| How to Care for Orchids Posted: 19 Feb 2018 04:00 PM PST Orchids are beautiful, delicate flowers that come in array of colors, shapes, and sizes. There are over 22,000 species of orchids, and care requirements may vary based on the type. However, you can follow some simple guidelines, regardless of what kind of orchid you have, to keep it healthy and looking great. EditIn a Hurry? The best way to take care of your orchid is to place it near a south- or east-facing window that receives strong, indirect light. Water your orchid whenever the soil feels dry, and fertilize it with a 10-10-10 fertilizer once a month while it's flowering. Make sure the room your orchids are in receives circulation, or set an overhead fan to low if it doesn't. For help clearing bugs or removing diseased spots, read on! EditCreating the Right Environment - Use pots with drainage holes. It's imperative that the orchid pots are equipped with drainage holes to allow excess water to run out of the pot. Otherwise, root rot may kill your beautiful plants! If your orchids are in pots without drainage holes, repot them into new ones.[1]
- Put a saucer or drip tray underneath the pots to prevent excess water from spilling on your floor.
- Provide a fast-draining potting medium designed for orchids. You can choose between a bark-based or moss-based potting medium. A bark-based medium drains well and will help prevent overwatering, but can break down quickly. A moss-based medium retains moisture better but it necessitates careful watering and may need to be repotted more often.[2]
- If your orchids aren't in the right kind of potting medium, repot them to help them thrive.
- Place the pots near south- or east-facing windows, if possible. Orchids need strong, but indirect, light to thrive. If you can, place them near south- or east-facing windows to ensure they receive the right amount and intensity of sunlight. If you only have a west-facing window, cover it with a sheer curtain to keep the orchids from getting burned.[3]
- Placing the pots near a north-facing window may not provide them with enough light to bloom.
- Maintain a temperature of in your home. Orchids thrive in moderate temperatures, and will die if they get too cold. Though the correct temperature varies based on the species of orchid, in general you should aim to keep your home above at night. During the day, the temperature should be 10-15 degrees warmer than that.[4]
- Provide gentle air circulation. Because orchids aren't grown in soil, you must provide air circulation to keep the roots healthy. In mild months, you can open windows in your home to provide a gentle breeze. Otherwise, use an overhead fan on a low setting or an oscillating fan directed away from the orchids to keep the air from getting stale or stagnant.[5]
EditWatering, Feeding, and Pruning Orchids - Water the orchids just before they go dry. It's important to water an orchid based on how much water it uses, rather than after a certain number of days. Every few days, gently stick 1 or 2 fingers into the potting medium, then pull them out and rub them together. If you don't feel any moisture on your fingers, lightly water the orchids by pouring water over the potting medium and allowing it to soak in. After a few minutes, dump out the excess water in the saucer or drip trays below the pots.[6]
- Depending on the climate, humidity levels, and potting medium, you may need to water the orchids several times per week to once every several weeks.
- Clear pots can help you determine when it's time to water your orchids—if there's no condensation on the inside of the pots, it's time to water.
- Mist orchids daily if the humidity level in your home is below 40%. Orchids do best in environments with 40-60% humidity.[7] Pick up a hygrometer from a gardening center or superstore and use it to test the humidity in your home. If the humidity is less than 40%, use a spray bottle with a fine mist setting to lightly mist the orchids and their potting medium once per day.[8]
- If the humidity in your home is higher than 60%, place a dehumidifier in the room where your orchids are to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi.
- Fertilize the orchids once per month while they're flowering. Use a balanced liquid fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or 20-20-20. Mix it at half-strength and use it to feed the orchids once per month while they're flowering. Do not water them within several days after fertilizing them, or the nutrients will simply leach out with the water.[9]
- After flowering, the foliage growth will eventually stop. You can give the plant less water and fertilizer until new leaves start to grow again.
- Cut off spent stems when the flowers have died. Orchids do not flower more than once on the same stem, with the exception of the Phalaenopsis, or moth orchid. If you have a Phalaenopsis, cut the stem just above the bottom 2 nodes, or joints of the stem once the flower has died.[10] For orchid varieties with pseudobulbs, cut the stem just above the pseudobulb.[11] For other orchid varieties, cut the entire stem off as close to the potting media as possible.[12]
- The pseudobulb is a thickened stem at the base of each growth.
- Always use sterile tools to prune orchids.
