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Louis XV (born February 15, 1710, Versailles, France—died May 10, 1774, Versailles) was the king of France from 1715 to 1774, whose ineffectual rule contributed to the decline of royal authority that led to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
Louis was the great-grandson of King Louis XIV (ruled 1643–1715) and the son of Louis, duc de Bourgogne, and Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy. Because his parents and his only surviving brother had all died in 1712, he became king at the age of five on the death of Louis XIV (September 1, 1715). Until he attained his legal majority in February 1723, France was governed by a regent, Philippe II, duc d'Orléans. In 1721 Orléans betrothed Louis to the infanta Mariana, daughter of King Philip V of Spain. After the death of Orléans (December 1723), Louis appointed as his first minister Louis-Henri, duc de Bourbon-Condé, who cancelled the Spanish betrothal and married the King to Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of the dethroned king Stanisław I of Poland. Louis's tutor, the bishop (later cardinal) André-Hercule de Fleury, replaced Bourbon as chief minister in 1726; and the dynastic connection with Poland led to French involvement against Austria and Russia in the War of the Polish Succession (1733–38).
Louis XV's personal influence on French policy became perceptible only after Fleury's death in 1744. Although he proclaimed that he would henceforth rule without a chief minister, he was too indolent and lacking in self-confidence to coordinate the activities of his secretaries of state and give firm direction to national policy. While his government degenerated into factions of scheming ministers and courtiers, Louis isolated himself at court and occupied himself with a succession of mistresses, several of whom exercised considerable political influence. Already Pauline de Mailly-Nesle, marquise de Vintimille, Louis's mistress from 1739 to 1741, had sponsored the war party that brought France into the inconclusive War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) against Austria and Great Britain. In September 1745 the king took as his official mistress (maîtresse en titre) Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, whose political influence lasted until her death in 1764.
Louis was not, however, a totally passive monarch. His desire to determine the course of international affairs through intrigue caused him to set up, about 1748, an elaborate system of secret diplomacy known as le Secret du roi. Secret French agents were stationed in major European capitals and ordered by the king to pursue political objectives that were frequently opposed to his publicly announced policies. At first Louis employed his secret diplomacy in an unsuccessful attempt to win the elective Polish crown for a French candidate (a goal he officially renounced). Soon he expanded the network of agents, intending to form an anti-Austrian alliance with Sweden, Prussia, Turkey, and Poland. Because his official ministers knew nothing of le secret, Louis's foreign policy became paralyzed with confusion. In 1756 the king, prompted by Madame de Pompadour, temporarily abandoned the objectives of his secret diplomacy and concluded an alliance with Austria. France and Austria then went to war with Great Britain and Prussia (Seven Years' War, 1756–63), but Louis's continental commitments to the Austrians prevented him from concentrating his country's resources on the crucial colonial struggle with Great Britain, a country with greater maritime power and overseas resources. As a result, by 1763 France had lost to the British almost all her colonial possessions in North America and India. Although Madame de Pompadour's favourite, Étienne-François, Duke de Choiseul (foreign minister from 1758 to 1770), restored France's military strength, the failure of Louis's secret diplomacy in Poland enabled Russia, Austria, and Prussia to partition Poland (1772) and virtually eliminate French influence in central Europe. Although Louis had been popular as le Bien-Aimé (the Well-Beloved) in his youth, he had gradually earned the contempt of his subjects.
During the later years of Louis XV's reign, an attempt was made to strengthen the waning authority of the crown by withdrawing from the Parlements the privilege of obstructing royal legislation. This privilege, which had been suspended by Louis XIV, had been restored to the Parlements during the regency. The judicial magistrates had later consolidated their position as opponents of the crown by claiming, in the absence of the States General, to be defenders of the fundamental laws of the kingdom and by uniting the provincial Parlements in a close union with the Parlement of Paris. In this manner they had overthrown the financial system of John Law, had helped to procure the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1764, and had, for a time, disrupted the provincial administration of Brittany. The Parlements also stood resolutely in the way of financial reform. In 1771 the chancellor, René de Maupeou, determined to strike at this abuse by restricting the Parlement of Paris to purely judicial functions and by abolishing the sale of judicial offices. In spite of some popular opposition, the new judicial system functioned effectively until the king's death and might have saved the Bourbon monarchy from the path that led to revolution if his successor had not gratuitously abandoned the reform. Apart from this reform, Louis XV's long reign had been marked by a decline in the crown's moral and political authority, as well as by reverses in foreign and military affairs. The king died in 1774, hated as much as Louis XIV had been.


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Gladiolus are grown for their flowers that bloom on spikes 2 to 3 feet tall and need staking at times. The flowers being arranged along the spike all face the same way. Their leaves are formed in a sharp point and takes its name from the Latin gladius, meaning a sword. The cultivar, 'Snow Princess' blooms in green buds with white florets on a very strong spike in the midseason.
Important Info : If grown in an open, sunny location where they are not bothered by strong winds, they can be used anywhere in the garden.Google Plant Images: click here!
Cultivar: Snow PrincessFamily: Iridaceae
Size: Height: 0 ft. to 3 ft.
Width: 0 ft. to 0 ft.
Plant Category: annuals and biennials, bulbous plants, landscape, perennials,
Plant Characteristics: columnar, low maintenance, vase-shaped,
Foliage Characteristics:
Flower Characteristics: erect, long lasting, showy,
Flower Color: greens, whites,
Tolerances: heat & humidity,
Bloomtime Range: Late Summer to Early Fall
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9 to 10
AHS Heat Zone: Not defined for this plant
Light Range: Sun to Full Sun
pH Range: 7 to 8.5
Soil Range: Sandy Loam to Loam
Water Range: Moist to Moist
Plant Care
How-to : Fertilization for Annuals and PerennialsAnnuals and perennials may be fertilized using: 1.water-soluble, quick release fertilizers; 2. temperature controlled slow-release fertilizers; or 3. organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion. Water soluble fertilizers are generally used every two weeks during the growing season or per label instructions. Controlled, slow-release fertilizers are worked into the soil ususally only once during the growing season or per label directions. For organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion, follow label directions as they may vary per product.
Conditions : Part SunPart Sun refers to filtered light, with most sun being received during the afternoon hours. Shade usually occurs during the morning hours.
Conditions : Full to Partial Sun
Full sunlight is needed for many plants to assume their full potential. Many of these plants will do fine with a little less sunlight, although they may not flower as heavily or their foliage as vibrant. Areas on the southern and western sides of buildings usually are the sunniest. The only exception is when houses or buildings are so close together, shadows are cast from neighboring properties. Full sun usually means 6 or more hours of direct unobstructed sunlight on a sunny day. Partial sun receives less than 6 hours of sun, but more than 3 hours. Plants able to take full sun in some climates may only be able to tolerate part sun in other climates. Know the culture of the plant before you buy and plant it!
Conditions : Types of Pruning
Types of pruning include: pinching, thinning, shearing and rejuvenating.
Pinching is removing the stem tips of a young plant to promote branching. Doing this avoids the need for more severe pruning later on.
Thinning involves removing whole branches back to the trunk. This may be done to open up the interior of a plant to let more light in and to increase air circulation that can cut down on plant disease. The best way to begin thinning is to begin by removing dead or diseased wood.
Shearing is leveling the surface of a shrub using hand or electric shears. This is done to maintain the desired shape of a hedge or topiary.
Rejuvenating is removal of old branches or the overall reduction of the size of a shrub to restore its original form and size. It is recommended that you do not remove more than one third of a plant at a time. Remember to remove branches from the inside of the plant as well as the outside. When rejuvenating plants with canes, such as nandina, cut back canes at various heights so that plant will have a more natural look.
Conditions : Full Sun
Full Sun is defined as exposure to more than 6 hours of continuous, direct sun per day.
Tools : Watering AidesNo gardener depends 100% on natural rainfall. Even the most water conscious garden appreciates the proper hose, watering can or wand.
- Watering Cans: Whether you choose plastic of galvanized makes no difference, but do look for generous capacity and a design that is balanced when filled with water. A 2 gallon can (which holds 18 lbs. of water) is preferred by most gardeners and is best suited for outdoor use. Indoor cans should be relatively smaller with narrower spouts and roses (the filter head).
- Watering Hose: When purchasing a hose, look for one that is double-walled, as it will resist kinking. Quick coupler links are nice to have on ends of hoses to make altering length fast. To extend the life of your hose, keep it wound around a reel and stored in a shady area. Prior to winter freezes, drain hose.
- Sprayers: Are commonly thought of as devices for applying chemicals, but can really be a step saver for watering houseplants or small pots of annuals rather that dragging out a hose or making numerous trips with a watering can. The backpack sprayer is best suited for this. Take care not to use any kind of chemical in tanks used for watering!
- Sprinklers: Attached to the ends of garden hoses, these act as an economical irrigation system. Standing Spike Sprinklers are usually intended for lawns and deliver water in a circular pattern. Rotating Sprinklers deliver a circle of water and are perfect for lawns, shrubs and flower beds. Pulse-jet sprinklers cover large areas of ground in a pulsating, circular pattern. The head usually sits up on a tall stem, except for when watering lawns. Oscillating sprinklers are best for watering at ground level in a rectangular pattern.
Conditions : Moist and Well Drained
Moist and well drained means exactly what it sounds like. Soil is moist without being soggy because the texture of the soil allows excess moisture to drain away. Most plants like about 1 inch of water per week. Amending your soil with compost will help improve texture and water holding or draining capacity. A 3 inch layer of mulch will help to maintain soil moisture and studies have shown that mulched plants grow faster than non-mulched plants.
