Behold: the Highland Storm MPV – an armoured amphibious vehicle currently in development for the British military by United Arab Emirates company Highland Systems.
Resistant to high calibre projectiles and IEDs, the Storm can be operated by remote control or programmed for autonomous use. With half a metre ground clearance, it can climb 75% gradients, traverse rivers and cross any terrain or lack thereof at up to 140km/h.
Meanwhile…
Tomorrow Tonight.
From top: The pamphlet ‘Chains or Change’ (1970), the manifesto of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement (IWLM); Feminism Backwards (2021) by IWLM founding member Rosita Sweetman (top right in 1970 and above left left today) which re-appraises the pamphlet and details what life was like for women in 1970s Ireland
Happy International Women’s Day!
Rosita Sweetman writes:
So today is International Women’s Day, Hurray! it’s also the 50th anniversary of the launching of ‘Chains or Change’ the manifesto of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement – on the Late Late Show, where in 1971 everything important happened.
My book Feminism Backwards looks at how things were for women – i.e, grim to ghastly. There was no sex education, no contraception, no divorce, rape was legal within marriage and when you did get married you lost your job – lovely! Thousands of women and their babies were being destroyed in Mother and Baby Homes run by nuns in this little land of Saints and Scholars where you couldn’t buy so much as a bloody condom.
Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition, as the old American folk song goes, we have evolved.
But tell me the most UNFEMINIST thing you’ve ever done and I’ll send a signed copy of Feminism Backwards to my favourite entry. And a hug. Get thinking now!
Lines MUST close at 9.45pm.
This afternoon.
Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2.
Adrian Burke from Galway and Kelly Liang from Xian China unwind after getting married on International Women’s day.
Meanwhile…
This afternoon.
Dublin city centre.
Burly and romantic.
Behold: countless newborn stars forming in the Eagle Nebula. To wit:
Gravitationally contracting in pillars of dense gas and dust, the intense radiation of these newly-formed bright stars is causing surrounding material to boil away. This image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in near infrared light, allows the viewer to see through much of the thick dust that makes the pillars opaque in visible light. The giant structures are light years in length and dubbed informally the Pillars of Creation. Associated with the open star cluster M16, the Eagle Nebula lies about 6,500 light years away. The Eagle Nebula is an easy target for small telescopes in a nebula-rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).
Previously: Behold The Pillars Of Creation
(Image: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing: Luis Romero)
Finally.
Now available in Ireland!
Behold the Husqvarna Automower®.
Virtual Boundary and GPS Technology
In-App Control and Smart Home Compatible.
Ian Collins writes:
The global leader in robotic lawnmowing, Husqvarna reveal the latest additions to its existing range of premium, easy to use robotic mowers for urban to midsized gardens, joining the wide selection of Automower® for large gardens up to 5,000m2.
Husqvarna Automower® uses the latest technology, unlocking hours of free time. It is so simple, all the lawn work done from the comfort of anywhere, at the touch of your smartphone…
Meanwhile…
Helping to reduce direct emissions and the carbon footprint of GAA Clubs and local communities one lawn at a time, Husqvarna Ireland has launched its ‘Change For Climate Change’ GAA initiative. GAA clubs across the country will have the opportunity to fundraise for a greener solution to lawn maintenance, while also offering club members and local supporters the chance to transform how they maintain their very own lawn at home.
Who doesn’t have six minutes to watch a single cell grow into an Alpine newt salamander? Not you.
Also – more controversially* – when exactly does a collection of cells become an Alpine newt salamander?
(*rolls grenade into cave entrance, backs away, returns later, retrieves dud grenade, walks out of shot, pause, distant explosion.)
This afternoon.
The National Treasury Management Agency has withdrawn stockbroker Davy’s authority to act as a primary dealer for Irish Government debt.
It comes as the NTMA said it plans to raise €1-1.5 billion of debt on Thursday through the sale of 10 and 29-year Treasury bonds.
The agency said its board had reached its decision on Davy based on its “assessment of the very serious findings” relating to the firm that were made by the Central Bank last week.
Earlier…
This afternoon.
Further to the resignation of three senior figures at Davy stockbrokers, including its chief executive and deputy chairman, after the firm was fined €4.1m by the Central Bank for breaches in regulations during a 2014 bond transaction [Employees acting as a consortium of investors had been buying unlisted Anglo Irish Bank bonds from a client at an agreed price]…
Via RTÉ
The National Treasury Management Agency has declined to say whether stockbroker Davy will take part in the bond auction planned for later this week.
It comes after the new interim chief executive of Davy, Bernard Byrne, addressed staff at the company this morning.
It is understood that in his address, Mr Byrne acknowledged that the board of Davy understands that there were failings and that he committed to act with urgency and do the right things, subject to due process being observed.
Sources indicated there was a tone of humility to what Mr Byrne said and a recognition that Davy had “got it wrong”.
Good times.