EditHandling Pests and Diseases - Remove scale insects and mealybugs by hand. Signs of scale insects and mealybugs include sticky leaves and black, sooty mold. Use your hands to remove all the visible insects on the top and underside of the leaves and flower stalks.[13]
- Clean the affected leaves with soapy water. After removing the insects by hand, add a squirt of dish soap to a cup or bowl and add room-temperature water. Dip a soft cloth in the solution, then gently wipe down each leaf and flower stalk. The soapy water will remove the stickiness and soot as well as kill any remaining insects.[14]
- Spray the orchids with an insecticide if problems persist. If you removed the bugs and cleaned the leaves but are still seeing signs of an infestation, pick up an insecticide at your local garden center. Ask an employee to help you find an insecticide that is safe to use on orchids. Follow the application instructions on the package.[15]
- Cut away any diseased tissue. If you notice that your orchid has discolored leaves or spots on it (like cream, yellow, brown, or black), it is likely suffering from a disease. The first step is to remove as much of the infected tissue as possible. Use a sterile cutting tool to cut away diseased leaves, stems, and flowers. Be sure to disinfect your gardening tools before and after removing infected tissue.[16]
- In some cases, it may be best to dispose of the entire plant to keep the disease from spreading.
- Treat infections with fungicide or bactericide. Common bacterial infections that may affect orchids include brown rot, black rot, and brown spot, indicated by dark spots on the leaves or pseudobulbs. Common fungal infections include blight and root rot, indicated by rotting roots, pseudobulbs, and leaves. After cutting away the infected tissue, spray the orchid with a fungicide or bactericide, depending on what it is suffering from.[17]
- You can find these products at your local gardening center.
- If the leaves of the orchid are leathery and wrinkled, but the roots are plump and green or white, you may be underwatering. However, if the roots are in poor condition or have been lost, you are likely overwatering.[18]
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| How to Create an Astrological Chart Posted: 19 Feb 2018 08:00 AM PST An astrological chart is a symbolic representation of the position of the planets, the sun, and the moon at the moment of a person's birth. To create a chart, you'll first need your birth date, time, and place. Then the easiest way to generate a chart is by using a website that takes your information and does the math for you. Once you've got your chart, you can read it for lots of different ideas about all aspects of your life. Keep in mind that astrology is an art, not a science. Take the parts that hit home for you, and leave the rest. EditSample Astrological Chart EditCollecting the Necessary Information - Know your birth date. This is the simplest information you need for an astrological chart. You just need your full birthdate: the day, month, and year.[1]
- You need to know your birthdate because a birth chart is a sort of snapshot of the planets at the time you were born.
- Although the planets have actually moved since Western Astrology was developed, most astrologers still use the old positions. After all, astrology is symbolic, not scientific.
- Get the exact time of your birth. The more exact this can be, the better. Find out the hour, minutes, and time of day (AM or PM). If possible, get this information from your birth certificate. That way you know it's exactly right (as opposed to relying on your parents' memory).[2]
- If you were born during daylight savings time, take an hour off of your birth time. So, for example, if you were born at 7:03 am during DST, write down 6:03 am as your time of birth.
- Your time of birth will affect your Moon Sign, one of the more significant parts of your chart, so don't skip this!
- Locate your place of birth. This doesn't need to be as exact as the address where you were born. The city where you were born will work fine. So will the nearest town, if you were born in a rural area.[3]
EditEntering Your Information into a Website - Create an account on an astrology website. Astro.com and cafeastrology.com are great websites for building your chart. They're free and generate high-quality, detailed astrological charts. Go to astro.com and click on "free horoscopes" near the top right of the web page. In the menu that pops up, choose "Extended Chart Selection." At this point, you can choose to continue as a guest or create an account. Creating an account allows you to access your chart at any time. Enter your email address and create a password.[4]
- If you're using cafeastrology.com, don't create an account. You can still make a chart as a guest.
- Enter your data. Type in your name, your gender, and the date, time, and place of your birth. Astro.com only requires the city of your birth, and will automatically calculate the latitude and longitude for you. When you start entering the city, the website will give you suggestions to choose from. The time of birth setting uses military time, so make sure you're entering that correctly.[5]
- If you were born after noon, add 12 to the hour you were born to get the correct military time. So, for example, if you were born at 6:57 pm, in military time you were born at 18:57.
