Futurism Technologies

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Is most sought after leading advanced custom software development and IT Solutions, Services & Consulting Partner. We are committed to establish a cost-effective quality end to end Information Technology Business Solutions and Services alternative for the entire spectrum of businesses worldwide.

Futurism Technologies enable you to uncover exciting new insights by Rapidly capturing, aggregating, organizing, and analyzing data generated via multi-party sources to maximize your sales potential.

Futurism Technologies has experience with cloud computing categories such as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. We possess extensive experience in cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BPOS Suite, Google Apps & more.

Futurism Technologies can help you manage and take decisions based on real-timie data. Work anywhere, at any time, via any device.

Iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.

Futurism Technologies helps you devise your BI strategy by turning complex number-crunching into lucid data for easy reporting and analysis using BI Technologies such as MS SQL SSAS, MS, SSIS, and MS SQL SSRS.

Expertise over multiple domains means that you can expect a robust, flexible, and scalable enterprise application irrespective of the industry you belong to.

Futurism Technologies implements specialized tools and methodologies for software QA services. Our software testing services translate into decidedly superior preformance and prevent costly operational breakdowns.

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Futurism Technologies

Futurism – Vikipeedia, vaba entsklopeedia

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Futurism (ladina keeles futurum tulevik) on 1909. aastal Itaalias tekkinud kunsti- ja kirjandusvool.

Futuristide esimese manifesti koostaja on itaalia luuletaja Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Manifest ilmus 20. veebruaril 1909 Pariisis ajalehes Le Figaro. Manifestis kuulutati, et tsivilisatsiooni saavutused on imeprased ja nuavad uut tpi kunsti. Vana kunst on klbmatu ja muuseumid on surnuaiad. Tehnika areng ja selle kajastamine on vrtuslikum kui inimhinge probleemid. Marinetti vitis, et "Kihutav vidusiduauto, mis sarnaneb suurtkikuuliga, on kaunim Samothrake Nikest!".

Aastal 1910 esitati teine futurislike maalikunstnike manifest, milles varasemaid ideid edasi arendati. Manifesti autor oli skulptor Umberto Boccioni. Selle manifesti kohaselt pidi maalikunst loobuma traditsioonilistest motiividest, niteks aktimaalist. Dnaamika vljendamiseks tuli kujutada motiivi arengut ajas, niteks esitada hel pildil ajas jrjestikuseid olukordi vi seisundeid (jooksvat koera kujutati mitte nelja, vaid kahekmne jalaga).

Futurismile on omane vanade kultuuritraditsioonide hlgamine. Ptakse leida kunstilisi vljendusvahendeid, et kujutada kaasaegse kiire elu ja tehniseerunud keskkonnas elava inimese mtte- ja tundelaadi ning probleeme. Futurism vljendabki tnapeva maailma kiirust ja eripalgelisust; listatakse sda, tehnikat ja dnaamikat.

Futuristide liikumise katkestas Esimene maailmasda, mil osa futuriste pettus, nhes kuidas tehnikat sjas kasutatakse. Teised aga sattusid uutlaadi jukultusest veelgi suuremasse vaimustusse ja liitusid rmuslike massiliikumistega (nt Marinetti Mussolini faismiga).

(kronoloogilises jrjestuses)

Futuristlikud tekstid on katkendlikud ja keerulised, neis on kasutatud trkitehnilisi vtteid ja igekirjast ei peeta kinni. Luules on futurismile iseloomulik hatuste, knekeele ja argoo kasutamine, konsonantide kuhjamine ning matemaatika- ja muusikasmbolite kasutamine. Futuristid on oma publikuga pidevalt (tenoliselt taotluslikult) vastuolus.

Itaalia futurismi vtmekuju on Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Luuletustes on tal olulisel kohal visuaalsus. Itaalia futuristid on ldse tihedalt seotud visuaalsete kunstidega, eksperimenteerides ka filmikunstiga (Bruno Corra ja Arnaldo Ginna film "Futuristlik elu").

Olulisim manifest on "Geomeetriline ja mehaaniline hiilgus ja numbriline tundlikkus".

Itaalias muutus futurism lpuks poliitiliseks: 1918. aastal asutas Marinetti erakonna, hiljem sattus vanglasse koos Benito Mussoliniga.

Vene futurismi kige novaatorlikum esindaja oli Vladimir Majakovski, kes leidis, et tuleb lahti elda dekadentlikust minevikust ja panna maksma inimtahe, mis trotsib determinismi ja harjumusi. Futuriste peeti enesereklaamijatest veiderdajateks, kuid nad ei pdnudki teistele meeldida. Nende esimene manifest kandis pealkirja "Krvakiil avaliku arvamuse pihta".

Majakovski propageeris lihtsustatud vulgaarset luulet. Tema stiil tugines linlikule knepruugile, kus ta pdis muuta masside robustset knepruuki poeetiliseks.

Venemaal oli populaarne ka futuristlik teater, kus vaataja oli etenduses osaline.

14. mrtsil 1919 ilmunud anarhistliku ajakirja "K Svetu" ("Valguse juurde") 5. numbri kohaselt tegutses Harkivis fanaatiline anarhofuturistide ring.

Eestisse judis 1910. aasta manifest kigepealt ajakirjanduse vahendusel. Juba 1912. aastal, ehk siis samal aastal, mil Pariisis Mnchenis ja teistes Lne-Euroopa suurtes kunstikeskustes toimusid esimesed futuristlikud kunstinitused, tutvustati Eesti ajakirjanduses Marinetti petust. Phjalikult tutvustas eesti kunstipublikule futurismi teooriat 1914. aastal Peterburi likooli tollane lipilane Johannes Semper. Ta pidas tartus ettekande, mis trkiti ra ka ajakirjanduses[1]. Eesti kunstis ilmusid esimesed futuristlikud ilmingud sama aastal Tartus avatud kunstinitusel. Nendeks olid Mnchenis ppinud Ado Vabbe "Parafraasid" ja "Skemaatilised improvisatsioonid". Futuristlike teostega esines Vabbe 1916. aastal ka Tallinnas. Eesti kunstikriitika suhtus futurismi suhteliselt trjuvalt[2].

Eesti kirjanduses olid futuristid koguteostes "Moment" I (1913) ja "Roheline moment" (1914) esinevad kirjanikud. Futuristlikke teoseid on kirjutanud hiljem ka prosaist Albert Kivikas ja luuletaja Erni Hiir.

Kujutavas kunstis taotlesid futuristid korraga paljude rahutute muljete kujutamist, mida tajub kaasaegne suurlinlane. Pti kujutada liikumisillusiooni, mille saavutamiseks lammutati nhtav maailm kubistide eeskujul geomeetrilisteks kildudeks. Nendest loodi likuvate pindade ja joontega dnaamiline kompositsioon.

Teise moodusena kujutati hel pildil oleva sama objekti mitut jrgnevat asendit, kusjuures objekti ennast kujutati enam-vhem realistlikult. Seda tpi on niteks pilt, kus daami krval sibab paljujalgne koerake (Giacomo Balla "Koera ja keti dnaamika").

Koloriidis eelistasid futuristid eredaid vrve.

Futurismi hilisemas perioodis kujutasid kunstnikud kike n- lenduri vaatepunktist (aeropittura).

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Futurism - Vikipeedia, vaba entsklopeedia

Planetariums, Observatories – Florida Astronomy

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FLORIDA OBSERVATORIES (many have public viewing nights, check their websites for details)

Belen Observatory at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Miami

Crosby Observatory at Orlando Science Center - 10" Refractor - admission fee to Science Center.

Eastern Florida State College Observatory - 24" Ritchey- Chrtien telescope available for public viewing Friday and Saturday nights from sunset until 10 p.m..

Egan Observatory at Florida Gulf Coast University - 16" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope and 5 smaller computer guided go-to telescopes. Here's a google maps satellite view of the observatory dome, and here's a link with more info about the observatory. Public access through Southwest Florida Astronomical Society.

Embry Riddle Creekside Observatory - They have a 20-inch reflector Dall-Kirkham telescope by Planewave Instruments , three 12-inch reflectors, a 4-inch refractor, and a pair of giant binoculars and a new observatory with a 1 meter Ritchey-Chrtien telescope (see images on this page.) Free public viewing open houses are to be held approximately ~6 times per year. During open houses there will be a public lecture at 7 p.m. and observations from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. During open houses there will also be additional presentations such as Gravity Well Simulator, Solar System Tour, Space Posters, and a Photography Gallery. Amateur Astronomers will be also be invited to set up telescopes outside for public viewing.

The Embry-Riddell Telescope is the largest public accessible telescope in Florida with a 1 meter (39.4") primary mirror, a 40 cm (15.7" secondary mirror), with an 8 meter focal length (f/8). The primary mirror weighs 700 lbs, and the total scope weighs 5500 lbs (not including the massive 6 story pier that it sits on that is separate from the building!) The largest refractor riding as an outrigger scope is an 8" APM. There are also a number of other outriggers that are Takahashi's and Vixen.

The Student control room can be seen in one of the images below (which is not the same as the local control near the scope, and I've got a shot of the Infra Red dome surveillance cameras too.

Farrout Observatory, Dade City, FL ("Where Tampa's Astronomers Cluster")

Florida Atlantic Observatory, (14" Celestron Edge HD SCT on a Losmandy Titan 50, and Daystar filter for live Sun Prominences), Boca Raton

Fox Observatory (16"), Sunrise, FL

Kissimmee Park Observatory, Kissimmee and Facebook link, I believe he's using a 17.5", contact Dave Hearn for group or private visits.

Nicholas Copernicus Observatory at University of Miami

Ortega Telescope (32"/.8 meter) at FIT

Rosemary Hill Observatory (30"), Bronson FL

Stocker AstroScience Center at FIU, Miami - Under construction, 24" telescope from ACE ordered (they currently have 12" Meade.)

Star Fields Observatory (private), Chiefland

Univ. of Florida Campus Teaching Observatory, Gainsville FL - Clark 8-inch Refractor by Alvan Clark & Sons - 203 mm / 2920 mm = f/14 12.5-inch Cassegrain Reflector by Army Map Service - 318 mm / 5220 mm = f/16 with a photoelectric photometer; small auxiliary telescope for imaging Moon with CCD. 12-inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Meade Instruments - 305 mm / 3048 mm = f/10, on movable tripod; computer controlled. 8 inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Meade Instruments - 200 mm / 2000 mm = f/10 Six telescopes that can be mounted on permanent piers outside the observatory building. 5-inch Schmidt- Cassegrain by Celestron International - 127 mm / 1200 mm = f/10

University of Central Florida's Robinson Observatory, Orlando, FL - 20" Richey Chretien telescope and a bunch of 8" Meade Schmidt Cassegrains, here's The Robinson Observatory website, and their Open House Schedule

University of Florida Radio Jove Observatory

Weintraub Observatory in Miami at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. __________________________________________________ FLORIDA PLANETARIA

Bishop Planetarium - Bradenton

Broward College Buehler Planetarium - Davie

Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium - Fort Myers

Planetarium at Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences

Eastern Florida State College Planetarium - Cocoa

Florida Southern College Miller Planetarium - Lakeland, currently closed, and their website was taken down in 2014 (after they had been closed for several years.) They are trying to get funds together to re-open it, possibly within a year? Their structure is the only observatory in the world designed by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was founded in 1959.

Florida State University Pat Thomas Planetarium - Tallahassee

Indian River State College Halstrom Planetarium - Fort Pierce

Miami Science Museum Space Transit Planetarium CLOSED (their old location is now closed, watch for their new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science and planetarium opening in Summer of 2016!)

Santa Fe College Kika Silva Pla Planetarium - Gainesville

Seminole State College Planetarium - Sanford (Also known as the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College of Florida).

St. Petersburg College Planetarium

Tampa Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) The Saunders Planetarium

___________________________________________________

Amateur astronomer's observatory domes at Chiefland Florida

IR surveillance cams at Embry-Riddle Observatory.

Student data access room below the Embry-Riddle Observatory.

The Robinson Observatory at University of Central Florida has a 20" Ritchey-Chrtien telescope, and public observing nights through smaller telescopes too.