Conditions : Outdoor Watering
Plants are almost completely made up of water so it is important to supply them with adequate water to maintain good plant health. Not enough water and roots will wither and the plant will wilt and die. Too much water applied too frequently deprives roots of oxygen leading to plant diseases such as root and stem rots. The type of plant, plant age, light level, soil type and container size all will impact when a plant needs to be watered. Follow these tips to ensure successful watering:
* The key to watering is water deeply and less frequently. When watering, water well, i.e. provide enough water to thoroughly saturate the root ball. With in-ground plants, this means thoroughly soaking the soil until water has penetrated to a depth of 6 to 7 inches (1' being better). With container grown plants, apply enough water to allow water to flow through the drainage holes.
* Try to water plants early in the day or later in the afternoon to conserve water and cut down on plant stress. Do water early enough so that water has had a chance to dry from plant leaves prior to night fall. This is paramount if you have had fungus problems.
* Don't wait to water until plants wilt. Although some plants will recover from this, all plants will die if they wilt too much (when they reach the permanent wilting point).
* Consider water conservation methods such as drip irrigation, mulching, and xeriscaping. Drip systems which slowly drip moisture directly on the root system can be purchased at your local home and garden center. Mulches can significantly cool the root zone and conserve moisture.
* Consider adding water-saving gels to the root zone which will hold a reserve of water for the plant. These can make a world of difference especially under stressful conditions. Be certain to follow label directions for their use.
How-to : Preparing Garden BedsUse a soil testing kit to determine the acidity or alkalinity of the soil before beginning any garden bed preparation. This will help you determine which plants are best suited for your site. Check soil drainage and correct drainage where standing water remains. Clear weeds and debris from planting areas and continue to remove weeds as soon as they come up.
A week to 10 days before planting, add 2 to 4 inches of aged manure or compost and work into the planting site to improve fertility and increase water retention and drainage. If soil composition is weak, a layer of topsoil should be considered as well. No matter if your soil is sand or clay, it can be improved by adding the same thing: organic matter. The more, the better; work deep into the soil. Prepare beds to an 18 inch deep for perennials. This will seem like a tremendous amount of work now, but will greatly pay off later. Besides, this is not something that is easily done later, once plants have been established.
How-to : Planting Bulbs
Plant bulbs at a depth that is three times their height, and at least 1-1/2 bulb-widths apart. Work a little bone meal fertilizer into the bottom of your hole, and then place the bulb upright in the hole. The more pointed end is almost always the top. If you have trouble telling which is the top, look for evidence of where a stem or roots were last year. If in doubt, plant them sideways. Fill in with soil gently, making sure there are no rocks or clods that would impede the bulb's stem. When planting a great number of bulbs, dig out an area to the specified depth, place bulbs and replace soil. This ensures that ground has been properly prepared and bulbs are evenly spaced.
Plant bulbs in natural drifts rather that formal rows: bulbs can fail or be eaten, leaving holes in a formal arrangement, or will shift with freezing and thawing. If you have trouble with gophers or squirrels eating your bulbs, try sprinkling red pepper in the holes, covering the bulbs with chicken-wire, surround bulbs with sharp shards of gravel or other substance, or planting rodent-repelling bulbs like Fritillaria nearby.
How-to : Planting and Removing Annuals
When planting annuals, begin by preparing the soil. Rototill rotted compost, soil conditioner, pulverized bark, or even builders sand into the existing soil and rake it smooth. Annuals grow quickly, so space them as recommended on plant tags. Remove plants from their containers or packs gently, being sure to keep as much soil as you can around the root ball. If the rootball is tight, loosen it a bit by gently separating white, matted roots with your fingers or a pocket knife. Plant at the same depth they were in the containers. Gently fill in around the plants, providing support but not cutting off air to the roots. Water the plants well.
Through the season, be sure to fertilize for optimal performance. Take special care to cut back or completely remove any diseased plants, as soon as you see there is a problem. At the end of the season, be sure to remove all plants and their root balls. Rake the bed well to prepare it for the next season's planting.
How-to : Planting Perennials
Determine appropriate perennials for your garden by considering sun and shade through the day, exposure, water requirements, climate, soil makeup, seasonal color desired, and position of other garden plants and trees.
The best times to plant are spring and fall, when soil is workable and out of danger of frost. Fall plantings have the advantage that roots can develop and not have to compete with developing top growth as in the spring. Spring is more desirable for perennials that dislike wet conditions or for colder areas, allowing full establishment before first winter. Planting in summer or winter is not advisable for most plants, unless planting a more established sized plant.
To plant container-grown plants: Prepare planting holes with appropriate depth and space between. Water the plant thoroughly and let the excess water drain before carefully removing from the container. Carefully loosen the root ball and place the plant in the hole, working soil around the roots as you fill. If the plant is extremely root bound, separate roots with fingers. A few slits made with a pocket knife are okay, but should be kept to a minimum. Continue filling in soil and water thoroughly, protecting from direct sun until stable.
To plant bare-root plants: Plant as soon as possible after purchase. Prepare suitable planting holes, spread roots and work soil among roots as you fill in. Water well and protect from direct sun until stable.
To plant seedlings: A number of perennials produce self-sown seedlings that can be transplanted. You may also start your own seedling bed for transplanting. Prepare suitable planting holes, spacing appropriately for plant development. Gently lift the seedling and as much surrounding soil as possible with your garden trowel, and replant it immediately, firming soil with fingertips and water well. Shade from direct sun and water regularly until stable.
How-to : Plant Bulbs
It's time to plant bulbs.
Pest : ThripsThrips are small, winged insects that attack many types of plants and thrive in hot, dry conditions (like heated houses). They can multiply quickly as a female can lay up to 300 eggs in a life span of 45 days without mating. Most of the damage to plants is caused by the young larvae which feed on tender leaf and flower tissue. This leads to distorted growth, injured flower petals and premature flower drop. Thrips also can transmit many harmful plant viruses.
Prevention and Control: keep weeds down and use screening on windows to keep them out. Remove or discard infested plants, keep them away from non-infested plants. Trap with yellow sticky cards or take advantage of natural enemies such as predatory mites. Sometimes a good steady shower of water will wash them off the plant. Consult your local garden center professional or county Cooperative extension office for legal chemical recommendations.
Pest : Spider Mites
Spider mites are small, 8 legged, spider-like creatures which thrive in hot, dry conditions (like heated houses). Spider mites feed with piercing mouth parts, which cause plants to appear yellow and stippled. Leaf drop and plant death can occur with heavy infestations. Spider mites can multiply quickly, as a female can lay up to 200 eggs in a life span of 30 days. They also produce a web which can cover infested leaves and flowers.
Prevention and Control: Keep weeds down and remove infested plants. Dry air seems to worsen the problem, so make sure plants are regularly watered, especially those preferring high humidity such as tropicals, citrus, or tomatoes. Always check new plants prior to bringing them home from the garden center or nursery. Take advantage of natural enemies such as ladybug larvae. If a miticide is recommended by your local garden center professional or county Cooperative Extension office, read and follow all label directions. Concentrate your efforts on the undersides of the leaves as that is where spider mites generally live.
Diseases : Bulb Rot
Improperly stored bulbs, or bulbs that are too wet in their dormant stage (usually summer), will be susceptible to fungal diseases that cause them to rot. To prevent this, store bulbs properly when out of the ground. Avoid planting bulbs in poorly drained soils. Fusarium bulb rot can be a serious problem which attacks both the growing plant and stored bulb. Usually introduced by an infected bulb, corm, soil, or even tools, the fungus enters the plant through an abrasion in the tissue. This problem is worse in warm climates where temperatures rarely drop into the freezing range and can persist in soil that stays 60 to 70 degrees Farenheit. Prevention and Control: Buy bulbs that are firm, not mushy. Avoid planting new bulbs in areas where the disease has been present. Unfortunately, there is no treatment for Fusarium bulb rot. Remove all infected bulbs and soil in the immediate area.
Fungi : Leaf Spots
Leaf spots are caused by fungi or bacteria. Brown or black spots and patches may be either ragged or circular, with a water soaked or yellow-edged appearance. Insects, rain, dirty garden tools, or even people can help its spread.
Prevention and Control: Remove infected leaves when the plant is dry. Leaves that collect around the base of the plant should be raked up and disposed of. Avoid overhead irrigation if possible; water should be directed at soil level. For fungal leaf spots, use a recommended fungicide according to label directions.
How-to : Cut FlowersFlowers suitable for cutting maintain their form for several days when properly conditioned and placed in water or soaked oasis. A cut flower should have a fairly strong, long stem, making it easy to work with in arrangements. There are many short stem flowers that make good cut flowers too, but they look best when floated in a bowl or clustered and placed in a juice glass size vase.
For best results, always cut flowers early in the morning, preferably before dew has had a chance to dry. Always make cuts with a sharp knife or pruners and plunge flowers or foliage into a bucket of water. Store in a cool place until you are ready to work with them, this will keep flowers from opening. Always re-cut stems and change water frequently. Washing vases or containers to rid of existing bacteria helps increase their life, as well.
Glossary : Border Plant
A border plant is one which looks especially nice when used next to other plants in a border. Borders are different from hedges in that they are not clipped. Borders are loose and billowy, often dotted with deciduous flowering shrubs. For best effect, mass smaller plants in groups of 3, 5, 7, or 9. Larger plants may stand alone, or if room permits, group several layers of plants for a dramatic impact. Borders are nice because they define property lines and can screen out bad views and offer seasonal color. Many gardeners use the border to add year round color and interest to the garden.
