[HN Gopher] Moondance: Experience the marvel that is night-bloom...
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Moondance: Experience the marvel that is night-blooming tobacco
Author : samclemens
Score : 43 points
Date : 2024-09-03 19:08 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (theamericanscholar.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (theamericanscholar.org)
| perdomon wrote:
| I'd love to see a video of the night-blooming flower.
| deadlydose wrote:
| I would have settled for a photo.
| boesboes wrote:
| I am always flabbergasted by these articles. They put so much
| effort in writing a good article and then not make the effort
| of adding a single relevant picture too it. I don't get it.
|
| Or is it by choice? as in, this is a text only publication
| etc. I could understand that i guess
| throwanem wrote:
| Quite aside from the fact that the author thoroughly
| describes the experience as one which images on a screen
| can't convey, that kind of photo would be a serious project
| in its own right to make. Difficult low-light conditions
| where no light can be added, and an event of a few seconds'
| duration that occurs once every 24 hours - those are more
| challenging circumstances than any under which I've ever
| shot, and I shoot wild and lively wasps in 1:1 macro from
| six inches away.
|
| A professional photographer would likely be able to
| approach the task with more aplomb than I, of course. But
| it seems unlikely the writer is also one of those; most
| writers aren't. So now we need a second person on the
| story. That's a lot more expensive, and given the demands
| of the project maybe also difficult to find one who'll take
| it and who you can count on. It adds a lot of complexity to
| the project if you try to do that.
|
| And even for a pro, actually getting the shot is going to
| be enough of a production that the writer will probably
| talk about it some in the text. So now people on social
| media are going to complain about that, because somebody
| always will, about anything. (Cf. this thread.)
|
| And for what? Either a frozen instant, probably noisy, that
| doesn't convey the magic of the moment, or an again
| probably hard-to-make-out video that - again as suggested
| in the article - would look just like a timelapse, or like
| a _bad_ timelapse. So now people on social media are
| complaining you used AI. Because somebody always will. And
| it still doesn 't convey the moment.
|
| When a writer explains that no imagery is included because
| it could only disappoint, you should respect that. Instead
| the writer trusts the reader to be a human being, endowed
| with powers of imagination on at least some scale. There
| are times it does you good to use those. This is one.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| If you garden, I recommend you try tobacco. It's such a beautiful
| plant. I grew some seeds provided by my tribe and the plants were
| wonderful, the smell, the blooms, just massive unique plants.
| It's a shame it has caused so much death. It just wants to make
| nicotine to protect itself from insects.
|
| https://imgur.com/a/MxPDX8a
| farkanoid wrote:
| I wish. 10 years imprisonment and $150k~$470k fine for growing
| Tobacco in Australia! [1]
|
| [1] https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/tax-avoidance/the-fight-
| aga...
| FpUser wrote:
| >"Engaging in the illicit tobacco trade is a serious offence.
| It significantly deprives the Australian community of vital
| funding which could have otherwise been used to fund health,
| education and other essential community services."
|
| Love this.
| CuriouslyC wrote:
| When laws designed to shut down organized crime are applied
| to everyone :(
| gibbetsandcrows wrote:
| What're the penalties like for real crimes?
| stavros wrote:
| Exile to _the outdoors_!
| christophilus wrote:
| Any recommendations regarding varieties?
| pvaldes wrote:
| Cestrum nocturnum for a humble looking shrub with small
| yellow whitish flowers and simple leaves that couldn't look
| more plain most of the year.
|
| This thing will punch you in the nose at night with strong
| almond fragrance carried by the air at long distances. Is a
| Solanaceae also, so is wickedly toxic; and the Nicotiana like
| flowers, aren't so flamboyant as in Nicotiana, but without
| any of the legal problems that tobacco and easier to care
| for. Just keep cattle away from it and use it as background.
| derbOac wrote:
| Tobacco scent is pretty popular as a fragrance in fragrance and
| wetshaving communities.
| jb1991 wrote:
| There's a place near where my parents live in Mexico that is
| experimenting with this stuff. Unfortunately, hasn't seemed to
| reach southern Belgium! But then again, I've been trying to quit
| smoking.
| Modified3019 wrote:
| Funny enough, my glow in the dark petunias (a nightshade, same
| family as tobacco) from light.bio put me on a gardening kick.
| I've been looking for native species to throw in my yard.
|
| I'm going to harvest seeds from some American bird's-foot trefoil
| from the seasonal streams in a field I'm checking tomorrow for
| work.
| konfusinomicon wrote:
| i wish the fireflies glowed with the same luminosity as they
| did in the ads. mine are so faint you have to be in a dark room
| to see them
| Modified3019 wrote:
| Certainly. They can't even really compete with street lights,
| usually. (The brightness fluctuates)
|
| I think the marketing material was highly inadvisable to put
| it kindly. Due to my experience with taking pictures
| outdoors, I'm familar with how cameras are close to
| nightvision (dusk can look like day) so I knew what I was
| getting and am pleased with them, but I think others were
| misled.
|
| They are working on increasing brightness and different
| species, but it's not gonna be easy. My understanding is that
| perceived brightness is logarithmic, so getting just twice
| the brightness may be a tall ask from plant metabolism and
| energy reserves. If they could limit glow to just the flowers
| or other specific parts, that'd be more viable for plant
| health.
|
| Another issue is that the plant cells themselves trap and
| absorb much of the light. You'd need some kind of cellular
| microstructures like actual fireflies have that optimize
| emission (https://raog.ca/lightening-bugs-how-fireflies-
| inspired-leds/). My understanding is that they tested many
| species, and this variety petunia had the best performance
| thus far. Some people have grown crossbred seed, and it's
| possible that the resulting higher amounts of chlorophyll
| result in a somewhat darker plant.
|
| As an aside, firefly petunias seem particularly susceptible
| to fasciation, with occasional flowers with double petals,
| and mutant ribbon stems. I'm curious if this variety was
| already like that, or if the genetic manipulation was a
| factor.
|
| Another aside, if you want something that's impressively
| bright (though only for a second), consider dinoflagellates.
| A bit easier to care for than these petunias:
| https://pyrofarms.com/
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