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Home > Gauteng > 0 florist in "Pretoria" > Eros Florist > Products > Bring A Smile
345 Festival Street , Hatfield,
0083, South Africa
out of 5
based on 8 user ratings
(8 reviews) 100.00% positive
The flowers sent looked lovely and were delivered on time.
5 / 5
Annette 19th Mar
Thank you so much for my sister in law floweres she loved them and they were beautiful can't thank you enough for making her birthday special xxx????????????
Jackie 17th Mar
Very professional, prompt and well done.
Anton 12th Mar
Thanks four your excellent service and very happy with the outcome
Amanda 11th Mar
Order delivered on time, communication good. Recipient reported that the flowers were beautiful. Order process easy.
Janet 8th Mar
Thank you for the speedy delivery of the flowers to my friend in South Africa. Placed the order in the UK yesterday at 8.30 and flowers were delivered to her house at 11.30 (UK time). She sent me a photo of the flowers and they are lovely. Thanks again and would definitely use you again.
Jane Meechan
Jane 6th Mar
Five stars all the way
Thank you all of you at Rosmary
A job well done once again
Thank You
Marc 5th Mar
flowers were delivered as expected and looked great, wife was pleased with them
Mark 4th Mar
Pat McDonald went above and beyond. Amazing service!
Tumi 2nd Mar
Excellent service; fantastic same day delivery. Very efficient- I???m impressed
Sue 27th Feb
Delivery had to be delayed until the next day because the recipient wasn't at home to receive them but delivery was made the next day and the flowers were lovely and the recipient was very happy. Thank you for your courteous and good service.
Madelein 26th Feb
Great service, beautiful flowers! Very happy with my purchase! Thank you
Erika 21st Feb
A misplaced order.... but Flowercraft turned it into a 4 day long Valentines Day experience never to be forgotten... will forever be a memorable Valentines Day for Ms Suzy Areias and I.
Thank you.
Miguel 17th Feb
Excellent service! Receipient is very happy
Thomas 12th Feb
Great many thanks
Stewart 11th Feb
Job well done thanks
Very good service, value for money, easy to use website and will certainly use them again.
Gillian 7th Feb
Although there was a bit of confusion at the start, the flowers were delivered during the morning as requested. My Mum was delighted and the flowers looked fantastic from the photos. I am very pleased and will use them again.
Madeleine 5th Feb
Thank You. Great Value and service.
Will definitely use this service again!
Vincent 31st Jan
Very happy with service, Delivered as advertised. . Great service
Dusan 31st Jan
Order within > 7 hours and 32 minutes > for delivery on WEDNESDAY in South Africa
A lovely bright flower hand tied to bring a smile. Pinks, Whites and Greens. Vase not included.
*Fine Print: Every bouquet is hand made and delivered by the local florist. Pictures shown are recent examples of an actual arrangement that were designed by talented florists and later sent out to a customer just like you! Please note that each individual florist cannot guarantee what the flower varieties or colours will be, they do guarantee that your specific arrangement will be fresh, beautiful and that your recipient will love it!


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Bill Shadrach brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 750 Designs von 125 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
College Planning Institute (not CPI)
The College Planning Institute (CPI) is an organization engaging in the business of helping affluent parents and college bound students plan in advance for exploring their college options, expense and the academic requirements necessary to make a successful transition from high school into college or university and then, into the workplace or graduate school.
Using proprietary processes dealing with financial aid, cash flow management, retirement planning and investment planning, CPI creates strategies that help parents reduce the overall cost of college for their student(s). Using academic and student positioning strategies, CPI helps the student(s) and parents enhance the student chances of being admitted to the school(s) of choice, spending less time finishing their degree and reducing the projected cost of college or university attendance. Lastly, CPI follows the student throughout their educational career to ensure that the student is maximizing their educational opportunities and differentiating themselves amongst their peers.
Affluent parents of college or university bound students.
The brand should have an icon such as a structure, columns or building symbolizing the image of the "institute" as a provider of the highest level of service available to parents. The font should be a serif font, consistent with the font styles of old, established universities.
Managers of the brand believe that the new logo should be strong, clean, vibrant and very legible. The brand should in no way be soft, frilly or flowery. The managers see the brand name as being used in conjunction with an icon or shape (a gold badge or shield) to support the development, understanding and recognition of the brand and signify the richness, heritage and strength of the institute.
Please explore both positive and negative space. Color choices should fall into colors ranging from black to grays, dark blue and medium blues or dark reds to crimson. Fonts should be serif fonts only. Lastly, we would like to explore multiple aspect ratios from roughly two widths to one height to a one width to one height.
Winner will need to handover:
1. unlocked vector file in either .eps or .ai format
2. Font names and file location(s)
3. Jpeg Color palette showing all colors used in the logo and their corresponding PMS, CMYK, RGB and HEX #'s.
5. We will check the colors and layers of all of the handover files to ensure that they match the winning design. Please be prepared to handover matching files.
Finden Sie heraus, wie ein Designwettbewerb funktioniert, oder lernen Sie mehr über unsere Logo-Design-Angebote.

subset: commoncrawl


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CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) laboratory has confirmed one case of what is known as the H3N2v influenza virus, which has now been reported in three states this year –Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. IDPH is working with local health officials to alert the public on ways to reduce the risk of transmission of this virus. The confirmed case is a Boone County child with mild symptoms who had contact with swine while helping an exhibitor at the DuPage County Fair which was held in late July.
H3N2v is a variant form of influenza A, which was first detected in swine in 2011 and the first human cases were reported in 2012, including four cases in Illinois. The CDC is currently reporting more than a dozen cases in the U.S. this year. All infections in 2013 have occurred in people following contact with swine, and cases of the virus being transmitted from person to person are rare. So far, the severity of illnesses associated with this virus in people has been similar to the severity of illnesses associated with seasonal flu virus infections.
"The H3N2v virus is relatively new, but the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and our federal partners are monitoring this situation closely," said IDPH Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck. "We want you to enjoy your time at the state or county fair, so one key thing to do to stay healthy is to wash your hands frequently, especially if you are around swine."
Tips to avoid influenza include:
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water before and after exposure to animals.
• Do not take food or drinks into animal areas; do not eat, drink or put anything in your mouth while visiting animal areas.
• Do not take toys, pacifiers, cups, baby bottles, strollers or similar items into animal areas.
• Avoid close contact with animals, especially swine.
• Avoid contact with animals if you have influenza-like symptoms.
• Use caution when deciding to visit an animal area if you have an underlying health condition or if persons are younger than 5 years or older than 65 years or pregnant.
Influenza is contracted through droplets when an infected person or animal coughs or sneezes. Those droplets can either be inhaled or can be on a surface you touch with your hand, and then touch your mouth or nose.
Influenza symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache and fatigue. Illness can last a week or two. Certain people have a higher risk of serious infection from influenza including the very young, elderly, pregnant women, people with weakened immune systems and those with asthma, diabetes and heart disease. If you have, or do come into contact with swine and are experiencing influenza symptoms, contact your health care provider.


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Making cabal-install non-destructive
Philipp Schuster (speaker), Andres Löh
Recently there have been more and more complaints about "cabal dependency hell". Many of these complaints have their root in one limitation: It is not possible to have more than one instance of a certain package version installed per package database. Installing another instance overwrites the existing instance and often breaks other installed packages that depended on the overwritten instance.
During a Summer of Code project we are lifting this restriction by making several instances of the same package version install next to each other. This requires serious changes to ghc-pkg, cabal-install, the Cabal library and their interaction. Specifically we need:
- A unique install location for each instance
- An improved way to uniquely identify packages
- A refined adhoc resolution method for GHC
- A few changes to the cabal-install solver
- A garbage collection mechanism for unused packages
In this talk, we are going to describe the changes as well as the improvements possible for the end user. In addition to removing the possibility of breaking installed packages, the new system also promises much more fine-grained dependency tracking.
The project is a work in progress, and the talk will be a status report.


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Features & Benefits
Conventional toilet brushes hold dirt and liquid, making them messy and unhygienic to use and clean. Also their bristles can distort and wear, meaning they need to be replaced regularly. Flex™ Lite is an innovative toilet brush designed to solve all these problems.
It features a flexible, D-shaped head that reaches all areas, even under the rim. It has widely spaced bristles that prevent dirt clogging, allowing liquid to drain quickly and minimising drips between cleaning and storing.
It also has durable bristles and comes with a slimline holder for neat storage.
Flex™ Technology
Conventional Toilet brush
|Hard to reach all areas
|Drips between cleaning and storing
|Clogs easily and hard to clean
|Bristles distort over time
Flex™ Toilet brush
|Unique flexible design reaches all areas, even under the rim
|Anti-drip: less dripping between cleaning and storing
|Anti-clog: wide bristle spacing ensures dirt rinses off easily
|Durable bristles
Flexible, D-shaped head reaches all areas, even under the rim
Care and Use
Brush and holder - clean with bleach or hot soapy water.
If using bleach, avoid prolonged contact with stainless-steel shaft.
42.7 x 8.7 x 12.3 cm
300 grams
Shop the range
Flex™ Toilet Brush
D-shaped, flexible toilet brush£22.00
Flex™ Plus Toilet Brush
Toilet brush with storage caddy£26.00
Flex™ Steel Toilet Brush
Toilet brush with stainless-steel holder£30.00


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Create a world of colorful candy confections to feed your little one's imagination! It's a wonderland of wow where gears and gadgets make a chocolate river flow. Dreamy and delicious, this creation can be customized completely for your home.
Design Pricing and Process:
Your design will be completely unique to your space and personal design requests. An exact price quote is not possible until several stages of design have been completed. To help understand pricing and process better here are some general terms.
Call a Design Consultant today with your unique request.
Would you like us to help you find a similar item? Talk with our Design Consultants toll-free at1-800-927-5164.
*Shipping transit time varies based on destination. Free shipping offers are limited to the 48 contiguous states of the USA.
International Customers (including Alaska and Hawaii) please contact a Customer Service Representative if you have any questions about placing an order with PoshTots.
This item is custom made especially for you upon order.Click here for our policy on custom made items.
Promotion codes cannot be used for sale item purchases.
*Free shipping offers are limited to the 48 contiguous states of the USA.