(Top of page images from left to right: a private observatory with telescope peeking through the dome in Chiefland Florida, Seminole State College Planetarium SETI Engineer Presentation, Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex Floating Celestial Sphere, The Rocket Thrower outside the Orlando Science Center (which has a public observatory) based on a World's Fair Statue, Robinson Observatory at University of Central Florida; all images by Jason Higley)

The 1 meter telescope at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept, 2014

The new 1 meter telescope at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept, 2014

Embry-Riddle 1 meter telescope

Here's the public-accessible 10" refractor telescope at the Orlando Science Center. The operator says that this was Mr. Byers last 10" refractor (the optics were also by him.) There is significant vibration from the surrounding visitor floor (even though they tried to isolate the pier from the gantry.) People can access it on clear Friday and Saturday nights (when visiting the science center with paid admission, however there are sometimes ways to get significant discounts, up to free access.)

Software Bisque mounts at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Takahashi telescopes ready to be rolled out at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. in Daytona.

This is the new Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) 1 meter telescope. Open to public viewing up to ~6 nights per year.

A different angle of the fork mount and 1 meter telescope at ERAU.

This is the new dome of the ERAU observatory.

Above you can get a sense of how high up the new 1 meter telescope is at Embry Riddle in Daytona, Florida (my estimate being around ~6 stories.) Photo by me on 7 July, 2013.

Notice how the giant telescope pier directly under the dome angles off at the last level of the new Embry Riddle Observatory..

They are installing the windows to the left as of 7 July 2013.

This is the amazing massive pier to isolate the new 1 meter telescope from the building being constructed around it.

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Planetariums, Observatories - Florida Astronomy

Museum Astronomical Resource Society

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Welcome to the Museum Astronomical Resource Society, also known as the M.A.R.S. astronomy club. M.A.R.S. is sponsored by the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), in Tampa, Florida. We are also members of both the Astronomical League and Night Sky Network. This site provides club news and astronomical information to our membership and to the public.

There's only one thing the people of M.A.R.S. enjoy more than observing the heavens... that's sharing it with others! Whether you are new to astronomy and curious about how to experience it, or a seasoned veteran looking for an active club to spend observation time with. We invite you to attend one of our monthly meetings as our honored guest.

Monthly meetings are normally held on the 3rd floor of MOSI in the Science Works Theater, and take place on the 2nd Friday of each month from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. Meetings are free and open to the public.

If you are interested in joining MARS, you will need to complete and return this Membership Application to the Membership Chairman. The current cost to join is $27.50 for an individual membership, and $37.50 dollars for family membership. Click here to find out the benefits of membership

February 13 @ 7:00 PM Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Our own Dr. Greg Shanos will discuss this ever important topic this month; the 100th anniversary of the publishing of General Relativity.

March 12 @ 4:30 PM FarrOut Observatory The Star Party is a great opportunity get in some dark sky observing and to see many types of telescopes in use. There is a $10 per person fee to attend this event. A buffet dinner will be served at 5:30. Children are welcome and there is no charge for children under the age of 10. Please be aware that there is a lot of expensive equipment in the field and it will be dark so it is imperative that everyone is conscious of their actions. Members in good standing (dues paid) pay nothing. You may pay your dues at the event and enter as a member in good standing.

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Museum Astronomical Resource Society

Artificial Intelligence: Winston P. Henry: 9780201855043 …

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Format: Paperback

Winston's book is really terrible. I mean truly repellently, malignantly bad. "Can it really be as bad as all that?" you wonder. Yes!! It's that bad!! For starters, the book is poorly organized. Topics that logically belong together are often several chapters apart. There is no overall structure to the book. It seems like a collection of topics in AI that were hastily assembled without concern for thematic organization or flow. For example, the forward and backward chaining algorithms are presented in a chapter (Ch. 7) on rule-based systems, but are not even mentioned in the chapter (Ch. 13) on logic! Perceptron training is presented AFTER backpropagation! Contrast this with the much better book by Russell and Norvig, which uses the theme of intelligent agents as a continuing motivation throughout, and which groups related topics into logically arranged chapters. The examples in Winston are atrocious. The main example in the backpropagation chapter is some kind of classification network with a bizarre topography. This example is so trivial and weird that it totally fails to illustrate the strengths of backpropagation. The explanations of generalization and overfitting in backprop training are awful. The only chapter of this book that is not an unmitigated pedagogical disaster is the chapter on genetic algorithms, although better introductions exist (e.g. Melanie Mitchell). A further annoyance is the placement of all the exercises at the end of the book instead of the end of the chapters to which they correspond. Avoid this book. It is truly horrible, and vastly superior books on AI are readily available at comparable prices.

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Artificial Intelligence: Winston P. Henry: 9780201855043 ...

Will Artificial Intelligence someday dominate humans? – NY …

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Will Artificial Intelligence someday dominate humans? - NY ...

Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics)

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[Zaba, Hal, Titanium and Sandy are hanging out. Zaba is reading a newspaper.] Zaba: Check out this story... In 1983 the CIA tried to use a chat bot called Analiza as an interrogator.

[We see an alleged spy handcuffed to a desk with the old IBM PC on it.] Spy: Why did you summon me here? Analiza: Why do you wonder why, Joe? Spy: I do not know Analiza: Why don't you know? Spy: I have no idea what goes on in your mind. Analiza: Why do you suppose you have no idea what goes on in my mind? Spy: I will leave unless you tell me what is the problem. Analiza: I understand... you will leave unless I tell you what is the problem... go on.

[Spy flips the off switch on Analiza.]

Titanium [while holding various torture gear]: I think I can do a better job. Think the CIA is hiring?

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Artificial-Intelligence.com(ics)

Marvin Minsky, Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence, Dies – ABC …

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Marvin Minsky, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who saw parallels in the functioning of the human brain and computers, died Sunday at age 88.

The university said Minsky died Sunday at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.

Minsky viewed the brain as a machine whose functioning can be studied and replicated in a computer, and he considered how machines might be endowed with common sense.

Daniela Rus, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, said Minsky "helped create the vision of artificial intelligence as we know it today."

Minsky joined MIT's faculty in 1958, after earning degrees from Harvard and Princeton universities. It was at Princeton that Minsky met colleague John McCarthy, and in 1959 the pair founded the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence Project, now known as MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. McCarthy is credited with coining the term "artificial intelligence."

The New York Times reports the lab brought about the notion that digital information should be shared freely and was part of the original ARPAnet, the precursor to the Internet.

Minsky's other accomplishments include inventing and building the first ultrahigh-resolution confocal microscope, an instrument used in the biological sciences. In 1969, he was awarded the prestigious Turing Award, computer science's highest prize.

Minsky's books include "The Society of Mind" and "The Emotion Machine." He also advised iconic director Stanley Kubrick on his 1968 science-fiction classic "2001: A Space Odyssey." Kubrick visited Minsky seeking to know whether he believed it was plausible that computers would be speaking by 2001, according to the New York Times.

Born in New York City, Minsky served in the Navy during World War II before studying mathematics at Harvard and Princeton.

Minsky is survived by his wife, Gloria Rudisch, a pediatrician; their three children; a sister and four grandchildren.

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Marvin Minsky, Pioneer of Artificial Intelligence, Dies - ABC ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) | EECS at UC Berkeley

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Overview

Work in Artificial Intelligence in the EECS department at Berkeley involves foundational research in core areas of knowledge representation, reasoning, learning, planning, decision-making, vision, robotics, speech and language processing. There are also significant efforts aimed at applying algorithmic advances to applied problems in a range of areas, including bioinformatics, networking and systems, search and information retrieval. There are active collaborations with several groups on campus, including the campus-wide vision sciences group, the information retrieval group at the I-School and the campus-wide computational biology program. There are also connections to a range of research activities in the cognitive sciences, including aspects of psychology, linguistics, and philosophy. Work in this area also involves techniques and tools from statistics, neuroscience, control, optimization, and operations research.

Graphical models. Kernel methods. Nonparametric Bayesian methods. Reinforcement learning. Problem solving, decisions, and games.

First order probabilistic logics. Symbolic algebra.

Collaborative filtering. Information extraction. Image and video search. Intelligent information systems.

Parsing. Machine translation. Speech Recognition. Context Modeling. Dialog Systems.

Grouping and Figure-Ground. Object Recognition. Human Activity Recognition. Active Vision.

Motion Planning, Computational Geometry. Computer assisted surgical and medical analysis, planning, and monitoring. Unmanned Air Vehicles

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) | EECS at UC Berkeley

Enos: Psychedelic Space Rock from Brighton UK

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We are very happy to say that Enos will have a track appearing on H42 Records sampler CD Home Of The Deer: Vol 1. Released on CD these will be available with all orders from H42 Records and is limited to just 300 copies. Available on a first come first serve basis there has never been a better reason to pick up some of the fantastic releases (including our Son of A Gun/Grey Belly split with Mangoo) from H42. We have submitted a live version of Devil Makes Work taken from our DVD Live at The East Slope. Home of The Deer: Vol 1 includes a mixture of exclusive, unreleased, live and familiar tracks from other H42 bands

Mos Generator,Sons of Alpha Centauri,Lord Of Giant,Mangoo,Daily Thompson,The Loranes,Molior Superum,The Flying Eyes,Dean Allen Foyd,Black Salvation,Mother of God,Larman Clamor,Odd Couple,Coogans BluffAlpha Cat.

Keep an eye on H42 Records Facebook page for tracks and updates.

We have got some more copies of of Chapter One, and The East Slope EP on CD as well as the Live at The East Slope DVD currently available via our online shop. Unfortunately All Too Human is currently sold out on vinyl but we do have copies on CD available.

If you have yet to see Live at The East Slope here is Collisions featuring guest vocals from Sigrid Jakobson

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Until next time..

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Enos: Psychedelic Space Rock from Brighton UK

Spratly Islands – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Spratly Islands (Chinese: ; pinyin: Nnsh Qndo, Malay: Kepulauan Spratly, Tagalog: Kapuluan ng Kalayaan,[8]Vietnamese: Qun o Trng Sa) are a disputed group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea.[9] The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and southern Vietnam. Named after the 19th-century British whaling captain Richard Spratly who sighted Spratly Island in 1843, the islands contain approximately 4km2 (1.5sq mi) of land area spread over a vast area of more than 425,000km2 (164,000sq mi).

The Spratlys are one of the major archipelagos in the South China Sea that comprise more than 30,000 islands and reefs, and which complicate governance and economics in this part of Southeast Asia due to their location in strategic shipping lanes. The islands have no indigenous inhabitants, but offer rich fishing grounds and may contain significant oil and natural gas reserves.[10][11] and as such are important to the claimants in their attempts to establish international boundaries.

The area northeast of the Spratlys is known to mariners as Dangerous Ground and is characterized by its many low islands, sunken reefs, and atolls with coral often rising abruptly from ocean depths greater than 1,000 metres (3,300ft) - all of which makes the area dangerous for navigation.

In addition to various territorial claims, some of the features have civilian settlements, but of the approximately 45 islands, reefs, cays and other features that are occupied all contain structures that are occupied by military forces (from China (PRC), Taiwan (ROC), Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia). Additionally, Brunei has claimed (but does not occupy) an exclusive economic zone in the southeastern part of the Spratlys, which includes the Louisa Reef. These claims and occupations have led to escalating tensions between these countries over the status and "ownership" of the islands.

The Spratly Islands contain almost no significant arable land, have no indigenous inhabitants, and very few of the islands have a permanent drinkable water supply. Natural resources include fish and guano, as well as the possible potential of oil and natural gas reserves.[12]Economic activity has included commercial fishing, shipping, guano mining, and more recently, tourism.

The Spratlys are located near several primary shipping lanes.

