Never out of these pages for long, Google are now gaining attention for more than their ubiquitous search engine. In conjunction with Pacific Gas and Electric PG&E, the company that provides energy for much of Northern California, Google recently unveiled their vision of the future of the electric car. The vehicle would be powered from the electricity grid yet would itself power the grid in return.
Some suggestions from Village on how to make your summer holidays run smoothly with some nifty gadgets
The differences between Hamas and Fatah lie in their respective visions for a Palestinian future and the methods employed to achieve these ends. Since its foundation following the first intifada against Israel's occupation of Palestinian land in 1987, Hamas has seen Fatah's two-state solution as implicit recognition of Israel. Instead, Hamas wants to establish an Islamic state on all of historic Palestine – much of which lies within Israel's present borders.
An unauthorised development has taken place a few doors down from my house. A community of sisters has moved in and established a home, without as much as a by- your-leave. All day long the ladies go about their business, coming to and fro, bothering nobody and having no rowdy parties at night.But the neighbours are not amused. They fear that the members of the community will turn savage and carry out unprovoked attacks upon their persons as the summer advances.
Alder which is one of our most widely distributed native trees flowers before the leaves come out and has attractive reddish catkins and small ‘cones' that contain seeds. Alder will grow on most soils but prefers wet soils. It thrives in damp areas, beside lakes and rivers where its strong fibrous roots protect the river banks thereby reducing erosion. Given a rich damp soil alder will grow rapidly and is a productive timber tree. A unique feature of alder is its root nodes which can fix nitrogen thus enabling it to survive on infertile soils.
Augustine Henry (1857 – 1930), Ireland's greatest plant collector and botanical explorer, was born 150 years ago on the 2 of July 1857. Even though he was the archetypal absent-minded professor, he advanced through three brilliant careers, and made massive achievements in each. After hearing a recruitment speech delivered by Sir Robert Hart, in Belfast in 1879, he was inspired to travel to China. He trained as a physician, and was to spend 18 years working for the Imperial Chinese Customs Service, from 1881 to 1899.
Tensions mount in Iran as a young population resists an increasingly repressive system. This latest dynamic, should it continue, will inevitably play into Washington's hands and its Middle Eastern objectives.
The Celtic Tiger boom has seen an explosion in the sale of art as Irish people have become gripLast year a Louis le Brocquy watercolour sold at a Sotheby's auction in London for the equivalent of €230,000 – ten times more than expected and far more than many deemed it to be worth. Irish auctioneer John deVere White had another le Brocquy watercolour hanging on the wall of his Dublin auction house. It was the same size, the same year and in his own words “an infinitely better painting”.ped by ‘auctionmania'.
The return of Bacon, Higgins and Bayley
A new book of George Bernard Shaw's letters to The Times compiled by Ronald Ford provides a fascinating insight into the wit and genius of a novelist, playwright and prolific letter writer, who witnessed much in his lifetime.