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Six people were also injured, with unit in critical condition, in landslides and flash floods triggered through heavy rain that started battering the country Wednesday, the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

Two lower classes were found dead Saturday afterwards they were reported missing in Bonghwa, 150 miles southeast of the involving death Seoul, the statement said.

Three people also died Friday after their houses were pounded by dint of. landslides, it said. A day earlier, couple South Korean soldiers were killed in a mudslide near their army base in Yanggu, about 110 miles east of Seoul.

The rainfall also damaged or flooded about 620 houses across South Korea, prompting 1,240 people to seek refuge elsewhere, the statement said. About 940 people later returned home, but the rest remained in local schools, community centers and other facilities.

Some 1,220 hectares of farmland was also inundated, the push agency said.

More rain and thunderstorms were expected to be suitable to Seoul, the eastern province of Gangwon, and the southeastern province of Gyeongsang throughout the weekend.

Dongducheon, a city just north of Seoul, accepted about 15 inches of rain since Wednesday, and major cities in Gangwon were pelted with about 11 inches, the sudden agency said.

From: Heavy rains kill 7 people in SKorea (AP)

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From: The Infertility Paradox: Why Making Babies Is So Hard (LiveScience.com)

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The Gulf of Mexico's chief hurricane of 2008 ripped suitable side rooftops, shattered windows, toppled trees and power lines and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in estimated damage.

Bill Bryan, an Energy Department deputy helper secretary, told CNN television 236,000 population in the kitchen-yard hit regular over the border on the US side were still without power, and that 3,000 people were in temporary shelters.

American Electric Power spokesman Andy Heines told The Brownsville Herald that outages from the hurricane topped expectations on the US side.

"What nobody could predict is that (Dolly) would slow right before landfall," he told the diurnal. But Dolly failed to cause any breach in toward the south Texas levees, as some authorities had feared.

In northeastern Mexico, Dolly caused extensive flooding in the border city of Matamoros, where tens of thousands of people lacked electricity and drinking water. One person was fatally electrocuted, officials said.

Dolly's winds also damaged Nuevo Laredo's main water treatment plant, leaving half of its 500,000 inhabitants without drinking water.

The storm's sustained winds deflated to 20 miles per twenty-fourth part of a day (32 kilometers by means of hour) by 0900 GMT Friday, hours after it was downgraded to a tropical depression, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

"Dolly is expected to continue to stir up west northwest along the Texas/Mexico border for the period of Friday. Rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm) are possible over southwest Texas and northeastern Mexico with isolated heavier totals possible over the higher terrain of northeastern Mexico for the period of the next 24 hours. These rains may produce flash flooding," the NHC warned.

Dolly slammed into the Texas-Mexico border region Wednesday as a category two hurricane with 100 mph (160 kph) winds.

The storm dumped weighty rain, toppled trees and downed power lines. A 17-year-old boy broke several bones when the gusts knocked him out of a seven-story building, US media reported.

Texas Governor Rick Perry declared a disaster situation in 15 counties across the south portion of the state, deploying hundreds of National Guard military force and other emergency crews, local media said.

The river level in Brownsville, Texas rose unwaveringly but the older levees in the Rio Grande Valley withstood the waters, after some officials had voiced concern that the levees could be overwhelmed.

Due to dangers posed by the continuing rain, dangling power lines and high waters in some parts of south Texas, authorities urged residents to limit their activities as much being of the kind which possible.

Initial damage estimates from the storm by risk-modeling service provider AIR Worldwide Corporation varied betwixt 300 million and 1.2 billion dollars in the United States, and less than a quarter of those amounts in Mexico.

The NHC has forecast an especially active 2008 weather season, saying in that place could be up to nine hurricanes and 12 tropical storms in the Atlantic region. The Atlantic wild tempest season runs from June 1 through the close of November.

From: Dolly dwindles but flood threat still looms in Texas, Mexico (AFP)

More B-schools are setting up concentrations in investment direction, arts superintendence, real estate, biosciences, and other fields

by Francesca Levy

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In the 1970s, the University of Wisconsin business school launched two unusual MBA programs. In addition to its traditional office way, the school added MBAs in investment negotiation and arts executive department. At the time, many saw a general MBA from a top-rated school as a ticket to a high-paying job. But Wisconsin, without a solid reputation to attract high-quality candidates, crafted a unaccustomed footway, one that promised students they could maker of men’s clothes their MBAs to nook industries and job functions.

