with Governor Inslees budget as a way to transition to a cleaner world with a more stable climate.

Marty Bishop, Port Orchard

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Letter: Hunting contests damage ecosystem – Daily Reporter – Greenfield Daily Reporter

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To the editor:

A local gun store recently held a coyote hunting tournament in which 37 coyotes were killed over three counties. Organizers claimed that the contest was held due to hunters complaining about the declining deer population, but what these hunters do not know is that coyotes do not impact deer populations.

In an article posted to the pro-hunting website Bowsite.com, whitetail biologist C.J. Winand writes, Do coyotes negatively effect (sic) our deer herds? The answer is generally NO! In fact, in the big woods with an average deer herd and normal precipitation, I doubt whether its even measurable.

Before claiming that Mr. Winand is an anti or anything of the sort, understand that he is a staff writer for Bowhunter as well as Deer and Deer Hunting magazines.

Since its clear that killing coyotes will not protect the deer population, what do such killing contests actually accomplish? The truth is they do a lot of harm, and not only to the coyotes who are killed but also to the local coyote population and local farmers.

Hunting contests interfere with the natural predator/prey relationship that is vital to a well-functioning ecosystem. Killing coyotes initially creates unnaturally large populations of mice and rabbits, which then become a problem for agriculture interests.

Coyote hunting then increases the population of coyotes, because when hunting drops their numbers unnaturally low, they begin to breed faster than they can be killed. And by targeting the largest and strongest coyotes, hunting contests leave the smallest, weakest and sickest animals to breed. This grows the population, weakens the species and encourages the spread of sickness and disease. Killing contests are not based upon any degree of science they are nothing more than an exercise in bloodlust.

When one considers the effect hunting has on wildlife and habitat, it is clear that the sport is nothing less than an absolute disaster and one that has no place in an ethical society.

To learn what you can do to eliminate the problem of sport hunting forever, visit AbolishSportHunting.com.

Joe Miele

The Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting

New Paltz, New York

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Android Ecosystem Faces Growing Banking Malware Threat – The Merkle

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It is not surprising to learn the number of financial phishing and malware attacks has gone up throughout 2016. Last year was a top year for cyber criminals and it is believed 2017 will see more of the same. According to Kaspersky Labs, mainly Android users were targeted during the 2016 malware and phishing attacks, which is rather surprising.

It is true a lot of consumers rely on mobile devices to check up on finances or complete payments. This also creates new opportunities for cybercriminals looking to take advantage of this situation. Particularly the Android ecosystem is of great interest to hackers, as it is the most popular mobile operating system in the world today. Unfortunately, it is not all that secure either in some cases.

Throughout 2016, cybercrime gangs have been targeting Android users with both banking malware and phishing campaigns. It is the first time such a high amount of financial phishing has been recorded by security researchers. Kaspersky Labs also mentioned how phishers are becoming more professional, which increases their chances of tricking victims into giving up sensitive financial information.

Additionally, the number of Android users attacked by banking malware surpassed the 1 million mark. Considering how this trend had grown less popular throughout 2014 and 2015, security researchers were hopeful this attack vector would not increase in popularity again. That is anything but the case, by the look of things, as a 30.6% increase in recorded attacks does not bode all that well. Interestingly enough, less than one in five banking malware attacks were directed at corporate users.

It is evident cyber criminals are targeting the average consumer, rather than going after high-value targets. Whether this is due to corporate clients having better computer security, remains anybodys guess. The evidence indicates average consumers are more prone to get infected with the banking malware once distributed. A lot of smaller targets will eventually result in larger financial gains for the criminals, which remains their ultimate objective. Most victims were located in Russia, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and the United States.

In terms of which banking malware is distributed exactly, it would appear Zbot remains the most popular tool among crime gangs. Nearly half of all attacked users received a Zbot banking malware strain, making it the clear fan favorite for the time being. The second most common banking malware strain is the Gozi family, which represents over 17% of all attacks recorded in 2016.

Kaspersky Lab researchers also discovered a worrisome trend Android users need to take note of. The number of banking malware attacks increased exponentially during the second half of 2016. It is unclear if this trend has continued throughout the first month and a half of 2017, albeit it seems likely to assume that is the case. Primarily Russian Android users are becoming a very popular target right now, thanks to the Asacub and Svpeng malware families.

