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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus risk profiling: who are we missing?
Janet Pasricha1,5,
Stephan Harbarth1,
Thibaud Koessler2,
Veronique Camus1,
Jacques Schrenzel3,
Gilles Cohen4,
Didier Pittet1,
Arnaud Perrier2 &
Anne Iten1
Targeted screening of patients at high risk for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage is an important component of MRSA control programs, which rely on prediction tools to identify those high-risk patients. Most previous risk studies reported a substantial rate of patients who are eligible for screening, but failed to be enrolled. The characteristics of these missed patients are seldom described. We aimed to determine the rate and characteristics of patients who were missed by a MRSA screening programme at our institution to see how the failure to include these patients might impact the accuracy of clinical prediction tools.
From March-June 2010 all patients admitted to 13 internal medicine wards at the University of Geneva Hospital (HUG) were prospectively screened for MRSA carriage. Of 1968 patients admitted to the ward, 267 patients (13.6%) failed to undergo appropriate MRSA screening. Forty-one (2.4%) screened patients were MRSA carriers at admission. On multivariate regression, patients who were missed by screening were more likely to be aged < 50 years (OR 2.4 [1.4-3.9]), transferred to internal medicine from another ward in the hospital (OR 2.8 [1.1-7.1]), and have a history of malignancy (OR 3.2[2.1-5.1]). There was no significant difference in the rate of previous MRSA carriage between screened and unscreened patients.
Our findings highlight the potential bias that "missed" patients may introduce into MRSA risk scores. Reporting on the proportions and characteristics of missed patients is essential for accurate interpretation of MRSA prediction tools.
Prevention and control of MRSA cross infection is among the most important challenges of infection control. Surveillance of all patients for MRSA carriage on admission to hospital allows those patients colonised with MRSA to be isolated and contact precautions undertaken, with the aim of minimising spread to other patients. As patients with MRSA evident on routine clinical specimens represents a small fraction of the burden of MRSA, surveillance is needed to identify the reservoir of colonised but not infected patients [1, 2]. However, universal surveillance utilises significant healthcare resources, and its effectiveness is debatable [3–5]. Despite this, screening is increasingly utilised in hospital MRSA control programs, and is still legislated in the United Kingdom and some states of the USA [6, 7]. To mitigate costs without sacrificing the effectiveness of surveillance, many MRSA screening programs rely on clinical prediction tools to target patients at high risk of MRSA carriage [5]. Several epidemiological studies form the basis of these tools in which the major risk factors for MRSA carriage have been identified, including: a history of MRSA colonization, admission to intensive care, hospitalization in the previous 12 months, extensive contact with health care, previous receipt of antibiotic therapy and skin or soft tissue infection at admission [8–12]. However, these studies report 5-83% of patients who were eligible for study, but not screened. The characteristics of these missed patients are seldom described [11]. We examined the characteristics of patients who were missed during a MRSA surveillance study at our institution to ascertain whether their exclusion might introduce bias and affect the accuracy of clinical prediction tools and risk profiling. Specifically, we hypothesised that an important proportion of patients would be missed by our MRSA screening programme, and that these patients would differ from those patients who were not missed.
Setting and methods
The University of Geneva Hospitals (HUG) are a 2200-bed tertiary hospital network providing in- and outpatient care to the Canton of Geneva. From March to June 2010 a universal MRSA surveillance program was undertaken to prospectively screen all patients consecutively admitted to 13 internal medicine wards. The primary aim of this study was to determine the rate of MRSA carriage amongst patients admitted to internal medicine. Secondary aims included: to formulate a clinical prediction tool that would accurately predict those patients at high risk of MRSA carriage on admission to internal medicine, and to: determine the effectiveness of our programme to capture all patients for screening. Over the study period, all patient admissions to internal medicine were recorded and basic demographic and clinical data was collected. Further clinical data were obtained by retrospectively accessing electronic medical records. All patients >18 years of age were eligible for screening and were screened for MRSA by pooled nose and groin swabs. Trained ward nurses conducted the screening seven days a week. Pooled samples were streaked onto MRSAid agar (bioMérieux, Lyon, France) and then inoculated into a colistin-salt (CS) broth. When no MRSA was detected on chromogenic agar at day 1, a second MRSAid plate was inoculated using the overnight enrichment in the CS broth. Suspect colonies were confirmed by a duplex polymerase chain reaction to assess the presence of the mecA gene [13].
The proportion of patients who were eligible for, but did not have MRSA screening was determined. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and chi2-tests were used to assess differences between screened and unscreened groups. Factors potentially associated with failure to screen were first evaluated using univariate logistic regression. Variables with a P value <0.2 were retained. Multivariate models were then developed and variables were eliminated in a stepwise fashion using likelihood ratio tests to compare each model to the previous one (STATA 11.2; StataCorp, College Station, Texas, USA).
Of 1968 patients admitted to internal medicine, 1740 (88.4%) underwent admission screening within 48 hours of admission. 228 (11.6%) admitted patients were not screened and 39 (2.0%) patients underwent screening but not within 48 hours of admission. Therefore, 267 patients (13.6%) failed to undergo appropriate MRSA screening. Forty-one (2.4%) screened patients were MRSA carriers at admission. Patients who were missed during MRSA screening were younger (57.1 years vs 61.6 years; P < 0.0001) and a greater percentage had been transferred to internal medicine from another hospital ward (7.0% vs 2.7%; P < 0.0001). The proportions of patients identified as previous MRSA carriers was not significantly different between the screened and unscreened groups (9.6% vs 13.2%, respectively, P = 0.308). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients missed by screening on weekends as compared to weekdays. The results of uni- and multivariate regression analysis of factors potentially associated with being missed for MRSA screening are shown in the Table 1. On multivariate regression, patients who were missed by screening were more likely to be aged < 50 years, admitted to internal medicine from another hospital, and have a history of malignancy.
Table 1 Results of uni- and multi-variate regression analyses of factors associated with failure to have an admission MRSA swab performed 1
Screening patients for MRSA carriage on admission to hospital is an increasingly important component of hospital MRSA control programs. Many programs rely on prediction tools so that patients at high risk of MRSA carriage may be targeted for selective screening rather than to utilise universal screening which is costly and resource intensive. Ideally, prediction tools are formulated using local epidemiological data from (universal) surveillance studies. However, many of these studies report a substantial rate of patients who are eligible for screening, but fail to be enrolled by the surveillance programme. The characteristics of these patients are seldom described.
In this study, 13.6% of patients failed to have admission MRSA screening swabs performed. This rate of "missed" screening opportunities is comparable to that found in other MRSA risk profiling studies [8–11, 14]. Patients who were not screened differed from those who were in several ways. Firstly, younger patients (<50 years) were more likely to be missed during MRSA screening. A possible explanation for this is that nurses perceived younger patients to be at low risk for MRSA carriage and were thus less inclined to pursue screening. Although older age is frequently identified as a risk factor for MRSA carriage [8, 10, 12], it is possible that the tendency to miss younger patients from screening may contribute to this finding and inflate effect estimates. Transfer to internal medicine from another hospital department (intra-hospital transfer) was also a risk factor for being missed during screening. Intra-hospital transfer has been previously identified as a risk factor for MRSA admission carriage [10]; missing this group of patients could result in an underestimation of the true MRSA carriage rate and a failure to recognise intra-hospital transfer as an important risk factor for MRSA carriage. Patients with malignancy were more likely to be missed during screening in our study. This was due to logistic difficulties (e.g. frequent readmissions for chemotherapy; ultra-short hospitalizations) within our hospital oncology ward that impeded their regular participation in screening, and was therefore a problem specific to our institution.
To our knowledge, the study by Furano et al. is the only one to report detailed characteristics of patients missed by MRSA screening [11]. In this study, 83.7% of eligible patients were not enrolled in screening. Un-enrolled patients were older, less likely to have had a hospital admission in the previous year, and had a higher in-hospital mortality than those patients who were enrolled [11]. The present study will help to further elucidate the importance and magnitude of misclassification bias in MRSA risk profiling studies.
Our study has several limitations. Firstly, it is likely that the effectiveness of hospital surveillance programmes to enrol patients on admission may be heavily influenced by institutional and local factors. Therefore, the generalizability of our findings may be limited. Secondly, some of our data was collected retrospectively from medical records and is therefore subject to the inaccuracies inherent to data collected in this way.
Nevertheless, we believe that our findings highlight some of the potential misclassification biases that may occur in MRSA risk profiling studies due to patients missed from screening. This could have important implications for the accuracy of MRSA risk scores developed to target MRSA screening. Clear reporting on patient recruitment and the proportions and characteristics of those patients missed is essential for accurate interpretation of clinical prediction tools identifying patients at high risk for carriage of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Boyce JM, White RL, Spruill EY: Impact of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus on the incidence of nosocomial staphylococcal infections. J Infect Dis. 1983, 148 (4): 763-10.1093/infdis/148.4.763.
Shitrit P, Gottesman BS, Katzir M, Kilman A, Ben-Nissan Y, Chowers M: Active surveillance for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) decreases the incidence of MRSA bacteremia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2006, 27 (10): 1004-1008. 10.1086/507914.
McGinigle KL, Gourlay ML, Buchanan IB: The use of active surveillance cultures in adult intensive care units to reduce methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-related morbidity, mortality, and costs: a systematic review. Clin Infect Dis. 2008, 46 (11): 1717-1725. 10.1086/587901.
Gastmeier P, Sohr D, Schwab F, Behnke M, Zuschneid I, Brandt C: Ten years of KISS: the most important requirements for success. J Hosp Infect. 2008, 70 (Suppl 1): 11-16.
Muto CA, Jernigan JA, Ostrowsky BE, Richet HM, Jarvis WR, Boyce JM: Guideline for preventing nosocomial transmission of multidrug-resistant strains of staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2003, 24: 362-386. 10.1086/502213.
Weber SG, Huang SS, Oriola S, Huskins WC, Noskin GA, Harriman K: Legislative mandates for use of active surveillance cultures to screen for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci: position statement from the Joint SHEA and APIC Task Force. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2007, 28 (3): 249-260. 10.1086/512261.
Haustein T, Gastmeier P, Holmes A, Lucet JC, Shannon RP, Pittet D: Use of benchmarking and public reporting for infection control in four high-income countries. Lancet Infect Dis. 2011, 11 (6): 471-481. 10.1016/S1473-3099(10)70315-7.
Eveillard M, Ernst C, Cuviller S, Lescure FX, Malpaux M, Defouilloy I: Prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage at the time of admission in two acute geriatric wards. J Hosp Infect. 2002, 50 (2): 122-126. 10.1053/jhin.2001.1152.
Lucet JC, Chevret S, Durand-Zaleski I, Chastang C, Regnier B: Prevalence and risk factors for carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at admission to the intensive care unit: results of a multicenter study. Arch Intern Med. 2003, 163 (2): 181-188. 10.1001/archinte.163.2.181.
Harbarth S, Sax H, Fankhauser-Rodriguez C, Schrenzel J, Agostinho A, Pittet D: Evaluating the probability of previously unknown carriage of MRSA at hospital admission. Am J Med. 2006, 119 (3): 275-e15-23
Furuno JP, McGregor JC, Harris AD, Johnson JA, Johnson JK, Langenberg P: Identifying groups at high risk for carriage of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Arch Intern Med. 2006, 166 (5): 580-585. 10.1001/archinte.166.5.580.
Harbarth S, Sax H, Uckay I, Fankhauser C, Agostinho A, Christenson JT: A predictive model for identifying surgical patients at risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage on admission. J Am Coll Surg. 2008, 207 (5): 683-689. 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2008.05.023.
Francois P, Pittet D, Bento M, Pepey B, Vaudaux P, Lew D: Rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus directly from sterile or nonsterile clinical samples by a new molecular assay. J Clin Microbiol. 2003, 41 (1): 254-260. 10.1128/JCM.41.1.254-260.2003.
Nishikawa M, Tanaka T, Nakashima K, Senda K, Shibasaki M, Miura H: Screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage on admission to a geriatric hospital. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2009, 49 (2): 242-245. 10.1016/j.archger.2008.08.012.
We would like to extend our thanks to F. Maitre, J. Maurin, and G. Renzi for their help with this study, and Rosemary Sudan for editorial assistance. During this study, research activities on MRSA by SH were supported by the European Community, 6th Framework Programme (MOSAR network contract LSHP-CT-2007-037941).
Infection Control Program, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, 4 Rue Gabrielle Perret-Gentil, Geneva, 1211, Switzerland
Janet Pasricha, Stephan Harbarth, Veronique Camus, Didier Pittet & Anne Iten
Department of General Internal Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Thibaud Koessler & Arnaud Perrier
Central Laboratory of Bacteriology, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Jacques Schrenzel
Direction of Medico-Economic Analysis, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Gilles Cohen
Current affiliation: The Jenner Institute, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Janet Pasricha
Stephan Harbarth
Thibaud Koessler
Veronique Camus
Didier Pittet
Arnaud Perrier
Anne Iten
Correspondence to Stephan Harbarth.
S. H. has received a peer-reviewed MRSA research grant funded by Pfizer, and is a member of the speakers' bureau of bioMérieux, and a member of the advisory boards of Destiny Pharma, bioMérieux, and DaVolterra. JS is a consultant for bioMérieux, Biocartis, and Spinomix, and has received research grants and conference support from Abbott, Becton-Dickinson and Bruker.
AI, TK, AP and DP designed the study, supervised the data collection and contributed to the data analysis. AP and DP provided financial support. JS supervised the laboratory work. VC and GC led data collection and validation. JP performed the data analysis and prepared the manuscript. SH and AI supervised and led the data analysis and manuscript preparation. All authors contributed and approved the final manuscript.
Pasricha, J., Harbarth, S., Koessler, T. et al. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus risk profiling: who are we missing?. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 2, 17 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-2994-2-17
Carrier state
Staphylococcal infection


