text:
Q: rspec testing has_many :through and after_save I have an (I think) relatively straightforward has_many :through relationship with a join table:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :user_following_thing_relationships
  has_many :things, :through => :user_following_thing_relationships
end

class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :user_following_thing_relationships
  has_many :followers, :through => :user_following_thing_relationships, :source => :user
end

class UserFollowingThingRelationship < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :thing
  belongs_to :user
end

And these rspec tests (I know these are not necessarily good tests, these are just to illustrate what's happening):
describe Thing do
  before(:each) do
    @user = User.create!(:name => "Fred")
    @thing = Thing.create!(:name => "Foo")
    @user.things << @thing
  end

  it "should have created a relationship" do
    UserFollowingThingRelationship.first.user.should == @user
    UserFollowingThingRelationship.first.thing.should == @thing
  end

  it "should have followers" do
    @thing.followers.should == [@user]
  end
end

This works fine UNTIL I add an after_save to the Thing model that references its followers.  That is, if I do
class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  after_save :do_stuff
  has_many :user_following_thing_relationships
  has_many :followers, :through => :user_following_thing_relationships, :source => :user

  def do_stuff
    followers.each { |f| puts "I'm followed by #{f.name}" }
  end
end

Then the second test fails - i.e., the relationship is still added to the join table, but @thing.followers returns an empty array.  Furthermore, that part of the callback never gets called (as if followers is empty within the model).  If I add a puts "HI" in the callback before the followers.each line, the "HI" shows up on stdout, so I know the callback is being called.  If I comment out the followers.each line, then the tests pass again.
If I do this all through the console, it works fine.  I.e., I can do
>> t = Thing.create!(:name => "Foo")
>> t.followers # []
>> u = User.create!(:name => "Bar")
>> u.things << t
>> t.followers  # [u]
>> t.save    # just to be super duper sure that the callback is triggered
>> t.followers  # still [u]

Why is this failing in rspec?  Am I doing something horribly wrong?
Update
Everything works if I manually define Thing#followers as
def followers
  user_following_thing_relationships.all.map{ |r| r.user }
end

This leads me to believe that perhaps I am defining my has_many :through with :source incorrectly?
Update
I've created a minimal example project and put it on github: https://github.com/dantswain/RspecHasMany
Another Update
Thanks a ton to @PeterNixey and @kikuchiyo for their suggestions below.  The final answer turned out to be a combination of both answers and I wish I could split credit between them.  I've updated the github project with what I think is the cleanest solution and pushed the changes: https://github.com/dantswain/RspecHasMany
I would still love it if someone could give me a really solid explanation of what is going on here.  The most troubling bit for me is why, in the initial problem statement, everything (except the operation of the callback itself) would work if I commented out the reference to followers.

A: I've had similar problems in the past that have been resolved by reloading the association (rather than the parent object).
Does it work if you reload thing.followers in the RSpec?
it "should have followers" do
  @thing.followers.reload
  @thing.followers.should == [@user]
end

EDIT
If (as you mention) you're having problems with the callbacks not getting fired then you could do this reloading in the object itself:
class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  after_save { followers.reload}
  after_save :do_stuff
  ...
end

or
class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...
  def do_stuff
    followers.reload
    ...
  end
end

I don't know why RSpec has issues with not reloading associations but I've hit the same types of problems myself
Edit 2
Although @dantswain confirmed that the followers.reload helped alleviate some of the problems it still didn't fix all of them.
To do that, the solution needed a fix from @kikuchiyo which required calling save after doing the callbacks in Thing:
describe Thing do
  before :each do
    ...
    @user.things << @thing
    @thing.run_callbacks(:save)
  end
  ...
end

Final suggestion
I believe this is happening because of the use of << on a has_many_through operation. I don't see that the << should in fact trigger your after_save event at all:
Your current code is this:
describe Thing do
  before(:each) do
    @user = User.create!(:name => "Fred")
    @thing = Thing.create!(:name => "Foo")
    @user.things << @thing
  end
end

class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  after_save :do_stuff
  ...

  def do_stuff
   followers.each { |f| puts "I'm followed by #{f.name}" }
  end
end

and the problem is that the do_stuff is not getting called. I think this is the correct behaviour though.
Let's go through the RSpec:
describe Thing do
  before(:each) do
    @user = User.create!(:name => "Fred")
    # user is created and saved

    @thing = Thing.create!(:name => "Foo")
    # thing is created and saved

    @user.things << @thing
    # user_thing_relationship is created and saved
    # no call is made to @user.save since nothing is updated on the user
  end
end

The problem is that the third step does not actually require the thing object to be resaved - its simply creating an entry in the join table.
If you'd like to make sure that the @user does call save you could probably get the effect you want like this:
describe Thing do
  before(:each) do
    @thing = Thing.create!(:name => "Foo")
    # thing is created and saved

    @user = User.create!(:name => "Fred")
    # user is created BUT NOT SAVED

    @user.things << @thing
    # user_thing_relationship is created and saved
    # @user.save is also called as part of the addition
  end
end

You may also find that the after_save callback is in fact on the wrong object and that you'd prefer to have it on the relationship object instead. Finally, if the callback really does belong on the user and you do need it to fire after creating the relationship you could use touch to update the user when a new relationship is created.

A:  UPDATED  ANSWER **
This passes rspec, without stubbing, running callbacks for save (after_save callback included ), and checks that @thing.followers is not empty before trying to access its elements.  (;
describe Thing do
  before :each do
    @user  = User.create(:name => "Fred");
    @thing = Thing.new(:name => 'Foo')
    @user.things << @thing
    @thing.run_callbacks(:save)
  end

  it "should have created a relationship" do
    @thing.followers.should == [@user]
    puts @thing.followers.inspect
  end
end
class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
  after_save :some_function
  has_many :user_following_thing_relationships
  has_many :followers, :through => :user_following_thing_relationships, :source => :user

  def some_function
    the_followers = followers
    unless the_followers.empty?
      puts "accessing followers here: the_followers = #{the_followers.inspect}..."
    end
  end
end

 ORIGINAL ANSWER **
I was able to get things to work with the after_save callback, so long as I did not reference followers within the body / block of do_stuff.  Do you have to reference followers in the real method you are calling from after_save ?
Updated code to stub out callback.  Now model can remain as you need it, we show @thing.followers is indeed set as we expected, and we can investigate the functionality of do_stuff / some_function via after_save in a different spec.
I pushed a copy of the code here:  https://github.com/kikuchiyo/RspecHasMany
And spec passing thing* code is below:
# thing_spec.rb
require 'spec_helper'

describe Thing do
    before :each do
        Thing.any_instance.stub(:some_function) { puts 'stubbed out...' }
        Thing.any_instance.should_receive(:some_function).once
        @thing = Thing.create(:name => "Foo");
        @user  = User.create(:name => "Fred");
        @user.things << @thing
    end

    it "should have created a relationship" do
        @thing.followers.should == [@user]
        puts @thing.followers.inspect
    end
end
# thing.rb
class Thing < ActiveRecord::Base
    after_save :some_function
    has_many :user_following_thing_relationships
    has_many :followers, :through => :user_following_thing_relationships, :source => :user

    def some_function
        # well, lets me do this, but I cannot use @x without breaking the spec...
        @x = followers
        puts 'testing puts hear shows up in standard output'
        x ||= 1
        puts "testing variable setting and getting here: #{x} == 1\n\t also shows up in standard output"
        begin
            # If no stubbing, this causes rspec to fail...
            puts "accessing followers here: @x = #{@x.inspect}..."
        rescue
            puts "and this is but this is never seen."
        end
    end
end

A: My guess is that you need to reload your Thing instance by doing @thing.reload (I'm sure there's a way to avoid this, but that might get your test passing at first and then you can figure out where you've gone wrong).
Few questions:
I don't see you calling @thing.save in your spec. Are you doing that, just like in your console example?
Why are you calling t.save and not u.save in your console test, considering you're pushing t onto u? Saving u should trigger a save to t, getting the end result you want, and I think it would "make more sense" considering you are really working on u, not t.

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text:
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text:
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OLFICTION /ɒlˈfɪkʃ(ə)n/
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2. A unique fragrance consultancy specialising in perfumery and storytelling.
We love using our unique set of skills and experience to help our clients in all kinds of fragrance-related matters.
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text:
\section{Introduction}
South Asia is extremely linguistically diverse. There is a common saying illustrating this diversity, present in several languages of the region; it is given in Hindi below.
\begin{quote}
    \textit{kos kos par pānī badle, cār kos par bānī.}\\
    `The taste of water changes every mile, and the language every four.'
\end{quote}
One issue with this vast scale of diversity is the difficulty it poses for linguists in collecting and cataloguing linguistic data, which further impedes comprehensive typological analysis. India alone contains known living speakers of 461 languages \citep{ethnologue}.\footnote{But note \citet{asher2008language}: ``It is impossible to be at all precise about either the number of languages spoken in the region or the number of speakers of each.''} It is also difficult to assess the availability of linguistic literature for all of these languages, leading to gaps in the typological databases we end up compiling; print linguistic bibliographies for the region become outdated as new work is published and do not encode useful metadata, such as the specific dialect studied in each work or the linguistic features studied.