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Twitter Mailbag: How concerned should we be about ‘Cyborg’s … – MMAjunkie.com

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Octavia Hix Sisters Spill Their Secrets On The World’s Best Beaches – Forbes

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Octavia Hix Sisters Spill Their Secrets On The World's Best Beaches
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Sisters Vix and Hattie Clark, founders of British resort wear brand Octavia Hix are pretty trusty tutors when it comes to seeking out chic beach life. Between them, they've travelled to some of the most luxurious destinations in the world, gathering ...

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Octavia Hix Sisters Spill Their Secrets On The World's Best Beaches - Forbes

Thanks to late-inning construction rally, Ballpark ready to play ball – Palm Beach Post

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WEST PALM BEACH

The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches will be ready to play ball for the first time on Tuesday but only because of a late-inning rally by construction crews and city inspectors inside the main stadium.

Fans should see few, if any, signs of lingering construction when gates open at 11 a.m. But theres a chance the city might not issue the stadiums initial certificate of occupancy until Monday afternoon less than 24 hours before the Washington Nationals throw the first pitch at 1:05 p.m. in the inaugural game against the Houston Astros.

This is something were going to take down to the wire it appears, said Rick Greene, West Palm Beachs development service director.

But I see no reason why they cant throw out that first pitch on Tuesday. If theres a portion of a room that needs to be closed until something is done, that might happen, but its not going to involve shutting down the right field lines.

City inspectors agreed to work side by side with construction crews over the weekend, signing off on odds and ends inside the 6,500-seat main stadium and making sure its ready Tuesday when the first beers are poured and toilets flushed.

Our focus now is the second-level concourse where fans will be watching the game and getting that complete. But most of the heavy stuff is done, Greene said.

By Monday, the city should be able to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy, which will allow the stadium to open to the public.

I wouldnt be surprised if they took another month or two after spring training to get the final CO, he said.

Greene said Hunt Construction, Straticon Construction and their subcontractors have done a remarkable job finishing in roughly 15 months a $150 million project that normally would take two years.

Work on the 160-acre site, a former trash dump at Military Trail south of 45th Street, started on Nov. 9, 2015. Since September, crews have worked 20-hour days. At its peak, more than 650 workers were on site every day.

It has been an ambitious schedule, Greene said.

Despite the frantic pace, the teams and contractors have been cooperative and cordial with the city, said Greene, who said he often cracked jokes during weekly update meetings

I told the Washington folks I want to take batting practice off (Nationals ace) Max Scherzer, he said. When we gave them their (construction) permit for the stadium, I told them if they read the fine print they will see that I get to be the starting third baseman. They said no.

As of Friday, the teams had released few details about Tuesdays opening-game ceremonies, other than participation by elected officials from Palm Beach County and West Palm Beach.

The National Anthem will be sung by Jessica Fishenfeld, a soprano with the Palm Beach Opera. Derrek Stark, a tenor with the opera, will sing God Bless America during the 7th-inning stretch.

Parking lots open at 9 a.m. and will cost $10 per car, with entrances off Haverhill Road and Military Trail. Valet parking is available for $20. (Tailgating is not permitted on ballpark lots and consumption of alcohol is prohibited inside cars on ballpark lots.)

Fans entering the ballpark will walk through a security scanning booth, as part of a new Major League Baseball requirement at all Grapefruit and Cactus league stadiums.

Tickets for the first game were still available Friday, mainly outfield reserve and the grass berm. For more information, go to http://www.ballparkpalmbeaches.com or call 877-935-5668.

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Thanks to late-inning construction rally, Ballpark ready to play ball - Palm Beach Post

Great white sharks spotted off two Orange County beaches … – Los Angeles Times

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Lifeguards warned swimmers and surfers to stay out of a stretch of ocean at two Orange County beaches Friday after a great white shark was spotted near theshore.

A helicopter crew saw the 11- to 14-foot shark swimming 100 feet off Bolsa Chica State Beach about 10:40 a.m., according to Lt. Claude Panis, a spokesman for the Huntington Beach Fire Departments Marine Safety Division.A 6- to 7-foot juvenile great white shark was also spotted in the water Friday morning, he said.