- If you're using cafeastrology.com, go to http://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php to fill in your birth data.
- For many websites, putting your name and gender does not actually affect your chart.
- Cafeastrology.com only has "man" and "woman" options for gender. It doesn't affect your chart, however, so don't worry too much if you don't identify with a binary gender.
- Astro.com also has an option under "gender" called "event." You can use that if you don't identify with binary gender labels.
- Choose "circular charts" under "methods" on the next screen. Once you've finished entering your birth information, click next. The next screen that comes up shows all of the charts that Astro.com offers. Choose "Circular chart" under the "Methods" menu. A circular chart is the easiest type to read, especially if you're new to astrology. Then, in the drop-down menu for "please select a chart type," choose "natal chart wheel."[6]
- If you're using cafeastrology.com, click "ok" under the area where you entered your birth data. This will take you directly to the description of your natal chart. On cafeastrology.com, you won't see a circular chart. Instead, you'll get a few tables that list the positions of the signs at the moment of your birth, and then a long written description of your chart.
- Scroll down to "options" to choose your house system. There are a lot of different options for choosing a House system. The House system in your chart is how your chart is divided up. The most common are Placidus, Koch, and whole signs. Choose "whole signs" under the "House system" drop-down menu to get a good basic chart.[7]
- Click the blue button at the bottom of the page. Once you've entered all of your information and settings, you're ready to see your chart. There's a blue button at the bottom of the screen that says "Click here to show the chart." Go ahead and click that button. The website will then generate a chart for you.[8]
EditReading Your Chart on Astro.com - Check your sun sign. The sun is usually denoted as a little circle with a dot in the middle. Look for the sun symbol on your chart, and then check to see which house and sign it appears in. You can use that information to learn more about what the sun represents - your ego and personality.[9]
- On cafeastrology.com, you can see your sun sign in the tables under the section titled "Planet Positions, Ascendant, & Houses."
- Look for your ascendant or rising sign. The ascendant on your chart is marked by an "AC." It represents which sign was rising over the eastern horizon at the exact time and place of your birth. In general, the sign in which your ascendant appears will dictate how you view the world and how the world views you. The slice of your chart where the ascendant appears is also called the first house. Look for a little number 1 down near the middle of the chart in the ascendant wedge.[10]
- On cafeastrology.com, your ascendant sign is listed in the tables under the section titled "Planet Positions, Ascendant, & Houses." It will be marked as "Ascendant" in the first row of the table on the right under that section.
- Examine where your moon sign lies. On your chart, the moon symbol looks like a little crescent moon. As with the sun and ascendant symbols, look for the house and sign the moon appears in. Where your moon appears can tell you about your feelings, intuition, and unconscious.[11]
- On cafeastrology.com, you can find the same moon symbol in the second row of the table on the left under the section titled "Planet Positions, Ascendant, & Houses."
- Study the houses on your chart. Each house represents and/or controls something about your life, from relationships to careers. Once you know what each house represents, you can begin to look at them for help in understanding different aspects of your life.[12]
 - On cafeastrology.com, the houses are marked by roman numerals in the column under "Ascendant" in the table on the right.
- The second house deals with security, money, and comfort.
- The third house deals with communication, thought, and neighbors and siblings.
- The fourth house deals with your early life and how it shaped you.
- The fifth house deals with fun, spontaneity, romance, and hobbies.
- The sixth house generally deals with your health, but can also tell you about your work environment.
- The eighth house is one of mystery. It deals with things like loss, intimacy, and transformation.
- The ninth house deals with higher powers. That might be higher education, philosophy, or religion.
- The tenth house deals with the future. What your goals are and what you want for the future.
- The eleventh house deals with collective consciousness, including your relationships with your friends and society in general.
- The twelfth and final house deals with the unconscious, subconscious, and spirituality.
- Check to see which sign is in each house. Around the outer ring of your chart, you'll see little glyphs representing each of the major zodiac signs. Each sign will correspond to a single house. To find out which zodiac rules which house, find the glyph on the outer ring, then follow that wedge down to the center of the circle. There should be a number there, telling you which house you're in.[13]
 - On cafeastrology.com, the column next to the roman numerals that represent the houses will show the signs in each house. The column to the right of the roman numeral will have the zodiac symbol. The column to the right of that will have the name of the zodiac.
- You can find keys for the zodiac glyphs pretty easily online. Just enter the phrase "zodiac astrology glyphs" into your favorite search engine.
