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By Jess Kidd
Read by Aidan Kelly
Unabridged Audio Download
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A charming ne'er-do-well returns to his haunted Irish hometown to uncover the truth about his mother in this "supernaturally skilled debut" (Vanity Fair) and turns the town—and his life—upside down.
Having been abandoned at an orphanage as a baby, Mahony assumed all his life that his mother wanted nothing to do with him. That is, until one night in 1976 while drinking a pint at a Dublin pub, he receives an anonymous note implying that she may have been forced to give him up. Determined to find out what really happened, Mahony embarks on a pilgrimage back to his hometown, the rural village of Mulderrig. Neither he nor Mulderrig can possibly prepare for what's in store…
From the moment he arrives, Mahony's presence completely changes the village. Women fall all over themselves. The real and the fantastic are blurred. Chatty ghosts rise from their graves with secrets to tell, and local preacher Father Quinn will do anything to get rid of the slippery young man who is threatening the moral purity of his parish.
A spectacular new addition to the grand Irish storytelling tradition, Himself "is a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue, haunting and illegitimacy…wickedly funny" (Daily Express).
Himself 1
Mahony shoulders his rucksack, steps off the bus, and stands in the dead center of the village of Mulderrig.
Today Mulderrig is just a benign little speck of a place, uncoiled and sprawling, stretched out in the sun. Pretending to be harmless.
If Mahony could remember the place, which he can't of course, he'd not notice many changes since he's been gone. Mulderrig doesn't change, fast or slowly. Twenty-six years makes no odds.
For Mulderrig is a place like no other. Here the colors are a little bit brighter and the sky is a little bit wider. Here the trees are as old as the mountains and a clear river runs into the sea. People are born to live and stay and die here. They don't want to go. Why would they when all the roads that lead to Mulderrig are downhill so that leaving is uphill all the way?
At this time of the day the few shops are shuttered and closed, and the signs swing with an after-hours lilt and pitch, and the sun-warmed shop front letters bloom and fade. Up and down the high street, from Adair's Pharmacy to Farr's Outfitters, from the offices of Gibbons & McGrath Solicitors to the Post Office and General Store, all is quiet.
A couple of old ones are sitting by the painted pump in the middle of the square. You'll get no talk from them today: they are struck dumb by the weather, for it hasn't rained for days and days and days. It's the hottest April in living and dead memory. So hot that the crows are flying with their tongues hanging out of their heads.
The driver nods to Mahony. "It's as if a hundred summers have come at once to the town, when a mile along the coast the rain's hopping up off the ground and there's a wind that would freeze the tits off a hen. If you ask me," says the driver, "it all spells a dose of trouble."
Mahony watches the bus turn out of the square in a broiling cloud of dirt. It rolls back, passengerless, across the narrow stone bridge that spans a listless river. In this weather anything that moves will be netted in a fine caul of dust. Although not much is moving now, other than a straggle of kids pelting home late, leaving their clear cries ringing behind. The mammies are inside making the tea and the daddies are inside waiting to go out for a jar. And so Tadhg Kerrigan is the first living soul in the village to see Mahony back.
Tadhg is propping up the saloon door of Kerrigan's Bar having changed a difficult barrel and threatened a cellar rat with his deadly tongue. He is setting his red face up to catch a drop of sun while scratching his arse with serious intent. He has been thinking of the Widow Farelly, of her new-built bungalow, the prodigious whiteness of her net curtains and the pigeon plumpness of her chest.
Tadhg gives Mahony a good hard stare across the square as he walks over to the bar. With looks like that, thinks Tadhg, the fella is either a poet or a gobshite, with the long hair and the leather jacket and the walk on it, like his doesn't smell.
"All right so?"
"I'm grand," says Mahony, putting his rucksack down and smiling up through his hair, an unwashed variety that's grown past his ears and then some.
Tadhg decides that this fella is most definitely a gobshite.
Whether the dead of Mulderrig agree or not it's difficult to tell, but they begin to look out cautiously from bedroom windows or drift faintly down the back lanes to stop short and stare.
For the dead are always close by in a life like Mahony's. The dead are drawn to the confused and the unwritten, the damaged and the fractured, to those with big cracks and gaps in their tales, which the dead just yearn to fill. For the dead have secondhand stories to share with you, if you'd only let them get a foot in the door.
But the dead can watch. And they can wait.
For Mahony doesn't see them now.
He stopped seeing them a long time ago.
Now the dead are confined to a brief scud across the room at lights-out, or a wobble now and then in his peripheral vision. Now Mahony can ignore them in much the same way as you'd ignore the ticks of an over-loud grandfather clock.
So Mahony pays no notice at all to the dead old woman pushing her face through the wall next to Tadhg's right elbow. And Tadhg pays no notice either, for, like the rest of us, he is blessed with a blissful lack of vision.
The dead old woman opens a pair of briny eyes as round as vinegar eggs and looks at Mahony, and Mahony looks away, smiling full into Tadhg's big face. "So are there any digs about the town, pal?"
"There's no work here." Tadhg crosses his arms high on his chest and sniffs woefully.
Mahony produces a half pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket and Tadhg takes one. They stand smoking awhile, Tadhg with his eyes narrowed against the sun, Mahony with a shadow of a smile on his face. The dead old woman slips out a good few inches above the pavement and points enigmatically down towards the cellar, muttering darkly.
Mahony increases his smile to show his teeth in an expression of considerable natural charm altogether capable of beguiling the hardest bastard of humankind. "Well, the last thing I need is work. I'm taking a break from the city."
"It's the city, is it?"
The dead old woman draws close enough to whisper in Mahony's ear.
Mahony takes a drag and then exhales. "It is. With the noise and the cars and the rats."
"Rats, are there?" Tadhg narrows his eyes.
"As big as sheep."
Tadhg is outwardly unmoved, although he sympathizes deep in his soul. "Rats are a very great problem in the world," he says sagely.
"They are in Dublin."
"So what brought you here?"
"I wanted a bit of peace and quiet. Do you know on the map there's nothing at all around you?"
"It's the arse end of beyond you're after then?"
Mahony looks thoughtful. "Do you know? I think it is."
"Well, you've found it. You're on the run in the Wild West?"
"Seems so."
"A lady or the law?"
Mahony takes his cigarette out of his mouth and flicks it in the direction of the dead old woman, who throws a profoundly disgusted look at him. She lifts her filmy skirts and flits back through the wall of the pub.
"She was no lady."
Tadhg's face twitches as he curbs a smile. "What are we calling you?"
"Mahony."
Tadhg notes a good firm handshake. "Mahony it is then."
"So will I find a bed tonight or will I have to curl up with those antiques on the bench there?"
Tadhg withholds a fart, just while he's thinking. "Shauna Burke rents out rooms to paying guests at Rathmore House up in the forest. That's about it."
"That'd be grand."
Tadhg takes a thorough glance at Mahony. He'll admit that he has a sort of bearing about him. He's not a bad height and he's strong looking, handy even. He's been into his twenties and he'll come out again the other side none the worse for it; he has the kind of face that will stay young. But he could do with a wash; he has the stubble of days on his chin. And his trousers are ridiculous: tight around the crotch and wide enough at the bottom to mop the main road.
Tadhg nods at them. "They're all the rage now? Them trousers?"
"They are, yeah."
"Do you not feel like a bit of an eejit wearing them?"
Mahony smiles. "They all wear 'em in town. There's wider."
Tadhg raises his eyebrows a fraction. "Is there now? Well, you wouldn't want to be caught in a gust of wind."
Tadhg can see that the girls would be falling over themselves if this fella ever had the notion to shave himself or pick up a bar of soap. And Mahony knows it too. It's there in the curve of his smile and the light in his dark eyes. It's in the way he moves, like he owns every inch of himself.
Tadhg stakes a smile. "You'll need to watch the other guest who lives up there, Mrs. Cauley. The woman's titanic."
"After what I've been afflicted with I'm sure I can handle her." And Mahony turns his laughing eyes up to Tadhg.
Now Tadhg is not a man given to remarkable insights but he is suddenly certain of two things.
One: that he's seen those eyes before.
Two: that he is almost certainly having a stroke.
For the blood inside Tadhg has begun to belt around his body for the first time in a very long time and he knows that it can't be good to stir up a system that has been sumping and rusting to a comfortable dodder. Tadhg puts his hands over his face and leans heavily against the saloon door. He can almost feel a big fecker of a blood clot hurtling towards his brain to knock him clean out of the living world.
"Are you all right, pal?"
Tadhg opens his eyes. The fella who is having a break from Dublin is frowning up at him. Tadhg reels off a silent prayer against the darkest of Mulderrig's dark dreams. He takes a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his forehead. And as the hairs settle on the back of his neck he tells himself that this fella is really no more than a stranger.
Whatever he thought he saw in his face has gone.
In front of him is a Dublin hippy passing through the arse end of beyond.
"Are you all right?"
Tadhg nods. "I am, of course."
The stranger smiles. "You open? I could do time for a pint."
"Come inside now," Tadhg says, and resolutely decides to lay off the sunshine.
Luckily the sun has a desperate struggle to get in through the windows of Kerrigan's Bar, but if it can seep through the smoky curtains it can alight on the sticky dark wood tables. Or it can work up a dull shine on the horse brasses by the side of the fire, unlit and full of crisp packets. Or it can bathe the pint of stout in Sergeant Jack Brophy's hand to an even richer, warmer hue.
"Jack, this is Mahony."
Mahony puts his rucksack by the door.