In this paper we present \textbf{Bhāṣācitra}, a database of linguistic sources for South Asian languages that we have compiled and annotated, as well as a dialect mapping and visualising system built from the location data extracted from those sources. Currently it includes 1104 labelled sources covering 311 lects. The site is online at \url{http://aryamanarora.github.io/bhasacitra}.

\section{Background and related work}

Dialects\footnote{\textit{Dialect} for the purposes of this paper refers to any speech variety. South Asia as a region is prone, due to geographical and historical factors, to fuzzy boundaries between speech varieties. The situation is best explained by \citet{deo2018dialects} in describing the distribution of Indo-Aryan as ``sociolinguistically rich and complex, characterized by plurilinguality and dialect continua spread over large regions spanning multiple languages''.} are defined by \textit{isoglosses}, geographical boundaries separating linguistic features. The mapping of dialect geography is a well-established problem in linguistics, and has been done for many languages; two illustrative examples are English \citep{englanddialects,lap} and Japanese \citep{japanesedialects}. Dialect mapping is instrumentally important for the study of historical--comparative linguistics, since the present-day geography of isoglosses is a result of past \textit{language change} and \textit{language contact}. The distribution of synchronic features is data for theories of diachronic language change.

Computational approaches to dialect geography have worked on many parts of the issue, including the compilation of broad databases of linguistic features \citep{wals,diacl}, dialect identification and clustering on modern social media corpora \citep{abdul-mageed-etal-2018-tweet,jones2015toward}, and statistical modelling of dialect groups (e.g. \citealp{murawaki-2020-latent}).

South Asia is a \textit{linguistic area} \citep{masica,bashir}, a region of typological convergence due to historical contact between speakers of languages of different families. Families represented in South Asia are Indo-European, Dravidian, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibetan, and some unclassified isolates (Nihali, Kusunda, and Burushaski).

Visualisation of data for linguistic typology has a long history, beginning with the first lexical isogloss maps created by aggregating data from dialect surveys and with more recent work specifically for visualising historical change, such as \citet{kalouli-etal-2019-parhistvis}. As linguists adopt computational methods that deal with vast amounts of data, it becomes a challenge for humans to interpret datasets. Modern approaches to visualisation like Visual Analytics (VA) try to address this issue \citep{keim2008visual,maceachren2017leveraging}.

The use of point-based mapping in linguistic data visualisation is well-known, in e.g. WALS \citep{wals}. This format has been used to map data in South Asian languages \citep{retroflexion,liljegren} as well as the languages of Iran \citep{ali,ali2}. We develop this paradigm further to map \underline{areal} language extents based on the location data in published linguistic fieldwork.

\section{Data model}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{interface.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:map}The primary interface map for Bhāṣācitra generated with D3.js and Voronoi partitioning.}
\end{figure}

We built Bhāṣācitra to be an easy-to-use system for researchers with no computational background. We implemented the application in JavaScript on a statically-hosted webpage. There are three data files in JSON format, for reference metadata (in Bib\TeX{}-compatible format with additional fields for location and topic information; see \cref{sec:sources}), language metadata (traditional genetic classification and coordinates for reference locations), and the typological database (containing per-language per-location data).

The primary interface is an interactive map displaying geographical points corresponding to locations from which language data has been collected. The map is generated and manipulated using the D3.js library which has a complete pipeline for web cartography \citep{d3}. Dialect zones are partitioned using the Voronoi algorithm; for a point $P_k$ in the set of points $P$, its Voronoi region $R_k$ is defined as all points closer to $P_k$ than to any other point.
\begin{equation}
    R_k = \left\{x \in X \mathrel{\bigg|} \argmin_i{(\mathrm{dist}(P_i,\, x))} = k \right\}
\end{equation}

In the primary interface (see \cref{fig:map}), zones are colour-coded by consensus genetic classification of the languages covering the zone, with circles (with size proportional to the number of sources) centered at the weighted average of the coordinates of descriptions of the languages. In the case where multiple languages share a zone, the RGB components of the colouring are averaged.

\subsection{Interface}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{marwari_hover.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:marwari}Hovering on the circle for Marwari (a language of Rajasthan, India) highlights the regions from which linguistic sources for it draw data.}
\end{figure}

The primary interface map is fully interactive (draggable and zoomable). Hovering over a language circle shows all the geographical points and Voronoi polygons associated with the sources compiled for that language (see \cref{fig:marwari}). Like the language circles, each geographical point's size is weighted by the number of sources corresponding to it. Clicking on a language circle brings up the scrollable bibliography for that language, with each entry in human-readable format with the corresponding location and topic annotations appended.

\subsection{Limitations}
In South Asia (as elsewhere), geography is hardly the only variable encoding language use. As noted by \citet{deo2018dialects} and shown in sociolinguistic studies \citep{gumperz} factors such as caste, social status, political affiliation, and religion play a large role in language use and adoption. Migrant speaker communities have also developed distinct dialects even in regions where they are a minority language group (e.g.~Marathi speakers in Thanjavur and Burushaski speakers in Srinagar).

To deal with geographical overlap (different language sources for the same location), we allowed the areal zones of multiple languages to encompass the same location. A complete solution to the limitations of the geographical model would require collection of demographic data indexed to language use, which has not yet been collected on a large scale in South Asia.

\section{Compiling the database}

\begin{table}
    \centering
    {\small
    \begin{tabular}{lr}
        \toprule
        \textbf{Topic} & \textbf{Count} \\
        \midrule
        overview (descriptive grammars) & 494 \\
        syntax & 141 \\
        phonetics/phonology & 125 \\
        historical & 111 \\
        morphology & 100 \\
        sociolinguistics & 91 \\
        lexicography & 83 \\
        corpora & 51 \\
        dialectology & 48 \\
        comparative & 44 \\
        \midrule
        \textit{Total} & 1104 \\
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}}
    \caption{Count of sources labelled under the top 10 topics. A single source can be labelled with multiple topics.

    }
    \label{tab:topics}
\end{table}

There are some existing bibliographies of language references for South Asia. In compiling data for Bhāṣācitra, we prioritised the incorporation of sources that provided the greatest coverage of language information, such as grammars and grammatical sketches, analysed corpora, and sociolinguistic surveys.

We began with data from Glottolog for broad coverage \citep{glottolog}; South Asia-specific sources we drew from are \citet{seldom,np,kp}. We then searched for literature not included in existing bibliographies. Many new sources were obtained from Shodhganga,\footnote{\url{https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/}} a platform for open-access digitised theses completed at Indian universities. These theses were difficult to access before the past decade, so from this resource we were able to incorporate many new references.

We annotated information on topic coverage for every source (see \cref{tab:topics}) and location data (see \cref{sec:location}) when possible. We also preferred to link to open-access versions of sources. In total, we compiled \textbf{1104 sources} describing \textbf{311 lects} with data collected from \textbf{763 locations}. This number is continually increasing as we actively improve our coverage of the linguistic literature and new work is published.

\subsection{Locations}\label{sec:location}

\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{map.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:map}Map of all locations extracted from the sources in the Bhāṣācitra database.}
\end{figure}

The primary new contribution of the Bhāṣācitra database is location data manually collected from the included references, shown in \cref{fig:map}. The geocoding of the locations was done through the Google Maps API and manually verified.

While databases such as Glottolog and WALS do include location data for languages, their representation reduces the language's geographical distribution to a single point. We instead represent multiple points per language based on data from the sources we catalogued.

For example, in Glottolog, Hindi is placed at a single point in central India, whereas in Bhāṣācitra there are 21 locations associated with Hindi--Urdu, with most sources describing the standard dialect in Delhi, but also work dealing with varieties in Varanasi, Lahore, and the rural regions surrounding Delhi. Areal mapping of linguistic references allows for better assessment of the coverage of dialects in our sources, and for explicit coverage of dialect variation when mapping features.

\begin{figure*}[h]
\centering
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.43\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{dh.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:dh}Distribution of the breathy-voiced retroflex stop (/\textipa{\:d\super H}/) in South Asian languages.}
\end{subfigure}
\begin{subfigure}[b]{0.43\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{kh.pdf}
\caption{\label{fig:ks}Percent of sound changes of Sanskrit \textipa{/k\:s/} that result in \textipa{/k(:)\super{h}/} in various Indo-Aryan languages.}
\end{subfigure}
\definecolor{green}{HTML}{63c2d8}
\definecolor{red}{HTML}{dd2225}
\caption{\label{fig:figs}Example datasets mapped in Bhāṣācitra. Scale: \fcolorbox{black}{green}{\rule{0pt}{6pt}\rule{6pt}{0pt}} Yes/100\%, \fcolorbox{black}{red}{\rule{0pt}{6pt}\rule{6pt}{0pt}} No/0\%}
\end{figure*}

\section{Mapping datasets}

To illustrate the value of areal visualisation of language features, we mapped two datasets: the phoneme inventories of a large number of Indian languages from \citet{ramaswami1999}, and the outcomes of selected sound changes from Sanskrit to the modern Indo-Aryan languages based on the Jambu database \citep{jambu} parsed from \citet{CDIAL}.