Conditions : Fall Color
Fall color is the result of trees or shrubs changing colors according to complex chemical formulas present in their leaves. Depending on how much iron, magnesium, phosphorus, or sodium is in the plant, and the acidity of the chemicals in the leaves, leaves might turn amber, gold, red, orange or just fade from green to brown. Scarlet oaks, red maples and sumacs, for instance, have a slightly acidic sap, which causes the leaves to turn bright red. The leaves of some varieties of ash, growing in areas where limestone is present, will turn a regal purplish-blue.
Although many people believe that cooler temperatures are responsible for the color change, the weather has nothing to do with it at all. As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, a chemical clock inside the trees starts up, releasing a hormone which restricts the flow of sap to each leaf. As fall progresses, the sap flow slows and chlorophyll, the chemical that gives the leaves their green color in the spring and summer, disappears. The residual sap becomes more concentrated as it dries, creating the colors of fall.
Glossary : Low Maintenance
Low maintenance does not mean no maintenance. It does mean that once a plant is established, very little needs to be done in the way of water, fertilizing, pruning, or treatment in order for the plant to remain healthy and attractive. A well-designed garden, which takes your lifestyle into consideration, can greatly reduce maintenance.
Glossary : Sandy Loam
Sandy Loam refers to a soil that drains well, with excellent air space, and evenly crumbled texture when squeezed in the hand. A good workable garden soil that benefits from added fertilizer and proper watering. Dark gray to gray-brown in color.
Glossary : Loam
Loam is the ideal soil, having the perfect balance between particle size, air space, organic matter and water holding capacity. It forms a nice ball when squeezed in the palm of the hand, but crumbles easily when lightly tapped with a finger. Rich color ranges between gray brown to almost black.
Glossary : Annual
An annual is any plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season.
Glossary : Bulbs
A bulb is a modified, underground stem.
Glossary : Perennial
Perennial: traditionally a non-woody plant that lives for two or more growing seasons.
Glossary : Long Lasting
Long Lasting: having blossoms that last for an extended period of time. Some plants may have the appearance of providing long lasting flowers because they are prolific, repeat bloomers.
Glossary : pH
pH, means the potential of Hydrogen, is the measure of alkalinity or acidity. In horticulture, pH refers to the pH of soil. The scale measures from 0, most acid, to 14, most alkaline. Seven is neutral. Most plants prefer a range between 5.5 and about 6.7, an acid range, but there are plenty of other plants that like soil more alkaline, or above 7. A pH of 7 is where the plant can most easily absorb the most nutrients in the soil. Some plants prefer more or less of certain nutrients, and therefore do better at a certain pH.
Glossary : Heat Zone
The 12 zones of the AHS Heat Zone map indicate the average number of days each year that a given region experiences ""heat days"" or temperatures over 86 degrees F(30 degrees Celsius). That is the point at which plants begin suffering physiological damage from heat. The zones range from Zone 1 (less than one heat day) to Zone 12 (more than 210 heat days). The AHS Heat Zone, which deals with heat tolerance, should not be confused with the USDA Hardiness Zone system which deals with cold tolerance. For example: Seattle, Washington has a USDA Hardiness Zone of 8, the same as Charleston, South Carolina; however Seattle's Heat Zone is 2 where Charleston's Heat Zone is 11. What this says is that winter temperature in the two cities may be similar, but because Charleston has significantly warmer weather for a longer period of time, plant selection based on heat tolerance is a factor to consider.
Glossary : Plant Characteristics
Plant characteristics define the plant, enabling a search that finds specific types of plants such as bulbs, trees, shrubs, grass, perennials, etc.
Glossary : Flower Characteristics
Flower characteristics can vary greatly and may help you decide on a ""look or feel"" for your garden. If you're looking for fragrance or large, showy flowers, click these boxes and possibilities that fit your cultural conditions will be shown. If you have no preference, leave boxes unchecked to return a greater number of possibilities.
Glossary : Foliage Characteristics
By searching foliage characteristics, you will have the opportunity to look for foliage with distinguishable features such as variegated leaves, aromatic foliage, or unusual texture, color or shape. This field will be most helpful to you if you are looking for accent plants. If you have no preference, leave this field blank to return a larger selection of plants.
Glossary : Soil Types
A soil type is defined by granule size, drainage, and amount of organic material in the soil. The three main soil types are sand, loam and clay. Sand has the largest particle size, no organic matter, little to no fertility, and drains rapidly. Clay, at the opposite end of the spectrum, has the smallest particle size, can be rich in organic matter, fertility and moisture, but is often unworkable because particles are held together too tightly, resulting in poor drainage when wet, or is brick-like when dry. The optimum soil type is loam, which is the happy median between sand and clay: It is high in organic matter, nutrient-rich, and has the perfect water holding capacity.
You will often hear loam referred to as a sandy loam (having more sand, yet still plenty of organic matter) or a clay loam (heavier on the clay, yet workable with good drainage.) The addition of organic matter to either sand or clay will result in a loamy soil. Still not sure if your soil is a sand, clay, or loam? Try this simple test. Squeeze a handfull of slightly moist, not wet, soil in your hand. If it forms a tight ball and does not fall apart when gently tapped with a finger, your soil is more than likely clay. If soil does not form a ball or crumbles before it is tapped, it is sand to very sandy loam. If soil forms a ball, then crumbles readily when lightly tapped, it's a loam. Several quick, light taps could mean a clay loam.
How-to : Getting the Most Out of Cut Flowers
Cut flowers bring the garden into your home. While some cut flowers have a long vase life, most are highly perishable. How cut flowers are treated when you first bring them home can significantly increase how long they last.
The most important thing to consider is getting sufficient water taken up into the cut stem. Insufficient water can result in wilting and short-lived flowers. Bent neck of roses, where the flower head droops, is the result of poor water uptake. To maximize water uptake, first re-cut the stems at an angle so that the vascular system (the ""plumbing"" of the stem) is clear. Next immerse the cut stems in warm water.
Remember when the flower is cut, it is cut off from its food supply. Once water is taken care of, food is the resource that will run out next. The plants stems naturally feed the flowers with sugars. If you add a bit of sugar (1 tsp.) to the vase water, this will help feed the flower stems and extend their vase life.
Bacteria will build up in vase water and eventually clog up the stem so the flower cannot take up water. To prevent this, change the vase water frequently and make a new cut in the stems every few days.
Floral preservatives, available from florists, contain sugars, acids and bacteriacides that can extend cut flower life. These come in small packets and are generally available where cut flowers are sold. If used properly, these can extend the vase life of some cut flowers 2 to 3 times when compared with just plain water in the vase.
Glossary : Viruses
Viruses, which are smaller than bacteria, are not living and do not replicate on their own. They must rely on the cellular mechanisms of their hosts to replicate. Because this greatly disrupts the cell's functionality, outward signs of a viral infection result in a plant disease with symptoms such as abnormal or stunted growth, damaged fruit, discolorations or spots.
Prevention and Control: Keep virus carriers such as aphids, leafhoppers, and thrips under control. These plant feeding insects spread viruses. Viruses can also be introduced by infected pollen or through plant openings (as when pruning). Begin by keeping the pathogen out of your garden. New plants should be checked, as well as tools and existing plants. Use only certified seed that is deemed disease-free. Plant only resistant varieties and create a discouraging environment by rotating crops, not planting closely related plants in the same area every year.
Glossary : Fertilize
Fertilize just before new growth begins with a complete fertilizer.

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Cincinnati @ Baltimore
A colossal NFL showdown looms on the horizon as Cincinnati charges into the lair of Baltimore for a primetime 2023/11/16 clash at M&T Bank Stadium. This saga pits two wildly different squads against each other in a battle for gridiron supremacy.
Cincinnati arrives as unwavering underdogs, shepherded by a captain with his doubters but boasting belief in their run-first style. Across the field, Baltimore glitters with star power and swagger befitting their sustained championship dominance and pedigree.
Strap yourself in for an absorbing spectacle, where the on-field action competes for attention with the unfolding drama in the stands. Cincinnati rides into battle as masked avengers, spurred on by a fanbase starved for retribution. But beware, for the wounded Baltimore is most dangerous when cornered. Every bone-crunching hit and jaw-dropping play ratchets up the intensity.
By the final whistle, most will have lost their voices from nonstop cheering or lamenting. Will David topple Goliath? Can Cincinnati dethrone accomplished Baltimore? Get ready for 60 minutes of passion and madness when these two warring factions collide under the bright lights on NFLBite.


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The clearest sign your baby might be suffering from colic is continuous, high-pitched crying for no obvious reason.
No one knows for sure exactly why colic happens with babies, but the symptoms can be very distressing for mums.
Encouraging a routine of three to four hourly feeds may be better than feeding the every one to two hours as usual.
If you're breastfeeding, check your diet to see if you're eating too many of the following foods: broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and cabbage, chocolate, cow's milk, onions, citrus fruits and tomatoes. These can all cause babies to be gassy or colicky. If you suspect a certain food, cut it out for a couple of days to see if there's an effect. If you are considering cutting out any food groups long term, such as dairy foods, it's a good idea to get advice from a healthcare professional.
Try to get the gas out of your baby's tummy before it has a chance to move through to the bowel. If your baby is a quick feeder you may need to burp more frequently. An upright position is essential, either placing your baby on your shoulder or sitting in your lap. Try firmly patting your baby's back to encourage the bubbles up and out.
A gentle tummy massage can help relax your baby's tense muscles, and is especially effective after a warm bath.
Gripe water is an old-fashioned remedy. While there is no good evidence that it works, some mothers do use it when their baby has a problem. It warms and relaxes the tummy and has an antacid effect too. Gripe water is usually recommended for babies older than one month, but always remember to check the label before use.