Jack turns to look at him. He nods. "Get the man a pint, Tadhg. Here, Mahony, sit by me."
Mahony sits down next to Jack, a strong square wall of a man, and, like all mortals, he begins to feel soothed. Mahony isn't to know that Jack has this effect on the mad, the bad, the imaginative, and skittish horses, whether off duty or on. Ask anyone and they will tell you it's what makes Jack a good cop—a great guard. For here he is working his stretch of the coast, sorting out the wicked, the misjudged, and the maligned without having to once raise his voice.
Tadhg puts a pint in front of Mahony.
"Now, tell me about it," says Jack, barely moving his lips.
Mahony could tell him about it. Mahony could start by telling Jack what happened last Thursday.
Last Thursday, Father Gerard McNamara walked into the Bridge Tavern with a black leather folio in his hand and an envelope inside the folio. He was seeking one of St. Anthony's most notorious alumni and had started by visiting the bars within a one-mile radius of the orphanage. For Father McNamara was heeding the advice of the local guards along with the principle that a rotten apple doesn't fall far from the tree; it usually lands and festers right next to it.
Mahony was emanating from the jacks with a cigarette in his mouth as Father McNamara came round the side of the bar.
"I'll have a word with you, Mahony."
Mahony took out his cigarette and squinted at the priest. "Sit yourself down, have a drink with me, Father."
The priest threw Mahony a caustic look, put the folio on the bar, and unzipped it.
Mahony pulled himself back up onto his stool and took hold of his pint with serious dedication. "Ah, excuse me, I didn't shake your hand, did I, Father? You see I've just touched something far from godly but just as capable of inflicting bliss."
Jim behind the bar grinned.
Father McNamara extracted the envelope from his folio. "Sister Veronica passed away. She asked for this to be given to you."
Mahony looked at the letter on the bar.
"Have you got the right man, Father? Sister Veronica wasn't exactly head of me fan club now, was she? Why would she be leaving me anything? God rest her pure and caring soul."
Father McNamara shrugged. He didn't give a shite; he just wanted to get out of the pub.
Mahony watched Father McNamara zip up his leather folio, put it under his arm, and walk back out through the saloon door into the weak Dublin sunshine. Mahony finished his pint, ordered another, and looked at the envelope. Then he found himself remembering.
He was no more than six.
Sister Veronica said that there wasn't a letter left with him. Wasn't he a little bastard that no one wanted and why would anyone be writing letters for him?
Sister Veronica said that his mammy was too busy working the docks to write.
Sister Veronica said that his mammy had only brought him to the nuns instead of drowning him because she couldn't find a bucket.
But Sister Mary Margaret had told Mahony a different story, while she had taught him to hold a pencil and form his letters, and recognize all the major saints and many of the minor ones.
Once upon a time Sister Mary Margaret had answered a loud knocking at the door of the orphanage. It was very early one morning, before the city was awake. All the pigeons had their heads tucked under their wings and all the rats were curled up tight behind the dustbins. All the cars and lorries were asleep in their garages and depots, and all the trains slumbered on their tracks at Connolly Station. All the boats bobbed gently in the harbor, dreaming of the high seas, and all the bicycles slept leaning along the fences. Even the angels were asleep at the foot of the O'Connell Monument, fluttering their wings as they dreamt, quite forgetting to hold still and pretend to be statues.
The whole wide city was asleep when Sister Mary Margaret opened the door of the orphanage.
And there, on the steps, was a baby.
Of all the things in the world!
A baby in a basket, with a quilt of leaves and a pillow of rose petals.
A baby in a basket, just like Moses!
The baby had looked up at Sister Mary Margaret with two bright eyes and smiled at her. And she had smiled right back.
Mahony clung on to the bar. He couldn't light a cigarette or pick up his pint, he couldn't move, the sweat was pouring off him. He closed his eyes and right there in his memory he found Sister Mary Margaret, as she was the last time he saw her.
He was not even seven. At first he had held back from climbing up, for fear that he would break her. But Sister Mary Margaret had smiled down at him, so he scaled the arctic landscape of the bed. Without that smile he wouldn't have known her.
Sister Mary Margaret had a cancer the size of a man's head in her stomach and was as good as dead under the ground. That's what they had told him but he'd come to see for himself.
He sat next to Sister Mary Margaret and let her wipe his nose with her handkerchief although he was too old for it. It took her hours because she kept falling asleep. He had wished to God that he wasn't trailing great lanes of snot. But Mahony always had a cold from the fact that the tops of his fingers were often blue and his socks were never quite dry.
She had looked at him with her shrunken face on one side and he'd looked back at the ridge of her eye bone.
"A letter was left with you," she whispered. "Sister Veronica took it."
But then Sister Dymphna appeared and gave him a fierce slap and marched him out of the sanatorium.
Mahony wiped his eyes and glanced around the bar; the drinkers were sculling through their own thoughts and the barman had gone to change a barrel. He was safe.
He looked at the envelope in his hand.
For when the child is grown.
A good solid schoolteacherly hand, slanted in all the right places.
On the back of the envelope was a seal of sorts. A tiny medal of wax stamped with the shape of some old coin or other. He liked that: Sister Veronica had kept it back from him but she hadn't opened it.
Mahony broke the seal.
Mahony will tell you to his dying day that the arse fell out of the barstool just after he opened that envelope. Then the barstool fell through the floor and the whole world turned itself about.
But then, when Mahony looked around himself, everything was exactly the same. The same smeared mirrors over the same dirty seats. The same sad bastards falling into their glasses and the same smell crawling out of the gents.
Inside the envelope was a photograph of a girl with a half smile holding a blurred bundle, high and awkwardly, like found treasure. Mahony turned it over and the good solid schoolteacherly hand dealt him a left hook.
Your name is Francis Sweeney. Your mammy was Orla Sweeney. You are from Mulderrig, Co. Mayo. This is a picture of yourself and her. For your information she was the curse of the town, so they took her from you. They all lie, so watch yourself, and know that your mammy loved you.
His mammy had loved him. Past tense. Mammy was past tense.
They took her from him. Where did they take her?
Mahony turned over the photograph and studied her face. God, she looked young. He would have put her as his sister rather. She couldn't have been more than fourteen.
And his name was Francis. He'd keep that to himself.
Mahony lit a smoke and turned to the drinker next to him. "Paddy, have you been to Mayo?"
"I haven't," Paddy said, without lifting his chin from his chest.
Mahony frowned. "Jim, what's in Mayo?"
Jim put down the tea towel. "I'm fucked if I know. Why?"
"I'm going to take a trip there, see how the land lies."
"Grand so."
Mahony stood unsteadily and picked up his lighter. "I'm going. I am, Jim. Fuck it. What have I got to keep me here?" He included the bar with a wave of his cig. "Nothin'—name one thing."
"Parole," said Paddy to his navel.
Mahony takes a taste of his pint and watches as Jack Brophy rolls a cigarette, deftly, with one hand. A hand as strong as a tree root, brown and calloused with big square cracked nails and deep gouged old scars. Mahony watches Jack and feels his brain slow a little. He breathes in tobacco, good soil, driving rain, calm sun, and fresh air off the broad back of the quiet man.
Still. He'll tell Jack nothing of what happened last Thursday.
Mahony smiles. "The truth is I've come here to get away from it all."
A collie noses out from behind the bar.
When it turns its head Mahony sees that it only has one good eye, the other rests messily on the dog's cheek. Its ribs are caved in, leaving a dark sticky ditch. A dog that broken would have to be dead, and of course it is, fuck it.
Mahony sucks air in through his teeth and looks away.
The dead dog turns to lick Jack's hand, which trails down holding his cigarette, but its muzzle goes straight through and the dog, finding no response, folds itself up at the foot of his master's bar stool and rests the good side of its face on its faint paws.
Mahony studies his pint. "All I really want," he says, "is a bit of peace and quiet."
Sometimes a man is in no way honest.
"Aye," says Jack. The word is little more than an exhalation of air. "So that's it?"
Mahony feels no malice. He could tell them, ask them; he could start right here.
The two men look at him.
Mahony picks up his pint. "That's my story. I have no other."
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This reading group guide for Himself includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.
A charming ne'er-do-well returns to his haunted Irish hometown to uncover the truth about his mother in this "exceptional debut novel" (Publishers Weekly) and turns the town—and his life—upside down.
Having been abandoned at an orphanage as a baby, Mahony assumed all his life that his mother wanted nothing to do with him. That is, until one night in a Dublin pub he receives an anonymous note implying that she may have been forced to give him up. Determined to find out what really happened, Mahony embarks on a pilgrimage back to his hometown, the rural village of Mulderrig. Neither he nor Mulderrig can possibly prepare for what's in store . . .
A spectacular new addition to the grand Irish storytelling tradition by an author with "an imagination to die for" (The Guardian), Himself "will bring tears to your sorry eyes and joy to your hardened heart" (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
Topics and Questions for Discussion
1. The town of Mulderrig is haunted by ghosts that the protagonist, Mahony, can see. From both a practical and thematic standpoint, what role do you think the ghosts play in this story, and why is it significant that only Mahony can see them?
2. How did the violence in the prologue affect your reading of the rest of the book? Is there a shift in tone between the prologue and the following chapters, and, if so, what might the purpose be?