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Tesla should get rid of "rated range"
Tesla should get rid of "rated range"
I wouldn't mind if that were removed fromt he main display. But it would be nice if we could cycle through a few parameters on the instrument panel, like
kWh used since last charge (I can live with the battery bar)
estimated miles remaining
average (choose your favorite:Wh/m, m/Wh, m/kWh)
Instantaneous (same choices)
average speed
These are the same (except for obvious differences) that I get on my ICE. Normally I use the miles remaining indicator to plan my refueling stop. With my ICE I use it to figure out where the cheapest gas and whether I can get there or not. I assume that some of these are going to be implemented sometime in the near future.
This has been discussed elsewhere, but I think the rated range is the best of a bad set of choices. Since the S can't predict how you are going to drive, where you are going to drive, or what the weather is going to be then any estimate is flawed.
Unlike an ICE car where 1/2 a tank really is half a tank, SOC isn't really a good measure IMHO. At 70deg, 100% SOC gives 265 projected miles. At 20deg 100% SOC gives MUCH less. If a novice driver sees 100% SOC, how are they to know how much distance they might be able to do? Isn't a 'best guess' projected range estimate based on EPA rating corrected for temperature the least-bad guess?
I've only had my car a couple weeks, but so far, I like the rated range. Instantaneous range is a fun toy (I don't want to see it go away), but it's worthless at guessing how many miles I have left. I'm sure we've all seen it swing by 100 miles in seconds.
I do like the average, but that too isn't perfect.
I like rated range too. I feel some accomplishment when projected range exceeds rated range. It is also useful for trip planning. Gives a benchmark for driving style.
no, no, the projected range is way inaccurate if you were doing uphill or downhill in the last 30, 15 or 5 miles,, either too low or too high, the rated range is better and more useful.
I have seen my projected range at 999 miles, it is fun to look at but completely useless indicator of how far I might be able to drive.
I disagree -- I think rated range is a nice midway point which can easily be obtained if you want to (or better if you drive really carefully). I would personally be ok with a precise percent charge instead, but I think many people wouldn't want to do math to figure out how far they can go. As it is, if you know the way you drive uses 25% more energy than the rated range, just multiply the rated range by .8. If anything, you might allow people to enter their own Wh/mi average.
Projected is worthless because it is based on what you have driven, not what you will drive. The car can't know the future, so it doesn't know if you plant to drive 80 on the interstate or 25 on surface roads, so you are much better off just using some average and letting people adjust it in their head since they are the only ones who know how they will drive.
The new update made rated and ideal your two choices. Honestly I have been almost spot on with rated. It works out to be around 320Wh/mi.
Ideal seems optimistic to me, so this week I've been doing a maximum effort and take roads that skirt the freeway to drop the speeds to 55 vice 70. I have been able to flirt with 285Wh/mi which gets me to ideal mileage, but its not my normal drive style.
I would like to see an average of the last 500 miles or so to make a projected range to display. That way under the most common style of driving by any person, which could be anywhere between 300-400Wh/mi, it would display a realistic range for that person and their historic conditions. It would be a good slow moving average, but would change monthly and be able to react to seasonal climate changes and reflect that range. More in the summer, less in the winter.
Ideal for maximum mileage efforts, rated for typical driving, 500 mile projected for a unique range based on that person. Of course you can reference the instant from the graph to give you current real time range.
rated is the best fit for my actual range. Projected swings wildly. I can have 80 rated left, and projected can be all over the map from 150 to 40. But what allwaysseems to happen is what I get on average is what rated said.
It should be a "smart" rated range and give highway/city rated ranges. Start using EPA values but learn the persons driving style and adjust for conditions (temp, climate control). I don't see how they can adjust for wind and that can be a big factor.
That's the way to use it: the benchmark if the conditions are met. As with any car or tool, experience will allow reasonable adjustments for "assumptions exceeded".
@Koz - how can it learn that sometimes I drive hard and sometimes I don't?
Average wh/mi over the last 30 mi.?
Rated is much better than Ideal.
The green bar clearly indicates the amount of energy left.
Using the energy application can help give estimates based on previous driving.
It's fairly easy to follow this guideline. Rated is 65 mph and Ideal is 55 mph. If you drive faster, then check your progress with the energy application.
Here is one more idea for the 85 kWh Model S. For every degree below 70, remove that many miles from the rated range with a full charge. Just an idea, but it comes close to what I have experienced and maybe others as well. Don't forget the mileage loss while parked if you aren't charging.
Maybe someone could provide a formula for driving above 65 and how that affects range. The energy application is a great help for those who like to drive fast.
All this points out that we should have the capability to change what we see on the instrument panel to what we want to see and can use the best in our individual circumstances. On my ICE, I use instantaneous mph to help modify my driving habits to get the most mileage. I could use the Wh/mile, but unfortunately the font size is too small for my myopic eyes. User configurability please.
The 'Rated Range' information should be rated ESRB Adults Only / PEGI 18+... :)
Another vote from me to leave Rated Range in place...In decent weather (Mid 40-ish degrees and above), it's been very near spot-on with my actual miles driven. I'll take that any day, and modify in my head if the weather turns extreme, if I'm hauling a ton of cargo, or if I feel like driving like a lunatic :p
I'd leave it as is and add an option in the energy app to average over lifetime.
The more you drive the more accurate it will be.
Can't agree more for cold temperature. Rated is useless and dangerous:
The Consumer Reports article conclude with:
"One additional takeaway: Perhaps it's the "projected range" that needs to display more prominently than the "rated range."
The dash is too far away for your myopia? I hope you drive with distance focus glasses. Unless you go the classic Texas oil baron route, and have the windshield ground to your prescription!
Seasonal variations are so important in determining range. I agree with those who promote a prominent display for projected range based on the past 500 miles!!!!! This would keep reporters out of trouble.
There are too many variables that are unknown for either range estimate to be accurate. Speed, traffic, driving habits, wind, hills, passenger load, heater or AC on/off, etc., etc. The assumptions for either range calculation can't account for any of these in advance. Other information, such as miles per minute of charge, aren't any more reliable. Our Model S hasn't been delivered yet. I hope I will be able to display a simple equivalent to our ICE's gas gauge. When the battery capacity gets below a quarter full, I'll look for one of the charging stations that I've located along our preplanned route.
PeterV | February 16, 2013
Seasonal variations are so important in determining range. I agree with those who promote a prominent display for projected range based on the past 500 miles!!!!! This would keep reporters out of trouble.
Not if they're either looking or working to produce it.
I find rated range to be the best for me. If the weather is really cold, really hot, or if I am in stop and go traffic, I have learned to estimate a certain percentage of rated range to give me a good estimate of how far I will actually be able to go. In moderate weather and on the highway, I still like rated because I know I can approach it and often exceed it (I did it this winter in the Philly area and it was only 40-deg). Additionally, when we are far from our home base or another charging station and rated miles remaining is pretty close to actual miles remaining, all we have to do is slow down and we will make it to our destination. To me, rated range is more valuable than projected range. And ideal range is the least valuable.
We've found rated range to be spot on. We are in CA so the climate is kind to the battery. I think there are too many variables to get rid of either. My not-so-sage advice is to see what works with your driving style and location and learn to use that...IMHO
Rated range doesn't seem to corollate very well when I am just driving around town mindlessly, but on the road driving for efficiency it is spot on. Driving LA to San Francisco yesterday at 65 - 70 mph with gentle acceleration and minimal braking it was less than 5% off on all four legs between Superchargers. I'm confident enough now to make the 111 miles from Harris Ranch to Gilroy with only 20 extra rated miles. What would be very helpful is a way to display the difference between rated range and remaining distance on the Google map readout for a trip which would be "rated reserve." I keep doing that calculation mentally and adjust my driving style accordingly.
I'd prefer a good SOC reading over rated or ideal since neither matches my driving.
I just did my first 180ish mile round trip and I like the rated range. It was a mix of highway, city and country side roads. The rated range was spot on.
robkal007 is right tho. Heavy city driving rated is not the best. In the city tho I don't worry about my range at all. It's the long distance drives I need that accurate number and rated works good for that.
@ Sudre
I also like rated range... I drove all day all over Los Angeles freeways and surface streets and the rated range was perfect.... the miles I drove correspond exactly to the rated range used on the battery.
Rated range is great for locations with mild weather like California. For most other places they should use projected miles using the driving pattern over the last few minutes. At minimum show both or make it an easy toggle option.
The number of minutes used to calculate projected miles can be higher when the battery is full, like over the last 30 minutes. As the battery depletes the projected miles should be calculated over a shorter period. If less than 15% range remains then projected miles should be calculated every 5 minutes since minor changes in driving behavior make a huge difference.