Note that we only visually analyse the map in these examples; these observations would need to be corroborated with statistic analysis and modelling to result in any verifiable claims.

\subsection{Phoneme inventories}

From the data in \citet{ramaswami1999} collected in the PHOIBLE database \citep{phoible} we were able to map the phoneme inventories of 62 major South Asian languages. Several works have studied the phonetic typology of the South Asian linguistic area, e.g.~\citet{phonetictypology,retroflexion}, but have not used areal mapping visualisations.

Some interesting phonological features for mapping are retroflexion (which is prevalent throughout the region, but weakly distinguished or not distinguished at all in the eastern periphery) and breathy-voiced stops (which are less common in much of the Dravidian and Munda families and in the northwestern languages). \Cref{fig:dh} shows the distribution of the breathy-voiced retroflex stop /\textipa{\:d\super H}/ (in IAST: \textit{\d{d}h}) using the Bhāṣācitra system.

While \citet{retroflexion} did use mapping, the feature-separating lines were calculated based on point coordinates for each language, not areal zones. Bhāṣācitra produces more accurate visualisations; it is immediately clear that the northwest Indo-Aryan and Nuristani, Dravidian, and Munda languages lack the phoneme, and this information can be used to inform locations for future fieldwork at the isogloss boundaries to refine our data.

\subsection{Indo-Aryan sound changes}

As another demonstration, we use an under-development etymological database of Indo-Aryan languages \citep{jambu} that builds on \citet{CDIAL} to map the outcomes of some key Indo-Aryan sound changes.\footnote{The compilation of the Jambu database is not in the scope of this work, but, briefly, it has been compiled by parsing data from the digitised version of \citet{CDIAL} and augmenting it with several more recent diachronic dictionaries for Indo-Aryan languages.}

The Indo-Aryan (IA) languages show complex overlapping phonological isoglosses as a symptom of intense cross-dialectal contact over a long period of time, whose complexity makes it difficult to make sense of the family's linguistic history. For example, the Sanskrit cluster \textipa{/k\:s/} generally develops to \textipa{/k\super{h}/} in the core region of modern Indo-Aryan and \textipa{/\t{tS}\super{h}/} in the periphery, but some doublets are evidence of dialect contact, e.g. Sanskrit \textipa{/k\:sa:r@/} > Hindi \textipa{/\t{tS}\super{h}a:r/} `ashes' as well as \textipa{/k\super{h}a:r/} `alkali' \citep{masica}. The variability of these sound changes has recently been used to statistically model dialect components in IA languages \citep{cathcart-2019-gaussian,cathcart-2019-toward,cathcart-probabilistic,cathcart-rama-2020-disentangling}.

Thus, a visualisation of the probability of certain IA sound changes based on a lexical database would be useful for finding isoglosses and the geographical extent of historical dialect contact. We aligned the cognate forms given in \citet{jambu} using the LingPy library's multiple alignment function \citep{lingpy}. Based on the alignments, the likelihood of \textipa{/k\:s/} > \textipa{/k(:)\super{h}/} is mapped in \cref{fig:ks}. A rough core--periphery distinction indeed emerges, with languages in the northwest, south, and east having fewer outcomes of \textipa{/k(:)\super{h}/}. It is also apparent that the language coverage in \citet{CDIAL} is limited, with a great deal of core IA languages lacking data.

\section{Future work}

We intend to maximise coverage of South Asian languages in Bhāṣācitra. In the interest of achieving this goal we welcome contributions to our open-source database on GitHub: \url{https://github.com/aryamanarora/bhasacitra}. Ultimately, this sort of database would be useful for all languages of the world, but we lack the domain knowledge for non-South Asian languages, so we welcome any collaborators who feel this system would be beneficial.

As for directions for technical work, Bhāṣācitra would benefit from a SQL database for faster querying and precomputation of some data (e.g.~language circle sizes and coordinates) to improve performance in the browser. In the interface, we will explore continuous alternatives to discretised Voronoi polygons, which force rigid transitions between lects\footnote{We thank both reviewers for pointing out this limitation.} and do not show where location coverage is sparse. This will also help us with the issue of large polygons at the edges of our research area. Also, a basemap with administrative boundaries and other contextual geographical information would be useful. All of these will require substantial changes to the code beyond the capabilities of visualisation with pure D3.js.

Bhāṣācitra is one step of our larger goal of improving the study of South Asian languages with computational methods. Our future work on historical/comparative linguistics \citep{jambu} and corpus linguistics for under-studied languages of the region will benefit from Bhāṣācitra's visualisation capabilities.

\section{Conclusion}

We developed and presented Bhāṣācitra, a database of linguistic resources for South Asia and a language visualisation system based on location data from those resources. We analysed the coverage of our database and used the areal mapping system to visualise phoneme inventories and Indo-Aryan sound change outcomes. We hope that researchers find the tool useful especially as we move forward with studying the typology of South Asian languages.

\section*{Acknowledgments}

We thank Kaushalya Perera for providing her personal linguistic bibliography for Sinhala, Erik Anonby for showing us the \textit{Atlas of the Languages of Iran} (ALI) project, and Henrik Liljegren for pointing us to his work on Hindu Kush typology.