- Aries tends to represent the fast-paced, exciting, childlike, and adventurous.
- Taurus deals with pleasure, beauty, and sensuality, but can also represent stubbornness and the self-indulgent and lazy.
- Gemini deals with wit and versatility.
- Cancer represents the clingy, moody, and empathetic.
- Leo represents enthusiasm, bravery, and loyalty.
- Virgo represents the critical, careful, and analytical.
- Libra is about diplomacy (as in being diplomatic) and fair but can also represent unreliability and impatience.
- Scorpio represents strength, jealousy, and control.
- Capricorn represents the hardworking, practical, and disciplined.
- Aquarius represents the socially conscious, friendly, and affectionate.
- Pisces represents the emotional, sensitive, and intuitive.
- Know what the planets represent. The planets are represented in the houses of your chart with symbols. Like the zodiac glyphs, you'll need to look up the symbols online, so that you know which planets are where on your chart. Enter "astrological chart planet glyphs" into your favorite search engine.[14]
- On cafeastrology.com, the planets are listed in the first and second columns of the table on the left under the section titled "Planet Positions, Ascendant, & Houses." The first column shows the symbol for the planets. The second column tells you the name of the planets.
- The Sun represents you and your ego.
- The Moon represents your feelings and intuition.
- Mercury is about logical and communication.
- Venus is about love and romance, but also the feminine aspects of your personality.
- Mars is about your aggression, passion, and masculine side.
- Jupiter represents luck, confidence, and the big picture.
- Saturn represents responsibility, order, and restriction.
- Uranus represents higher thought, individuality, and higher powers.
- Neptune is about idealism, spirituality, and religion.
- Pluto is about money and sexuality.
- Consider your whole chart when you read it. Once you have the basics of what the houses and symbols on your chart represent, you can begin to read your chart. Keep in mind as you do that there is a LOT going on in every person's chart, and no single house or symbol represents all of you.[15]
- For example, if your ascendant sign is Aries, your chart suggests you see the world as one big, open adventure. It also suggests that people see you as exciting and fun to be around. But you might also find that Uranus appears in your ninth house. The ninth house is all about intuition and higher powers, and having Uranus there only adds to this idea of you as an intuitive person, which can be a little at odds with being adventurous.
- On cafeastrology.com, you can find a long, detailed explanation of your chart under the section titled "Natal Chart Report" near the bottom of the page.
- Hire a professional to help you read your chart. If you're feeling overwhelmed by your chart, you can hire an expert astrologer to help you. They have plenty of experience reading and interpreting charts for their clients. You can also look for books from reputable astrologers like Liz Greene and Robert Hand to help with your interpretations.
- You can construct a natal chart without the exact time or location of birth, but it will be incomplete and less accurate.
- If the subject's date of birth is on the cusp, two to four days on either side of the beginning of a Zodiac Sign, his or her personality traits may draw from both Signs.
- The time of birth is generally regarded as the moment at which the baby first breathes. Birth times are often rounded to the nearest half-hour or quarter-hour on birth certificates and thus may not accurately show the actual time of birth.
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| How to Play Football Squares Posted: 19 Feb 2018 12:00 AM PST Football Squares is one of the most popular Super Bowl party games, and a great way to make your next football party even more enjoyable! It's also very easy to set up and play. Gather a group of players and ask each person to pay a set amount of money to enter the game. Assign teams and score numbers to a 10x10 grid, then have players bet on 1 square on the grid. Whoever's numbers matches the scores for each quarter wins! EditCreating a Grid - Draw a 10x10 grid on a large poster board with a permanent marker. You want each square to be large enough to record your players' initials and numbers. The grid should have 100 squares in all—1 for each player. Ideally, you should have 100 players total, but this isn't a hard rule. Use a ruler to keep your lines straight as you draw.[1]
- Create a grid in a word processing program if you don't want to draw it. Making a grid digitally is as easy as opening your word processor! Use the table tool to create a 10x10 grid. You can print the table out on regular x printer paper.[2]
- Print out a readymade grid from the Internet to save time. It's okay if you don't have the time or desire to make your own grid. Football Squares is popular enough that you can easily find premade game grids online. Try https://www.superbowlsquares.org/assets/images/grids/football-squares_10x10.jpg.