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6 tips for incorporating your style into interior décor
Imagine the feeling of walking into the home of your dreams, a luxury space designed by someone just for you. What does that space look like in your mind, does it make you feel safe, connected and inspired? This article looks at how you can make your space at home perfect for you.Read more
How to source furniture for your home
Often when people think about sourcing furniture, they imagine going to a shop and picking some out. It's a convenient way to buy, and even easier if you take advantage of online retailers. However, if you don't have an eye for interior design, it can be hard to tell what sort of furniture would suit your space. Or maybe you have a vision which requires furniture which you can't find in mainstream stores. In any case, there are other avenues through which to purchase furniture which is unique, stylish, and suited perfectly to your space.Read more
Buying sustainably and how to do it effectively
Do you wish you knew how to shop for pieces that veer towards the sustainable side of things? Buying environmentally friendly items can be hard to spot without asking a million questions, and although these types of questions are always welcome it's nice to have some knowledge before hitting the shops. Let's look at some of the criteria to spot an eco-friendly choice.Read more
Choosing the right rug for your space
A rug is the perfect way to complete your look, but they can be a very tricky thing to buy if one is unsure of what they are looking for. Design factors such as placement, colour and size are the main troublesome issues; however there are many more areas that could aide confusion.Read more
Transforming a child's bedroom into a teenagers bedroom
There comes a point in every kid's life when they want to feel more grown up and they have outgrown their childhood bedroom.Read more
Investing in a better bedroom
Your bedroom should be one of your favourite parts of your home; somewhere that you feel relaxed and happy. If your bedroom has you uninspired and waking up feeling flat, it is time to make some changes.Read more


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Our Debut Sunglasses Release!
Introducing one of our newest sunglasses releases, The Visionaries Designer Sunglasses. Crafted to perfection by Gold Goddess
- 100% Money-Back Guarantee, if unsatisfied with product, simply send it back for a full refund.
- Free United States Shipping on all orders! Only 3-5 Business Days for Domestic Orders.
- Designer Sunglasses Quality
- PVD plated in 18k Yellow Gold. (The Highest Quality Plating Available)
- Each item comes with a certificate of authenticity.
- FDA and CE Compliant CR39 High Quality 0 Base Lenses
- Includes Custom Logo Black Leatherette Hard Shell Case
- All you need for purchase is a Debit/Credit card or Paypal account.


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johno necesitaba un nuevo diseño de tema de wordpress y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 12 diseños de 4 diseñadores freelance.
We are a marketing reseller offering collective buying deals, half-off deals, online coupons and custom auction functionality to our web publisher clients. Our clients are mostly radio stations/radio groups in the US. We are creating a 'Savings Portal' for our publishers that will bring together all of our offerings as well as those of our affiliate partners in one place. Our publishers will have the option to include blog postings on the site, integrate with social media, and add their own advertising. This theme will be used by multiple publishers and we hope to be able to eventually offer it in several different palettes. Finally, as part of the design process, we are interested in including a logo that communicates 'savings' to be incorporated in the banner area. See more on this below.
Our target audience varies based on our client web publishers, but for the most part 66% female - most significant overall age-range 30 - 55 yrs.
This should be a 2 column 960 - fixed width. One of our existing partner sites http://www.cincysavers.com should be used as a model for what we want to use (we provide a good deal of the content for cincysavers and will be offering the same on this new site as well as some of the same affiliate partner offerings.)
This theme will be used for multiple publishers. Publishers will 'brand' the site by uploading their banner image into the banner area. We are interested in multiple palettes.
We will require these UI elements as well:
- 960 fixed width, 2 columns 640/320
- about/contact links at top right of site
- a background image to display above and around the 960 site to give a 'finished' look
- 'savings' logo - a logo/icon that communicates 'savings' (along the lines of the 'pig' on the cincysavers site)
- the ability to upload the publisher's custom banner image into the site banner area for a seam-less, branded look
- 'Follow Us' on twitter, facebook, rss
- search widget
- main menu
- you may rely heavily on the cincysavers.com layout and modules. We will be adding custom plugins, 300x250 widgets, 3rd party affiliate plugins.
- below content/above footer, area required for a lower advertising banner
- copyright info, terms of use/privacy policy/ contact us links
- 2 columns 640/320


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- News
- Business
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle
- Health
- Travel
- Technology
For those inclined to believe anything is possible in politics, Tom Mulcair or Justin Trudeau could be Canada's next prime minister in 2015.
But no one should put any money on that, counsels retired University of Winnipeg academic John Ryan, an author and geographer who has recently been studying the near-term electoral prospects of the country's centre-left parties.
Ryan, himself a lapsed New Democrat, has devised a scheme to challenge the inevitability of yet another Conservative win in two years time — in what would be Stephen Harper's fourth successive victory.
An Ekos polling analysis last month warned: "The emergence of an NDP and Liberal Party, which are now operating at near parity, and a more popular Green party, constitutes ideal political arithmetic for the Conservative Party."
Quite right, says Ryan, convinced that vote splitting on the left will again result in a minority share of votes, yielding another majority win for Harper.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May agrees, and stepped forward Saturday to declare that her party won't run a candidate in a yet-to-be-called byelection in Labrador.
Former Conservative MP Peter Penashue stepped down in mid-March amid reports that Elections Canada is investigating his 2011 campaign spending.
May's move could prove decisive given that Penashue beat his Liberal opponent by fewer votes than the Greens received.
In any event, May's gesture will serve as a test run for opposition cooperation in 2015, despite the NDP's refusal to play ball in Labrador.
Consider, says Ryan, that the NDP, although strong in Quebec, would have to score a serious breakthrough in Western Canada to win on its own steam in 2015.
For Liberals to win, Trudeau — likely to become the party's new leader on April 14 — would have to surf to Sussex Drive on a wave of Trudeaumania big enough to woo Westerners.
Both scenarios are unlikely.
Still, with shiny new leaders, both opposition parties probably will do well in 2015, meaning they will productively divide the centre-left constituency.
Ryan's plan to stave off that eventuality, of course, is not new.
Two B.C. MPs, in two separate leadership bids, have pushed for something similar — NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen in 2012, and Liberal leadership aspirant Joyce Murray in 2013. Both candidates claimed strong support.
Ryan's proposal envisions both parties maintaining separate identities, but agreeing to a common platform on a few fundamental issues, plus an electoral strategy as follows:
• In ridings where the Conservatives lost in the last election, the sitting NDP, Liberal or Green MP would be the 2015 candidate.
• In seats that Conservatives or Bloc MPs now hold, the coalition would run the candidate from the opposition party that won the second-highest number of votes in 2011.
By Ryan's analysis of Elections Canada data, New Democrats would win as many as 130 seats in 2015. Liberals, 70.
Conservatives would be reduced to 107 seats, and the Bloc would be eliminated.
It is worth noting that Ryan's plan does not account for electoral upsets in any given riding, a not-infrequent event.
Nor does it consider the impact of 30 new Commons seats being added in suburban Alberta and Ontario, areas that lean Conservative.
But even if all 30 were won by Harper's party, Conservatives — with 137 seats — still would have fewer seats than a coalition, claiming 200.
To date, Mulcair and Trudeau have done nothing but diss any notion of cooperation. But once Trudeau is firmly at the helm, the two leaders will be in a better position to act.
The big unknown? Voter reaction. If a groundswell of public support develops for a strategic cooperation, anything is possible in politics.


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By including quality management as a core aspect of our processes and technology, we can provide the highest quality translations for your project, regardless of the target language or territory.
Efficient processes, consistent translations, and cost and process transparency — we can connect with a range of content management systems, ecommerce platforms and development frameworks.
We will provide you with a dedicated account manager who will work with your team of project managers to recruit the best linguists with specific expertise in your business sector to handle your translation projects.