We also thank Nathan Schneider for his helpful comments on the paper and Ananya Chakravarti for the useful discussion when devising this project.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life
Quote from: sophiecentaur on 20/03/2009 15:34:51
I think you've got it wrong about fossils. They are formed under fairly special conditions and not be some zealous zoologist collector. The data is far from complete, as you might expect.
Btw, what data do you have for your theory?
Try and get this Sophie. It's really not too difficult to follow.
Darwin's idea of the incompleteness of the fossil record was complete nonsense. There are so many fossils available today, that argument is a complete non-starter.
"Well, we are now about 120 years after Darwin and the knowledge of the fossil record has been greatly expanded. We now have a quarter of a million fossil species but the situation hasn't changed much. The record of evolution is still surprisingly jerky and, ironically, we have even fewer examples of evolutionary transition than we had in Darwin's time. By this I mean that some of the classic cases of Darwinian change in the fossil record, such as the evolution of the horse in North America, have had to be discarded or modified as a result of more detailed information - what appeared to be a nice simple progression when relatively few data were available now appears to be much more complex and much less gradualistic. So Darwin's problem has not been alleviated in the last 120 years and we still have a record which does show change but one that can hardly be looked upon as the most reasonable consequence of natural selection."
David M. Raup, "Conflicts Between Darwin and Paleontology," Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1979, p. 25. (He says a similar thing on p. 50.)
http://evolution-facts.org/New-material/Cambrian%20Explosion.pdf
As Darwin himself wrote, before the different phyla appeared there must have been "vast periods" during which "the world swarmed with living creatures" (Excerpt A, p. 83). In the fossil record, however, most of the major animal phyla appear fully formed at the beginning of the geological period known as the Cambrian, with no fossil evidence that they branched off from a common ancestor. Darwin was aware of this, acknowledging in The Origin of Species that "several of the main divisions of the animal kingdom suddenly appear in the lowest known fossiliferous rocks." He called this a "serious" problem which "at present must remain inexplicable; and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views
here entertained" (Excerpt A, pp. 82, 85).
(A) Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, Sixth Edition (New York: D,
Appleton, 1890), Chapter X.
What significance does the Cambrian explosion have for evaluating Darwin's theory that all animals are modified descendants of a common ancestor? As we have seen, Darwin himself considered it a serious problem (Excerpt A). Although Darwin's theory predicts that animal evolution should proceed from the "bottom up," with the largest differences emerging last, James Valentine and his colleagues wrote in 1991 that
the pattern of the Cambrian explosion "creates the impression that metazoan evolution has by and large proceeded from the 'top down' " (Excerpt B, p. 294).
Harry Whittington,an expert on the Cambrian fossils from the Burgess shale, wrote in 1985:
"It may well be that metazoan animals arose independently in different areas. I look sceptically upon diagrams that show the branching diversity of animal life through time, and come down at the base to a single kind of animal" (Excerpt F, p. 131).
Evolutionary biologist Jeffrey Levinton, though convinced of the common ancestry of animals, acknowledged in 1992 that the Cambrian explosion -- "life's big bang," as he called it -- remains "evolutionary biology's deepest paradox" (Excerpt G, p. 84). Although "the body plans that evolved in the Cambrian by and large served as the blueprints for those seen today,"
Levinton saw "no reason to think that the rate of evolution was ever slower or faster than it is now. Yet that conclusion still leaves unanswered the paradox posed by the Cambrian explosion and the mysterious persistence of those ancient body plans" (Excerpt G, pp. 84, 90).
In 1999,University of California biologist Malcolm Gordon wrote: "Recent research results make it seem improbable that there could have been single basal forms for many of the highest categories of evolutionary differentiation (kingdoms, phyla, classes)" (Excerpt H, p. 331).
Gordon concluded: "The traditional version of the theory of common descent apparently does not apply to kingdoms [i.e., plants, animals, fungi, bacteria] as presently recognized.
It probably does not apply to many, if not all, phyla, and possibly also not to many classes within the phyla" (Excerpt H, p. 335).
(F) Harry B. Whittington, The Burgess Shale (New Haven, CT: Yale
University Press, 1985).
(G) Jeffrey S. Levinton, "The Big Bang of Animal Evolution," Scientific
American 267 (November, 1992): 84-91.
(H) Malcolm S. Gordon, "The Concept of Monophyly: A Speculative Essay,"
Biology and Philosophy 14 (1999): 331-348.
That enough, or do you really need more quotes to establish the point that the idea of a branching tree of life is a complete myth?
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How are migrating birds so punctual?
Hi Janean
You might like to have a look at the topic 'How does Instinct Evolve' here:http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=16535
I'm afraid the supporters of evolution on this site have no answers to your question.
Mine is quite simple: the Lord God made them so.
Gen 1.20 ¶ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
After all, it takes intelligence to design a clock, and a calendar, and combine them with a GPS navigating system, not to mention the ability to fly, and to fly 7,500 miles and back every year.
As far as I can make out, no bird has ever created such a complex series of interacting systems, or is ever likely to do so. So Who did?
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / How does "instinct" evolve?
Time pressure is now easing, so I'll have a go at answering your questions, Ben rather sooner than later, and I apologise for the delay.
Thank you for this reasonable and reasoned post. We may not agree, but we can at least be rational about our discussions, as you have pointed out the way.
Up till now I hadn't encountered the co-dominance phenomenon (where red x white --> pink). But the very fact that a whole paper has to be devoted to a relatively small number of examples shows how unusual a thing it is.
I accept your correction.
"What I DON'T detect is any semblance of an answer to the point."
Allow me to reiterate it for you
"Bearing in mind that Science advances as knowledge increases, what's your beef with poor old Charles? Didn't he, in fact, do quite well?".
The reason he got it "wrong" was that he was working with a rather incomplete data set.
Well, the data is now pretty complete, in fact it is embarrassingly so, because zillions of specimens are waiting to be catalogued. Here's Olsen:
After a century of further searching and examination of the fossil record, many paleontologists are beginning to believe that the fossil record is complete since none of the gaps in the fossil record that existed in Darwin's time has been filled by subsequent study. E.C. Olson observes,
"A third fundamental aspect of the record is somewhat different. Many new groups of plants and animals suddenly appear, apparently without any close ancestors .... This aspect of the record is real, not merely the result of faulty or biased collecting. A satisfactory theory of evolution must take it into consideration and provide an explanation."
I've yet to see an 'explanation'! Got one? Or two, or....?
Quote from: Don_1 on 18/03/2009 16:46:36
OK, fine, I give up. I am now a convert to creationism. We were all created by God, as the Bible tells us, around 6000 years ago.
The Bible says nothing of the sort. Usher said so, but as far as I'm concerned that's tripe.
Quote from: dentstudent on 18/03/2009 16:50:04
Go on, ask me a question.
Answer: God did it.
Go on, ask me another question.
God did it.
It's a safe life, but Jesus it must be boring.
Um, what's your comment/ answer to the palaeontology quote I made?
I know - anything but God did it!
I got that right?
I have no idea how those damned Egyptians managed to formulate society 7000 years ago and what the devil were dinosaurs doing 100 million years ago? But of course, how silly of me, it was a miracle!!!
Do you detect an air of sarcasm here?
Yeh, I do.
What I DON'T detect is any semblance of an answer to the point.
Alas, Darwin, and his followers are all up a tree with no way down.
Because there are zillions of new species, families, phyla right there in the Cambrian, the lowest stratum with any really significant amounts of fossils.
Darwin's tree should be lying on its side, not growing up!
Here's a nice reference for you all:
Then, between about 570 and 530 million years ago, another burst of diversification occurred, with the eventual appearance of the lineages of almost all animals living today. This stunning and unique evolutionary flowering is termed the "Cambrian explosion," taking the name of the geological age in whose early part it occurred. But it was not as rapid as an explosion: the changes seems to have happened in a range of about 30 million years, and some stages took 5 to 10 million years.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html
Note the word 'explosion'! Right up the evolutionist's trouserlegs. [ ]
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Is coconut oil high in saturated fats?
It's a most remarkable oil.
Here's an article about its amazingly long list of health-giving properties.http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/
The government of the Philippines is right to promulgate the use of coconut oil.
Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Evolution Disclaimer Proposed for Mississippi Textbooks
I'm a-comin' back soon guys. Careful what you say.
Asyncritus
Hi everybody, I'm back!
Now, please restrain your applause and general bonhomie.
I'm afraid I've been rather taken up with constructing a website, and haven't had as much time as I would have liked free.
If you'd like to see the results of the endeavour, as it evolved (heh heh!) over the last week or so, go here:
That link is a blatant bit of advertising. How could you, Asyncritus? I thought you were better than that. MOD
I would appreciate anyone linking to the site on their webs.
But I'll be back shortly to reply to Ben's points which are indeed worthy of attention.
You refuse to elucidate on your model - you have argued with the existing scientific model, and then offered "A man did it" as an alternative - this is not you offering an alternative model. As there is no evidence for "the man", and no mechanism through which "the man did it", then we can safely put your suggestion in the 'things that don't make any sense at all' category.
I think it's become very clear to everyone reading this thread that you are too narrow minded to look outside your own religion for an explanation, yet are unwilling to explain yourself or elucidate the mechanism.
As I said, Ben, my purpose is to demonstrate that evolution is a scientific farce. One has to clear the ground before building any edifices.
Would I be correct to say that you have agreed that there are vast lacunae in the theory and its powers of explanation of the scientific facts I have brought forth?
And that given those lacunae, you will be searching for some other explanations? I think you are the fairest minded of the writers in this thread, and have not totally allowed prejudice to blind you to the faults.
I highly suspect you will refuse to answer these questions, but:
You've told us you have evidence that the bible ( an old book written by men) is the word of god - please supply that evidence. (You will need to include all the evidence for the existence of god as well, as I fail to see how a book can be written by something that doesn't exist)
Ben, as this is a science forum, I am reluctant to enter into this discussion. Not that I am reluctant to give my reasons, but I have no doubt that a torrent of abuse will follow, mainly along the theme of 'this is a science forum, so why don't you shuddup'?