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We've long been praising the BFI's Flipside label, and, as we noted here recently, don't just take our word for it – the likes of Ben Wheatley, director of Kill List, Nicolas Winding Refn, the man behind drive, and such luminaries as Kim Newman, have all been praising its output.
To mark the release of its original titles in dual format editions, it has produced this lovely picture and great trailer too.
As the BFI's Sam Dunn says: "With the collection now 21 titles strong, and featuring over 60 never-before-published films (features and shorts) it has grown to be a substantial and indespensible library which is tells the story of the hidden history of British cinema. The praise that Flipside has been getting from such leading lights in contemporary filmmaking as Nicolas Winding Refn and Ben Wheatley demonstrates not only level of impact that the collection is making, but also says a great deal about the kinds of films – edgy, controversial, daring, provocative – it encompasses."
Here's the trailer, see here for more.
Tags: BFI, Flipside, Trailers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Go Dave Letterman!~ He just let the WGA give a pitch for their cause. And it was a good one. Apparently Hillary was on, but I tuned in late.
AND AND - he let striking writers deliver the top ten list - the top 10 demands of the striking writers. Golly, they look like a motley crew. From Colbert Report (2), Daily Show (2), Law & Order, Law Order Criminal Intent, a soap opera, Late Night w/ Conan, and Nora Ephron. Yep. Nora Ephron. Check out the Top Ten Demands of the Striking Writers.
Wow, that was almost as cool as the Obama campaign. Letterman may be able to change the dynamic. After that, you can almost believe it. Only the Huffington Post has been covering the strike with any regularity. I have a friend who wrote the script for Autofocus (an ex-boyfriend, actually) and he wrote me that the strike would last until late spring or early summer. I hope not. I miss Mad Men. More importantly, the studios are wrong.
I LOVE Letterman and loved him even before he gave me my network debut in September 1985. Yes, I was on the Letterman Show, back when it was on NBC and I was working there for the summer. Long story. But fun.
Meanwhile, Huckabee is on the Tonight Show. He said he supported the striking writers and didn't realize perhaps that he'll have to cross the picket line (with signs that say Huck is a Scab) in order to be on the show.
See link, including the top ten list.
7 minutes to the 3rd!