Certain positions are soothing for a colicky baby, especially on the tummy. Lay your baby face down over your arm, head resting in the crook of your elbow with your hand between your baby's legs. You could also try lying your little one face down on your lap, head turned to the side, while gently moving your own legs side to side. Remember once asleep you should make sure your baby is lying face-up.
A swing or vibrating chair can be a lifesaver if your baby is very unhappy in the evenings.
If you are bottle feeding, either fully or just occasionally, choose a bottle with an anti-colic valve which has been clinically proven to reduce colic and its symptoms. Be sure to have the correct flow of teat for your baby, and to always have the teat full of milk so your baby isn't sucking in air.
Try a soother when your baby is difficult to comfort. If your baby does have a pain, suckling will help.
Please be aware that the information given in these articles is only intended as general advice and should in no way be taken as a substitute for professional medical advice. If you or your family or your child is suffering from symptoms or conditions which are severe or persistent or you need specific medical advice, please seek professional medical assistance. Philips Avent cannot be held responsible for any damages that result from the use of the information provided on this website.
3-in-1 electric steam sterilizer
Freeflow pacifiers
Common baby health complaints
Milk Allergies
Eating well while breastfeeding
Sterilizing feeding equipment


text:
january 2010 |
february 2010 |
march 2010 |
april 2010 |
may 2010 |
june 2010 |
july 2010 |
august 2010 |
september 2010 |
october 2010 |
november 2010 |
december 2010 |
december was covered with the most beautiful snow and there were sunny days that gave us magical light. i started making things again. i participated in reverb10 - an exercise in reflecting and manifesting what's next. i finished my 365 project - taking a picture every day of 2010. most of important of all, i found my way back to myself - as is reflected in the increased number of posts, both here and on domestic sensualist. december felt like waking from a long slumber, a new beginning and i can't wait to see what 2011 brings. (44 blog posts)
* * *
and after taking a picture every day in 2010, we had to have a new group for 2011 - postcards to blog camp - because we didn't want to lose the sense of community we found on flickr. if you'd like to contribute an occasional photo that you're proud of, but don't want to take a photo every day, come and join us!


text:
Let me start by warning you: This is a long post. I want to take you through the process of writing and designing the ConvertKit sales page. As you'll see, I had a huge amount of help from Amy Hoy. Throughout the process she gave great advice on copywriting that I'd like to share here. Besides, what's better than an actual example?
The short version
The short version is a series of takeaways I learned throughout this process.
- Make your headlines speak to a pain your visitors have. A good headline should catch their attention and get them reading.
- Multi-column explanation graphics can be hard to read. Be careful of anything that breaks up the reading flow too much.
- Don't be accusatory with your headlines or copy. How would you feel if a random website said you are doing everything wrong?
- Show, don't tell.
- Write your copy first, then design it. It's hard to write and design at the same time. Definitely don't design first, then write copy to fill in the blanks. That's really bad.
- Try this formula: First write out the pains, then write out the reversal of those pains (dreams).
From the beginning
To start I opened Photoshop and started writing and designing at the same time. Here is my first draft. There are a few filler elements like the planet icon.
Initial feedback
I sent that draft to Amy and received some great feedback. Here's what she said:
- The most effective way to convert your visitors into customers. "Generally, when people hit a landing page, they're not already looking for a solution. Let's say they just clicked a link in an email and they're sitting at their desk sipping their coffee, not thinking of anything particular. Will this headline grab them by the nose and make them sit up straighter?"
- With most visitors you will never get another chance to engage with them since you don't have a method to contact them. Plus, you didn't deliver any value, so why should they return?
"This is a great pain point. But it's hiding in the corner!" - (Regarding the process illustration)
"I love the way these sketchy things look, but they are focused on the app and not the customer (before the customer is tempted to care), and they're hard to read. I & my students have all had bad results with the multi-column "explanation" layouts. They are simply hard to read; and unless people are incredibly motivated, their eyes will just kinda drift around until they decide it's not worth the investment, and stop reading." - The ConvertKit process helps you build trust with your visitors. Best of all, ConvertKit automates everything for you.
"Are people going "OMG I GOTTA BUILD TRUST" or "OMG I NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE SALES"? I'd say trust is a byproduct, but not the one they're immediately looking for. You have to sell them on trust, too."
With that feedback in mind I redesigned and partially rewrote the page. The main changes were that I worked on a new headline, changed the order of the elements on the page, and redid the illustrations so that they fit into a single column. Here's the updated design.
Round Two
The next round of feedback came in the form of a Skype chat. Here's the transcript.
Amy: So about your new landing page. So much better.
Nathan: Excellent.
It does still feels a bit forced. So I love questions as headlines and the one you have is very painful.
Good. I wrote out half a dozen headlines trying to get at the core pain.
How would you feel, though, if a stranger came up to you and said "You're losing hundreds of sales."?
Who the hell are you to tell me what's wrong with my business…
Right, me too. Not because you're not interested in getting extra sales, but because it SOUNDS like you're being attacked.
Good point.
I tell my students to be very careful with statements that might sound accusatory.
So how would you pull it back while still catching attention?
The pain itself — brilliant. just needs to be dealt with a little more obliquely. how about "How many sales are you losing? or… "Windowshoppers who never come back…" not that exact headline but the idea that they lose POTENTIAL customers. "What if you could double your sales?" is something you could use when you have statistics for a case study.
"Are you frustrated by the potential sales you are losing?"
I'm a fan of using emotion words but sometimes they can just be redundant.
"Does your conversion rate keep you up at night?"
I like that.
Generally show, don't tell… don't say "you're frustrated"… SHOW the results of being frustrated. You can have it :)
Is it better to focus on conversion rate or sales?
Now that I don't know. Depends on a lot of factors. A good target for an a/b test when you have traffic. You're aiming this at self-described marketers/growth hackers etc. And they are probably used to using the term "conversion rate" instead of "sales". That's my guess. But I could be wrong.
Yep, that's true.
I do know that accusatory-sounding copywriting doesn't go down well, without having to test. :) Buying involves letting down some defenses so if you get people freaked out first thing, not gonna happen.
Yeah, I hadn't read it from that perspective, but as soon as you brought it up I knew what you meant.
Yeah, everybody needs extra eyeballs on their copy :)
So running with the title: "Does your conversion rate keep you up at night?"… Does it need a subheadline?
Which brings us to the next bit of feedback I have! That's a question you can't answer without knowing what you're trying to say & what the customer needs to hear to make a decision. You designed (or repurposed) this page layout before you did the copywriting, right?
I did them at the same time. But the copy has changed a lot, and the layout not so much.
Did you have more of your design hat on, or your copywriting hat?
I can tell :) which is the major mistake I made on http://letsfreckle.com 's redesign. but the content is what will sell your product, not the layout. The question isn't, does it need a subheadline? but rather… what does the customer need to hear?
Agreed. Though that is a lesson I am still learning.
It's tough. Clearly I am not immune to it. A very famous copywriter once said that the job of the headline is to get you to read the first sentence. And the job of the first sentence is to get you to read the second sentence. So the job of your headline is to get them to read the next sentence… or the subhead. Whatever makes sense, given the "conversation" you're having with the customer in your copy.
Okay. So would you always write copy as a letter, then design from there?
Imagine if your sales page is a conversation, as it stands, and not a collection of design elements and copy bits. I would now, yes. And that's the approach that works fabulously for my students, and the one I'll be using to redo the freckle page as part of a 30×500 project. :)
And I would start with bullet points:
What it'd be like without the pains:
(which I call dream)
Fix: how this product will take the pains and turn them into dreams.
It's a 3-act narrative structure and it works beautifully for sales, too.
The more immediate the pains are — the more vivid, and recently experienced, and detailed, and urgent — the stronger your persuasion is.
This won't persuade somebody who doesn't already experience that pain, however. That's the beauty of it. They simply will go "Huh. Okay? Not for me."
Is "I need to build trust" a burning pain? :)
No. At least not yet.
Example: "Does your conversion rate keep you up at night? Me too. After all, what's the point of driving more traffic if you can't turn that into sales?"
So the surface pain is poor conversion rates, so we need to get to what is driving that. I think two main issues that prevent sales are not understanding the product and not trusting the seller.
1 sec, I gotta taste the tomato sauce. Agreed, those are major reasons why people don't buy. Also, they just get distracted and forget. Or you don't immediately grab them… although that's not something you can EASILY solve with software. I think those two things (in reverse order) are much bigger reasons.
ConvertKit helps with distraction and forgetting as well.
Yes it does :) "ConvertKit can't write your sales page for you, BUT…" the question is, are you in the biz of selling them facts about sales, or persuading them?
Persuasion is better.
Poor conversion rates
- lack of trust from visitors
- not understanding the product
- getting distracted and forgetting
- Ability to gradually explain product
- Build trust over time
- Regular followup to stay top of mind
Is something like that what you are thinking?
Getting there! Sorry, then my friends arrived early. So under poor conversion rates, you switch immediately to THEIR *customer's* reasons… not YOUR customer's pains.
No worries. I'll take another pass at it with these ideas.
From my perspective, as a serious potential customer, my pain points are… I know what I ought to be doing (capturing emails when people don't immediately buy). I'm not doing it because the software is so irritating. Have you set up autoresponders? They're a bitch.
I hate setting up autoresponders. That's why I'm building this product.
Right. So what's your potential customer more likely thinking… "****ing auto-responders," or "Gee, I really need to build trust" :)
"You know what you should be doing, but you don't because IT'S SUCH A ****ING PAIN!"
That's how I feel.