This thread is the scientific part of the debate, and therefore I have no reluctance in caning evolution here. As I suggested to fbi, we will need another thread to do justice to the existence of God, the evidence for the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the evidence of prophecy as proof that there is One who sees, guides and directs the future.
If any of those is provable, and they are, then I wonder what you will do?
You've also told us that you can eliminate evolution and therefore arrive at the Christian creation myth - please explain why you can abandon all the other creation myths, which are of equal validity to the Christian one.
They are decidedly not of the same validity. I gave a link above to the creation myths of the world, and invite you to have a look at them.
Then have a careful look at Genesis 1 and see the difference. There is nothing mythological there. It is clear, level-headed and the record of palaeontology indicates considerable support for the order in which life appeared on the earth.
Please supply any positive evidence for creation - examples where you cannot understand how they could evolve do not count.
I believe that the cases I have brought forth are incredible proofs of Design ingenuity. In no form or fashion could unintelligence or chance have entered into the construction of the bat's echolocation system, for instance, or the existence of meiosis and mitosis. They are splendid examples of intelligence at work, as is the unbelievably brilliant invention of the DNA molecule to produce reproduction.
I cannot fail to see intelligence in the construction, and if there is, then how does one account for its existence without postulating a greater intelligence to devise these devices?
Just as our brains have produced computers - and therefore our brains are superior to computers. Similarly, the Intelligence that produced our intelligences, MUST be greater than ours. But ours is phenomenal - therefore the Designer's must be immeasurably so.
And finally, I asked you if you would accept an alternative scientific method, if one were discovered and strongly evinced, that was not evolution, but still did not involve a god/gods. Kindly tell us, honestly, if you would have a problem with a scientific discovery that proves that creation didn't happen.
I think you're asking if I could ever stop believing God, for whatever reason. I don't believe I could. There are just too many OTHER evidences, including my own personal, subjective knowledge - which creates in me a positive and deep love for the Divine, despite my own many failures, which prove positively that I am not divine. It's hard to say that, especially in public, but I'm afraid it's true, and as an honest man, I must admit the truth.
You have mentioned a number of times the amount of people reading this thread - do you think they won't notice that you refuse to answer these questions?
To be perfectly honest, I am more than a little surprised at the numbers. I don't know why they come - perhaps it's to see me being pulverised. In which case they must be sorely disappointed!
But I hope they are seeing that there ARE serious problems with evolution, and that maybe, just maybe, one or 2 are beginning to think differently about the subject. I hope so, anyway.
Did you read the article STEFAN quoted - not me? I merely quoted the bits he didn't read: probably couldn't. The author of THAT article doesn't believe the rubbish theories. I don't see why I should, and neither should you!
If the conditions are so rare, then how come there are so many millions of them?
"These vast beds of sedimentary fossil-bearing strata cover about three-fourths of the earth' surface, and are as much as 40,000 feet thick."
I don't want to embarrass you, but the white cliffs of Dover are all fossilised exoskeletons. And there's an area in the Pacific ocean which is about 1000 miles square and about 1 mile deep, which is all fossil calcareous skeletons.
Heh heh heh!
Quote from: _Stefan_ on 17/01/2009 14:47:07
Does any sense get past your god-lenses? Or do you just ignore information that contradicts your world view?
We've told you repeatedly that living fossils do not threaten evolution.
They don't? You mean, the fact that they DIDN'T evolve is proof that they DID evolve? Heh heh heh!
Hadn't you better get some training in common sense?
And you must be extremely ignorant, incapable of using Google, a liar, or all 3, to say that "Nobody has the faintest clue about how the Angiosperms evolved". There are multiple hypotheses that attempt to understand Angiosperm evolution, and a lot is already known. The more they are studied, the better the understanding becomes.
http://www.gigantopteroid.org/html/angiosperm.htm
Did you read the article? Obviously not. Here's what he said:
"Controversial assertions abound in the scientific literature of the 20th century and three categories of credible hypotheses and theories exist (Rothwell et al. 2009). None of these ideas when taken as a whole are either compelling or plausible to many scientists, including the author".
Meaning, he didn't believe them either. Heh heh heh.
And just in case you missed it, he says:
"Despite a concerted effort by evolutionary-developmental biologists and paleontologists the origin of angiosperms remains enigmatic and mysterious (Frohlich and Chase 2007). Further, certain paleobotanists regard the problem of flowering plant origins, "as intractable a mystery today as it was to Darwin 130 years ago"[/u] (page 318, Rothwell et al. 2009).
And stop spewing rubbish about the evolution of phyla. The only sense in which "There is not a single shred of evidence" is in your mind, where genetic and developmental evidence don't count.
"An estimated 50 to 100 phyla appear explosively at the base of the Cambrian. Fossil evidence suggesting their common ancestry is not found in Precambrian rocks. A General Theory of Macrostasis is needed to explain the fossil data and the stability of the higher taxa."http://www.veritas-ucsb.org/library/origins/GRAPHICS-CAPTIONS/sub2.html
The only person ignoring the facts here is you.
Really? What about those guys I quoted above? They ignoring facts too? You'd better write to their universities and complain!
Maybe you'd like to hear the great prophet Dawkins on the subject?
""Eldredge and Gould certainly would agree that some very important gaps really are due to imperfections in the fossil record. Very big gaps, too. For example the Cambrian strata of rocks, vintage about 600 million years, are the oldest ones in which we find most of the major invertebrate groups. And we find many of them already in an advanced state of evolution, the very first time they appear. It is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history. Needless to say, this appearance of sudden planting has delighted creationists." (Dawkins, Richard [zoologist and Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University], "The Blind Watchmaker," [1986], Penguin: London, 1991, reprint, p.229)..
Heh heh heh!!!
Don't worry Stef old man. You're in good company with the other ignoramuses on this subject - like Dawkins above. He dunno either!!!
You have no argument to make. Stop wasting forum posts.
Come come Stefan. Can't stand a bit of healthy opposition? Good for the soul you know!
Have you EVER checked with the palaeontologists to hear what they have to say about the fossil evidence for evolution? Ever? Please answer this question directly, and quote what evidence you've seen there is for the evolution of ANY phylum. ANY one you like.
When you've done, you need to read G G Simpson who said:
"This is true of all thirty-two orders of mammals...The earliest and most primitive known members of every order already have the basic ordinal characters, and in no case is an approximately continuous sequence from one order to another known. In most cases the break is so sharp and the gap so large that the origin of the order is speculative and much disputed...
This regular absence of transitional forms is not confined to mammals, but is an almost universal phenomenon, as has long been noted by paleontologists. It is true of almost all classes of animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate...it is true of the classes, and of the major animal phyla, and it is apparently also true of analogous categories of plants.
• Simpson, G. G. (1944)
Tempo and Mode in Evolution
Columbia University Press, New York, p. 105, 107
So Simpson wasn't a scientist too, and unqualified to express an opinion? Wiki:
Born June 16, 1902
Died October 6, 1984
Fields paleontology
Institutions Columbia University
Notable awards Linnean Society of London's Darwin-Wallace Medal in 1958.
George Gaylord Simpson (June 16, 1902 – October 6, 1984) was an American paleontologist. He was an expert on extinct mammals and their intercontinental migrations. Simpson was the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century and a major participant in the Modern synthesis, contributing Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944) and Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals (1945).
I don't understand this Sophie.
Don't you get the simple fact that if there are 20,000 species that haven't evolved, that's a pretty clear indication the evolution DIDN'T HAPPEN?
But it isn't 20,000. There is not a single shred of evidence of the evolution of ANY of the major animal phyla. In the plant kingdom the situation is even worse.
Nobody has the faintest clue about how the Angiosperms evolved - and that's about half the plants on the planet. Darwin called their evolution 'that abominable mystery' - and nothing's changed since his day.
When are you going to wake up to these FACTS? Why do you keep rejecting them and refusing to face them?
Quote from: BenV on 16/01/2009 18:38:49
Quote from: Asyncritus on 16/01/2009 18:09:45
As I said, there are only 2 possible models available to us:
2 Creation.
I've never heard of any other that makes any sense at all.
You must remember that to someone who does not believe in god, creation falls into the category of 'things that don't make any sense at all'.
Creation is not a scientific alternative, so if we are looking for a scientific explanation, then your options leave us only evolution.
Please, if you feel creation is a science, supply some positive evidence - there isn't any, of course, as it's theistic construction and not a scientific hypothesis, so I wish you luck.
Do remember that there's a difference between 'two models' and 'things that don't make any sense at all.'
I proposed 2 models, and there is a clear divide there. Only one can be correct. If evolution is as absurd as I'm showing, then you clearly have to stick with the absurdity, or abandon it in favour of the other alternative, as I have done.
Which creation myth? I like the aboriginal ones. They are equally as valid as the Christian ones.
There can only be one that is correct. As you may or may not know, there is a huge array of fables and nonsense stories. Here is a collection. You're welcome to take your pick.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=collection+of+creation+myths&meta=&btnG=Google+Search
"...and that there is no evidence that 'modern' species existed 100 million years ago?"
Wrong again, I see. Heh heh.
The reason why we don't find 'ancestors' of the modern species is simply because THERE AREN'T ANY - certainly not at family level and above.
Yahya has 83 PAGES of fossils that haven't changed one bit since forever ago.
Do have a look and let me know what you think AFTER you have had a look.
I am not painting any model because as I've said before, my function is to show that evolution cannot have occurred for any number of excellent scientific reasons.
The reductio ad absurdum is the type of argument I am using. I have shown that evolution is absurd at many different levels, and therefore, as Sherlock Holmes said, when we have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, HOWEVER IMPROBABLE, must be the truth.
I'm sure you've felt the force of many of the facts, the evidence I have adduced, and you know that there isn't a hope of evolution ever explaining any of them.
The theory is therefore absurd and must be dismissed. The 'whatever remains' is Creation. In your collective eyes this is IMPROBABLE, but since it is the only theory left standing, then it must be the truth.
I personally see no alternative, but you clearly do not agree. Why is that, I wonder. Could blind prejudice be playing a major part here?


