Discussion in 'MacBook Pro' started by roofz, Dec 5, 2013.
So a week ago I accidentally spilled some juice on my 13" rMBP. It seems to be working perfectly fine, but the keys get stuck when I press them and it takes about a second for them to fully retract to their original height. Is there anything that I can do about this? Could applecare help me here?
Wipe it clean with a damp cloth (NOT dripping wet) and maybe very little dish soap.
I wouldn't put water anywhere near it - isopropyl alcohol I would use as it evaporates. After wiping off leave it off the edge of a surface like a table with the keys facing downwards for an hour or so. Repeat till stickiness subsides.
Orange juice contains sugar and is acidic so I would get it looked at professionally to see if anything has got to the logic board.
Juice is underneath well and truly then which makes it very difficult and OJ is one if the worst. Apple will probably suggest a whole new top case knowing them which costs a bomb but I suggest finding an apple repairer who will change only the keyboard or at least strip out your keyboard and wash it thoroughly.
Just noticed the AppleCare bit - I know they've helped people free of charge for drinks spills before and some not, a lottery but those with the best sob story seem to be able to get it done FOC more than most.
is there anything I can do myself to alleviate the stickiness?
It's not easy but you asked.
You will have to remove the bottom case and disconnect the battery first and mount it on some books resting on the speakers so the keys you can access upside down. Get a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, a syringe and a can of compressed air. Squirt a little isopropyl into the key top edge, press it a few times to loosen the stickiness then blow it out with the air. When all free keep it upside down and let it dry out in a warm place like an airing cupboard for 24 hours before reconnecting the power.
I would still get someone experienced to do it!


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David Trevor Shutt, Baron Shutt of Greetland,  (16 March 1942 – 30 October 2020) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords between May 2010 and May 2012.

Early life
Shutt was born at Farsley, Leeds and attended Pudsey Grammar School in Yorkshire.

Career
After school Shutt trained as an accountant. In 1975 he became a director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, of which he later became Chairman. He also became a Trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. In 1973 he was elected to Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council, now Calderdale Council, as a Liberal councillor, and later represented the Liberal Democrats on this council, serving as Mayor of Calderdale in 1982–83.

He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament at seven general elections between 1970 and 1992.  He contested Sowerby in 1970, February 1974, October 1974, and 1979. After the abolition of the Sowerby seat, he contested the new Calder Valley constituency in 1983 and 1987. At the 1992 general election he was the Liberal Democrat candidate in Pudsey.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1993 New Year Honours, and on 12 May 2000 was created a life peer as Baron Shutt of Greetland, of Greetland and Stainland in the County of West Yorkshire. He was Liberal Democrat International Development spokesperson in the House of Lords until 2002. Following the 2005 general election, he was appointed the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip in the House of Lords. After the formation of the coalition government headed by David Cameron in May 2010, Shutt was appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard and Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords, positions he held until May 2012, when he stepped down as the Liberal Democrats' Lords Chief Whip.

Personal life
In 1965, he married Margaret Pemberton, with whom he had two sons and a daughter.

Lord Shutt died on 30 October 2020, at the age of 78.

References

1942 births
2020 deaths
Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors
Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers
Liberal Party (UK) Lords-in-Waiting
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Councillors in Calderdale
Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates
Politicians from Leeds
Life peers created by Elizabeth II

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Mysql query match against multiple possible characters I have the following query
SELECT *
FROM  `articles`
WHERE (
        (
        UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% Fishoil %' )
        AND UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% for %' )
        AND UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% more %' )
        AND UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% musclemass %' )
        )
    OR (
        UCASE(  `text` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% Fishoil %' )
        AND UCASE(  `text` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% for %' )
        AND UCASE(  `text` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% more %' )
        AND UCASE(  `text` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% musclemass %' )
        )
    OR (
        UCASE(  `source` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% Fishoil %' )
        AND UCASE(  `source` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% for %' )
        AND UCASE(  `source` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% more %' )
        AND UCASE(  `source` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% musclemass %' )
        )
    OR (
        UCASE(  `unique` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% Fishoil %' )
        AND UCASE(  `unique` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% for %' )
        AND UCASE(  `unique` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% more %' )
        AND UCASE(  `unique` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% musclemass %' )
        )
    )
ORDER BY  `year` DESC

What I wish to do, is change
UCASE(  `tile` ) LIKE UCASE(  '% Fishoil %' )

into
 UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil %' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil,%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil.%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil:%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil;%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil\'%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil"%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil!%' )
OR
    UCASE(  `title` ) LIKE UCASE(  '%Fishoil?%' )

But this seems to me to make the query unnessarily complex since it'll have to do the match several times. Is there a sort of regex match to match against the "searchterm + special character" in one go?
If so, what would be the best way to match against it?
This is the php code to generate the keyword search string
$specialchars = array(' ',',','.',':',';',mysql_real_escape_string("'"),'"','!','?');
foreach($seek as $searchword)
    {
    foreach($specialchars as $char)
        {
        $seeker[] = "LIKE UCASE(  '%$searchword".$char."%' )";
        }
    $temp = implode(" OR ",$seeker);
    echo $temp;
    }

A: I suggest that you use regular expressions, since they are much more powerful than the wildcard LIKE syntax. By using regex, you can fit the whole set of conditions into one REGEXP call (per column).

A: Instead of adding an or clause for each character, use an underscore (_). This acts like a wildcard, except for one thing: it's a place holder for a single char:
SELECT * FROM foo WHERE bar LIKE 'visolie_';

Matches visolie!, visolie:, visolie?, and -because like is case insensitive ViSOliE!, too.
Edit:
To all intents and purposes: there are many good search engines that have been written by Very cleaver people, and are still being further developed by an army of competent programmers. Trying to create your own SE might be a good exercise, but when it really comes down to it, just use CSE.They've done the hard work for you, and being a developer means being lazy in a clever way. The whole point of open source software and, therefore, the web, is to avoid the necessity of constantly reinventing the wheel.
If you absolutely want to build your own SE, PHP&MySQL is proven technology, but perhaps not the best tool for the job. Try looking into faster DB (NoSQL?) alternatives (MongoDB springs to mind, as long as you're not constantly going to update your data, it's insanely fast. Again: choosing one means loosing the other, your data isn't as safely stored...). PHP is fairly fast, but takes up a lot of resources compared to, say, C++. I'm not sure if I got this right, but I'm prepared to bet quite a hefty sum of money saying that SE's like google, yahoo! and even crummy old Bing have quite a hefty C(++) codebase somewhere. No scripting language to date can outperform that, (and IMO never will there be a scripting language that can)

A: It might be worth looking at FULLTEXT
You can do something like this;
SELECT *, MATCH(title,text,source,unique) AGAINST('fishoil for more musclemass') AS `score` FROM `articles` WHERE MATCH(title,text,source,unique) AGAINST('fishoil for more musclemass') ORDER BY `score` DESC, `year` DESC

whcih will return the results most relevant first.
You would have to alter your SQL table too;
ALTER TABLE articles ADD FULLTEXT(title,text,source,unique);