The Spratly Islands consist of reefs, banks and shoals that consist of biogenic carbonate. These accumulations of biogenic carbonate lie upon the higher crests of major submarine ridges that are uplifted fault blocks known by geologists as horsts. These horsts are part of a series of parallel and en echelon, half-grabens and rotated fault-blocks. The long axes of the horsts, rotated fault blocks and half-grabens form well-defined linear trends that lie parallel to magnetic anomalies exhibited by the oceanic crust of the adjacent South China Sea. The horsts, rotated fault blocks, and the rock forming the bottoms of associated grabens consist of stretched and subsided continental crust that is composed of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous strata that include calc-alkalic extrusive igneous rocks, intermediate to acid intrusive igneous rocks, sandstones, siltstones, dark-green claystones, and metamorphic rocks that include biotite-muscovite-feldspar-quartz migmatites and garnet-mica schists.[13][14][15]

The dismemberment and subsidence of continental crust into horsts, rotated fault blocks and half-grabens that underlie the Spratly Islands and surrounding sea bottom occurred in 2 distinct periods. They occurred as the result of the tectonic stretching of continental crust along underlying deeply rooted detachment faults. During the Late Cretaceous and Early Oligocene, the earliest period of tectonic stretching of continental crust and formation of horsts, half-grabens, and rotated fault-blocks occurred in association the rifting and later sea-floor spreading that created the South China Sea. During the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene additional stretching and block faulting of continental crust occurred within the Spratly Islands and adjacent Dangerous Ground. During and after this period of tectonic activity, corals and other marine life colonised the crests of the horsts and other ridges that lay in shallow water. The remains of these organisms accumulated over time as biogenic carbonates that comprise the current day reefs, shoals and cays of the Spratly Islands. Starting with their formation in Late Cretaceous, fine-grained organic-rich marine sediments accumulated within the numerous submarine half-grabens that underlie sea bottom within the Dangerous Ground region.[13][14][15]

The geological surveys show localised areas within the Spratly Islands region are favourable for the accumulation of economic oil and gas reserves. They include thick sequences of Cenozoic sediments east of the Spratly Islands. Southeast and west of them, there also exist thick accumulations of sediments that possibly might contain economic oil and gas reserves lie closer to the Spratly Islands.[10][16]

In some cays in the Spratly Islands, the sand and pebble sediments form the beaches and spits around the island. Under the influence of the dominant wind direction, which changes seasonally, these sediments move around the island to change the shape and size of the island. For example, Spratly Island is larger during the northeast monsoon, (about 700 300 meters), and smaller during the southwest monsoon (approximately 650 320 meters).[17]

Some islands may contain fresh groundwater fed by rain. Groundwater levels fluctuate during the day with the rhythm of the tides.[18]

Phosphates from bird faeces (guano) are mainly concentrated in the beach rocks by the way of exchange-endosmosis. The principal minerals bearing phosphate are podolite, lewistonite and dehonite.[19]

Coral reefs are the predominant structures of these islands; the Spratly group contains over 600 coral reefs in total.[9] In April 2015 the New York Times reported that China were using "scores of dredgers" to convert Fiery Cross Reef and several other reefs into military facilities (runways, etc.).[20][21]

Little vegetation grows on these islands, which are subject to intense monsoons. Larger islands are capable of supporting tropical forest, scrub forest, coastal scrub and grasses. It is difficult to determine which species have been introduced or cultivated by humans. Taiping Island (Itu Aba) was reportedly covered with shrubs, coconut, and mangroves in 1938; pineapple was also cultivated there when it was profitable. Other accounts mention papaya, banana, palm, and even white peach trees growing on one island. A few islands that have been developed as small tourist resorts had soil and trees brought in and planted where there was none.[9]

A total of 2,927 marine species have been recorded in the Spratly Sea, including 776 benthic species, 382 species of hard coral, 524 species of marine fish, 262 species of algae and sea grass, 35 species of seabirds, 20 species of marine mammals and sea turtles, etc.[22]

Terrestrial vegetation in the islands includes 103 species of vascular plants of magnolia branches (Magnoliophyta) of 39 families and 79 genera.[22]

The islands that do have vegetation provide important habitats for many seabirds and sea turtles.[9]

Both the green turtle (Chelonia mydas, endangered) and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata, critically endangered) formerly occurred in numbers sufficient to support commercial exploitation. These species reportedly continue to nest even on islands inhabited by military personnel (such as Pratas) to some extent, though it is believed that their numbers have declined.[9]

Seabirds use the islands for resting, breeding, and wintering sites. Species found here include: streaked shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas), brown booby (Sula leucogaster), red-footed booby (S. sula), great crested tern (Sterna bergii), and white tern (Gygis alba). Little information is available regarding the current status of the islands' seabird populations, though it is likely that birds may divert nesting sites to smaller, less disturbed islands. Bird eggs cover the majority of Song Tu, a small island in the eastern Danger Zone.[9]

This ecoregion is still largely a mystery. Scientists have focused their research on the marine environment, while the ecology of the terrestrial environment remains relatively unknown.[9]

Political instability, tourism and the increasing industrialisation of neighbouring countries has led to serious disruption of native flora and fauna, over-exploitation of natural resources, and environmental pollution. Disruption of nesting areas by human activity and/or by introduced animals, such as dogs, has reduced the number of turtles nesting on the islands. Sea turtles are also slaughtered for food on a significant scale. The sea turtle is a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture and at times the military personnel are given orders to protect the turtles.[9]

Heavy commercial fishing in the region incurs other problems. Although it has been outlawed, fishing methods continue to include the use of bottom trawlers fitted with chain rollers. In addition, during a recent[timeframe?] routine patrols[by whom?], more than 200kg of Potassium cyanide solution was confiscated from fishermen who had been using it for fish poisoning. These activities have a devastating impact on local marine organisms and coral reefs.[9]

Some interest has been taken[by whom?] in regard to conservation of these[which?] island ecosystems. J.W. McManus[who?] has explored the possibilities of designating portions of the Spratly Islands as a marine park. One region of the Spratly Archipelago, named Truong Sa, was proposed by Vietnam's Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment (MOSTE) as a future protected area. The site, with an area of 160km2 (62sq mi), is currently managed by the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee of Vietnam.[9]

Military groups in the Spratlys have engaged in environmentally damaging activities such as shooting turtles and seabirds, raiding nests and fishing with explosives. The collection of rare medicinal plants, collecting of wood, and hunting for the wildlife trade are common threats to the biodiversity of the entire region, including these islands. Coral habitats are threatened by pollution, over-exploitation of fish and invertebrates, and the use of explosives and poisons as fishing techniques.[9]

Chinese texts of the 12th century record these islands being a part of Chinese territory and that they had earlier (206BC) been used as fishing grounds during the Han dynasty.[23][not in citation given] Further records show the islands as inhabited at various times in history by Chinese and Vietnamese fishermen, and during the second world war by troops from French Indochina and Japan.[24][25][26] However, there were no large settlements on these islands until 1956, when Filipino adventurer Toms Cloma, Sr., decided to "claim" a part of Spratly islands as his own, naming it the "Free Territory of Freedomland".[27]

Evidence of man's presence in the region extends back nearly 50,000 years at Tabon Caves on Palawan. Therefore, it is difficult to say when man first came upon this island group. Within historical times, several groups may have passed through or occupied the islands. Between 600BCE to 3BCE there was an East to West migration by members of the seafairing Sa Hunh culture. This may have led them through the Spratly Islands on their way to Vietnam. These migrants were the forebears of the Cham people that founded the Old Champa empire that ruled what was known for centuries as the Champa Sea.[28][29]

In the Song Dynasty work Zhu fan zhi by Zhao Rugua, who gathered informations from those foreigners who had been to China, the author himself had never been to outside of China, under his book the name "Thousand Li Stretch of Sands" (Qianli Changsha , ) and the "Ten-Thousand Li of Stone Pools/Beds" (Wanli Shitang , or Wanli Shichuang ) were given, interpreted by some to refer to Paracel and Spratly respectively.[30]Wanli Shitang is also recorded in the History of Yuan to have been explored by the Chinese during the Yuan dynasty and may have been considered by them to have been within their national boundaries.[31][32][33] They are also referenced, sometimes with different names, in the Ming dynasty.[34] When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the Qing dynasty continued to include the territory in maps compiled in 1724,[35] 1755,[36] 1767,[37] 1810,[38] and 1817.[39]

A Vietnamese map from 1834 also combines the Spratly and Paracel Islands into one region known as "Vn L Trng Sa"[citation needed], a feature commonly incorporated into maps of the era () that is, a combination of half of the 2 aforementioned Chinese island names, "Wanli" and "Changsha".[40] According to Hanoi, Vietnamese maps record Bi Ct Vng (Golden Sandbanks, referring to both the Spratly and Paracel Islands), which lay near the coast of the central Vietnam, as early as 1838.[41] In Ph Bin Tp Lc (The Frontier Chronicles) by scholar L Qu n, both Hong Sa and Trng Sa were defined as belonging to the Qung Ngi District. He described it as where sea products and shipwrecked cargoes were available to be collected. Vietnamese text written in the 17th century referenced government-sponsored economic activities during the L dynasty, 200years earlier. The Vietnamese government conducted several geographical surveys of the islands in the 18th century.[41]

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam both made a claim to these territories simultaneously, at the time, neither side was aware that its neighbour had already charted and made claims to the same stretch of islands.[41]

The islands were sporadically visited throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries by mariners from different European powers (including Richard Spratly, after whom the island group derives its most recognisable English name).[42] However, these nations showed little interest in the islands.

In the 1950s, a group of individuals claimed sovereignty over the islands in the name of Morton F. Meads, supposedly an American descendant of a British naval captain who gave his name to Meads Island (Itu Aba) in the 1870s. In an affidavit made in 1971, the group claimed to represent the Kingdom of Humanity/Republic of Morac-Songhrati-Meads,[43] which they asserted was in turn the successor entity for a supposed Kingdom of Humanity established between the two world wars on Meads Island, allegedly by the son of the British captain. This claim to this would-be micronation fell dormant after 1972, when several members of the group drowned in a typhoon.[44][45][46][47]

In 1883, German boats surveyed the Spratly and the Paracel Islands but eventually withdrew the survey, after receiving protests from the Guangdong government representing the Qing dynasty. Many European maps before the 20th century do not even mention this region.[48]

The following are political divisions for the Spratly Islands claimed by various area nations (in alphabetical order):

In the 19th century, Europeans found that Chinese fishermen from Hainan annually sojourned on the Spratly islands for part of the year, while in 1877 it was the British who launched the first modern legal claims to the Spratlys.[51][52]

When the Spratlys and Paracels were being surveyed by Germany in 1883, China issued protests against them. The 1887 Chinese-Vietnamese Boundary convention signed between France and China after the Sino-French War said that China was the owner of the Spratly and Paracel islands.[53][54] China sent naval forces on inspection tours in 1902 and 1907 and placed flags and markers on the islands. The Qing dynasty's successor state, the Republic of China, claimed the Spratly and Paracel islands under the jurisdiction of Hainan.[54]

In 1933, France asserted its claims to the Spratly and Paracel Islands[55] on behalf of its then-colony Vietnam.[56] It occupied a number of the Spratly Islands, including Taiping Island, built weather stations on two of the islands, and administered them as part of French Indochina. This occupation was protested by the Republic of China (ROC) government because France admitted finding Chinese fishermen there when French warships visited nine of the islands.[57] In 1935, the ROC government also announced a sovereignty claim on the Spratly Islands. Japan occupied some of the islands in 1939 during World War II, and it used the islands as a submarine base for the occupation of Southeast Asia. During the Japanese occupation, these islands were called Shinnan Shoto (), literally the New Southern Islands, and together with the Paracel Islands (), they were put under the governance of the Japanese colonial authority in Taiwan.