Imagine going up to a drug dealer and asking him to swipe your EBT card so you can buy some edibles. That's exactly what Home Depot's co-founder, Ken Langone, thinks is happening when it comes to how food stamp recipients use their benefits.
Wednesday, Langone waxed on about how Donald Trump's budget cuts are rightfully targeting the food stamp program and how he feels that, even though it's been proved otherwise, food stamp fraud is rampant.
Oh, but wait. Some government officials don't even think food stamps should be used for all foods. God forbid you may want a lobster-and-steak dinner. Steak, sure. Lobster, nah.
Langone went on to prove how idiotic he and his ilk are as he tried to explain his food-stamp-fraud rationale.
Remember when states attempted to drug-test food stamp recipients, and they spent a load of money doing it? Only to find out that next to no one was actually using drugs? Well, that turned out to be a waste.


text:
Kwankwaso Unveils Running Mate, Promises To Rescue Nigeria
By Afolabi Olumide
The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party and Kano State ex-governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Monday presented Edo State-born Bishop, Isaac Idahosa as his running mate for the 2023 elections.
Idahosa, the presiding Bishop and Senior Pastor of the God First Ministry, Lekki Light Centre, was unveiled at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Monday.
During the event, Kwankwaso said Nigeria "is currently bleeding", adding that the country is in need of people who can rescue it from total collapse.
He said the lack of understanding of how to govern a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic country like Nigeria by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has inflicted a severe wound on the country.
Kwankwaso said the choice of Idahosa as his running mate was made after careful consideration and screening of more than 20 persons.
"Ineptitude and lack of empathy have dealt a damaging blow to Nigerians, as even arrogance and sense of entitlement have further widening the fault lines in our country, and their attitudes toward the core functions of government are causing a dangerous escalation of insecurity, uncontrollable inflation, scandalous unemployment statistics, the collapse of the tertiary education system, and the general collapse of social services," Kwankwaso said.
He added, "We live in a country where victims of insecurity are constantly being ignored while still being accused of exaggeration or lying or both.
"We live in a country where victims of unemployment are accused of laziness, where universities and other tertiary education institutions have frequently been shut down for months, and our children's future is being jeopardised while leaders are busy throwing out hundreds of millions of Naira to purchase party forms."
While accepting his nomination, Idahosa thanked Kwankwaso for the opportunity, saying Nigeria is at a critical moment where her unity and tenacity as a people are being tested.
The National Chairman of the NNPP, Prof. Rufai Alkali, said the team would rescue Nigeria from its present challenges.
Isaac Idahosa
Kwankwaso
2023 Presidency: Why PDP Will Defeat APC, Take More S/West States – Sen Jibrin
Peter Obi'll Deliver Good Governance – Support Group
Afolabi Olumide


text:
Q: Trying to cut rows out of DataFrame, not working via specific columns I'm trying to cut out some rows of my dataset if the Area or Population values are too high so that I can create a Scatter Graph based on the data. When I cut via Population it works fine but it doesn't with Area.
flagsCut = flags.loc[flags['Area'] < 6000]
flagsCut = flags.loc[flags['Population'] < 250]
print(flagsCut.shape)
plt.scatter(flagsCut['Area'].tolist(), flagsCut['Population'].tolist(), c='blue', alpha=0.5)
plt.xlabel('Area')
plt.ylabel('Population')
plt.show()

results in
scatter (can't embed sorry)
As you can see, there are still 4 data points past 6000 on the x-axis but not any past 250 on the y-axis.
Any ideas on why is this happening and how to fix it?

A: You are applying your first constraint on Area to the flags dataframe, but then you apply your second constraint on Population again to flags, not the already constrained flagsCut dataframe.
You need to apply the second constraint to the already constrained dataframe, like so:
flagsCut = flags[flags['Area'] < 6000]
flagsCut = flagsCut[flagsCut['Population'] < 250]

Or more succintly:
flagsCut = flags[(flags['Area'] < 6000) | (flags['Population'] < 250)]
plt.scatter(flagsCut['Area'], flagsCut['Population'], 'b', alpha=0.5)
plt.xlabel('Area')
plt.ylabel('Population')
plt.show()

A: The following should filter for both area and population in one step.
flagsCut = flags.loc[(flags['Area'] < 6000) | (flags['Population'] < 250)]


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We want to offer you an experience, where gastronomy plays a vital role. We want you to have fun and savour every moment on board.
"inviting someone to a meal entails ensuring their happiness while in our company".
fruit and salty and sweet delicacies. Without restriction or limit. High-quality products. If you would like to accompany it with juice, just ask.


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Naiki Devi (IAST: Nāikī Devī )  was the regent queen of Chaulukya dynasty during her son Mularaja II's infancy from 1175. She was a queen of the Chaulukya king Ajayapala.

Biography

Her earlier life is not known, according to Prabandhachintamani of Merutunga, she was daughter of one Paramardi. One theory identifies this Paramardi as the Kadamba king Permadi-deva, but according to historian Ashoke Kumar Majumdar, she was likely the daughter of the Chandela king Paramardi (reigned c. 1165-1203 CE).

She was married to Chaulukya ruler Ajayapala and had son named Mularaja, who later became king after his father's death. When her son succeeded his father as king in 1175, she became regent during the minority of her son.

In 1175, Muhammad of Ghor crossed the Indus, capturing Multan and Uch before penetrating in present-day Gujarat through the Thar Desert in 1178. Muhammad of Ghor was routed by Mularaja II and his Rajput allies from Nadol, Jalore and Abu at the Battle of Kasahrada. The location of battle is identified as a village named Kayandra near foothills of Abu hills.   Persian chroniclers Minhaj al-Siraj and Ferishta mentioned that Muhammad of Ghor was routed by Bhima II (Mularaja brother and successor), although the epigraphic evidences confirmed that Mularaja II was ruling at the time of Ghurid invasion.

A later account of Merutunga states that Naiki devi took her son Mularaja in her lap and marched at the head of the Chaulukya army and defeated the Ghurid forces at Gāḍarāraghaṭṭa pass and secured for her son title of "vanquisher of the king of Ghazni". However, Ashoke Kumar Majumdar criticised the writing of Merutunga who used mythical stories to fascinate his readers. In any case, Merutunga is dismissed as "completely unreliable" by modern scholars .

In popular culture
The 2022 Gujarati historical film Nayika Devi: The Warrior Queen  stars Khushi Shah as Naiki Devi.

References

Indian women in war
Regents of India
Women in 12th-century warfare
12th-century Indian women
12th-century Indian people
Indian queen consorts
12th-century women rulers


I've seen some crazy complicated samples online for something that should be very simple - showing a bitmap in XNA. I even found one article that suggested using pointers. ha!
here's the simple version that I used to show augmented reality markers on my TV. unfortunately, it seems that the TV scan line is going to prevent this from actually working as an AR demo.
has anyone else seen the "Canada's Best" list that Chapters compiled?
they asked 150,000 irewards members to list their favourite Canadian books of all time (both fiction and non-fiction). however, this is a bit misleading since they don't actually say what the resultant sample size was.
it's clear to me that the entries are heavily biased towards books that were published in the last few years. for example, jPod (#11) is listed ahead of Microserfs (#58). I have a hard time seeing how that could happen unless the people who voted for jPod haven't read Microserfs.
also, some of the best books are clearly missing from the list. for example, Whale Music by Paul Quarrington should obviously be included.
BTW - two authors have ten books each in the list of 100 books: Atwood and Coupland.
debug xbox 360 without xbox?
it didn't take long for me to realize that the GSE XNA xbox 360 project forces a deployment to the xbox 360 when you debug or build. so how do you work on your xbox 360 game when you're in the coffee shop?
"You can start a new Windows Game and link all the files from the 360 project. It would probably take about 30 seconds to set up. After you create the Windows Game project, right click on the project in the Solution Explorer, select Add Existing Item, select all the files in the dialog, click the arrow on the Add button and select Add As Link. Any changes made in either project will be reflected in the other."
there is a second solution in the post (manually altering the project file), but it isn't recommended.
the xbox 360 creators club is up and running. this option allows game developers to use the XNA game development platform to create and run xbox 360 games.
although the game studio express (GSE) dev environment is free, the creators club requires an xbox live subscription and a creators club membership.
refer to the XNA blog (and the GSE docs) for details about setup. once you have everything installed, you can connect your xbox 360 to your pc and begin to work your magic.
this screenshot shows an xbox 360 project deployed and running on an xbox 360. the project is running in debug mode and a breakpoint has been hit - all while still listening to the iPod connected to the 360... nice.