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Trinity scores late to edge women's soccer 2-1
Trinity (Conn.)
Bates (2-6-0) 1 0 1
Trinity (Conn.) (3-4-1) 0 2 2
1st - 15:58 - Riley Turcotte (Bates)
2nd - 65:28 - Colleen Lux (Trinity (Conn.))
2nd - 87:55 - Duun O'Hara (Trinity (Conn.))
G: Riley Turcotte - 1
A: Olivia Amdur - 1
Sv: Katherine Nuckols - 2
Sh: Whitney Hoban - 3
Sv: Taylor O'Connor - 6
Junior Riley Turcotte scored her third goal of the season in the Bates women's soccer team's match at Trinity on Saturday, September 29, 2018. (File photo by Samuel Mironko '21 for Bates College)
HARTFORD Conn. -- Duun O'Hara scored a goal in the 88th minute to lift the Trinity College Bantams to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the Bates College women's soccer team on Saturday.
Bates (2-6, 0-6 NESCAC) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after 16 minutes of scoreless action. Junior Riley Turcotte (Middletown, R.I.) beat the Trinity keeper to the back of the net for her third goal of the fall.
The Turcotte goal proved to be the only tally for either side in the first half, with the Bates defense holding Trinity without a shot on net for the first 45 minutes of play.
Trinity (3-4-1, 1-3 NESCAC) broke through in the 66th minute, when Colleen Lux scored a goal to tie things at 1-1. Lux was assisted on the score by Amelia Kroschwitz.
O'Connor made three second half saves to keep Bates off the scoreboard while the Bates back line did the same. That was, until the 88th minute when Trinity's Tricia Pollock controlled the ball near mid-field and sent a through ball to O'Hara who was racing down the middle of the field. O'Hara settled the ball before sending it into the back of the net to give Trinity its first lead of the day with 2:05 remaining. Bates was unable to find the equalizer in the final minutes of action as the Bantams came away with the 2-1 victory.
"Soccer is not a game for the faint of heart," Bates head coach Kelsy Ross said. "There are games where a team does more things right than wrong and still go home on the tough side of a result. We did a lot of things intentionally right today. Although we're disappointed in the result, we aren't feeling sorry for ourselves."
Both teams tallied 12 shots on the day with the Bantams earning three corners to the Bobcats' two. Trinity goalie Taylor O'Connor had a strong day in net, making six saves in the contest.
The Bobcats are back in action on Sunday when they stay on the road to take on Amherst at 1pm.
"This group is thriving in our quest for greatness and we'll bring that drive against another quality NESCAC opponent tomorrow," said Ross.
May 23, 2019 Bates names Joe Vari head coach of women's soccer
October 23, 2018 Women's soccer holds off Colby through regulation, but Mules get win in OT
October 20, 2018 Women's soccer leads No. 5 Middlebury for 38 minutes of road loss
October 18, 2018 Women's soccer ends Lesley's nine-game winning streak in 2-1 home victory
October 14, 2018 Kim's late goal leads women's soccer to 1-0 victory over Elms
October 7, 2018 Women's soccer rolls to 3-0 win at UNE
October 6, 2018 Women's soccer falls 2-0 to Connecticut College
September 30, 2018 Jarry scores for women's soccer in loss at Amherst
September 29, 2018 Trinity scores late to edge women's soccer 2-1
September 23, 2018 Women's soccer plays tough vs. No. 1 Williams
September 22, 2018 Turcotte scores in women's soccer's 2-1 loss to Wesleyan
September 16, 2018 Kim scores twice, women's soccer defeats Babson 3-1
September 15, 2018 Nuckols makes career-high eight saves in women's soccer's 2-0 loss at undefeated Tufts
September 11, 2018 Women's soccer defeated at Bowdoin in road debut
September 8, 2018 Hamilton uses early offense to defeat women's soccer 2-0
September 4, 2018 Women's soccer blanks Maine Maritime 2-0 in season opener
September 3, 2018 Women's soccer preview: Bobcats sport impressive depth entering 2018
May 9, 2018 Women's soccer announces challenging 2018 schedule


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Wanna be cyclists? Follow these tips
There are millions of people all over the world who ride bikes and the number is increasing. If you are among the beginners who are struggling with getting on the trails, here are some tips that can be of help.
First of all, pay attention to protection -always wear a helmet! Protect your knees - don't pedal in high gear for extended periods, keep your cadence between 70 and 90 rpm's.
Get a proper bike fit – this will reduce the pain and soreness during and after the ride. Chose right saddle! Forget about the thickest padding.
A longer seat with a cutout will be the best. Don't ride with headphones on – you can miss emergency vehicle or other commotions. Obey all road signs. And keep your head up!
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HTML5 is more than a markup language—it's a dozen independent web standards all rolled into one. Until now, all it's been missing is a manual. With this thorough, jargon-free guide, you'll learn how to build web apps that include video tools, dynamic drawings, geolocation, offline web apps, drag-and-drop, and many other features. HTML5 is the future of the Web, and with this book you'll reach it quickly.
Structure web pages in a new way. Learn how HTML5 helps make web design tools and search engines work smarter.
Draw with Canvas. Create shapes, pictures, text, and animation—and make them interactive.
Go a long way with style. Use CSS3 and HTML5 to jazz up your pages and adapt them for mobile devices.
Build web apps with rich desktop features. Let users work with your app offline, and process user-selected files in the browser.
Create location-aware apps. Write geolocation applications directly in the browser.
Matthew MacDonald is a science and technology writer with well over a dozen books to his name. He's particularly known for his books about building websites, which include a do-it-from-scratch tutorial (Creating a Website: The Missing Manual), a look at cutting-edge HTML5 (HTML5: The Missing Manual), and a WordPress primer (WordPress: The Missing Manual). He's also written a series of books about programming on and off the Web with .NET, teaches programming at Ryerson University, and is a three-time Microsoft MVP.


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Pres. Rouhani hails 25th anniv. of Tehran-Minsk ties
TEHRAN, Mar. 18 (MNA) – In a message forwarded to his Belarusian counterpart, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani commended the 25th anniversary of establishment of Tehran-Minsk political ties.
In a message issued on Sunday, President Rouhani expressed his sincerest congratulations to the Belarusian government and people on the twenty-fifth anniversary of friendly relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Belarus.
Addressing the Belarusian President Alexander Grigorovich Lukashenko in the letter, President Rouhani noted Iran and Belarus' determination to develop cooperation to serve the interests of both countries by adopting an independent policy, in spite of the ups and downs and many developments in the world in the last quarter of a century.
"For over the past two decades, close cooperation between our governments has yielded fruitful results on many important bilateral and international fields," Rouhani said. "Interaction between delegations of the two countries at various levels and the development of relations in political, economic and cultural fields clearly illustrate the deepening and consolidation of relations between the two countries."
He went on to note the holding of the fourteenth round of Joint Commission's meeting on Economic Cooperation and the holding of taskforces and their subsidiary committees, adding that the meetings confirm the serious willingness of the two parties to advance bilateral cooperation.
"The valuable achievements of relations over the past 25 years and overcoming obstacles have given us a clear perspective," Rouhani said. "therefore, I am confident that the good relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Belarus will further contribute to the development of mutual interests of the two nations."
The president further wished for continued health and success of his Belarusian counterpart, as well as the prosperity and felicity of the Belarusian nation.
MS/4254581
Marjohn Sheikhi
Iran, Belarus eye broadening scientific coop.
Lukashenko congratulates anniv. of diplomatic relations with Iran
Iran, Belarus sign 8 MoUs
Pres. Rouhani greets Merkel, wishes for stronger ties
Pres. Rouhani felicitates Namibia on Independence Day
Iran welcomes Belarusian firms coop. in oil sector
Rouhani congratulates Tunisia on Independence Day
Iran, Belarus discuss transportation coop.
Tehran, Minsk poised to bolster bilateral relations


text:
Q: Is storing secret in bitbucket pipeline variable safe? As part of my Bitbucket pipeline task i am invoking a web call which needs password. If I store the password as secret variable in bitbucket pipeline is it safe? If not what are other options available?

A: I would use a repository variable and reference it in your pipeline.
You can store the value as secured, such that no-one can view the value once saved.
Read more here: https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/docs/variables-and-secrets/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Portal Home > Knowledgebase > Manual > Features Section > Call us - What format should my phone be in?
Ideally in standard internat ional format e.g. +1.1223434344 . Avoid putting any space or any sign in between other than the leading + (can be replaced by a double 0) or the dot after the country code. You can also just write it as an uninterrupted sequence of number the way it should be dialed.


Hosting a get-together? There's no need to make everything yourself. The key is knowing what to buy and how to serve it. From Skinnygirl Cocktails: 100 Fun & Flirty Guilt-Free Recipes.
I like to choose foods that people can easily serve themselves and that don't go bad if they get cold.
Healthy finger foods like edamame, spiced nuts, wasabi peas, and sliced-up vegetables are perfect go-tos for any theme. Dumplings or the yummy empanadas from Trader Joe's are great, too. It's nice to put your own twist on things, so instead of serving plain hummus, doctor it up with some herbs or spices. My line of Skinnygirl hummus comes in a variety of flavors like Roasted Red Pepper and Cilantro Jalapeño, so all you need to do is add a garnish and you have a perfect party dip. Or put out sushi on a nice platter and serve it with a dipping sauce that you've floated sesame seeds on. Make your own version of mixed nuts and add some herbs or spices to give them a little extra punch.
One of my favorite things to do is to make a big antipasto platter: Put olives and a few different marinated veggies in ramekins or other small bowls. (You can buy these inexpensively at IKEA.) Lay out the ramekins with a selection of meats and cheeses on a nice cutting board—it ends up looking really gourmet.
Whatever you do, the most important rule is never to serve anything in the bag or jar that it came in. Even if you're not doctoring up something, take a minute to put what you've bought on pretty plates or in good bowls that fit the theme. Even microwave popcorn can look gourmet if it's in a fancy bowl. If I'm pressed for time, I'll quickly pop some Skinnygirl popcorn in my favorite Lime and Salt flavor (yum!) and put it in a festive bowl before my guests walk through the door. If you take the time to make food look nice, no one will ever notice or care that it came from the supermarket.