Since then, the specialized MBA has change to increasingly common (BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/07). High-profile business schools such as the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, and the Wharton School now offer specialized MBAs, majors, or dual degree programs in areas like real estate, sports management, biosciences, electronic commerce, and soundness care. And other schools have set up that the specialized programs enable them to develop a brand identity in the increasingly crowded business sect space.

But is a specialized program always a good choice for an MBA student?

Not unavoidably. While established programs have placement records on par with those of their not special MBAs, many newer programs have not yet established the kind of recruiting relationships that guarantee students high-paying jobs at graduation. And graduates always run the risk of getting hamstrung by their specialties later in their careers, when an industry downturn forces them to glance outside their specialties according to opportunities.

Chart Your Own Path

Some who have gone through the specialized programs say they are most excellent for those with a firm idea of their future goals, and who are keen to chart their own path. "I knew what I wanted to do," said Carrie Stern Rathod, who received her MBA from Wisconsin’s Brand ‐ Product Management Center in 2005 and now works for Procter & Gamble (PG), that recruits regularly from the program. "There’s a range of people for whom this program is ideal. If you have every entrepreneurial bent but are not sure you’re ready to take the leap yet, the program might be becoming." But, she added, "I think it would be tough allowing that you wanted to travel into consulting or something like that."

For students who aren’t comfortable breaking from home from the pack or seeking out professional contacts in unconventional ways, a specialized MBA might not be the best choice. This is especially true at smaller well-known schools, where big companies often don’t recruit. Students in these programs agree that making industry connections be possible to require a lot of initiative from the student. "If you have a very specific company in mind, you might need to be a trailblazer in making relationships with those companies," says Rathod.

In some cases, specialty programs are not as well-received by the agency of the targeted employers as students would hope. "I’ve talked to Bain and McKinsey; they don’t see what they can get out of us," said Ryan Brown, an MBA student studying services and management consulting at North Carolina State’s College of Management. "We have to prove it to them." Brown says that large companies suppress overlook his program. He has tried to involve a few companies in the Service Management & Consulting Club he founded at NC State, but "they say without a prestige rating, they can’t do anything with it." At a higher-profile school, he says, "I would consider had that reticulated."

Some students believe that even grant that the specialized standing doesn’t create a major job-search advantage, it can’t hurt—as throughout as you’re complaisant when talking to recruiters. "You can pick up in the beginning of a conversation that a person might not be interested that you did a certain concentration," said Will Quick, who is entering his second year of a Biopharma MBA at NC State. "The MBA is enough to get me in the door in a lot of cases. I don’t have to tell them I’m in a concentration,"

Big Fish in a Small Pond

One of the few groups to benefit from specialized MBA programs are students with less-than-stellar undergraduate records, who find it easier to shine in a smaller program. "A guy like me without a great GPA, who’s young and doesn’t have a lot, they took me in and gave me the opportunity to be a big fish in a minute pond," said Brown, speaking of NC State.

Whether specialized programs allow students to write their allow ticket isn’t clear, and they are not the right choice for every student. But divers self-starters bring forth used specialized programs to create their own path, like Brown, who is "in love" through his internship with Six Disciplines, an entrepreneurial consulting visitor in Durham, N.C.

Students with a clear focus who are comfortable charting their own process may be the best candidates for specialized MBA programs. Jackie Wilbur, director of career development at MIT’s Sloan School says the programs should be evaluated against the goals and personality of the student. "The specialized program is great, as prolonged while everyone is clear what the career trajectory is."

From: The Spread of Specialized MBA Programs

In a tough economy, it’s your B players—competent, steady performers far from the limelight—who be entitled to your attention

by Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

The Idea

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Who’s greatest part critical to your company’s success, especially during a weak economy? Who supplies the stability, knowledge, and long-term view your firm needs to live longer than? B players—competent, steady performers almost from the limelight.