Hope this helps

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So a little while back, an obscure gentleman going by the nom de web of Arbogast posted a comment here. Intrigued as I always am by a new presence, I followed his linkage to the very enjoyable blog, Arbogast on Film, which you can see listed there on the right. Check it out, it's quite good.
Advance 2nd birthday greetings to Richard's (and Barbara's) lovely daughter Vayda!
My lovely niece Tiana was down this weekend so I dutifully shepherded her around the city on Saturday, hitting several museums.
The Psychedelic Era show there had some fun stuff. First time I've ever seen a Mati Klarwein painting in the flesh, I'm pretty sure. Some good light show/videos. The La Monte Young piece, an illuminated box in a darkened room with complex sine-like tones occurring wasn't too engrossing.
Onto the subway and out to Queens to PS 1 to see the Organizing Chaos show. I think this might be the same one Richard caught a while back. In any case, it includes the Scratch Orchestra documentary as a featured event. Very funky place and surprisingly crowded. There was electronic music going on in the courtyard, eventually eliciting a pang of early 80s nostalgia in this listener as electro-percussionist David Linton took the stage. His stuff hasn't changed too much--less "primitive" sounding than it used to be, probably to its detriment--but it was nice seeing it get such relatively large exposure. As to the show itself, eh, it was ok. Nice video by Christian Marclay, Guitar Drag, providing ghostly echoes of the James Byrd murder case.
The book store there could have seriously dented my wallet if I had any surplus cash. As it was, Tiana bought me the score for 4'33" as a belated birthday present!
Watched "Wild Strawberries" this afternoon which, inexcusably, I'd never seen. Very beautiful, moving film.
An outgrowth of the Galas event, this afternoon I picked up this 4-disc set on the British JSP label, "Rembetika; Greek Music from the Underground". Recorded from 1925 to 1947. Most of the way through the first disc and it sounds wonderful so far. Not dissimilar from what little I'd heard before or generally expected, but beautiful nonetheless. Also picked up a Juliette Greco album for Linda...we'll see about that 'un.
I've had hit and miss luck when purchasing Booker Prize winners or nominees. Chalk up another miss with Kate Grenville's "The Secret River", a 2005 runner-up. I'd read great things about it for a while and always kept it in mind before finally seeing it last week. Essentially a historical novel about the earliest days of the Australian colony, it reads like a bland TV miniseries, a network one at that. I at least expect the writer's ability to be of some interest and I suppose Grenville could be called "competent"; I'd prefer "pedestrian". You could have come up with the entirety of the plot line in about two minutes: poor, rough man doing his best for his growing family in London falls afoul of the law (well-intentioned!), is sentenced to hanging, gets a last minute reprieve to a lifetime banishment on England's newest penal colony, takes family, tries to begin a new life, is the most decent of a slimy bunch, has grudging respect for the natives unlike his fellow countrymen, works to establish a homestead, conflicts with said natives, conflagration ensues, he and family survive to preside over the new colony but with misgivings as to how they attained it. Snore.
On to "On Chesil Beach" from which I expect far more.
I'm not the biggest Monet fan in the world. Maybe an early prejudice against certain painters I was "supposed to" like early on in my education is responsible, but I've never really clicked with his work. When I was taking Art 101 at Vassar, he was one of those whose works looked much better via color-saturated slide in a dark room than in the original. So I was a little surprised how taken I was with the above painting, seen at the McNay Museum in San Antonio a couple days ago. In this instance, the only image I could locate on-line, the reproduction is substantially off from the original, to the latter's detriment. It's too dark and the contrasts in the background between the various greens and browns are overstated. The red lilies, though looking ok here, explode out much more deliriously in the original. In fact, inevitably I suppose, I couldn't help but make analogies to certain strains of eai. In any case, a lovely painting.
That museum visit was pretty much the cultural highlight of the past week. I don;t get out much (at all) to middle American cities and perhaps it's typical, but downtown San Antonio was a weird experience for a New Yorker. First of all, it's much smaller than I would have suspected for such a large city (some 1.3 million), not significantly larger than Jersey City's. Second, aside from the River Walk, the place becomes virtually vacant after 5PM or so. We'd go out to find a place to eat and there'd be only handfuls of people walking around and almost no traffic to speak of. More bats flitting about than humans. Strange. That River Walk is a park/esplanade affair, sunken about 20 feet below street level, meandering along the San Antonio River, a waterway hardly worthy of the name as it's only about 50 feet wide. We call these things "streams". The central stretch is line with restaurants, bars and trees--nice enough though overly populated and semi-Disneyfied. The oldest architecture seemed to date from the mid to late 19th century, again fairly interesting in a Spanish/Texan way but not too striking. For a place founded in 1691, there didn't seem to be much from the earlier period. We (I went down with a geriatrician from Mt. Sinai) did happen upon a small house once occupied by O. Henry which was a little cool.
Some good eats including the obligatory BBQ and Tex/Mex but our favorite place was a small Japanese joint called, erm, Sushi Zushi.
Anyway, the McNay Museum of Modern Art was open late on Thursday so I cabbed out there. It's a former mansion, turn of the century or so I think, in Spanish style with an interior courtyard. About the size of the Frick all told, though the collection isn't up to that standard by a long shot. There are a number of fine pieces, though, including the Monet, a lovely Cezanne landscape sketch, and solid works by Picasso, Hopper, Larry Rivers and others. Special exhibitions included one by Keith's disreputable cousin, Reginald Rowe, a local artist who turned out 4th rate Rothkos and an odd series of drawings by David Hockney inspired by Picasso's "Blue Guitar". Rather surprisingly, the museum also house a couple of rooms devoted to Medieval and Early Renaissance Northern European works with a few beauties therein.
But the most fascinating find for me was in a space showing works in stage design and in particular, three watercolor and ink paintings by one Leslie Hurry done for a 1958 production of Tristan und Isolde. Small, intense whirlpools, dark but luminous with amazingly variegated bands of color. Really impressive stuff. Of course, I can find nothing on the web of these things and the only Hurry images I can locate aren't at all like these paintings (though whether or not the ones I saw were representative, I've no idea). Hurry was British, dies in 1978. Seems to have had a bit of a rep, wondering if Richard might know of him.
Listened to no music at all during the week if one discounts mariachi bands. Went to a small park one evening, though, found a bench equidistant between two man-made waterfalls (of differing sonic character) and enjoyed a soundscape that included train whistles, the water, kids playing and traffic hum.
Came home to a package from Tim Albro (thanks, Tim!) consisting of four items (a solo 3" disc, another 3" by a quartet calling itself Benito Cereno, an EP by Sympathizers and a collection of work by various folk under the title, Technicolor Hell, all of which are sounding pretty good to these music-starved ears this morning.
Light posting around here recently due to general busyness (and consequent lack of opportunity to delve further into Braxtonia) and paucity of interesting new releases finding their way into my grubbies. Didn't get a lot out of the new solo Dorner on Absinth and haven't a clue what, if anything, to write about it. The third release on Manual out of Korea, "5 Modules III", a quartet with Ryu Hankil, Jin Sangtae, Taku Unami and Mattin is intriguing enough but requires many more listens. I'm kind of hearing it in relation to "sight" though its means of generation is entirely different.
Picked up the older "Futatsu" release as well (Sugimoto & Malfatti) which also requires much digestion.
Off to San Antonio for a week on Sunday (work-related), back Friday. Carry on.


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text:
All posts tagged "new music"
Home / Posts tagged "new music" (Page 2)
Single Review: JoJo says "Fuck Apologies." on new single with Wiz Khalifa
By Keenan on July 29, 2016
"Leave (Get Out)" teen sensation JoJo is back, with edgy new music! Now 25 and grown, JoJo is still fed up and ready to tell...
Single Review: Britney Spears Makes an Eazy Hit with "Make Me"
Forget 2015's "Pretty Girls" ever happened. On paper, a Britney Spears/Iggy Azalea collaboration sounded like pure magic. 2014's breakout female rapper alongside America's Sweetheart, what...
Album Review: Mike Posner opens up with 'At Night, Alone.'
By Keenan on May 11, 2016
At only 28 years of age, Mike Posner has lived quite the life. Back in 2010 he saw personal success after graduating from Duke University,...
Album Review: Gwen Stefani's 'Truth' reaches new heights
By Keenan on April 10, 2016
After a rocky start to Gwen Stefani's third solo studio album—no thanks to the mediocre performing "Baby Don't Lie" and embarrassing chart bomb "Spark The...
Single Review: Maxwell dives back onto the scene in "Lake by the Ocean"
By Vincent on April 10, 2016
Not every artist can take a seven year break in between albums and return to the very same open arms (and probably legs, too, in...
Album Review: K. Michelle has "More Issues Than Vogue"
By Mario on April 2, 2016
Never one to back down from getting people to talk about her, K. Michelle had originally planned to give her 3rd album a rather provocative...
Album Review: ZAYN's 'Mind' goes more than One Direction
By Keenan on March 25, 2016
In 2015 Zain Javadd Malik, better known by his stage name Zayn or as one fifth of the world's biggest boy band One Direction, was...
Why I fell in love with Tori Kelly (and you should too)!
By Vincent on January 25, 2016
Tori Kelly has had quite the come up. The 23 year old California native had her first brush with fame 12 years ago, at age...
97 Words: Iggy Azalea drops "AZILLION"
By Keenan on January 9, 2016
Iggy Azalea is finally back with new music! Not quite yet with her new album though, with her often tweeted, promised buzz single "AZILLION." The...
97 Words: Brandy leaves fans "Beggin & Pleadin" for more
By Vincent on January 6, 2016
Last night, Brandy's new sitcom Zoey Ever After premiered on BET, and following the show, she also premiered a surprise new song on SoundCloud. "Beggin and Pleading" is a throwback...


