Before inviting loved ones onto your boat, however, it's important to review some safety procedures to help ensure a relaxing experience for everyone.

Check out the tips below to ensure safe and enjoyable boating all summer long:

1) Watch the weather - Summer weather can turn nasty in an instant, and a boat can be a dangerous place to get caught in a storm. Before hitting the water, check the weather forecast and make note of any chance of precipitation or storms. If you see lightning while you're out on the water and cannot get to shore, crouch down in the middle of the boat or go below deck, if possible.

2) Boat maintenance - A well-maintained engine is key to enjoying your time on the water. So be sure to check your oil levels before heading out on the water, or invest in an engine that doesn't require oil changes, such as the E-TEC G2 by Evinrude. With an E-TEC, there's no need to remove any engine components to check oil levels before every use as with other engines, so you can get out on the water faster.

3) Life jacket required - Although warmer weather may make swimming irresistible, safety stillcomes first. It's important to always wear a life jacket while in the water, and to have access to one while in the boat. According to a 2014 study by the United States Coast Guard, 84 percent of victims who drowned during a boating accident were not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident. While they may seem like a hassle, life jackets really do save lives.

4) Don't drink and boat - An ice-cold beverage and boating can go hand-in-hand. However, just as with driving a car, it is illegal to operate a boat while intoxicated across the United States and Canada. In fact, being intoxicated on the water can be even more dangerous than being intoxicated on land. Unsteady footing, sun, wind, and even engine noise accelerates a drinker's impairment.

Keeping in mind a few simple safety tips can make all the difference for boat owners everywhere. So, before your next outing, make sure you, your boat and your passengers are all ready to go - and enjoy the ride!

DigiTrax Entertainment, a leader in the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry, recognizes this and has found a way to harness the analytical power of AI to help protect musicians from copyright infringement.

The new DigiTrax product, Music Fact Reports, can act as a personal CSI lab for forensic musicology, according to Joseph Vangieri, CEO of DigiTrax Entertainment.

"We believe Music Fact Reports will be a major step forward for rights holders," Mr. Vangieri says in a statement announcing the launch of Music Fact Reports.

The Music Fact Reports program helps individual musicians by saving them the hassle, time, and expense of hiring a professional forensic musicologist to conduct an analysis before deciding whether a copyright infringement case is worth pursuing with a lawyer.

The program also can be used by copyright lawyers to evaluate the strength of potential cases, and by publishers seeking to confirm the originality of a contracted musical work.

The Music Fact Reports program works on the power of artificial intelligence by extracting sequences from pieces of music and comparing them to other works using music theory-based algorithms.

"We are working towards a future in which analyzed sequences of data for all copyrighted pieces of music are stored in a database that can be accessed and searched to detect levels of extrinsic similarity instantly," says DigiTrax Chief Technical Officer Marcus Matusiak in a statement announcing the Music Fact Reports launch.

The Music Fact Reports program is currently being used by attorney Richard Wolfe of Wolfe Law in Miami, Florida, to pursue a copyright-infringement case involving instrumental music.

"I think the technology is cutting-edge for purposes of identifying substantial similarity in two pieces of music in terms of rhythms, beats, and extrinsic similarity," says Mr. Wolfe.

To promote the launch of the Music Fact Reports program and showcase its potential, DigiTrax engineers have developed Music Fact Reports for the top 10 copyright infringement cases of all time, Mr. Vangieri says.

Visit MusicFactReports.com for the reports on the Top 10 music-copyright-infringement cases, and for more information about how DigiTrax helps protect musicians.

A company car? (How Boomer-like of you.) A 401(k) plan? (Pretty common these days.)

With Millennials now comprising the largest share of the workforce, a growing number of companies are betting that offering to help pay off student debt is the next game-changer when it comes to attracting and retaining the best and brightest.

It's not a bad wager. Total education debt stood at a staggering $1.52 trillion at the end of March. And while the perk is by no means reserved only for Millennials - hey, even 4 percent of those 45 and older are still in the hole, according to the Pew Research Center - it's not lost on anyone that the average student loan borrower will have graduated this year saddled with more than $37,000 in debt.

"It stood at about $600 billion 10 years ago," MarketWatch.com reported.

One of the companies facilitating the new benefit is the same one - Fidelity Investments - that already handles millions of workers' 401(k) plans. Businesses enrolled in its Student Debt Employer Contribution program are able to make after-tax contributions on their employees' outstanding student loans, setting their own parameters as to "who" and "how much" with the help of a modeling tool for estimating their potential recruitment and retention cost savings.