3. Why do you think the author chose to put a famous play at the center of the story? How does it benefit the plot, and do you see any similarities between Synge's The Playboy of the Western World and Himself?
4. How would you characterize the tone of the story? How does the language contribute to the tone? What else contributes to it?
5. Aside from ghosts, consider the other supernatural elements that the author introduces into the universe of her novel. What is the role of the forest, for example? Why does nature "misbehave"?
6. Is Mahony's outsider identity important to the novel? How does his otherness mirror Orla's experience?
7. The relationship between Mahony and Mrs. Cauley is central to the book. Why do you think this is? What bonds them so closely?
8. What do you think we should take away from Orla's story? Had Orla been a man (i.e., Mahony's father), how might the story have played out differently?
9. How does the culture of Mulderrig compare to the place where you grew up?
10. Are all small towns unhappy in their own ways (to paraphrase Tolstoy), or do there tend to be significant overlaps in the challenges that small towns face? How does, say, a small town in your home state compare to a rural village in County Mayo, Ireland?
11. Did you come away from the novel feeling positive, negative, or neutral about religion? Why? Do certain aspects strike you as hypocritical? If so, which aspects?
12. To what extent is Himself a love story? Were you at all surprised by the ending?
13. From what you know of the rich tradition of Irish storytelling, does Himself fit the mold(s), or buck convention? Is Mahony a typical hero? Why or why not?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. Read "Dirty Little Fishes," Jess Kidd's award–winning short story. Compare it with your experience of Himself. Are there commonalities in theme, character, or language? Do you notice how the author might have adapted her writing style to suit the short story form?
2. Gather a group of friends, make some of these delicious Bailey's Irish Cream cocktails, and watch Waking Ned Divine (1998), the hilariously entertaining screwball comedy about a rural Irish village banding together to try to claim the lottery winnings of a dead man.
3. Learn some good old Irish slang. Start by Googling terms like "acting the maggot," "earwigging," and "throwing shapes" to see what they mean.
4. Read J. M. Synge's classic work The Playboy of the Western World and study up on its scandalous history.
4. Get creative: Write a short story featuring a ghost as one of your characters. Share it with the rest of your book club just for fun. (Or, if you're working seriously on your writing, ask for constructive feedback!)
Photograph © Travis McBride
Jess Kidd
Jess Kidd is the award-winning author of The Night Ship, Himself, Mr. Flood's Last Resort, and Things in Jars. Learn more at JessKidd.com.
Publisher: Washington Square Press (October 10, 2017)
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Raves and Reviews
"[A] fast-paced yarn that nimbly soars above the Irish crime fiction genre Kidd clearly knows very well."
– New York Times Book Review
"Over in Dublin, Jess Kidd's Himself is her supernaturally skillful debut. Irish eyes are glowing."
– Vanity Fair
"For the love of all that's right and true in the world, you've got to read Jess Kidd's debut Himself (Atria), a fabulously imaginative, darkly comic Irish tale set 'in the arse-end of beyond' in a village called Mulderigg. Reading this picaresque novel is like nursing a pint in a pub while a seanchaí, a traditional storyteller, trills the air with magic and mystery and a local modulates the narrative with irreverent commentary from a stool in the corner...In Mahony, the author has created a literary descendant of Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones" (also a foundling with parental issues), and in Mulderigg she's imagined a literary neighborhood akin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Macondo, a place populated with eccentric characters, living and dead. The plot races to an ending of Biblical proportions (as most Irish tales do) and it'll bring tears to your sorry eyes and joy to your hardened heart."
– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"[A] whimsical mystery… That's the pleasure of Himself — the way the novel's plot, with its delicate language and soft Irish lilt, wanders like lush green vines, never seeming to travel in straight lines. A villageful of characters emerge, all of them having a deft way with a line... The mystery here is how the living and the dead live side by side, and the joy is the music with which Kidd brings all of the characters to life."
– The Seattle Times
"Himself is Jess Kidd's confident, engaging debut novel. It has a captivating ensemble cast, great jolts of humor and danger, hair-raising plot twists and just enough darkness to make the magic feel true. A thoroughly enjoyable read."
– Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Debut novelist Jess Kidd is so sure-handed that this reader didn't blink an eye about that dead girl, or any of the other dead characters loitering about the town's streets, homes, and stores… [A]n ancient, long-retired actress, holed up in the guesthouse where he's staying, may be the most memorable fictional character I've met in years. She's fully original and fearless, and her machinations with both Mahoney and the local priest are laugh-out-loud funny… Kidd's memorable page-turner features a unique voice, a concoction brewed of magical realism and dark humor… It would be a pity to miss reading this fine, funny and entertaining story,"
– Historical Novels Review
"Himself is a classic, feeding the reader through a multisensory smorgasbord of Irish euphemisms…The snappy dialogue in Himself is delightful and a strong asset to Kidd's flawless storytelling. The story breathes metaphors into sweet descriptive prose, pulling at heartstrings and bursting with humor…Foul play, fantasy, and a glimmer of romance wrapped up in a suspense-filled ending, makes Himself a delicious, gratifying and ageless story."
– New York Journal of Books
"Mysterious and lyrical… Moving between Mahony's present and the village's past, Himself is spun like a fairy tale and paced like a mystery told around a slowly fading campfire. Kidd is brilliant at setting the scene and painting it vividly with a twisted, comic voice… In Himself, the author revels in the magical and supernatural, deftly and often humorously melding superstition and folklore with real personal tragedy."
– BookPage
"[Full of] glorious characters, worthy successors to those of Dickens and Dylan Thomas...Jess Kidd is an author who shows a poet's way with words and rhythm in her evocation of Mulderrig...[with] a plot of which Agatha Christie would have been proud...[a] beautifully paced, sometimes funny, sometimes sad and ultimately heart-warming book."
– Electric Literature
"In her exceptional debut novel, Kidd explores the dark corners of the human mind in small-town 1970s Ireland, creating a haunting story that moves between the supernatural and the mundane. A murder mystery on the surface, the story digs past the traditional whodunit structure to paint a rich portrait of village life... While the plot hurtles along at a rapid pace, leading inexorably to the heart-pounding final conflict, Kidd injects ample doses of macabre humor and lyrical description in this memorable story from a strange, bold new voice."
– Publishers Weekly (starred)
"Debut novelist Kidd paints a darkly magical tale of a man who revisits his birthplace of Mulderrig, a small coastal town in Ireland, to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his mother's death 26 years earlier...Joining Mahony on his quest for answers are three women who add even more color to this richly drawn mystery about a town with more than its share of secrets...Told in a unique voice with complex characters, the paranormal mystery will keep readers guessing whodunit until the very end -- all while falling in love with the quirky cast. A darkly comic tale that is skillfully and lyrically told."
– Kirkus
"Every page of Kidd's who-done-it novel is filled with magic, spirit, peppery characters, and ghosts of the village dead, including their pets, who are visible only to some...Kidd mixes the darkest capacities of these villagers with carefully observed whimsy and fantasy. Readers who enjoy a dollop of whiskey in their tea will feel right at home in Mulderrig."
"A highly unusual tale set in a highly unusual Irish village full of dark secrets and engaging characters (not all of them still alive). Lushly imagined, delightfully original and very, very funny, it hurtles along from the very first page. A hugely enjoyable read. I can't wait for more from Jess Kidd."
– M.L. Stedman, bestselling author of The Light Between Oceans
"I love this book. It's a magic realist murder mystery set in rural Ireland, in which the dead play as important a part as the living. It's one of those books that has you smiling as you read, and that you plan to read again very soon."
– Louis de Bernières, bestselling author of Corelli's Mandolin
"Jess Kidd is a genius. Her prose sparkles with wit, savagery and startling originality. I loved it."
– Tasha Kavanagh, author of Things We Have In Common
"Diabolical deeds, ferociously kept secrets, black humour and magical realism abound in Jess Kidd's richly textured, thronging debut...The legions of murmuring, plaintive deceased are what most command our attention in the novel...both noirish crime thriller and rollicking comedy...Kidd has imagination to die for and a real command of plot and character."
– The Guardian
"An imaginative, witty study of small communities and their secrets."
– Financial Times
"This striking literary debut is a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue, haunting and illegitimacy . . . wickedly funny."
– Daily Express
"Kidd's brilliantly bold debut mixes up murder and mayhem with the eerily supernatural. It's a tender, violent and funny story told in prose that is lyrical, lush and hugely imaginative. Utterly unputdownable."
– Sunday Express Magazine
"Page-turning and memorable . . . An exuberant rollercoaster of a read."
– Irish Examiner
"In her exceptional debut novel, Kidd explores the dark corners of the human mind in small-town 1970s Ireland...A murder mystery on the surface, the story digs past the traditional who-dunit structure to paint a rich portrait of village life..The plot hurtles along in a rapid pace, leading inexorably to the heart-pounding final conflict. Kidd injects ample doses of macabre humor and lyrical description in this memorable story from a strange, bold new voice."
– Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Book Cover Image (jpg): Himself
Author Photo (jpg): Jess Kidd
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More books from this author: Jess Kidd