Yep. Not "I need to build trust," which is TRUE… but nobody is going around thinking that. Therefore it's a weak sales proposition. The best way to gain trust, btw, is to show the customer you really understand them. Something I hear a lot is, "It's like you wrote this just for me." "It's like you've been spying on me." That == persuasion gold.
So should I explain the process at all? Or just focus on the people who understand drip marketing and don't do it because of the pain?
Education is great, if you focus on the customer's immediate pain. which is A) sales and/or B) software frustration. You could be like, "A lot of customers aren't ready to buy right away. What happens to them? You lose them forever." The key is to keep the focus on the pain until they're like, "YEAH, that really IS a problem!"
And you still teach them to build trust but you kinda sneak it into something they REALLY care about. Like how I don't pitch 30×500 as a big long research project. :)
I guess I'm still not sure which is more important, teaching them how to improve conversion rates through this process, or showing them how this process (which they already understand) is made easier with ConvertKit.
Though there has to be a way to do both, but I'm not seeing it.
They're not two different things. :) If you go with "They're not ready to buy right away… you lose them… what if you didn't?" in a broader outline, you could easily pivot.
Got it.
The pivot could look something like this: "Now I bet many of you already know this process works. So why don't you use it? I know the reason I didn't was because it is such a pain to setup."
That leads beautifully into talking about a few features that make life easy. Easy landing pages, autoresponders, etc. Now I see it. (Also, I don't want to keep you from your friends…)
Yup, no problem! I'm ALSO talking about furniture with my friend Ilya.
So if I were gonna give you homework, it'd be to work on an outline, vivid pain points, and that pivot in an outline… and then just write pure copy. Then let that show you how the page should be laid out.
Copy and furniture. Two of your favorite things.
TRUTH I'm in hog heaven. And they brought guac!
Happy to help you when you get that outline ready. You don't need to go through the whole process before asking for more feedback. But, again, I'd just like to say that you did make huge improvements from the first design you showed me, to the second.
Perfect. I'll write that and send it to you. Thank you very much.
I think to really make it perfect, you'll just need to step back some.
You're welcome! It really is a pleasure to help somebody who helps himself.
:) Have a good evening!
You too! ciao
Time for a rewrite
That was a long conversation. I learned a lot, but the major takeaway was that it was time to rewrite from scratch. Or at least, try a new format. This time I turned to Google Docs and wrote in plain text. By getting design out of the way I was left to focus on convincing the visitor with content, rather than getting caught up in the design.
Here is the version I wrote:
Does your conversion rate keep you up at night?
Me too.
I constantly worry about the hundreds of visitors who come to my site and don't make a purchase. Especially because most of these visitors will never come back.
If you don't capture their attention on that first visit, you lose them. But what if you didn't?
Your current sales process
I'm guessing your current sales process looks something like this:
1. Visitor comes to landing page and is asked to purchase a product.
2. A few are convinced and purchase, but most hit the back button and never return.
Ouch. That's not good. Remember all those hours you spent writing blog posts and building traffic? Most of that's wasted by poor conversion rates.
Luckily, there's a better way.
Sales pages are like an awkward conversation
Imagine you and I met for the first time on the street. After a quick introduction I ask, "Do you by chance work with software?"
"Yes, I'm a developer." you respond.
"Perfect! I just wrote a book about designing better web applications. Would you like to buy it?"
That's awkward. Right then you are probably thinking that we just met 30 seconds earlier and you have no reason to trust me. What indications do you have that I even know anything about designing software? It's probably a good time to say something noncommittal like, "I'll check it out," and find a way to exit the conversation.
This scenario seems completely ridiculous when described in person, but it actually matches the sales process I described above.
When selling products visitors often come straight to the product sales page. This could be from a link on Twitter, an ad, or something else where they have never heard of you before. So why are you asking them to buy right away?
A better way
Instead, let's teach this random stranger something. Provide them value, help them accomplish their goals, and build trust before asking for anything from them. Here's how it works online:
- Visitor comes to landing page and is offered a free eBook.
- The eBook is emailed to them. Clicking the link to the book confirms their email address.
- While subscribing they were also given an opportunity to opt-into a free 30 day email course.
- As you deliver more valuable content for free over email, your subscriber's trust in you increases.
- Only after the subscriber has gotten to know you and understands the value of your product do you ask for the sale.
Using this process you capture more leads up front, have more time to talk to the visitor about your product, and only ask for the sale after they have a reason to trust you. Best of all, if they forget about your product, which is likely, you have the opportunity to remind them in a future conversation.
Now, I wouldn't be surprised if you read through that saying, "I already knew that." If so, I've got one quick question: Why don't you use it?
If you're like me, it's because it is really painful to set up, between designing the landing page, coding a way to gather subscribers' information, automating the delivery of an incentive, and then finally creating and delivering a course. You can code your own solution or combine a bunch of different web applications to get it done.
No matter how you do it, the process is time consuming and very frustrating. What if it could be easy?
That's why I made ConvertKit, to take this proven marketing process and automate it with a single tool.
- Start by creating a new landing page in seconds. We take care of the design and layout, so you can focus on writing compelling content.
- Once the page is in place, upload an incentive, like a guide or training video, to give your visitors for subscribing.
- Set up an email course that will teach your subscribers. Our interface makes it easier to write a course as a series of lessons. Easily refer back to what you said in the previous email, and move ahead to write the next one. Auto-responders and email sequences have never been this easy.
With all the technical challenges taken care of, you are free to focus on delivering value to your readers. This will increase your readership, build trust, and ultimately increase sales.
Bad News
Unfortunately, I've got some bad news for you. ConvertKit isn't quite ready for you to use it yet. But trust me, I'm sick of implementing this process with clunky software, so I'm just as eager as you for ConvertKit to be ready.
In the meantime, I'd like to teach you other ways to improve your conversion rates.
I want you to be able to fall asleep at night thinking about happy customers and money in the bank, not crummy conversion rates. So I put together this short guide on 10 ways to improve your conversion rate. Download it now, and I promise I'll let you know when ConvertKit is ready.
[Download form]
Want to be first?
If you'd love what I just shared and want to be very first to use ConvertKit, you can preorder it today. When you preorder your first 3 months I'll also give you one month free. Plus you'll get a 25% discount for life. Not bad, right?
[Preorder pricing]
[Followed by an FAQ]
Reworking the rewrite
I sent that off to Amy and she made quite a few more changes. She kept a lot of my ideas, but often changed out my plain words for something more meaningful. Watch for words like "sabotaged" and "drove." Also note that she cut a lot of content. Mine was far too long and she got rid of the extra fluff.
Does your conversion rate keep you up at night?
Like you, I run a product business (with two ebooks and counting!). I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my conversion rates. I've spent a lot of time thinking and researching.
Here's what I see as the fundamental problem:
Your funnel has a hole in it
Imagine you and I met for the first time on the street. After a quick introduction I ask, "Do you by chance work with software?"
"Yes, I'm a developer," you respond.
"Perfect! I just wrote a book about designing better web applications. Would you like to buy it for $39?"
How many sales do you think I could make this way?
This scenario seems completely ridiculous… but isn't it exactly how we expect things to happen with our web-based sales pages?
We expect a stranger to buy from us the very first time we "meet." Usually, they don't. And that's it. Then… you lose them forever.
Ouch. All those hours you spent writing blog posts and building traffic and tuning your landing page, sabotaged.
A way to fix a leaky funnel… and capture sales from wary visitors
But what if you didn't lose them forever? What if you had the opportunity to persuade them over and over again, over a period of weeks? To build trust and demonstrate why your product is right for them?
Imagine if your sales process looked more like this:
- Your would-be customer hits your landing page. She's not ready to buy, but look, what's that? A free ebook? A set of tips? A recorded interview? Unsubscribe at any time? That's not much of a commitment, she doesn't lose a thing, and hey, free stuff.
- She receives your free goodie (ebook, report, tip #1). Clicking the link to the freebie confirms her email address.
- She enjoys the freebie. And so you email her a few more useful tips, here and there. Every email shows her that your advice is good, and you know what you're talking about.
- Once she's tried your free advice for herself, and she's seen the quality of what you create — you ask for the sale. You're not a stranger anymore, you're an advisor. She is five to 10 times more likely to buy.
Do this, and you'll have managed to turn a potentially creepy sales scenario into a valuable, trust-building conversation. This also means your would-be customer won't simply forget about you (which I believe is a major reason for low conversion rates!).
"I already know that."
You probably do already know this is what you "should" be doing. You also know that this kind of process can be a pain in the butt to implement.
You've got to design your landing page, code a way to gather your would-be customer's information, automate the delivery of your first incentive, then finally write (or record) and deliver a set of follow-up tips, lessons, or sales pitches.
Whether you custom-roll a solution or try to integrate with existing tools (which don't handle email courses very well), you're going to spend a lot of time and annoyance on setting this all up.
So you haven't. Yet.
What if it all you had to do was supply great content?
All of the above drove me to design ConvertKit.
I knew I should be using that sales process. But setting it up was a major pain.
I wanted to make it as easy as writing the content, to implement this proven marketing process.
When you use ConvertKit, all you have to do is…
- Create a new landing page in seconds. We take care of the design and layout, so you can focus on writing compelling content.
- Upload an incentive, like a guide or training video to tease your visitors into subscribing.
- Write a few helpful emails that'll teach your subscribers (and one or two that ask for the sale!). Our interface makes it extremely fast to set up a sequence of emails to deliver an email course, or set of tips, in order. Auto-responders and email sequences have never been this easy.