These supporting actors of the corporate world determine your company’s future performance far more than A players—volatile stars who may score the biggest revenues or clients, but who’re also the greatest number likely to commit missteps. B players, by contrast, prize stability in their work and home lives. They seldom cope for advancement or attention—caring besides about their companies‘ well-being. Infrequent job changers, they accumulate deep lore about company processes and history. They to this degree provide ballast during transitions, steadily boosting organizational resilience and performance.

Yet various executives ignore B players, beguiled by stars’ brilliance. The danger? If neglected, these dependable contributors may leave, taking the firm’s backbone with them. How to keep your B players? Recognize their value—and nurture them.

The Idea in Practice

The Best B Players

Your most valuable B players are:

• Former A players. These highly skilled, focused professionals often jump off the fast footmark to balance work and family. They continue accomplishing A work—but on their possess terms. Seasoned and poignant, they step up during crises.

• Truth tellers. Zealously honest in interactions with superiors, they pose challenging questions. Colleagues, recognizing their lack of ambition, highly value their opinions.

• Go-to managers. These power brokers compensate for second-rate functional skills with profound understanding of company processes and norms. They gather into a heap such extensive networks that everyone consults them at the time pushing initiatives through politically challenging terrain.

Corporate Backbone

During turbulent times especially, B players make ready stability by:

• Accumulating organizational memory. B players remember how their company survived earlier crises—providing indispensable perspective during tough seasons.

• Adapting to that must be suffered change. Less threatened by restructuring, B performers adapt to change and have the credibility to dispense life-supporting information. They mentor younger men from one side the trauma of change, cultivating a reassuring conviction of emotional and psychological safety.

• Staying focused during superintendence shakeups. Unlikely to be promoted or fired when a new CEO arrives, B players are usually the most secure people in any company. They regard as unknown political infighting and get back to business, silently completing projects while A players set one’s house in order to jockey for new positions.

Nurturing B Players

To keep your B players motivated:

• Accept differences. We’re all tougher on people who differ from us. If you’re an A trifler, avoid the temptation to undervalue B performers. Ask what they want from their careers, then match them with mentors who’ll help them get it.

• Give the gift of time. Track your imparting patterns to make sure you’re not ignoring—and thus alienating—solid performers.

• Hand out the prizes. Since B players are promoted relatively infrequently, reward them in others ways. Even handwritten notes of appreciation can make them feel valued and motivated.

• Give choices. Rather than grooming simply stars, allocate scarce resources—compensation, coaching, promotions—to high-potential B players. Promoting sidewise can make provision appealing career alternatives.

From: Let’s Hear it for B Players

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But officials in one Texas county expressed concerns about whether the levees in that place could withstand the downrush waters.

The storm made landfall at South Padre Island, Texas, at midday (1700 GMT) Wednesday as a category two hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said, with the meeting isle practically submerged under the storm surge.

But Dolly lost some horse as it interacted with the cooler land mass after leaving the Gulf of Mexico. It was to continue weakening as it moves further inland at about 11 kilometers per hour (seven mph), the NHC reported.

By 0900 GMT Thursday, Dolly's sustained winds fell to 95 kilometers per hour (60 mph) as it lumbered to the northwest 155 kilometers (95 miles) from the Texas margin town of Brownsville.

"Dolly is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 8 to 12 inches (20-30 cm) through detached amounts of 20 inches (51 cm) over portions of south Texas and northeastern Mexico, the NHC said, warning that "These rains are very likely to cause widespread flooding."

Jacqueline Bell, who lives on South Padre Island, told CNN the take a spiral course had blasted the roof off her neighbor's home.

"When we heard the first bang, I thought it was undivided of the behavior conditioners flying … and then we went outside and we saw the debris," Bell reported.

As pounding rain and robust winds battered the US-Mexico coast, magistrates worried whether levees could sustain the flood waters.

Bracing for potential wind damage and flooding, residents boarded up windows and piled up sandbags and thousands fled for safer set.

In Matamoros, Mexico, 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of South Padre Island, Dolly's winds damaged the city's main water treatment plant, leaving half of the 500,000 inhabitants without drinking water. Heavy rain triggered extensive flooding, local officials said.