When the going gets tough, advertising budgets tend to be one of the first things cut. Associations that publish advertiser-supported media may hesitate to continue asking for advertising dollars during an economic recession or crisis, but as Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP noted in 2009, it often costs firms more in the long run to recover the resulting lost ground.
Want proof? During the 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961 U.S. economic recessions, sales and profits dropped for companies who cut back their advertising. After the recession, those companies continued to lag behind the ones that had maintained their advertising budgets.
All right, you're saying, but all companies experienced a decline in sales and had trouble catching up to pre-recession forecasts. Not quite: "confident advertisers" who maintained their advertising spend during the 1974-1975 recession showed a five-year average increase in sales of 132% vs. a 79% increase for "cautious advertisers" who cut their ad spend during the recession.
Clearly, there is good reason for supplier members or external vendors to continue advertising with your association during an economic downturn. At the same time, your association should not be shy about continuing to ask for their advertising and marketing dollars.
Because so many companies do cut their advertising or take their advertising profile down a few notches, an economic recession is a good opportunity for smaller businesses or associate members to gain the attention of your regular members. Less competition for space combined with a willingness to continue investing in an organization that invests in its members recession-in, recession-out can lead to an increased market share.
"Moments of economic turbulence provide the unique opportunity to start new businesses, launch disruptive new products, and strengthen customer loyalty – often at a discount," writes Andrew J. Razeghi, professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Don't downplay this opportunity for your smaller members and vendors – shout it loud that your publications are still open for business!
Case in point: 2016 has been a rough year for businesses that rely on natural resources in Alberta, Canada. Oil well drilling is the main economic driver in Alberta, so members of the Alberta Chamber of Resources (ACR) were already significantly impacted by the worldwide drop in oil prices. In addition, the province was ravished by wildfires in May 2016. In Fort McMurray alone, 80,000 residents were evacuated, 1,600 structures were confirmed lost and entire neighborhoods were leveled.
The Alberta Chamber of Commerce stayed the course with its 2016 Resources Guide + Directory, providing members with a valuable information guide and advertisers with an outlet to let their audiences know that despite the crisis in Alberta, they were still open for business.
However, this local but highly impactful economic crisis necessitated that ACR reach out to and reassure members, local businesses, and the families that depend on them even more. Our leadership team reviewed all the reasons their members needed to hear from the association during this difficult time, and reinforced the idea that the association's content in their resource guide and directory was more valuable than ever for members trying to find connections and business resources.
Then we discussed the likelihood that their associate members may actually want the opportunity to advertise. Especially during a recession, businesses need a way to put their name in front of potential customers via a trusted channel. Once the decision to continue pursuing advertising dollars was mutually agreed upon by Naylor and ACR, we spent time training our sales team to be compassionate and gentle in their approach to regional advertisers whose revenues may have been affected by natural disaster or the drop in natural resource prices. In addition, we took some cost saving precautions noted later in the article to reassure ACR that we have every intention of preserving the economic viability of their resource guide.
"In the end we were able to put out an informative publication that was well supported by advertising," said Kim Davies, group publisher at Naylor who oversees the Alberta Chamber of Resources account.
Cut unnecessary distribution of your publications. If you're sending multiple copies (especially printed copies that have a significantly higher cost than digital) to groups or businesses consider cutting back to less copies per business. If you have surplus copies that are bulk distributed to you association, consider reducing for the short term.
Decrease the size of your publication for a limited time. Decreasing the size will decrease the cost to produce your print publication. You can do this by cutting one of your standard articles temporarily or work with your designer and get creative! Using fewer pictures and less white space within your printed communications to allow for maximum content in fewer pages can be a short term way to cut costs when times are tight. Again, this advice applies only to printed pieces because digital costs remain roughly the same no matter the design.
Use online media to communicate more. Has your association been thinking about starting a new eNewsletter, video platform or social media page? A budget rollback presents a great opportunity to take that plunge. You may have more upfront costs in terms of online services you must purchase to get some platforms off the ground, or staff time to invest, but online communications are almost always less expensive to maintain once they are established.
Update your website more frequently with new content. Speaking of using online media to communicate more, why not take a hard look at your existing website and see how your association can improve it? Invest some time and design change into your website and you can turn it into the information hub for members and industry influencers you've always imagined it could be.
Decrease your print frequency. Instead of a quarterly periodical, try publishing two issues per year to cut down on costs without giving up your print publication entirely. Members might miss the frequency of information they receive. However, one of the upsides to paring down your publishing schedule is your writers have more time to dig deeper into the issues you report, and your designers have more time to make an issue look its best. Carol Miller discusses this benefit of a less-frequent publishing schedule in her Corner Office profile.
Share member spotlights or vignettes within your communications. How are other members coping and working through the economic challenge? Concrete examples of real people and organizations coming up with creative solutions go a long way toward reassuring everyone that the industry will pull through.
Seek out companies willing to be case study subjects. Similar to member spotlights above, case studies of organizations that have successfully navigated past recessions or have come up with solutions they plan to stick with even after the current recession is over are a great teaching tool for organizations feeling stuck. Seeing other companies succeed is a great motivator to try something new. Case studies also show that you, the association, support your members' accomplishments and are eager to provide a pedestal to showcase those successes.
Beef up your legislative news: The main question on every business owners' mind during a recession or crisis: What will tomorrow look like? Help your members arm themselves with as much information as they want about the regulatory or funding changes coming out of government at all levels in response to the current economic situation. This type of information helps your members plan their future inventory, hiring practices and service offerings.
Educate your sales team about the economic challenges your members/industry are facing. Be empathetic and compassionate to budgetary constraints of associate members and suppliers. Offer greater member advertising discounts. Discuss maintaining a presence but downsizing their advertisement if necessary.
Don't feel bad about inviting your members to advertise. We have had associations suggest that they stop publishing for a period of time because they don't want to ask their supplier members for advertising revenue. Supplier members still need customers during a recession. They still need to remind potential customers that they are to serve. There is still a need for advertising and every association will have suppliers/vendors willing to continue investing – especially in an organization like yours that continues to represent the industry's best interests.
The best advice I can give to associations whose industry is experiencing an economic downturn is to increase your communication! When your members' world turns upside down they look to your association for leadership. They need your direction, your industry reporting, data and insight. They need to hear success stories and to be connected with consultants, experts, vendors and suppliers who can help them navigate changing expectations and projections.
Reassure them through your media. Show them that you are making positive, data-driven changes to the way you serve them. Show them you are in communication with elected officials to help ensure that the industry will make it to the other side relatively unscathed, prepared for whatever new reality develops, and ready to continue fighting for them and their businesses like you always have.
Tara Ericson is a group vice president at Naylor Association Solutions where she oversees Group Publishers and specialized industry market teams, whose primary focus is to ensure Naylor's association partners are consistently achieving their non-dues revenue goals.