With ConvertKit taking care of the technical challenges, you can focus on delivering value to your readers. Capture drive-by visitors. Build trust. Create sales. Double or triple (or more!) your total conversion rate.
Be the First to Fix Your Funnel with ConvertKit
ConvertKit is currently under heavy development (not quite ready for you yet!). I'm just as eager as you for ConvertKit to be ready… and sick of the tedious work of setting up this sales process with other generalized tools.
While you wait, I'd like to teach you 10 other ways to improve your conversion rates.
I put together this quick guide to help you get started making more sales today. It's free. All you need to do is enter your email address and it'll pop straight to your inbox:
[Download form]
There's no obligation, cancel at any time, never spam you ever, etc.
(And you'll be among the first to know when ConvertKit is ready!)
And… a special opportunity for a lifetime discount.
First; try my free conversion rate optimization guide. See what I'm up to.
If you love the the idea of making your sales funnel leak-proof with ConvertKit, and if you want to be very first to use ConvertKit, you can preorder it today.
Preorder just your first three months and you'll get one month free. Plus, as a thank-you for your support, you'll receive a 25% discount for life. (Starting at $x per month, forever!) Making more money and saving money? Not too shabby, right?
[Preorder pricing]
[Followed by an FAQ]
As I read through Amy's changes I found myself nodding my head with each change. The new order made a lot more sense, the sentences she removed were redundant, and the length was perfect. I recommend reading through them both side-by-side to compare!
With a few minor changes that is the version we went with. You can see it live on ConvertKit.com. If for some reason the page has changed when you are reading this you can find a version of the design below.
Looking at this page now it still has a few issues, but in the interest of shipping software, I decided to go live with it anyway. Amy pointed out that my design of this page breaks up the reading flow. So even though I wrote it first as a letter, people may not read it that way. The solution would be to add fewer lines, font changes, and other designy elements. I mostly agree…
So far 6,397 people have visited the page and 228 people have subscribed to the email list. So a 3.6% conversion rate. Not as high as I would have liked, but a lot of that traffic was from Hacker News, which always converts a bit lower.
I hope you enjoyed reading through this process. Since you made it all the way to the bottom of this post you obviously care about marketing and copywriting (or you're just obsessed with me… which is weird), so you should sign up for the mailing list on ConvertKit.com. I'll be sending out a lot of great related content.
If this resonated with you and you want to improve your marketing, preorder ConvertKit. Seriously, you'll love it!


text:
Battery technology is making huge strides in cordless tool performance, as seen with the new Greenworks Pro family of lithium-ion lawn tools. When batteries hit the 60-volt range, you're dealing with gas-equivalent power but without the hassle and mess of liquid fuel or engine oil. The Greenworks Pro line delivers all the benefits of going cordless but without the noise of a gas-fired motor.
The EHT staff got our hands on a couple of test units, and we found the 60V Greenworks Pro String Trimmer to have an astonishing amount of slicing power for an electric tool. Its 16-inch cutting width cleans broad swaths through thick weeds and undergrowth, making quick work of around-the-yard chores.
The 60V Backpack Blower is compact, lightweight, and sweeps away leaves and debris with ease. It offers quiet, on-demand power with a variable-speed trigger. Expect up to 80 minutes of run time with a fully charged 5Ah battery.
Made with medium/heavy duty-construction and materials, both tools feature high-efficiency brushless motors for long-lasting, low-maintenance reliability. And as long as you keep a battery charged, they're at the ready for grab-and-go convenience. The Greenworks Pro tools met and exceeded our expectations for cordless lawn tools, and you pick them up online at www.greenworkstools.com or at your local Lowes' Home Improvement Center.


text:
- Language: en
Django 1.5.9 release notes¶
August 20, 2014
Django 1.5.9 fixes several security issues in 1.5.8.
could generate URLs pointing to other hosts¶
In certain situations, URL reversing could generate scheme-relative URLs (URLs starting with two slashes), which could unexpectedly redirect a user to a different host. An attacker could exploit this, for example, by redirecting users to a phishing site designed to ask for user's passwords.
To remedy this, URL reversing now ensures that no URL starts with two slashes (//), replacing the second slash with its URL encoded counterpart (%2F). This approach ensures that semantics stay the same, while making the URL relative to the domain and not to the scheme.
File upload denial-of-service¶
Before this release, Django's file upload handing in its default configuration
may degrade to producing a huge number of os.stat()
system calls when a
duplicate filename is uploaded. Since stat()
may invoke IO, this may produce
a huge data-dependent slowdown that slowly worsens over time. The net result is
that given enough time, a user with the ability to upload files can cause poor
performance in the upload handler, eventually causing it to become very slow
simply by uploading 0-byte files. At this point, even a slow network connection
and few HTTP requests would be all that is necessary to make a site unavailable.
We've remedied the issue by changing the algorithm for generating file names
if a file with the uploaded name already exists.
now appends an
underscore plus a random 7 character alphanumeric string (e.g. "_x3a1gho"
rather than iterating through an underscore followed by a number (e.g. "_1"
, etc.).
session hijacking¶
When using the RemoteUserMiddleware
and the RemoteUserBackend
, a change to the REMOTE_USER
header between
requests without an intervening logout could result in the prior user's session
being co-opted by the subsequent user. The middleware now logs the user out on
a failed login attempt.
Data leakage via query string manipulation in contrib.admin
In older versions of Django it was possible to reveal any field's data by
modifying the "popup" and "to_field" parameters of the query string on an admin
change form page. For example, requesting a URL like
and viewing the page's HTML allowed
viewing the password hash of each user. While the admin requires users to have
permissions to view the change form pages in the first place, this could leak
data if you rely on users having access to view only certain fields on a model.
To address the issue, an exception will now be raised if a to_field
that isn't a related field to a model that has been registered with the admin
is specified.


text:
Do Darwinian theories of evolution have relevance to Free Software projects?
The evolution of software carries a different pace depending upon the management structure and goals of the project. Here we explore the history of, and potential for evolutionary theories of software development.
Picture of Charles Robert Darwin above taken by By J. Cameron, via Wikimedia Commons. Photograph is in the public domain.
Charles Robert Darwin and Evolution
Charles Robert Darwin is famous for his theory of evolution by a process which he termed natural selection. Today we are going to attempt to stretch Darwin's theories to cover software as well. While this may seem to be a strange attempt to use biological theories in a way they were never intended to be used, we believe that we can show that there is indeed a correlation, and that the correlation specifically affects only certain types of software.
Darwin's theory in its time was controversial. In certain backwoods places it is still controversial today, more than one hundred and fifty years after the theory was originally proposed.
Scientifically the theory is considered proven. In the outside world a misunderstanding of how the scientific community uses the word "theory" has lead to certain radical elements to believe that there is insufficient proof that Evolution is real. We need first to address this confusion, which Wikipedia does quite admirably:
While theories in the arts and philosophy may address ideas and empirical phenomena which are not easily observable, in modern science the term "theory", or "scientific theory" is generally understood to refer to a proposed explanation of empirical phenomena, made in a way consistent with scientific method. Such theories are preferably described in such a way that any scientist in the field is in a position to understand, verify, and challenge (or "falsify") it. In this modern scientific context the distinction between theory and practice corresponds roughly to the distinction between theoretical science and technology or applied science. A common distinction made in science is between theories and hypotheses, with the former being considered as satisfactorily tested or proven and the latter used to denote conjectures or proposed descriptions or models which have not yet been tested or proven to the same standard.
It is suggested that anyone interested in the full details follow the link above for additional information and sources.
The important point is that a theory is a "proposed explanation" of a phenomena. As long as the explanation works, the theory is considered correct, EVEN IF WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND ALL OF THE DETAILS. Consider gravity, a very complex force. We understand many details of how gravity works, and we have a theory of gravity. We do not however know precisely what generates gravity. We know that it has something to do with mass, but is it mass as a whole? Or is it protons, neutrons, electrons, or quarks? Or might it be something that we do not know about yet?
Unless we reach a point where the theory no longer makes sense, this doesn't matter. This is what happened when Einstein's physics replaced Newton's physics. Science had reached a point where the explanations provided by Newton's theories no longer worked. Einstein produced his General Theory of Relativity, which answered the questions that Newtonian Physics could not answer.
We have not reached that stage with Darwin's theories yet. Darwin's Theory of Evolution has held up remarkably well. It has been added to many times by other scientists who have proposed additions, but the basic theory has not been changed.
Evolution and Software
Meir "Manny" Lehman started working on the concept of software evolution while working at IBM in 1968. His interest was in the evolution of the individual program, and he continued to write on the subject until his death in December of 2010. Lehman's laws of Software Evolution provide an interesting viewpoint from the proprietary perspective. The text below is from the Wikipedia entry.
Prof. Meir M. Lehman, who worked at Imperial College London from 1972 to 2002, and his colleagues have identified a set of behaviours in the evolution of proprietary software. These behaviours (or observations) are known as Lehman's Laws, and there are eight of them:
1) Continuing Change
2) Increasing Complexity
3) Large Program Evolution
4) Invariant Work-Rate
5) Conservation of Familiarity
6) Continuing Growth
7) Declining Quality
8) Feedback System
It is worth mentioning that the laws are believed to apply mainly to monolithic, proprietary software. For example, some empirical observations coming from the study of open source software development appear to challenge some of the laws.
Further below in the entry is the following:
Software evolution is not likely to be Darwinian, Lamarckian or Baldwinian, but an important phenomenon on its own. Giving the increasing dependence on software at all levels of society and economy, the successful evolution of software is becoming increasingly critical. This is an important topic of research that hasn't received much attention.