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Brugada Syndrome
What is Brugada syndrome?
Brugada syndrome is a genetic disorder that can causes a dangerous irregular heartbeat. A mutation in the SCN5A gene causes the genetic form of this condition. When this mutation occurs, it may cause a ventricular arrhythmia. This is a type of irregular heartbeat. When this happ
ens, the lower chambers of your heart (ventricles) beat irregularly and prevent blood from circulating properly in your body. This can be dangerous and may result in fainting or even death, especially during sleep or rest. The disease has been known as sudden, unexplained nocturnal death syndrome because people with it can often die in their sleep.
Brugada syndrome is rare. It affects about 5 of every 10,000 people worldwide. Symptoms usually show up during adulthood, although the disorder can develop at any age, including infancy. The average age of death related to the disease is 40 years old.
What causes Brugada syndrome?
The genetic form of Brugada syndrome is caused by a mutation in the SCN5A gene. It is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder, which means that it can be inherited from just one parent. However, some people develop a new mutation of the gene and do not inherit it from a parent. This genetic defect causes heart muscles cells to handle sodium abnormally, which can then lead to abnormal heart rhythms.
Sometimes you may have Brugada syndrome but it is dormant and does not cause any problems. However, some medicines such as antidepressants and antipsychotics, illicit drugs, conditions that cause fever, and electrolyte problems can unmask the syndrome. Sometimes people may appear to have Brugada syndrome based on an electrocardiogram but do not have the disease itself. This is called acquired Brugada pattern and does not pose a risk if the condition is temporary and does not cause symptoms or dangerous heart rhythms.
What are the risk factors for Brugada syndrome?
People who are at greatest risk for the disorder are those of Asian descent, particularly Japanese and Southeast Asian ancestry. It occurs 8 to 10 times more frequently in men than in women. Researchers think the male hormone testosterone may contribute to the difference between genders.
What are the symptoms of Brugada syndrome?
Symptoms that may occur with Brugada syndrome include:
- Palpitations
- Fainting
- Seizures
- Sudden death
How is Brugada syndrome diagnosed?
Your doctor may suspect Brugada syndrome if you have any of the above symptoms, or if you have a family history of the disease, or an unexplained sudden death in the family. An electrocardiogram (ECG) can detect the disease.
First-degree relatives of someone with Brugada syndrome should be screened. This may include at least a history, physical exam, and an ECG.
How is Brugada syndrome treated?
Currently, there is no cure for Brugada syndrome. However, there are ways to protect people from the dangerous consequences of the disease. An implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) can help prevent the symptoms and sudden death related to Brugada syndrome. When this device detects the start of an arrhythmia, it sends out 1 or more brief shocks to your heart to reset it back into its regular rhythm.
Medicines may also help prevent arrhythmias. Discuss all options with a qualified healthcare provider.
What are the complications of Brugada syndrome?
The most serious complication of Brugada syndrome is sudden death. This often occurs while the person is sleeping.
Can Brugada syndrome be prevented?
Many cases of Brugada syndrome are related to a genetic mutation. It is not possible for you to prevent inheriting this condition. However, identifying the condition is key to preventing its potential complications. If you have Brugada syndrome and plan to have children, you may want to consult with a genetic counselor first.
When should I call my healthcare provider?
If you have any of the symptoms of ventricular arrhythmia, seek emergency medical help immediately. If you believe you may be at risk for Brugada syndrome because of your family history or other reasons, consult a healthcare provider for testing.
Key points for Brugada syndrome
- Brugada syndrome is a disorder that causes an irregular heartbeat
- It can be either inherited or acquired
- Genetic testing can look for a mutation in your SCN5A gene that may help determine your risk
- If Brugada syndrome is diagnosed, an implanted cardioverter defibrillator can prevent symptoms and sudden death related to the syndrome
- If you have any of the symptoms of ventricular arrhythmia, seek emergency medical help immediately
Next steps
Tips to help you get the most from a visit to your healthcare provider:
- Know the reason for your visit and what you want to happen.
- Before your visit, write down questions you want answered.
- Bring someone with you to help you ask questions and remember what your provider tells you.
- At the visit, write down the name of a new diagnosis, and any new medicines, treatments, or tests. Also write down any new instructions your provider gives you.
- Know why a new medicine or treatment is prescribed, and how it will help you. Also know what the side effects are.
- Ask if your condition can be treated in other ways.
- Know why a test or procedure is recommended and what the results could mean.
- Know what to expect if you do not take the medicine or have the test or procedure.
- If you have a follow-up appointment, write down the date, time, and purpose for that visit.
- Know how you can contact your provider if you have questions.


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100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers
Now this is a lot of hard work.
"We can't pay and we wouldn't pay. Even if I had the money I would rather burn everything I owned, and I wouldn't even give them the ashes." PirateBay! FTW!!!
Lasciate Ogne Speranza, Voi Ch'intrate.... Bitches.
"Jesus Died For Somebody's Sins... But Not Mine..."
~Patti Smith, Gloria, Easter 1975
Let It Burn, Wanna Let It Burn, Wanna Let It Burn, Wanna, Wanna Let It Burn
April 29th, 1992
Now this is a lot of hard work.