text:
European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights
ESOHR News
arbitrary detention
woman rights
execution without trial
Home » Reports » A year after April massacre: Families Await Justice and the Bodies Return
A year after April massacre: Families Await Justice and the Bodies Return
April 23, 2020	Reports 690 Views
Saudi Arabia: Pandemic of Repression without a Cure
UN Harshly Criticizes Saudi Anti-Terror Law
Saudi Arabia sentences Loujain al-Hathloul to prison: Human rights advocacy is not a crime
لقراءته بالعربية اضغط هنا
23 April 2020 marks the anniversary of the mass execution of 37 people in Saudi Arabia. The massacre targeted those accused of both violent and non-violent crimes including those related to participating in demonstrations and the exercise of legitimate rights, and showed the true face of a Saudi Arabia that has repeatedly promised to respect human rights reforms. It flies in stark contrast against the promises of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has repeatedly committed his government to reducing executions.
Many of these executions take place against the backdrop of other human rights violations. ESOHR documents that violations of victims' rights often begin from the moment of their arbitrary detention, continue through torture and ill-treatment during the investigation, flourish in unfair trials and denial of the right to self-defense, and finally result in arbitrary executions.
Ahmed Hassan Ali al-Rabee, Muhammad Mansour al- Nasser, Ahmed Faisal al-Darwish, Jaber Zuhair al-Marhoun, Hussain al-Rabee, Hussein al-Muslim, Haider al-Leef, Saeed al-Skafi, Salman al-Quraish, Abdul Aziz al-Sahwi, Abdul Karim al-Hawaj, Abdullah al-Sareh, Abdullah al-Tarif, Fadel al-Labbad, Mojtaba al-Suwaiket, Mustafa al-Darwish, Muntazir al-Subaiti, Munir al-Adam, Hadi al-Hazeem, Muhammad al-Khatim, Ahmed al-Aradi, Abdullah al-Aujan.
22 young men were executed by the Saudi government during the massacre. ESOHR has documented that all of them were arrested for practicing legitimate rights, including participating in demonstrations and chanting anti-government slogans. Other criminal charges or charges of violence were found, but all of them underwent a flawed and non-independent judicial system, which largely departs from the conditions for fair trials, in addition to being forced to sign them under the torture.
Saudi Arabia executed six minors in the April massacre. Among these young men were Abdul Karim al-Hawaj, Saeed al-Skafi, Salman al-Quraish, Mojtaba al-Swaiket, Mustafa al-Darwish, Abdul Aziz Sahwi, were minors when they were arrested or at the time of the charges against them. They, too, were subjected to numerous violations, including torture and ill treatment.
Besides the youths, the government also executed 11 citizens whom the Saudi government accused for spying for Iran, including Hussein al-Hamidi, Hussain Qasim al-Aboud, Salem al-Harbi, Talib Muslim al-Harbi, Taher Muslim al-Harbi, Abbas Haji al-Hassan, Ali Hassan al-Ashour, Ali Hussein al-Muhanna, Muhammad Hussein al-Ashoor, Muhammad Abdul al-Ghani Attieh, Youssef al-Omari. ESOHR In several reports documented the lack of justice in their trials, their torture and ill-treatment, and their denial of the right to defend themselves in the previous stages of the trial, and they were not granted the facilities necessary to benefit from the lawyers after the trials started. Mr. Taha Al-Haji, who was a lawyer on the case, was forced to emigrate to avoid arrest. Although their charges were not among the most serious in international law, some of them did not include charges related to espionage, and many of their charges were also originally legitimate rights and not criminal acts, but they were executed.
ESOHR has not been able to document several cases among the cases of individuals who were executed in April 2019, among them was Khaled Hammoud Gwer Al-Farraj, whom the Saudi media had previously offered an interview. Despite this, the path taken by the trials in Saudi Arabia and the lack of justice in the judicial system and in the absence of effective accountability for the violators, doubts arises about their ability to obtain a fair trial that led to the sentences that had been applied.
The suffering of the families of the victims did not end at their execution. After the government arbitrarily arrested them, tortured them, subjected them to unfair trials, and finally executed them, the government added to its list of indignities against its victims by denying them the right to be buried by their families. The government has yet to return a single body of a person victimized by the April massacre – they have been denied the right to a proper burial, and their families deprived of their own rights to mourn and bid farewell.
On the first anniversary of the massacre of execution, justice is still being excluded, and the suffering of the victims' families that started since the arrest continues after the execution. While ESOHR believes that treatment at this stage is impossible, as execution remains a punishment that cannot be corrected, it stresses the importance of seeking to reach:
1) Returning the bodies of the deceased to their families, to allow them to exercise their right to bury and bid farewell to their loved ones;
2) Investigating the violations that have been committed by Saudi security forces against the victims of the massacre, including credible allegations of torture and ill treatment;
3) Posthumously overturning any sentence found to have been obtained through unfair trials;
4) Ensuring those responsible for human rights violations, including torture and unfair trials, are held accoutnable and brought to justice.
It is also unfortunate on this anniversary that Saudi Arabia's appetite for executions is still at its height. After reaching a record number in 2019 of 185 executions, there are currently at least 52 detainees facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in various stages of 2019, according to the latest update of ESOHR. The numbers include 13 minors, who are subjected to unfair trials and subject to multiple violations, by the hands of official agencies in light of the complicity of the judiciary for their inequity
Tags arbitrary detention execution
Previous Saudi Arabia kills, detains and displaces indigenous people, to set up the NEOM project
Next Human Rights Defender Dr. Abdullah al-Hamid Dead After Unfair Targeting and Deliberate Medical Neglect
Extremist Saudi judiciary sentences Ali Al Rabie with discretionary death penalty on charges that include demonstrating
لقرائته بالعربية اضغط هنا Amid the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's continued cruel and unjust use …
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ESOHR organizes first conference for victims of Saudi violations: World paving a way to hold perpetrators accountable
UN Rapporteurs call for the release of Al-Hathloul and other women rights advocates: Reforms amid on arrests are mere deception
Storming which happened on Awamia city and martyrdom a young man Al-Muslab
Al-Zayed, one of the 23 security wanted list in KSA
Al-Labbad, one of the 23 security wanted list in KSA
More than 269 days of torture and arbitrary detention of a Mr. Salman Quraish
execution arbitrary detention woman rights unfair trials children rights torture human rights council freedom of expression execution without trial Penal law for crimes of terrorism and its financing HRC45 blasts seminars session 37 freedom of belief forced disappearance bidoon HRC44 the wanted in the list 23 the contemporary slavery cultural rights minorities session 42 session 32 session 38
ESOHR Copy right ©