We believe that this is incorrect. In a corporate environment Darwinian Evolution would be regarded by the corporation as inefficient, because for Darwinian Evolution to work at it's best multiple paths of change must be available. In a corporate setting multiple paths are regarded as inefficient, and therefore the corporation would move to block Darwinian Evolution from occurring. We believe however that in Free Software Projects Darwinian Evolution will be the norm, as Free Software projects can encourage experimentation with different options in a way that proprietary projects are unable to, and thus that Free Software will evolve faster. Going back to the Salon article linked to above, on the third page it notes that:
Michael Godfrey, a University of Waterloo scientist, is equally hesitant but still finds the Lehman approach useful. In 2000, Godfrey and a fellow Waterloo researcher, Qiang Tu, released a study showing that several open-source software programs, including the Linux kernel and fetchmail, were growing at geometric rates, breaking the inverse squared barrier constraining most traditionally built programs. Although the discovery validated arguments within the software development community that large system development is best handled in an open-source manner, Godfrey says he is currently looking for ways to refine the quantitative approach to make it more meaningful.
Apple, by leveraging Free Software, was able to slingshot past Microsoft in the early years of the new Millennia. The use of BSD as the basis of their operating system software allowed Apple to modernize it, and then to use the same basic kernel on the IPod, and later the IPhone, and the IPad. Many of the basic programs provided with Mac OS X, like Safari, are built on a Free Software core; Safari is based on Webkit.
IBM uses Apache as the base of its Websphere product, and OpenOffice as the base of Lotus Smartsuite. Oracle uses OpenOffice as the base of StarOffice. Even Microsoft has used Free Software in the past, though they would rather not admit it. Even Microsoft Windows may use some BSD code.
But is Free Software development Darwinian?
What is Free Software?
Free software is software which meets the Free Software definition as published by the Free Software Foundation. The aim of the Free Software definition is to maintain the user's freedom to:
- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
One of the most common misunderstandings is that the Free Software Definition is not aimed to protect programmers. It's aim is to protect users. That it protects programmers is incidental to its main purpose.
What is the Advantage of Free Software?
Software that protects users also has a strong attraction to programmers, because it also protects them. Consider the various Kernel projects. Apple was able to use the FreeBSD project as the basis of Mac OS X. While Apple has contributed back to the FreeBSD project, Apple was under no obligation to.
Compare that to Linux, where Apple would have been under an obligation to contribute back to the project. This has caused a philosophical rift in the Free Software community. The copyleft side of the community believe that a strong copyleft license is needed to protect the user, while the permissive side of the community believe that copyleft licenses are too restrictive of the users freedom to use the code however they wish.
Many programmers side with the copyleft movement. They prefer to keep their code free for use for all time. This is shown by the high percentage of projects that use Copyleft licenses. At present well over 60% of projects use Copyleft style licenses which enforce return contributions.
The most famous example is the Linux Kernel, which since the year 2000 has added support for a truly impressive list of hardware architectures. The enforced sharing which many in the open source camp have declared a bug, has instead appeared to become a feature, in that it has attracted many of the best and brightest developers. The result is that the Linux Kernel has evolved at a faster rate than any of the other Kernels in the last eleven years. Linux now supports a wide range of file systems, more types of hardware than most other Kernels, is the top Supercomputer Kernel, powers most of the World Wide Web, is taking over a large portion of the embedded operating system market, and continues to evolve at a furious rate.
Or consider LibreOffice, the recent fork of OpenOffice. Since it's release of 3.30 in January, the project then released 3.31, 3.32, 3.33, and then jumped to 3.40 which was released in June. No proprietary software project could handle a release schedule like this, and none ever has. LibreOffice 3.41RC2 is available for download by those who like to test bleeding edge releases.
Oracle, the owner of OpenOffice responded by donating the OpenOffice code base to the Apache Foundation, a tacit admission that it was unable to compete. Whether Apache will be able to compete is open to question. LibreOffice is under a Copyleft license. OpenOffice will be under a permissive license. This will allow LibreOffice to take code from the OpenOffice project, but will not allow OpenOffice to take code from the LibreOffice project. Currently OpenOffice is at least six months behind LibreOffice, and falling further behind daily, it is unlikely that OpenOffice will be able to catch up without a code donation of some sort.
Projects Using a Free Software License Attract More Developers
They not only attract more developers, they also attract developers who are willing to work together as a team. It's interesting spending time on a project mailing list. The camaraderie, the willingness to put the team before self… It is not something that you tend to see when working at a large company.
When working at a large company it tends to be a dog eat dog situation. A Free Software project is more collegial. Problems get worked around. Egos get parked at the door. Which isn't to say that there aren't jerks. There are jerks everywhere. But peer pressure tends to keep them under control.
Free Software Projects develop better developers. Because of the collegial atmosphere, mediocre developers get the mentoring they need to develop into superior developers. Effectively a Free Software project moves the bell curve. Instead of the center of the curve being at 50%, it ends up being at 70%. Just think of what this does to the project's effectiveness.
As mentioned above, Free Software Projects often attempt more than one solution to a problem. The project may attempt four or five solutions if there are enough volunteers, and enough ideas. Unlike in biological evolution the unused code will not be turned off, instead it will be retained and evaluated for use elsewhere in the project. What may not be suitable for one use, may be suitable for another, and provides multiple evolutionary paths.
This is a freedom that a commercial developer doesn't have. Many of the developers who will be working on a Free Software Project are paid to do so by their companies, however because of the way that a Free Software Project works the company isn't as concerned if the developer is working on a duplicate path. What the company is concerned with is whether a release arrives at a given time. A check of the mailing list archives of any project will show that most of the email addresses are corporate. The path to corporate employment is often involvement on a Project, where you prove that not only you can deliver on the work, but also that you can work with people.
Projects With More Developers Evolve Faster
In The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering the central theme is that "adding manpower to a late software project makes it later". To quote:
The mythical man-month
Assigning more programmers to a project running behind schedule will make it even later, because of the time required for the new programmers to learn about the project, as well as the increased communication overhead. When N people have to communicate among themselves (without a hierarchy), as N increases, their output M decreases and can even become negative, i.e., the total work remaining at the end of a day is greater than the total work that had been remaining at the beginning of that day, such as when many bugs are created.
Group Intercommunication Formula: n(n − 1) / 2
Example: 50 developers give 50 · (50 – 1) / 2 = 1225 channels of communication.
Brooks illustrates the fallacy of adding workers to speed the work by counterexample: If one woman can produce a baby in nine months, then nine women should be able to produce a baby in one month. The reason that this is false is that gestation is a sequential process, whose stages cannot run in parallel. If nine women get pregnant at the same time, in nine months they will produce nine different babies.
The book was originally published in 1975. Free Software Projects leverage the power of Web 2.0 in a way that wasn't possible to consider in 1975, and which most corporations have not yet adopted (and which most corporations may never adopt). In Clay Shirky's classic book about the Web 2.0 civilization Here Comes Everybody, Clay describes how society is beginning to harness the power of Web 2.0 in positive ways. What Clay missed is that Free Software Developers have used these Web 2.0 style innovations since before Web 2.0 existed, that in fact Free Software Developers had used these innovations before the web itself existed.
The result is projects that evolve faster and faster in non-traditional ways. When more developers are added and the project should, under classical rules, slow down, it instead speeds up. When developers leave the project putting more stress on the remaining developers, and the project should slow down, it maintains pace. When the project attempts several solutions to a problem, instead of slowing down, the project speeds up. The stress of competition against other projects, whether Free Software or Proprietary Software, will push the Free Software Project to move at a faster and faster pace of development, while the Proprietary Project is unable to respond in the same manner, since it is limited by the rules of the Mythical Man Month.
Darwinian Evolutionary Pressures will force Free Software Projects, whether they are permissive or copyleft licensed into faster and faster rates of evolution. It is expected that these same Darwinian pressures will eventually force proprietary software companies to adopt Free Software development methodologies. Whether they can successfully adapt them to a corporate environment, or whether they will be forced to file for bankruptcy we will have to wait and see.S|A
Wayne Borean
Latest posts by Wayne Borean (see all)
- Darwin does Free Software - Jun 28, 2011
- The Nokia-Apple Patent Deal - Jun 28, 2011
- The Mac OS X Virus That Wasn't - May 24, 2011
- Microsoft Death Watch* – Microsoft Buys Skype - May 11, 2011
- Patent Wars: Oracle v. Google Part 2 - May 9, 2011


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FoldiMate Folds, Steams & Perfumes your Washing
FoldiMate Family is most definitely our product OTD
You're gonna LOVE this one – The FoldiMate Family is an awesome new handy home robot appliance that folds, steams, and even perfumes your clean washing in a matter of seconds. Users simply clip their clothes on the machine's conveyor belt, which feeds into the folding chamber where a variety of garment types can be folded by robotic arms. The company will begin pre-orders in 2017 and potential buyers can sign up to be notified through the FoldiMate website. If you hate washing and folding clothes as much as we do, then this is the best thing ever – simply genius! 🙂


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Kuhn HR 3504 D
Reliable Rotor Drive
Rotors are driven by large-diameter gears. Power transmission to the blades is ensured by numerous teeth fully engaged at all times. The rotor drive design has contributed to build the highly reliable reputation of Kuhn power harrows.
Compact and Robust Housing
The casing, bearings and tine holders form a compact and very robust unity, reducing twisting forces on the housing. The small distance between casing and tine holders prevents stones from getting jammed and the soil flow is directed completely towards the blades' working area so that all soil is worked, ensuring a constant high level of work quality.