text:
by Steve Bolton
I was drawn into the realm of SQL Server in a roundabout manner thanks to Visual Basic. Around the time I got my Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) certification in VB 6.0 (at precisely the same time .Net hit the market, instantly leaving me a year or so behind the curve), a potential employer rescinded an offer because I didn't know how to write stored procedures. When SQL Server 2005 came out I was still learning the ropes of relational databases, but was overjoyed at the prospect of writing stored procedures using the .Net Common Language Runtime (CLR). It meant I could now leverage my VB skills while writing T-SQL, but I got busy with other aspects of SQL Server while getting my Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) and three Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certs, then familiarizing myself with fields like data mining. In the meantime it sank on my priorities list because practically every blog post I read on the subject of CLR was cautionary, to the say the least; although there still seems to be widespread agreement that the tool has a lot of potential, the SQL Server community has been slower to make use of it than expected for a variety of reasons. One of these is a lack of clear guidelines and best practices on when to use CLR triggers, functions, aggregates, procedures and data types, as well as how to avoid the performance problems that mediocre CLR code can cause. When studying for my last exam, SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance, a couple of summers ago, I learned that it was possible to write CLR stored procedures in SSAS, but put off learning to do it indefinitely for a variety of reasons. Among these was the sheer amount of information I had to absorb for the certification exams, which can be brutal if you're self-taught; I can't be more specific due to the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) Microsoft requires, but I advise anyone trying to go it alone like this to memorize practically every page of documentation in Books Online, as well as to devise hands-on practice exercises for every conceivable operation. I simply didn't have time to adequately learn this arcane aspect of SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), even though it was one feature that definitely interested me. Furthermore, adoption of CLR in Analysis Services seemed to be even slower than on the relational side. Even Chris Webb, one of the leading SSAS cube gurus, said he was late to the game back in 2006, in a blog post titled "My First Analysis Services Stored Procedure." How's this for late in the game: I wasn't even aware that CLR stored procedures could be written for SQL Server Data Mining (SSDM) until I was half-way through this amateur series of self-tutorials on SSDM, which I am writing the familiarize myself with the topic better while simultaneously giving the most underappreciated components of SQL Server some badly needed free press. I discovered this when I ran across a C# tutorial on the subject tucked in the back of Data Mining with Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the classic reference written by former members of Microsoft's Data Mining Team. It was only when I began writing my last article, A Rickety Stairway to SQL Server Data Mining, Part 12: Accessing SSDM with AMO, ADOMD, SSIS, XMLA and RS, that I realized that they were identical to Analysis Services stored procedures and deserved separate treatment in a special blog post.
I'm glad I took the time to split this topic off into a separate article, because I now know first-hand how useful they can be. In A Rickety Stairway to SQL Server Data Mining, Part 10.4: Data Mining Dimensions vs. Drastic Dynamic DMX, I provided a couple dozen scripts that enable users to import their mining results directly into relational tables, where they can be sliced and diced with T-SQL or exported to cubes for further analysis. By importing them into the relational schema I came up with, users can essentially circumvent Data Mining Expressions (DMX), the language used to retrieve results from SSDM, with the lone exception of prediction queries, which are only partially automated. I basically encapsulated a lot of the rough spots that data miners are bound to encounter when accessing DMX through T-SQL, particularly the astounding inability of the Microsoft OLE DB for Analysis Services data provider to translate #IND and NaN values correctly. The workaround I developed for that bug involves some ugly-looking string conversion code using native Excel functions, which unfortunately require Excel to be installed on the same machine at the Analysis Server that SSDM runs on. Now that I know how to write stored procedures for SSAS, it will be fairly easy to write a more elegant workaround that won't require Excel at all. I may post it at Codeplex's Analysis Services Stored Procedure Project, whenever I get around to finishing it. At present, the SQL Server community has contributed 23 SSAS stored procedures, not counting multiple versions of the same procedures. ClusterNaming is the only one which is directly relevant to data mining; it addresses the fairly simple problem of persisting names of clusters between processing runs, by renaming them by their characteristics in the same fashion as a verbose Association Rules label. There's a practically endless supply of real-world use cases, bug fixes and missing features that could be addressed by other CLR stored procedures for SSDM. I'm always happy to be able to kill two birds with one stone – or rather, to discover that there's only bird, as I did when I realized that SSAS and SSDM stored procedures are one and the same. Yet my newfound appreciation for CLR goes beyond merely crossing another item off my To-Do List. They're not only useful, but fairly easy to write, at least from my odd perspective, as a self-taught VB programmer and homeschooled DBA. Perhaps real programmer or DBAs won't find the process as easy, useful or interesting, depending on one's own needs or experience, but personally, if I'd know it was this simple, I would have started using CLR years ago.
This post also gives me a chance to put another drop in the bucket to resolve a side issue I mentioned in the last post, i.e. the lack of SSDM code examples written in VB. Almost all of the .Net code related to SSDM seems to be written in C#, including the examples in the DM Team's book, which I highly recommend if you prefer that language. VB has been getting short shrift from Microsoft in recent years, with the number of code examples in the Visual Studio documentation declining proportionally with each passing year; frankly, Visual Studio's Help sections are a mess these days, due to issues like the lack of Intellisense links to Help topics; code samples cluttered with extraneous code; and tautological code examples that don't tell you anything, like simply declaring an object without showing how it's actually used. This would have been unacceptable as far back as VB 5.0, when Visual Studio's documentation was actually much more useful. In any event, I'm going to provide my CLR code samples in Visual Basic, to put my drop in the bucket on its behalf. One of its advantages is that it's fairly easy to follow in comparison to many other .Net languages, so interpreting these samples shouldn't be that difficult. I'm not going to give examples in how to do all this in the old COM interface, because it's obsolete, although you can implement SSAS procedures in it. I will, however, contrast the process of creating CLR stored procedures on the relational side with the means of writing them for Analysis Services. There are many similarities, but there are a few important differences at each stage of comparable processes.
The dissimilarities begin with the first line of code, in which we use an Imports statement to add a reference to Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AdomdServer. Before adding this line you may first have to use the Add Reference… command in Visual Studio to set a reference to msmgdsrv.dll, which may be located in your Program Files\Microsoft Analysis Services\AS OLEDB\110 folder. If we were writing CLR code for the relational side, we'd be adding a reference to Microsoft.SqlServer.Server, in order to access the server automation functions in SQL Server Management Objects (SMO). In last week's tutorial, we glossed over how to perform Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML) in SSDM using analogous Analysis Services automation libraries, Analysis Management Objects (AMO) and ActiveX Data Objects Multi-Dimensional for .Net (ADOMD.Net). AdomdServer is a version of ADOMD.Net that can run commands such as stored procedures on the server before returning results to remote clients, which allows us to return leaner resultsets and thereby conserve server, client and network resources.
The second line of code in Figure 1 is an example of a class attribute, which is an aspect of VB coding I completely forgot about because I hadn't used it in years. The easy way to understand class attributes is as a kind of custom property. In this case our SafeToPrepare property is required in both the class declaration and any functions within it, otherwise your server will return the error message "Prepare is not safe during execution of the MyStoredProcedure stored procedure" when you run your code. Basically, this just tells the server that there's no code within the procedure that could compromise security or access sensitive resources haphazardly. If we were working with relational CLR code, we would navigate to the SQLCLR tab in Project Properties and set the level to SAFE there, or to EXTERNAL_ACCESS if we needed to perform some kind of sensitive access, such as manipulating files, network resources and the like. We could also set it to UNSAFE if we wanted to do really risky things, like execute non-managed code outside the .Net framework. In a relational CLR project we would also have to use the WITH PERMISSION_SET clause with one of these values when updating or adding an assembly with T-SQL commands like ALTER ASSEMBLY and CREATE ASSEMBLY. There are no equivalent keywords in DMX or Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), the language used to manipulate cubes in SSAS, nor is there a SQLCLR tab in the Project Properties of SSAS stored procedure projects. A few paragraphs further down I'll explain how we can specify the same three permission settings in the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) GUI (or hand-type them into verbose XMLA commands, if you're a masochist) when we add our compiled code to the server in the form of a CLR assembly. On the project side, however, the only way we can specify the permission set is using the SafeToPrepare class attribute. In fact, I can't find any reference to an alternative to SafeToPrepare = True in the object model, Books Online (BOL) or other SSAS procedure tutorials scattered around the Internet. It is possible to add an assembly marked for External Access or as Unrestricted (i.e., Unsafe in SSAS lingo) once it's been built, but I haven't yet found a means of writing .Net code with either of these alternative permission sets.
Figure 1: An Example of a Server-Side Stored Procedure with SSDM
'don't forget the Imports keyword at the beginning
Imports Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AdomdServer
<SafeToPrepare(True)> Public Class MainClass
<SafeToPrepare(True)> Public Function GetFullStatistics(ModelName As String) As System.Data.DataTable
Dim TempDataTable As New System.Data.DataTable
Dim TempColumn As New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.ColumnName = "AdjustedProbability"
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Double")
TempColumn = New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Double")
TempColumn.ColumnName = "Probability"
TempColumn = New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Double")
TempColumn.ColumnName = "Support"
TempColumn = New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Double")
TempColumn.ColumnName = "Max"
TempColumn = New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Double")
TempColumn.ColumnName = "Min"
TempColumn = New System.Data.DataColumn
TempColumn.ColumnName = "States"
TempColumn.DataType = System.Type.GetType("System.Int32″)
Dim TempRow As System.Data.DataRow
Dim TempAttributeStats As New AttributeStats
Dim TempStateStats As New StateStats
For I = 0 To Context.MiningModels(ModelName).GetAttributes(MiningFeatureSelection.All).Count - 1 '
TempAttributeStats = Context.MiningModels(ModelName).GetAttributeFullStatistics(I)
TempRow = TempDataTable.NewRow()
TempRow.Item("AdjustedProbability") = TempAttributeStats.ExistingAdjustedProbability
TempRow.Item("Probability") = TempAttributeStats.ExistingProbability
TempRow.Item("Support") = TempAttributeStats.ExistingSupport
TempRow.Item("Max") = TempAttributeStats.Max
TempRow.Item("Min") = TempAttributeStats.Min
TempRow.Item("States") = TempAttributeStats.States
'we could add a nested table below this level with the state stats returned by TempAttributeStats.StateStatistics()
'the data seems to be equivalent to a NODE_DISTRIBUTION table
Next (I)
'when returning multiple tables, add them to a dataset and apply the appropriate relations
Return TempDataTable
End Function
End Class
If you were able to follow the ADOMD code sample I provided last week, then the code above for the server version of ADOMD should be a breeze, since their object models are quite similar. The first 35 lines or so (please forgive the lack of line numbers or proper formatting; I'm just now getting around to posting my first VB code samples) merely create the table that will be used to hold our resultset. The prefix "Temp" is merely an old coding custom of mine for specifying variables of local scope. There's nothing fancy at the end of the function declaration either; just don't forget to declare the return type for your function at the top of the class, otherwise your server will return the same error message mine did when you run the code: "The user-defined function (UDF) returned an inconsistent number of columns." The code within the loop is where the action of assigning values to our resultset takes place. It's also where we encounter the one critical exception to the server version of ADOMD, which allows you to access various server objects through the Context object, which is the counterpart of the SQLContext object in SMO. Well, sometimes it allows you too. You're supposed to be able to access the object that is specified in the FROM clause of an MDX or DMX query using syntax like Context.CurrentCube and Context.CurrentMiningModel, as well as retrieve connection, server and database references using CurrentConnection, CurrentDatabaseName and CurrentServerID.
I can't speak for these other Current objects, but a fatal bug was apparently introduced into CurrentMiningModel property of the Context object, which worked as specified until the release of SQL Server 2012. References to it in the current version of SQL Server will lead to "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" errors when debugging in Visual Studio, while in SSMS you'll get the following message when calling your procedure: "Execution of the managed stored procedure MyStoredProcedureName failed with the following error: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. Object reference not set to an instance of an object." At least according to Google, there's only one source of information on this puzzling error, in the thread "Context.CurrentMiningModel returns null in UDF" at Techques.com. A user named Jan provided important information to the effect that "A contact at Microsoft confirmed this behaviour as desired due to a 'Metadata-Refactoring' (whatever this means…). However, the website still pends to be updated appropriately." There's no mention of this in the documentation, unless this odd line from the MSDN webpage "Context.CurrentMiningModel Property" refers to this: "The return value will be Nothing when called from a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query, or as a stored procedure." As Adam Sandler once said, "Once again, things that could've been brought to my attention Yesterday!" The single reply to Jan's thread mentioned a fairly simple workaround almost identical to the one I use in Figure 1, in which we supply the name of a mining model to retrieve the right one from the MiningModels collection. What this means is that we can still execute our procedure with either the CALL syntax, as in CALL SSASSPClassLibrary1.GetFullStatistics ('LRDenormalizedView1Model'), or like a function in a DMX select list, like so: SELECT SSASSPClassLibrary1.GetFullStatistics ('LRDenormalizedView1Model') FROM [LRDenormalizedView1Model]. In both of these examples, however, we have to supply the name of the mining model as an argument to the function, which wasn't necessary in previous versions of SQL Server. Basically, this is an undocumented breaking change to Analysis Services stored procedures. It is also another illustration of the difficulty of finding decent documentation on SSAS, which often entails sifting through the combined knowledge of the human race on the Internet just to find a single post written by someone on the other side of the planet. It's in the same league as "going boldly where no man has gone before," like the crew of the starship Enterprise, except it's even uglier than the eyebrows of a Klingon. That's why I started a series of blog posts in 2011 titled An Informal Compendium of SSAS Errors, which remains one of the few centralized sources of information on the planet for certain arcane Analysis Services errors. I may have to add this to the list. Yet as long as you're willing to overlook this defect – which is really only cosmetic if you're writing brand new code – you can still do great things with SSAS stored procedures. That may include some things you might not know were possible, just as I didn't know it was possible to directly retrieve a mining model's Adjusted Probability stats until I messed around with the GetAttributeFullStatistics method depicted above.
Figure 2: Adding a Reference to Your SSAS Procedure in the Visual Studio Assemblies Folder
The next step after writing code is usually to deploy it for testing. The first step in this process with SSAS procedures is to right-click the Assemblies folder in your SSDM project and add a reference to your procedure project. Figure 2 depicts some of the mining models we used for practice earlier in this series, as well as some additional projects in the same Visual Studio solution; the mouse is positioned near the Assemblies folder, where the name of your procedure will appear in the same list as the WpfApplication1 project once you reference it. In between building your project and deploying it, make sure that the newly built .dll and accompanying files are in the procedure project's Bin/Obj/Release folder, otherwise you won't be able to debug the project. If necessary, copy all of the files from one of the other Debug folders if necessary. And for the love of all that's holy, make sure you navigate to your mining project's Properties window and set the Processing Option to Do Not Process. If you do not set this option, every mining model in your project will be processed. Like a monster from a horror film, "there is no way to stop it once it's begun." Basically, you'll have to restart the server. It's essentially Ripley's strategy in Aliens: "Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." You don't want to have to use the nuclear option on your server just to deploy a procedure – especially if you're only testing it, which should only be done on a test server anyways.
Figure 3: Select Do Not Process Before Deploying
Except for that single whopping mistake, I have yet to see any real catastrophic errors arise from failed deployments of SSAS procedures. I only encountered a couple of other minor errors when building and deploying my first one, which turned out to be far less of a hassle than I anticipated. As mentioned earlier, you can also add assemblies to an Analysis Server through the GUI by right-clicking the Assemblies folder under your SSAS database, as depicted in Figure 5. One of the interesting features of SSAS procedures compared to their T-SQL cousins is that you can choose to deploy them to an entire server rather than a single database, by right-clicking the Assemblies folder for the server rather than the database. Either way, you're then prompted to fill in the dialog in Figure 5, which is titled Register Server Assembly title and Register Database Assembly depending on which folder you right-clicked. Otherwise there is no difference. I'm not aware of any means to deploy any type of CLR object to an entire server on the relational side, where commands like ALTER, CREATE and DROP ASSEMBLY must be repeated in each database where you want to use your CLR trigger, aggregate, procedure, function or type. It may be a shame that Analysis Services lacks comparable MDX or DMX clauses – the XMLA equivalents are so fat and incomprehensible[ii] that I won't even bother to post them – but I actually had an easier time deploying assemblies to SSAS than to relational databases so far, because the Visual Studio-generated code has consistently proved to be unreliable in the case of relational CLR. When I prepared for this post, I wrote some procedures and other CLR objects on the relational side for practice, but spent more time debugging the deployment process than I did tracking down the AdomdServer Context bug. Basically, the scripts Visual Studio generated weren't being updated as they should have been and therefore couldn't apply the correct permission sets. I had much better luck simply writing my own ALTER, CREATE and DROP ASSEMBLY commands in T-SQL by hand. In contrast, I didn't run into any such hitches due to bugs in Visual Studio when deploying SSAS procedures.
Figure 4: Adding a CLR Assembly in Management Studio
Figure 5: The Register Server/Database Assembly Dialog Box
Another reason I put off using CLR for so long was the daunting prospect of debugging DLLs, which I'd always had trouble with in the past. This time around the process went much more smoothly, perhaps because I was using a much more advanced version of Visual Studio than in my last DLL project long ago, or perhaps because I was a little less inexperienced than before. Figure 6 depicts the dialog box that appears when you select the Attach to Process… command in Visual Studio. The Qualifier dropdown allows you to select the server name, which is covered up by the Select Code Type dialog, while the Transport dropdown allows you to choose between the Default and Remote debugging modes. The trick is to make sure the Show processes from all users and Show process in all sessions boxes are both checked and then use the Select… button to bring up the Select Code Type dialog, where you should choose both T-SQL and Managed Code (v4.0). If you only select the first, your breakpoints in VS will be white rather than brown and will be accompanied by a balloon message to the effect that they will never be hit. You'll also receive similar bad tidings that the breakpoints will never be hit "because there are no symbols loaded' if you forget to set your DLL project at the Startup Project in your Visual Studio solution.
Figure 6: The Attach to Process Dialog in Visual Studio
Relational CLR code can be debugged through two additional methods, which are succinctly described by a user named msdntwt in the MSDN thread Three Ways to Debug CLR Stored Procedures. I had trouble with one of these alternate methods, which involves adding a test script in Visual Studio. Now that I understand the Attach To Process… debugger better and am more accustomed to writing queries in SSMS, I'll refrain from debugging these alternate debugging methods, so to speak. Other users may prefer one of these other methods, but I'm more partial to writing code in Management Studio query windows, which will automatically trigger breakpoints in Visual Studio if the debugging process is set up correctly. One minor hitch I ran into with this approach on the relational side was that I had more than one SQL Server process running and attached to the wrong one on the first try, which is a situation I haven't encountered yet with the Analysis Services process, msmdsrv.exe. The most time-consuming one was the fatal error, "Tracking the .Net Framework :Deploy error SQL01234: The database version is not supported." The culprit turned out to be SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), which is the name of the version of Visual Studio included with SQL Server. In previous versions it was known as Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), but it was still basically a stripped-down version of Visual Studio. I already had SSDT installed, but apparently the version included with SQL Server 2012 wasn't good enough, because I had to download an alternate version and integrate it with Visual Studio before I could build CLR objects that targeted the .Net 4.0 Framework. This is the Framework version SQL Server 2012 requires. So in a nutshell, the new version of SQL Server demands that you write code for a specific set of object models and ships with programming tools that only work with previous versions, thereby forcing you to download a different product by the same name.
It's best to take such hacks in stride, because they come with the territory when you're writing computer code of any kind. One of the things I like about Microsoft's programming tools is that they seem to have far fewer mistakes of this kind than any other coding software I've tried, going as far back as my Macintosh programming days in the 1990s, or even further back to writing games in BASIC on an old Compucolor II. My posts may sometimes make SSDM and other software I discuss seem much more difficult to use than they really are – unlike Windows 8 and the current installers for Oracle and DB2, which I really meant to knock in separate posts because they really are atrocious.[iii] I tend to focus on the pitfalls new users might encounter, since I'm one of them, but this may give the impression that the stumbling blocks are more numerous than they really are. This shouldn't obscure the fact that there really is a lot of untapped potential in CLR, especially when it comes to Analysis Services stored procedures. Readers of this post can tap more of that potential if they are cognizant of the many rookie mistakes I pointed out here.
The CLR functionality in Analysis Services could certainly use a few upgrades, such as counterparts to the ASSEMBLY commands in T-SQL and management views and tables like sys.assembly_files that are available on the relational side. One of the key differences between the two flavors of CLR is that a much wider variety of tasks can be performed on the relational side, such as .Net aggregates, triggers, functions and types. On the other hand, it makes little sense for Microsoft to upgrade SSAS stored procedures when they are still so little used, even in comparison to relational CLR, which is itself still uncharted territory more than seven years after its release. Extending it much further at this time would be a little bit like Lewis and Clark setting up fortresses in the Dakotas or Oklahoma Territory; no one would be around to use them for another half-century. The field of CLR seems to still be wide open and full of potential that has gone untapped largely because the understanding of when to apply it seems imprecise, even among the experts who really comprehend it much better than I do. I did some desultory reading on the topic while preparing for this article and came across quite a few use cases that filled an extremely wide variety of extremely narrow niches, without any central theme to tie all of the use cases together. There are still disputes going on about the wisdom of using some of them at all, including the classic discussion at Alex Papadimoulis' .NET Blog "When Should I Use SQL-Server CLR User Defined Types (UDT)?" Alex set off a firestorm of controversy in 2005 when he said that CLR user defined types (UDTs) should never be used for any purpose, on the grounds that they violate the demand of first normal form that all table cells should be atomic. Some of those who objected pointed out examples of what they believed to be atomic units that nonetheless contained more than one numeric within them, such as latitude-longitude pairs, Fourier transforms and complex numbers. A poster named John Cowan summed up the counter-argument nicely: "I entirely agree that only scalar values should be allowed in database columns. The trouble is that one person's 'atom" is another's "bucket o' quarks with electrons in shells around it'." Five years later in a different thread, Pedro DeRose pointed out that the new hierarchyid and spatial data types introduced in SQL Server 2008 were both implemented in CLR. Personally, I've considered using them to store B.C. dates prior to the year 0 A.D. that serves as the current minimum value in SQL Server's datetime type, which is insufficient for anyone with an interest in storing historical dates prior to that. Thanks to imprecise time-keeping methods in antiquity it sometimes difficult to compare B.C. dates, but that is no reason why such functionality should be left entirely left out of SQL Server; users are more likely to have a need to store the date 1200 B.C. than they are the year 9999 A.D., which is the current max for datetime values. This is one use for CLR UDTs that I don't think would violate first normal form, although it wouldn't hurt to get Papadimoulis' commentary on the idea, since I'm not really familiar with the topic enough to take a position in the discussion he started long ago.
The potential uses for CLR UDTs mentioned above have little in common with each other, except for the fact that they are more complex types that fill voids in T-SQL. They address completely different use case scenarios, ranging from temporal to spatial entities, to complex numbers that are off the Cartesian plane altogether. I've recently been reading Richard Kimball's classic references on data warehousing and thanks to his clear writing style, I now understand the idea behind junk dimensions, which is to store a hodge-podge of dissimilar flag values to keep them from cluttering regular dimensions. It struck me that the gamut of CLR code in use today also seems like a junk drawer, full of functionality that would be nice to include in T-SQL, yet isn't. Another rule of thumb is that the functionality ought to be computationally complex. A third principle is that the same tasks should either be impossible or inefficient to perform using set-based logic. As Jonathan Kehayias put it in a thread at SQLCLR.Net in 2008, it shouldn't be used to reinvent the wheel by performing tasks that T-SQL can already do or do better, and in general ought not be used for routine SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE activity. There may be exceptions to the latter conditions, such as using a CLR stored procedure to SELECT sensitive information that isn't available through ordinary T-SQL, such as file system records. In the past, external access to resources like this required the use of extended stored procedures, which were inefficient and represented security holes. CLR stored procedures were intended as replacements with better memory management and security, among other things. These are also the same use cases which differentiate CLR stored procedures from CLR functions. As Solomon Rutzky puts it in his thread "CLR Performance Testing" at Simple-Talk.com, "The only reasons I can think of to create a CLR stored procedure would be to either modify the state of the database or server, or to return a dynamic result set. Both of these operations are not allowed in functions so stored procedures are necessary if you need to do those things. But for data retrieval and/or manipulation, most of the time T-SQL stored procedures will not only be easier to create and maintain, but it should perform better." His post includes some nice performance tests, so I recommend it as a starting point for anyone who wants a better understanding of when CLR might out-perform T-SQL. Some other performance recommendations I ran across include using datareaders rather than dataset objects in CLR[iv]; avoiding table-valued parameters in CLR functions and using only SqlInt32 or System.Int32 for integer return types[v]; and being cognizant of the fact that "T-SQL table-valued functions materialize their results in temp tables, whereas CLR TVFs can stream them."[vi] One of the most important pitfalls to avoid is implementing RBAR (Row-By-Agonizing-Row) operations in CLR when set-based logic could perform the same tasks more efficiently in T-SQL, which is capable of tackling many computationally complex problems. Of course, if set-based logic can't solve the problem well, then CLR may be the optimal choice, since it can perform certain RBAR operations and calculations more efficiently. In these situations we would use either a CLR function, or perhaps an aggregate if we were performing reiterative calculations over many rows.
We need to be aware of the potential for performance degradation from insufficiently thought-out CLR code, but that doesn't mean it can't out-perform T-SQL in some situations. Adam Machanic, one of the leading CLR gurus, posted a CLR string splitting function that performs better than the T-SQL alternatives in a thread that is still active three years later.[vii] The uses listed below have been demonstrated to either perform better than T-SQL or can take actions T-SQL is completely incapable of on its own. I collected them from a variety of threads scattered across the Internet, which represent just a fraction of the solid sources for CLR information that are available out there in the wild, if you take the time to look for them.[viii]
- Regular expressions, which are perhaps the most commonly cited use.
- A bin to hex converter that performs efficiently.[ix]
- Nested string replacements: "batches of nested find and replace are also faster. REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(….kind of stuff."[x]
- Shredding XML in certain situations.
- "Additionally, avoiding xpath for XML parsing is a huge benefit – one offending tsql XML statement takes 35 minutes to complete, whereas a re-implementation in SQL CLR takes 3 seconds (plus it's simpler for us .NET devs to understand, debug, and write tests against :] )."[xi]
- Time zone conversions.[xii]
- Other complex date manipulation logic.
- Other string parsing routines.
- Using CLR stored procedures to circumvent SQL Server's silly limitations on INSERT EXEC and other means of nesting calls to other stored procedures (which is now near the top of my list of code to implement myself).
- Accessing external data sources like networks and file system, which T-SQL procedures can't do at all
- Modifying the state of the server in CLR procedures.
- Replacing SQL Server's relatively inefficient and insecure extended stored procedures, which have been deprecated.
- Using UDTs to implement intricate yet atomic objects like complex numbers, Fourier transforms and ancient dates.
- Using CLR aggregates in place of T-SQL cursor operations.
There are no use cases for CLR triggers listed above because I haven't run across any, but it may be a valid solution that has yet to be matched to the right problem. This is just another indication that we've barely scratched the surface of the potential of CLR, especially with SSAS stored procedures. In that uncharted territory there are bound to be niches where CLR could solve problems relevant to data mining. The types of problems it can be used to solve are hinted at by Henrik Staun Poulsen in a reply to the Simple-Talk.com thread "Time for a Rethink on SQL CLR?", in which he writes that his team already routinely uses CLR to calculate statistical measures like median, linear regression, skewness, first quartiles and Weibull least squares on the relational side. So CLR clearly already has data mining applications, even if we're talking strictly about relational CLR. It might become more important as the field matures to have a more explicit understanding of when to utilize the various types of CLR objects on the relational side, as well as when to make use of Analysis Services stored procedures. For example, it might prove desirable to do some pre-processing of certain measures in the relational database – such as calculations like skewness that are in the same league as standard deviation – before feeding them into cubes, where more pre-processing can be done, such as the built-in MDX linear regression functions. After that, they can be fed into more sophisticated SSDM algorithms. SSAS stored procedures might be applied at either of the latter two stages. Given that there aren't any formal lists of best practices or self-evident use cases for relational CLR, we're clearly still far away from an explicit understanding of when to apply SSAS procedures – let alone design guidelines for applying CLR at each stage of the mining process, beginning with pre-processing on the relational side of certain statistical building blocks. This field will be wide open for some time to come, just like data mining itself. I've often said that Microsoft doesn't realize just how valuable its MDX language and SSDM mining tools really are, but the same is also true of CLR, on both the relational and analytic side. All three of these tools are so far ahead of the curve that they have received declining attention from Microsoft in each version of SQL Server since 2005, yet still possess much latent potential which has yet to be tapped. In the computing industry, seven years is an eon, but these tools were so far ahead of their time that they may still be relatively under-utilized another seven years from now.
pp. 527-538, MacLennan, Jamie; Tang, ZhaoHui and Crivat, Bogdan, 2009, Data Mining with Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Wiley Publishing: Indianapolis.
[ii] Kind of like Rush Limbaugh.
[iii] Windows 8 is even more of a bungle than I thought it might be in my worst nightmare. If anything, I was too soft on it in my previous post. There's a crying need for someone in the computer industry to keep a running total of all of its many problems, because I can't keep track of them all. Vista was a good idea badly executed; Windows 8 it is just a bad idea badly executed. In fact, it is so ill-conceived that it would be a horrible thing if it were well-executed. It's bad enough that it may go down as one of the biggest bombs in the history of computing, but it gets worse. I can make a plausible case that it's an outright menace to the whole technology sector, but it is not yet the right time or place for this discussion.
[iv] See Davis, Tony, 2011, "Time for a Rethink on SQL CLR?" published Sept. 29, 2011 at Simple-Talk.com website. Available at https://www.simple-talk.com/blogs/2011/09/29/time-for-a-rethink-on-sql-clr/%20
[v] See the post "SQL Server Database Coding Standard" on Oct. 22, 2012 by the user named Drikus at the Data Blaze Information Technology website
[vi] DeRose, Pedro, 2010, reply to "Is There Any Justification for Really Using SQL CLR?" on Jan. 21, 2010 at the SQLServerCentral.com website. Available at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic850429-386-1.aspx.
[vii] Machanic, Adam, 2009, "SQLCLR String Splitting Part 2: Even Faster, Even More Scalable," published April 29, 2009 at SQLBlog.com. Available at http://sqlblog.com/blogs/adam_machanic/archive/2009/04/28/sqlclr-string-splitting-part-2-even-faster-even-more-scalable.aspx
[viii] Some other good sources of information include the StackExchange.com thread "What has Been Your Experience with SQL CLR for Complex Business Logic?"; Jennings, Roger, 2005, "When To Use SQLCLR, And When Not To," published Sept. 1, 2005 in Visual Studio Magazine and available online at http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2005/09/01/when-to-use-sqlclr-and-when-not-to.aspx; Evans, Kirk, 2007,
"If LINQ to SQL Is Good, Is SQLCLR Still Evil?" published Sept. 19, 2007 at MSDN.Com and available online at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kaevans/archive/2007/09/19/if-linq-to-sql-is-good-is-sqlclr-still-evil.aspx; and the StackExchange.com thread "Using CLR User Defined Functions in SQL Server" started by Miles D. on Feb. 1, 2011. Available online at http://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/1010/using-clr-user-defined-functions-in-sql-server
[ix] See Matt Nunn's comment on April 18, 2005 in the SQL Server Pro thread "Seeing the CLR's Potential" at http://sqlmag.com/t-sql/seeing-clrs-potential
[x] See the reply by the user Lowell to the thread "Is There Any Justification for Really Using SQL CLR?" on Jan. 20, 2010 at the SQLServerCentral.com website. Available at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic850429-386-1.aspx
[xi] See Kevin Pullin's reply on Oct. 4, 2011 to the Simple-Talk.com thread "Time for a Rethink on SQL CLR?" started by Tony Davis on Sept. 29, 2011. Available online at https://www.simple-talk.com/blogs/2011/09/29/time-for-a-rethink-on-sql-clr/
[xii] IBID. Pullin writes that "SQL CLR is a lifesaver, both in terms of performance and usability, in areas where tsql falls flat on its face. We use it for extremely basic things that you'd think would be natively exposed: integer/long parsing, time zone conversions."