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Person Specification – Skills Based Recruitment.
The Commercial Committee of Swim England exists to support the Board to develop the approach for delivering income streams. It explores current and new income streams including sales, sponsorship, partnerships, and memberships, and reports into the Swim England Board.
Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Part-Time. Salaries: Not Disclosed.


This entry was posted in Grief and tagged Fly High Babygirl, RIP Mary Emma Buras.
I miss you baby girl. My heart is broken, and I wish I could have just one more day. The things that I would say. The things that I would tell you. The hole left in my soul is immeasurable.
Rest in peace, Mary. May the Goddess love and keep you.
This entry was posted in Grief.
Still alive, just been extremely busy. I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!!
This entry was posted in Updates and tagged LifeIsGood.
Finished my first magic pillowcase (magic because all seams are hidden)! I used 3 different cotton fabrics by Buttercream from their Cosette Collection. This was really easy, and I learned how to do a french seam along the way. Lovin' my new sewing machine, and feeling really good because I made a few things by hand from scratch.
My all white rag quilt finally got washed and dried today (twice lol). I'm in love with it.
This entry was posted in DIY Projects and tagged Magic Pillowcase, Rag Quilt, Sewing.


text:
Counterterrorism: A Time to Act, By Gimba Kakanda
As I write this, the place our politicians and their accomplices used to refer to as "the northeast" in their scheming for power and measurements of their influences in the power game, the very place the nation's implicit commander-in-chief once referred to as "fringes", as against the "mainstream" territories of his and his colleagues' residences, is becoming the sovereign entity of the terrorising Boko Haram in what still seems like a nightmare to the affected, a propaganda to the unsympathetic distant observers, and a conspiracy to the denialists.
But while this is ongoing, while innocent citizens of this slaughterhouse that is being paraded as the giant of Africa by self-ridiculing PR firms on the payroll of the Federal Government or some other ironic patron, are being killed, we're occupied by our hatred of one another and facts and realities, as we highlight and debate the politics, instead of the lives, of the people of northeastern Nigeria.
While we're at this, their towns and villages are exposed to continuous threats and attacks, with survivors not only psychologically traumatised, but forsaken in their expectations of reassuring counterterrorism arrangements to convince them that they're indeed subjects of a big nation, being "monitored" from Abuja.
With every word uttered or written by analysts of the militant sect, with every insult hurled at reporters of the ongoing carnages, the truth remains that talk is cheap. We've been going berserk in our comfort zones as we theorise the reality in the landlocked region, and even though we're sincerely upset, our anger is inconsequential unless it challenges us to overcome our differences, harmonise our thoughts and then ally to proffer solutions to a tragedy that does not discriminate along the lines of our earned identities. An explosion, we all know, consumes both the Muslim and the Christian, both the Hausa and the Igbo, both the northerner and the southerner, everybody within the perimeter of its blast. This is a fact, it will happen even as we talk, if the terrorists act.
The question to ask ourselves now is: beyond writing profound obituaries and professing solidarity online, what are we, private citizens of a nation at crossroads, to do? This is no longer the time for boring intellectual or political discourses of the reality consuming the most insecure of the nation's citizens day in, day out, bit by bit, fringe by fringe, and now from taking over and declaring as constituencies of what may seem like an imaginary caliphate, villages to villages, it has escalated to local government councils to local government councils being taken over.
This is no longer the time to debate the statistics of unnamed and faceless and unknown innocent citizens whose deaths are being registered as "collateral damage", their honour denied. Rather, this is the time to come together and complement on the efforts of the military and, especially, demand to know how our huge security votes are spent. We must question the President, now demanding a loan to fight terrorism, while our troops in the northeast are still set to "tactical maneuvering" mode.
These past days, I tried to avoid commentaries on the escalating insurgency, because we've been talking for too long without really understanding one another, only stringing invectives together to dismiss or deconstruct dissenting views or form dangerous conspiracy theories that only complicate our security challenges.
Some of us, however, instead of adding our voices to solution-finding struggles, are only interested in the politics of the narratives, thus forming divisive political groups to support politicians who do not even know that part of being an aspiring leader is sensitivity to the failings of the society and of the incumbent leaders. Unrelenting political activism, that should be the responsibility of the opposition in a dysfunctional country.
But how many of our politicians, especially those now aspiring to lead, have actually been there for the displaced citizens? They don't even know the locations of the IDP camps, so thus "engaged" in their pursuits of the voting citizens, potential voters, whose stomachs they seek to rehabilitate, ignoring the starving refugees who, to them, are now electorally useless.
We live in a country where private citizens strutted to bear arms for the defence of Palestine. I believe that the anger of those "Nigerian-Palestinians", and that of many others, is needed now in our counterterrorism. This is the only country in which we don't need a visa to exist, to which we don't need a visa to visit, of which we're citizens with no strings attached. So if the military is short of personnel, I'm sure there are many willing citizens available for training and deployment. If the government can't protect us, there's no shame in allowing private citizens to form armed community defence corps. Nobody deserves to die without a fight – in self-defence – or an attempt to be defended by the authority.
Now as Mubi, a commercial live-wire of Adamawa State, falls, and our troops are reportedly fleeing, there's no better proof that the Nigerian citizens are on their own. Even the UN is still "speaking grammar" over our dilemma, as though the all-knowing America, which has once offered to help us, doesn't even know that yet.
Despite being a kindergarten student of International Relations, I'm still forced to ask: what does the African Union really do? Before its eyes, NATO destroyed Gaddafi, destabilised Libya; before its eyes, foreign powers mess up its member countries, uprooting renegade leaders and installing governments just as bad; before its very eyes ragtag armies of perverted insurgents gather guts to topple governments of its member countries…
As these happen, the representatives of Arab League, the United Nations and the European Union have formed a coalition against ISIS, while the African Union still pretends that Boko Haram is not a continental threat. And the President of this burning Nigeria even went to a steadier Burkina Faso of rationally angry citizens to "keep peace", a needless showoff, to deceive the world – that Africa is indeed in charge of its mess, and rising. May God save us from us!
kindly follow me on Twitter: @gimbakakanda
From Budget Transparency To Open Contracting, By Seember Nyager
A Need For Internally Displaced Soldiers' Camp, By Jaafar Jaafar
The Policy Implications of 2021's Low Growth Projections, By Uddin Ifeanyi
Iron Woman of Berlin, By Wole Olaoye
Aliko Dangote's Costly Mess of the Libido, By Festus Adedayo
Is God Invisible?, By Femi Aribisala
South-East Governors: Preparing For a Post-oil and Restructured Nigeria, By Osmund Agbo
Again, Entombed Humans Triumph Over Death, By Owei Lakemfa
A Need For Internally Displaced Soldiers' Camp, By Jaafar Jaafar
The Power of Religion, By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani


Our teachers and staff are guided by a unique curriculum, which blends Early Childhood education and Montessori education principals. We pride ourselves on a low student to teacher ratio. Most classes have one teacher and one teacher's assistant with a maximum of 20 students.
Our teachers develop age-appropriate activities that introduce and strengthen academic and social skills.
In addition to the full Montessori curriculum, we offer students a range of gross motor and creative opportunities including weekly music classes, on-going dance and drama workshops, and a french program. We strive to include enrichment activities that extend our students knowledge and understanding of the world around us. Each month we introduce a famous artist and composer to the classroom as well as a virtue. We reinforce language development with the Fun Family Phonics Program which teaches the sounds that the letters make.


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**NOTE**: This mixin is mainly for internal library use and most users should not need to use it directly. It
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Use of this mixin does not make a component a field in the logical sense, meaning it does not provide any
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two.)

Component classes which use this mixin should use the Field layout
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    errorMsgCls: Ext.baseCSSPrefix + 'form-error-msg',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} baseBodyCls
     * The CSS class to be applied to the body content element. Defaults to 'x-form-item-body'.
     */
    baseBodyCls: Ext.baseCSSPrefix + 'form-item-body',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} fieldBodyCls
     * An extra CSS class to be applied to the body content element in addition to {@link #fieldBodyCls}.
     * Defaults to empty.
     */
    fieldBodyCls: '',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} clearCls
     * The CSS class to be applied to the special clearing div rendered directly after the field
     * contents wrapper to provide field clearing (defaults to <tt>'x-clear'</tt>).
     */
    clearCls: Ext.baseCSSPrefix + 'clear',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} invalidCls
     * The CSS class to use when marking the component invalid (defaults to 'x-form-invalid')
     */
    invalidCls : Ext.baseCSSPrefix + 'form-invalid',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} fieldLabel
     * The label for the field. It gets appended with the {@link #labelSeparator}, and its position
     * and sizing is determined by the {@link #labelAlign}, {@link #labelWidth}, and {@link #labelPad}
     * configs. Defaults to undefined.
     */
    fieldLabel: undefined,

    /**
     * @cfg {String} labelAlign
     *
Controls the position and alignment of the {@link #fieldLabel}. Valid values are:

     *

     *
<tt>"left"</tt> (the default) - The label is positioned to the left of the field, with its text
     * aligned to the left. Its width is determined by the {@link #labelWidth} config.

     *
<tt>"top"</tt> - The label is positioned above the field.

     *
<tt>"right"</tt> - The label is positioned to the left of the field, with its text aligned
     * to the right. Its width is determined by the {@link #labelWidth} config.

     *

     */
    labelAlign : 'left',

    /**
     * @cfg {Number} labelWidth
     * The width of the {@link #fieldLabel} in pixels. Only applicable if the {@link #labelAlign} is set
     * to "left" or "right". Defaults to <tt>100</tt>.
     */
    labelWidth: 100,

    /**
     * @cfg {Number} labelPad
     * The amount of space in pixels between the {@link #fieldLabel} and the input field. Defaults to <tt>5</tt>.
     */
    labelPad : 5,

    /**
     * @cfg {String} labelSeparator
     * Character(s) to be inserted at the end of the {@link #fieldLabel label text}.
     */
    labelSeparator : ':',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} labelStyle
     *
A CSS style specification string to apply directly to this field's label. Defaults to undefined.

     */

    /**
     * @cfg {Boolean} hideLabel
     *
Set to <tt>true</tt> to completely hide the label element ({@link #fieldLabel} and {@link #labelSeparator}).
     * Defaults to <tt>false</tt>.

     *
Also see {@link #hideEmptyLabel}, which controls whether space will be reserved for an empty fieldLabel.

     */
    hideLabel: false,

    /**
     * @cfg {Boolean} hideEmptyLabel
     *
When set to <tt>true</tt>, the label element ({@link #fieldLabel} and {@link #labelSeparator}) will be
     * automatically hidden if the {@link #fieldLabel} is empty. Setting this to <tt>false</tt> will cause the empty
     * label element to be rendered and space to be reserved for it; this is useful if you want a field without a label
     * to line up with other labeled fields in the same form. Defaults to <tt>true</tt>.

     *
If you wish to unconditionall hide the label even if a non-empty fieldLabel is configured, then set
     * the {@link #hideLabel} config to <tt>true</tt>.

     */
    hideEmptyLabel: true,

    /**
     * @cfg {Boolean} preventMark
     * <tt>true</tt> to disable displaying any {@link #setActiveError error message} set on this object.
     * Defaults to <tt>false</tt>.
     */
    preventMark: false,

    /**
     * @cfg {Boolean} autoFitErrors
     * Whether to adjust the component's body area to make room for 'side' or 'under'
     * {@link #msgTarget error messages}. Defaults to <tt>true</tt>.
     */
    autoFitErrors: true,

    /**
     * @cfg {String} msgTarget
The location where the error message text should display.
     * Must be one of the following values:

     *

     *
qtip Display a quick tip containing the message when the user hovers over the field. This is the default.
     *
{@link Ext.tip.QuickTipManager#init Ext.tip.QuickTipManager.init} must have been called for this setting to work.

     *
title Display the message in a default browser title attribute popup.

     *
under Add a block div beneath the field containing the error message.

     *
side Add an error icon to the right of the field, displaying the message in a popup on hover.

     *
none Don't display any error message. This might be useful if you are implementing custom error display.

     *
[element id] Add the error message directly to the innerHTML of the specified element.