Heavy-Duty Central Frame with Reinforced Articulations
The central frame is made from heavy box sections which ensure increased rigidity and high resistance to bending and torsion. For further simplicity and comfort, HR 1004 DRC models are fitted with hydraulic locking in transport position. Each half-harrow is connected to the central frame by a heavy pin. This assembly provides resistance to the highest loads.
Blade Holder Orientation
Kuhn power harrow blade holders are positioned to provide a progressive crumbling of the soil by the blades. This precise and exclusive layout prevents the harrow from excessive vibrations while at the same time reducing the power consumption.
Depth Control
Roller height is easily adjusted with a simple to use multi-hole and stop-pin selector. The HRB 1004 D Series comes with a large choice of rollers to meet your depth control needs. For dry, non-sticky soils, the HRB 1004 D Series can be equipped with the Crumbler or Maxicrumbler roller. For compact, silty or sticky soils the Packer 2 or Maxipacker rollers would be most efficient. The Steelliner or Packliner rollers are also available on the HRB 1004 D Series power harrows.
Working width (m) | 3.5 |
Working width (feet) | 11'5" |
Minimum power requirement for PTO (kW) | 67 |
Minimum power requirement for PTO (hp) | 90 |
PTO speed (rpm) | 1000 |
Maximum authorised tractor power (kW) | 186 |
Maximum Authorised Tractor Power (hp) | 250 |
Weight with Packer PK2 roller (lb) | 3604 / 1635 |
Weight with Maxipacker roller (kg) | 1305 |
Weight with Maxipacker roller (lb) | 2878 |


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What Is The "Best" Time To Divorce?
Should you stay together until your children are a little older, or is it better to make a clean break now?
I hear this question every time I lecture to parents or participate on talk shows. People love their children, and they want to diminish any hurt from the divorce. They want to know whether there's an age when divorce is easier on children. What's the "best" time to divorce? The trouble is, there's no simple answer. It all depends on what's going on in your family, what kind of parents you are, how much you can cooperate, and also the age and temperament of your child.
First take a close look at what's happening in your family. If there's chronic violence at home, the answer is "the sooner the better," unrelated to the age of your child. By violence, I mean physical attack — hitting, kicking, throwing objects — or chronic threats of physical violence. Exposure to violence has serious consequences for a child's development that may last well into adulthood. They fear for your safety. They fear for themselves and their siblings.
If there's repeated high conflict in your marriage accompanied by yelling, screaming, and pounding the table, then I'd also say the sooner the better. Since there are no meaningful measures of high conflict, this judgment is highly subjective. Some families are reserved, others are operatic. But if you're in a marriage where almost every subject is material for another fierce argument, you know what I mean. In some high-conflict homes, serious differences between the partners are a recurrent theme in everyday life. In other marriages, fights erupt over insignificant issues — a grocery bill, local politics, a bad report card — leading to hurt and a sense of endless frustration. Like violence, high conflict is terrifying for children to witness because it creates a climate that leads to fear and trembling. In such an environment, a child can lose the capacity to trust, even to feel. The longer it goes on, the worse it will be.
Divorce in violent marriages provides important relief for one or both parents and can definitely help the children — but not automatically. When children have witnessed violent behavior, they need therapy in addition to divorce. This is an extremely important recommendation. Children who have witnessed physical abuse in their families absolutely need help in assimilating new and healthier models for male-female relationships. Nor is divorce by itself enough for children who have grown up under conditions of high conflict. They, too, need therapy to help them resume their development without a distorted view of how people treat each other.
The parents who terminate such marriages also need help, not only to protect their children but to learn how to let go of their fear and anger. Divorce does not end fear in a person who has been victimized. Nor does rage go away. After a divorce, angry people often tend to continue fighting. But if you are in a violent or high-conflict marriage, you should keep in mind that anger has the potential to escalate when divorce is threatened or actually filed. While you may not be able to prevent anger from dominating your divorce proceedings, you can be aware of how hazardous the victim-perpetrator interaction is to your children.
The Low-Conflict Divorce
If the conflict is low between you — and this encompasses more than half of all divorces — it's a different story. Despite your disappointment in the marriage, you share some mutual respect and common interests.
Perhaps you're divorcing because of long-standing loneliness or sexual deprivation, because you have lost respect for your partner, or because of alcoholism, drug abuse, or mental illness. There's a wide range of irreconcilable differences. If this describes your marriage, then you should consider the fact that preschoolers tend to have the hardest time at the breakup and sometimes many years afterward. Much depends on the quality of your child's life after the breakup. A good second marriage may or may not enable you to provide the care that your child needs.
With the risk of repeating myself, I want to emphasize that young children need a great deal of care from their parents. After divorce, many women who were able to stay home part-time with their babies are now required to re-enter the workforce full-time. Mothers who love taking care of their little ones with long bedtime rituals, reading together, and playing favorite games, find that they have to cut back these pleasurable activities not because they want to but because they no longer have the time or energy after a long day at work.
So if you can delay your divorce until your youngest child enters school and seems to be adjusting well, your decision will be easier on him. He'll have an interesting world outside your home and a school structure that supports activities and friendships that will keep him developmentally on target. As he begins to find his own interests and friends, you may be better able to protect him from feeling that he has lost more than he has gained with your divorce.
Vulnerable Ages
The second most vulnerable age for divorce is early adolescence, when children are developing rapidly and need a strong family to guide and protect them. If you have a preteen child in trouble — failing at school or not keeping up with peers in some important regard — I advise you to hesitate before getting a divorce. Your child may be too troubled to adjust to the demands of a post-divorce family. So before you make any moves, consider whether your child is developmentally on target. If not, try to get her some help before you embark on the divorce.
The bottom line is that if you can figure out how to protect your little one from feeling bereft after the breakup and your young adolescent from feeling unsupported, you will be starting the journey better prepared. But let's be realistic. People can't always prepare for divorce. Traumatic events can engulf families and spit them out in lawyers' offices with shocking speed.
If your partner has done something outrageous and intolerable and you're seething with anger, you're probably going to file for divorce no matter how old your children are or what I say about differences in ages. You won't be able to wait. If this happens to you, keep in mind the importance of maintaining the stability of care with young children and the special vulnerability of children entering adolescence. This is the time to call on your family and friends for help and to set up plans for the young children and young teenagers before you separate.
Staying Together for the Kids
People also ask me, "Is it bad for my children if I stay in an unhappy marriage? Or would they be better off if we divorce?" I'm afraid the answer to this is yes and no. The notion that your child is unhappy because you're unhappy is simply not true. If your external behavior looks normal and you really enjoy being a parent — while your internal state is lonely or dying from boredom — your child may not notice your unhappiness. Children can't read your internal state unless it shows up directly in your relationship with them. They have no key to your sex life. They're not mind readers. Moreover, they have no way to understand the complexity of your marital relationship. I'm afraid that children who have not yet reached adolescence cannot comprehend why a violent person just doesn't stop if they are asked to show some restraint. They have no clue as to why a person behaves badly when drunk.
The choice to divorce is always a subjective, personal decision. No one can tell you exactly what the future holds. It may bring the man or woman of your dreams. I've seen that happen to young and old adults alike, although your chances diminish with age because the market is smaller. I'm reminded of one woman in her 50s who divorced her husband because she had grown to hate him. Within six months, she met a kind, loving man at her church who was exactly what she wanted in a partner. My point is that no one can measure how unhappy you are or predict what new opportunities divorce will bring. Only you can weigh the balance of inner misery and satisfaction in your life. In fact, all of us probably know couples who don't love each other but find contentment in work, friends, and parenthood. Some may have given up the dream of romantic love or perhaps they never wanted a passionate relationship from the start. Clearly, disappointment in a marriage depends almost entirely on where you set your sights to begin with, and these are subject to change. One recent study of unhappy marriages found that many embattled but intact couples, five years later, were much happier and reported that their marriages were good. So it is important not to make critical decisions in the heat of your latest disappointments. Things may look very different if you wait a few months. You may change your mind altogether.
From your children's perspective, the decision to divorce relates to how your unhappiness is affecting your ability to be a good parent. If you and your spouse enjoy being parents and together maintain a moral and protected life for your children, then I think you should consider staying together. I know many couples who have taken this path. They take great pride in their children and have decided, on balance, that it was a good way for them to go. Some have discreet extramarital affairs when they are away from home. Others settle for the limited love and sexuality in the marriage that they have. But if your unhappiness dominates your life, then you have to ask yourself probingly if one or both of you will be better parents after divorcing. Will your children be better off? These are hard questions, but again, only you can know your pain and satisfaction, how these play out now in the lives of your children, and how they are likely to play out in the future. The familiar question — "Is it better to stay married or not?" — doesn't capture the many gradations or nuances of marriage. Nor does it touch on the source of marital problems and the extent to which they can be tolerated within an intact marriage.
On the other hand, if you feel humiliated, emotionally abused, mocked, and derided in your marriage, or just wake up miserable each day, you can use the divorce to take new pride in yourself. As an emancipated parent, you can become a far better role model and share with your children your new sense of freedom. You can take the opportunity to improve your life with knowledge that you didn't have when you were younger. You can become a new kind of adult who has had the courage to bring about change in your life and the lives of your children. A new world is ahead of you, and it's yours to define.


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On the Brink: Monarchs Need Species Protections
Being listed as part of the Endangered Species Act would protect monarch butterflies. In the 1980s, about 4.5 million butterflies spent winters along the California coast. This season's stay is shaping up to consist of only about 30,000. Fully 99 percent of the species listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 are still with us today. To urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to give monarch butterflies the proven protection of the Endangered Species Act in June, sign the petition with Environmental Action.
This article appears in the May 2019 issue of Natural Awakenings.