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Proceedings paper, Special issue
Adank, P., Smits, R., & Van Hout, R. (2003). Modeling perceived vowel height, advancement, and rounding. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 647-650). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Allen, S. E. M. (1998). A discourse-pragmatic explanation for the subject-object asymmetry in early null arguments. In A. Sorace, C. Heycock, & R. Shillcock (Eds.), Proceedings of the GALA '97 Conference on Language Acquisition (pp. 10-15). Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.
The present paper assesses discourse-pragmatic factors as a potential explanation for the subject-object assymetry in early child language. It identifies a set of factors which characterize typical situations of informativeness (Greenfield & Smith, 1976), and uses these factors to identify informative arguments in data from four children aged 2;0 through 3;6 learning Inuktitut as a first language. In addition, it assesses the extent of the links between features of informativeness on one hand and lexical vs. null and subject vs. object arguments on the other. Results suggest that a pragmatics account of the subject-object asymmetry can be upheld to a greater extent than previous research indicates, and that several of the factors characterizing informativeness are good indicators of those arguments which tend to be omitted in early child language.
Bauer, B. L. M. (1999). Aspects of impersonal constructions in Late Latin. In H. Petersmann, & R. Kettelmann (Eds.), Latin vulgaire – latin tardif V (pp. 209-211). Heidelberg: Winter.
Bauer, B. L. M. (2003). The adverbial formation in mente in Vulgar and Late Latin: A problem in grammaticalization. In H. Solin, M. Leiwo, & H. Hallo-aho (Eds.), Latin vulgaire, latin tardif VI (pp. 439-457). Hildesheim: Olms.
Butterfield, S., & Cutler, A. (1988). Segmentation errors by human listeners: Evidence for a prosodic segmentation strategy. In W. Ainsworth, & J. Holmes (Eds.), Proceedings of SPEECH '88: Seventh Symposium of the Federation of Acoustic Societies of Europe: Vol. 3 (pp. 827-833). Edinburgh: Institute of Acoustics.
Chen, A. (2003). Language dependence in continuation intonation. In M. Solé, D. Recasens, & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS.) (pp. 1069-1072). Rundle Mall, SA, Austr.: Causal Productions Pty.
Chen, A. (2003). Reaction time as an indicator to discrete intonational contrasts in English. In Proceedings of Eurospeech 2003 (pp. 97-100).
This paper reports a perceptual study using a semantically motivated identification task in which we investigated the nature of two pairs of intonational contrasts in English: (1) normal High accent vs. emphatic High accent; (2) early peak alignment vs. late peak alignment. Unlike previous inquiries, the present study employs an on-line method using the Reaction Time measurement, in addition to the measurement of response frequencies. Regarding the peak height continuum, the mean RTs are shortest for within-category identification but longest for across-category identification. As for the peak alignment contrast, no identification boundary emerges and the mean RTs only reflect a difference between peaks aligned with the vowel onset and peaks aligned elsewhere. We conclude that the peak height contrast is discrete but the previously claimed discreteness of the peak alignment contrast is not borne out.
Cho, T. (2003). Lexical stress, phrasal accent and prosodic boundaries in the realization of domain-initial stops in Dutch. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhs 2003) (pp. 2657-2660). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
This study examines the effects of prosodic boundaries, lexical stress, and phrasal accent on the acoustic realization of stops (/t, d/) in Dutch, with special attention paid to language-specificity in the phonetics-prosody interface. The results obtained from various acoustic measures show systematic phonetic variations in the production of /t d/ as a function of prosodic position, which may be interpreted as being due to prosodicallyconditioned articulatory strengthening. Shorter VOTs were found for the voiceless stop /t/ in prosodically stronger locations (as opposed to longer VOTs in this position in English). The results suggest that prosodically-driven phonetic realization is bounded by a language-specific phonological feature system.
Crago, M. B., Allen, S. E. M., & Pesco, D. (1998). Issues of Complexity in Inuktitut and English Child Directed Speech. In Proceedings of the twenty-ninth Annual Stanford Child Language Research Forum (pp. 37-46).
Cutler, A., & Otake, T. (1998). Assimilation of place in Japanese and Dutch. In R. Mannell, & J. Robert-Ribes (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing: vol. 5 (pp. 1751-1754). Sydney: ICLSP.
Assimilation of place of articulation across a nasal and a following stop consonant is obligatory in Japanese, but not in Dutch. In four experiments the processing of assimilated forms by speakers of Japanese and Dutch was compared, using a task in which listeners blended pseudo-word pairs such as ranga-serupa. An assimilated blend of this pair would be rampa, an unassimilated blend rangpa. Japanese listeners produced significantly more assimilated than unassimilated forms, both with pseudo-Japanese and pseudo-Dutch materials, while Dutch listeners produced significantly more unassimilated than assimilated forms in each materials set. This suggests that Japanese listeners, whose native-language phonology involves obligatory assimilation constraints, represent the assimilated nasals in nasal-stop sequences as unmarked for place of articulation, while Dutch listeners, who are accustomed to hearing unassimilated forms, represent the same nasal segments as marked for place of articulation.
Cutler, A., & Fear, B. D. (1991). Categoricality in acceptability judgements for strong versus weak vowels. In J. Llisterri (Ed.), Proceedings of the ESCA Workshop on Phonetics and Phonology of Speaking Styles (pp. 18.1-18.5). Barcelona, Catalonia: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
A distinction between strong and weak vowels can be drawn on the basis of vowel quality, of stress, or of both factors. An experiment was conducted in which sets of contextually matched word-intial vowels ranging from clearly strong to clearly weak were cross-spliced, and the naturalness of the resulting words was rated by listeners. The ratings showed that in general cross-spliced words were only significantly less acceptable than unspliced words when schwa was not involved; this supports a categorical distinction based on vowel quality.
Cutler, A. (1998). How listeners find the right words. In Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Congress on Acoustics: Vol. 2 (pp. 1377-1380). Melville, NY: Acoustical Society of America.
Languages contain tens of thousands of words, but these are constructed from a tiny handful of phonetic elements. Consequently, words resemble one another, or can be embedded within one another, a coup stick snot with standing. me process of spoken-word recognition by human listeners involves activation of multiple word candidates consistent with the input, and direct competition between activated candidate words. Further, human listeners are sensitive, at an early, prelexical, stage of speeeh processing, to constraints on what could potentially be a word of the language.
Cutler, A., Murty, L., & Otake, T. (2003). Rhythmic similarity effects in non-native listening? In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (PCPhS 2003) (pp. 329-332). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Listeners rely on native-language rhythm in segmenting speech; in different languages, stress-, syllable- or mora-based rhythm is exploited. This language-specificity affects listening to non- native speech, if native procedures are applied even though inefficient for the non-native language. However, speakers of two languages with similar rhythmic interpretation should segment their own and the other language similarly. This was observed to date only for related languages (English-Dutch; French-Spanish). We now report experiments in which Japanese listeners heard Telugu, a Dravidian language unrelated to Japanese, and Telugu listeners heard Japanese. In both cases detection of target sequences in speech was harder when target boundaries mismatched mora boundaries, exactly the pattern that Japanese listeners earlier exhibited with Japanese and other languages. These results suggest that Telugu and Japanese listeners use similar procedures in segmenting speech, and support the idea that languages fall into rhythmic classes, with aspects of phonological structure affecting listeners' speech segmentation.
Cutler, A., Treiman, R., & Van Ooijen, B. (1998). Orthografik inkoncistensy ephekts in foneme detektion? In R. Mannell, & J. Robert-Ribes (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing: Vol. 6 (pp. 2783-2786). Sydney: ICSLP.
The phoneme detection task is widely used in spoken word recognition research. Alphabetically literate participants, however, are more used to explicit representations of letters than of phonemes. The present study explored whether phoneme detection is sensitive to how target phonemes are, or may be, orthographically realised. Listeners detected the target sounds [b,m,t,f,s,k] in word-initial position in sequences of isolated English words. Response times were faster to the targets [b,m,t], which have consistent word-initial spelling, than to the targets [f,s,k], which are inconsistently spelled, but only when listeners' attention was drawn to spelling by the presence in the experiment of many irregularly spelled fillers. Within the inconsistent targets [f,s,k], there was no significant difference between responses to targets in words with majority and minority spellings. We conclude that performance in the phoneme detection task is not necessarily sensitive to orthographic effects, but that salient orthographic manipulation can induce such sensitivity.
Cutler, A. (1991). Prosody in situations of communication: Salience and segmentation. In Proceedings of the Twelfth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences: Vol. 1 (pp. 264-270). Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence, Service des publications.
Speakers and listeners have a shared goal: to communicate. The processes of speech perception and of speech production interact in many ways under the constraints of this communicative goal; such interaction is as characteristic of prosodic processing as of the processing of other aspects of linguistic structure. Two of the major uses of prosodic information in situations of communication are to encode salience and segmentation, and these themes unite the contributions to the symposium introduced by the present review.
Cutler, A. (1998). The recognition of spoken words with variable representations. In D. Duez (Ed.), Proceedings of the ESCA Workshop on Sound Patterns of Spontaneous Speech (pp. 83-92). Aix-en-Provence: Université de Aix-en-Provence.
Cutler, A., Van Ooijen, B., & Norris, D. (1999). Vowels, consonants, and lexical activation. In J. Ohala, Y. Hasegawa, M. Ohala, D. Granville, & A. Bailey (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences: Vol. 3 (pp. 2053-2056). Berkeley: University of California.
Two lexical decision studies examined the effects of single-phoneme mismatches on lexical activation in spoken-word recognition. One study was carried out in English, and involved spoken primes and visually presented lexical decision targets. The other study was carried out in Dutch, and primes and targets were both presented auditorily. Facilitation was found only for spoken targets preceded immediately by spoken primes; no facilitation occurred when targets were presented visually, or when intervening input occurred between prime and target. The effects of vowel mismatches and consonant mismatches were equivalent.
Declerck, T., Cunningham, H., Saggion, H., Kuper, J., Reidsma, D., & Wittenburg, P. (2003). MUMIS - Advanced information extraction for multimedia indexing and searching digital media - Processing for multimedia interactive services. 4th European Workshop on Image Analysis for Multimedia Interactive Services (WIAMIS), 553-556.
Drozd, K. F. (1998). No as a determiner in child English: A summary of categorical evidence. In A. Sorace, C. Heycock, & R. Shillcock (Eds.), Proceedings of the Gala '97 Conference on Language Acquisition (pp. 34-39). Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press,.
This paper summarizes the results of a descriptive syntactic category analysis of child English no which reveals that young children use and represent no as a determiner and negatives like no pen as NPs, contra standard analyses.