"This is a new and relevant benefit that gives companies a competitive advantage to hire top talent," said Asha Srikantiah, vice president of emerging products at Fidelity (fidelity.com), noting that the average contribution for most companies is about $100 a month, although it can be as high as $800 monthly in some cases. "It also enables employees to pay off their debt faster, which in turn allows them to focus on other priorities - including buying a home, raising a family, and saving for retirement."

Among the "early adopters" Fidelity says it's teaming up with to offer the benefit: tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise; the rail industry's New York Air Brake; financial firms Millennium Trust and OCC (The Options Clearing Corporation); and Ariel Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of separable reciprocating gas compressors used in the global natural gas business.

In fact, more than just being a "facilitator" for others, Fidelity helped trail blaze this brave new world by having begun offering its own employees a student debt program back in 2016. To date, more than 8,900 of its workers have received the benefit, paid directly to their loan service provider, with some pretty impressive numbers to show for it: a total of $22.5 million in savings on principal and interest, and 34,625 years of loan payments shaved off.

The company is also taking what it calls "a holistic approach" to the student debt issue by offering open access to its website's Pre-College Planning Resources, which can help avoid the pitfalls of incurring too much debt, and its Student Debt Tool that lets individuals view all their student loans and repayment options in one place.

A deal recently inked with student debt refinancing platform Credible.com now also integrates student debt refinancing into the Student Debt Tool, allowing employees enrolled in the program to receive actual pre-qualified rates from more than 10 refinancing lenders without affecting their credit scores.

"The idea is to help more Americans take control of their debt so they can better save and invest for the futures," said Stephen Dash, Credible's founder and CEO.

The fun might include boating and other watersports, such as tubing, skiing, or wakeboarding. Preparation and education are the keys to a safe and successful day on the water. So get the summer off to a great start by making sure passengers of all ages have well-fitted lifejackets and understand safety procedures.

When fitting a child's lifejacket, be sure to select the current size. Don't put a child in an adult lifejacket or buy one in a larger size for a child to grow into. Rather, put the jacket on the child and buckle and secure all straps. Then lift the child's arm up over his or her head and pull up on the jacket. If it slips off, it's too big.

BoatUS offers a helpful video to show correct fit on their website, BoatUS.org/fit-video.

If you don't own a lifejacket and aren't prepared to buy one, borrow one from a friend or neighbor, or borrow one for free through the BoatUS Foundation Kids Life Jacket Loaner program. Find information about their 550 locations at BoatUS.org/life-jacket-loaner.

Be sure a child or anyone else riding behind a boat not only wears a lifejacket, but also knows the hand signals to communicate with the boat driver while being towed.

The following hand signals and rules of the water will ensure that everyone has fun and stays safe:

* If the speed is right, use an OK sign with your thumb and first finger.

* If you want the driver to go faster, use a thumbs up; to slow down, use a thumbs down; and use a slashing motion across your neck to stop.

* If you fall off, raise both arms above your head and clasp your hands as soon as possible to let the boat driver know you are okay.

Find more signals at BoatUS.com/hand-signals.

* While waiting in the water, ready to be pulled or towed again, be patient and allow the boat captain a little time to safely deliver the towline or tube to you.

* If you decide to come back aboard, the driver will allow the boat to drift to you with the engine off. When reboarding, use a step, deck, or boarding ladder only after the boat driver has signaled that it is safe to get back in the boat.

* Never swim near a boat while the engine is on.

Visit BoatUS.org for more information about staying safe on the water this summer. Stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, and have fun!

In his recent book, "Broken Capitalism: This is How We Fix it," Ferris Eanfar explains the state of the global economy and its key problems in a straightforward, accessible style.

"When the 10 largest corporations on Earth have more combined economic power than 92 percent of all countries on Earth combined, the 50 largest financial corporations control wealth equal to 90 percent of Earth's GDP [gross domestic product], the richest 1 percent of humans have more wealth than 99 percent of the world combined, and the eight richest humans have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Earth's entire population combined . . . it's safe to say humanity is in trouble," Mr. Eanfar says.

Mr. Eanfar's work is based on over 20 years of unique experience in economics, financial technologies ("FinTech"), blockchain/cryptocurrency development, artificial intelligence, and military and government affairs.

Three key points in the book deal with issues of defining value, following a vision, and managing innovation.

Value: Mr. Eanfar notes that money is not value itself; it represents value. Rather than focusing on money alone, he advises organizations to focus on theway value flows through their stakeholder ecosystems, which benefits all parties in the long run.