Japan occupied the Paracels and the Spratlys from February 1939 to August 1945.[58] Japan administered the Spratlys via Taiwan's jurisdiction and the Paracels via Hainan's jurisdiction.[51] Parts of the Paracels and Spratlys were occupied by Republic of China after the 1945 surrender of Japan,[59] since the Allied powers assigned the Republic of China to receive Japanese surrenders in that area,[54] however no successor was named to the islands.[59]

In November 1946, the ROC sent naval ships to take control of the islands after the surrender of Japan.[58] It had chosen the largest and perhaps the only inhabitable island, Taiping Island, as its base, and it renamed the island under the name of the naval vessel as Taiping. Also following the defeat of Japan at the end of World War II, the ROC re-claimed the entirety of the Spratly Islands (including Taiping Island) after accepting the Japanese surrender of the islands based on the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations. The Republic of China then garrisoned Itu Aba (Taiping) island in 1946 and posted Chinese flags and markers on it along with Woody island in the Paracels. France tried, but failed, to make them leave Woody island.[51] The aim of the Republic of China was to block the French claims.[54][60] The Republic of China drew up the map showing the U-shaped claim on the entire South China Sea, showing the Spratly and Paracels in Chinese territory, in 1947.[54] Japan had renounced all claims to the islands in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty together with the Paracels, Pratas and other islands captured from the Chinese, and upon these declarations, the government of the Republic of China reasserted its claim to the islands. The KMT force of the ROC government withdrew from most of the Spratly and Paracel Islands after they retreated to Taiwan from the opposing Communist Party of China due to their losses in the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.[56] The ROC quietly withdrew troops from Taiping Island in 1950, but then reinstated them in 1956 in response to Toms Cloma's sudden claim to the island as part of Freedomland.[61] As of 2013[update], Taiping Island is administered by the ROC.[62]

After pulling out its garrison in 1950 when the Republic of China evacuated to Taiwan, when the Filipino Tomas Cloma uprooted an ROC flag on Itu Aba laid claim to the Spratlys and, the Republic of China (now Taiwan) again regarrisoned Itu Aba on 1956.[63] In 1946, the Americans reminded the Philippines at its independence that the Spratlys was not Philippine territory, both to not anger Chiang Kai-shek in China and because the Spratlys were not part of the Philippines per the 1898 treaty Spain signed with America.[51] The Philippines then claimed the Spratlys in 1971 under President Marcos, after Taiwanese troops attacked and shot at a Philippine fishing boat on Itu Aba.[64]

Taiwan's garrison from 19461950 and 1956-now on Itu Aba represents an "effective occupation" of the Spratlys.[64][65] China established a coastal defence system against Japanese pirates or smugglers.[66]

North Vietnam recognised China's claims on the Paracels and Spratlys during the Vietnam War as it was being supported by China. Only after winning the war and conquering South Vietnam did North Vietnam retract its recognition and admitted it recognised them as part of China to receive aid from China in fighting the Americans.[67]

In 1988, the Vietnamese and Chinese navies engaged in a skirmish in the area of Johnson South Reef (also called Yongshu reef in China and Mabini reef in Philippines).[68]

Under President Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan stated that "legally, historically, geographically, or in reality", all of the South China Sea and Spratly islands were Taiwan's territory and under Taiwanese sovereignty, and denounced actions undertaken there by Malaysia and the Philippines, in a statement on 13 July 1999 released by the foreign ministry of Taiwan.[69] Taiwan and China's claims "mirror" each other; during international talks involving the Spratly islands, China and Taiwan have cooperated with each other since both have the same claims.[64][70]

It was unclear whether France continued its claim to the islands after WWII, since none of the islands, other than Taiping Island, was habitable. The South Vietnamese government took over the Trng Sa administration after the defeat of the French at the end of the First Indochina War. In 1958, the PRC issued a declaration defining its territorial waters that encompassed the Spratly Islands. North Vietnam's prime minister, Phm Vn ng, sent a formal note to Zhou Enlai, stating that the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) respected the Chinese decision regarding the 12nmi (22km; 14mi) limit of territorial waters.[71] While accepting the 12-nmi principal with respect to territorial waters, the letter did not actually address the issue of defining actual territorial boundaries.

In 1999, a Philippine navy ship (Number 57 - BRP Sierra Madre) was purposely run aground near Second Thomas Shoal to enable establishment of an outpost. As of 2014[update] it had not been removed, and Filipino troops have been stationed aboard since the grounding.[72][73]

Taiwan and China are largely strategically aligned on the Spratly islands issue, since they both claim exactly the same area, so Taiwan's control of Itu Aba (Taiping) island is viewed as an extension of China's claim.[53] Taiwan and China both claim the entire island chain, while all the other claimaints only claim portions of them. China has proposed co-operation with Taiwan against all the other countries claiming the islands. Taiwanese lawmakers have demanded that Taiwan fortify Itu Aba (Taiping) island with weapons to defend against the Vietnamese, and both China and Taiwanese NGOs have pressured Taiwan to expand Taiwan's military capabilities on the island, which played a role in Taiwan expanding the island's runway in 2012.[74] China has urged Taiwan to co-operate and offered Taiwan a share in oil and gas resources while shutting out all the other rival claimaints. Taiwanese lawmakers have complained about repeated Vietnamese aggression and trespassing on Taiwan's Itu Aba (Taiping), and Taiwan has started viewing Vietnam as an enemy over the Spratly Islands, not China.[75] Taiwan's state run oil company CPC Corp's board director Chiu Yi has called Vietnam as the "greatest threat" to Taiwan.[74] Taiwan's airstrip on Taiping has irritated Vietnam.[76] China views Taiwan's expansion of its military and airstrip on Taiping as benefiting China's position against the other rival claimaints from southeast Asian countries.[65] China's claims to the Spratlys benefit from legal weight because of Taiwan's presence on Itu Aba, while America on the other hand has regularly ignored Taiwan's claims in the South China Sea and does not include Taiwan in any talks on dispute resolution for the area.[77]

Taiwan performed live fire military exercises on Taiping island in September 2012; reports said that Vietnam was explicitly named by the Taiwanese military as the "imaginary enemy" in the drill. Vietnam protested against the exercises as violation of its territory and "voiced anger", demanding that Taiwan stop the drill. Among the inspectors of the live fire drill were Taiwanese national legislators, adding to the tensions.[78]

On 23 May 2011, the President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, warned visiting Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie of a possible arms race in the region if tensions worsened over disputes in the South China Sea. Aquino said he told Liang in their meeting that this could happen if there were more encounters in the disputed and potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands.[79]

In May 2011, Chinese patrol boats attacked 2 Vietnamese oil exploration ships near the Spratly Islands.[80] Also in May 2011, Chinese naval vessels opened fire on Vietnamese fishing vessels operating off East London Reef (Da Dong). The 3 Chinese military vessels were numbered 989, 27 and 28, and they showed up with a small group of Chinese fishing vessels. Another Vietnamese fishing vessel was fired on near Fiery Cross Reef (Chu Thap). The Chief Commander of Border Guards in Phu Yen Province, Vietnam reported that a total of 4 Vietnamese vessels were fired upon by Chinese naval vessels.[verification needed] These incidents involving Chinese forces sparked mass protests in Vietnam, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,[81] and in various Vietnamese communities in the West (namely in the US state of California and in Paris) over attacks on Vietnamese citizens and the intrusion into what Vietnam claimed was part of its territory.[82]

In June 2011, the Philippines began officially referring to the South China Sea as the "West Philippine Sea" and the Reed Bank as "Recto Bank".[83][84]

In July 2012, the National Assembly of Vietnam passed a law demarcating Vietnamese sea borders to include the Spratly and Paracel Islands.[85][86]

In 2010, it was reported that the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad believed Malaysia could profit from China's economic growth through co-operation with China,[87] and said that China "was not a threat to anyone and was not worried about aggression from China", as well accusing the United States of provoking China and trying to turn China's neighbours against China.[88] Malaysia displayed no concern over China conducting a military exercise at James Shoal in March 2013.[89] Malaysia also suggested that it might work with China with Malaysian Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein saying that Malaysia had no problem with China patrolling the South China Sea, and telling ASEAN, America, and Japan that "Just because you have enemies, doesn't mean your enemies are my enemies".[90] However, until present Malaysia still maintained a balance relations with the countries involved in this dispute.[91] But since China has start enroaching its territorial waters,[92] Malaysia has become active in condemning China.[93][94]

The editorial of the Taiwanese news website "Want China Times" accused America for being behind the May 2014 flareup in the South China Sea, saying that Vietnam rammed a Chinese vessel on 2 May over an oil rig drilling platform and the Philippines detained 11 Chinese fishermens occurred because of Obama's visit to the region and that they were incited by America "behind the scenes". "Want China Times" claimed America ordered Vietnam on 7 May to complain about the drilling platform, and noted that a joint military exercise was happening at this time between the Philippines and America, and also noted that the American "New York Times" newspaper supported Vietnam.[95]

In a series of news stories on 16 April 2015, it was revealed, through photos taken by Airbus Group, that China had been building an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef, one of the southern islands. The 10,000-foot-long (3,048m) runway covers a significant portion of the island, and is viewed as a possible strategic threat to other countries with claims to the islands, such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

Various factions of the Muslim Moro people are waging a war for independence against the Philippines. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari declared its support for China against the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute, calling both China and the Moro people as victims of Philippine colonialism, and noting China's history of friendly relations with the Sultanate of Sulu in the region.[96] The MNLF also denounced America's assistance to the Philippines in their colonization of the Moro people in addition to denouncing the Philippines claims to the islands disputed with China, and denouncing America for siding with the Philippines in the dispute, noting that in 1988 China "punished" Vietnam for attempting to set up a military presence on the disputed islands, and noting that the Moros and China maintained peaceful relations, while on the other hand the Moros had to resist other colonial powers, having to fight the Spanish, fight the Americans, and fight the Japanese, in addition to fighting the Philippines.[97]

While the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed a peace deal with the Philippines, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) did not and renewed armed resistance against Philippine rule in Zamboanga; on September 15, 2013, in response to the MNLF's fighting against the Philippine Army, the New York Times published an article crediting every Philippine government for having struggled to bring peace to the Muslims of Mindanao since 1946 when it became independent and claimed that it is the belief of the Muslims that they are being subjected to oppression and exploitation by the Christians that is the problem which is causing the conflict and the newspaper also claimed that the conflict stretched back to 1899 when Moro insurrectionists were quelled by the American army.[98] On January 26, 2014 the New York Times published another article claiming that "every Philippine government" has "struggled to bring peace to Mindanao" and claimed that reports of exploitation and oppression by the Filipino Christians originated from what Muslims "say" and the newspaper also praised President Benigno S. Aquino III's "landmark peace deal" with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).[99] The New York Times labelled Moro fighters as "Muslim-led groups" and as "violent".[100] The New York Times blamed "Islamic extremist groups" for carrying out attacks in the Philippines.[101] The New York Times editorial board endorsed Philippine President Benigno Aquino's planned peace deal and the passage of "Bangsamoro Basic Law", blaming the "Muslim insurgency" for causing trouble to the "largely Catholic country".[102] The New York Times claimed that "Islamic militants" were fighting the Philippine military.[103]

The New York Times claimed the peace deal between the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) "seeks to bring prosperity to the restive south and weaken the appeal of the extremist groups", and linked the winding down of an American military counterterrorism operation to increased American military cooperation with the Philippines against China.[104] The New York Times hailed Mr Aquino's "peace agreement" as an "accomplishment" as it reported on Aquino raising the "alarm" on China in the South China Sea.[105] The New York Times editorial board published an article siding with the Philippines against China in the South China Sea dispute and supporting the Philippines actions against China.[106][107] The New York Times editorial board endorsed aggressive American military action against China in the South China Sea.[108][109]

American and Filipino forces launched a joint operation against the Moros in the Mamasapano clash, in which Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters manage to kill 44 Filipino police commandos and caused massive blow back for the botched raid, putting a decisive halt to American plans for its Asia military "pivot" in the Philippines.[110] Moros have reported that 4 caucasian-looking (American) soldiers were killed in the Mamasapano clash along with the 44 Filipinos.[111]

The Moro National Liberation Front published an open letter to the United States President Barack Hussein Obama and demanded to know why America is supporting Philippine colonialism against the Moro Muslim people and the Filipino "war of genocide" and atrocities against Moros, reminding Obama that the Moro people have resisted and fought against the atrocities of Filipino, Japanese, American, and Spanish invaders, and reminding Obama of past war crimes also committed by American troops against Moro women and children like the Moro Crater massacre at Bud Dajo.[112]

The Moro National Liberation Front accused the Philippines, Japan, America, and Spain of conspiring against the Moros and recounted their invasions, imperialism, and atrocities against the Moros and demanded that they end the current colonization against the Moro people, the MNLF recounted that the Spanish were greedy colonizers, that the Americans committed massacres of Moro children and women at Mount Bagsak and Bud Dajo, and that the Japanese "exhibited tyranny, cruelty and inhumanity at its lowest level", and "had to suffer their worst defeat and highest death mortality at the hands of the Bangsamoro freedom fighters", demanding an apology from Japan for crimes committed against the Moros.[113]