After the first sighting, lifeguards banned swimming from Warner Avenue to north Anderson Street in Sunset Beach. A mile of shoreline in Bolsa Chica State Beach was also closed.

Heed the signs, Panis said.We are looking out for the publics safety.

The water is expected to open after 24 hours if there are no additional sightings, state parks spokesman Kevin Pearsall said.

Pearsall saw two surfers braving the waves early Friday afternoon despite the warnings. More than 25 surfers heeded lifeguards who advised them to leave the water, he added.

Its the third sunny day in a row in a long time. Theres no wind. Its a perfect beach day, so we had a lot of surfers in the water this morning,Pearsall said. Most are complying with the request.

Pearsall said the area is near where a group of juvenile great whites were lingering in 2015.

The last few years we havent heard anything about them,he said.

Friday was the first time this portion of the state beach has been closed in more than a year.

Great white sharks have been reported several times this month elsewhere in Huntington Beach.On Tuesday, lifeguardsissued a shark advisoryafter a group of anglers accidentally reeled in a great white in Sunset Beach. On Feb. 14, afisherman hookedwhat appeared to be a juvenile 7-foot great white off the end of the Huntington Beach Pier.

Authorities have said shark sightings are becoming more common in the area. A 2014 survey found there were about 2,400 great white sharks living in California waters.

Last year, Chris Lowe, head of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, said he suspected that number has grown because of improved ocean-water quality and higher ocean temperatures.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter:@VeronicaRochaLA

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Spring break ideas: From beaches to Europe to new museums – DeKalb Daily Chronicle

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Spring break is right around the corner. For some travelers, that means seeking out beaches and sunshine. Others may be tempted by Europe, which has become more affordable for Americans, or by spring skiing.

AIRFARE, DESTINATIONS AND BOOKINGS

Airfares vary considerably this time of year. Travelers not tied to a holiday week may find flights are cheaper at other times. Most colleges schedule a week off in March, but family vacations often revolve around school breaks for Easter (April 16 this year) or Passover (beginning April 10).

Booking.coms data shows that travel March 18-April 30 will be 2 percent more expensive overall than last year, but a few domestic destinations are cheaper, including New Orleans, 8 percent cheaper than last spring; Miami Beach, 4 percent cheaper; and Tampa, Florida, 9 percent cheaper.

And take a look at Europe: A strong U.S. dollar has made vacations there much more affordable for Americans.

Expedias top 10 destinations for March and April are Cancun, Mexico, followed by Orlando, Florida; Las Vegas; New York; Miami; Los Angeles; London; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Phoenix and Paris.

American Express Travels top five international destinations are London, Cancun, Rome, Paris and Tel Aviv. But American Express reports a few other spots spiking compared with last year, with spring bookings to Iceland up 150 percent, to Auckland, New Zealand, up 129 percent, to Madrid up 114 percent, to Casablanca, Morocco, 103 percent, and Zurich, 101 percent.

AAAs bookings have three Florida destinations Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami in the top five domestic destinations, along with Anaheim, California (home to Disneyland), and Las Vegas. Internationally, AAAs top five are Punta Cana, Rome, Jamaica, London and the Bahamas.

At StudentUniverse, which caters to travelers 18-26, top spring break destinations are London; Los Angeles; New York; Miami; Paris; Madrid; Orlando; Barcelona, Spain; Cancun; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Tokyo and Dublin.

Debbie Sebastian, a Travel Leaders agent in Danville, Kentucky, says shes seeing lots of groups traveling with Punta Cana being the most popular choice this year. The flight times and charter options make it a great option.

March is typically the Miami airports busiest month for domestic arrivals, with 1.08 million passengers in March 2016.

Karen Malone, with Travel Leaders in Woodbury, Minnesota, says in addition to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica is also proving popular, with both destinations offering new resort choices. We here in the frozen North are attracted to those turquoise blue waters and white sand beaches, she said.

Cancuns always big for spring break, but its not just a destination for the pia colada-and-party crowd. Cancun also serves as the gateway for more quiet environs like Isla Mujeres, which is growing in popularity, as well as the entire Riviera Maya and all points directly south of Cancun, including Playa del Carmen, said Travel Leaders spokesman Steven Loucks. The region has all-inclusive resorts for every kind of traveler couples, families, multigenerational groups.