Yesterday, after we walked out of the orthodontist office Max was sure to let me know he had been embraced with braces. He sure has a sense of humor. On the way home he kept asking me if he will ever get use to wearing braces. The last 48 hours have been difficult and he won't eat anything besides homemade banana bread and soup.
Max takes everything literally and when the orthodontist told him to not eat anything sticky, chewy, crunchy or hard he has decided not to eat. Why you ask, because Max believes everything is sticky, chewy, crunchy and hard. The orthodontist gave him a paper with pictures of everything he should not eat and drink and one was no sugar products. So he has decided not to drink pop or juices.
Max likes routines and one of his routines is to take the same food for lunch every day. He has been taking the same thing for lunch for the last three years. Now that he has braces his routine will be disrupted because he can't eat corn chip with homemade Salsa anymore, his favorite.
We have been watching several YouTube videos on how to floss and brush braces. Hopefully this will help him get a better idea of how to floss and brush. I have always been the one to floss his teeth because he can't figure out how to do it. I hope in time he will learn. So our nightly routine will be changing too with longer dental care.
My prayer is he will eat and get use to the braces.


text:
Pakistan commits to action plan for leaving terror financing 'grey list'
A 26-point action plan covers the 15-month period from June 2018 to September 2019, which is when the FATF will review Pakistan's efforts.
By Javed Mahmood
Pakistan is taking steps to counter money laundering and terror financing, officials say. Pictured here, money dealers count Pakistani rupees and US dollars at a currency exchange in Islamabad March 12, 2014. [AAMIR QURESHI/AFP]
KARACHI -- The Pakistani government is committed to a plan aimed at protecting the nation from being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog.
Pakistan is taking all possible steps to comply with the FATF Action Plan by improving institutional co-ordination to counter terror financing and money laundering, caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar said August 2 during a meeting of the National Executive Committee.
Most of the agencies involved have set up dedicated units to ensure effective implementation of the plan, a press release said.
The 26-point action plan covers the 15-month period from June 2018 to September 2019, which is when the FATF will review Pakistan's efforts, according to a report by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).
Hussain Lawai, former chairman of the Pakistan Stock Exchange, arrives July 7 at a Karachi court. He is accused of laundering funds worth billions of rupees through Summit Bank Limited, where he served as vice chairman, and others. [Javed Mahmood]
The FATF added Pakistan to its grey list on June 27, deeming the nation's financial system to be a risk to the international financial system because of "strategic deficiencies" in its ability to prevent money laundering and terror financing. [File]
The plan is not yet public, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Countering terror financing
The FATF added Pakistan to its grey list on June 27, deeming the nation's financial system to be a risk to the international financial system because of "strategic deficiencies" in its ability to prevent money laundering and terror financing.
Other nations on the grey list include Iran, North Korea, Ethiopia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, Tobago, Syria, Yemen and Tunisia.
The FATF has urged Pakistan to improve the identification, assessment and supervision of risk of terrorist financing; demonstrate remedial actions against money laundering and terror finance cases; apply the law against illegal money transfers; and implement controls on the movement of individuals carrying cash for terror financing, according to Asad Ullah Khan, the ISSI research fellow who wrote the report.
Other recommendations involve improving inter-agency co-ordination between the federal and provincial governments; increasing support to prosecutors and the judiciary; and implementing financial sanctions against designated militants.
Pakistan had already been acting to address the FATF's concerns, the report said.
Even before Pakistan's addition to the grey list, Pakistani investigators had registered more than 1,300 cases of illegal hawala and money laundering, the report said, citing an announcement from Pakistan's National Counter Terrorism Authority in March.
Pakistan also set up Countering Financing of Terrorism investigation units in provincial Counter Terrorism Departments and was working on a new law to regulate charities, non-governmental organisations and non-profits.
Taking terror financing seriously
Before adding Pakistan to its grey list, the FATF had asked Pakistan to implement the measures that would have discouraged money laundering and terror financing, said Mubasher Mir, resident editor of the Urdu-language Daily Pakistan and president of the Karachi Editors Club.
"Pakistan had not taken seriously the warning," he told Pakistan Forward.
Almost every month a new major incident of money laundering related to Pakistan surfaces, he said. Such incidents not only damage the image of the country but also imperil the measures being taken to discourage militant funding.
Pakistan was previously on the grey list from 2012 to 2015 but left the list after the government and security agencies ramped up measures proposed by the FATF, Mir said.
The previous government, however, did not adequately enforce the National Action Plan, which resulted in Pakistan ending up on the list again, he said.
Working with banks
"Banks must tighten monitoring to keep an eye on suspicious transactions," said Zafar Shaikh, president and CEO of Security Investment Bank Limited in Karachi and former director general of the Debt Management Office of the Ministry of Finance.
Banks must enforce a "know your customer" policy and report to the Federal Investigation Agency and State Bank of Pakistan any persons or companies believed to be involved in money laundering and terrorism financing, he told Pakistan Forward.
If any person or company receives millions of rupees in an account, the bankers must know the source of income of that transaction and take action if it was transferred unlawfully, he said.
More than $10 billion (Rs. 1.2 trillion) transferred from Pakistan to other countries through fake import orders must be investigated, he said.
Shaikh pointed to the case of Hussain Lawai, vice chairman of Summit Bank Limited and chairman of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), whom police July 6 arrested for allegedly laundering $12 million (Rs. 1.4 billion) through his bank and others.
Upon recommendation from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the PSX July 10 removed Lawai from his position as chairman. Lawai has maintained his innocence.
International pressure mounts on Pakistan to tackle illicit financing
A visiting delegation from the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering said it was unimpressed by Pakistan's progress to tackle money laundering as new cases emerge.
Pakistan works to leave terror financing 'grey list'
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is set to review Pakistan's efforts over the past year in mid October.
Pakistan intensifies efforts to avoid terror financing blacklist
Pakistan could join a blacklist of nations by February 2020 if significant efforts to fight money laundering and terror financing are not made.