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By Sikivu Hutchinson
What if an economic stimulus package took into account the real cost of living in the United States, the wealthiest nation on the planet with the most raggedy family social welfare net in the post-industrial world? Said stimulus package would acknowledge the reality of working families and the gendered economy of raising and socializing children and working outside of the home. Said stimulus package would include mandatory childcare provisions, paid family leave, universal health care and funding for family planning to ensure that working women remain in the workforce. Said package would include a provision for generating urban jobs where the majority of people of color, segregated from exurban professional networks, must live and work.
With provisions for expanding unemployment and health insurance president Obama's stimulus package addresses some of these issues. But ever the bipartisan Pollyana, Obama has been furiously courting Senate Republicans, countering a Rush Limbaugh-fueled backlash to the stimulus. In a one hand giveth, one hand taketh away gesture, Obama signed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill into law, making the kids of working families who don't qualify for Medicaid eligible for health coverage—then quietly dropped a stimulus provision for family planning after Republicans expressed opposition. Obama characterized the SCHIP bill as a "down-payment" on his campaign pledge to provide health coverage for all Americans. But his massaging of Republicans in Congress makes it questionable whether he will have the political stamina to negotiate the creation of expanded health care coverage in the midst of insurance companies and conservatives hellbent on demonizing health care reform as socialist.
In the wake of a campaign season marked by studious avoidance of poor and working class women and men of color, it was almost otherwordly to hear President Obama publicly assert while signing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that women of color receive even less pay than their white female counterparts. Based on a lawsuit from a 19-year veteran of Goodyear Tires, the Ledbetter Act holds that due process for wage discrimination should extend beyond a 180 day window for filing. Obama's bill recognized the brutal reality of pay discrimination—namely that it often takes years to discover and document inequities in pay. The years of pay disparities that women suffer not only translate into lost income but lost savings, lost capital, lost resources and lost time.
Single women of color still make the least, work the longest paid and unpaid hours and have the most riding on them if they fail as providers. And the bitter fact remains that single black women are the primary breadwinners in many urban African American families. As job losses and foreclosures continue to ravage urban black communities, the frontline impact will be on single parent families who can't float on the feel good uplift of the president's inauguration in place of a real safety net. With community colleges under strain due to the state budget deficit, adult education will be an iffy means of retraining a service-oriented workforce in the skill sets needed for the green jobs the administration has hyped. Then, there is the matter of finding affordable daycare for the children whose parents need retraining. As it is, working black parents must navigate a maze of providers and regulations to find affordable daycare. The recent tragedy of the murder-suicide of a Los Angeles couple terminated from their jobs at Kaiser for falsifying a signature on a daycare application underscores this painful dilemma.
In their "government handouts for Wall Street arrogance," Republicans and some Democrats are riding the one trick pony of even more individual and business tax cuts as a remedy for the economic meltdown. Despite his concessions to Wall Street, the GOP and the Clinton establishment in his cabinet choices, Obama has signaled a willingness to piece together the social welfare net—now it's up to us to make sure that his bipartisan Pollyannish-ness doesn't derail the change mantra he swept into office on.
Sikivu Hutchinson is the editor of blackfemlens.org and commentator for KPFK 90.7 FM.