"The vague answers given by Senator Jeff Sessions during today's Attorney General confirmation hearing provided little comfort for the 2 million American patients who rely on state-run medical cannabis programs to provide them with physician-recommended medicine. Each of the 44 states that have medical cannabis programs, including 15 states with patient access to CBD, such as Sessions home state of Alabama, technically violate federal law.
Congress has given the Attorney General authority to administer the Controlled Substances Act. Sessions needs to do his job and not push his responsibility back on Congress.


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Book Reviews Cumulative Index
Book Type: Poetry
by: Stephen Burt
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Date Published: June 2013
Pages: 88pp
Review by: Elizabeth O'Brien
While it is generally a mistake to assume the speaker of a poem is the poet himself, Belmont is an introspective book featuring many overtly autobiographical gestures. Taking its title from the Massachusetts town where poet Stephen Burt lives, the collection explore the pleasures of adulthood and the security of home through poems that are fixed in definite times and recognizable places and often refer to specific people. Objects, even, have specificity; in "Over Wingaersheek Beach," readers are told that "Nathan's kite shows a pattern of angelfish, coral, and sea stars," taking the vivid description so far as to denote possession—the kite in question is Nathan's—and in fact Nathan and other family members are mentioned by name frequently in the book, lending the collection the narrative specificity of a memoir.
The speaker—Burt, readers will generally assume—journeys occasionally to the DC area and Mexico and elsewhere, but remains mostly in the greater Boston area, finding occasions for poems along Storrow Drive, in Kendall Square and Porter Square, and in Black Ink, a small curiosity shop in Cambridge. Belmont, a small town situated between Cambridge and Waltham, is described here both in specific detail and as a generalized suburban locale where the speaker has settled down to raise children. "Sing for us whose troubles // are troubles we're lucky to have: / cold orange juice, and cold coffee," the speaker intones. The word "cocoon" does not appear in the book until it finally comes along several times in part 3, but poems throughout the book suggest a speaker cocooned by comforts of family and middle aged prosperity, and Belmont often finds occasions for poetry in domestic objects: tea towels, a stapler, and an illuminated globe, among others. Writing about the suburbs is dangerous territory; there are limitless ways one can come across as self-indulgent or privileged or out-of-touch. Fortunately, suburban life is treated here as less an occasion for self-congratulation than for reflection, and these poems are frank about the comfortable tameness and uncomfortable complacency inherent in the world of the poems, demonstrating awareness of how fortunate so many suburban denizens are, and how tenuous that fortune can be. "Gentle" serves here as both a descriptor and a prayer.
These poems show the sensitivity of a critic, and Burt's tone balances levity and rumination well, as when he describes Heaven—someone else's version of it, he says—as "half a moon, / laughter through the quad, and cloudlessness," admitting a few lines later, "How finely weighted in my favor / most of our contests in this life have been;" or when he calls the soul "Easy to recognize in its costume / made up of Sunday puzzles and Scrabble tiles."
Belmont is structured in three parts, with one poem prefacing the three sections, and epigraphs from Shakespeare, Willa Cather, and Octavio Paz. Part 1 describes life in Belmont in terms of preoccupied insularity, with the main event being the birth of the speaker's son. The poems here seem to gently move back in time, hour by hour, proceeding as the section progresses from "Poem of Nine A.M." to "Belmont Overture (Poem of Eight A.M.)" and so on, leading readers step by step into an early morning dream state.
As if taking up the matters of dreams for section 2, the book proceeds to wander through deep yearnings, uncertainties, and questions about sexuality, transposing these worries with pop culture icons and bits of chatter and childhood TV shows, with "microfiber and leather," and "opalescent plastic buttons." The poems in the middle of the book offer a kaleidoscopic jumble of images and textures and emotions but often hint at a curious lack of agency, conveying less the sense of a freeze frame than of a deliberate stalling out.
The scope widens in the last section and returns to more narrative concerns, and in the third section the poems also travel away from New England. Some of the poems here moralize heavily on matters such as the dangers of taking things for granted, and the lack of environmental stewardship in contemporary life, but these are nonetheless balanced by lighter moments and lyrical descriptions, as in the lovely "El Nido" and "Butterfly with Parachute."
The strong organizing structure supports the thematic and circular congruencies of the poems, as when sesame seeds appearing in the book's opening poem are invoked again when "the little boys throw seeds" toward the end in "Living Next To The River." Belmont is filled with echoing images like this, and Burt likewise has adept sonic sensibilities. "The geese alight / at ease, a scatterplot," he says in "Helplessness;" clipped lines like these present a striking visual metaphor and simultaneously reward the ear with the slant rhymes in geese and ease, and the consonance of paired l's and t's in "alight" and "plot."
With lyricism and a finely tuned temporality, Belmont offers readers a world that is cushioned, cocooned. Yet the security of such a world is tenuous by nature and, Burt gently admonishes, "We should never look down / on what gives strangers comfort, / on what we learn too late that we might need."
Review Posted on October 01, 2013


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Many of us associate salads with spring and summer, but after eating so many heavy foods in the winter, a warm salad may be just what you're craving. This delicious recipe featuring a salad dressing made from chickpeas—if you've never had this before, you going to love it—may hit the spot.
To make it extra soothing and satisfying on cold nights, I scooped out the flesh from roasted sweet potatoes. Before you roast them, rub each potato with oil so that it's easier to remove the skin when you're ready to eat them.
Add fresh mint and cucumber for a touch of coolness to this salad. Bring some heat with chili powder and cayenne pepper to round out this beautiful winter meal. Prepare this on a weeknight, and enjoy it again the next day with any leftovers at lunch. The dressing holds up well in a sealed container.
Meat Alternative: Sauté one minced garlic clove with 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add a pound of organic ground chicken with sea salt and freshly ground pepper over medium heat, cover, and stir every two minutes until the chicken is no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes. Serve the cooked ground chicken on top of this salad.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Poke holes in the sweet potatoes using a fork, then place the sweet potatoes on the prepared baking sheet. Use your hands to rub the oil onto each sweet potato coating the entire potato.
Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven for 40 minutes or until tender and golden brown.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the kale, fresh mint, celery, cucumber and cabbage. Set aside.
Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, discard the skin, and place the sweet potato flesh in a medium bowl. Use a large fork to mash the sweet potato flesh and add a dash of sea salt and pepper, then transfer the sweet potato flesh to the kale salad.
Combine the dressing ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper, then drizzle the dressing over the kale mixture and serve immediately. Leftover dressing can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to four days.


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text:
Farbest Foods expansion underway
Huntingburg — Work has begun on a $12.8 million project for Farbest Foods, Inc. that will expand the deboning room at the company's Huntingburg plant, enabling Farbest to streamline its deboning process and improve output.
The work is being completed by Stellar, a fully integrated design, engineering, construction and mechanical services firm. The company has provided planning, design, pre-construction and construction services for the more than 22,000-square-foot expansion. The project began in September 2021 and is on track to be completed in July 2022.
"It's important for us to keep evolving and improving our practices at Farbest so we can maintain our mission of providing customers with top-grade turkey products," said Ted Seger, President of Farbest Foods. "We knew Stellar's expertise and experience would make them a great partner as we work to improve our already world-class facility."
First built in 1969 and expanded in 1986 and again in 2008, the Farbest facility has presented unique challenges for the Stellar team. Stellar assured Farbest of a successful build after identifying challenging soil issues as they needed to match new construction technology with an existing 35-year-old structure.
"This new addition will enable Farbest to transition from manual turkey deboning to a more automated, machine-driven process," said Tyler Netting, the project's lead construction manager with Stellar. "We're building out the new refrigerated space and adjacent shipping docks, which will enable the owner to incorporate new equipment into the deboning room."
After considering various possibilities, Stellar's project management team selected a solution involving fill and wick drains under the expansion site, which are designed to speed up the settlement process and reduce the risk of long-term settlement issues.
"There are other solutions we could have pursued, but we decided on an approach that was optimal for the site and the owner's objectives," said Michael Grochowski, Stellar's lead design manager on the project. "This method was both effective and cost-efficient. It also speaks to our team's expertise and willingness to investigate creative solutions to best meet our clients' goals on any project."
The turkey deboning room expansion is Stellar's second and largest project with Farbest Foods.