Texas Governor Rick Perry declared a disaster situation in 14 counties across the southern portion of the state, deploying hundreds of National Guard troops and other difficulty crews.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said treaty authorities were helping with hurricane preparations. "We've been identifying wealth and pre-positioning supplies in case they are needed after the landfall," she told reporters in Washington.

Initial damage estimates from the storm by risk-modeling service provider AIR Worldwide Corporation varied between 300 million and 1.2 billion dollars in the United States, and less than a quarter of those amounts in Mexico.

"The moderately large doubt in the detriment estimates is due to Dolly's slow forward motion, its significant precipitation and the uncertainty in its denoting futurity trace as it makes its way inland," AIR Worldwide said in a statement.

The first hurricane of the season in the Gulf of Mexico prompted more oil companies to evacuate personnel from their offshore rigs, but by early Wednesday the storm looked set to bypass the major oil producing areas.

However, concerns were raised relative to the ability of levees to withstand the floodwaters, that could go as high as three feet (any meter) in southern Texas's Cameron County, officials told the local Brownsville Herald.

"I ask that any residents that ignited near the levee in Cameron County to please move away from the river levees near the Rio Grande River. We believe those will be breached if the path continues," said Johnny Cavazos, emergency management coordinator for the county.

Authorities called for the evacuation of more than 23,000 people from coastal areas in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Governor Eugenio Hernandez said.

The NHC has forecast an especially active 2008 weather season, saying there could have being up to nine hurricanes and 12 tropical storms in the Atlantic region. The Atlantic typhoon season runs from June 1 through the end of November.

About 35 million people live in the most hurricane-prone US region, the southeastern coastline running from the states of North Carolina to Texas, according to the US Census Bureau.

From: South Texas, Mexico flooded as Dolly drenches coastline (AFP)

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The center of the Category 1 hurricane was expected to make landfall later Wednesday and dump up to 15 inches of rain, threatening flooding that could breach levees in the heavily populated Rio Grande vale.

Dolly, upgraded from a metaphorical storm Tuesday, had sustained winds of 95 mph, just short of becoming a Category 2 storm. At 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 40 miles east of Brownsville, moving northwest at round 8 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the coast of Texas from Brownsville to Corpus Christi and in Mexico from Rio San Fernando northward.

Utility social meeting AEP Texas reported power outages to additional than 9,200 customers in Cameron County.

The causeway linking South Padre Island to the continent remained closed early Wednesday.

Dan Quandt, a spokesman for the town’s emergency operations, said winds were picking up to around 50 mph and were expected to increase later Wednesday morning. He said there was a steady rain falling, but no reports of flooding. A sign on a hotel blew off, but no one was injured and it did not pose a hazard, he said.

National Weather Service radar indicated a tornado 18 miles northeast of the Harlingen Valley Airport on Wednesday morning. A tornado watch was in effect for several counties in the area until 10 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

Cities and counties in the Rio Grande valley were preparing Tuesday night as officials feared heavy rains could cause huge flooding and levee breaks.

Texas officials urged residents to move begone from the Rio Grande levees because if Dolly continues to come the same path as 1967’s Hurricane Beulah, “the levees are not going to hold that a great quantity water,” said Cameron County Emergency Management Coordinator Johnny Cavazos.

There was intermittent light rain tardy Tuesday in Brownsville, and Cavazos said he expected external bands to move over the area overnight. Charles Hoskins, deputy strait management officer for Cameron County, said there were nearly 2,000 people in six shelters in the county.

In Hidalgo County, a little bit farther inland, six shelters holding about 900 people were open, said Cari Lambrecht, a county spokeswoman. She said people living in low-lying areas were encouraged to come to shelters.

“It’s so much easier by reason of them to go now instead of us having to tug them out later,” she said.

Late Tuesday, the causeway linking the mainland to South Padre Island was closed considered in the state of winds ramped up, Quandt declared. He declared no one would be allowed onto or off of the island, with the causeway not likely to open again until Wednesday evening at the earliest. He said winds were not predicted to reach speeds requiring evacuation.

In Mexico, Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez before-mentioned officials planned to evacuate 23,000 people to government shelters in Matamoros, Soto La Marina and San Fernando.