The Moro National Liberation Front questioned the humanity and morality of the Philippines, Japan, America, and Spain, noting that they have done nothing to end the colonialism and war inflicted upon the Moros and reminded them that they have resisted and fought against Japanese, American, and Spanish atrocities and war crimes while the Filipinos bent over, capitulated and submitted to the invaders, the MNLF brought up the massacre committed by American troops at Bud Dajo against Moro women and children and boasted that compared to the Japanese casualty rate in the Visayas and Luzon, the amount of Japanese imperialists slaughtered by the Moro freedom fighters was greater by the thousands and that there was no capitulation like the "Fall of Bataan" to the Japanese by the Moros while the Luzon Filipinos submitted.[114] The MNLF said that the Japanese, American, and Spanish cruelty has been continued by Filipino rule.[115]

Japanese scholar Taoka Shunji criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for trying to falsely portray China as a threat to Japan and that it was invading its neighbors like the Philippines, and pointed out that the Spratly islands were not part of the Philippines when the US acquired the Philippines from Spain in the Treaty of Paris in 1898, and the Japanese ruled Taiwan itself had annexed the Spratly islands in 1938 and the US ruled Philippines did not challenge the move and never asserted that it was their territory, he also pointed out that other countries did not need to do full land reclamation since they already control islands and that the reason China engaged in extensive land reclamation is because they needed it to build airfields since China only has control over reefs.[116]

Champa historically had a large presence in the South China Sea. The Vietnamese broke Champa's power in an invasion of Champa in 1471, and then finally conquered the last remnants of the Cham people in an invasion in 1832. A Cham named Katip Suma who received Islamic education in Kelantan declared a Jihad against the Vietnamese, and fighting continued until the Vietnamese crushed the remnants of the resistance in 1835. The Cham organisation Front de Libration du Champa was part of the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, which waged war against the Vietnamese for independence in the Vietnam War along with the Montagnard and Khmer Krom minorities. The last remaining FULRO insurgents surrendered to the United Nations in 1992. Vietnam has settled over a million ethnic Vietnamese on Montagnard lands in the Central Highlands. The Montagnard staged a massive protest against the Vietnamese in 2001, which led to the Vietnamese to forcefully crush the uprising and seal the entire area off to foreigners.

The Vietnamese government fears that evidence of Champa's influence over the disputed area in the South China Sea would bring attention to human rights violations and killings of ethnic minorities in Vietnam such as in the 2001 and 2004 uprisings, and lead to the issue of Cham autonomy being brought into the dispute, since the Vietnamese conquered the Hindu and Muslim Cham people in a war in 1832, and the Vietnamese continue to destroy evidence of Cham culture and artefacts left behind, plundering or building on top of Cham temples, building farms over them, banning Cham religious practices, and omitting references to the destroyed Cham capital of Song Luy in the 1832 invasion in history books and tourist guides. The situation of Cham compared to ethnic Vietnamese is substandard, lacking water and electricity and living in houses made out of mud.[117]

The Cham in Vietnam are only recognised as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to the region. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confisticating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. Hindu temples were turned into tourist sites against the wishes of the Cham Hindus. In 2010 and 2013 several incidents occurred in Thnh Tn and Phc Nhn villages where Cham were murdered by Vietnamese. In 2012, Vietnamese police in Chau Giang village stormed into a Cham Mosque, stole the electric generator, and also raped Cham girls.[118] Cham Muslims in the Mekong Delta have also been economically marginalised and pushed into poverty by Vietnamese policies, with ethnic Vietnamese Kinh settling on majority Cham land with state support, and religious practices of minorities have been targeted for elimination by the Vietnamese government.[119]

In 2005, a cellular phone base station was erected by the Philippines' Smart Communications on Pag-asa Island.[122]

On 18 May 2011, China Mobile announced that its mobile phone coverage has expanded to the Spratly Islands. The extended coverage would allow soldiers stationed on the islands, fishermen, and merchant vessels within the area to use mobile services, and can also provide assistance during storms and sea rescues. The service network deployment over the islands took nearly one year.[123]

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Orlando Freedom

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Welcome to the Orlando Freedom - a rich and unique experiece for the youth of Orlando. Dedicated to building the future of our kids by promoting the values of friendship, teamwork, hard work and dedication through the beautiful game of soccer.

With soccer as a cornerstone, our players and students learn the great life skills needed for success - loyalty, cooperation, initiative, poise and confidence. We build citizens and patriots while THEY HAVE FUN!!!!!!

For all boys and girls from ages 2 to 18 we have a program to fit every skill level, every age, and every level of competition.

Our professional coaching staff, led by President Jim Hansen, is trained not only in soccer but in educational development, and has only one goal in mind - the success of our players and student.

For boys and girls age 2-5 our Lil' Patriots Soccer School gets the kids off on the right foot. With classes taught right in local pre-schools and kindergartens or at a local field for stay at home pre-school kids, it's just the right combination of games, stories, and fun to grab the interest and love of your little one.

For players from 6-9 years old, or graduates of the Lil' Patriots Soccer School, The Patriot Soccer Academy is the place to be! We build teams of 5-6 players to play in our own recreational league, and in select 3v3 tournaments around the Orlando area.

For the more advanced players ages 8-18, we build traveling teams that play in competitive and advanced recreational leagues and tournaments all around Central Florida. We also provide private skill training.

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The Orlando Freedom 'Lil Patriots Soccer School

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Click on the upcoming events button for information regarding our 2016 Summer Camp, and openings on our U9, U11, U12Academy teams and on our National Champion U11 Girls team.

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Orlando Freedom

Orlando Freedom Ticket | Orlando Combo Tickets | ATD Ireland

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With the Orlando Freedom Ticket you have complete freedom to come and go as you please to ELEVEN fantastic Florida theme parks and is the ideal ticket solution for both first time visitors to Orlando and repeat guests who wish to experience all the leading Florida theme parks.

The Orlando Freedom Ticket represents amazing value compared to single day entry tickets and gives you access to 11 fantastic theme parks including:

PLUS the Orlando Freedom Ticket also gives you unlimited access to the following great venues for the duration of your Disney ticket:

And your Orlando Freedom Ticket also includes:

At the Disney Parks, your ticket includes use of theFastPass+system which reduces queing time. This is notincluded at non-Disney parks.

This added-value bonus is exclusivefor UK and Irish customers pre-purchasingan adult 2016Orlando Freedom Ticketandallows you to keep and share all the amazing photographs taken of you and your family by Disney PhotoPass photographers in the parks. Even better ride photos are included too! Use Memory Maker to capture and relive your Walt Disney World Florida memories without having to reach for your camera.See the family screaming down Splash Mountain, posing for those iconic photos in front of Cinderellas Castle and enjoying that first hug with Mickey Mouse and friends.

Your photos are linked to your Disney account, so you can download them right away from the Disney PhotoPass site. Download as many photos as you want as many times as you like!

Use your Disney Memory Maker to capture all your magical memories at Walt Disney World Florida in 2016.

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Florida – Freedom-Wings

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America's "Coolest" Fairing Vent System! . . . .

Crank & Chrome Inc. 1533 Ridgewood Ave. Holly Hill,FL.32117 386-615-1449 http://www.cranknchrome.net

Orlando Harley-Davidson 3770 37th Street, Orlando, FL, 32805 407-423-0346 http://www.orlandoharley.com

Peterson's Harley-Davidson of Miami, L.C. 19400 NW Second Avenue, Miami, FL, 33169 (305) 651-4811 http://www.miamiharley.com

Harley-Davidson of Crystal River 1785 South Suncoast Blvd, Homosassa, FL, 34448 (352) 563-9900 http://www.hdcrystalriver.com

Rossiter's Harley-Davidson Shop 1990 1st Street West (US41),Bradenton, FL, 34208 941-745-2429 http://www.rossiterharleydavidson.com

Gainesville Harley-Davidson & Buell, Inc. 4125 NW 97 Blvd, Gainesville, FL, 32606 352-331-6363 http://www.gainesvilleharley.com

Capital City Harley-Davidson 1745 Capital Circle, NW, Tallahassee, FL, 32303 (850) 205-4294 http://www.capitalcityharley.com

Seminole Harley-Davidson 8155 South Highway 17-92, Fern Park, FL, 32730 (407) 831-7888 http://www.hdcentralflorida.com

Brandon Harley-Davidson Shop 9839 Adamo Drive, Tampa, FL, 33619 813-740-9898 http://www.h-dtampa.com

Adamec Harley-Davidson of Orange Park 1520 Wells Road, Orange Park, FL, 32073 904-215-1931 http://www.adamecsharley.com

Peterson's Harley-Davidson South, L.C. 17631 S. Dixie Highway, Perrine, FL, 33157 305-235-4023 http://www.harleymiami.com

Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson of Stuart, Inc 4967 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL, 34997 (772) 287-3871 http://www.treasure-harley.com

Harley-Davidson of Crystal River 1785 S. Suncoast Blvd,Homosassa, FL, 34448 (352) 563-9900 http://www.hdcrystalriver.com

Peterson's Harley-Davidson of Miami, L.C. 19400 NW Second Ave, Miami, FL, 33169 (305) 651-4811 http://www.petersonsmiamiharley.com

Gator Harley-Davidson, Inc. 2325 East Main St, Leesburg, FL, 34748 352-787-8050 http://www.gatorharley.com

Fletcher's Harley-Davidson Sales 17129 US Highway 19 North, Clearwater, FL, 33764 727-535-1844 http://www.fletchersh-d.com

Harley-Davidson of Pensacola, Inc. 6385 Pensacola Blvd, Pensacola, FL, 32505 850-494-1224 http://www.pensacolaharley.com

Harley-Davidson of Naples, Inc. 3645 Gateway Lane, Naples, FL, 34109 (239) 594-5504 http://www.hdnaples.com

Adamec Harley-Davidson at Regency 10399 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, FL, 32225 904-641-3735 http://www.regencyharley.com

Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson of Stuart 4967 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL, 34997 (772) 287-3871 http://www.treasure-harley.com

Space Coast Harley-Davidson 6030 North Harbor City Blvd, Melbourne, FL, 32940 321-259-1311 http://www.spacecoastharley.com

Gator Harley-Davidson, Inc. 2325 East Main Street, Leesburg, FL, 34748 352-787-8050 http://www.gatorharley.com

Harley-Davidson of Lakeland, Inc. 4202 Lakeland Hills Blvd, Lakeland, FL, 33805 (863) 802-1971 http://www.hdlakeland.com

Harley-Davison of Bradenton 1990 1st Street, Bradenton, FL 34208 (941) 745-2429 http://www.rossiterharleydavidson.com

Harley-Davidson of Tampa 6920 North Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL, 33614 813-886-7433 http://www.h-dtampa.com

Gulf Coast Harley-Davidson 5817 State Rd 54, New Port Richey, FL, 34652 (727) 842-4547 http://www.gulfcoastharley.com

Harley-Davidson of St. Augustine, Inc. 2575 State Road 16, St. Augustine, FL, 32092 904-829-8782 http://www.harley-davidsonstaugustine.com

Delray Cycle 2455 North Old Dixie Hwy, Delray Beach, FL 33483 (561) 272-2812

Heritage Cycles Harley Davidson 788 Beal Parkway Northwest, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547 (850) 862-4706

Harley-Davidson of Ft. Myers 2160 Colonial Blvd, Fort Myers, FL, 33907 (239) 275-4647 http://www.hdfortmyers.com

Jim's Harley-Davidson of St. Petersburg 2805 54th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL, 33714 (727) 527-9672 http://www.jimshd.com

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Florida - Freedom-Wings

Days Inn Le Roy/Bloomington Southeast | Le Roy, IL 61752 Hotel

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Enjoy comfort and convenience at our Days Inn Le Roy/Bloomington Southeast hotel, located off Interstate 74, midway between Bloomington and Champaign. Our non-smoking Le Roy, IL, hotel is also just 15 miles from Bloomington-Normal Airport (BMI) and offers easy access to Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University and companies like Pioneer Hi-Bred and Vestas Wind Energy, as well as golf and recreational activities, making us your ideal choice for hotels and motels in the Bloomington area.

