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Scientists Try to Keep Venice Above the Waves

Posted by timothy on from the water-wings-will-go-dearly dept.

batkins writes: "According to this article in Scientific American, the ancient city of Venice could disappear beneath the sea within a few decades. The Italian government has initiated a program called Moses to help prevent the loss of the great city. Venice has been slowly sinking for years, but industrial meddling with its groundwater has quickened the pace. Project Moses will begin this December."

35 comments

  1. Another Proublem by mageben · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I bet the seas rising due to global warming isn't helping either.

    -Ben

    --

    ---PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE---
    "Now, where's the damn 'any' key?"

    1. Re:Another Proublem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do I call you a moron or congratulate you on an insightful first post? That all depends on whether you're being sarcastic or not.

    2. Re:Another Proublem by uncoveror · · Score: 0

      Here is the darn "any" key. Be confused no more!

      --
      The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
  2. well whaddaya know.... by Morphine007 · · Score: 1

    a modern atlantis...

    --
    Oh god, that woman is John Romero!
    1. Re:well whaddaya know.... by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 3, Interesting

      More like a modern Alexandria. At least we know Alexandria is real...

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      And the brethren went away edified.
  3. watercooling by newton34 · · Score: 0

    the ultamate way to watercool a city. I know I know bad joke.

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    look my sig changes!!! nrrt mf oci jdabi.o!!! z..a ir kot gh-ntbk{{{
  4. Yeah, but... by Dimwit · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Italian government has initiated a program called Moses to help prevent the loss of the great city.

    Yeah, but wouldn't Noah be a better name?

    --
    ...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
    1. Re:Yeah, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Moses parted the sea, instead of just building a boat like Noah. So in this case they don't want to put Venice in a boat with animals, they want the sea to get out of the way.

  5. No problem, just go to Vegas by 1qaz2wsx · · Score: 2, Funny

    What are they worried about, you can just go to
    Las Vegas to see Venice...

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    --- I would prefer a prehensile tail....
  6. Better Moses than Joshua by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 2, Informative

    Moses just had to go to the water to make it recede, Joshua had to get his feet wet before he saw results!

    1. Re:Better Moses than Joshua by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eventually, they will need to deploy project Jesus if Noah and Moses fail. Why part the water when you can walk on it?

  7. Moses by Danse · · Score: 2, Funny

    And when project Moses fails to achieve its goal, project Noah will be put into action. A giant gondola will be built to carry the inhabitants of Venice to safety... and romance. ;)

    --
    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  8. The project is called MOSE by an_mo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... not Moses. (MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromagnetico), i.e. Electromagnetic Experimental Module . Unfortunately I can't find a link to it, only a bunch of aricles like this in english

    1. Re:The project is called MOSE by dev0n · · Score: 1

      try this site which has an english version.

  9. Have you ever been there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I didn't know Atlantians had toilets that shat in the surrounding water. The place stinks and shit floats down the rivers. I don't know how they got those photos of it looking lovely, must have rounded up all the shit before hand and given people gasmasks or something.

    _LOWTAX

    1. Re:Have you ever been there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where ELSE would Atlantians dump their waste?

      By the way, I am offended by your incorrect use of "shat" as a past tense for shit.

      -Shatai.

  10. Prolonging the inevitable by uncoveror · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They are only prolonging the inevitable. The ancient city of Venice will just have to be abandoned. If you try to fight nature, you will lose.

    --
    The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
    1. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by one9nine · · Score: 1

      It's true.

      "Jebediah Springfield was believed to have once killed a bear with his bare hands. Modern history, however, recently uncovered evidence that the bear in fact probably killed him." :-(

    2. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right. Now please return your airconditioner to place of purchase, for no refund.

    3. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, well that's probably what the Wright brothers et al were told, along with everyone else to try something inventive. Men can't fly, cities can't float, the earth is flat and cannot be circumnavigated as one would fall of the edge, &etc. Such pessimism has not earned anyone a place in history except as a laughing-stock.

    4. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by Snafoo · · Score: 2
      If you try to fight nature, you will lose.

      Tell that to smallpox.

      --
      - undoware.ca
    5. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by Wonda · · Score: 1

      The Netherlands do just fine, thanks. Below sea level for a few centuries now.

    6. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by rpjs · · Score: 2

      Maybe it is, but by God, Venice is worth it, even if it buys a few more years. If you haven't been there, go.

    7. Re:Prolonging the inevitable by Debillitatus · · Score: 2
      If you try to fight nature, you will lose.

      True

      That's why we're still being eaten by saber-tooth tigers.

      --

      Come on, give it up, that's

  11. There'll be some fabulous diving when I retire by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

    Bangkok is sinking too.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    1. Re:There'll be some fabulous diving when I retire by !splut · · Score: 2

      That would make for some pretty foul, polluted, toxic water. You might want to leave diving there to some lifeless submersibles.

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      --
      The angel in the oatmeal.
  12. New Orleans sinking too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0



    http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DyeHard/d ye hard000202.html

  13. Re:Another Problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It isn't making any difference - the rate of sea level change is negligible compared to the rate the ground is sinking.

  14. Obstructive environmentalists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I notice from the article that "environmentalists" are desperately trying to stop anything being done. Am I the only one who thinks they *want* Venice to sink, so they can use it as a cause celebre for global warming (even if it actually sank due to plate tectonics).

  15. now... by Hobophile · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... if only science could figure out how to keep Slashdot afloat.

    1. Re:now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      erm, floating? since when was slashdot sinking?

  16. water pressure by rppp01 · · Score: 1

    In looking at the drawings of this project, I have to wonder how they will be able to hold back an entire sea. The pressure against those gates will be immense, and seeing as how they will be around 50 degrees in angle, how will they work long term? If they were to be lifted directly upwords at a perfect 90 degree angle, they would hold the water back....perhaps even turning them so that the angle is against the sea? This could let the waters help hold the gates up.
    I imagine they will fail ultimately. I see a time, however, when Venice will be one of the first cities that is 'lifted' and uses technology to hold it above the waters- instead of pushing the waters away.

    --
    They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to...protect me from the enemy, myself
  17. screw dat by plutonium+binky · · Score: 1

    screw trying to unsink the city.
    I say start bulding clear domes around it and then when it sinks, tourism rises! YA DUDE! who wouldn't pay to visit an underwater city, "modern atlantis" as someone put it.
    So like, you could live under the sea and shit lioke in Sphere...wasn't everyone happy in that movie? like...till Queen Latifa got attacked by horny jellyfish and peter coyote cut doored to death...
    aww the book was better anyhow.
    -binky.

  18. Insightful? Bah! by hey! · · Score: 2

    This is a huge government project to reverse a massive long term natural process. What's more, it is backed by the very politial and business interests whose practices accelerated the problem in the first place. The environmentalists should trust them this time.</sarcasm>

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    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  19. London had the same problem. But they fixed it. by Animats · · Score: 2
    The Thames Barrier was built in 1984 to deal with this problem. When necessary, which is about once or twice a year, huge gates are raised from the river bottom to block water surges up the Thames River.

    Similar schemes have been proposed for Venice for decades, but the city hasn't been able to get its act together on a project.