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Submission + - World's first Ship Tunnel set for Construction

ytene writes: As reported by CNN, Norway is planning to build the world’s first ship tunnel.

It will cross beneath 1,700 metres of peninsula and enable vessels to avoid an area of sea that is notorious for stormy conditions and strange currents.

Costs are estimated at $330 million and will require an estimated 3-4 years to remove roughly 3 million cubic metres of rock.

In fact, the only question remains is whether it will become a new go-to location for superyacht owners tired of transiting the Corinth Canal in Greece?
Book Reviews

MySQL 5.1 Plugin Development 44

Michael J. Ross writes "If you were to ask some database developers to cite their favorite strategies for expanding the functionality of the relational database management systems with which they work, you would probably hear a variety of answers. One individual might recommend the use of an alternate database engine optimized for the given application. Another might explain the many advantages of using stored procedures to replace SQL queries embedded in the source code of any programs that connect to databases. But one answer you likely would not receive involves changing the internals of the database engine itself. With the latest major release of MySQL, developers using that particular RDBMS are now able to extend the capabilities of the built-in database engines, by creating plug-ins. This is the topic of a book by Sergei Golubchik and Andrew Hutchings: MySQL 5.1 Plugin Development." Read on for the rest of Michael's review.
The Military

HULC Robotic Exoskeleton MK II Undergoing Tests 72

fergus07 writes "Lockheed Martin is putting an updated, ruggedized version of its HULC Robotic Exoskeleton through lab evaluation tests. The hydraulic 'power-suit,' which enables the wearer to carry up to 200 lbs and run at 10 mph, now boasts better protection from the elements, improved fitting and easier adjustment, increased run-time and new control software."
Biotech

US Says Genes Should Not Be Patentable 127

Geoffrey.landis writes "A friend-of-the-court brief filed by the US Department of Justice says that genes should not be patentable. 'We acknowledge that this conclusion is contrary to the longstanding practice of the Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the practice of the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies that have in the past sought and obtained patents for isolated genomic DNA,' they wrote (PDF). The argument that genes in themselves (as opposed to, say, tests made from genetic information, or drugs that act on proteins made by genes) should be patentable is that 'genes isolated from the body are chemicals that are different from those found in the body' and therefore are eligible for patents. This argument is, of course, completely silly, and apparently the US government may now actually realize that."
The Internet

How Not To Design a Protocol 186

An anonymous reader writes "Google security researcher Michael Zalewski posted a cautionary tale for software engineers: amusing historical overview of all the security problems with HTTP cookies, including an impressive collection of issues we won't be able to fix. Pretty amazing that modern web commerce uses a mechanism so hacky that does not even have a proper specification."
Oracle

OpenOffice.org Declares Independence From Oracle, Becomes LibreOffice 648

Google85 writes "The OpenOffice.org Project has unveiled a major restructuring that separates itself from Oracle and that takes responsibility for OpenOffice away from a single company. From now on, OpenOffice's development and direction will be decided by a steering committee of developers and national language project managers. Driving home the changes, the OpenOffice.org project is now The Document Foundation, while the OpenOffice.org suite has been given the temporary name of LibreOffice."

Comment Re:How? (Score 1) 317

Rate of deflation would be a serious issue, with normal tire valves it takes a number of seconds to drop enough pressure to deform the tire shape significantly. Any time-critical response pattern isn't going to function well without a larger diameter valve.

But that's just a naive consideration of the system. If you could actually do this, you'd obviate the need for a cambered tire, as you would drive with a bulge on the bottom of your tire, with very little friction. Some people actually (in current RL) adjust their own tires low or high (in pressure) in order to increase their full efficiency or increase their turning control (you have to remember that friction also changes as a result of tire rotational speed, so some people swear that slight under-inflation increases the tire grip at higher speeds.)

However, your control system would also have to detect turns, and deflate the tire when going through a turn, perhaps by an apparatus connected to the steering system? Because turning ability is a direct function of available friction, akin to braking.

I'd take this whole thing with a grain of salt. It seems like a pipe dream to me. Maybe if the system had adjustable camber, this would be workable.

Comment Re:Wrong (Score 1) 1268

You'd do an assignment in an if statement or loop condition check if you may need to update variables at the start of each loop, but may terminate the loop at odd places (via next), and don't wish to write the assignment code multiple times. The if statement syntax is explicitly designed around this optimization (incrementing the conditional variable in the if statement, not in the loop body.)

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