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National Parks for Kids
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(Real Simple) -- How bad is it if you bribe your child with treats or let him watch TV all day? Here, experts assess your actions so in four scenarios you can make the right choice.
Letting your kids watch TV all day won't do long-term harm, but don't let it become a regular event.
In the following scenarios, the oops! ratings are based on a scale of one to five, with five being the most serious offense and one being the least serious.
You let the kids watch television all day
Oops! rating: 2
You won't do long-term harm to your kids. Just make sure it isn't a weekly event, and check on your couch potatoes. "Anything over two hours could be considered excessive," so don't use it as an all-day babysitter, says Cathryn Galanter, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York.
But you should keep an eye on the channel. What they are watching, like violent or scary content, could be more harmful than how long they sit on the couch.
Damage control: Select appropriate movies for them to watch on a rainy day. And don't assume that tuning in to something like Nature on PBS is inherently safe -- carnivores in action can be pretty rough stuff.
You bribe your child with treats
Oops! rating: 1
"There's nothing wrong with positive reinforcement," says Galanter. "You can motivate a child by offering a reward or a low-cost present for good behavior." But there's a fine line between positive reinforcement and bribing, says Susan Heitler, a marriage and family therapist in Denver, Colorado. Don't overdo it.
Damage control: Make everyday activities fun and satisfying -- by singing, for example (think of the "A Spoonful of Sugar" scene in Mary Poppins) -- suggests Heitler.
Opt for nonfood treats -- activities, games, toys, books -- since teaching kids to reward themselves with food can set up unhealthy eating patterns.
You move cities several times
Oops! rating: 2
"Moving is one of the most significant life events to a child," says Chris Lucas, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the director of the Early Childhood Service at the New York University Child Study Center in New York. It tends to be tougher on preteens and teenagers, who are more connected to peer groups and may have trouble breaking into established social circles.
Overall, though, "kids are pretty resilient," says Heitler. "There are many instances when a move is the best thing that ever happened to a kid -- if she's moving to a better school or to a place where parents are happier." It can also mean a fresh start for a child struggling in school or with friends.
Damage control: Prepare children well ahead of time by familiarizing them with the new place and giving them an opportunity to say good-bye.
With younger children, explain what moving does and doesn't mean, reassuring them that they can take their toys or will still be able to see their grandparents.
Help kids establish new friendships. Research after-school programs, and plan activities at home that other new kids they meet can partake in.
You "neglect" your second (or third) child by not giving him the kind of attention that your firstborn enjoyed
Oops! rating: 1
"Obviously, younger children do get less attention, because parental attention is divided among more than one person," says Lucas. "But the research is fairly mixed on whether this has a significant impact." While younger siblings get less individual attention, they benefit from having more competent parents, who have worked through their rookie blunders with the firstborn.
In addition, younger children get the support of older siblings, which seems to be beneficial for their emotional health. Younger siblings also learn a lot from observing big brothers and sisters and modeling their behavior. Having an example of someone they can relate to helps them develop many skills at an even earlier age compared with the firstborn.
Damage control: Don't obsess. Equal attention is impossible to attain, says Lucas, so assess each child's needs and meet them as well as you can.
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Copyright 2007 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
All About Parenting