People began trickling in Tuesday night to five shelters set up throughout the border city of Matamoros. City officials declared three other shelters were ready in case they were needed.

Forecasters predicted Dolly would dump up to 15 inches of rain and bring coastal storm surge flooding of 4 to 6 feet above normal bragging tide levels. Forecasters said Dolly’s eye should hit the coast around midday Wednesday.

The U.S. Census Bureau uttered that based on Dolly’s projected path, about 1.5 million Texans could feel the blow violently’s effects.

Tropical storm warnings were issued according to areas adjacent to the hurricane zone, and Gov. Rick Perry declared 14 south Texas counties disaster areas, allowing state resources to be used to send equipment and emergency workers to areas in the storm’s path.

Mike Castillo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, said conditions were favorable for tornadoes Wednesday morning, especially in sagacious toward the south Texas and the adjacent coastal waters.

The commotion, combined through levees that have deteriorated in the 41 years since Beulah swept up the Rio Grande, confound a major flooding threat to low-lying counties side by side the limit. Beulah spawned more than 100 tornadoes across Texas and dumped 36 inches of rain in some talents of south Texas, killing 58 people and causing additional than $1 billion damage.

“We could have a triple-decker problem here,” Cavazos told a meeting of more than 100 county and local officials Tuesday. “We rely upon that those (levees) will be breached if it continues in continuance the identical track. So please stay away from those levees.”

Around Brownsville, levees protect the historic downtown as thoroughly as preserved buildings that were formerly constituent of Fort Brown on the University of Texas at Brownsville campus. Outside the city, agricultural land dominates the banks of the Rio Grande, but thousands of people live in low-lying colonias, often poor subdivisions built without water and sewer utilities.

The International Boundary and Water Commission, which operates a series of levees, dams and floodways in the lower Rio Grande Valley, put its personnel on standby alert. If needed, the IBWC leave begin patrolling the levees around the clock looking instead of seepage and erosion, said spokeswoman Sally Spener.

The IBWC made significant improvements to the reception system after Beulah and its studies showed that a 100-year flood in Cameron County would not top the levees, Spener said. Levees upstream in Hidalgo County are in the heart of improvements, bound the river could spill over sections in a 100-year flood, a flood thus big that it has only a 1 percent take place of happening in any given year.

Much of the damage to New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina was from levee breaks instead of wind.

Lines grew Tuesday at centers giving out sandbags in the Rio Grande Valley.

The Navy began flying 104 of its aircraft out of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to bases home. Other aircraft will exist sheltered on base in hangars and no evacuation was planned.

Maj. Jose Rivera of the Texas Army National Guard said troops were preparing at armories in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, after Gov. Perry called up 1,200 Guard members to help.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement was evacuating its Port Isabel Detention Center, reported spokeswoman Nina Pruneda. Fewer than 1,000 people were being sent to other detention centers in Texas.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Shell Oil evacuated workers from oil rigs, but said it didn’t expect production to be affected. It also secured wells and shut down production in the Rio Grande Valley, where it primarily deals in natural gas.

Mexico’s state-run oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, said it had evacuated 66 workers from an oil platform off the coast of the port city of Tampico. Pemex said in a statement that it had readied a team and the wealth needed in case of damage to oil installations in the region.

Residents of northern Mexico were taking the impending storm in stride.

Blas Garica, a 62-year-old builder in Reynosa, was taping up his windows and putting sandbags in front of his porch to prepare.

“I’m not afraid because we flood frequently around here,” he said. “If my house floods, we’ll just run to the house.” Associated Press writers Christopher Sherman in Harlingen, Texas; Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; Mark Walsh in Matamoros, Mexico; Jaime Zea in Mexico City; Regina L. Burns in Dallas and videographer Rich Matthews on South Padre Island contributed to this explosion.

From: Edge of Hurricane Dolly lashes Texas seaboard (AP)

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Only the size of a suitcase, the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) has a 5.9-inch (15-cm) telescope and weighs about 143 pounds (65 kg). But it’s designed to hunt instead of threatening space rocks from Earth orbit, where the telescope have power to avoid interference from the planet’s air.

