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🤖The Flowers Remember, Robot Sculptors, and Create a Hacker News Clone

The robots like marble now

David Nichols

Feb 20, 2023

Hey everyone!

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random - how was your week?

The Super Bowl commercials were pretty lame this year - the only one I got a laugh out of was that 4th wall breaking Tubi ad.

It’s almost Spring here in Tennessee - and daffodils are popping up everywhere (including our front yard - I didn’t know we had any).

Temperatures range between 20 - 70 degrees Fahrenheit on any given day . . .

My allergies are always out of whack this time of year.

Every sneeze feels like it could be a portent of doom ( Is that you cold?) or just allergies.

I don’t know about you - but for me, a cold always begins with a few sneezes - and it’s always downhill from there.

My daughter had a fever over the weekend - and it was absolutely heartbreaking to see how sad she was. Fortunately, it never got any higher than 101ish - so we didn’t have to go to the hospital or anything.

Just lots of snuggles and kids movies.

I’m hoping to play Atomic Heart this week - I didn’t get the chance to play at all “launch week” so I’ve been avoiding footage about it. It’s the most excited I’ve been about a game since The Last of Us 2.

Oh! and hopefully start Carnival Row season 2.

Did you hear about the Bing AI chatbot? its existential crisis was fascinating - and I’m curious to see what happens when it can “remember” sessions from different people. I signed up on the waitlist - it’ll be fun to compare to chatgpt.

Anyway, let’s hop on in!

🌼Random Daffodil Patches?

Every time I see random daffodils by the side of the road, I just can’t figure out how they got there.

Who planted them? Are there rogue gardener groups?

Are there ancient ents or fae who try to bring joy to the dour smog-ridden trash-laden highways by planting daffodils on the side of the road?

I did a bit of research - and it’s not something that many people spend time writing about.

Daffodils have bulbs - they don’t blow through the wind like dandelions, or get expelled after a bird’s supper.

They live in clumps - and rarely form seeds through pollination.

If properly pollinated, daffodils will grow seeds in the seed pods behind their petals, which can be replanted to grow into the beautiful flowers we know and love. However, this rarely happens in its own. Daffodil pollen is too heavy to be windblown, and there isn’t nectar to attract pollinating insects. Most pollination would have to happen by hand. And then from seed to first bloom can take 5 - 7 years! So, if you want to hand pollinate, you’ll need to be patient. The second way that daffodils can multiply is through bulb division. This is when new bulbs form from the original bulb, forming a “daughter” bulb underground. (source)

SO - when you see random daffodils, it means that SOMEONE put them there.

So - why the heck do they show up by the side of the road?

Searching the net for “Why do daffodils grow randomly” pull up ancient results like this forum conversation from 2009.

It’s likely that many of them are by old homesites, fence lines - someone planted them.

Susan Martin, a writer for the Pennsylvania York Daily Record, reached out to a gardening expert for clarification.

“I would suspect it was because people threw the bulbs there,” said Eydie Shafer, a master gardener with York County's Penn State Extension, which offers expertise in everything agriculture. "Every now and then I notice them, and I think somebody tossed them," she said, especially if they're along Route 30 or Interstate 83. Of course, there are the occasional volunteer planting projects in some higher-profile spots. And it's true some grow because they were planted by homes or structures that no longer exist, but Shafer doubts any are from early settlers. That's because the bulbs would no longer be viable, she said. “At some point bulbs reach a point of no return.” (source)

That leaves us with a likelihood of rogue gardeners in some capacity.

The “they appear at old houses” theory is also true.

Tipper, a writer in Appalachia, has a fun video about her exploration of random daffodils in Appalachia at old homesites - so old there’s no trace of the old home!

It’s a great video. Tipper also shares a great quote from On Agate Hill.

“Daffodils remember when the people are all gone.”

So - next time you see a random patch of daffodils by the side of the road - wonder about who might have lived there. What do the daffodils remember?

🤖Robot Sculptors

There’s no doubt that Michaelangelo is one of the greatest marble sculptors the world has ever seen or likely will ever see.

However. . .

A company called Robotor has created a robot that can sculpt marble.