     *

     */
    msgTarget: 'qtip',

    /**
     * @cfg {String} activeError
     * If specified, then the component will be displayed with this value as its active error when
     * first rendered. Defaults to undefined. Use {@link #setActiveError} or {@link #unsetActiveError} to
     * change it after component creation.
     */

    /**
     * Performs initialization of this mixin. Component classes using this mixin should call this method
     * during their own initialization.
     */
    initLabelable: function() {
        this.addCls(this.formItemCls);

        this.addEvents(
            /**
             * @event errorchange
             * Fires when the active error message is changed via {@link #setActiveError}.
             * @param {Ext.form.Labelable} this
             * @param {String} error The active error message
             */
            'errorchange'
        );
    },

    /**
     * Returns the label for the field. Defaults to simply returning the {@link #fieldLabel} config. Can be
     * overridden to provide
     * @return {String} The configured field label, or empty string if not defined
     */
    getFieldLabel: function() {
        return this.fieldLabel || '';
    },

    /**
     * @protected
     * Generates the arguments for the field decorations {@link #labelableRenderTpl rendering template}.
     * @return {Object} The template arguments
     */
    getLabelableRenderData: function() {
        var me = this,
            labelAlign = me.labelAlign,
            labelPad = me.labelPad,
            labelStyle;

        // Calculate label styles up front rather than in the Field layout for speed; this
        // is safe because label alignment/width/pad are not expected to change.
        if (labelAlign === 'top') {
            labelStyle = 'margin-bottom:' + labelPad + 'px;';
        } else {
            labelStyle = 'margin-right:' + labelPad + 'px;';
            // Add the width for border-box browsers; will be set by the Field layout for content-box
            if (Ext.isBorderBox) {
                labelStyle += 'width:' + me.labelWidth + 'px;';
            }
        }

        return Ext.copyTo(
            {
                inputId: me.getInputId(),
                fieldLabel: me.getFieldLabel(),
                labelStyle: labelStyle + (me.labelStyle || ''),
                subTplMarkup: me.getSubTplMarkup()
            },
            me,
            'hideLabel,hideEmptyLabel,labelCls,fieldBodyCls,baseBodyCls,errorMsgCls,clearCls,labelSeparator',
            true
        );
    },

    /**
     * @protected
     * Returns the additional {@link Ext.AbstractComponent#renderSelectors} for selecting the field
     * decoration elements from the rendered {@link #labelableRenderTpl}. Component classes using this mixin should
     * be sure and merge this method's result into the component's {@link Ext.AbstractComponent#renderSelectors}
     * before rendering.
     */
    getLabelableSelectors: function() {
        return {
            /**
             * @property labelEl
             * @type Ext.core.Element
             * The label Element for this component. Only available after the component has been rendered.
             */
            labelEl: 'label.' + this.labelCls,

            /**
             * @property bodyEl
             * @type Ext.core.Element
             * The div Element wrapping the component's contents. Only available after the component has been rendered.
             */
            bodyEl: '.' + this.baseBodyCls,

            /**
             * @property errorEl
             * @type Ext.core.Element
             * The div Element that will contain the component's error message(s). Note that depending on the
             * configured {@link #msgTarget}, this element may be hidden in favor of some other form of
             * presentation, but will always be present in the DOM for use by assistive technologies.
             */
            errorEl: '.' + this.errorMsgCls
        };
    },

    /**
     * @protected
     * Gets the markup to be inserted into the outer template's bodyEl. Defaults to empty string, should
     * be implemented by classes including this mixin as needed.
     * @return {String} The markup to be inserted
     */
    getSubTplMarkup: function() {
        return '';
    },

    /**
     * Get the input id, if any, for this component. This is used as the "for" attribute on the label element.
     * Implementing subclasses may also use this as e.g. the id for their own <tt>input</tt> element.
     * @return {String} The input id
     */
    getInputId: function() {
        return '';
    },

    /**
     * Gets the active error message for this component, if any. This does not trigger
     * validation on its own, it merely returns any message that the component may already hold.
     * @return {String} The active error message on the component; if there is no error, an empty string is returned.
     */
    getActiveError : function() {
        return this.activeError || '';
    },

    /**
     * Tells whether the field currently has an active error message. This does not trigger
     * validation on its own, it merely looks for any message that the component may already hold.
     * @return {Boolean}
     */
    hasActiveError: function() {
        return !!this.getActiveError();
    },

    /**
     * Sets the active error message to the given string. This replaces the entire error message
     * contents with the given string. Also see {@link #setActiveErrors} which accepts an Array of
     * messages and formats them according to the {@link #activeErrorsTpl}.
     *
     * Note that this only updates the error message element's text and attributes, you'll have
     * to call doComponentLayout to actually update the field's layout to match. If the field extends
     * {@link Ext.form.field.Base} you should call {@link Ext.form.field.Base#markInvalid markInvalid} instead.
     *
     * @param {String} msg The error message
     */
    setActiveError: function(msg) {
        this.activeError = msg;
        this.activeErrors = [msg];
        this.renderActiveError();
    },

    /**
     * Gets an Array of any active error messages currently applied to the field. This does not trigger
     * validation on its own, it merely returns any messages that the component may already hold.
     * @return {Array} The active error messages on the component; if there are no errors, an empty Array is returned.
     */
    getActiveErrors: function() {
        return this.activeErrors || [];
    },

    /**
     * Set the active error message to an Array of error messages. The messages are formatted into
     * a single message string using the {@link #activeErrorsTpl}. Also see {@link #setActiveError}
     * which allows setting the entire error contents with a single string.
     *
     * Note that this only updates the error message element's text and attributes, you'll have
     * to call doComponentLayout to actually update the field's layout to match. If the field extends
     * {@link Ext.form.field.Base} you should call {@link Ext.form.field.Base#markInvalid markInvalid} instead.
     *
     * @param {Array} errors The error messages
     */
    setActiveErrors: function(errors) {
        this.activeErrors = errors;
        this.activeError = this.getTpl('activeErrorsTpl').apply({errors: errors});
        this.renderActiveError();
    },

    /**
     * Clears the active error message(s).
     *
     * Note that this only clears the error message element's text and attributes, you'll have
     * to call doComponentLayout to actually update the field's layout to match. If the field extends
     * {@link Ext.form.field.Base} you should call {@link Ext.form.field.Base#clearInvalid clearInvalid} instead.
     */
    unsetActiveError: function() {
        delete this.activeError;
        delete this.activeErrors;
        this.renderActiveError();
    },

    /**
     * @private
     * Updates the rendered DOM to match the current activeError. This only updates the content and
     * attributes, you'll have to call doComponentLayout to actually update the display.
     */
    renderActiveError: function() {
        var me = this,
            activeError = me.getActiveError(),
            hasError = !!activeError;

        if (activeError !== me.lastActiveError) {
            me.fireEvent('errorchange', me, activeError);
            me.lastActiveError = activeError;
        }

        if (me.rendered && !me.isDestroyed && !me.preventMark) {
            // Add/remove invalid class
            me.el[hasError ? 'addCls' : 'removeCls'](me.invalidCls);

            // Update the aria-invalid attribute
            me.getActionEl().dom.setAttribute('aria-invalid', hasError);

            // Update the errorEl with the error message text
            me.errorEl.dom.innerHTML = activeError;
        }
    },

    /**
     * Applies a set of default configuration values to this Labelable instance. For each of the
     * properties in the given object, check if this component hasOwnProperty that config; if not
     * then it's inheriting a default value from its prototype and we should apply the default value.
     * @param {Object} defaults The defaults to apply to the object.
     */
    setFieldDefaults: function(defaults) {
        var me = this;
        Ext.iterate(defaults, function(key, val) {
            if (!me.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
                me[key] = val;
            }
        });
    },

    /**
     * @protected Calculate and return the natural width of the bodyEl. Override to provide custom logic.
     * Note for implementors: if at all possible this method should be overridden with a custom implementation
     * that can avoid anything that would cause the browser to reflow, e.g. querying offsetWidth.
     */
    getBodyNaturalWidth: function() {
        return this.bodyEl.getWidth();
    }

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Publisher: Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch -- 10 288.
"Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch -- 10 288" serie.
The FB Reader service executes searching for the e-book "Die kleine Heuchlerin" to provide you with the opportunity to download it for free. Click the appropriate button to start searching the book to get it in the format you are interested in.


In this work the single-electron capture and single-ionization processes are studied for proton collisions with He and Ar atoms at impact energies in the range 25-100 keV. Classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations are benchmarked against experimental data obtained at the reaction microscope in Bariloche, Argentina, which employs the cold target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy technique. Special emphasis is placed on describing the momentum transfer to the recoil ion for these collision systems.