“That’s why a small telescope in space can be a lot again comparable to a large telescope on the ground,” said Alan Hildebrand, planetary scientist at the University of Calgary and department of the small planet search devise for NEOSSat.

The Canadian microsatellite would also keep an eye attached Earth’s satellite traffic for both U.S. and Canadian space commands, swiveling round to target space rocks and satellites hundreds of times a day. That requires a revolutionary turning system beneficial to the $12 million-satellite to do its piece of moil upon launch in early 2010.

Astronomers have particular interest in Near Earth Objects, because such objects ability threaten Earth in the near or obscure future. Nearby asteroids could likewise serve as targets for future spacecraft missions to investigate.

NEOSSat will also shed again light on the less famous Inner Earth Objects, or asteroids found close to the sun within Earth’s orbit, mission managers uttered.

Point and click

NEOSSat draws upon the technological heritage of a star-gazing mission called MOST (Microvariability and Oscillation of STars), which represented Canada’s first space telescope. But the newer microsatellite also boasts every state of feeling control hypothesis based on spinning reaction wheels that allow it to turn quickly without consuming rocket fuel.

“We have to be ingenious to point precisely at a chunk of sky for 100 seconds,” Hildebrand told SPACE.com. “Then you want to be able to slew from one field to another as fast as possible.”

Such rapid rejoinder balances out with the need to keep the space telescope steady on its target, whether peering at rocks in the asteroid belt or tracking a impressive satellite.

“The attitude-control classification is an absolute must,” said Brad Wallace, scientist at Defense Research Development Canada (DRDC), the agency working with the Canadian Space Agency on NEOSSat.

However, the system’s reaction wheels don’t require consumable fuel to do their work. NEOSSat will draw power from solar panels that convert the sun’s energy into the required total of electricity — suitable 45 watts, or less power than an average light bulb.

Let’s go asteroid hunting

Low spiritedness custom and a small size may make NEOSSat seem paltry compared to large ground telescopes that can cost $50 very great number and up. But scientists look forward to having a space telescope that can check out asteroids without bad weather or atmospheric background acquisition in the way.

“In terms of advantages of centre of life in space, we’ve got 24/7 availability,” Hildebrand declared.

Ground telescopes face limits even with blue skies on Earth, because the atmosphere makes it harder to spot the faint light signals from asteroids. NEOSSat reduces the background interference to one tenth of that on Earth, by going up roughly 435 miles (700 km) above the atmosphere.

Hildebrand hopes the microsatellite to discover at least 100 Near Earth Objects per year once operational, and many more asteroids in the vast asteroid belt betwixt Mars and Jupiter.

Space traffic control

The microsatellite will also spend half its time tracking other satellites in orbit around Earth.

“Our highest and foremost limit is to demonstrate satellite tracking capability,” said Wallace, who leads the DRDC science team focused put on exchange control.

Wallace’s team will spend NEOSSat’s first year testing new observing and tracking techniques, before handing over the keys to DRDC’s client, the Canadian Forces. That would allow the space telescope to take a more active role in helping the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) monitor the skies.

Satellite tracking requires slightly less of the microsatellite’s capabilities, but Wallace furthermore plans to test it on scenarios such as tracking “lost” objects and doing hand-off coverage that picks up from where another telescope began.

NEOSSat’s ability to take on dual responsibilities points to a future where microsatellites increasingly become the standard. The ability to use besides recent technology and commercial, off-the-shelf parts has only sped up the miniaturization process, Wallace said.

Earth orbit will undoubtedly get greater degree crowded not long after NEOSSat’s 2010 debut — DRDC has already begun work without ceasing a second microsatellite that will adviser naval shipping and travel on Earth.

Video: The Asteroid Paradox Video: Take One Asteroid – A Recipe as far as concerns Space Civilization GALLERY: Asteroids Original Story: Small Satellite Designed to Spot Big Bad Asteroids

Visit SPACE.com and explore our huge collection of Space Pictures, Space Videos, Space Image of the Day, Hot Topics, Top 10s, Multimedia, Trivia, Voting and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our world in our SETI: Search despite Life section. Join the community, manifestation up for our exempt quotidian email newsletter, listen to our Podcasts, check out our RSS feeds and other Reader Favorites today!