“Robotor comes from our experience in the field of sculpture. This know-how has led us to mature a considerable technical ability that blends the tradition of classical sculpture with the latest technologies, such as three-dimensional scans and the use of robotics.” - from Robotor’s founders

It looks like one of those machine arms straight out of a car factory - and it can change out tools automatically!

The Robotor also has its own software - which is apparently very easy to use too.

I’m curious as to how one goes about programming the Robotor to print a sculpture. Is it as easy as uploading a 3D object and letting the machine figure it out?

“Self programming” is one of the keywords used to describe the software - so it definitely sounds possible.

I’m curious to see what sort of cool creations are made with Robotor!

Check out the site at the link.

Robotor

💻Create a HN Clone

Hacker News remains one of my favorite websites on the internet.

It’s simple, informative, and still the social network (of sorts) of choice for techies - from devs to entrepreneurs.

The comment sections on every post are often filled with wisdom and interesting conversations . . . something that more and more subreddits lose every year.

Gotta love that simple UI / UX.

Sites like Product Hunt and Indie Hackers have similar designs - but are among the few HN/Reddit style sites that actually “make it.”

Now . . . you can create your very own Hacker News clone!

Why spend hours and hours emulating Hacker News when you can just edit a template and hit the ground running?

With Hn.plus - you can do just that. Create your own Hacker News style website - and launch your own version.

HN for sports? HN for newsletters? HN for art?

Yep - you can get your own HN clone up and running by the end of today. Here’s a view of the backend.

You can customize the pages, roles, make the website private, add your own domain - and more.

It’s free - up to 30 members - and only $10 a month for 500 members.

I’ll be starting one of these at some point this year - after I finish the mindmap.

Go check it out at the link!

HN.Plus

🐙The Land of Random

I̶̛̱̣͚̝̫̜̤̬͐̀̅̾͋̽̄̐̓ṇ̶͚̼̻͋̊͂̀̿̎̎̿͘͘ṭ̷̣̗͗͛ơ̷̡̬̙̔͐̐̈́͋̎͘ ̶̛̱̥͉̳̞̻̺̖̉̆̏t̶͓͓̿̎h̸̡̯̰̲̥͒̎ͅe̷͎̬̞̳͓̓ ̷̘̹̰̙̲͐͛͘͝͝Ȑ̴̡͖̬̠̟̻̰̉̃̄̍͌A̸̩̓͐͊͊͗̀̉͂͊̚n̴̢̙̦̹͚͊̌̑̇̅̒̚d̴̡̯̪̗̬̣̣̝̍̈́͂́̕̚͝o̴̩̯͍̫͖̺̙̹̓̈̇͑̀͌̚͜͠m̷̠̺͚͚̬̙̲̉ͅ ̶̛͇̹̇͛̀̎͌͒̋̋̚͜ẅ̵̥͎̈͆ȅ̴̢̮̩͕͔̱͝ ̵̧̝̯͌̈̅̒͊͋̈̀̚͜d̴̨̢̰͎̤͙̳̀̊̓̏̄̂̓̋͂͆į̵̛̣̑̊̃͂̍v̷̨̥̟͔̂̾̓̓̽̌̓̋͒͘ḝ̷̜̠̠̭̭̱͍͉̩͐̑̉̾͝͠

̵̹̠͎̥͎̼̜̲̩̭̀͘

̸̧̧̡̛͚̮̤̝̫̩͚̆̏̓̀̿͆̅̾͒.̸̨̙̣̦̐́̑̕͠ ̸̧̠̱̙͇̈́̉̊͆͌́.̵̛͕̫̟͇̹͚̿͐̍́͊̚͠͝ͅ ̴̧̫͍͔̯̲̲̓̀.̵͔̯̼̠̝͖̑͗̅̊͂͒̽̐͝ ̴͇͌̀̊̄̑͊͋̉͘.̸̛̲̜̝̬̤̳̪̹́͐̄̑́̀̀͘ ̸̛̠̟̠̯͖̬̏͒̂̿͐̑̿.̴̘̈́̈́̔͂̇́͌̌͝͝ ̴̯̮̤̰̖̠̟͈̪̜̆̿͆̊͗.̶̨̧̺͙͒ͅ

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Into the RAndom we dive