Wake up each morning to a free Daybreak continental breakfast with hot waffles, surf the web or check your email using our free Wi-Fi, and take advantage of our ample free parking, including large-vehicle parking. Our in-room amenities include a microwave, mini-refrigerator and flat-screen HDTV, and kids 17 and under stay free with an adult at our pet-friendly hotel.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Those seeking to commune with nature can fish, go horseback riding and rent paddle boats at Moraine View State Park, just seven miles from our Le Roy, IL, hotel or take the drive to Clinton Lake State Recreation Area, just 20 miles away. Golfers can hit the links at nearby Le Roy Country Club, and those in the area visiting students will find Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University just 20 miles from our Le Roy hotel, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just 35 miles away.

DINING OPTIONS

You will find several restaurants close by our hotel in Le Roy. Jacks Caf serves up hearty family-style fare, and Woodys Family Restaurant features an all-you-can-eat-buffet. Teddy Buckmens offers zesty southern fare, while China King is the place to go if you are craving Chinese food. For those on the run, familiar, tasty cheap eats including McDonalds, Arbys and Subway are all within a half-mile of our Le Roy, Illinois hotel.

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Days Inn Le Roy/Bloomington Southeast | Le Roy, IL 61752 Hotel

Swimming Beaches in Illinois | USA Today

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See city views while swimming at a Chicago beach. (Photo: Thinkstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images )

Whether your travels take you to the city of Chicago or beyond, spend a warm summer day swimming at one of several destinations across Illinois. From the city beaches on the shores of Lake Michigan located within walking distance of many urban amenities to the 600-foot beach on Lake Le-Aqua-Na in rural northwest Illinois, swimming enthusiasts have many choices of places to make a splash.

In the city of Chicago (chicagoparkdistrict.com), swim for free at one of several beaches located along 26 miles of lakefront shoreline. With lifeguards on duty during the summer season, swimming is permitted in 15 designated areas. Parking is limited or requires a fee at most beaches, so city officials advise using public transportation whenever possible. North of the city, visit Leone Beach near Evanston or Montrose Beach near Chicago Lakeshore Hospital. Swim near the heart of downtown Chicago at North Beach at Lincoln Park or 12th Street Beach near Soldier Field. Other city swimming beaches include Fargo; Foster; Calumet; Howard Street; Jarvis Avenue; Oak Street; Rainbow; and South Shore Beach. Dogs are permitted at four beaches within the Chicago Park District.

With 39,600 feet of beach access, Illinois Beach State Park (dnr.state.il.us) has the longest public swimming area of any state park. The 4,160-acre park located on the shores of Lake Michigan has picnic areas for spreading out a meal after a day in the water and nearby hiking trails extending up to five miles. Lifeguards are not present at the park's beaches, but parking is plentiful for visitors planning to spend the day swimming. Overnight camping at 241 sites is open to visitors of Illinois Beach State Park, and a resort also offers overnight accommodations for swimmers planning a multiday stay.

Travel to Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park (dnr.state.il.us) to swim on a 600-foot beach on the shores of the 40-acre lake in northwest Illinois. Olson Lake Beach is open to visitors to 3,092-acre Rock Cut State Park, with the 50-acre Olson Lake ideally suited for swimming. In central Illinois, head to 9,300-acre Clinton Lake State Recreation Area to spend the day swimming on a 1,000-foot white sandy beach bordering the lake. A designated swimming area is also open to visitors at 1,687-acre Moraine View State Recreation Area at the Black Locust picnic area on Dawson Lake. In southern Illinois, visit 1,302-acre Sam Dale Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area to swim on a large beach on the west side of the lake.

Swim at one of four public beaches on 11,100-acre Lake Shelbyville (lakeshelbyville.com) in central Illinois for a nominal daily fee. The Dam West Recreation Area, Sullivan Beach and Wilborn Creek Recreation Area all provide public swimming access to the lake, which is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (mvs.usace.army.mil/shelbyville). Wolf Creek State Park (dnr.state.il.us) also provides swimming access on the northeastern shores of the lake and has picnic tables and barbecues located nearby. An outdoor aquatic center is also open during the summer months in Forest Park near the lake's southwestern shores.

Michelle Hornaday lives in Edmonds, Washington and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Washington State University and a Master of Education from Northern Arizona University. She is currently a freelance writer for various websites.

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Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

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Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might might be Earthlike.

This is pretty cool news. Weve found planets like this before, but not very many! And it gets niftier: the planet has at least five siblings, all of which orbit its star closer than it does.

Now let me be clear: this is a planet candidate; it has not yet been confirmed. Reading the journal paper (PDF), though, the data look pretty good. It may yet turn out not to be real, but for the purpose of this blog post Ill just put this caveat here, call it a planet from here on out, and fairly warned be ye, says I.

The star is called HD 40307, and its a bit over 40 light years away (pretty close in galactic standards, but I wouldnt want to walk there). Its a K2.5 dwarf, which means its cooler, dimmer, and smaller than the Sun, but not by much. In other words, its reasonably Sun-like. By coincidence, it appears ot be about the age as the Sun, too: 4.5 billion years. It was observed using HARPS, the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (I know, it should be HARVPS, but thats harvd to pronounce). This is an extremely sensitive instrument that looks for changes in the starlight as a planet (or planets) orbits a star. The gravity of the star causes the planet to orbit it, but the planet has gravity too. As it circles the star, the star makes a littler circle too (I like to think of it as two kids, one bigger than the other, clasping hands and swinging each other around; the lighter kid makes a big circle and the bigger kid makes a smaller circle). As the star makes its circle, half the time its approaching us and half the time its receding. This means its light is Doppler shifted, the same effect that makes a motorcycle engine drop in pitch as it passes you.

Massive planets tug on their star harder, so theyre easier to find this way. Also, a planet closer in has a shorter orbit, so you dont have to look as long to find it. But in the end, by measuring just how the star is Doppler shifted, you can get the mass and orbital period of the planet. Or planets.

In this case, HD 40307 was originally observed a little while back by HARPS, and three planets were found. But the data are public, so a team of astronomers grabbed it and used a more sensitive method to extract any planetary signatures from the data. They found the three previously-seen planets easily enough, but also found three more! One of them is from a planet that has (at least) seven times the mass of the Earth, and orbits with a 198 day period. Called HD 40307g (planets are named after their host star, with a lower case letter after starting with b), its in the "super-Earth" range: more massive than Earth, but less than, say Neptune (which is 17 times our mass).

We dont know how big the planet is, unfortunately. It might be dense and only a little bigger than Earth, or it could be big and puffy. But if its density and size are just so, it could easily have about the same surface gravity as Earth that is, if you stood on it, youd weight the same as you do now!

But the very interesting thing is that it orbits the star at a distance of about 90 million kilometers (55 million miles) closer to its star than is is to the Sun but thats good! The star is fainter and cooler than the Sun, remember. In fact, at this distance, the planet is right in the stars "habitable zone", where the temperature is about right for liquid water to exist!

Thats exciting because of the prospect for life. Now, whenever I mention this I hear from people who get all huffy and say that we dont know you need water for life. Thats true, but look around. Water is common on Earth, and here we are. We dont know that you need water for life, but we do know that water is abundant and we need it. We dont know for sure of any other ways for life to form, so it makes sense to look where we understand things best. And that means liquid water.

Heres a diagram of the system as compared to our own:

Note the scales are a bit different, so that the habitable zones of the Sun and of HD 40307 line up better (remember, HD 40307g is actually closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun an AU is the distance of the Earth to the Sun, so HD 40307 is about 0.6 AU from its star). What makes me smile is that the new planet is actually better situated in its "Goldilocks Zone" than Earth is! Thats good news, actually: the orbit may be elliptical (the shape cant be determined from the types of observations made) but still stay entirely in the stars habitable zone.

And take a look at the system: the other planets all orbit closer to the star! We only have two inside Earths orbit in our solar system but all five of HD 40307s planets would fit comfortably inside Mercurys orbit. Amazing.

So this planet if it checks out as being real is one of only a few weve found in the right location for life as we know it. And some of those weve found already are gas giants (though they could have big moons where life could arise). So what this shows us is that the Earth isnt as out of the ordinary as we may have once thought: nature has lots of ways of putting planets the right distances from their stars for life.

Were edging closer all the time to finding that big goal: an Earth-sized, Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star at the right distance for life. This planet is a actually a pretty good fit, but we just dont know enough about it (primarily its size). So Im still waiting. And given the numbers of stars weve observed, and the number of planets we found, as always I have to ask: has Earth II already been observed, and the data just waiting to be uncovered?

Image credits: ESO/M. Kornmesser; Tuomi et al.

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ALPHA CENTAURI HAS A PLANET! Kepler confirms first planet found in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star! A nearby star may have more planets than we do Exoplanet in a triple star system, smack dab in the habitable zone Super-Earth exoplanet likely to be a waterworld

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Patri Friedman – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Patri Friedman

Patri Friedman of the Seasteading Institute in Helsinki on 13 May 2011.

Patri Friedman (born July 29, 1976 in Blacksburg, Virginia) is an American libertarian activist and theorist of political economy.[3] He founded the nonprofit Seasteading Institute, which explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.[4][5][6]

Friedman grew up in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Upper Merion Area High School, class of 1994, where he went by the name Patri Forwalter-Friedman. He was named after Patri J. Pugliese, a close friend of his parents.[7] He graduated from Harvey Mudd College in 1998, and worked as a software engineer at Google.[8][9] As a poker player, he cashed in the World Series of Poker four times.[10]

Friedman was executive director of the Seasteading Institute, founded on April 15, 2008, with a half-million-dollar donation by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.[11] The Institute's mission is "to establish permanent, autonomous ocean communities to enable experimentation and innovation with diverse social, political, and legal systems".[12][13] This was initially a part-time project one day a week while working as a Google engineer the rest of the time[8] but Friedman left Google on July 29, 2008 to spend more time on seasteading.[14] He and partner Wayne Gramlich hoped to float the first prototype seastead in the San Francisco Bay by 2010.[15][16] At the October 2010 Seasteading social, it was announced that current plans were to launch a seastead by 2014.[17]

Since attending the Burning Man festival in 2000, Friedman imagined creating a water festival called Ephemerisle as a Seasteading experiment and Temporary Autonomous Zone. Through the Seasteading Institute, Friedman was able to start the Ephemerisle festival in 2009, aided by TSI's James Hogan as event organizer and Chicken John Rinaldi as chief builder. The first Ephemerisle is chronicled in a documentary by Jason Sussberg.[18] Since 2010, the event has been annual and community-run.

On 31 July 2011, Friedman stepped down from the position as Executive Director of Seasteading Institute, but remained chairman of the board.[19] Later, he co-founded the Future Cities Development Corporation, a project to establish a self-governing charter city within the borders of Honduras.[20][21]

In 2012 it was announced the initiative would be halted due to the changing political climate of Honduras.[22]

During his poker career, Patri Freidman was predicted to become a world champion by Card Player Magazine.[23] He claims to have created AI bots for online poker.[24]

Patri is the grandson of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman[25] and economist Rose Friedman and son of economist and physicist David D. Friedman.[25][26] He is divorced and has two children. As of December 2015, he is engaged.[27]

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Patri Friedman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Libertarianism – Mises Wiki, the global repository of …

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This article uses content from the Wikipedia article on Libertarianism (edition) under the terms of the CC-by-SA 3.0 license.