From: Small Satellite Designed to Spot Big Bad Asteroids (SPACE.com)

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Animal rights groups and lawmakers have called for one EU crackdown against seal hunts worldwide, prompting wrangling at EU headquarters over to what degree far the European Commission should vogue.

The plan announced Wednesday covers hunts worldwide, but especially focuses on Canada for the reason that of claims by anti-hunt campaigners that it is the cruelest. Canadian seal hunters use spiked clubs and rifles to kill seals.

“Seal products coming from countries which practice cruel hunting methods must not be allowed to enter the EU,” EU environmental deputy Stavros Dimas told reporters. “The EU is committed to upholding high standards of animal welfare.”

Canada has threatened to take trade action against the EU if it imposes a ban, claiming a ban would decimate isolated east coast communities that are heavily dependent on the annual hunt.

The EU proposals says the trade in seal products would be allowed from countries that be possible to proffer guarantees their chase. techniques are “consistent with high animal-welfare standards” are used and the animals are killed fleetly without undue suffering.

Special exemptions will also be allowed for Canada’s Arctic Inuit community.

The prohibitory penalty recommends a certificate and labels be provided by countries exporting seal products making clear seal products they mechanical employment meet strict EU conditions.

A malediction would need the backing of the EU’s 27 governments and the European Parliament in front of it could take effect.

Canada’s East Coast seal hunt is the largest of its charitable in the world, with an medial sum annual kill of about 300,000 play on the harp seals. The Canadian slaughter of some 335,000 seals in 2006 brought in around $25 million.

Several EU nations also conduct seal hunts, including Finland, Sweden and Britain.

The largest markets are in Norway, China and Russia, however one-third of the commerce in seal pelts, meat, and oils passes through the EU market, Dimas said.

From: EU proposes crackdown on seal hunt (AP)

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The 4,500-year-old tube is the sister ship of a like boat separate in pieces from another pit in 1954 and painstakingly reconstructed. Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.

Starting Saturday, tourists were allowed to view images of the inside of the forward boat gulf from a camera inserted through the a hole in the chamber’s limestone ceiling. The video image, transmitted onto a small TV monitor at the site, showed layers of crisscrossing beams and planks on the floor of the dark pit.

“You can smell the past,” said Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Experts will begin removing around 600 pieces of timber in November, said professor Sakuji Yoshimura of Japan’s Waseda University, who is helping lead the restoration effort with the antiquities council.

The discovery of the boat pits other than 50 years ago by workmen clearing a large mound of wind-blown debris from the south side of the Great Pyramid is considered united of the most significant finds on the plateau. They are the oldest vessels to have survived from antiquity.

The reconstructed ship is on display in a museum built above the pit where it was discovered. It is a careful vessel measuring 142 feet with a rectangular deckhouse and tedious, interlocking oars that mount overhead.

The cedar timbers of its curved hull are lashed together with hemp rope in a technique used until recent times by traditional shipbuilders along the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.

The unexcavated boat, made from Lebanese cedar and Egyptian acacia trees, is thought to be of homogeneous design, if it be not that smaller and less well preserved.

John Darnell, an Egyptologist at Yale University, said new research into the second boat could fill in some blanks about the significance of the vessels and alleviate determine whether they ever really plied Nile River waterways or were of entirely spiritual import.

“In Egypt, almost everything real had its counterpart meaning or force in the spiritual earth. But there’s a lot of debate as to whether these vessels ever were used or not,” Darnell said.

Those who argue the vessels may have touched water point to rope marks on the timber-land that could have been caused by the rope becoming wet and for this reason shrinking as it dried.

But Hawass believes these were symbolic vessels, not funerary boats used to bring the pharaoh Khufu’s embalmed remains up the Nile from the ancient capital of Memphis for burial in the Great Pyramid, the oldest and largest of Giza’s pyramids.

He said solar symbols found inside the second pit offer more proof that those who disassembled and buried the boats believed Khufu’s soul would travel from his tomb in the pyramid through a connecting carriage arrow to the boat chambers and that he would use the boats to circle the heavens, like the sunny place god, taking one boat by day and the other by means of night.

From: Ancient Egyptian boat to be excavated, reassembled (AP)