text:
Martin Seymour-Smith
Joanne O'Leary
Christian Lorentzen
Lauren Oyler
The New Grunge
Daniel Soar
Max Porter
Tim Parks
Adam Mars-Jones
Dag Solstad
Ian Patterson
'Machines Like Me'
Literature and literary criticism, Fiction, Novels
Vol. 8 No. 4 · 6 March 1986
pages 14-15 | 3672 words
The Strange Case of Peter Vansittart
Aspects of Feeling by Peter Vansittart
Peter Owen, 251 pp, £10.95, January 1986, ISBN 0 7206 0637 3
Peter Vansittart, novelist, historian and writer for children, has been singled out for praise by critics as diverse as Philip Toynbee, Francis King, Angus Wilson and Andrew Sinclair. All feel that he lacks the large audience he deserves. Yet the curious reader, anxious to gain more information about this somewhat enigmatic writer, of undoubted power (and above all vision), may easily find himself defeated. He is not even included in the massive – if frequently trivial and banal – Contemporary Novelists. He is omitted from surveys of literature (even by those who have praised him). This is certainly undeserved neglect: but could it also be that critics find it difficult to explain him?
Vansittart began his writing life with a novel, I am the world (1942). Since then, he has written 20 more, as well as a history book and several volumes of stories for children. He was a history scholar at Oxford, and then a teacher (a headmaster) for some twenty years. His name is quite well-known, and most people have read at least one of his books. His writing is evidently of high quality and originality, and he has not often attracted hostile comment. So it seems that the neglect into which he has fallen – this is in itself perhaps better-known than any specific book he has written – is owed partly to the fact that few, if any, know in what tradition or group to place him. He is less ignored, then, really, than genuinely puzzling and therefore not much commented upon. Beyond the scope of a review, critics do not know what to say about him. And they can be forgiven for it.
In his historical novels, which are by no means typical of the genre (if they were, he would be richer and more popular than he is), Vansittart shares an attitude with the strange Polish novelist Teodor Parnicki. Parnicki does not pretend to be writing 'history' at all: he treats the past as part of his own present, and therefore never even attempts to 'recreate' it. When he feels like it, he freely mixes anachronism, invention and fantasy with meticulously documented fact (usually, let it be admitted, of periods about which no one but himself knows anything). Vansittart has himself said that he is 'unconcerned' with the 'picturesque and antiquarian', and has quoted Croce's dictum that 'all history is contemporary.' The very least of his intentions is to give any kind of 'true' picture of the past. He is instead anxious to convey the manner in which the present is permeated by the past – and this is one of the many themes of his most recent novel.
But it does prove very hard to place Vansittart in any tradition or group. All the obvious influences are there, as well as a few more unusual ones: Sienkowicz as well as Kafka, the Carlyle of Sartor Resartus as well as Dickens – and so forth. But these writers have been thoroughly assimilated. He doesn't resemble anyone at all closely; he reminds the reader of no one of this century. There is sometimes, it seems, a price to pay for this kind of originality. Although markedly eccentric, he is not just that. 'When will this extraordinary writer receive his due?' a critic has asked; nor is the question in the least surprising. Vansittart himself must be puzzled by the paucity of attention accorded to him. 'Easily upset in life, I am fortunately undismayed by critical neglect, or by reviewers,' he has written. But there is certainly a too personal note about the way in which he handles the 'literary world' in his new novel: the passages dealing with it are the least successful (and the least original) in that very remarkable book. Although Vansittart is undoubtedly unlucky – as gifted English eccentrics often are – he also has himself to blame for the fact that people seldom think of him until confronted by his books. He is in a sense oblivious to contemporary literature, although clearly he reads it. Doubtless he needs this obliviousness to preserve his originality: it is nonetheless a defect in his sensibility, and this is apparent whenever he has to deal in a precise manner with a contemporary phenomenon. Doubtless British literary life since the war has been every bit as awful and false as Vansittart wants us to think. Still, it has not been so in the way he too irascibly tries to demonstrate; and there has been no publisher remotely like the ones of whom he provides caricatures. This whole exercise reads like that of a person far away from the literary world.
The problem for Vansittart has always been that he is excessive: he wants to achieve too much within the bounds of a single volume. Nor will he give this ambition up – but by now his persistence has become courageous and impressive. He has the aspirations of a poet – he wants to make a brilliant and compressed success, something like a great short lyric – but he lacks the discipline. I am the world, published early in the war when he was only 21 years old, is excessive (promisingly so): about the rise and fall of a dictator clearly based on Hitler, it seems to want to say everything that can be said about dictatorship. It is relentlessly and ambitiously unpleasant – the brutal and dark side of Vansittart has not, surprisingly, attracted the attention of reviewers – and is written in a curiously over-rhetorical, almost gushing style which sits very awkwardly with its sombre theme. The earlier successors to it sought almost heroically to correct all of its shortcomings except its excessiveness: its didacticism, its rhetoric, its high melodrama – even its improbability. Perhaps no living English novelist is so relentlessly experimental within his own terms of reference. Vansittart always has had several novels on the go at once – and he has semi-abandoned them and left them lying about for years. When he feels like publishing a new book, he selects from the vast amount he has available (huge slabs of unformulated reaction to everything under the sun), written as though it belonged to nothing, and seeks to unify it in a single volume: he rewrites, adds, subtracts, rounds off and, above all, tries to achieve a consistent style. Yet no contemporary writer is more detached from the actual structures of his creations. He is extremely close to the language he employs, which amounts to a sort of poetry: but he remains detached from 'plots' and all the other devices that are used to take their place. In Broken Canes (1957), his worst and most facetious book, he tried to abandon 'rich' prose altogether: the result is a feeble farce about a progressive school. The only interesting aspect of this attempt at a tightly plotted novel is that there is no point of view – the reader is left in the dark as to whether progressive schools are desirable or ridiculous, and the author's desperate ambivalence remains unresolved.
But Vansittart's main impulse in writing is in fact to do just that: to resolve his ambivalence about past versus present, tradition versus progress. A frequent device is to set progressive or humanist types against cynical pragmatists or reactionaries; what is unusual, again, is the absence of a point of view. Yet nothing is resolved. Vansittart's real, unequivocal world is that of a sceptical poet, one in a permanent state of negative capability, immersed in language and what it leads to. But he lacks the capacity to achieve the rhythm of poetry, and such satire as is in him is released, not always very effectively, against all creatures of habit: those whose attitudes are fashionable, false, calculated constructions. The apparently successful but hollow and spiritually dead poetess (this is what she deserves to be called) Della, in Aspects of Feeling, is a typical example. One might call Della a novelist posing as a poet. Yet in Vansittart's wistful descriptions of her actual poems (none of which he can quote), there is something of envy of real poetry. Is Vansittart himself a frustrated poet, a poet self-miscast as a novelist?
The 'monster' of this novel is the career diplomat Roger Kirkland, the 'high sans peur' without any feelings (even ill feelings), but with many appetites thus made disgusting. His function here is certainly as the focus of disharmony and inhumanity: yet Vansittart is not satirical about him at all, as he is about Della, and he is the only character in the book upon whom is conferred a consistent if cynical wisdom. One simply does not know if the narrator or arranger of this material is for or against Machiavelli ... Thus we are again teased by an absence of any point of view: is it only because we know (or think we know) that cynicism and lack of principle are wrong that we react unfavourably to Kirkland's talk? We are aware of Della's falsity to herself because the author comes very near to informing us about it through his shrill and improbable description of the manner in which her verses are received by literati. But this may be an unjust criticism, since the surface of almost all Vansittart's prose is corrugated into surreality by his exuberant, sometimes reckless use of language.
His book for young people, Green Knights, Black Angels (1969), 'a mosaic of history', was described by him – but by no one else – as 'straightforward'. He wrote it, he said, to purge himself of a 'didactic tendency'. But reviewers found it as irritating as they found it verbally brilliant. It may well be that Vansittart has always been more aware of his 'didactic tendency' than he realises: this would explain the puzzling or at least highly unfamiliar absence of any point of view in his texts. Certainly one gets the feeling of didacticism, even though the command is withdrawn: it is a curious combination. Much more sober and non-didactic was his first book for children, The Dark Tower: Tales from the Past (1965). This ought to have been acclaimed for its extraordinary purity and lucidity of style, doubtless induced in Vansittart by his sense of a new audience: but it went more or less unnoticed. Here his writing is not at all puzzling: he has dropped the rhetoric because he has assumed that it is unsuitable for his audience and not because he wants to change his style 'for adults'.
Ten years before that he wrote his most ambitious and interesting novel (until Aspects of Feeling): The Game and the Ground (1956). This is the only one of his works to bear discernible signs of a single outside influence: but it may be pure coincidence that it resembles Ernst Jünger's uneasy anti-Nazi allegory On the Marble Cliffs. The novel is set, in an unnamed country, on an ancient estate that has only recently been in use as a concentration camp. In the dilapidated house that is its centre two brothers are now trying to rehabilitate savage and illiterate children who have been crippled and confused by exposure to the conditions of total war. Then a third brother returns to re-corrupt the young people with the vicious hero-myth that has caused that war in the first place. As in George Steiner's novella about a hypothetical Hitler captured in Latin America, the odious false mythology is presented with a gusto that seems dubious. But in this case at least the reason is the author's helpless detachment from what he has simply set in motion: a pessimistic feeling of inability to resist the energy of evil, together with a feeling that he is responsible for all the horrors which fascinate him – just because they do fascinate him. We begin to see that an apparently inartistic surrender to what is felt as natural can be an advantage – and perhaps we see this only in Vansittart among contemporary English writers. He can hardly be accused of being fashionable. But is he, for all that, much more fashionable than he thinks? In The Game and the Ground he emerged, for all the vigour of his writing, as a man who was both fascinated and repelled by the immoderateness – the excessiveness – of his own imagination; he also emerged as one who lacked the discipline to discover a structural device by which he might organise a text into coherence. Ultimately I think he has tried to turn this into a strength: by presenting himself as incoherent but truthful. One is reminded of the Spanish novelist Pio Baroja, who claimed that well-structured novels are not like life (but examination of his demonstrates that they are more cunningly structured than he let on). Vansittart's verbal exuberance is felt by him as amoral: but the reader apprehends this only because, built into the exuberance, is the fact that it bothers the writer. What Vansittart calls his 'didactic tendency' is more precisely a tendency to fall into aristocratic cliché (as exemplified in the sayings of Kirkland, the anti-hero of Aspects of Feeling). The exercise of writing The Dark Tower was salutary: in achieving such sudden lucidity and serenity there (I insist that it is a children's classic for our time), he demonstrated to himself that all his yearning was for the true Being of things – as it emerges in the poetry of Hölderlin, and even more explicitly and self-consciously in that of Rilke (an acknowledged influence). A frustrated poet, then, whose message is that we resist and reject the past because, in Rilke's words in the First Elegy,
the beautiful is nothing
But the first apprehension of the terrible.
The present, for him, is always already the past: menacing, but comfortable because it has become history.
His next large book, The Story Teller (1968), traced the life of a character from his birth in the Hundred Years' War to his old age in modern Sweden. This was more coherent than any of his previous major novels had been, but suffered from two main faults. The first was that his 'Sweden', intended as 'realistic', was not very convincing. The second was more serious: readers found it hard to sustain their interest in the protagonist because, although his transformations were interesting, he lacked a personality. One great weakness of Vansittart as a novelist is that he pays little attention to character. It is almost as if for him it does not exist, or as if he recognised it as an afterthought. He has a Heideggerian interest in Being as against mere beings, so he cannot make us feel that his beings experience Being (when they do or are supposed to) – he can only tell us, obliquely, how he does.
Aspects of Feeling is clearly an attempt to do better in the matter of character, or at least to create more effective illusions; and to exercise a greater power of organisation than heretofore. It is his most carefully plotted novel. But, for all its intrinsic interest and the sheer brilliance of its language, it remains somewhat obscure. Unless, of course, one were not to treat it as a novel at all ... Where does Vansittart's refusal or inability to systematise lead him – and his reader?
It begins in the 1930s. Roger and Janet Kirkland (she is not his wife) are guardians of three children, whom they are bringing up in their large country house called Dragon House. Kirkland, of the Foreign Office, is young, wealthy, admired and well-connected. The brief section devoted to the adolescence of the children – Della, Bayard and Graham – is ironically presented as idyllic in the traditional sense. It is this, but it is also haunted by past horrors and disasters – pervasive images in all Vansittart's fiction – such as the sinking of the Titanic and a picture of a First World War deserter, strapped to a chair and masked, awaiting his execution as his grave is dug. We are thus given a view of menaced innocence presided over by golden-voiced corruption (Kirkland). Between this and the grotesque (and, we take it, contemporary) society wedding of Kirkland and Janet, one of his finest and maddest scenes, he gives a selective account of the lives of the three younger people. Della becomes an empty poetaster whose work is intermittently taken up (she sometimes thinks that this is on its merits or imagined merits, but we learn otherwise). Graham drifts through Army service (during which he is involved in the massacre of the Russians who had worked for the Nazis and who are being returned from Germany to the Soviet Union) and schoolmastering, when he becomes his foster-father's assistant – but he ends as a reluctant, Philip Toynbee-like would-be saint. Bayard, whose name is certainly not accidental, is the mysterious one. Apart from the fact that he is a member of the Crystal Knot, a strange and ancient society which exposes wrong-doing in high places (and thus ferments scandals), we learn little about him. In some ways one senses that Bayard, if Kirkland is the anti-hero, is the hero or 'saved character', the others being merely indeterminate. But if this is so, then in terms of traditional fiction – and Vansittart appears to want to be a traditionalist – it remains unsatisfactorily defined. The lives of Della and Graham are traced in some detail, but that of Bayard is (deliberately) only glimpsed through what the others – to whom he is also a complete mystery – discover.
At the end of the novel one of the five is all but eclipsed by a political scandal, and another is murdered. If the work has a focus, it is the affair of the Russian prisoners who had worked for the Germans and who were then 'repatriated'. This is of course a very real scandal, in which almost everyone in politics at the time was involved. It stands for the thousands of other iniquitous deeds to which Vansittart glancingly alludes (he is obsessed, and no doubt rightly, with such things).
Vansittart has not here overcome his difficulties with characterisation. But we begin to wonder if he should have done: if characterisation is not, by virtue of where he belongs (without realising it – and I doubt if he could happily grasp the turgid language of deconstruction), an old-fashioned or even a disgraceful concept. It is Being, as I have remarked, in which he is interested – not beings. The portrayal of Kirkland is superb, but it is accomplished through an anthology of suavely wicked sayings. The mauvaise foi exemplified in Della's verses is badly handled, though: the literary satire is over-shrill, and the descriptions of the verses make them seem to lack the emptiness of other objects of ephemeral high reputations (for example, Humbert Wolfe or the wartime Pudney). The revelation that what passed for interplay of feeling among these five people was, after all, something else, and something much more sinister, carries less conviction than it should: we are never allowed to view it psychologically. But is that what Vansittart really wants us to do?
What is truly remarkable is the sheer energy and versatility of the prose. Vansittart will not admit to caring about 'what the Novel should be doing' – an attitude that might imply some impatience and even exasperation with contemporary letters. But he is certainly doing some unusual things with it: Aspects of Feeling has the look of a study in relationships strung out over forty years (though no one ages in the least). But is it not instead its author's frenzied prose-poem? Whether the narrator is Vansittart or not, I do not know; I should doubt it. Perhaps he is just a man standing at a crossroads where language meets people ... This is a sustained interior monologue disguised as an up-market family saga. It is also exceedingly pessimistic – a catalogue of horrors and hopelessness whose only affirmation lies in the vitality of its prose. It requires very close reading, and not, perhaps, reading of an ordinary kind: the real narrative is fragmented – occasionally squandered – amongst the welter of the prose.
Vansittart the writer is himself a little like the Bayard of his book: elusive, mocking, ambivalent, acting the opposite of what he feels, gallantly open to menace and, eventually, total catastrophe. He is painfully English and painfully and openly wounded by bad actions, he can depict highly sophisticated people (through what they say) very well, but he absolutely refuses to be sophisticated himself. He is in fact so English that he sometimes seems to resemble a Continental, someone who does not 'take' easily to English soil. Do the very English take well in England? Have they ever? But does Vansittart look like a deconstructionist? One can imagine what he would say. But his text would naturally lend itself to 'mis-readings' and to deconstruction. It precisely anticipates it. Like all his novels, Aspects of Feeling leaves a very strong and vivid impression. It is a verbal explosion from a writer who can scarcely believe, intellectually, in the viability of anything, let alone effective self-expression; he is agonisedly convinced that literature really is what the structuralists and post-structuralists say it is: something 'already written' and without origin, its author 'cancelled'. But those critics want the death of the author. Vansittart wants his birth. From that perhaps excessively (for him, too) Modernist position, then, this book makes a fine and loud romantic protest against itself.
Vol. 8 No. 4 · 6 March 1986 » Martin Seymour-Smith » The Strange Case of Peter Vansittart
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text:
Beneteau SA (CHBE.PA)
Recreational Products
CHBE.PA on Paris Stock Exchange
€0.10	(+1.04%)
Jerome De Metz
2019 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Yves Lyon-Caen
67 2005 Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Louis-Claude Roux
2015 Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Christophe Caudrelier
2019 Interim Chief Financial Officer, Member of the Management Board, CEO Europe
Christophe Lavigne
2018 President of the US brands
Jean-Paul Chapeleau
Member of the Management Board
Carla Demaria
2011 Member of the Management Board
Aymeric Duthoit
Benjamin Beneteau
2014 Member of the Supervisory Board
Yvon Beneteau
65 Member of the Supervisory Board
Claude Brignon
Christian de Labriffe
Luc Dupe
Jean-Pierre Goudant
Catherine Pourre
62 2014 Member of the Supervisory Board
Annette Roux
Yannick Coicaud-Thomas
IR Contact Officer
Mr. Yves Lyon-Caen has served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA since 2005. He was previously Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA until 2005. He currently holds several other positions, including Chairman of the Management Board of Beri 21 SA, Member of the Supervisory Board of Habitat d'Avenir SAS and Sucres et Denrees SA, and Director of Beneteau Italia SRL, SPBI SA and Unibail-Rodamco SA, among others. Mr. Lyon-Caen graduated from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris with a Law degree and from Ecole Nationale d'Administration.
Mr. Christophe Caudrelier has been appointed as CEO Europe of Beneteau SA as of March 29, 2019. He has served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of the company as of August 26, 2015. He joined group in 2015. He began his career at Arthur Andersen as Auditor. He then joined Financial Department of Valeo for 17 years where he held different positions. He is graduate of ESCP.
Mr. Christophe Lavigne has been President of the US brands at Beneteau SA since October 18, 2018. He has been Vice President of Engineering and Customer Service in Cadillac (Michigan, USA) for the past years leading engineering and product development. He has devoted his career to recreational boating and is a twenty-five year veteran of the marine industry.
Ms. Carla Demaria has served as Member of the Management Board of Beneteau SA since August 31, 2011. President of the Monte Carlo Yachts SPA subsidiary, she joined the Group in October 2008. She has spent most of her career in the Italian boating sector and took on the position of Vice-Chairman of UCINA, the Italian yachting federation, in 2008. She also holds other mandates, including Chairman of Beneteau America Inc, Director of SPBI SA and BENETEAU ESPANA SA, as well as President of MONTE CARLO YACHT SPA.
Mr. Aymeric Duthoit serves as Member of the Management Board of Beneteau SA. He also holds other mandates, including President of O'Hara Vacances SASU, BH SERVICES SASU, Chief Executive Officer and Director of O'HARA SA and of IRM SASU, President and Director of BH SASU, of BIO HABITAT ITALIA and of IRM ITALIA SRL, as well as Chairman of the Management Board of HABITAT D'AVENIR SAS. He also holds the function of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BIO HABITAT SAS.
Mr. Yvon Beneteau serves as Member of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA. He is also a Member of the Management Board of Beri 21 SA, Director of SPBI SA and Fondation Beneteau, President of Novy 6 SAS and Manager of Novycat SARL.
Mr. Christian de Labriffe serves as Member of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA. He holds several other positions, including Managing Partner of Rothschild & Cie SCS and Transactions R SCS, President of Montaigne Rabelais SAS, Director of Christian Dior SA and Christian Dior Couture SA, as well as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of SALVEPAR SA. He previously served as Member of the Supervisory Board of Paris Orleans SA, among others.
Mr. Luc Dupe serves as Member of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA. He additionally acts as Member of the Management Board of Beri 21 SA, Representative of Beneteau SA on the Board of Directors of SPBI SA, CNB SASU, IRM SASU and O'Hara SA, and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Elma Associes SAS.
Mr. Jean-Pierre Goudant has been Member of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA since November 7, 2012. He is also Director of Federation des Industries nautiques (The French Nautical Industries Federation).
Ms. Annette Roux serves as Member of the Supervisory Board of Beneteau SA. She was Chairperson of the Board of Beneteau SA until 2005. She holds several other mandates, including Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Beri 21 SA, Manager of Beri 3000 SARL and Beri 210 SARL, and Director of L'Oreal SA and Beneteau Espana SA, among others.
As Of 31 Aug 2015