Libertarianism is a political philosophy[1] that views respect for individual choice and individual liberty[2] as the foundation of the ideal society, and therefore seeks to minimize or abolish the coercive actions of the State as that is the entity that is generally identified as the most powerful coercive force in society.[3][4] Broadly speaking, libertarianism focuses on the rights of the individual to act in complete accordance with his or her own subjective values,[5] and argues that the coercive actions of the State are often (or even always) an impediment to the efficient realization of one's desires and values.[6][7] Libertarians also maintain that what is immoral for the individual must necessarily be immoral for all state agents, and that the state should not be above the natural law.[8][9] The extent to which government is necessary is evaluated by libertarian moral philosophers from a variety of perspectives.[10][11]

The term libertarian was originally used by late Enlightenment free-thinkers to refer to those who believed in free will, as opposed to determinism.[12] Libertarianism in this sense is still encountered in metaphysics in discussions of free will. The first recorded use of the term was in 1789, by William Belsham, son of a dissenting clergyman.[13]Murrary Rothbard identified mysterious Chinese philospher Lao-Tzu who lived in the sixth century BC as one of the first libertarian-minded philosphers and another philosopher Chuang-tzu as the first thinker to describe the benefits of "spontaneous order".[14]

The term libertarian was first popularized in France in the 1890s in order to counter and evade the anti-anarchist laws known as the lois sclrates.[citationneeded] According to anarchist historian Max Nettlau, the first use of the term libertarian communism was in November 1880, when a French anarchist congress employed it to more clearly identify its doctrines.[15] The French anarchist journalist Sbastien Faure, later founder and editor of the four-volume Anarchist Encyclopedia, started the weekly paper Le Libertaire (The Libertarian) in 1895.[16]

In the meantime, in the United States, libertarianism as a synonym for anarchism had begun to take hold. The anarchist communist geographer and social theorist Peter Kropotkin wrote in his seminal 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article Anarchism that:

Today, worldwide, anarchist communist, libertarian socialist, and other left-libertarian movements continue to describe themselves as libertarian, although their continued appropriation of the phrase is open to controversy, with right libertarians maintaining that left-libertarianism is internally inconsistent and should not be associated with modern libertarianism in any way. These "leftist" styles of libertarianism are opposed to most or all forms of private property.

Age of Enlightenment ideas of individual liberty, constitutionally limited government, peace, and reliance on the institutions of civil society and the free market for social order and economic prosperity were the basis of what became known as liberalism in the 19th century.[18] While it kept that meaning in most of the world, modern liberalism in the United States began to mean a more statist viewpoint. Over time, those who held to the earlier liberal views began to call themselves market liberals, classical liberals or libertarians.[19] While conservatism in Europe continued to mean conserving hierarchical class structures through state control of society and the economy, some conservatives in the United States began to refer to conserving traditions of liberty. This was especially true of the Old Right, who opposed The New Deal and U.S. military interventions in World War I and World War II.[20][21]

Later, the Austrian School of economics also had a powerful impact on both economic teaching and classical liberal and libertarian principles.[22][23] It influenced economists and political philosophers and theorists including Henry Hazlitt, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Israel Kirzner, Murray Rothbard, Walter Block and Richard M. Ebeling. The Austrian School was in turn influenced by Frederic Bastiat.[24][25]

Starting in the 1930s and continuing until today, a group of central European economists lead by Austrians Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek identified the collectivist underpinnings to the various new socialist and fascist doctrines of government power as being different brands of totalitarianism.

In the 1940s, Leonard Read began calling himself libertarian.[12] In 1955, Dean Russell wrote an article in the Foundation for Economic Education magazine pondering what to call those, such as himself, who subscribed to the classical liberal philosophy. He suggested: "Let those of us who love liberty trademark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word "libertarian.""[26]

Ayn Rand's international best sellers The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957) and her books about her philosophy of objectivism influenced modern libertarianism.[27] For a number of years after the publication of her books, people promoting a libertarian philosophy continued to call it individualism.[28] Two other women also published influential pro-freedom books in 1943, Rose Wilder Lanes The Discovery of Freedom and Isabel Patersons The God of the Machine.[29]

According to libertarian publisher Robert W. Poole, Arizona United States Senator Barry Goldwater's message of individual liberty, economic freedom, and anti-communism also had a major impact on the libertarian movement, both with the publication of his book The Conscience of a Conservative and with his run for president in 1964.[30] Goldwater's speech writer, Karl Hess, became a leading libertarian writer and activist.[31]

The Cold War mentality of military interventionism, which had supplanted Old Right non-interventionism, was promoted by conservatives like William F. Buckley and accepted by many libertarians, with Murray Rothbard being a notable dissenter.[32] However, the Vietnam War split the uneasy alliance between growing numbers of self-identified libertarians, anarcho-libertarians, and more traditional conservatives who believed in limiting liberty to uphold moral virtues. Some libertarians joined the draft dodger, peace movements and Students for a Democratic Society. They began founding their own publications, like Murray Rothbard's The Libertarian Forum and organizations like the Radical Libertarian Alliance. The split was aggravated at the 1969 Young Americans for Freedom convention, when more than 300 libertarians organized to take control of the organization from conservatives. The burning of a draft card in protest to a conservative proposal against draft resistance sparked physical confrontations among convention attendees, a walkout by a large number of libertarians, the creation of new purely libertarian organizations like the Society for Individual Liberty, and efforts to recruit potential libertarians from conservative organizations.[33] The split was finalized in 1971 when conservative leader William F. Buckley, in a 1971 New York Times article, attempted to weed libertarians out of the freedom movement. He wrote: "The ideological licentiousness that rages through America today makes anarchy attractive to the simple-minded. Even to the ingeniously simple-minded."[29]

In 1971, David Nolan and a few friends formed the Libertarian Party.[34] Attracting former Democrats, Republicans and independents, it has run a presidential candidate every election year since 1972, including Ed Clark (1980), Ron Paul (1988), Harry Browne (1996 and 2000) and Bob Barr (2008). By 2006, polls showed that 15 percent of American voters identified themselves as libertarian.[35] Over the years, dozens of libertarian political parties have been formed worldwide. Educational organizations like the Center for Libertarian Studies and the Cato Institute were formed in the 1970s, and others have been created since then.[36]

Philosophical libertarianism gained a significant measure of recognition in academia with the publication of Harvard University professor Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia in 1974. The book won a National Book Award in 1975.[37] According to libertarian essayist Roy Childs, "Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia single-handedly established the legitimacy of libertarianism as a political theory in the world of academia."[38]

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states "libertarianism holds that agents initially fully own themselves and have moral powers to acquire property rights in external things under certain conditions." It notes that libertarianism is not a right-wing doctrine because of its opposition to laws restricting adult consensual sexual relationships and drug use, and its opposition to imposing religious views or practices and compulsory military service. However, it notes that there is a version known as left-libertarianism which also endorses full self-ownership, but "differs on unappropriated natural resources (land, air, water, etc.)." "Right-libertarianism" holds that such resources may be appropriated by individuals. "Left-libertarianism" holds that they belong to everyone and must be distributed in some egalitarian manner.[39]

Like many libertarians, Leonard Read rejected the concepts of "left" and "right" libertarianism, calling them "authoritarian."[40] Libertarian author and politician Harry Browne wrote: "We should never define Libertarian positions in terms coined by liberals or conservatives nor as some variant of their positions. We are not fiscally conservative and socially liberal. We are Libertarians, who believe in individual liberty and personal responsibility on all issues at all times. You can depend on us to treat government as the problem, not the solution."[41]

Isaiah Berlin's 1958 essay "Two Concepts of Liberty" described a difference between negative liberty which limits the power of the state to interfere and positive liberty in which a paternalistic state helps individuals achieve self-realization and self-determination. He believed these were rival and incompatible interpretations of liberty and held that demands for positive liberty lead to authoritarianism. This view has been adopted by many libertarians including Robert Nozick and Murray Rothbard.[42]

Libertarians contrast two ethical views: consequentialist libertarianism, which is the support for liberty because it leads to favorable consequences, such as prosperity or efficiency and deontological libertarianism (also known as "rights-theorist libertarianism," "natural rights libertarianism," or "libertarian moralism") which consider moral tenets to be the basis of libertarian philosophy.[43] Others combine a hybrid of consequentialist and deontologist thinking.[44]

Another view, contractarian libertarianism, holds that any legitimate authority of government derives not from the consent of the governed, but from contract or mutual agreement. Robert Nozick holds a variation on this view, as does Jan Narveson as outlined in his 1988 work The Libertarian Idea and his 2002 work Respecting Persons in Theory and Practice. Other advocates of contractarian libertarianism include the Nobel Laureate and founder of the public choice school of economics James M. Buchanan, Canadian philosopher David Gauthier and Hungarian-French philosopher Anthony de Jasay.[45][46][47]

The main differences among libertarians relate to the ideal amount of freedom and the means to that freedom.

Libertarian conservatism, also known as conservative libertarianism (and sometimes called right-libertarianism), describes certain political ideologies which attempt to meld libertarian and conservative ideas, often called "fusionism."[48][49] Anthony Gregory writes that right, or conservative, "libertarianism can refer to any number of varying and at times mutually exclusive political orientations" such as being "interested mainly in 'economic freedoms'"; following the "conservative lifestyle of right-libertarians"; seeking "others to embrace their own conservative lifestyle"; considering big business "as a great victim of the state"; favoring a "strong national defense"; and having "an Old Right opposition to empire."[50]

Conservatives hold that shared values, morals, standards, and traditions are necessary for social order while libertarians consider individual liberty as the highest value.[51] Laurence M. Vance writes: "Some libertarians consider libertarianism to be a lifestyle rather than a political philosophy... They apparently dont know the difference between libertarianism and libertinism."[52] However, Edward Feser emphasizes that libertarianism does not require individuals to reject traditional conservative values.[48]

Some libertarian conservatives in the United States (known as libertarian constitutionalists) believe that the way to limit government is to enforce the United States Constitution.[53]

Libertarianism's status is in dispute among those who style themselves Objectivists (Objectivism is the name philosopher-novelist Ayn Rand gave her philosophy). Though elements of Rand's philosophy have been adopted by libertarianism, Objectivists (including Rand herself) have condemned libertarianism as a threat to freedom and capitalism. In particular, it has been claimed that libertarians use Objectivist ideas "with the teeth pulled out of them".[54][55]

Conversely, some libertarians see Objectivists as dogmatic, unrealistic, and uncompromising (Objectivists do not see the last as a negative attribute). According to Reason editor Nick Gillespie in the magazine's March 2005 issue focusing on Objectivism's influence, Rand is "one of the most important figures in the libertarian movement... Rand remains one of the best-selling and most widely influential figures in American thought and culture" in general and in libertarianism in particular. Still, he confesses that he is embarrassed by his magazine's association with her ideas. In the same issue, Cathy Young says that "Libertarianism, the movement most closely connected to Rand's ideas, is less an offspring than a rebel stepchild." Though they reject what they see as Randian dogmas, libertarians like Young still believe that "Rand's message of reason and liberty... could be a rallying point" for libertarianism.

Objectivists reject the rigorous interpretation of the non-aggression principle which leads anarchist libertarians to reject the State. For Objectivists, a government limited to protection of its citizens' rights is absolutely necessary and moral or at least a "necessary evil". Objectivists are opposed to all anarchist currents and are suspicious of libertarians' lineage with individualist anarchism.[56]

Libertarian progressivism supports the civil libertarian aspect of freedom as well as supporting the kind of economic freedom that emphasizes removing corporate subsidies and other favoritism to special interests, and applying a responsible transition toward freedom - for example, some support a transition approach that includes certain trade restrictions on imports from countries that have very little freedom, and free trade with those countries would be phased in if they move toward more freedom. Libertarian progressives are sometimes libertarian Democrats.[57][58]

Minarchism is the belief that a state should exist but that its functions should be minimal because its sole purpose is protecting the rights of the people, including protecting people and their property from the criminal acts of others, as well as providing for national defense.[59]

Anarchism is a political philosophy encompassing many theories and traditions, all opposed to government. Although anarchism is usually considered to be a left-wing ideology, it always has included individualists and, more recently, anarcho-capitalists who support pro-property and market-oriented economic structures. Anarchists may support anything from extreme individualism to complete collectivism.

Geolibertarianism is a political movement that strives to reconcile libertarianism and Georgism (or geoism).[60] Geolibertarians are advocates of geoism, which is the position that all land is a common asset to which all individuals have an equal right to access, and therefore if individuals claim the land as their property they must pay rent to the community for doing so. Rent need not be paid for the mere use of land, but only for the right to exclude others from that land, and for the protection of one's title by government. They simultaneously agree with the libertarian position that each individual has an exclusive right to the fruits of his or her labor as their private property, as opposed to this product being owned collectively by society or the community, and that "one's labor, wages, and the products of labor" should not be taxed. In agreement with traditional libertarians they advocate "full civil liberties, with no crimes unless there are victims who have been invaded."[60] Geolibertarians generally advocate distributing the land rent to the community via a land value tax, as proposed by Henry George and others before him. For this reason, they are often called "single taxers". Fred E. Foldvary coined the word "geo-libertarianism" in an article so titled in Land and Liberty, May/June 1981, pp. 53-55. In the case of geoanarchism, the voluntary form of geolibertarianism as described by Foldvary, rent would be collected by private associations with the opportunity to secede from a geocommunity (and not receive the geocommunity's services) if desired.