Trace Blankenship Presents "Private and Family-Owned Company Boards: What Directors, Owner/Executives and their Professional Advisers Need to Know Now about the Evolving Corporate Governance Landscape"
Trace Blankenship presented "Private and Family-Owned Company Boards: What Directors, Owner/Executives and their Professional Advisers Need to Know Now about the Evolving Corporate Governance Landscape," during the first week of July to Vistage International's Nashville Trusted Providers Group.
Trace concentrates his practice on mergers and acquisitions, securities transactions, and corporate governance for public and private companies, and he summarized to the group some essential principles that directors and owner/executives of private companies can use to reduce the risk of disputes and potentially benefit the bottom line when making "bet-the-farm" decisions and changes that affect the stakeholders. Vistage International was founded in 1957 and is a respected worldwide chief executive leadership organization with more than 14,500 members. Vistage's Executive Leadership Program provides access to new ideas and fresh thinking through monthly peer workshops, one-on-one business coaching, speaker presentations from industry experts, social networking and an extensive online content library of articles, best practices, podcasts and webinars. Trace is a member of Vistage International's Nashville Trusted Provider Group.
On June 25, 2010, CMS proposed regulations that immediately impact physicians who provide diagnostic imaging services to their patients. To read the rest of our newsletter, click here.
On June 25, 2010, CMS proposed regulations that immediately impact physicians who provide diagnostic imaging services to their patients. These regulations are required by the Healthcare Reform Act enacted on March 23, 2010. A copy of the proposed regulations is available at http://www.cms.gov/. The effective date of the final regulations is January 1, 2011.
A list of ten alternate suppliers of that service located within a 25 mile radius of the doctor's office.
The address, telephone number and distance from the doctor's office of each supplier.
The regulations require that disclosure be given to the patient at the time the test is ordered. In addition, the patient must sign an acknowledgement of receipt of that disclosure. This acknowledgment must be maintained in the patient's medical record.
What if there are less than ten suppliers within a 25 mile radius of the office?
Then, all suppliers of the service must be listed.
What if there are no other suppliers within a 25 mile radius of the office?
According to CMS, the disclosure does not need to be made.
What if the physician or extender ordering the test does not have the equipment necessary to perform the test?
The proposed rule only applies if the physician or physician extender ordering the test is able to perform the test.
Does this disclosure requirement apply to any tests other than MRI, CT Scan or PET Scans?
At this time, no. CMS is considering whether additional diagnostic imaging tests should be added to the disclosure requirement.
Can the disclosure be in electronic form?
CMS does not specify that the disclosure must be in written form. CMS is requiring the patient "to sign" an acknowledgment. Presumably, electronic signatures are permitted.
Is a hospital a supplier?
The proposed regulations exclude hospitals and critical access hospitals from the definition of supplier. A freestanding outpatient imaging clinic owned by a hospital is a supplier.
Is the disclosure required in emergency situations?
At this time, yes. CMS is accepting comments on that issue.
May the patient choose another supplier who is not on the list?
Yes. CMS clearly states that the list of suppliers is non-exclusive.
Bone McAllester Norton employment attorney Anne Martin is quoted in the Tennessean on the recent ruling by the Supreme Court allowing employers the right to read a public employee's text messages if the supervisor expects work rules are being violated.
The article entitled "Ruling lets bosses read public employees' texts" was reported in the Tribune Washington Bureau by David G. Savage and in the Tennessean with contributions from G. Chambers Williams III on June 18, 2010.
"It's a reminder of what everybody has been telling clients: that employees realistically should have no expectation of privacy when using workplace computers," said Anne Martin with the Nashville law firm Bone McAllester Norton, who practices employment law.
"The reality is that we spend most of our days at work, and use our work computers for business and personal communications," she said. "People should use good judgment, because what they send from a work computer reflects on that company. And once something happens on an employer's system, the employer has to take responsibility for it. But it is unrealistic to say that employees can't conduct personal business on work computers."
When: Thursday, June 17, 2010 | 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
When: Thursday, June 24, 2010 | 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Signed into law March 23, 2010, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Health Reform Act") includes sweeping changes which will impact every American. This briefing will break through the complexities of the legislation and focus on the key provisions that go into effect this year and early in 2011.
Insights into the new rules for health plans and health insurance.
Opportunities and challenges for plan design and administration in this new environment.
Which parts of the legislation take effect the earliest so you can prioritize.
What you need to be doing NOW to prepare for the coming Health Reform Act changes.
Presented by Bone McAllester Norton and Heritage Financial Group, specific topics will include how to prepare for benefit limits, pre-existing condition exclusions and rescission, requirements regarding medical loss ratios, new tax measures, "Cadillac Plan" taxes, coverage of dependent children, early retiree reinsurance, and rules for health accounts (HSAs and FSAs).
September has been an especially busy month at Bone McAllester Norton. To read the rest of our newsletter, click here.
Bone McAllester Norton attorney Rob Pinson will present at the National Business Institute's one-day live seminar How to Keep Tax-Exempt Organizations in Compliance on July 22 at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel.
Rob will be speaking on the topics of "Maintaining Tax-Exempt Status", "Dealing with Unrelated Business Income" and "Intermediate Sanctions" along with speakers David Parsons (Baker, Campbell & Parsons), Carolyn Schott (Baker Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC) and Sallye Williams (Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC).
Gain strategies for safeguarding directors, officers and executives from potential liability.
Create an environment of accountability by establishing comprehensive internal controls.
Follow annual reporting requirements and comply with the rules governing disclosures and solicitation.
Know how to identify what qualifies as unrelated business income – and what the exceptions are.
Adhere to the accepted guidelines for determining appropriate executive compensation.
Bone McAllester Norton Attorneys Charles Bone, Stephen Zralek and Trace Blakenship Named "Best of the Bar"
Nominated by peers and chosen by a panel of judges, these attorneys were selected for their commitment to their clients, dedication to their respective areas of the law, and their respect and professionalism toward their peers and chosen profession.
Honorees from Bone McAllester Norton are Charles W. Bone and Stephen Zralek in the category Outstanding Small Law Firm and Trace Blankenship for Rising Star.
"Transportation System's Future Needs to be Developed Today"
If there is a lesson to be learned from the devastating floods, it's that our region is at its best when we pull together as a community. And just as we have pulled together as a community to address the natural disaster, we must do the same if we're going to solve our region's transportation issues.
In the coming weeks, there will be a number of public hearings for community input on the Nashville Area MPO 2035 Regional Transportation Plan that will be unveiled at the upcoming "Convening the Region Summit." The plan will help us establish regional goals, policies and objectives for our multi-modal transportation system over the next 25 years. It will help us support the economic growth and prosperity goals of communities while tackling future congestion, safety and security travel concerns and working to reduce urban sprawl.
All of us involved with Cumberland Region Tomorrow will be asking you to take part in developing a regional vision for the future of our transportation system.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the "National Interstate and Defense Highways Act" that served as the catalyst for what we all know now as our national interstate system.
As monumental as that legislation was for setting the course for the designation and funding of our nation's transportation infrastructure, it didn't all come together that year — or even in that decade. It took years of input, cooperation and planning to put in place our current interstate system.
The 2035 Regional Transportation Plan is the 21st century equivalent of the interstate system for us. It will be vital to the economic vitality and livability of this region we call home.
A number of policy issues will need to be decided: How do we address the long-term transportation needs of our 10-county Middle Tennessee region? How do we provide better transportation alternatives for our citizens to reduce traffic congestion, smog and pollution while still remaining economically competitive? How do we work with the federal, state and local governments to make sure our public-private partnership in addressing Middle Tennessee's transportation needs is successful?
After last year's summit, the Middle Tennessee Mayors Caucus was formed to provide leadership on the important issues facing our growing region. The Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee also has been formed, calling for a "bold vision" including more mass transit and walkable communities. The Alliance is headed by Ed Cole, a longtime leader in transportation solutions, and I serve as the chairman.
Concerned citizens, the business community, our elected leaders and others in our 10-county community must all pull together if we're going to find a regional solution to our transportation issues. One county or one community can't do it alone. It's going to take us all.
Charles W. Bone is the chairman of Bone McAllester Norton PLLC and a founding member of Cumberland Region Tomorrow, the nonprofit organization that brings people together to address regional challenges and opportunities we face with the future growth and development of Middle Tennessee.
When more than six feet of flood water rushed into two of Nashville's key business enterprises destroying property and shutting down operations, Ajax Turner President Scott Turner and Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center President Colin Reed did not retreat.
Instead, the leaders focused on the immediate crisis and number one priority of ensuring individual safety and salvaging property and next got down to the business of mapping out the shortest road to recovery. Three weeks after the flood, Ajax Turner is reloading its inventory and making customer deliveries from a temporary location and Gaylord expects the hotel to be back in business before the end of the year.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. Two subsequent laws, the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994, have made the purchase of flood insurance mandatory for Federal or Federally-related financial assistance for acquisition or construction of buildings in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs).
Flood insurance is mandatory for buildings in FEMA-identified high-risk flood areas, referred to as SFHAs. Whenever you make, increase, extend or renew a mortgage, home equity, home improvement, commercial or farm credit loan in an SFHA, you must require flood insurance. You may require flood insurance on all loans, even those outside SFHAs.
Ensure that flood insurance coverage is maintained for the term of all the loans on a building. Escrowing flood insurance premiums can help make sure you meet this requirement, and it helps protect you and your borrowers from uninsured flood losses.
Notify borrowers in writing of the requirement to buy flood insurance for new and existing loans. If you determine that a home or business is in an SFHA before loan closing, you are required to notify the borrower within a reasonable time prior to the loan closing. If you determine that an existing loan for a home or business is in a SFHA, you are also required to notify the borrower within a reasonable time.
There is no waiting period for flood insurance to go into effect when it is purchased in connection with making, increasing, renewing or extending a loan. In most other instances, there is a 30-day waiting period before flood insurance goes into effect.
For more information about the mandatory purchase of flood insurance requirements, and other related topics, read the .
Flood insurance and the mandatory purchase laws help protect your investments as well as your borrowers' against uninsured flood losses. Floods can occur in unexpected areas of the country. Make sure you and your borrowers are protected from uninsured flood losses for their homes, businesses and belongings by following these requirements.
As the flood victims begin to assess the damage and put their lives, homes and businesses back together, our firm is here to help. To read the rest of our newsletter, click here.
Now that the rains have stopped and the flood levels are receding, many Tennesseans are surveying the damage done to their property, whether personal property or business property. The good news is the federal tax laws allow a deduction for losses of personal and business property due to a casualty—a sudden, unexpected, and unusual event such as a fire, storm, flood or hurricane—for which many Tennessee residents qualify.
Regardless of the type of property, if you suffer a loss from the recent floods, then your loss will be equal to the less of either: (1) the adjusted basis of the property (generally, what you paid for it); or (2) the loss of value by reason of the casualty (generally, the value immediately before the flood minus the value immediately after). In addition, your loss may be reduced by any compensation received from insurance or otherwise.
Unfortunately, you bear the burden of proving the facts needed for qualifying for the deduction—including the existence of the casualty as the cause of the loss, the resulting decline in fair market value, the adjusted basis of the asset(s), and that you actually owned the asset(s). Proof of the casualty is easy enough. Keep copies of newspaper or online articles about the recent floods, and also obtain a copy of the Presidentially-Declared Disaster Area notice for your county. In substantiating the loss, you must establish: (1) the adjusted basis of the asset(s) involved; (2) the decline in value of the property as a result of the casualty; and (3) the amount of any reimbursement. In order to justify your loss, you will need proof of what you paid for your property, as well as proof of its value before and after the flood, if you have it. In order to prove the value of real estate and other substantial assets after the flood, an appraisal may be necessary.
If the loss is from property used in a trade or business or income-producing property (such as rental property), then you can deduct the full amount of the loss as determined above. If the loss is from non-business (or personal) property, certain limitations apply restricting the amount you can deduct.
Generally, a loss is deductible in the year it is sustained, 2010 in this case. However, losses sustained because of natural disasters in Presidentially-Declared Disaster Areas may be deducted in the prior year, 2009 in this case. Therefore, you have a choice to wait until early 2011 to claim this deduction and hopefully get a refund, or file an amended return for 2009 and get a refund sooner. The one drawback to claiming the loss sooner is that if you get insurance proceeds after filing the amended return, you may have to file another amended return paying some of your refund money back.
The IRS also has resources available on its website for calculating the amount of your casualty losses (go to www.irs.gov and search for Publication 584).
The flood has affected many of our neighbors, including businesses. While flood insurance or business interruption insurance may be helpful to some property owners and businesses, almost all landlords and tenants have provisions that relate to casualties in their leases. The water and flood damage of the magnitude suffered in Middle Tennessee almost certainly qualifies as a casualty.
The rights of landlords and tenants under these casualty provisions generally are independent of insurance and liability provisions, and these casualty provisions will help guide the parties' next steps, regardless of whether the property is determined to be a total loss or not. Many times, these casualty provisions give landlords the sole right to determine whether the lease will continue post-casualty (i.e., once flood waters subside from the property). The landlord usually has some amount of time to repair and/or rebuild, and if the repair/re-build happens within a certain amount of time, the lease will continue. If repair/re-build cannot happen on the given timetable, the lease may terminate. This is good for landlords because it affords some measure of control over their property.
The good news for tenants is that many leases allow for rent abatement during the time that the property is unusable. So, from the time water damage or flood waters forced the tenant from the leased property until the time repair/re-build is completed, the tenant may not have to pay rent.
Some casualty provisions are short and straightforward, and some are complex. Always consult your lease if you have questions, and seeking legal advice may be helpful. Most casualty provisions may be reviewed quickly and efficiently.
The disastrous floods throughout Middle Tennessee have left many in our area dealing with damage to their homes that requires immediate repair. Contractors and home restoration services will certainly be in high demand, which may open the door to less reputable contractors trying to exploit desperate consumers. In the rush to get your home restored, it is critical that you know what to do when selecting a home repair/restoration professional in order to prevent further hardship.
Get an estimate in writing from your contractor. Despite the urge to get the work started as soon as possible, document your engagement with the contractor. Sure, there may be unforeseen issues resulting from the damage, but you are entitled to some fair advance expectation of what the job will cost. Getting an estimate in advance places the burden on the contractor to provide you with notice of those unforeseen issues…and advance notice of any increase in costs.
Be sure that the contractor you hired is licensed with the state. In the rush to get somebody—sometimes anybody—working on the damage, a homeowner may neglect to take the "due diligence" precautionary measures of vetting the contractor with whom they are dealing. The State of Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors has an that allows homeowners to investigate whether the contractors they are dealing with are licensed.
If you live in an impacted area, you may be approached by door-to-door contractor solicitations. This could be a legitimate contractor reaching out to people who need help the most, or it could be somebody seeking to exploit other people's hardship. Again, check on the contractor through the State's online records, or call the State contractor board at (800) 544-7693. Additionally, the Tennessee Secretary of State maintains records of all corporate entities authorized to do business in Tennessee and provides an online database with those companies. Ask questions about the contractor and their particular experience, and, of course, get it all in writing.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency for specific guidance as to available services in Tennessee.
Local resources, such as blogs, may have the most up-to-date information on aid and agencies seeking to provide relief.
Now that the rains have stopped and the flood levels are receding, many Tennesseans are surveying the damage done to their property, whether personal property or business property.
The good news is the federal tax laws allow a deduction for losses of personal and business property due to a casualty—a sudden, unexpected, and unusual event such as a fire, storm, flood or hurricane—for which many Tennessee residents qualify.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968.
Two subsequent laws, the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994, have made the purchase of flood insurance mandatory for Federal or Federally-related financial assistance for acquisition or construction of buildings in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cautions the public and emergency responders about the potential hazards associated with flood waters. During heavy rains, sanitary sewers may overflow into floodwaters. Avoid contact with floodwater due to potential contamination with raw sewage and other hazardous substances. Avoid swimming and boating in floodwaters and do not allow children or pets to wade or play in floodwaters.
Children are at greater risk than adults from contaminants carried by flood water. Since they dehydrate faster, they need to drink plenty of fluids. If the safety of your water is in question, either use bottled water or bring tap water to a rolling boil for at least one minute...and let it cool before use.
EPA and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation have compiled other useful information on the web to assist individuals and municipalities address post-flooding clean up concerns. Issues include mold, septic systems, municipal water treatment plants, drinking water and food.
Bone McAllester Norton attorney Stephen Zralek moderated a panel of distinguished faculty on Termination of Transfer Rights on May 3, 2010.


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ADVA introduces multi-layer cell site gateway to maximize 5G efficiency
5.9.2019 07:00:00 CEST | Business Wire
ADVA (FSE: ADV) today launched its FSP 150-XG118Pro, a cell site gateway device specifically designed to meet the challenges of 5G. Ideal for deployment at radio base stations, the ADVA FSP 150-XG118Pro meets urgent demand for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) in 5G mobile networks and supports a smooth transition from 1Gbit/s to 10Gbit/s services. The solution also features a temperature-hardened design and precise synchronization capabilities. What's more, with its industry-leading demarcation technology and pluggable high-performance server, the FSP 150-XG118Pro enables virtual network functions (VNFs) to be hosted at the edge of the network and gives communication service providers (CSPs) and mobile wholesale operators a risk-free route to network functions virtualization (NFV).
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190905005062/en/
The ADVA FSP 150-XG118Pro is the ultimate tool for rapid 5G rollouts over existing LTE infrastructure (Photo: Business Wire)
"Our FSP 150-XG118Pro brings high-capacity demarcation and edge aggregation to the radio base station without exceeding strict requirements for space, power and cost. It really is the ultimate tool for rapid 5G rollouts over existing LTE infrastructure," said Richard Strike, director, product line management, ADVA. "Our FSP 150-XG118Pro empowers mobile network operators (MNOs) to respond to soaring bandwidth needs with 10Gbit/s bandwidth at the radio base station. They can also cater for new URLLC applications that demand data to be processed right where it's created. And, as the solution has been built with our Oscilloquartz team of network synchronization specialists, it delivers the accurate and stable timing that's so crucial for 5G applications."
The ADVA FSP 150-XG118Pro has been specifically engineered to support a seamless, cost-efficient transition from LTE mobile networks to 5G. With multi-layer demarcation and precise synchronization delivery, the cell site gateway device meets all current mobile network requirements, and its 10Gbit/s capacity enables MNOs to utilize the full 5G spectrum. Its open software-defined networking (SDN) control supports automated network slicing and its pluggable server allows it to be upgraded in-service for edge hosting of VNFs. The ADVA FSP 150-XG118Pro's capacity and edge hosting capabilities also enable enterprises to unlock the potential of the industrial IoT (IIoT). This makes the solution ideal for a wide range of IIoT business cases that require ultra-low latency and massive machine connectivity.
"This new member of our hugely successful and widely deployed FSP 150 family opens the door to a world of new opportunities. It tears down the entry barriers and provides CSPs and businesses with a risk-free route to all the advantages of virtualization," commented Ulrich Kohn, director, technical marketing, ADVA. "Featuring our award-winning, field-proven Ensemble Connector NFV hosting software, our FSP 150-XG118Pro enables enterprises to seize the full business potential of the IIoT. It supports big data analytics at the very edge of the network, saving significant bandwidth and improving performance. Now businesses can benefit from our vast experience with migrating centrally hosted network functions to the edge. Our customers can focus on revenue-generating services while we handle complex network integration and testing and ensure superb levels of performance."
Watch this video for more information on the FSP 150-XG118Pro: http://adva.li/fsp-150-xg118pro-video.
Additional details can also be found in these slides: http://adva.li/fsp-150-xg118pro-slides.
A supporting solution brief can be downloaded here: http://adva.li/connecting-5g-new-radios.
About ADVA
ADVA is a company founded on innovation and focused on helping our customers succeed. Our technology forms the building blocks of a shared digital future and empowers networks across the globe. We're continually developing breakthrough hardware and software that leads the networking industry and creates new business opportunities. It's these open connectivity solutions that enable our customers to deliver the cloud and mobile services that are vital to today's society and for imagining new tomorrows. Together, we're building a truly connected and sustainable future. For more information on how we can help you, please visit us at: www.advaoptical.com.
ADVA Optical Networking SE, Munich, Germany
www.advaoptical.com
For ADVA press:
Gareth Spence
t +44 1904 699 358
public-relations@advaoptical.com
For ADVA investors:
Stephan Rettenberger
investor-relations@advaoptical.com
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Bermuda Confirmed as a Global Leader in the Fight Against Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation17.1.2020 21:11:00 CET | Press release
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Before Marriage • Islamic Studies • Relationships
Prince Charming here, but I'm not an M.D.
By Sondos Kholoki-Kahf, Staff Writer InFocus Magazine
"Sunni Arab Muslim parents invite correspondence for their daughter, 23, beautiful, very fair skinned, slim, educated, religious. Prefer doctor/surgeon/dentist/MD resident. Non-physicians need not apply; lawyers OK. Send picture and resume to CaliforniaGirl@marriage.com."
Faced with outrageous matrimonial requests like these, Jamal* believes he stands no chance in his mission to find a wife.
At 24, Jamal has already met two girls he thinks could have been "the one." The first candidate's parents refused Jamal's request because they thought he was too young. From there, Jamal hesitated to approach the second girl because he only had a bachelor's degree and had yet to find a job. That girl was married to someone else shortly thereafter.
"What those [experiences] did is give me a negative way of looking at myself," Jamal reflects. "Now the first thing I think when I see a pretty girl is, 'Man, I can't talk to her. I'm sure her parents have some engineer or doctor picked out for her,'" Jamal says.
Now working a steady job in the IT field, Jamal keeps a wary eye out for a potential wife. Although he feels disenchanted by the worldly demands of most parents, Jamal insists that marriage will protect him from haram (unlawful acts).
"It's very hard for young men to not dive into dating when it's so much more accessible and easy to do," he says. "We're expected to live like monks, and not everyone can do that. I believe that if it's this difficult to get married [now], then our kids and their kids are just going to give up on the whole thing and have relationships western style."
Working hard for the money?
Most scholars agree that if a man exhibits good moral character and religious practice, he should be accepted for marriage despite his current income, as stated in a hadith sahih (saying of the Prophet). Yet many scholars also warn against using marriage for selfish reasons.
Dr. Mazen Hashem, sociologist and researcher on Muslim communities in North America, advises youth to view marriage as a heavy commitment, "not extended dating."
"If you view marriage as just having sex in a halal way, this is not a good enough reason [to get married,." Hashem says,
Ammar Kahf, a PhD candidate in Islamic Studies at UCLA and assistant imam at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, agrees that the need to quench physical desires is not enough for marriage.
"The Prophet directed another hadith to men, that if a man does not possess the bare minimum to get married — financially, socially, physically, and emotionally — then they should fast," Kahf states. Fasting is a well-known technique to control one's patience and physical desires.
Nevertheless, Hashem believes it is unrealistic for parents to expect a young man to be financially stable straight out of college, and that parents should look to the individual's drive and potential instead.
"If a guy is just strolling in life, doesn't know yet what to do and is still young, he is not ready to get married," he says.
Accordingly, young men seriously studying journalism, education, and non-profit administration should have just as good of a chance of marrying from a respectable family as a medical student.
Imam Suhaib Webb, a scholar with the Santa Clara chapter of the Muslim American Society who is admired by many young American Muslims, is sympathetic towards this issue but offers realistic advice. "Today's sexual explosion is very frustrating, especially for single young brothers," Webb says. "Physical needs are an important part of marriage, but at the same time, next to physical needs come the bills. Sisters have the right to ensure that her future husband will be able to look after her and her children's needs."
For those college students who have a solid idea of where they would like to end up in five years and possess good faith and moral character, but are still refused on the basis of their career path, Kahf believes that the implications will be devastating.
"I strongly believe that fathers doing this are committing a major sin," Kahf warns. "As the Prophet described it, it will be a fitna — a huge social problem that will never end."
Tarek*,23, has been searching for a wife since his first year in college. With his parents' full support and a steady job under his belt, Tarek began meeting girls through relatives, friends, and online. None proved a match.
A few years ago, Tarek was perusing material in a masjid bookstore and saw a girl there he thought could be a potential candidate.
"She seemed to be waiting around the place almost as if she wanted me to say something, but I just didn't know how to approach her," Tarek recalls. "Was she interested, or was it just my imagination? I didn't want to make it seem like I was hitting on her because it would probably turn her off. It was mind-boggling and disappointing because I didn't know what to do."
Truly, Muslim men and women — especially those in the West — are missing opportunities to get to know one another in informal, yet religiously acceptable forums. With unplanned socializing out of the question, youth are scrambling for an alternative that will allow for careful interaction between genders. Often times, men and women are completely separated to the point where they find it awkward to interact on a basic social level.
"We in southern California pride ourselves on our big Muslim community, but young singles don't interact much," Tarek said. "Isn't it strange that one friend of mine got married to a girl from Canada, and the other got married to a girl from the UK?"
Kahf acknowledges the absence of a social forum in current times.
"Traditionally, there was a forum facilitated through mothers, sisters, cousins, friends of the family, and was conducted in a healthy environment," Kahf says. "Many men here don't have such connections. Even a young college student who attends the MSA or a masjid once a week still does not find a healthy medium to find the potential wife."
Amazingly, one of the biggest complaints among Muslim women and men is finding quality within the quantity of available candidates for marriage. As one anonymous Muslim male puts it, "Lots of times I felt like there were too few sisters to marry. The same four or five sisters would get recommended to me all the time. Sisters complain there are too few brothers, but I know so many brothers who want to get married. There are a lot of good sisters and brothers out there, but for whatever reason they're not connecting."
The lack of a social forum may be the biggest hurdle Muslims in America have to jump. Webb places the bulk of the responsibility of creating a forum on the current generation.
"I'm not thinking about finding a wife; your generation is living that narrative," Webb says. "Come up with ideas on how to find a spouse, and then ask community leaders, 'Can we do this?' These things need to be covered by the younger community, but with guidance from pastoral scholarly figures."
Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match
With all the challenges facing young men and women in their pursuit of a spouse, Nasreen Khan of Irvine understands the sheer importance of her role. Khan has been serving as a matchmaker for the Muslim community for more than 30 years
"There are girls and boys who may be suitable for each other, but they may not be aware so 'someone' has to introduce them," she says.
Fielding an average of four to five calls a month, Khan sees a trend among parents' requests: "Most parents want doctors, engineers, lawyers or computer experts who have very high incomes," Khan says. "The girls mostly want someone tall, handsome, good looking, or guys with charisma."
Khan is also dismayed at the worldly attitude towards marriage. In her experience, parents are the ones demanding more, thereby limiting the already waning spousal pool for their children. For example, according to Khan, about 90% of parents want their daughters to marry within the same culture, even though the girls themselves hardly care where the young man comes from.
In addition to maintaining that a potential spouse come from the same culture, parents make the process of finding a mate difficult for their children by "having extremely high worldly standards, not giving importance to religion and character, not willing to marry their children until they complete college, and refusing to accept the choice of their children," says Khan.
Khan estimates that 10% of couples she introduced to each other resulted in marriage. While that may seem like a small number, Khan reveals that many men and women reject proposals based on astonishingly trivial matters. For example, one girl refused an otherwise wonderful proposal because the boy was not tall enough. In another instance, a boy's mother refused a girl because her complexion was too dark.
"Most people perceive marriage to be just a social obligation rather than a religious one," Khan says. "I feel that our girls and boys, as well as their parents, need to be more aware and educated about the status of marriage in Islam, and take it seriously."
The long road ahead
Webb emphasizes that after identifying the problem, the Muslim community must make a joint effort to move into the solution phase.
"Our community has become indicters instead of inviters," he says. "If you look at any problem in the life of the Prophet, there was always a communal solution to a problem. We need to function in that way of a support group."
"Rhetoric has to be created by active people in our communities," Webb continues. "We can't give one khutbah or speech and expect a solution. We need opportunities like workshops or town halls that, for example, enlighten parents how difficult it is to get married."
Little doubt remains that many "good" Muslim men and women exist, but the obstacles involved in finding Mr. or Mrs. Right currently seem insurmountable. Between pressure to marry within a specific nationality and parents who require their future son-in-law to have a certain salary, Muslims — especially American Muslims — face a long road ahead.
* Names have been changed.
It'z About Dhat M Set 4 Life in Da Brother's Hood!
Suspending Congregational Acts of Worship Because of the CoronaVirus
The Best Days of this World
As a virtual mosque, we strive to provide a safe space for learning and discussion. We would like to invite our readers to join this process. Everyone has a reflection to share, expertise on a specific topic, or a new idea. We hope, by opening up submissions from guest authors, that we can highlight the work of new, talented writers in our virtual community.
musafirfidunya says:
I disagree with alot of what is said in article. I am tired of reading articles that have no solution but describe the problem. Where is the solution? So depressing…
The solution has to be formulated at the local community level. There can't exist one solution that will be applicable to all of the Muslim communities across the US. We need to raise awareness of this issue starting with ourselves, then our families, then our local communities. That's the only way change can be brought about, if everyone who is reading this makes a determined effort to tackle this issue within their immediate families, then their local communities.
Abdellatif says:
I must say that a problem this large can't have a single answer.
There are different situations for different people. Take a family whose children meet their spouses while away studying at university. Or another whose children meet their spouses via an acquaintance or at a local mosque.
Certain communities organize functions for those interested in meeting others for marriage. So yes, if the intent is to meet someone, those in a community with children in such a situation will look to organize such events.
My point is the list is almost endless. Like anything in life worthwhile, it just won't happen on its own.
How it happened during the Prophet's (PBUH) time doesn't really matter here; just like how it happens back home in Egypt or any other Moslem country doesn't matter here. We need to focus on our own communities and decide what would work in each one of them. Each community is unique and will require its own answer to this problem. What would work in NYC would certainly not work in any city in Maine for example. We must not forget that this is not a Moslem country so let's not look at what works in a Moslem country or time-period and try to apply it here and now.
I'm not totally blind to the fact that certain answers will work in multiple situations, but since I truly believe that multiple solutions are required for this problem, some solutions will be unique to certain communities.
shakib says:
i enjoyed the article, having been married for 5 years to somebody who is not from my culture, i should say, i would have been horribly dissapointed like musafirfidunya if i left the solutions to come from either the imam or my parents. suhaib said it right, that we need to have a solution oriented approach to problems not lip-service. and it starts with some neck-risking, whether it is by trying a lame pick-up line in a book store or picking up enough courage to ask the imam for his daughter 🙂
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jannah says:
Great article ma'shaAllah. I don't know what the "solution" is either, but I think if we can identify the problems we can at least start somewhere. Problem: Too many parents with materialistic pre-requisites. Problem: Sisters with unrealistic expectations. Problem: Brothers with shallow requirements. And so on. Perhaps if we get all the problems out there and recognizable then we can try to address them one by one.
And making people aware of the problem does help a lot. If Imams realize how big a problem it is they might try to do more in their community to help singles. Same as married friends for their single friends and so on.
I think that sometimes young Muslim guys abuse Islam by justifying their laziness and lack of initiative in life by blaming women (and their parents) for wanting a doctor, dentist, etc.
Yes, in the Prophet's time, it was true that income had nothing to do with personality. If you were born poor, you'd most likely be poor your whole life. But this is no longer the case today. In America, you can become rich if you work hard at school. I know of a migrant Mexican worker who worked his way up the ladder and today is a top neurosurgeon at Harvard.
It is no longer the case that career (and wealth) has nothing to do with good character. Yes, the Prophet [s] said to marry those who are pious and have good character. But nowadays, career (and subsequent financial stability) is impacted in large part by character. If you are hard-working, you will have financial security. If you are a bum, you won't.
Yes, I agree that if you have a hard-working journalism student, then he shouldn't be penalized for having less pay than a medical school grad. BUT at the same time, lazy brothers (and we have TOO many of them nowadays) shouldn't justify their laziness by claiming that piety and good character are all that matter. A part of good character is being hard-working.
So I think there should be compromise. Women (and their parents) should look for excellence in young men…so whatever career they pick, the young men should excel in that particular field. The fact that a brother busted his butt off in medical school shows that he has MANY qualities, including being hardworking, consistent, responsible, mature, etc. Whereas a bum who failed out of community college displays many faults in his character. On the other hand, if you have a brother who has a passion for journalism (or some other low paying field), a woman should not judge him badly for this, so long as he excels at what he does and he is a hardworker.
I've been through medical school, and I'm now considered pretty high up there on the ristha ladder, just due to this. I don't think this is undeserved. I busted my hump off for many years, unlike most of the brothers in my community who were lazy butts.
Shaykh Yusuf Qaradawi had an excellent speech on this topic recently…he was talking about how Muslims should EXCEL in whatever they do…this is a part of our religion. Some brothers nowadays fool themselves into thinking that school (secular studies) has nothing to do with deen. WRONG! We must excel in everything we do, and academics is the road to success. Muslims can't ever excel if we don't produce the top scientists, researchers, etc.
To J, the Doctor,
"I've been through medical school, and I'm now considered pretty high up there on the ristha ladder, just due to this. I don't think this is undeserved."
Wow, such humility…
I think you will be happier in your life if you came back down to earth, otherwise you might find yourself prescribing prosac to yourself in the future.
J, I'm very offended by what you wrote. I'm in a field I consider far more intellectually demanding than medicine and yet, I know that when I finally graduate I will be paid a lot less than a doctor. Most people, by default, are not rich, since a 'wealthy' person necessarily has above average income, regardless of the standards of living in his particular society. Most people will never earn as much as a doctor (simply because they never studied medicine) regardless of how hard they work.
And people are definitely being unreasonable by demanding only doctors and dentists- and often they do so without caring about deen.
"It is no longer the case that career (and wealth) has nothing to do with good character."
W'Allahi you are calling to a belief I find absolutely repellant- it's as if you imply that the poor necessarily have a bad character (most scholars are poor) and that the rich do not, which is ridiculous. There are pious pepole, rich and poor, with low-paying jobs and high-paying ones. And how many people make their millions in haram money? How many imams have to take second jobs?
Imam ash-Shaf'i and others said that anbody who pursued hadith and its sciences would become poor. Do you object to the character of those people? Are people lazy simply because they don't earn much? Suhaib, this makes me *so* angry!
As-Salam Alaykum Brother Sam,
I completely see how my post can come across as arrogant. I did not mean it to come across that way. I did not mean to imply that I am a big hot shot. Rather, I merely wanted to convey the idea that you put in X amount of work, and you get Y amount of reward. That is all I meant.
I was merely stating a fact. If you work hard and excel at studies, you get many rishtas, even if your face is as ugly as a babboon. Call it revenge of the nerds, if you will.
To Bro/Sis Anonymous:
I am sorry you were offended by what I said, but I think you really should have read what I said more intently. I don't know what field you are in, but let's say you are in a research field. Research is a very intellectually demanding career, but the pay is low. Did I say that a doctor should be considered higher than a researcher? No! Rather, I simply said that lazy bums shouldn't use Islam to justify their laziness. I see so many lazy bum brothers who whine about how they can't get rishtas since the women are so superficial and want guys with degrees. These bums are NOT like you. They don't excel in their fields.
Yes, there are people who choose low paying fields because they excel in them. And hats off to those people. They too, in my opinion, should be high on the rishta scale. So if you are a journalism student, or a humanities student, then you should still be appreciated for what you do, so long as you are doing it because you excel in it.
However, we all know that 90% of the people who go into such fields do them because they are easy. They didn't want to put in the effort to do a more demanding field, like law, medicine, dentistry, etc.
What I mean to say only is that a man's education and career should play some role in the rishta process, insomuch as it tells about his character. It will show if he is hardworking, responsible, etc.
So please reread what I wrote, because it does not go against what you said!
I am very much understand this position that these wordly stndard that based on financial and social status makes the in fluensed people so much irresponsible that they does not feel the need of these people that need s their help especially when they are out from their home countries where they can not mentain same social and economic level.poeple conscious or unconsciously eleminates them from their regular connection even Eid or Iftar that not only makig them isolate but also putting them in a situation where they are more at the risk of being sin ful.In this Amerixcan society it is very hard for the people who are single to be tempted to be in a relation ship. for some reason this situation is become worse when you are single parent especially to be a single mother is nuisense.I try to check with the localimam or social worker but they do not want to take the iniciative about this .i wish they will undertand by doing this they are trie to make so hard this deen for singles.
Money is very imprtant for bills but if she is happy as married couple than she can live in a 800.00 dollars home. She does not need to be in 2000.00 house but unhappy.for me if you are not good in deen and stable in dunyathan no matter how big is your degree but your daughter will suffer as much he has money and degreee.
AZ says:
First, the neurosurgeon works at Hopkins.
Secondly, just because you are in medical school doesn't make you special. There are many families that will bend over backwards for a doctor, but that doesn't mean it's justified. I am a medical student as well. You can't say that the status we get is deserved. Bro, I've been through the 15+ hour days. I've gotten chewed out by attendings. It still doesn't legitimize the disproportionate leverage that we get in "rishtas".
Anonymous, you can't talk about your field and say that it is more "intellectually demanding" than medicine. You have no authority to make that decision until you have worked as a doctor and understood what they go through. Likewise, no one in medicine has the right to say that their field is more "intellectual" than yours.
Overall, J brought up some interesting points. I have noticed many brothers who "concentrate on the deen" and put education as a second priority. Islam and education go hand in hand as one complements the other with a pure intention. Islam tells you to acquire knowledge and likewise knowledge will help you understand some of Allah's signs better.
I agree with J that you should be the best at what you do, regardless of what field you enter. J is also right in the sense that as long as you work hard and are committed to what you do, you shouldn't be poor.
Sure it's unfair what parents are doing, but it's also understandable. I would want my daughter to marry someone with good earning potential. Sometime doctors compromise their deen to get where they are. Missed prayers, missed Jumahs, etc. Be weary of them as well.
Sisters please understand that quality time is far more valuable than money. Marry someone who will spend time with you and your kids and can support you in a manner that is suitable in Islam (modesty). Do not fall for a physician who works 80hrs then lacks the emotional and physical capacity to serve his family afterwards. Wake up and stop dreaming as if life was bollywood. Seriously.
"W'Allahi you are calling to a belief I find absolutely repellant- it's as if you imply that the poor necessarily have a bad character (most scholars are poor) and that the rich do not, which is ridiculous."
I sincerely urge you all to carefully read what I said. It seems like your emotions get the best of you so you are no longer able to understand what is being said.
Yes, the scholars may be poor, but are they lazy? No! They are very hardworking. Argh, it's frustrating that people have such poor reading comprehension skills.
*All* I said was that the fact that someone finishes medical school is a reflection of his character, i.e. hardworking, responsible, etc. Therefore, it would not be inappropriate for a woman (and her family) to look at this as a big plus–not because of the money he will get, but because of the hard work he put in to get there.
Meanwhile, we have many lazy bum brothers who don't work hard and end up studying bumble-bee dancing as a major…then they whine how women (and their families) look down on them for that. *This* is what I am criticizing.
To conclude the matter, I think it makes sense for people to judge someone on how hardworking they are, not based on their money (since some people are rich without putting any work in it). Therefore, based on this principle, a person who goes through medical school and residency should of course have an edge. Similarly, a person who goes through a top law school and excels at what he does should definitely have an advantage over a lazy bum who couldn't get a degree due to his laziness.
Yes, if someone is poor due to no fault of his own–or because he has made a sacrifice to excel in something else (such as religious studies)–then we shouldn't look down on that, but rather we should respect how hard he works. However, if someone is a lazy bum brother whining, then I think such a person should not justify his laziness using Islam. It reminds me of how some extremists in UK justify their laziness by saying that taking welfare from the 'dirty kufaar' weakens them. It's abusing religion to justify one's own laziness.
I want Muslim youth to excel. We should excel like the Jews excel in studies, be it medicine, engineering, law, history, humanities, religious studies, etc. Be at the top of your class!
I think people should carefully read what I said, instead of jumping to conclusions.
May Allah [swt] unite our hearts on the Siratul Mustaqeem.
The Prophet Mohammed, may ALLAH's peace and blessings be upon him said:
The rich one is he who has a strong faith (Iman) and struggles to obtain a strong relationship with ALLAH the most HIGH, and poor is he who lives his life according to worldly needs and follows the path of shaytan (iblis). (May ALLAH protect us)
May ALLAH make us of this who will enter Jannah with our beloved prophet Mohammed salla ALLAHO alaihi wasallam.
Wa ALLAHU lmosta3an.
Asalamu-aleikum. It seems that many wish to change to world instead of changing themselves. We blame parents, the mosque, the imams, the girls, the boys…instead of focusing on ourselves and our own lack of faith, our own materialism, our own superficial requirements. The answer is, and always has been, the teachings of Islam and the prophet, pbuh. We now need scholars and community leaders imbedded in the western context to help guide young people to each other in ways that are appropriate and relevant. And the young folks, once guided to each other, must rise to the occasion with faith, maturity and integrity. Yes, work needs to be done institutionally. Mixing? Young women and young men have been "mixing" as long as history itself. The false separation that is supported by scholars from far-away lands merely exacerbates the false expectations young people have for one another. Young men and women need to get to know one another, and by doing so, one's status as a doc or a "hottie" or a this or that, will matter much, much less.
Lastly, have we all forgotten that throughout history, young men and women got married and then worked together to make a life for themselves? Is is really necessary for a man to be established with a bank account and a career before he asks a young woman to take his hand and help him to build their dreams together? Faith, dreams, love, goals…together. Contrast this to the shameful ads in the muslim magazines by ridiculous parents….where marriage is nothing more than a transaction, a swap of beauty for wealth and status. May Allah help us all.
Bzz says:
Bah, why is the impetus on financial repsonsibility so one-sided. Geez, how about motivating women to aspire to be more than just a dependent spouse through marriage. And maybe those that are shallow and condesencding (i.e the girl who wanted a taller guy and the guy who wanted a lighter girl) deserve to struggle in their search- if you can't be open minded and progressive as an adult then you are not ready for a lifetime of compromise and partnership- i.e marriage.
Hmm says:
Bzz, the husband is responsible for providing for the wife and children according to Islamic law. The wife is not responsible for earning money to support the family, although we are talking about basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, etc. Unfortunately a lot of brothers don't understand that they are required to provide for their families, and a lot of sisters think that they are entitled to a large house or apartment, expensive furniture, shopping sprees, brand-name clothing, etc.
kiikkz says:
i don't think we can impose parts of islamic law in a society that is not structured to allow for the expression of this law; just like you can't go stone someone for zina, here in a non-sharia society! and it's questionable as to whether they would even deserve that, given that society aroudn them does not support a person to abide by that law…likewise, the way our societies, even in muslim countries, are structured dose not support the idea of a single income home. if we lived back before WW2 that might have been possible. today, not so much. so unless the wife is okay with eating a very simple meal and wearing 2nd hand clothing, it's likely she will need to get up and work too. i don't see anything wrong with this. don't pick and choose parts of "Islamic law" to impose in a totally different context then tehy were meant to be exprssed in! stop overburdening men with demands. try to be understanding and loving!
Ninveh says:
"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil"
Marriage should consist of: love, honor, respect & appreciation.
Love- The love for God, the love for your husband/wife, the love for your family.
Honor- Honor God, honor your husband/wife, honor your family.
Respect- Respect your religion, respect your husband/wife, respect your family.
Appreciate- Appreciate your life, appreciate God and your deen, appreciate your husband/wife, appreciate your family.
Whether your husband works as an executive in a company or a plumber, you should appreciate him, love him, respect him and honor him. That is what it means to be a wife.
The Eastern cultures care too much about looks, status and money. It's a shame…
I find it unfortunate that many Muslim brothers and sisters adhere to such rigid standards that often serve the practical side of marriage (finances, status, etc.) at the expense of the spiritual (moving towards Allah). I find this especially so in the South Asian American community, where it is considered an anomaly if a man/woman doesn't have a professional degree, isn't tall, beautiful, etc.
For myself, I live in America and I have a master's degree. I have no problem marrying a man who isn't a doctor or who may have just a bachelor's. I also have no problem settling down with somebody who is struggling with finding his career as long as he has a plan and means to support us while we work together towards our mutual goals. My reasoning is: does it really matter so much if the guy has XYZ degree if he has bad character? He may be very good at his work, but it doesn't mean he's going to be a good husband. In fact, I would prefer not to marry a man who is in a demanding field, such as medicine, because it takes considerable time and emotional resources to do the job that little is left for the woman/family (in some cases). He could make a million bucks a year, but if he's emotionally and physically absent or abusive, does that really matter?
Certainly, I don't want a bum who forgets it is his responsibility to make sure our practical needs our met, nor do I want to be in constant stress about where the next pay check is going to come from. But if I have the education and love for him to make his life easier, why shouldn't I work myself to help us get to where we need to be? I would much rather be with a man who is of upstanding character and who is struggling to make something of himself in the dunya, than someone whose priorities are not straight and is attached to the world. Why shouldn't I have faith that Allah will provide for us so long as we do what is right?
I find it silly that certain desi parents place so much emphasis on what others will say, what his family's education level is, etc. I think some Muslim women need to realize that we can't place undue pressure on brothers and remember the longer you wait to get married, the greater the likelihood of shaitan trying to tempt you and lead you astray. I don't think there's any harm in mingling with brothers in college, outside, etc. in order to understand their character – getting to know them within limits helps you get a better picture of who they are. In fact, I think this whole connection thing through families or simply putting word out in the community and expecting things to work out seems so articifical and contrived.
hopeful says:
assalam alaykum,
i know many sisters who married doctors and are miserable in their marriages or divorced because their husbands either cheated or ignored them.
another issue is that the married sisters and brothers fail to help the single muslims get married too. we are one ummah so let's help each other out through action, not just by dua's alone.
good article nonetheless.


After a wonderful week in sunny Florida we hightailed it home to beat Sandy to MD. So now here we sit and wait. The worst part is the waiting. It has been a while since I have been this bored. We got a lot accomplished in the house. Finished cleaning and hanging pictures in our guest room before we have guests this weekend. Cooked off some foods to eat if/when the power goes out. Currently I am doing a quick update and enjoying a cup of Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea that was found in Epcot!
So, hopefully I will have power tomorrow and can add pictures and stories from my fantastic Disney trip! Until then, everyone on the East Coast stay safe!!