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The first rule of the EFW Oktoberfest is that you should talk about the EFW Oktoberfest. Although you might find this hard to believe - I normally take a couple of notes at games I attend. However, upon my return from four days in Hungary and Slovakia, my notes consisted of just four words and read thus: Florints Against the Machine. It's a headline I was very pleased with, but it's not quite the 5000 words required for five reports. Tsk.
The reason for the lack of notes is that on these trips, it's pretty much mirth and hilarity all the way; an abundance of football, oodles of beer and 29 first-rate lads who make the trip what it is. And then there is the locals to factor in - all of whom were friendly and welcoming. Well, aside from the briefest of run-ins with a few Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet ultras who mistook us for followers of Budapesti Vasas Sport Club, but more of them later in the week.
First up was this Europa League tie, and we weren't the only ones who'd had to travel a fair distance to the Hungarian capital for it. Debrecen is well over 200km from Budapest, but because their current stadium doesn't have enough backstage requirements for the UEFA suits, they have to switch their increasingly frequent European ties to the national stadium. In fairness, the club bused in the Loki supporters free of charge. The majority of the several hundred PSV fans had sat on a coach for more than a day to be here as well. And it was chilly. Lovely floodlights though. They look like giraffes.


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Speed Queen® Announces Winner of Inaugural "My Success Story" Essay Contest
Lexington, Kentucky store owner receives $100,000 grand prize
RIPON, Wis. – (Sept. 9, 2014) – Speed Queen®, a leading provider of commercial laundry equipment, has named Joe Dan Reed, owner of Splash 'Em Out laundromats based out of Lexington, Kentucky winner of the "My Success Story" essay contest. Representatives from the commercial laundry manufacturer surprised Reed with the $100,000 grand prize last Thursday.
"We are proud to be part of Joe Dan's success story and pleased to recognize his accomplishments in such a significant way," says Matt Westphal, relationship manager, Speed Queen Financial Services (SQFS). "When Joe Dan was new to the coin laundry industry he was determined to make his business a success. His winning essay demonstrated that with a sound business plan and some creativity, success will come-and it has, in the form of eight stores."
Reed owns Splash 'Em Out laundromats, located across Lexington, Nicholasville and Richmond. For his winning essay, Speed Queen has contributed $100,000 towards Reed's recent loan for new equipment provided through SQFS.
"We are truly honored to have been chosen as the winners of this phenomenal prize. We attribute our success to always putting the customer first-whether that's providing a relaxing and clean environment, offering daily specials, or assisting customers to their cars," said Reed. "Splash 'Em Out would not have grown from one to eight stores without the support of dedicated employees, a knowledgeable distributor and a manufacturer that understands our unique equipment and financial needs."
Westphal was joined by Speed Queen national sales manager Dan Bowe, regional sales manager Tom Weisheipl, and Reed's equipment distributor Michael Davis of Nashville-based Star Distributing, to surprise Reed and his wife, Kelli, with the grand prize at his newest store in Lexington.
This was the first year Speed Queen has held such a contest. Between March 1 and June 15, 2014, Speed Queen store owners submitted essays of 500 words or less describing their unique and creative methods of retaining and attracting new customers. Eligible entrants were required to have financed at least $2,500 in new Speed Queen laundry equipment through SQFS during this time.
More than 50 essays were submitted from across the nation and judged based on the most compelling story relative to theme, creativity and clarity of expression. All eligible entrants received a $100 gift card to be redeemed at an authorized Speed Queen distributor.