Drude, S. (2003). Advanced glossing: A language documentation format and its implementation with Shoebox. In Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2002). Paris: ELRA.
This paper presents Advanced Glossing, a proposal for a general glossing format designed for language documentation, and a specific setup for the Shoebox-program that implements Advanced Glossing to a large extent. Advanced Glossing (AG) goes beyond the traditional Interlinear Morphemic Translation, keeping syntactic and morphological information apart from each other in separate glossing tables. AG provides specific lines for different kinds of annotation – phonetic, phonological, orthographical, prosodic, categorial, structural, relational, and semantic, and it allows for gradual and successive, incomplete, and partial filling in case that some information may be irrelevant, unknown or uncertain. The implementation of AG in Shoebox sets up several databases. Each documented text is represented as a file of syntactic glossings. The morphological glossings are kept in a separate database. As an additional feature interaction with lexical databases is possible. The implementation makes use of the interlinearizing automatism provided by Shoebox, thus obtaining the table format for the alignment of lines in cells, and for semi-automatic filling-in of information in glossing tables which has been extracted from databases
Drude, S. (2003). Digitizing and annotating texts and field recordings in the Awetí project. In Proceedings of the EMELD Language Digitization Project Conference 2003. Workshop on Digitizing and Annotating Text and Field Recordings, LSA Institute, Michigan State University, July 11th -13th.
Digitizing and annotating texts and field recordings Given that several initiatives worldwide currently explore the new field of documentation of endangered languages, the E-MELD project proposes to survey and unite procedures, techniques and results in order to achieve its main goal, ''the formulation and promulgation of best practice in linguistic markup of texts and lexicons''. In this context, this year's workshop deals with the processing of recorded texts. I assume the most valuable contribution I could make to the workshop is to show the procedures and methods used in the Awetí Language Documentation Project. The procedures applied in the Awetí Project are not necessarily representative of all the projects in the DOBES program, and they may very well fall short in several respects of being best practice, but I hope they might provide a good and concrete starting point for comparison, criticism and further discussion. The procedures to be exposed include: * taping with digital devices, * digitizing (preliminarily in the field, later definitely by the TIDEL-team at the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen), * segmenting and transcribing, using the transcriber computer program, * translating (on paper, or while transcribing), * adding more specific annotation, using the Shoebox program, * converting the annotation to the ELAN-format developed by the TIDEL-team, and doing annotation with ELAN. Focus will be on the different types of annotation. Especially, I will present, justify and discuss Advanced Glossing, a text annotation format developed by H.-H. Lieb and myself designed for language documentation. It will be shown how Advanced Glossing can be applied using the Shoebox program. The Shoebox setup used in the Awetí Project will be shown in greater detail, including lexical databases and semi-automatic interaction between different database types (jumping, interlinearization). ( Freie Universität Berlin and Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, with funding from the Volkswagen Foundation.)
Duffield, N., & Matsuo, A. (2003). Factoring out the parallelism effect in ellipsis: An interactional approach? In J. Chilar, A. Franklin, D. Keizer, & I. Kimbara (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS) (pp. 591-603). Chicago: Chicago Linguistics Society.
Traditionally, there have been three standard assumptions made about the Parallelism Effect on VP-ellipsis, namely that the effect is categorical, that it applies asymmetrically and that it is uniquely due to syntactic factors. Based on the results of a series of experiments involving online and offline tasks, it will be argued that the Parallelism Effect is instead noncategorical and interactional. The factors investigated include construction type, conceptual and morpho-syntactic recoverability, finiteness and anaphor type (to test VP-anaphora). The results show that parallelism is gradient rather than categorical, effects both VP-ellipsis and anaphora, and is influenced by both structural and non-structural factors.
Janse, E., & Quené, H. (1999). On the suitability of the cross-modal semantic priming task. In Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 1937-1940).
Janse, E. (2003). Word perception in natural-fast and artificially time-compressed speech. In M. SolÉ, D. Recasens, & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of the Phonetic Sciences (pp. 3001-3004).
Johnson, E. K. (2003). Speaker intent influences infants' segmentation of potentially ambiguous utterances. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (PCPhS 2003) (pp. 1995-1998). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Kempen, G., & Harbusch, K. (1998). A 'tree adjoining' grammar without adjoining: The case of scrambling in German. In Fourth International Workshop on Tree Adjoining Grammars and Related Frameworks (TAG+4).
Kempen, G., & Harbusch, K. (2003). A corpus study into word order variation in German subordinate clauses: Animacy affects linearization independently of function assignment. In Proceedings of AMLaP 2003 (pp. 153-154). Glasgow: Glasgow University.
Kempen, G. (1988). De netwerker: Spin in het web of rat in een doolhof? In SURF in theorie en praktijk: Van personal tot supercomputer (pp. 59-61). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.
Kita, S., van Gijn, I., & van der Hulst, H. (1998). Movement phases in signs and co-speech gestures, and their transcription by human coders. In Gesture and Sign-Language in Human-Computer Interaction (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence - LNCS Subseries, Vol. 1371) (pp. 23-35). Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
The previous literature has suggested that the hand movement in co-speech gestures and signs consists of a series of phases with qualitatively different dynamic characteristics. In this paper, we propose a syntagmatic rule system for movement phases that applies to both co-speech gestures and signs. Descriptive criteria for the rule system were developed for the analysis video-recorded continuous production of signs and gesture. It involves segmenting a stream of body movement into phases and identifying different phase types. Two human coders used the criteria to analyze signs and cospeech gestures that are produced in natural discourse. It was found that the criteria yielded good inter-coder reliability. These criteria can be used for the technology of automatic recognition of signs and co-speech gestures in order to segment continuous production and identify the potentially meaningbearing phase.
Kuzla, C. (2003). Prosodically-conditioned variation in the realization of domain-final stops and voicing assimilation of domain-initial fricatives in German. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 2829-2832). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
De Lange, F. P., Hagoort, P., & Toni, I. (2003). Differential fronto-parietal contributions to visual and motor imagery. NeuroImage, 19(2), e2094-e2095.
Mental imagery is a cognitive process crucial to human reasoning. Numerous studies have characterized specific instances of this cognitive ability, as evoked by visual imagery (VI) or motor imagery (MI) tasks. However, it remains unclear which neural resources are shared between VI and MI, and which are exclusively related to MI. To address this issue, we have used fMRI to measure human brain activity during performance of VI and MI tasks. Crucially, we have modulated the imagery process by manipulating the degree of mental rotation necessary to solve the tasks. We focused our analysis on changes in neural signal as a function of the degree of mental rotation in each task.
De Lange, F. P., Hagoort, P., & Toni, I. (2003). Visual and motor imagery: How distinct are they? [poster abstract]. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting Program 2003 [Supplement of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ], B 122, p. 65.
Levelt, W. J. M. (1991). Lexical access in speech production: Stages versus cascading. In H. Peters, W. Hulstijn, & C. Starkweather (Eds.), Speech motor control and stuttering (pp. 3-10). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.
Levelt, W. J. M., & Plomp, R. (1962). Musical consonance and critical bandwidth. In Proceedings of the 4th International Congress Acoustics (pp. 55-55).
Levelt, C. C., Fikkert, P., & Schiller, N. O. (2003). Metrical priming in speech production. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 2481-2485). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
In this paper we report on four experiments in which we attempted to prime the stress position of Dutch bisyllabic target nouns. These nouns, picture names, had stress on either the first or the second syllable. Auditory prime words had either the same stress as the target or a different stress (e.g., WORtel – MOtor vs. koSTUUM – MOtor; capital letters indicate stressed syllables in prime – target pairs). Furthermore, half of the prime words were semantically related, the other half were unrelated. In none of the experiments a stress priming effect was found. This could mean that stress is not stored in the lexicon. An additional finding was that targets with initial stress had a faster response than targets with a final stress. We hypothesize that bisyllabic words with final stress take longer to be encoded because this stress pattern is irregular with respect to the lexical distribution of bisyllabic stress patterns, even though it can be regular in terms of the metrical stress rules of Dutch.
McQueen, J. M., & Cutler, A. (1998). Spotting (different kinds of) words in (different kinds of) context. In R. Mannell, & J. Robert-Ribes (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Spoken Language Processing: Vol. 6 (pp. 2791-2794). Sydney: ICSLP.
The results of a word-spotting experiment are presented in which Dutch listeners tried to spot different types of bisyllabic Dutch words embedded in different types of nonsense contexts. Embedded verbs were not reliably harder to spot than embedded nouns; this suggests that nouns and verbs are recognised via the same basic processes. Iambic words were no harder to spot than trochaic words, suggesting that trochaic words are not in principle easier to recognise than iambic words. Words were harder to spot in consonantal contexts (i.e., contexts which themselves could not be words) than in longer contexts which contained at least one vowel (i.e., contexts which, though not words, were possible words of Dutch). A control experiment showed that this difference was not due to acoustic differences between the words in each context. The results support the claim that spoken-word recognition is sensitive to the viability of sound sequences as possible words.
McQueen, J. M., & Cho, T. (2003). The use of domain-initial strengthening in segmentation of continuous English speech. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 2993-2996). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Meeuwissen, M., Roelofs, A., & Levelt, W. J. M. (2003). Naming analog clocks conceptually facilitates naming digital clocks. In Proceedings of XIII Conference of the European Society of Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP 2003) (pp. 271-271).
Moscoso del Prado Martín, F., & Baayen, R. H. (2003). Using the structure found in time: Building real-scale orthographic and phonetic representations by accumulation of expectations. In H. Bowman, & C. Labiouse (Eds.), Connectionist Models of Cognition, Perception and Emotion: Proceedings of the Eighth Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop (pp. 263-272). Singapore: World Scientific.
Oostdijk, N., & Broeder, D. (2003). The Spoken Dutch Corpus and its exploitation environment. In A. Abeille, S. Hansen-Schirra, & H. Uszkoreit (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on linguistically interpreted corpora (LINC-03) (pp. 93-101).
Ouni, S., Cohen, M. M., Young, K., & Jesse, A. (2003). Internationalization of a talking head. In M. Sole, D. Recasens, & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of 15th International Congress of Phonetics Sciences (pp. 2569-2572). Barcelona: Casual Productions.
In this paper we describe a general scheme for internationalization of our talking head, Baldi, to speak other languages. We describe the modular structure of the auditory/visual synthesis software. As an example, we have created a synthetic Arabic talker, which is evaluated using a noisy word recognition task comparing this talker with a natural one.
Ozyurek, A. (1998). An analysis of the basic meaning of Turkish demonstratives in face-to-face conversational interaction. In S. Santi, I. Guaitella, C. Cave, & G. Konopczynski (Eds.), Oralite et gestualite: Communication multimodale, interaction: actes du colloque ORAGE 98 (pp. 609-614). Paris: L'Harmattan.
Ozyurek, A., & Kita, S. (1999). Expressing manner and path in English and Turkish: Differences in speech, gesture, and conceptualization. In M. Hahn, & S. C. Stoness (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 507-512). London: Erlbaum.
Scharenborg, O., McQueen, J. M., Ten Bosch, L., & Norris, D. (2003). Modelling human speech recognition using automatic speech recognition paradigms in SpeM. In Proceedings of Eurospeech 2003 (pp. 2097-2100). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
We have recently developed a new model of human speech recognition, based on automatic speech recognition techniques [1]. The present paper has two goals. First, we show that the new model performs well in the recognition of lexically ambiguous input. These demonstrations suggest that the model is able to operate in the same optimal way as human listeners. Second, we discuss how to relate the behaviour of a recogniser, designed to discover the optimum path through a word lattice, to data from human listening experiments. We argue that this requires a metric that combines both path-based and word-based measures of recognition performance. The combined metric varies continuously as the input speech signal unfolds over time.
Scharenborg, O., ten Bosch, L., & Boves, L. (2003). Recognising 'real-life' speech with SpeM: A speech-based computational model of human speech recognition. In Eurospeech 2003 (pp. 2285-2288).
In this paper, we present a novel computational model of human speech recognition – called SpeM – based on the theory underlying Shortlist. We will show that SpeM, in combination with an automatic phone recogniser (APR), is able to simulate the human speech recognition process from the acoustic signal to the ultimate recognition of words. This joint model takes an acoustic speech file as input and calculates the activation flows of candidate words on the basis of the degree of fit of the candidate words with the input. Experiments showed that SpeM outperforms Shortlist on the recognition of 'real-life' input. Furthermore, SpeM performs only slightly worse than an off-the-shelf full-blown automatic speech recogniser in which all words are equally probable, while it provides a transparent computationally elegant paradigm for modelling word activations in human word recognition.
Schiller, N. O. (2003). Metrical stress in speech production: A time course study. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 451-454). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
This study investigated the encoding of metrical information during speech production in Dutch. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to judge whether bisyllabic picture names had initial or final stress. Results showed significantly faster decision times for initially stressed targets (e.g., LEpel 'spoon') than for targets with final stress (e.g., liBEL 'dragon fly'; capital letters indicate stressed syllables) and revealed that the monitoring latencies are not a function of the picture naming or object recognition latencies to the same pictures. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated the outcome of the first experiment with bi- and trisyllabic picture names. These results demonstrate that metrical information of words is encoded rightward incrementally during phonological encoding in speech production. The results of these experiments are in line with Levelt's model of phonological encoding.
Seidl, A., & Johnson, E. K. (2003). Position and vowel quality effects in infant's segmentation of vowel-initial words. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 2233-2236). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Senft, G. (1991). Bakavilisi Biga - we can 'turn' the language - or: What happens to English words in Kilivila language? In W. Bahner, J. Schildt, & D. Viehwegger (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Linguists (pp. 1743-1746). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Seuren, P. A. M. (1991). Notes on noun phrases and quantification. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Current Issues in Computational Linguistics (pp. 19-44). Penang, Malaysia: Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Seuren, P. A. M. (1991). What makes a text untranslatable? In H. M. N. Noor Ein, & H. S. Atiah (Eds.), Pragmatik Penterjemahan: Prinsip, Amalan dan Penilaian Menuju ke Abad 21 ("The Pragmatics of Translation: Principles, Practice and Evaluation Moving towards the 21st Century") (pp. 19-27). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., & Cutler, A. (1999). The prosody of speech error corrections revisited. In J. Ohala, Y. Hasegawa, M. Ohala, D. Granville, & A. Bailey (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences: Vol. 2 (pp. 1483-1486). Berkely: University of California.
A corpus of digitized speech errors is used to compare the prosody of correction patterns for word-level vs. sound-level errors. Results for both peak F0 and perceived prosodic markedness confirm that speakers are more likely to mark corrections of word-level errors than corrections of sound-level errors, and that errors ambiguous between word-level and soundlevel (such as boat for moat) show correction patterns like those for sound level errors. This finding increases the plausibility of the claim that word-sound-ambiguous errors arise at the same level of processing as sound errors that do not form words.
Shi, R., Werker, J., & Cutler, A. (2003). Function words in early speech perception. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 3009-3012).
Three experiments examined whether infants recognise functors in phrases, and whether their representations of functors are phonetically well specified. Eight- and 13- month-old English infants heard monosyllabic lexical words preceded by real functors (e.g., the, his) versus nonsense functors (e.g., kuh); the latter were minimally modified segmentally (but not prosodically) from real functors. Lexical words were constant across conditions; thus recognition of functors would appear as longer listening time to sequences with real functors. Eightmonth- olds' listening times to sequences with real versus nonsense functors did not significantly differ, suggesting that they did not recognise real functors, or functor representations lacked phonetic specification. However, 13-month-olds listened significantly longer to sequences with real functors. Thus, somewhere between 8 and 13 months of age infants learn familiar functors and represent them with segmental detail. We propose that accumulated frequency of functors in input in general passes a critical threshold during this time.
Van Geenhoven, V. (1999). A before-&-after picture of when-, before-, and after-clauses. In T. Matthews, & D. Strolovitch (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (pp. 283-315). Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University.
Van Ooijen, B., Cutler, A., & Norris, D. (1991). Detection times for vowels versus consonants. In Eurospeech 91: Vol. 3 (pp. 1451-1454). Genova: Istituto Internazionale delle Comunicazioni.
This paper reports two experiments with vowels and consonants as phoneme detection targets in real words. In the first experiment, two relatively distinct vowels were compared with two confusible stop consonants. Response times to the vowels were longer than to the consonants. Response times correlated negatively with target phoneme length. In the second, two relatively distinct vowels were compared with their corresponding semivowels. This time, the vowels were detected faster than the semivowels. We conclude that response time differences between vowels and stop consonants in this task may reflect differences between phoneme categories in the variability of tokens, both in the acoustic realisation of targets and in the' representation of targets by subjects.
Vosse, T., & Kempen, G. (1991). A hybrid model of human sentence processing: Parsing right-branching, center-embedded and cross-serial dependencies. In M. Tomita (Ed.), Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Parsing Technologies.
Wagner, A., & Braun, A. (2003). Is voice quality language-dependent? Acoustic analyses based on speakers of three different languages. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 651-654). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
Walsh Dickey, L. (1999). Syllable count and Tzeltal segmental allomorphy. In J. Rennison, & K. Kühnhammer (Eds.), Phonologica 1996. Proceedings of the 8th International Phonology Meeting (pp. 323-334). Holland Academic Graphics.
Tzeltal, a Mayan language spoken in southern Mexico, exhibits allo-morphy of an unusual type. The vowel quality of the perfective suffix is determined by the number of syllables in the stem to which it is attaching. This paper presents previously unpublished data of this allomorphy and demonstrates that a syllable-count analysis of the phenomenon is the proper one. This finding is put in a more general context of segment-prosody interaction in allomorphy.
Weber, A., & Smits, R. (2003). Consonant and vowel confusion patterns by American English listeners. In Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS 2003) (pp. 1437-1440). Adelaide: Causal Productions.
This study investigated the perception of American English phonemes by native listeners. Listeners identified either the consonant or the vowel in all possible English CV and VC syllables. The syllables were embedded in multispeaker babble at three signalto-noise ratios (0 dB, 8 dB, and 16 dB). Effects of syllable position, signal-to-noise ratio, and articulatory features on vowel and consonant identification are discussed. The results constitute the largest source of data that is currently available on phoneme confusion patterns of American English phonemes by native listeners.
Weber, A., & Smits, R. (2003). Consonant and vowel confusion patterns by American English listeners. In M. J. Solé, D. Recasens, & J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.
This study investigated the perception of American English phonemes by native listeners. Listeners identified either the consonant or the vowel in all possible English CV and VC syllables. The syllables were embedded in multispeaker babble at three signal-to-noise ratios (0 dB, 8 dB, and 16 dB). Effects of syllable position, signal-to-noise ratio, and articulatory features on vowel and consonant identification are discussed. The results constitute the largest source of data that is currently available on phoneme confusion patterns of American English phonemes by native listeners.
Weber, A. (1998). Listening to nonnative language which violates native assimilation rules. In D. Duez (Ed.), Proceedings of the European Scientific Communication Association workshop: Sound patterns of Spontaneous Speech (pp. 101-104).
Recent studies using phoneme detection tasks have shown that spoken-language processing is neither facilitated nor interfered with by optional assimilation, but is inhibited by violation of obligatory assimilation. Interpretation of these results depends on an assessment of their generality, specifically, whether they also obtain when listeners are processing nonnative language. Two separate experiments are presented in which native listeners of German and native listeners of Dutch had to detect a target fricative in legal monosyllabic Dutch nonwords. All of the nonwords were correct realisations in standard Dutch. For German listeners, however, half of the nonwords contained phoneme strings which violate the German fricative assimilation rule. Whereas the Dutch listeners showed no significant effects, German listeners detected the target fricative faster when the German fricative assimilation was violated than when no violation occurred. The results might suggest that violation of assimilation rules does not have to make processing more difficult per se.
Wittek, A. (1998). Learning verb meaning via adverbial modification: Change-of-state verbs in German and the adverb "wieder" again. In A. Greenhill, M. Hughes, H. Littlefield, & H. Walsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 779-790). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
(-) Proceedings paper


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text:
Be merry this season by warding off vacation scams: OPP
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre shares some of the most popular scams that arise during the festive season The spirit of the holidays is a time of giving for most but, for scammers, it is a time of taking, said a press release from the OPP. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre highlights the most popular holiday scams so…...
Lori Loughlin launched after serving detention center time length for college bribes rip-off
Lori Loughlin has been released from prison after serving two months for her role in the college admissions scandal. The American actress, who stars in Netflix's Fuller House, was released in the early hours of Monday morning from the federal prison in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence.Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli,…...
The Case for Biden to Clutter By The US's Political Disaster
Even as America hits low ebb with an out-of-control pandemic and staggering economic pain, there is, at least, the comfort that the nation can wrest itself out of its current situation if only it can find the political will. As we wait for most Americans to be vaccinated, there is overwhelming evidence that mask-wearing, social…...
Hashtag Trending – Shopify scams; The potential forward for movie theatres; AI judges your song tastes
Shopify's soaring success leads to the dark side of scams and counterfeit goods, move theatres are going through quite the digital transformation, and the latest way to be judged for your taste in music is finally here!It's all the tech news that's popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It's Thursday, December 24, and I'm…...
No topic most intelligent efforts, India Inc precise is rarely all the time in actuality ready to hold this price head
These costs cannot always be budgeted and planned for. SynopsisThe total legal costs as disclosed by 78 of the Nifty-100 companies have increased at a compound annual growth rate of 10% in the past five years.ET Intelligence Group: Ten of India's leading companies together spent nearly Rs 10,000 crore towards legal costs in FY20. As…...
Busta Rhymes Recounts Fable Eminem Collab – Insist Rappers, Beget Notes
This is an opinion. Busta Rhymes reminds of a time when rappers cared. | Source: Lev Radin/Shutterstock Busta Rhymes recently recounted the story of his collaboration with Eminem in 2014. The two rappers went back and forth, upping their verses on "Calm Down." What if today's mumble rappers took the same type of pride in…...
Eminem Is Again & Nervous as Ever With Contemporary Diss to Machine Gun Kelly
This is an opinion. Eminem needs to find a new act, or at least a new enemy. | Source: Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock.com Eminem released his latest album, 'Music To Be Murdered By – Side B,' last week. As usual, he disses as many people on the record as possible, including his former 'enemy' Machine Gun Kelly.…...
LA Sheriffs Might maybe maybe Watch Exact Justice After Inadequate 'Kobe Bryant Law'
This is an opinion. Kobe Bryant deserved better than this. | Source: Fernando Garcia Esteban/Shutterstock California Governor Gavin Newsom passed the Kobe Byrant Law in September after it was revealed that LA County Sheriffs spread photos of Kobe Bryant's dead body. The law made it a misdemeanor for first responders to take unauthorized photos of…...
Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones Wants To Get His Story Straight On Bitcoin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Ransomware is increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for cybercriminals because of the lucrative returns that it promises, the relative ease with which it's generated and then spread out and also because it's relatively hard to defend against. The most recent attack known as the WannaCry ransomware, happened in May 2017 and reportedly impacted 300,000 computers around the world with losses estimated to be around $4 billion.
As the name suggests, it is the concept of holding your data hostage and demanding ransom for it. Ransomwares attackers usually demand payments in cryptocurrencies making it an extremely lucrative activity giving the skyrocketing prices of these digital currencies.
There are various different types of ransomwares and new iterations are released regularly around the globe. All these developments happen so fast that it is sometimes hard to keep track of them. Here we list four of the most prominent ransomware detected till date.
Taking advantage of a Microsoft Windows vulnerability, the largest and most recent ransomware attack on the planet was able to impact healthcare, government and private institutions around the world. Although most attacks were reported from Russia and Taiwan, US logistics firm FedEx said it was also affected. Furthermore, the National Health Service reported that 16 organizations that are a part of its network were impacted causing some surgeries to be cancelled and other daily operations suspended.
Locky is another ransomware that is spread using Microsoft Word. The victims download a file sent via spam emails and the attached document requires them to enable the macros function in Word in order to view the contents. Once this is done the virus works by encrypting and deleting files stored locally as backups if a ransom is not paid by the specified deadline.
CryptoLocker
This ransomware has been accredited with introducing the recent wave of attacks that encrypt user files using a separate key for each one on order to make the victim pay for each file they need unlocked. It hit the scenes in 2013 and was responsible for causing almost $3 million in losses before it was shutdown. However, hackers have copied the mechanism of this ransomware to build different versions of the virus.
Cryptowall
Distributed with spam emails and exploit kits, Cryptowall gained popularity in 2014 after the infamous Cryptolocker attack in the preceding year. Since there have been a wide variety of versions of Cryptowall with the most recent; Cryptowall 4.0 released in 2015. The virus even encrypts filenames making it impossible for victims to know which data has been encrypted and where. The ransom demanded by the hackers is an eye-watering $700 that is doubled if the victim misses the first deadline.
Ransomwares are becoming famous for a variety of reasons. They are relatively easy to create and operate and extremely hard to defend against. Once in the system they work in a rather innovative way in order to coerce you into paying hefty amounts to recover your sensitive information. It is important to be wary of the growing threat posed by these viruses and take steps to defend against them.
For assistance with file recovery and ransomware removal, please contact MonsterCloud – cyber security experts for a professional ransomware removal.
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BitPaymer Ransomware Traced Back to Dridex Developers


IBY saw a high rise in NPLs in 2016 and NPLs now represent near all of gross loans.
IBY has been able to raise its customer deposit base in each of the last two years, a notable achievement given the circumstances.
As the second largest bank in Yemen, IBY controls approximately 15 per cent of the banking system's assets.


that may apply to them.
packets, as shown in the figure.
limitations that have cropped up in deployment.
the different mechanisms and a few important details.
links to more general background information.
they could technically be used to provide IPv6 connectivity.
IPv6 transition tools; the others are translation and tunnels.
Encapsulation:  Transporting a packet as data inside another packet.
For instance, an IPv6 packet inside an IPv4 packet.
switch, operating below the IP layer, or as a router.
only transmits packets from its own address.
the local network's perimeter to the public Internet.
Discovery must be modified to use unicast to work.
known as a system.  See note at "NAT".
network and the path (tunneled) packets actually take.
PMTUD over IPv4 [RFC1191] and IPv6 [RFC1981].
itself.  See note at "NAT".
translating between IPv6 and IPv4 were later published [RFC6145].
others are dual stack and tunnels.
tunnel IPv6 over IPv4.  This document compares these mechanisms.
others are translation and dual stack.
using additional headers.  This is called "protocol 41 encapsulation"
41 to indicate that what follows is an IPv6 packet.
also supports encapsulating protocols other than IPv6.
over direct IPv4 paths between peers whenever possible.
tunneling.  However, they are _not_ IPv6-in-IPv4 tunnel mechanisms.
the mechanism alludes to consists of a remote "tunnel endpoint".
local tunnel endpoint address may also need to be configured.
predictable and the tunnel is easy to debug.
than the geographic distance by an order of magnitude or more.
and integrity of IPv6 traffic exchanged over configured tunnels.
and 4213, too.  Both use protocol 41 encapsulation.
but it also provides connectivity to the rest of the IPv6 Internet.
"Transmission of IPv6 over IPv4 Domains without Explicit Tunnels"
only routers.  6over4 treats the IPv4 network as a "virtual Ethernet"
6over4 nodes without prior administrative configuration.
Media Access Control (MAC) addresses are used on Ethernet networks.
connectivity to the rest of the IPv6 Internet.
IPv4 multicast capability and is implemented more widely.
field in the IP header to 47.
packets from being processed out of order.
home gateways or desktop operating systems.
6to4 is specified in "Connection of IPv6 Domains via IPv4 Clouds"
an individual host may run 6to4 and not act as a gateway or router.
The system running 6to4 must have a globally reachable IPv4 address.
Using 6to4 with a private IPv4 address [RFC1918] is not possible.
decapsulates the packet and forwards them as IPv6 packets.
then the communication between those networks is affected.
is considered to be a problem with 6to4.
other IPv6 connectivity is available.
and can receive incoming packets as usual.
service.  For more information, see the specification [MASSAR].
just as well be used.
header, 8 for UDP, and 44 for AYIYA).
make debugging of AYIYA tunnels easier if the tools support them.
to share a single IPv4 address behind a NAT.
used to bootstrap Neighbour Discovery.
protocol 41 can participate in the IPv6 subnet.
ISATAP is available in Windows, Linux, and Cisco IOS.
assigns more properties to NAT than achieved in reality.
The performance of Teredo falls noticeably short of that of IPv4.
if it is dependent on a public relay.
are usually preconfigured by the vendor of the Teredo implementation.
options and configuration using [TR-069] is also possible.
encapsulation, and decapsulation are done by the service provider.
behind IPv4-to-IPv4 NAT Customer Premises Equipment (6a44)"
and a 6a44 client in the customer's internal network.
address is allocated from the same IPv4 /24 as 6to4.
6a44 client; the opposite is done in the other direction.
with IPv4 RLOCs and thereby use LISP for tunneling IPv6 over IPv4.
UDP.  Data packets use port 4341, and control packets use port 4342.
to send traffic to non-LISP sites.
LISP to work, a mapping service not unlike the DNS must be in place.
traffic engineering are naturally supported.
reachability testing, and so on.
tunnel endpoints can support the larger size.
protocol; there are openings for expansion with multicast.
route, which then also defines the tunnel server for the return path.
[6BED4] during the ongoing development of its specification.


The best things Transylvania can offer are magical nature, cultural heritage and local people that still live and work their land with traditional methods.
We strongly believe you can't have an authentic experience in a big group, that's why we focus on small ones of 2 to 6 people. We offer one day cycling trips and totally custom-made multi-days tours perfectly tailored to your interests. Tourism is not developed in rural areas of Romania, and our goal is to address this matter in a way that supports local communities and help them grow in the right direction.
Escape the busy city for a one day bike trip through remote villages and pristine nature.
Bookings for one day tours are only accepted starting the 1st of April after the season start.
Choose between our multi-day trip suggestions or just design your own custom holiday.
10% discount when you choose to return.
Four of us did the Saxon Cycling route four day cycle ride from Sibiu to Sighisoara. Radu and Mihal were really helpful right from the beginning, and responded promptly to every email I sent. The bikes were great, the route was clear, accommodation we were sent to was clean comfortable and with great food. The route was all we hoped for showing us different parts of the area each day, fortified churches, small towns, vast open plains, woodland, small villages, we left feeling we'd been immersed in this beautiful area. We loved the whole experience and cannot recommend Transylvania Cycling highly enough.
If you want to see Transylvania get on a bike and ride the backroads through the small villages with the fortified churches. And if you go, go with Transylvania cycling. Mihai and Radu are two Romanians passionate and knowledgeable about Transylvania. You will ride on excellent touring bikes, ride on quiet country roads with very few cars, pass through charming villages, see beautiful countryside, and stay in fantastic guest houses, with great food. Most enjoyable!
We really enjoyed our time in Romania...love the country and its friendly people! Our 4-day guided bike tour from Sibiu to Sighisoara with Radu and Mihai were unforgettable. These guys were friendly and knowledgeable and loved to share stories and history of their beautiful country. We also felt extremely safe in their care (Romania is a very safe country!). Doing this bike tour was a very unique way to get out of the city and explore the rural villages...we are so glad we got to experience it! The guesthouses were well chosen as each lodging provided us with a different experience and meals...and food was also plentiful and yummy! We enjoyed everything about this bike tour and we highly recommend Transylvania Cycling!
Tome un tour de un dia a Apuseni, las vistas eran preciosas, ideal para salir del ambiente de la ciudad y disfrutar de lo mejor que tiene Transilvania, que son sus montañas. Tambien me gusto ver las aldeas y pueblos pequeños que pasamos de camino y hablar sobre Rumania y obtener opinion de primera mano del guia sobre el pais.
I'm not one for writing many reviews ( laziness ), but wow this one certainly deserves it! My wife and I have cycled all over Europe, but I must say this one was by far our best holiday to date. Our tour guides Radu and Mihai were unbelievable. They were always happy to go the extra mile ( thanks for the crisps with G & T) to make our holiday special and memorable. A good mix of knowledge, fun and friendliness, varied guesthouses, cycle routes ( great ride through the woods on our last day), food and wine and of course their company. If you want to see Saxon Transylvania and stay with friendly locals then book with these guys, they won't disappoint!
Cycling is the most fun way to see a country and with Mihai and Radu, the fun never ends. Our group of 6 was expertly guided through small villages in Saxon Transylvania. We got to stop at places we would never have found on our own; a small winery, a bio-farm, a horse refuge, a meeting with a building restoration expert, on and on. Our guides were so patient and kind and knowledgeable, that I fell in love with Transylvania. I signed up for a beautiful bike ride, but I came away transformed with a deeper understanding of Romania and it's people.
Thank you Mihai and Radu for the perfect organisation. The trip was fantastic, the Saxon villages are a pleasure to visit and learn about the history and ethnic mix of the people. We ran into a village festival with traditional music, food and drinks at Cincu. We met horses and carts everywhere. The interethnic museum at Altana is very interesting and Steph does a great job sharing his collection and explaining traditional artisanry. We felt welcomed and completely safe everywhere. The cycling was off-road for part and mostly quiet roads otherwise. The guest houses were very good quality.
Me and my brother went on a two day tour with this company North of Sibiu, Very good inetary and the accomodation was great. They really can custom a tour for your needs and interest. We wanted great scenery, good roads and a few stops along the way, we got exactly what we wanted! They picked us up in Sibiu so that we didn't have to cycle the first couple of miles were the traffic was intense. When we arrived to our destination we were picked up and taken back to our car in Sibiu. The app works very good, no problems to follow the selected route, Very nice time for a great price!
I had a 3 days self-guided tour with a friend within the Saxon villages of Transylvania. It's been a really pleasant trip, Mihai very carefully prepared it according to our physical condition and on what we wanted to see. We've been through very diversified landscapes, gravel and paved roads, and a lot of very charming villages. We received a customized road book with handy descriptions of the visited places, and a gps track that we could view on our smartphones, so we did not get lost. The accommodations were just great and people very friendly. The bicycles were also well prepared and in good shape - this is important as mechanical problems can easily ruin a day. We have been able to visit at our pace, away from the crowds, a tiny region dotted with old villages and beautiful fortified churches, and that's a very good way to visit the rural Romania.
Newly returned from a wonderful 6-day small group cycling tour of Saxon Villages with Cycling Transylvania. The whole experience was brilliant. Radu and Mihai were kind, patient and very knowledgeable leaders who clearly love sharing their country with visitors - as well as creating a fun cycling 'adventure' over a mix of terrains (roads/tracks/forest trails). They provided beautiful bikes and associated kit and guided us to a range of towns and villages in the greater Sibiu area - visiting fortified Saxon churches, a fascinating ethnographic museum and an organic peasant farm as well as introducing us to welcoming hosts at our various overnight village stops.
We had a "Nature and traditions" tour with Mihai and Rado in beautiful Transylvanian surroundings. Our group of 4 varied from a dedicated cycler to some that never gets on a bike, i.e. a challenge to find the best route. But the guides always tried to find the best solution. We saw interesting birds, passed through villages where traditional farming with horses and carriages are still in use. We also got a lot more knowledge about different ethnic groups living in the area. Especially interesting was the lunch that was home made traditional food in a farm house, and Stefan who are restoring old buildings and that educated local people in these techniques. We could also buy some local products at his own little museum. Very good! It was also time to visit an old Saxon /protestant church with origins from 1300. I recommend this activity very much, and Mihai & Rado are really nice guys and guides!
Had a fantastic 3 days with Mihai cycling around transylvania. The tour exceed my expectations and was definitely high on the bucketlist. He is very knowledgeable and easy going just like the locals I got to meet along the way in these villages. The places I've cycled through are so off the beaten path, without his guidance you would never be able to see Romania in the same way. The countryside is spectacular, accomodation was perfect and the food was delicious. The home made cheeses and wines made my day along with the sweetest and juiciest backyard tomatoes I've ever tasted!! Overall I would definitely recommend this trip, you won't regret it! Thanks again for a great trip!
Radu was an excellent host, taking us both on a very enjoyable 1 day tour of villages outside Sibu. The countryside was beautiful and particularly good for birdwatching: saw plenty of storks, shrike and bea-eaters. Butterflies in hay meadows also excellent. The stop at renovated mill in Hosman was very welcome. Very good bikes and an excellent way to explore the area.
We had a fantastic 4 day cycling Tour through small villages around sibiu. Great private accommodations as well as very good local food at all places. Mihai and Radu were perfect hosts, taking care about all things around the trip, very helpful. Even our son (10 years) enjoyed the trip very much. It was definitely the highlight of our summer in Romania, thanks to Transylvania Cycling !
Our trip through Transylvania might be the most fun that I have ever had on two wheels. The rides were totally tailored to our needs in terms of distance and difficulty and the roads were really quiet. The icing on the cake for me was discovering the astounding natural beauty of the area. It really is something to see and it was a pleasure listen to Radu Mihai and Adrian who are all well informed about the local culture history and wildlife. The guys were excellent company over the weekend. It was great to cycle back in the evenings to a lovely meal in our "manor house". I am still smiling about this trip a week later. Don't hesitate to book you will love it.
My 14 year old son and I went on a two day biking trip with Mihai, around the saxon villages and fortified churches at the very end of August. The scenery was unforgettable and it was pleasure to be guided by Mihai who genuinely enjoys his chosen profession and cares about the villages and village life in Transylvania . The ride was relaxed 45 km first day and 58 km second day. It was all very easily and quickly planned after a chance encounter in Sibiu. The quaint villages with colored houses rolled away for two days as did the lush green country side with storks, sheep , horses, cows , pigs , dogs and all. Did I mention how beautiful the scenery was throughout the ride. All in all perfect.
My husband and I did a half day trip with Mihai, and we had a great time! We went to a couple of the villages outside of Sibiu, and it was a beautiful ride. Mihai was a terrific guide-answering all of our questions thoroughly and giving us the option to "customize" our experience by riding through the woods rather than on the road. One of the coolest parts of this tour is that Mihai tries to keep all of his tours pretty private, so it was just him and my husband and me, so the tour was very personal. We both wish we would've done a multi-day trip with Transylvania Cycling! Must-Do if you're visiting Sibiu or Cluj!
I did the self-guided tour and it was really awesome! Mihai considered all my wishes and even invented a new route. The bike was very good, I liked to ride on it. I also got a helmet, a big saddlebag where all my things fit in and a drinking bottle. One can find water everywhere in the villages. The trip was an awesome experience and you really get to know the country and it´s people. I would do it again but for a longer period!
I contacted Mihai and Radu, who responded very promptly, in a punctual way. At the airport of Cluj-Napoca Radu was waiting for me, and pick me up to Sibiu, where we met Mihai and the other two partecipants. The morning after we started our tour, that lasted 5 days. Very soon we realized to be in a Paradise! Gentle hills, not very challenging, lakes, rivers, forests, farms, sheep, cows, haystack, a bucolic landscape surrounded by a ring of beautiful mountains. Riding with Radu and Mihai was gorgeus! They offered the chance to discover the very hidden part of Transylvania, the soul of the country, that we never could have seen and catch alone. What I appreciate a lot, was the flexibility. Mihai and Radu organize a personalized trip, adapted to the requires of partecipants, small groups of people. They promote an echo-sustainable tourism, slow travelling, be aware of the importance of the environment and heritage. During this vacation I really felt to stay with friends, like in a family, having fun and laughing a lot! Free as a bird! I absolutely reccomend this amazing unforgettable experience.
We booked the "Hidden Villages of Călata"-day Tour on short notice, which was no problem for Radu, our guides. Cycling through the transilvanian hills was special and we had many beautifull stops and sights, especially the churches were amazing, each of them around 800 years old. By the way, he knows a lot about as well the history of romania, as also the present situation. Nice guy with good thoughts!! Radu arranged a tipical romanian lunch in one of the villages, which was excellent. At the end of the 30-miles-trip we were all both satisfied and exhausted. Absolut recommodatiom!!
Mihai took me on an awesome private bike tour of Rășinari and Cisnădioara. He spoke English well and was very accommodating. He went beyond the regular tour to help me buy homemade cheese and brandy from the villagers. He also translated the museum tour in Rășinari given by a nice lady, showed me the natural spring water there, explained the Basilica in Cisnădioara, and gave me snacks and water. To get from Rășinari to Cisnădioara, we took a somewhat challenging dirt path I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
In our opinion there is absolute no better way to see and experience Transylvania than this. My boyfriend and I did a 5 day cycling tour with Mihai and Radu - it was unreal. They were relaxed, accommodating and fun. We got to see parts of the countryside we could have never seen otherwise. They are committed to responsible rural tourism and sustainability. The guest houses we stayed are were all lovely and clean. The food was wonderful. The cycling pace was relaxed with some challenging, but doable, bits and they were well equipped with quality biking gear for all of us. We never felt rushed by them. They felt more like friends than guides. Of special note is that they even sneakily helped my boyfriend plan his proposal to me!!! Obviously this made the trip even more memorable. I can't recommend them enough. We did this tour at the beginning of a 5 week trip in Eastern Europe and are afraid nothing else will quite live up. Go cycling with them - you will be grateful you did!
My two friends and I had a wonderful day cycling around the outskirts of Sibiu. We firstly cycled through a park and along cycle lanes to get out of the city and then went through forest, fields and villages. There were only a couple of small hills and we stopped for breaks when we felt the need, Mihai was a lovely guide and he was very informative and answered all our questions about the area and Romania in general. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and would definitely recommend doing a cycling tour with Transylvania cycling!
Mihai was a fantastic guide for our nature and tradition tour! He picked us up promptly and drove us to a small village where we began our ride. We biked approximately 55km with two stops in between. One was at an ethnographic museum and the other was in a small village where there was a traditional market occurring. We learned so much about Romanian culture and Mihai answered all of our questions with ease. We biked through villages, fields and along forest roads. Great day and fantastic ride!!
We met with Mihai near Sigishoara in Biertan, a beautiful village with a huge fortified church. From there we started the tour, which took us trough lovely country side to the village of Copsa Mare and then we went to Mosna a village were a local family of German(Saxon) origin invited in to see their traditional self sufficient life style. This was the best part of the tour for me - for the first time in my life I saw how a cow is milked by hand, they showed us how they make onion and garlic braids, and we also made one our self, then we had a delicious lunch made of their own home grown organic products. So although this was a cycling tour, cycling was not the main part of it, but a nice background for the other experiences.
Cycling is a good thing by itself, but in such a beautiful area as Transylvania and with a guide like Mihai it becomes truly amazing experience. I am not really a skilled cyclist, but Mihai made sure I felt great and easy - we actually hiked a part of the way, as it was more comfortable for me. Exploring two villages - Rasinari and Cisnadiora - was great, with a lot of interesting facts and stories. And the landscape around, all these mountains and forests and meadows... Just magical. In short, I definitely recommend the tour with Transylvania Cycling to anyone visiting Sibiu and it's surroundings.
My friend and I had the pleasure of spending a day exploring the beautiful countryside near Sibiu with Mihai. He was a wonderful guide and gave us loads of historic information, brought us to hilltops with stunning views, through tranquil forests and parks, past fields of wild flowers, and to charming little villages. We loved being able to veer off the beaten path and experience a part of Romania that not too many visitors get to see.


GOP Senator Blasts Secret Bipartisan Debt Talks: "Disgusting"
"I think the phrase I have been using, the Senate has been fiddling while America's going broke, and that's sad. And now I think as you pointed out as well, what does the financial future of America rest on? Some secret talks? Talks between a few individuals going on behind closed doors far from the view of the American public. Rather than an orderly process where a plan is presented, that can be viewed by the American public, that can be debated in ope. the way our Founders envision edit on the Floor of the Senate, this historic Floor. Instead of using the process that we should have been using, what's going to happen? Are we going to have a result, a negotiated settlement dropped in our lap what? A couple days before this deadline date? Is that what's going to happen? Is that really -- is that really how the financial fate of America is going to be decided? I mean, personally I find that process disgusting."
Schumer: Using 14th Amendment To Raise Debt Limit Should Be "Explored"
Rep. Joe Walsh On Obama: "The Man's Got No Shame"


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How Butch and Sundance
Shot Their Way to Immortality
Posted on 10.16.18 by John Farr
Gifted writer William Goldman had first come across the true story of Butch Cassidy in the late fifties, and was immediately taken with it.
As he described it: "There is that famous line that Scott Fitzgerald wrote, 'There are no second acts in American lives.' When I read about Cassidy and Longbaugh [the Sundance Kid's real name] and the super posse coming after them—that's phenomenal material…they had a second act...Those two guys and that pretty girl going down to South America and all that stuff. It just seems to me it's a wonderful piece of material."
Though the story never left his mind, other projects kept intervening, and it took him a full eight years to write the screenplay. (Early on he'd decided not to write it as a book as he wanted to avoid the exhaustive research necessary to accurately portray life in the Old West).
All the studios save one rejected the initial screenplay, and even the studio that showed interest objected to the idea that Butch and Sundance are actually fleeing from the law. The prevailing wisdom with Westerns back then was that heroes — even anti-heroes — simply didn't do that.
"All I know is John Wayne don't run away," said one studio head.
Goldman played the old screenwriter trick of going back and changing a few pages, but keeping most everything intact. All of a sudden he had a lot of takers. In the end, Fox president Richard Zanuck won out, paying a whopping $400,000 for the script, double what he was authorized to offer.
Director George Roy Hill came on board, and Goldman told him he had written the script with Paul Newman and Jack Lemmon in mind. With Hill's blessing, Newman was approached first. The actor read the script and loved the humor in it, but protested that he was a lousy comic actor.
One of his early flops, 1958's "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys," had been a comedy, and his performance still appalled him. Hill finally convinced him to accept by assuring him he could and should play his part straight.
Next they went to Lemmon, whose production company had backed Newman's recent triumph, "Cool Hand Luke" (1967). Ultimately, he passed, citing his dislike for riding horses and a conflict with shooting "The Odd Couple" (1968).
Warren Beatty was approached, but felt the story was too close to "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). Finally, Steve McQueen read the script and tentatively agreed to do it. However, his agent insisted on first billing for McQueen, and when that was not agreed to, he too moved on.
Reportedly, it's was Newman's wife Joanne Woodward who raised Robert Redford as an option. Redford, then 32, was definitely an up-and-comer but not yet a big name, with just one starring role to his credit, 1967's "Barefoot in the Park."
When Redford eventually signed on to play the Sundance Kid, it felt like a bit of a risk — Hill and Goldman would have preferred two "A-listers" over one for the leads — but that risk would pay off handsomely.
At that point, the film was called "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy." Early on, Newman assumed he'd play the Kid, but Hill persuaded him to take the role of Butch. Given Newman's box office clout, once Redford was cast the title was swiftly changed to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
The last key role to fill was Etta Place, the Sundance Kid's lover. When Joanna Pettet had to withdraw due to pregnancy, Katharine Ross, fresh from her Oscar-nominated triumph in "The Graduate" (1967), was tapped.
Production began with cast and crew shooting on location in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. (The later scenes in Bolivia were shot in Mexico). Redford later commented: "We had the best locations possible, to my mind. We had Zion National Park, Durango, Colorado. You rode through that, it was a joy."
Paul Newman said he had more fun on this production than any other. His quick and easy rapport with his younger co-star helped enormously. He and Redford drank a lot of beer together.
The two men did clash when Redford insisted on doing one dangerous stunt himself, where he runs and jumps on top of a moving train. Newman later castigated him, saying: "I don't want any heroics around here. I don't want to lose a co-star." A chastened Redford agreed to play it safe going forward.
Katharine Ross had a different experience. She was involved at the time with the film's cinematographer, Conrad T. Hall, and the two would marry that same year. (Coincidentally, her second husband, Sam Elliott, appears in the opening scene, but he and Ross would not actually meet for another decade).
Ross loved the technical side of film. On the first day of shooting Hall found himself short one camera operator for the train robbery sequence, and Ross offered to step in. Hall showed her just how he wanted her to move the camera, and they shot the scene.
When Hill, who was not present, heard about this, he erupted, sending a message back to Ross in her hotel that she was henceforth barred from the set unless she was shooting a scene.
She later said her favorite moment on the film happened when shooting the famous bicycle scene with Newman because the second unit covered it and, in her words, "any day away from George Roy Hill was a good one." Ross would later describe this production as "very difficult," and it took her years before she even wanted to see the film.
Back at the studio after location shooting was complete, Hill and Goldman planned to film the New York City sequences using the sets from "Hello, Dolly" on the next soundstage. For a variety of reasons, this was ultimately nixed, so they conceived the famous montage where sepia shots of the three stars are intermingled with actual photographs of New York residents at the turn of the century.
Hill had chosen composer Burt Bacharach to do the score. Bacharach's sound was very much of the sixties, so he was an unusual candidate for a period film. It was yet another gamble that paid off as the music adds immeasurably to the finished film.
However, when Redford first heard B.J. Thomas's rendition of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," he absolutely hated it, claiming it was completely wrong for the movie. That song, with lyrics by Hal David, would later win an Academy Award.
Goldman was always concerned about balancing the humor in the script with the dramatic elements. At the first preview screening, there was way too much laughter coming from the audience. Concerned about their film being labeled a Western comedy, Hill and Goldman went back and made some judicious cuts.
When "Butch Cassidy" finally opened in the fall of 1969, the reviews were mixed, with Vincent Canby of The New York Times giving it only a lukewarm appraisal and Roger Ebert calling it "slow and disappointing." Both Hill and Goldman were momentarily bereft.
Soon enough, however, it became apparent that the public loved it. Lines formed around the block at theaters across the country, and "Butch" ultimately became the top-grossing movie of the year. It stands today among the top fifty highest-grossing films of all time.
Nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, it won four, for Goldman's script, Hall's cinematography, and Bacharach/David's song and score.
"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is one of those rare movies whose influence in the popular culture has only grown with time. What makes it endure?
Originally, some critics faulted the film's anachronistic elements: the modern, clever dialogue and unconventional Bacharach score. I'd argue that these very elements contribute to making the film a uniquely captivating experience. The fact that it doesn't feel or sound like a traditional Western is part of its magic.
But in the end, I'd submit the key ingredient lies in the charisma of its male stars, and their evident chemistry on-screen. Newman and Redford's warm, natural interplay throughout the film really carries the whole enterprise. It sent the industry a clear message that the buddy movie did not go out with Hope and Crosby.
"Butch" made Redford a star and mega-heartthrob, (with my older sister among those hyperventilating); it also showed Newman to be, in fact, a gifted comic actor. Lightning would strike twice four years later when Hill, Newman and Redford re-teamed for "The Sting." We only wish they'd done even more together.
But then again, we'll always have Butch and Sundance.
More: Why Robert Redford Will Always Matter
More Goldman, Hill, Redford, and Newman
The World of Henry Orient
All The President's Men
Why Rob Reiner
Is No Meathead
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In 1961, John F. Kennedy made the audacious goal to land a man on the moon and have them return safely by the end of the decade.
NASA analysts put those chances at 1 in 10 of actually happening.
Neil Armstrong and his fellow astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission would never have achieved that goal in 1969 had it not been for the crew on Apollo 8 who were the first people to ever orbit the moon around Christmas in 1968.
Armstrong's famous first steps on the moon have overshadowed the first lunar orbit but in many ways, this earlier mission was far more impressive and risky. Not only had it never been done before, but NASA was racing against the Russians to get there first, had little time to fully test all of the systems, and had no idea if their plans and calculations would actually hold up if the spaceship actually got there.
Not only did their plans work — they were unbelievably accurate throughout the entire mission.
Apollo 8 was built using 5.6 million parts and 1.5 million systems, subsystems and assemblies. Assuming a 99.9% effective rate, that would mean they could expect to see 5,600 defects along the way.
Charles Lindbergh calculated that Apollo 8 would burn more fuel in the first second of flight than he did on his entire trip on the first-ever nonstop flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris.
The amount of fuel at the outset of the mission had the explosive potential of a small nuclear bomb. At takeoff alone, there was enough energy to power the UK at peak usage time.
To achieve orbit outside of the gravitational pull of Earth, Apollo 8 would need to be traveling more than 17,000 miles per hour. On re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, they would be traveling almost 25,000 mph.
To fly around the other side of the moon, a place no person's eyes had ever seen before, required 240,000 miles of travel. The moon itself would move 150,000 miles (more than 2,000 mph) in the time it took for the spacecraft to get there.
They flew within just 69 miles of the moon's surface but had no idea if their radars would be effective at such a close distance from so far away.
The biggest test would come when Apollo 8 would reach the far side of the moon. At that point, the ship would lose radio contact. Frank Borman, the Commander of the flight, was fixated on this moment in the months leading up to takeoff.
They calculated the orientation of the spaceship in the flight plan by aligning themselves with the stars through what's called sextant sightings. This was similar to the system sailing ships have used for centuries by measuring the angles between the sun, the moon, and the stars.
NASA specialists who planned the flight would calculate the ship's altitude based on its position relative to different stars and use the thrusters to keep its position in the desired location. Any calculated change in velocity would let the crew and mission control know if they were on course or had made a grievous error.
If radio contact was lost for too long, it meant the ship was traveling too fast and was off course. If they lost radio contact too early it meant orbit was off. If either of these scenarios came to pass the astronauts would likely be lost in space forever as they wouldn't have the fuel required to fight the gravitational pull of the moon to make it home.
Lovell and Anders stared at the clock.
The view out the windows became even darker.
The astronauts' headsets went silent.
Borman looked at the clock.
Anders had seen how concerned—obsessed—Borman had been about this moment during training. It took a second for Borman to realize Anders was kidding. After that, Borman couldn't stop smiling. Another critical hurdle in the Apollo 8 mission had been cleared.
In Houston, controllers looked at each other with a sense of wonder and relief, shaking their heads and then shaking hands. Orbital mechanics—the way the universe ordered and moved itself—worked. And man had figured it out to the split second.
When the ship finished its first orbit of the far side of the moon they also came back into radio contact within one second of NASA's estimate. They had calculated the dimensions of the orbit of the moon to within a fraction of a mile.
The level of precision and detail that went into this flight plan was amazingly accurate.
Some fields allow practitioners the ability to work with an extreme level of precision, even in the face of uncertainty. Finance is not one of those fields.
You can't calculate relationships in the markets like you can the distance between the stars. Retirement planning, portfolio management, investing strategies and personal finance are all forms of guesswork in many ways.
You're forced to deal with uncertainty but you don't have a perfect model which allows you to calculate your exact position in relation to your goal. Planning out your financial future is like trying to calculate orbital mechanics while all of the stars are constantly moving and changing shape.
Just like the astronauts, you have to make occasional course corrections. But unlike the heroes who went to the moon and back, you can't tell if those course corrections are helping or hurting right away.
On Christmas day during that Apollo 8 mission, some of the crew had their families at NASA headquarters in Houston. Someone in the control room had his 5-year-old son with him. The boy asked astronaut Bill Anders who was driving the ship.
Finance requires us to be comfortable with inexact calculations, relationships, and human emotions. You must be willing to accept good enough in place of perfect to survive.


Stephen is from Huntington, WV and became an official Elder for our Huntington location in February of 2019. He and his wife, Heather, married in the fall of 2018. Stephen cares for Huntington Groups as well as Group Leaders.


As an introvert, I know all too well the many struggles we "quiet ones" are prone to experiencing. Until now however, there's one struggle that I have not yet revealed to anyone but my partner. Today I feel the courage to share it in the hope that it brings awareness, relief, and support to anyone else who can relate to it.
From age 13 onwards, some of my close girlfriends were also more advanced than me. If they ever spoke about their sexual experiences, I would listen intently, desperate to find something in common with them or to pick up some advice or tips. Sometimes I would pretend that I had done the same things as them if they asked me. But I never asked them questions or shared my true feelings. I was too afraid of feeling like the odd one out.
It is NOT okay to suffer in silence and to put yourself at risk as a result. You deserve to be heard, respected, and loved — but first you must do this for yourself.


Defending champions Spain open their World Cup 2014 campaign against the Netherlands in a repeat of the 2010 final after an intriguing draw pitched the hosts Brazil into a kick off against Croatia.
The mouth-watering start for the Spanish was just one twist in the draw at Costa do Sauipe, a northeastern beach resort, as England must meet Italy when the pair brave the heat of Manaus -- just what England manager Roy Hodgson did not want.
FIFA, confident Brazil will overcome stadium delays which will see the opening match venue Sao Paulo completed only in mid-April, will Sunday open the next stage of ticket sales -- all tickets for the opening match and the July 13th final have already been snapped up.
And FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Brazilian officials, who have not always seen eye to eye on preparations that the game's world body has judged as laggardly, both used the draw to tell the world the event will be the best ever -- "this will be the Cup of Cups" as Brazil President Dilma Rousseff put it.
England have a tough task on paper, drawn in a group containing three former champions -- themselves, four-time winners Italy and twice winners Uruguay -- as well as Costa Rica.
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke's reaction summed up the sombre mood in the England camp when he was caught on camera drawing a finger across his throat in a 'we're dead' gesture.
But Spain, who won their first title in South Africa four years ago, also have a difficult Group B as after they play the three-time runners-up Dutch on June 13th in Salvador they then take on talented Chile in Rio before facing Australia in Curitiba.
"I said to people this morning we were going to get Holland and we did, in the first game no less," said Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque.
"Holland will demand that we start at our highest level."
Brazil, bidding for a sixth title but a first at home after losing the 1950 final match to Uruguay, take on Croatia in Sao Paulo on June 12 -- assuming the venue is ready after a fatal accident last week delayed prospective completion for another four months.
The Brazilians will then take on Mexico and Cameroon in a Group A that appears on the face of it unthreatening, if not easy.
"We must pay close attention to the opening phase," said Brazil's 2002 title-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
"We must play every game as if it were the final right from the outset."
England, meanwhile, will start off with a Group D meeting against four-time champions Italy in the heat of Amazonian venue Manaus on June 14 -- though it is at least an evening kick-off.
That match is a repeat of the Euro 2012 quarter-final, which Italy, who knocked England out of the 1978 World Cup qualifiers, won on penalties.
"It's a tough group, there's no doubt about that," said Hodgson, whose team also face Uruguay, a third former champion in their group, and Costa Rica.
"In Italy and Uruguay it's almost as though we have got two number one seeds in our group."
Italian opposite number Cesare Prandelli described it as "the Group of Death".
"We are worried about the distances we shall have to cover. The game against England will be very important," he added.
After the Italians, Hodgson's side then take on Uruguay in Sao Paulo on June 19th and Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte on June 24th.
A notable subplot will see Germany go up against the United States, now coached by former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann in Recife on June 26th in their final pool match.
"That's one of those crazy stories that football writes," Klinsmann told German broadcaster ARD.
Germany, whose third and last title came in 1990, also drew Ghana and Portugal in Group G.
Klinsmann coached Germany to third at the 2006 World Cup with current German boss Joachim Loew his then assistant.
Argentina, champions in 1978 and 1986, meet sole newcomers Bosnia in Rio on June 15th and then will face Iran and Nigeria.
Former England boss Fabio Capello was happy after he saw his Russian charges draw seeded Belgium, South Korea and Algeria in Group H.
"I'm pleased with the draw. Some of the other groups consist of much stronger teams," said Capello, a second-round loser with England in 2010.
France, champions in 1998 but forced to come through the playoffs, were thrilled with what they perceived as their manageable draw against Group E seeds Switzerland as well as Ecuador and Honduras.
Japan, meanwhile, saw themselves lumped in with seeded Colombia, Ivory Coast and Greece in Group C.
After a poignant homage to the late Nelson Mandela -- Brazil will now observe seven days of mourning for his loss -- the draw began to the exhilarating sound of samba at the northeastern beach resort of Costa do Sauipe.
The draw build-up had been dominated by news of stadium delays and anti-World Cup campaigners threatening public protest.
Yet Mandela's death changed the tone as participants remembered how he saw in sport a means of fostering social progress.
Who's to blame for Spain's World Cup failure?


This natural neem oil & tea tree foot scrub recipe helps keep feet looking and feeling great year round! Natural salts and fine ground pumice exfoliate dead skin cells and rough calluses while gentle kaolin clay helps to detox skin. In addition, naturally anti-fungal neem oil and tea tea tree oil work together in this neem oil & tea tree foot scrub recipe to help keep feet fungus free or to aid in clearing up any existing conditions like toe nail fungus or athlete's foot!
Using a digital scale weigh out salt, pumice and clay into a large glass bowl. Mix well.
In a separate container weigh out the safflower, hemp seed and neem oils. Then using a graduated transfer pipette, measure out the essential oils and stir into the oil mixture.
Now screw the lid onto your jar and label as desired.
Use this foot scrub daily in the bath or shower by massaging onto wet feet then rinsing and patting dry. Then follow with my natural foot repair salve recipe with neem oil. You'll love how soft your skin feels afterwards! Plus, because this neem oil and tea tree foot scrub recipe is made using fine ground pumice, you can also use it as natural body scrub to exfoliate and soften other rough or dry skin areas.
If you're selling this neem oil and tea tree foot scrub, be sure to label your product to FDA guidelines. It's also highly recommended you use a preservative in this product to prevent mold and bacteria should water be introduced into the product during normal use. You may also want to consider using either vitamin E or rosemary extract to help extend the shelf life of the oils used.
For even more of my natural skin care recipes be sure to follow me on Pinterest for collections of my favorite bath and beauty recipes from around the web.
Discover all of all my new beauty and skin care recipes by following Soap Deli News blog via Blog Lovin' or Tumblr. Or find and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and Instagram.


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Това е хронологичен списък на съпругите на владетелите на Монако. Те носят титлата на своя съпруг: дама, когато той е господар (синьор) и принцеса, когато той е принц.

Само двама мъже придобиват статут на принцове чрез брак и стават de facto принцове сами по себе си, следователно те не фигурират в този списък: Ламберто Грималди (1420-1494), първо сгоден за далечната си братовчедка Клодин от Монако (1451-1515) и определен за наследник, а по-късно става суверенен господар на Монако като Ламбер от Монако чрез брака си с нея на 29 август 1465 г.; Жак дьо Гойон дьо Матиньон (1689-1751), съпруг на Луиза-Иполита от Монако (1697-1731), след това става суверенен принц на Монако под името Жак I от Монако, наследявайки съпругата си.

Владетелки на Монако

Дами (господарки) на Монако

Принцеси на Монако

Вижте също
 Монако
 Герб на Монако
 Грималди
 История на Монако
 Списък на владетелите на Монако

Източници
 Монако
 Генеалогия на Грималди (посетено на 21 ноември 2022 г.)
 Генеалогия на Грималди на MedLands (посетено на 21 ноември 2022 г.)

Външни препратки

 Генеалогично дърво на официалния уебсайт на Княжество Монако

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Join us for Gopashtami Celebrations on Saturday, November 17th at Sri Krishna Baralam's Hasati Goshala in Milpitas, CA. It is a wonderful opportunity serve the cows on this auspicious occasion and get blessings of Lord Krishna. More details below.


Everybody get a glass — it's time for the Journal's annual Best Of list. Our readers have once again voted on their favorite people, places, businesses, things to eat, drink and enjoy in our county. That includes everything from where to get the tastiest Bloody Mary to the finest midwife. This is our chance to toast the winners, as well as a couple of our favorite local characters. And like a good party, it turns out some of them are already pals, like the Best Musician, who happens to have a day job at the Best Bookstore. Who knew?
Here's to your besties, Humboldt. Maybe we'll see you at Saturday night's Best Of party at the Carson Block Building — if not, we'll raise a glass to absent friends. Cheers.