- Label each row and column with a number from 0 to 9. Start with the top row, writing 0 above the first square. Write a new number above each square until you get to the last square, which should be number 9. Repeat with the left side of the grid. Each square will receive a number from the top and side rows, which represents the final digit of the score for each time. Every square on the board represents a potential score outcome for the game.[3]
- Say, for instance, that one team earns 11 points and the other earns 25. The player with a 1 on the first half of their square (representing the first team's score) and a 5 in the bottom half (representing the second team's score) wins for that quarter.
- Assign 2 football teams to the board—1 on top and 1 on the sides. Write the name of 1 team at the top of the board. The numbers there will represent their scores. Write the name of the other team on the side of the board. Their scores will be reflected by the other numbers written on that side. Make your game board look a little more fun by printing out each team's logo and gluing or taping it on their side of the board![4]
EditDistributing the Squares - Ask your friends and family if they'll be watching the next game. Before you hand out squares to your players, you have to figure out who'll be watching the game in the first place! As you talk with the people you know throughout the week, just ask, "Are you watching the Superbowl this weekend?" If they say yes, follow up with, "Would you be up for a game of Football Squares?" Inform anyone who seems interested on how you'll be running the game.[5]
- Charge your participants a $1 fee to choose a square from the board. You can charge a higher fee if you want. $5 or even $10 are other common fees to charge for each square. Charging a $1 fee for each square will allow everyone to participate. It will also accumulate into a decent prize to reward your winners.[6]
- Distribute your squares among as many people as you can. Don't worry if you don't know or can't find 100 different people to play the game. While 100 players is the ideal situation, you can still play the game with much fewer people. Ask each of your players if they'd like to purchase more than one square. Try to distribute an equal amount of squares per person. You can even get in on the fun by buying a few squares for yourself![7]
- Write each players' initials inside a square of their choosing. Let each player pick whatever square they want. This allows them to essentially bet on final scores for both teams. Keep going until every square is claimed. You can either ask players which square they want and write in their initials for them, or let them come up to the board to choose and write their initials themselves.[8]
- Draw numbers from a hat for each square for more randomization. After you print your grid, cut it into individual squares, then pile the squares all into a hat or box. Shake the numbers around to mix them up before drawing a number for a player. Draw each number for 1 player at a time. While this method takes away your players' ability to bet on specific scores, it adds a randomized element that makes the game even more exciting![9]
EditPlaying the Game - Gather your players together to watch the football game. Football Squares is meant to be a party game, so it's best played as part of a football party. Throw the party at your home and invite all of your players. If anyone can't make it, you can contact them via text or phone if they win the game.
- Calculate the winner of each quarter based on your grid numbers. The numbers written into each square are meant to represent the last digits of each team's final score for each quarter.
- For instance, imagine you have the Green Bay Packers written at the top of the board and the Texas Longhorns on the side of the board. During the first quarter, the Packers score a 10, while the Longhorns score 15. The winner for that quarter would have a 0 on the top half of their square, representing the Packers' score. They would also have a 5 on the bottom half of their square, representing the Longhorns' score. Always look at the last digits of both scores to determine a winner.
- Assign a winner at the end of each quarter based on each teams' scores. Look at the last number for each score (for instance, the '9' in '19') and choose a winner whose numbers match up with the outcome. Award them their money (or another prize of your choosing) and congratulate them! Repeat with the winner of each quarter until the end of the game.[10]
- Decide what percentage of the cash prize each winner will receive. There are 5 common options for prize distribution.[11]
- Give the winners of each quarter 25% of the cash prize.[12]
- Award the winners for the first 3 quarters 10% of the money. The winner of the last quarter gets the remaining 70%.[13]
- The winner of the first quarter gets 10% of the money. Give the winners of the second and third quarters 20%. Whoever wins the final quarter gets the other 50% of the cash prize.[14]
- Award the first 3 winners 15% of the prize. The last winner receives 55%.
- Give the first winner 10%, the second 20%, the third 30%, and the last winner 40%.[15]
- You can also distribute other prizes alongside or instead of money. Some good alternative prizes include fun football memorabilia (like mini helmets, player bobbleheads, or team flags) or gift cards. Give the final winner the greatest prize![16]
EditThings You'll Need - Pen
- 10x10 grid (drawn or printed out)
- Scissors (optional)
- Hat (for picking numbers, optional)
EditSources and Citations
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Sample Astrological Chart
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