If you stop and think about it, it smacks of the mentality of another era. A century ago, children were the only form of social security aging parents had. If you lost an only child, and a spouse, you were in a dire situation. On top of that, great importance was put on perpetuating family lines and the lost of an only child who also happened to be male was probably considered an even more tragic event. I'm sure parents loved their children then as much as they do now, but children were also potential commodities. In my own parent's day, an orphan or abandoned child was often released to the care of distant kin, or just as often non-related adults to help out on farms, or in wealthy households. But yes, also like you are suggesting, it's a phrase used to render up a 'worse' tragedy than the death of a child who had siblings. And, it is insensitive to any parent of multiple children who has suffered losing one.

Sand is not a good soil component either unless only used in small amounts. I use unglazed, un-dyed coarse gravel from the pet store. Here it costs $2.99 for a 5-lb bag. I mix that about 50-50 with soil from my garden. The soil is high in clay. When wet, it stays together. When mixed with gravel, it crumbles apart easily. I also add lava rock for those species that are more sensitive to overwatering. For me, Stapeliads do not qualify. If I were exposing them to unobstructed rain, then I would add lots more drainage material. Most of my plants are protected from rain in an unheated greenhouse. Since I use garden soil, extra fertilizer is not necessary, and when I repot in 2-3 yrs, the new soil will have new nutrients. Keep in mind though the soil I use has minimal compost and humus. It would be considered poor. I have a patch where I "quarry" from that remains bare. I would repot now. Keeping them in peat increases the likelihood the roots will dessicate, making it also more likely for the plant to rot when you start to water in the spring. I water mine lightly occasionally during the winter. As far as temps go, I have never had a problem exposing my Stapeliads to temps down to 29-30F. They are still outdoors now. Even Pseudolithos from "hot" Somalia doesn't mind the cold. I'd bring them in but space is limited so I stretch it out as much as I can. x

I've been using the maximum port settings 115200 and the extra initialization command at&fx for years, I love the 115.2 Kbps speed with a 56K modem using a simple modem command tweek. Some say this is reading the port speed between your computer and modem and that it is impossible for a 56K modem to connect faster. Works for me, and no your computer will not blow or something and is not messed up. With your setup now, downloads will start out real fast and then eventually slow to a normal 56K speed. If you would like to go back to 26.4 kbps, let me know, but you'll notice the slow down.

You can blow fuses and trip GFCIs but you are very unlikely to have blown lights. If these are the very small lights, be sure to check the fuses in the plugs.