Left-libertarianism is usually regarded as doctrine that has an egalitarian view concerning natural resources, believing that it is not legitimate for someone to claim private ownership of resources to the detriment of others.[39][61][62] Most left libertarians support some form of income redistribution on the grounds of a claim by each individual to be entitled to an equal share of natural resources.[62] Left libertarianism is defended by contemporary theorists such as Peter Vallentyne, Hillel Steiner, Michael Otsuka, and Noam Chomsky.[63] The term is sometimes used as a synonym for libertarian socialism or simply socialism.[64]

Some members of the U.S. libertarian movement, including the late Samuel Edward Konkin III[65] and Roderick T. Long,[66] employ a differing definition of left libertarianism. These individuals depart from other forms of libertarianism by advocating strong alliances with the Left on issues such as the anti-war movement,[67] and by supporting labor unions.[68][69] Some wish to revive voluntary cooperative ideas such as mutualism.[70]

In France, Libert chrie ("Cherished Liberty") is a pro-liberty think tank and activist association formed in 2003. Libert chrie gained significant publicity when it managed to draw 30,000 Parisians into the streets to demonstrate against government employees who were striking.[71][72]

In Germany, a "Libertre Plattform in der FDP" ("Liberty Caucus within the Free Democratic Party") was founded in 2005.

The Russian Libertarian Movement (Rossiyskoye Libertarianskoye Dvizhenie, RLD; 2003-2006) was a short-lived political party in the Russian Federation, formed by members of the Institute of Natiology (Moscow), a libertarian think-tank. After electoral failure and government failure, it disbanded.

The Libertarian Alliance was an early libertarian educational group. It was followed by British think tanks such as the Adam Smith Institute. A British Libertarian Party was founded on January 1, 2008.

Well known libertarian organizations include the Center for Libertarian Studies, the Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the International Society for Individual Liberty (ISIL) and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The Libertarian Party of the United States is the world's first such party.

The activist Free State Project, formed in 2001, works to bring 20,000 libertarians to the state of New Hampshire to influence state policy. They had signed up 1,033 people by 2008. Similar, but less successful, projects include the Free West Alliance and Free State Wyoming. (There is also a European Free State Project.)

The Tea Party Movement is arguably a recent revival of mainstream libertarianism in the United States. Ron Paul and his son Rand Paul's increasing visibility and popularity with the electorate could also be signs of a revival of libertarianism in mainstream political consciousness in the United States.

Costa Rica's Movimiento Libertario ("Libertarian Movement") is libertarian party which holds roughly 10% of the seats in Costa Rica's national assembly (legislature). The Limn REAL Project seeks for autonomy in a province in Costa Rica.[73]

Libertarianism at Wikipedia

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Charleston: Which Beach is Best? – TripAdvisor

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Kiawah Island is rated as having the "Second Most Romantic Beach in America" by National Geographic Traveler. Kiawah Island is unique among the barrier islands, unlike Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach, commercial development is virtually non-existent. This island was meticulously planned to be environmentally sound and very relaxing. A semi-tropical climate hosts alligators (often seen basking in the sun on the banks of Kiawah's many lagoons), sea turtles, bobcats and some very friendly dolphins. Along with over 40 miles of bike trails, there are five world-class golf courses, several tennis courts, and 10 miles of the most beautiful beach on the Altantic Coast! Other activities available on Kiawah Island include boating, sailing, surfing, parasailing, canoeing, kayaking, shelling, fishing, sightseeing and plenty of wildlife viewing. Kiawah is a gated community with restricted public access. Public access to the beach is available at Kiawah Beachwalker County Park. http://www.ccprc.com/index.aspx?nid=1411

Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island

You can't enjoy the complete Charleston experience if you don't pay a visit to one of its beautiful beaches while in town. Three public beaches are within a few minutes' drivefrom downtown Charleston. Each is distinctly different from the others, and each offers its own special brand of Lowcountry fun and relaxation. What all of the Charleston area beaches have in common is that the waters are generally gentle; the slope is very shallow (walk in a hundred feet and you might only be in water up to your knees); the surface is smooth (no coral, few shells) and the water is greenish-brown with limited visibility (not good for snorkeling). The gentle slope of the beach results in hugely varying tides - the difference between water coverage at low vs high tide can be 50 or more feet, and at lunar high tides some beaches might leave very limited beach space. (Helpful to check tide tables and go out when it's not high tide) Beach water temperatures are at their warmest (85 degrees) from June through September; October and May are also quite "swimmable" but you will see people in the water and on the beach year-round. Even in the hottest part of the summer, expect the beach to be breezy and cooler and very pleasant. Bring plenty of water, sunscreen and beach chairs (which can be rented) as the sand is solid and probably moist - better for chairs than for towels. You will not find high rise hotels or condo developments on any of the local beaches.

Hopefully the following information will help you decide which part of the Atlantic Ocean is best for you!

Folly Beach (11.5 Miles from Charleston - Referencea local mapfor directions) Also called "The Edge of America," this community characterizes the laid-back, easy-going beach lifestyle. Folly Beach is six miles of beach front and isn't overly commercialized - theTides Hotel is the only hotel on the beach. Though a good number of the homes on Folly have been or are being renovated, it is common to see many smaller, older homes all over Folly.If you enjoy the crowds, go to the beach in front of the hotel and by the fishing pier.If that's not your style, head farther north toward the Washout (named the Washout becausehomes standing in thatarea werewashed out), where surfers take on the waves. There arenumerousfun restaurants and bars and a good amount of souvenir shopping along Center Street which is the main drive in that are within walking distance of the beach.

Folly Parking - You can park in the Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission lot for $7 all day. There are metered parking spaces beside many of the beach access points, and a few privately-owned lots on the island. The park is at the east tip of Folly Beach where Ashley Avenue ends. Since parking can be a problem here, suggestions are to arrive before 10:30 am on weekends during prime season.Rest rooms available. Paid parking available at Folly Beach County Park at the west end of the island. http://ccprc.com/index.aspx?NID=61

Folly Dog Rules - Dogs are allowed if they are leashed, but you can't take your pet on the beach from May 1 through Sept. 30 between 10 am and 5 pm. Check Town of Folly Beach website for more details as rules can change from season to season and year to year.

Folly Alcohol Rules - Folly no longer allows any alcohol on it's beaches.

Isle of Palms (13.7 miles from Charleston) This barrier island boasts six miles of white-sand beaches and luxurious beach-front homes and is the most commercialized of the three area beaches.A few restaurants, shops and bars are oceanfront or second row, while a few others are walking distance of the beach. In the "heart" of the oceanside shopping area is a free public restroom with outdoor showers suitable for rinsing (not lathering!) . IOP is a big sea turtle nesting area - it is a "lights out" area at night as turtles become disoriented. Illegal to leave pits or large sand castles on the beach after you leave - fill pits in and smash sandcastles down - for human and turtle safety reasons. This beach is patrolled by officers in beach vehicles numerous times daily. The northernmost tip (from about 45th street and north) of the Isle of Palms is the resort known as Wild Dunes, which is a gated resort community with full-time residents and weekly or monthly rentals. The Boardwalk Inn is available for shorter-term rental and has its own pool, restaurant and other features. There is a large marina around 41st street on the marsh side of the island, where there is a market, bait shop and boat launch. One may also rent kayaks and boats here or arrange for chartered cruises. The marina has immediate access to the Intracoastal Waterway, a mostly inland waterway stretching from Maine to Florida.

Isle of Palms Parking - Coming off the IOP Connector, go straight through the light. The Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission lot is on your left. You can park there for $7 all day and use the facilities - rest rooms, showers, and picnic area. At busy times there will be a back-up to get into the lot, so plan accordingly. In the main part of town (Front Beach) parking is metered - pay at a pay station and place your receipt in view on your dashboard. There is also free parking along residential streets, but pay close attention to signs to avoid getting ticketed or towed.

Isle of Palms Beach Safety - Most of the IOP beaches have calm water and nice breezes. The exception is the area near Breach Inlet - in which winds typically are much higher, sand bars come and go very quickly (sometimes stranding swimmers) and the water can be treacherous. Do NOT swim in Breech inlet or too near Breech Inlet. Fines can be hefty.(see more info below) [Note the two acceptable spellings of Breach/Breech inlet!] There have been many drownings in this area over the years!!

Isle of Palms Dog Rules - IOP has new regulations for dogs- dogs of residents or property owners must be licensed. You do not need a license if you are only visiting.There are certain hours when dogs may be off leash. Dogs may be on the beach during the day, but must be leashed at all times, even in the water. Signs are posted regarding when dogs are and aren't allowed on the beaches. Pick up a clean-up bag before you hit the beach to avoid a hefty fine.

When can dogs be on the beach off leash? From 5:00AM until 9:00AM April 1st throughSeptember 14thand 4:00PM until 10:00AMSeptember 15ththrough March 31st. Dog ownersmust have leash in hand, have their dog under voice command and must clean up excrement. At all other times, dogs must be on leash and under complete control, even in the water.

Is there a place whereto takea dog to play off leash? Yes.A dog park located behind the Recreation Departmentat 24Twenty-eighth Avenue.

Isle of PalmsAlcohol Rules - Alcohol is not allowed on the beach and it is not uncommon for IOP Police to stop and do cooler checks - particularly when there are large groups of younger people. Well-behaved adults have been known to take alcohol on the beach in plastic containers with no difficulty, but they are taking a risk at getting fined.

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Breach (Breech) Inlet - UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SWIM OR EVEN WADE IN BREACH INLET OR EVEN NEARBY. Each and every year people DIE here. This can not be emphasized enough!! There are extremely treacherous currents in the area due to the force of ocean water passing between the islands as the tides change. There are sudden and steep drop offs, shifting sands similar to quick sand and very strong current. Even very strong swimmers (a Marine) have died here. BreachInlet is located between Sullivans Island and the Isle of Palms.

Sullivan's Island (9.6 miles from Charleston - reference area map) This is the most natural of the three beaches. Sullivan's Island is popular among local residents and visitors who want to avoid the crowds. Views from the beach include Ft. Sumter, Morris Island Lighthouseand the Battery.Great place to watch cargo ships come and go and to see the cruise ships and the Ravenel Bridge. There are no public restrooms except at the Fort Moultrie Visitors Center. Restaurants are clustered about 2-3 blocks from the ocean along the drive in if you're coming from the Ben Sawyer Bridge. .

Sullivan's Parking - Parking is limited and can be a problem during the beach season. Visitors must park wherever they can find a spot along Sullivan's streets, being mindful of posted signs, fire hydrants, sprinklers, landscaping, mailboxes and driveways.

Sullivan's Beach Safety - Sullivan's Island is closest to the Cooper River, where cruise ships, container ships and barges are commonly seen in shipping channels. Near the "bend" area, expect that sudden, unusually high "washes" take place after a large container ship has passed close by. On the north end of Sullivan's, currents are absolutely treacherousnear theBreech Inlet areaand unfortunately there are few years with no drownings. Breech Inlet is the waterway between Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms. Swim in areas far from theinlet and if there is any undertow, get out of the water and move to an area with no undertow. Due to large sandbars in that area, it is easy to feel comfortable in shallow water, but tides come in fast and high and have left many people stranded and in need of rescue, so beware.

Sullivan's Dog Rules - All dogs must have a Sullivan's Island-issued dog license that they must wear at all times, even visitors. License is $35 and requires certificate from your vet of rabiesvaccination, rabies tag is not considered proof.Dogs areNOT permitted on the beach from 10am to 6pm May 1 through September 30. Sunday mornings on Sullivans is a doggie "free for all" - dogs may be off leash but within voice command of the owner. Sunday mornings you will see as many dogs as people on the beach. Clean up bags for pet messes available near main beach access points - clean up after your pet or get fined.

Sullivan's Alcohol Rules - Alcohol is not allowed on the beach, though as with Isle of Palms, well-behaved adults have been known to take alcohol on the beach in plastic containers with no difficulty, but they are taking a risk at getting fined.

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