text:
Video Technology > Student Experiences > Thomas Post
Thomas Post
Postman Productions
"I was in the media program at Dale Jackson Career Center in Lewisville and came to North Lake for the Tech Prep program. Greg Ruuska recommended the program to me, and I came over and Andy Chiles showed me around the studio.
"I love the hands-on aspect of my education as compared to what my friends who went to four-year universities experienced. At North Lake, there was always lab time and equipment available when I needed it, and the one-on-one attention from instructors was amazing. That was compared to the horror stories my friends at the universities would tell me. They would have to sleep in the hallway to get lab time, and sometimes didn't even touch a camera until their third year. We also had quite a bit of freedom with projects, like writing our own scripts and choosing our topics. It's nice to leave college with more than just the degree; we actually got the experience.
"One year, about 10 of us from the Video Technology program entered and won the student division of the Video Association of Dallas 24-Hour Video Race. The next year, I formed a team of my own with people from North Lake's program, and we entered the professional category and came in third overall. We even beat out the professional teams from Channel 8 and Fox 4.
"There are three main parts of video work: pre-production, production and post-production, and North Lake really gave me a jump on understanding how important good pre-production is. It's that Boy Scout thing — being prepared for shooting and every situation that might arise during the shoot. Andy would throw us curve balls in our classes to prepare us for the unplanned. Today, if something goes wrong — and something always will in this industry — I don't get all flustered; I just deal with it.
"The first year I attended North Lake, 2000, was also the first year the Video Technology program went digital, and we began to use computers for nonlinear editing. It was a big plus to have that kind of equipment to work with; it was the way the industry was going, and North Lake was keeping current with an industry that moves at lightning-fast speed. You need to stay on top of your game to keep working in this business.
"Andy always had a lot of extra resources available to us students, like a small library of industry magazines. It's a habit I still continue today, something as simple as reading magazines to see where the industry is headed, and it all started at North Lake College.
"Andy hooked me up with an internship at the Irving Community TV Network (ICTN) while I was still a student at North Lake. NBC 5 offered me an internship, but they said I'd be stapling scripts and filling coffee cups while working my way up from the ground up. At ICTN, I got to shoot, edit and even direct — I really got my feet wet in the video business, and it allowed me to move forward much faster.
"I have had an amazing career since then, seen amazing things, met amazing people and traveled to some amazing places. I'm much happier with my associate degree and internship experience than I would be with a four-year degree — on top of the fact that I didn't spend $30,000 on my education!
"I was unfortunately part of a big layoff at a production company where I worked as a managing producer; at the time I was producing two highly rated real estate shows on major networks in Austin and San Antonio. I packed up and moved back to Dallas to start my own production company in January 2007, and it's gone amazingly well. I've enjoyed working for myself far more than when I worked full time for someone else.
"I do a little bit of everything, from rodeos to concerts to corporate events and commercials. One of my primary clients is the National Spirit Group, which includes all of the major organizations coordinating cheerleading and dance events across the country. We do the majority of their online videos and editing, and capture their live performances for the Internet. This coming year, I'll travel to Disney World quite a few times for their events."
Tom Post, a graduate of Lewisville ISD's media program, has taken all of North Lake's Video Technology classes and lacks only one math class to finish his associate degree.
Chad Chance
Dave Koss
Fiorella Alvarez
Grace H. Lee
Robert Tucker
Sharie Vance