SPRING SKIING, SPRING TRAINING

Some ski resorts schedule fun events to mark the end of winter, from concerts to costume contests and parties with a beach-and-barbecue theme. Vail, Colorados Spring Back to Vail festival is April 14-16 and includes the World Pond Skimming Championships, where skiers land in the water. Breckenridge, Colorado, has a Spring Fever festival, April 1-23.

Baseball fans often schedule trips to catch their favorite MLB teams getting ready for opening day. Late February through April 1, the Cactus League plays in the Phoenix area, the Grapefruit League plays in Florida.

CULTURE VULTURES

Not everybody hits the beach for spring break and not every family heads to theme parks. Wendy Perrin, founder of the travel planning site WendyPerrin.com, says her best spring vacations with two boys have been to Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia; Paris; and a Panama Canal cruise. This year, shes taking the family to Morocco, to introduce the kids to a completely different culture.

If you like visiting museums, note two important openings this spring: the American Writers Museum in Chicago on May 16 and the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia on April 19.

Other noteworthy events include the Whitney Museum of American Arts Biennial 2017 in New York, a contemporary art survey opening March 17; in Kansas City, Missouri, special exhibitions at the National World War I Museum and an April 6 commemoration of the centennial of Americas 1917 entry into the war; and at the Dallas Museum of Art, opening March 12, a survey of 200 works of Mexican modern art by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and others. A new attraction opens at Graceland in early March, Elvis Presleys Memphis, with museum exhibits, a stage and more.

Finally, spring means flowers. In Washington, D.C., the National Cherry Blossom Festival runs March 20-April 16 with various Japanese-themed events, though bloom times vary depending on the weather. And at Walt Disney World in Florida, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival runs March 1 to May 29.

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Easter: Astronomy’s moveable feast – Arizona Daily Sun

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Astronomys Moveable Feast

By late February, signs of spring are in the air in the Northland. Stretches of warm days get us thinking about stowing the sweatshirts and pulling out Hawaiian shirts. Spring training baseball games begin (today, in fact) just a couple of hours south of us, and Girl Scout cookies make their triumphant return to our lives. In the stores, clutches of candy eggs engulf shelves, reminding us that Easter is on its way. For many of us, this then means checking our calendar to figure out just when Easter falls this year, for it is a moving target and never on the same date in consecutive years.

Of all the major holidays we recognize in the Unites States, in fact, none requires as much calendar checking as Easter. This celebration of renewal may fall on any of 35 possible dates and cant even claim a home month; in some years it lands in March while in others it extends into April. The reasons for this inconsistency span centuries and involve astronomical phenomena, religious customs and evolving civil calendars.

We commonly remember the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the Vernal Equinox. But alas, this purely astronomical definition is not quite accurate due to a few problems.

Nearly 1,700 years ago, religious leaders began creating several parameters to define Easter: first, for the purposes of figuring Easter, the Vernal Equinox is set at March 21 (even though in reality it can also land on March 19 or 20). Second, Easter must be on a Sunday, and that Sunday must be the first one after the paschal full moon.

A paschal full moon is defined as taking place on the 14th day of an arbitrary lunar month and occurs on or directly after March 21. The paschal full moon is based on ecclesiastical tables, rather than astronomical observations. Because of this, the paschal full moon does not necessarily correspond exactly to the time of the astronomical full moon.

Taking all of these parameters into consideration, we find that Easter can fall on a number of different days, ranging from as early as March 22 to as late as April 25 (April 16 this year). Moreover, the dates follow a sequence that repeats every 5,700,000 years or so in our current Gregorian calendar. Of course, for those who dont follow the Gregorian calendar, or for groups including certain Eastern Orthodox churches that dont follow the above definition of Easter, the date for this special day may vary in any given year.

Because of its fluctuating dates Easter is known as a moveable feast; not the Paris version of Hemingway but the religious variety describing a feast day that occurs on different days each year.

No matter how the date of Easter has been defined, one thing that has remained consistent through the years is its celebration in the spring, that time of rebirth and renewal, resurrection and the restoration of life, Girl Scout cookies and baseball.

Kevin Schindler is the Lowell Observatory historian

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