Firms working on wearable insulin delivery, diagnostic tools for allergy profiling, blood plasma profiling for cancer diagnosis, and real-time health and fitness tracking are among top 45 brands chosen to present to a group of leading investors, VCs, corporate partners, and business angels at the summit.
This year's top European digital health and medtech companies were chosen from a record-breaking number of applications to compete for a position in the top 45.
They represent companies from 15 European countries, in various stages of development ranging from seed to expansion, and engaged in sectors including medical devices, genomics, cell therapy, wearable devices, cardiology, diagnostics and monitoring, patient safety, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
The 2016 edition received 69% more applications from digital health companies compared to the previous year, and a 9% decrease in applications from medtech companies showcasing an upward trend in representation of digital tech in Europe.
The overall medtech award went to CeQur, a company which received the accolade for its contribution to improving the lives of patients with type 2 diabetes. Their wearable device is the world's first to deliver insulin on a three day basis, preventing the need for multiple daily insulin injections.
The digital health award was presented to MindMaze, a company which has developed a platform to enable patients to use immersive virtual reality for neuro-rehabilitation for treating stroke, brain-injury, amputee patients, as well as a wide spectrum of neurological deficits to accelerate recovery.
"We have previously participated in the Tech Tour and benefitted greatly from interactions with other start-ups and investors.
"Currently we are preparing to bring a much needed new product to the market next year and are looking forward to helping improve the lives of people with type 2 diabetes.
"It's a great honour to be recognized for the Digital Health Award, especially coming from a network of business leaders and peers who have brought consistent value to the ecosystem of devices at the intersection of healthcare and medicine.
The full list of brands in the top 45 can be found here.


Improve cost-effectiveness of your communications with the Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adaptor, which turns traditional telephone and fax communications devices into IP devices. The adaptor addresses the needs of customers who connect to enterprise networks, small offices, or voice-over-IP services from the cloud.
The Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adaptor supports two voice ports that each have their own independent telephone number, and a single RJ-45 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port. The adaptor can make use of existing Ethernet LANs, in addition to broadband services such as digital subscriber line (DSL), fixed wireless, and cable modem deployments.


text:
Antarctica Sees Coldest Weather Ever Recorded On Earth
And it's really, really below zero
David W. Hamilton / Getty Images
Sun and icebergs at Queen Maud land in Antarctica.
With snow and ice falling in North America, new data about record cold weather in Antarctica puts things into some perspective.
New analysis from a NASA satellite revealed that East Antarctica reached minus-135.8 degrees fahrenheit in August 2010, NBC reports, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth. Antarctica hit close to that temperature again on July 31,2013 when it reached minus-135.3 degrees.
In announcing the data, the National Snow and Ice Data Center's Ted Scambos said that the temperature is "50 degrees colder than anything that has ever been seen in Alaska or Siberia or certainly North Dakota. … It's more like you'd see on Mars on a nice summer day in the poles."


I felt like it would be a great mental challenge...a way to train my mind not my body. It was pretty awesome...but I still think it's a cruel trick to play on yourself. Maybe it won't be so bad when I'm not running 6 miles tomorrow :) So here she is folks.....and get this...the avg pace was still 9:18! I think that was the same pace I had last week for my 5 mile run? How long can I continue to run long runs at this pace?!?
Nice job on the run, enjoy sleeping in!
I completely agree on the caffeine being as addicting as cocaine, its nearly impossible to get off of it! I somehow managed to break my addiction, and I'm always extremely careful with it now so I don't get hooked again.
That's a great mind game. I may try that at some point.
I am a diet pepsi junkie. I know I am suposed to drink a ton of water a day, but it's so hard cause...well...it just doesn't replace Diet Pepsi...Don't their commercials say something about "Forever Young" that can't be a bad thing, can it??
Good Job on the Long Run...I am working towards your pace...one day.
Nice job on the run!! That's a great pace.
Good job on the run! Maybe I can trick myself into running a HM.
Coffee is my biggest achilles heel. I can usually get my addiction down to 2 cups a day, but that doesn't last long. doesn't help that there are Starbucks across from work and across from my house.
I don't think diet soda is that bad if it's like 1 or 2 day. But 4-5, well, that's a lot. And for a runner, that liquid should be water.
I gave up diet pepsi for the new year and it's been tough, so I am in no position to give advice about it.
I am a Diet Coke junkie who has finally gotten herself down to 1 or 2 a day. I feel guilty everytime I drink one because I know it has nothing nutritionally to offer and I should be drinking water. So at first I was so excited to see the label that said any drink hydrates the body, so drink all the Coca-Cola products you want. Then I saw it was from Coca-Cola. Does this remind anyone else of the tobacco companies telling us for decades that smoking isn't dangerous? I don't mean to be too cynical and I'd like nothing more than Diet Coke to be the carrots and broccoli of drinks, but I'm not holding my breath. OK, I'm thirsty after all this typing. Gotta go get a Diet Coke.


This inspection took place on 06 June 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours' notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service; we needed to be sure that someone would be in.
One inspector and an expert by experience undertook this inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of service. The expert by experience at this inspection had experience in caring for older people including those living with dementia.
Before the inspection, we asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. They returned the PIR in good time and we used all this information together with other information we held about the service and the service provider to decide which areas to focus on during our inspection. This also included any statutory notifications sent to us by the registered manager about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send to us by law.
We visited the office where we met with a representative of the provider, the manager, the training manager, two care co-ordinators and two members of care staff. We looked at care records for six people and recruitment records for six members of staff. We also looked at medication administration records (MAR), visit record sheets, training and supervision records, minutes of meetings, staff rotas and complaints and compliments received by the service. Following the visit we spoke with five members of staff and the expert by experience spoke with 12 people or their relatives to obtain their views on the service provided.
As part of the inspection we also visited four people in their homes and met with three care workers and one relative. As part of the visit we looked at care records held in the person's home and spoke to people and staff about their experiences with Everyday Recruitment Agency Limited.
Prior to the visit we sent out 50 questionnaires to relatives, with no responses received back. 50 questionnaires were sent out to service users with 21responses. 43 questionnaires were sent out to staff with seven responses and 20 questionnaires were sent out to community professionals with one response received.
Everyday Recruitment Agency was last inspected in April were we found one breach of regulations.


The spa breaks are the perfect antidote to the pace of modern living. You can laze and indulge in pampering treatments designed to refresh the body and relax in charming hotels in Poland. You can also take care of your health in the beautiful Polish spa towns. Why not take the opportunity of dental treatment at reasonable prices?
You can go to Poland to relax, destress and boost your energy levels. You will find excellent new hotels equipped with modern Spas. It's clean and safe. The staff are well-trained and competent. You can also take care of your health in many Polish spas towns like Ciechocinek famous for its saline springs with therapeutic qualities that cure the cardiovascular, respiratory, orthopedic, rheumatic and nervous system. Nałęczów has healing waters as has Busko-Zdrój with rich sources of sulphate. You can also travel to Poland for dental treatment in the best clinics, modern, professional and well equipped.


Founded in Hong Kong in 1999, Yuneec International Co. Ltd. is the world leader in electronic aviation.
With hundreds of patents filed, Yuneec's core technologies power its manned aircraft as well as its drones and its market-leading line of radio-controlled aircraft for the hobby market.
Yuneec International manufactures over 1 million units a year, sold under OEM/ODM brands as well as the Typhoon brand of multi-copters. The Company's achievements include the introduction of the "ready-to-fly" remote-controlled electric-powered airplane and the design and manufacture of the market-leading radio-controlled helicopters and micro-multicopters.
Yuneec International is awarded with the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) for the two-seater electric aircraft E430 with a 48-kW electric drive and a frame made of carbon composite fibers.
The E-Spyder, a single-seat electric powered aircraft, features the innovative PowerDrive 24 propulsion system integrating the motor, motor controller, 75-volt battery, and charger. The E-Spyder receives a certification for an electric aircraft from Deutschen Ultraleichtflugverbandes (DULV) e.V in 2013.
In 2014, Yuneec comes out with the ready-to-fly, out-of-the-box drone. The Typhoon Q500 quadcopter features a 1080p camera (60 FPS), a 3-axis gimbal and 5.8 GHz long-distance real-time digital video link. The Typhoon Q500 has the Smart Transmitter (the "ST-10 series Ground Station"). This combines a 2.4 GHz radio control transmitter with a 5.8 GHz digital video link along with a built-in Android touch screen, creating an easy-to-fly platform perfect for video capture.
One of the world's most innovative technology companies is involved in one of the most innovative multicopter manufacturers; this secures them access to the promising drone market and us access to cutting-edge chip technology.
The Yuneec Typhoon H is a semi-professional hexacopter in a ready-to-fly version, which has been equipped with Intel RealSense technology. RealSense allows the Typhoon H to detect obstacles and automatically dodge them – a revolution in obstacle detection.
Thanks to the Breeze, YUNEEC has been able to create an entirely new drone segment. The 4K selfie drone with GPS, IPS and sensational picture quality for under € 500.
Whether for search and rescue, inspection, film production, security, construction, surveying or mapping applications - multicopters can be used in many areas. With the H520, Yuneec launches a Hexacopter that has been specially developed for commercial use. Its rugged design and reliable precision compass provides a stable and precise flight envelope, and numerous safety features make the H520 the ultimate copter for commercial and professional operators.
Yuneec entered two new categories with the unveiling of the all-new fixed wing Firebird FPV. Additionally, the company announced the second generation of its proven six-rotor hex platform, Typhoon H Plus - its most powerful consumer product yet. The category expansion and product line advancements are a result of Yuneec's ongoing commitment to deliver industry leading technologies and pilot-centric features for an unparalleled electric aviation experience.