Discover the wonders of Albufeira on this combination of a 4x4 safari tour and a boat trip. You'll save time organizing transport, as hotel pickup, drop-off, and day transport is included. Get access to places that would be difficult to reach alone, such as small villages, fruit plantations, and farms. You'll try local firewater, get amazing views from Rocha da Pena, and enjoy a boat trip from Albufeira Marina, which will take you to Benagil, and Marinha.
Stray from the beaten path on a Jeep safari in the Algarve, an ideal choice for travelers looking to discover the lesser-known landscapes that surround Albufeira. A 4WD vehicle conquers all types of terrain while an evening departure time allows you to witness a spectacular sunset. Plus, you'll receive personalized attention in a small group limited to 15 people.
The Algarve coast is known for its unique landscapes, but exploring off-road highlights can be tricky. Explore the Algarve's natural terrain with ease on a jeep and boat tour, cruising along off-road trails before transferring to boat for access to the Benagil Caves. Along the way, sample local products in traditional villages and a distillery, and relax after a full day's sightseeing with round-trip transfer from your hotel.
Venture on a safari through the natural wonders of the Algarve, a safari through the mountains of the Algarve. Enjoy a true adventure by the saw in a jeep. This excursion has off-road paths, beautiful landscapes, regional architecture, medieval monument, you can soak in the waters of the waterfall or riverbank is the gastronomic tasting of honey and liqueurs.
The Algarve coastline is dotted with hidden coves and white-sand beaches, and it's only a short leap of imagination to see pirates cruising the waters in days gone by. This Pirate Ship Leãozinho bbq cruise takes you back to those swashbuckling days, so hoist anchor and set sail for the Atlantic Ocean! Swim in crystal-clear waters, enjoy a day on the water with lunch included, and admire sweeping views along the shores of the Algarve.
Join us on this exciting half day tour, full of adventure and adrenaline! The tour is all about fun, exploring the Algarve, and its interesting nature, culture and tastes. Included a full detail safety briefing in order to assure your tour will become a trully memorable day.
Visit Jipe the beautiful beaches of the Algarve as its caves, get to know one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and marvel at the spectacular Grotto of Benagil, in this tour, we will visit the beach of Marinha, beach of Benagil, beach of Nossa Senhora da Rocha together with the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha. This chapel is located inside a fort that dates back to a Roman settlement, in the immediate vicinity of the present village, a fishing village along the beautiful coast of the Algarve. The visit also counts on going to the chapel of Bones of Alcantarinha and to the traditional market of fish and fruit of Armação de Perâ.
This is the ideal tour for travelers with limited time in the Algarve. You'll discover multiple highlights on one tour including Sagres, Lagos, and Silves. No need to book transport, as round-trip transportation is included. You'll travel with a small group in a comfortable air-conditioned minivan between dispersed sites. Highlights include Cape of St. Vincent, Fóia, Caldas de Monchique, and Silves Castle. You can either have a walking tour in Lagos or choose to upgrade and go on a boat tour.
Discover the wonders of Eastern Algarve by going on a small-group day trip. By traveling in a smaller group, you'll have a more personalized experience without feeling your trip is overcrowded. Enjoy roundtrip transport, traveling comfortably in an air-conditioned vehicle. You'll see the quaint village of Castro Marim, the pretty town of Tavira, Olhão, and have a guided walking tour or an optional boat trip in Faro.
Discover the Algarve's gorgeous countryside on a full-day Jeep tour from Albufeira that follows off-road tracks to tiny villages and farms. You'll pass groves of orange trees, sample local produce, then enjoy a lunch of regional cuisine and wine at a restaurant that's tucked deep into the mountains. For a more personal experience, group size is limited to 15 people, and this tour includes lunch, snacks, and round-trip transport from Albufeira hotels.
Ride off the beaten track from Albufeira as you travel to hidden spots by Jeep. Hop aboard with a small group and driver-guide, then embark on an in-depth exploration of the Algarve, situated along Portugal's stunning southern coastline. The full-day 4WD tour includes lunch along with hotel pickup and drop-off.
Experience topnotch cycling along the Albufeira coast and countryside on this 4-hour guided mountain bike tour. This tour begins with a ride from old town through the old olive and cork tree filled countryside. You will explore an ancient Roman bridge and then coast down to the nature reserve near Salgados, passing heaps of vineyards along the way. With breathtaking views throughout, this ride is sure to satisfy a country coast craving.
This half-day Algarve jeep safari is an action-packed adventure of great landscapes, beautiful historic architecture, and delicious tastings. You won't have to worry about booking transport as hotel pickup and drop-off is included. By traveling in a jeep, you'll access rural roads that would be hard to get to alone. Visit small villages, try delicious regional produce, and access incredible viewpoints.
Delve deep into the Algarve on this full-day guided Jeep Safari from Albufeira. Get off the beaten track on this fun-filled four-wheeling adventure. Pack into an open-air Jeep, and set off for Portugal's most famous coastline. Go off-road in a 4x4 to see rustic landscape, dramatic coastal cliffs, babbling streams and charming old villages. Your tour is capped off with a tasting of local Portuguese honey or jam and a visit to an old firewater distillery where you will try famous Medronho drink.
Enjoy a trip down the Algarve coast from Albufeira on this sunset safari. Depart in the evening and take a Land Rover to the central parts of the Algarve and see the rolling countryside filled with lush valleys and streams. After an adventurous ride, enjoy a delicious Portuguese dinner at a local restaurant complete with local wines before heading back to your accommodation.
Travel through the Algarve on a day trip by jeep and boat. Introducing you to the scenery from both land and water, the day trip showcases the hills, valleys, cliffs, and hamlets that are typical of the beautiful coastal region. Along the way, you'll enjoy a stop to swim, a visit to the cork oak forest area, and a food and brandy tasting.
Drive a quad bike through the Algarve on a small-group off-road tour from Albufeira. Choose between 1.5-hour and 3-hour itineraries, then follow a guide on a route that explores some of the most picturesque places surrounding Albufeira; opt for the longer tour, and you'll pause on a pretty riverbank for a refreshing swim. This small-group quad bike excursion includes pickup and drop-off at hotels in Albufeira.
Experience the thrill of off-roading in Portugal's Algarve region on this excursion from Albufeira. Climb behind the wheel of a powerful Polaris RZR and speed along rugged mountain trails. Then swap out your RZR for a quad bike and hit the trails again. Enjoy views of the coastline and visit outlying areas that are difficult to reach on your own. Your tour includes safety equipment and hotel pickup and drop-off from Albufeira.
Visit the rural area of the Algarve on a guided tour that covers the history and charm of the region. In a four-wheel drive Jeep, you'll travel all terrain paths, with breathtaking scenery, unique locations and charming nature adventures.
Located in the south of Portugal in S. Brás de Alportel, a village in the Algarve in the foothills of the Serra do Caldeirão, considered to be the best region of cork in the world.


