The U.S .Board on Geographic Names and Province of British Columbia Geographic Names Office have defined a new sea - the Salish Sea. The Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest and is connected to the Pacific Ocean. The new sea consists of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and the inland waterways in the region. The name, proposed in 1988, is a tribute to the native Coast Salish people who inhabited the region.

Geography graduate student Michalis Avraam at the University of Washington has compiled a fantastic listing of skills needed to obtain a job in GIS or career in GIS. He includes key aspects of GIS skills, programming skills, database skills, project management skills, and more. Check it out, you'll be glad you did!

Belgian Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy was unanimously elected the first President of the European Union by the twenty-seven member states today in Brussels. The New York Times reports, "The Belgian prime minister, an economist who likes bowling duckpins and writing haiku, has earned respect for calming down ethnic tensions in Belgium in his 11 months as prime minister" The position of president is expected to begin January 1, 2010. Prime Minister van Rompuy beat former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the new post.

A new study on the number of scientific publications per capita found that European countries led the world in research and innovation. The seven most productive countries in terms of scientific research articles published per citizen are: 1) Switzerland, 2) Sweden, 3) Denmark, 4) Israel, 5) Finland, 6), the Netherlands, and 7) Canada. The U.S. ranked twelfth while Germany ranked fifteenth in the study based on scientific articles from 2005.