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text:
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton would love to be slimed after NFL playoff game on Nickelodeon
Corrections/clarifications: A previous version of this story included incorrect information about the first female to work in a CBS broadcast booth for an NFL game.
If New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton arrives at his postgame press conference Sunday oozing green, let it be known: He asked for this.
"I will officially volunteer to be Slimed if we win," Payton said Friday over Zoom. "I would be willing to be Slimed if we won, whatever that means."
Welcome to the NFL-Nickelodeon wild-card partnership.
The Bears-Saints wild-card playoff game will still air on CBS via NFL color analyst Tony Romo and play-by-play man Jim Nantz. But in an effort to engage younger fans and families, CBS Sports has partnered with Nickelodeon — also owned by CBS parent company ViacomCBS — to simulcast the game in a kid-centric, Nickelodeon-style way Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
More:The Cleveland Browns' 18-year playoff drought is over, and so is the celebration for their fans
Think: graphics featuring googly eyes, Sponge Bob and Nickelodeon character Lincoln Loud; a pregame "SpongeBob SportsPants Countdown Special" and halftime advance screening of "Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years." Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, who stars on Nick's "All That" and "Unfiltered" will join the Superdome broadcast booth alongside NFL Network's Nate Burleson and Clippers play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle, while Nick's Lex Lumpkin reports from the sideline.
Green credits Burleson and Eagle with working the last few weeks to "coach and mold me into a football encyclopedia." The 15-year-old didn't begin following football until she was "around 13-14," she says. But she's learned quickly that quarterbacks are often the star of the show, New Orleans' Drew Brees is a legendary one and Bears passer Mitchell Trubisky is "fairly new and trying to prove" himself.
And she doesn't gauge her success on how deeply she explains football scheme or personnel. Burleson and Eagle will bring the professional lens, Green says. She'll bring a "bunch of crazy energy," questions that fans new to the game might want answered and a knack for personalizing the players.
"Football can be kind of confusing," Green told USA TODAY Sports by phone. "It's kind of hard to remember all those terms but if we can say, 'Hey that's the guy who loves chocolate ice cream and he just ran all the way down the field,' that's a win for us to get new football fans engaged."
That new engagement was the goal when CBS Sports and Nickelodeon executives conceived the idea. Football games already are full of graphics, so why not enlist the SpongeBob animators? Broadcasts typically introduce players to fans, so why not introduce them by favorite food and hobbies instead of college and season statistics? More than 15 players per team filled out questionnaires to ensure that was possible, CBS Sports coordinating producer Shawn Robbins told USA TODAY Sports. Robbins said the same technology that typically displays down-and-distance in game broadcasts will seamlessly project Slime cannons Sunday afternoon.
"You get to teach the game in a way you wouldn't normally talk about football," Robbins said. "But a mom and dad coming into the Nick game are going to get a good football game out of us. We're going to keep the integrity for sure. It's just going to be delivered in a different way."
Green, for her part, has marveled at the legwork NFL broadcasts require. She says the football broadcasting manual CBS sent her was nearly 800 pages long (Robbins laughed, explaining she was not expected to memorize them all) but the players' questionnaire responses perhaps excite her most.
"I was reading the information and was like, 'Wow, that dude like Hot Cheetos? I like Hot Cheetos too!' It'll be fun for fans."
Green also hopes she'll inspire other young women who will have the rare chance to see someone like them in a CBS Sports broadcast booth and see her embracing what she hopes will be an energy-packed, joke-filled, "loosey-goosey" role.
"It's an incredible honor. I don't take that lightly at all," Green said. "I'm hoping to inspire young girls that, hey: You can do anything you aspire to do.'"
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein


Coaching basketball is anything but simple. Unless you've done it, you don't realize the time, preparation, and sacrifices that basketball coaches make. They are truly the first people at the gym, and they're the last ones to leave. That doesn't factor in practice plans, scouting, game film breakdown, and everything in between.
Our goal here at BBall Tools is to give you the tools to help run your team, both on and off the court.
My name is Coach A, and I manage this website. I was a three-year varsity letter-winner in basketball in high school. Upon graduation, I knew it was time to hang my shoes up and move on to the next chapter in my life. The natural progression seemed like it might be basketball coaching, but I wasn't sure if teaching the game would be nearly as fun as playing it.
I quickly learned that teaching the game was a passion of mine. I couldn't get enough of it. Throughout college, I volunteered to work every camp, coach every team, attend every coaching clinic, and soak up all of the knowledge that I possibly could.
After graduating from college, I started coaching at my high school alma mater, and I haven't looked back the past five years. I've been a part of sectional, regional, and semi-state championships, and have had the luxury of coaching dozens of college basketball players.
Outside of coaching school ball, I coach for a well-respected AAU program, in which I get to come into contact with high-quality players and coaches frequently. My life literally revolves around growing and enhancing players' lives through the game of basketball.
As I mentioned, my main goals is growing the game in a positive manner. I've carved a nice niche in my community with my basketball knowledge and expertise, but I thought what better way to help grow the game than to help coaches globally! Thus, BBallTools.com was born.
Basketball is a game, it is supposed to be fun.
Basketball is a microcosm of life. Lessons learned on the court can be applied in real life.
Although this website will feature many of my personal philosophies, favorite plays, drills, and more, there will be other contributions from respected coaches across the globe!


The Fed delivered an extremely dovish hold today. In doing so, we fear that the Fed has given in too much to the market and its tantrums and recent Fed messaging leaves a lot to be desired. There are still a lot of potential risks to the market ahead. As such, we see potential for further volatility and swings in market sentiment if this current round of Fed messaging turns out to be too dovish, as we suspect. For now, however, markets have the green light to buy equities and sell the dollar.
The Fed left rates steady, as widely expected. However, it was an extremely dovish hold and so equity and bond markets as well as the dollar reacted accordingly. Why? To us, the big surprises were 1) the Fed removing any reference to "further gradual rate increases" and 2) the Fed saying it's prepared to adjust its balance sheet normalization.
With regards to 2), we are in the group that believes balance sheet runoff (QT) has been unfairly blamed for recent market turmoil. QT has been going on since October 2017. Did it suddenly cross a magical threshold where it started to impact markets? Or was the turmoil in December more from some bungled messaging from the Fed? Either way, the Fed gave the market what it wanted.
Balance sheet management took up a large part of the discussion. This was a far cry from his "auto-pilot" view last month. Powell even hinted that the Fed is getting close to the end of the runoff, noting that the ultimate size of the balance sheet will be driven by demand for reserves plus a buffer. He acknowledged that the Fed is evaluating the appropriate timing for the end of runoff, and that it will continue to be discussed in future meetings.
Bottom line: we believe the Fed gave in too quickly and too completely to market demands that it pay more attention to market tantrums. By doing so, the Fed changed its message by a whopping 180 degrees from the December meeting. This goes back to our complaints about the extreme swings in Fed messaging over the last few months. Markets would have been happy with "patience" and "flexibility" but instead, the Fed went ahead and gave away the family silver.
The next FOMC meeting is March 20. Then, new staff forecasts and Dot Plots will be released. Ahead of that, the market will get two more US job reports to digest as well as a bevy of Fed speakers that will spread the new gospel according to Powell. The Fed's media embargo will end Friday when Kaplan (non-voter) gives the first post-FOMC speech.
We now have two pieces of the jobs puzzle in place, both good. Weekly initial jobless claims number for the survey week (the one that includes the 12th of the month) fell to 213k. Claims then fell the next week to 199k, the lowest since 1969. ADP today reported a 213k gain in private sector jobs. Of course, these indicators are not perfect in predicting NFP. Right now, BBG consensus for Friday sees a 165k gain vs. 312k in December and average hourly earnings are seen steady at 3.2% y/y.
Bottom line: the shutdown's impact on the jobs data should be limited. According to guidance from the BLS, federal employees who are furloughed will be counted as employed. Furthermore, those who are working but not receiving pay will also be counted as employed.
Meanwhile, the broad economy should recover from the partial shutdown and post decent growth in Q1. Advance Q4 GDP has been delayed until next week, with consensus currently seeing growth of 2.6% SAAR, down from 3.4% in Q3. Personal consumption is expected to pick up to 3.8% SAAR from 3.5% in Q3. The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow model is currently tracking 2.7% SAAR growth for Q4, down from 2.8% previously, while the New York Fed's Nowcast has Q4 growth at 2.6% and Q1 at 2.2%.
The IMF recently revised down its global growth outlook to 3.5% for this year. However, this was due largely to the eurozone, where the 2019 growth forecast was cut from 1.9% to 1.6%. The IMF's US forecast was kept unchanged at 2.5% for 2019. Are there risks to the US outlook? Of course. But to tilt so much to the dovish side now is simply irresponsible.
The Fed sent a clear signal to buy equities and sell the dollar. Yet how far can this go? DXY is testing important support near 95.30. This is the last major retracement objective of the September-December rally as well as the 200-day moving average. Clean break below would set up a test of the September low near 93.81.
Much will depend on the data. While one data point won't change the market's ultra-dovish take on the Fed, this Friday's jobs data takes on even greater importance. If we get a weak number, then this equity rally and dollar sell-off should intensify. If we get a strong number, we think we should see some profit-taking at the very least.
The bond outlook is not so clear, however. While the dovish Fed stance should keep short-term rates down, the long end will continue to be tested by increased issuance. At today's quarterly refunding announcement, the Treasury announced auctions of $84 bln in long-term debt this quarter, up $1 bln from last quarter and the fifth straight quarterly increase. With the deficit expected to widen over the next several years, supply should become an increasingly important issue for investors.


May 2016 Update – Tareena kept off the 63 pounds she lost a year ago and lost 4 additional pounds.
I have a new update to share. I am still going strong, exercising at home and watching what I eat instead of dieting. I currently weigh 153 pounds, down from my highest weigh of 220 pounds.
Oct 2015 Update – Tareena lost 3 more pounds and is working on strength training.
I would like to share my weight loss journey. I am a mom of three, ages 11, 7, and 6 years old. I have battled with my weight since the birth of my last child. 5 months ago, I decided to get real and act right. I changed my diet and really started working out hard!! I have lost a total of 60 lbs! I've been on this journey from 2013 to today. I plan to keep it up and never go back! Thank you for creating your Facebook page it is such a positive thing to see our queens being more than they make us out to be.
My motivation was the naysayers at first, those who told me to just accept the fact that I was a mom that would never be in shape because this is what mom's look like. Then it became just wanting to be healthier for my husband and kids. I was tired of being unhappy with my body. Although I acted as if I was ok with it, I was not!
I started with cutting out fast food completely. I have not had any type of potato product in a year and a half. No chips, fries, nothing! After crash dieting, I realized that yes I was losing but it was not healthy so I began following healthy portion sizes and I still am. Took away pies and ice-cream and changed it to fruits. Also, I don't drink soda or juice, just water and green tea.
I work out at home for 30 mins to an hour everyday. I started off with Hip Hop Abs in October 2014 then around December I started doing routines from YouTube. Now I do my own routine which is a combination of different videos from YouTube. My starting weight was 220 pounds and that was my heaviest, wearing a size 14. I am currently 160 pounds and wearing a size 8-10 at 5'8″ tall.
I am glad you did not listen to the naysayers Tareena. Great job and keep up the good work!