Vision: "In business and in life, having 'vision' is about accurately assessing current reality, defining steps to achieve specific goals, and building a bridge between vision and reality based on discipline and effective execution," says Eanfar.

Innovation: Artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and other technological innovations can be used for good or ill. Mr. Eanfar dedicates a chapter of the book to the impact of artificial intelligence [AI] on government and the economy.

"When lightning-fast A.I. controls the political and economic apparatus of countries through their automated manipulation of social media and web-based information channels, humans won't be able to easily differentiate between policy outcomes that serve their interests and policy outcomes that serve those who control the A.I. and their political patrons in the government," he says.

For more information about the book, visit: https://Eanfar.org

Mr. Eanfar is also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FerrisEanfar (@FerrisEanfar)

All book sales proceeds support the nonprofit AngelPay Foundation: https://AngelPayHQ.org

But did you know that even though you make an effort to eat healthy, you may still have trouble reaching your daily fiber requirement?

Many Americans average only half of the recommended 25 to 30 grams of dietary fiber per day, according to the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. Yet the current average daily intake of fiber is 15 grams, as the typical diet includes many foods with high calories, such as white bread, doughnuts, sodas, juices and red meat, to name a few.

It is impractical, however, to think that you can get your daily fiber requirement from food alone, even though you can find it in edible plants, including many fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. For example, you would need to eat about 10 apples or bananas every day to obtain your daily fiber requirement.

It's a startling statistic that the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates only about five percent of Americans reach the recommended level of dietary fiber requirements. An unfortunate result is a substantial burden on the health care system and on the individual health of Americans. This is known as the "fiber gap" as limited fiber intake has been associated with colon cancer and metabolic syndrome.

The "fiber gap" exists for two reasons: people think fiber supplements are primarily for maintaining a regular digestive system, and traditional forms of fiber supplements on the market, such as powder or capsules, are inconvenient to take.

"Dietary fiber is known for keeping our bodies regular," says Michael Epstein, M.D., FACG, AGAF, a leading gastroenterologist and Chief Medical Advisor of IM HealthScience, LLC.

"Most importantly, it's essential that you get enough fiber in your diet. One way to do that is to supplement your daily intake of dietary fiber with natural, prebiotic fiber supplements. Many of my patients like the convenience and ease of taking the Fiber Choice line of chewable and gummy products."

Fiber Choice - A Convenient, Prebiotic Solution

The Fiber Choice brand of chewables and gummies is made of inulin [pronounced: in-yoo-lin], a natural fiber found in many fruits and vegetables. Inulin works by helping to build healthy, good bacteria in the colon, while keeping food moving through the digestive system. This action has a beneficial and favorable effect of softening stools and improving bowel function.

Research shows that the digestive system does more than digest food; it plays a central role in the immune system. The healthy bacteria that live in the digestive tract promote immune system function, so it's important to nourish the body with fiber. Inulin has secondary benefits, too, of possibly lowering cholesterol, balancing blood chemistry and regulating appetite, which can help reduce calorie intake and play a supporting role in weight management.

But getting enough fiber in one's diet can be a challenge.

So try these tips to increase the amount of fiber in your diet:

•  Make your grains whole. Read labels and swap out conventional grains for whole wheat when buying bread and pasta products, and choose brown rice over white.

•  Make your veggies green. Green vegetables, including beans, spinach, cabbage, and asparagus are good sources of dietary fiber.

•  Go bananas. Many types of fruit are high in fiber, but bananas are an especially rich source. Add mashed bananas to muffins, smoothies, or a bowl of oatmeal as a way to increase fiber intake.

•  Add a supplement. Sometimes eating enough fiber-rich foods is a challenge. So choose a dietary fiber supplement with prebiotic effects, such as the fiber found in Fiber Choice, which has been designed to promote the same health benefits as the fiber found naturally in foods. Fiber Choice chewables or gummies are gluten-free, sugar-free, and taste great in several fruity flavors - and they are easy and convenient to take anywhere and anytime. Among all other fiber products on the market, only Fiber Choice gummies contain pectin, which is derived principally from citrus and apples.

For more information about the benefits of dietary fiber and how fiber supplements can be part of a healthy eating plan, visit www.fiberchoice.com.

The usual adult dosage with Fiber Choice Chewable tablets is two tablets up to three times a day and for Fiber Choice Fiber Gummies is two gummies up to six per day.

The product is available in major retailers, such as CVS/pharmacy, Walmart, Target, and many grocery stores, and can also be purchased online at Amazon.

*THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE.