Do you find yourself on the road during the holidays, and looking for a place to eat that's still open? Or perhaps you're like me - I don't cook at home, and I'm not really into visiting family for the holidays and eating with them. Well then, you probably know
Before the Thanksgiving holiday break, I shared a graphic with our parent listserv at SAS from 11th Principle: Consent!. This graphic urges parents not to force their kids to hug relatives (or anyone) as a way to teach body safety and the concept of consent. I received so many emails
This week I noticed that they've started building the lot where they sell Christmas trees near SAS (at the intersection of Maynard & Reedy Creek Rd). They put up a nice rustic wooden fence, and lights, and maybe even a fire pit to keep their workers warm. They sell some
I consider October 31, the unofficial start of the holiday season. It begins with Halloween which brings a seemingly unlimited supply of candy. Who needs that many candy corns anyway?! Next is Thanksgiving. A one-day feast that turns into 4 days of binge watching football and eating leftovers. That’s followed
With the Christmas holiday approaching, I got to wondering what they call Santa in other countries. Of course, some countries don't celebrate Christmas - but most countries at least have some sort of "winter holiday," and most also have some tradition of gift-giving. So, I guess the better question might
Driving to work today I was thinking about the "funk" that has descended upon me over the last few weeks. Shorter days and less light? Dry skin and a stuffy nose? Old and cranky? Maybe all of those are true, but as I reflect, I realize it happens every year
If you're preparing a big Thanksgiving dinner, then you don't want to leave out the most popular side dish, do you?!? But what is the most popular side dish? ... If you don't already know, then perhaps some data & analytics can help! But before we get started, here's a
Here in the US, we're preparing to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Therefore this Thursday most families in the US will be having a big turkey dinner. Although I'm a bachelor guy and eat out all the time, I'm actually a pretty good cook - and I'd like to share with
Thank you SAS community for all the fun this year! We truly enjoy each moment with you as you take care of your health both here at SAS and in your adventures around the world! May you be happy, healthy, and loved now and always! While we're talking health.... Don’t
It's that festive time of year again, so you may want to build yourself a fire and grab a cup of hot chocolate as you prepare for a rousing round of holiday/IT joy. Grab your co-workers and gather around the water cooler while singing along to this post and others
Winter holiday traditions and family rituals are the stuff of rich memories for many grown kids like myself. As a parent educator, I also know that traditions can benefit all members of the household: The repetitive nature of traditions contributes to a sense of comfort and belonging. Traditions can help
Has anyone ever broken up with you, and left you thinking "Wow, I didn't see that coming!" In hindsight, maybe you could have seen it coming. At least from a statistical perspective. Let's dive into this topic with some lighthearted discussion, and plot some Facebook data... When it comes to
I was reading through Deloitte University Press' 2015 Holiday Spending survey - the results were interesting, but their graph made you jump through mental hoops to understand the data. So of course I used SAS to create a simpler version of the graph, so you'll have more time for holiday shopping!
When we talk about the Internet of Things and “analytics at the edge,” we’re talking about modeling data as close as possible to the device – not far away in some warehouse or data storage appliance. So, generally, the edge is anything with a sensor that is transmitting data: an
Here in the US, we've got the Thanksgiving holiday coming up soon. And the keystone of this holiday is a big dinner, with lots of traditional Thanksgiving foods. But where does all this food come from, and which farmers should we thank for which of the food items? I use SAS
As a fitness and health professional, I know better. But I still find myself splurging on my favorite comfort foods (burritos, pizza, pasta, etc). Okay, maybe splurge is too mild of a word. I admit it. I tend to go totally overboard at times! What I’m talking about is eating
The holiday countdown has begun. With less than 1 month until Thanksgiving and less than 2 months until Christmas, we are already beginning to plan out our holiday travel and family commitments. Often lost in the maze of planes, trains and automobiles (and feasts, gifts and holiday cheer), is physical
Choosing the perfect Halloween costume can be a tough decision ... especially when it comes to choosing between two awesome favorites like Superman & Batman!?! I think we're gonna need a bigger boat! (and by 'boat' I mean analytical software, of course!) Let's start with Superman. This character has been around since
Do you have fun being a computer geek, and programmatically creating holiday images? If so, then this blog's for you! In this example, I demonstrate how to take simple x/y coordinates, and create map polygons shaped like holiday images, that can be plotted using SAS/Graph's Proc GMap. Once you learn the
When I was a kid, I always found it difficult to pick a Halloween costume. Now that I'm older, perhaps I can use computers & analytics to make my decision (and yours) easier! ... There are several different schools of thought on Halloween costumes - for example, some like to
It's that time of year again - time to choose what Halloween candy to buy for the trick-or-treaters! This is always a tough decision that has me angsting in the candy aisle. And if selecting the perfect candy wasn't enough pressure, my city (Cary, NC) was recently recognized as #1 on
Update: This blog has been updated with the 2016 map. You can use SAS for just about anything - that includes finding a great fireworks show to watch during the US Independence Day holiday! Here's a fireworks-locator map I created using SAS (see technical details below). The red dots represent
Nobody puts an arrow through a heart any better than Sam Cooke & Cupid ... but SAS/Graph comes close! If you've been following my blog, you know that my favorite of all the SAS Procedures are the traditional SAS/Graph Procs, such as GPlot and GMap. They're rock-solid reliable, and flexible
How does Santa keep track of everything on his big night? I can't confirm or deny that he uses SAS software -- but if he does, it would look a lot like this! ... A couple of years ago, I blogged about a prototype dashboard that I wrote for Santa. This
As a follow-up to my previous Christmas blog post, Twas the night before big data, I give you ... Bayesian network, the directed acyclic graphical (DAG) model ( yeah, yeah, I know it doesn’t quite have the same ring as last year’s title, but you'll recognize the tune) You know Linear and
The holidays are sometimes chaotic, especially for those tasked with analyzing consumer shopping data! I would like to share a few tips on adding order to your chaotic data. SAS recently published an interesting article, sharing the results from a consumer survey. The infographics in the article showed high-level summary information, such as:
I'm not really into traveling and eating with family at Thanksgiving, but what are the local restaurant alternatives? The list was a bit overwhelming, so I used SAS to help analyze my options... My holiday meal fall-back has always been the Waffle House - they're open 24/7, 365 days a
Every day of the year is an official 'national day' for something - here's a SAS chart to help you find which bizarre 'national day' falls on your birthday! I recently read an article that lists weird and unconventional national days. It was very interesting, but I found the data
Twas the night before "big data," when all through the data center Not an IT supervisor was stirring, not even the help desk on-call. The servers where all humming along nicely in hopes Big data would soon be there. The business users were nestled all snug in their offices
This blog shows several "graphical analytics" examples, using holiday-related data... Since we're in the holiday season, I thought I would pull together several examples of my SAS graphs & maps of holiday-related topics (similar to my holiday blog in 2012, if you're a "long term follower"). Some are nice/technical examples, and