This is a soft silicone strap for the Suunto Ambit3 Sport, Ambit3 Run, Ambit2 S and Ambit2 R watches. You can change the strap yourself using a size 6 IP Torx Plus screwdriver.
The silicone strap feels comfortable on your wrist and fits wrist sizes 13 to 23 cm (5 to 9 in) in circumference.


text:
WHOSE CONTENT IS IT ANYWAY?
As a sector that advises others on how best to build and protect their reputations, the PR industry would do well to offer itself some professional advice sometimes.
After a closed consultation with the CIPR and a handful of its members, the NLA has proposed changes to PR agency licensing agreements, precipitating a public spat between the CIPR and rival professional body, the PRCA.
The question of why the PR industry has two separate professional bodies has perplexed me for some time and I'd be happy to hear from anyone who can offer me a sensible answer on that one! In the wake of the PRCA's unequivocal criticism of the CIPR on the NLA controversy this week, however, that puzzlement has spilled over into a bigger question: why are the two not working together to fight members' corner on this one?
The problem with NLA licences is not that they are too complex but that they are too costly and anachronistic.
While some level of compromise on the issue may be unavoidable, the idea that PR agencies should continue paying a third party organisation for published content that they themselves have generated is outrageous and the PRCA is to be applauded for taking a stand on this issue.
The genesis of the NLA was a collaboration between eight newspapers who wanted to simplify collection of copyright revenue from material written by the journalists they employed. It's grown into an organisation that collects license payments on behalf of thousands of publications and, while it does put the majority of that money back into publishers' coffers, the reality is that much of the content has not been written by journalists at all; it's been written by PRs.
The NLA cannot deny that many publications rely on content, images and copy from PR agencies. Indeed, as a construction PR agency, Clare PR deals with many publications that work on a skeleton staff and would not be viable without content from PRs. NLA license fees, therefore, are encouraging publishers to bite the very hand that feeds it.
The organisation has also failed to move with the times. While the only way to share content used to be to photocopy or scan it, so much is now available to share online that it makes a mockery of the old-fashioned cuttings book in the clients' reception.
And how far do we take the concept of copyright? If I share a tweet do I infringe a journalist's copyright? What about if someone reposts my self-published blog on their website…should I expect them to pay a fee?
As a PR, I have the greatest respect for journalists and I fully support their right to be paid for their skill and knowledge but that's not what NLA license fees do. The fees cripple small agencies with costs they are often unable to pass on to clients and prevent us, as a profession, from being able to measure and showcase our work effectively.
So, as the PRCA's director general recently put it so succinctly, we need to stop validating the NLA's 'business model that isn't relevant for modern life' and join him in demanding a complete rethink rather than a minor re-negotiation.
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Entertainment Faith morey released semi unclad photos of her self while passing a message to women.
Faith morey released semi unclad photos of her self while passing a message to women.
Nigeria's top model, Faith morey released semi unclad photos of her self while passing a message to women.
"Dear woman, sometimes, you will just be too much woman. Too smart, too beautiful, too strong.
Removing jewel from your crown to make it easier for a man to carry.
When this happens I need you to understand, you do not need a smaller crown.
YOU NEED A MAN WITH BIGGER HANDS2".


text:
An 87 hour work-week for $4 an hour: Caregiver abuse is widespread in California
Caregiving "will be a growth industry" given the aging of the population, says California Labor Secretary Julie Su.
By Margot RooseveltStaff Writer
A chain of Orange County residential care homes for the disabled paid their workers as little as $4 an hour and made them work more than 87 hours a week, according to a federal lawsuit.
In a settlement announced Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the facilities in Mission Viejo and Lake Forest were assessed $1.1 million in back wages and penalties for 66 workers after falsifying records and intimidating workers.
The three-year court case brought by federal officials also charged Lilibeth and Gerardo Ortiz, owners of the homes, with retaliation against live-in caregivers and licensed vocational nurses for filing complaints, serving them with eviction notices. Attorneys for the couple "coerced employees into signing false or misleading statements about their working conditions," the lawsuit said.
"In addition to subjecting employees to oppressive working conditions, the defendants attempted to silence workers and prevent them from exercising their rights," said Janet Herold, the labor department's regional solicitor, in a statement. She praised "brave employees who come forward … notwithstanding the defendants' concerted efforts at intimidation."
In an interview, Lilibeth Ortiz said she had paid the settlement but that the Labor Department's charges "are full of lies."
"This abuse never happened," Ortiz said. "And our workers are still with us." She said the 87 hours cited by federal officials counted hours that her live-in employees were "showering, cooking for themselves or reading magazines, but they think they are supposed to be paid."
The four homes cited include Margaret's Home, Recodo Lane Home and Quintana Home in Mission Viejo and Robin Dale Home in Lake Forest.
Residential-care facilities, which house a maximum of six disabled or elderly patients, are the subject of growing government crackdowns among immigrant-heavy industries, including construction, carwashes and janitorial companies. Since January 2016, U.S. labor officials have assessed $3 million in back wages owed to more than 1,500 California workers in the residential-care home industry.
California officials have also been aggressive. Since 2014, the Labor Commissioner's Office has issued citations totaling more than $12.8 million to residential-care facilities. In one case last year, a San Fernando Valley chain of six Alzheimer's and dementia facilities, Adat Shalom Board & Care, was assessed $7.1 million for allegedly paying 149 workers less than $3 an hour.
The conditions in the federal case against the Orange County homes "are not uncommon," said California Labor Secretary Julie Su, citing "round-the-clock shifts with pay set at flat rates that do not account for actual hours worked, resulting in egregious violations of minimum wage, overtime and meal and rest break standards."
A 2017 study by San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law noted that California has six times more residential care facilities than nursing homes and they often admit residents with acute medical needs. However, the study said, there is no requirement for skilled staffing ratios and "caregivers often work around the clock, without proper pay, adequate sleeping facilities or sufficient sleep. Frequently, small [facilities] keep inaccurate or false records of hours worked. Misclassification of workers as independent contractors and retaliation is prevalent."
Many workers in the industry are Filipino immigrants, according to experts, as the Ortiz caregivers were. "Often, the workers are women of color, who are not expected to know their rights, have access to legal services, or to speak up," Su said. "Caregiving, including through residential-care facilities, will be a growth industry, given our aging population. The well-being of workers and the quality of care of patients are closely connected. "
At the Ortiz facilities, workers tended to patients with intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy. They administered medication, changed diapers, fed them and brushed their teeth at "all hours of the day and night," according to court documents. The documents alleged workers were paid a flat rate of $750 a week from 2016 to 2019.
California's current minimum wage is $11 an hour for companies with fewer than 26 workers. Larger employers must pay $12 an hour. Under state law, overtime is due on any day where employees work more than eight hours.
Ortiz said the $750 was "net pay," her employees may have worked just six to eight hours of unpaid overtime weekly, "and we have corrected everything." She said she did not ask workers to file false statements, but only to meet with her attorney. She did not threaten to evict them, she said, but suggested that they find their own places to live.
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Margot Roosevelt
Margot Roosevelt covers California economic, labor and workplace issues for the Los Angeles Times. She is on Twitter @MargotRoosevelt.
Apple planning to make original podcasts promoting its TV shows
The audio shows would help market Apple's growing slate of original programs, which have already picked up some accolades.
Tesla disputes claims that its cars can accelerate on their own
Tesla is disputing claims that its vehicles can suddenly accelerate on their own
Boeing expects 737 Max to stay grounded until mid-2020
The new timeline means the 737 Max would miss the busy summer travel season for a second year, adding to the compensation that Boeing is likely to pay airlines.
NBA's Patty Mills scores an offseason spot in Hawaii
On the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Australian basketball player Patty Mills has paid $1.92 million for a coastal home.
Wall Street wants to conquer China. Here's what could go wrong
China's financial opening could be a classic case of be careful what you wish for.
Hot off a sale, snowboarder Shaun White looks to sell second Malibu home
After selling a scenic Malibu home for $11.8 million, snowboarder Shaun White has listed the a two-story spot right next to it for $10.995 million.
Column: Is a supermarket discount coupon worth giving away your privacy?
Ralphs customers are being told that joining the company's rewards program could result in extensive data gathering, including your job, your education, your health and your insurance coverage.
Women suing Riot Games may deserve $400 million, not $10 million, state regulator says
In an unusual move, two California state agencies are intervening in a class action suit against Riot Games, saying women who worked at the company could deserve more money in a settlement.