text:
Q: PHP Crawler going in Infinite Loop This is the whole crawler code that I am trying to build. This code is a single domain crawler. But it has a big problem, when I checked the database it was saving some of the links again and again, which creates an infinite loop. I want to solve this problem without using my database because checking each link for a presence in my database will make this crawler slow. How can I do that? + If you have any suggestions to make it faster?
<?php

include_once('ganon.php');

ini_set('display_errors', '1');
function gethost($link)
{
    $link = trim($link, '/');
    if (!preg_match('#^http(s)?://#', $link))
    {
        $link = 'http://' . $link;
    }
    $urlParts = parse_url($link);
    $domain = preg_replace('/^www\./', '', $urlParts['host']);
    return $domain;
}

function store($raw, $link)
{
    $html = str_get_dom($raw);
    $title = $html('title', 0)->getPlainText();

    $con = @mysqli_connect('somehost', 'someuser', 'somepassword', 'somedatabase');
    if (!$con)
    {
        echo "Error: " . mysqli_connect_error();
        exit();
    }

    $query = "INSERT INTO `somedatabase`.`sometable` (`title`, `url`) VALUES ('$title', '$link');";
    mysqli_query($con, $query);

    mysqli_close($con);
    echo $title."<br>";
}

function crawl_save_crawl($target)
{
    $curl = curl_init($target);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
    $result = curl_exec($curl);
    if(curl_errno($curl))
    {
        echo 'Curl error: ' . curl_error($curl);
    }
    curl_close($curl);

    $dom = str_get_dom($result);
    foreach($dom('a') as $element)
    {
        $href = $element->href;
        if (0 !== strpos($href, 'http'))
        {
            $path = '/' . ltrim($href, '/');
            if (extension_loaded('http'))
            {
                $href = http_build_url("http://www.".gethost($target), array('path' => $path));
            }
            else
            {
                $parts = parse_url("http://www.".gethost($target));
                $href = $parts['scheme'] . '://';
                if (isset($parts['user']) && isset($parts['pass']))
                {
                    $href .= $parts['user'] . ':' . $parts['pass'] . '@';
                }
                $href .= $parts['host'];
                if (isset($parts['port']))
                {
                    $href .= ':' . $parts['port'];
                }
                $href .= dirname($parts['path'], 1).$path;
            }
        }
        if (gethost($target) == gethost($href))
        {
            crawl_save_crawl($href);
        }
    }
    store($result, $target);
}

$url=$_GET['u'];
crawl_save_crawl($url);

?>

A: In your crawl_save_crawl() function, you could store the links you've already visited and therefore stop the code going back to them.  Using a static variable isn't ideal, but in such a limited piece of code it serves the purpose it was intended for (to hold it's value across calls).
This doesn't stop it searching things other pages have searched, but stops it looping in itself.
function crawl_save_crawl($target)
{
    static $alreadyDone = null;
    if ( $alreadyDone == null ) {
        $alreadyDone = [$target];
    }

In the first loop, this will add the current reference in as this would previously have caused it to be missing.
Then before you call the same routing, you can test if it's already been checked...
$visit = trim(str_replace(["http://","https://"], "", $href), '/');
if (in_array($visit, $alreadyDone) === false &&
    gethost($target) == gethost($href))
{
    $alreadyDone[] = $visit;
    crawl_save_crawl($href);
}

This may still look as though it's visiting the same page, but as your logic sometimes creates a href with 'www.' at the start, this may be different than without it.  So when ccrawling stackoverflow, this means there is stackoverflow.com and www.stackoverflow.com.


Home George W. Cook Dallas-Texas Image Collection Exhibition Bld. Dallas State Fair.
Exhibition Bld. Dallas State Fair.
Title Exhibition Bld. Dallas State Fair.
Notes Date provided by Willis Winters, City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department. Recto: [handwritten] Exhibition Bld. Dallas State Fair.
Add tags for Exhibition Bld. Dallas State Fair.