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Sunday, July 9, 2006
Mini-Plant Arrives at Fourmilab
After discovering the mini-plants of which I wrote a couple of days ago, you're darned right I couldn't resist getting one of my own, and indeed I ordered one shortly after posting the item a few minutes after midnight on Friday. Saturday morning, there it was in the boîte aux lettres, in a small bubble-pack envelope within which the tube enclosing the plant was wrapped in plastic foam.
I opted for the “Minibocho”, Haworthia cooperi var. truncata, a species
known for its small size, hardiness, and shade tolerance, all of which make it ideal for this “application”. This picture (which you may click to view an enlargement) was taken a few hours after I gave the cactus its first monthly sip of water. Five holes in the bottom of the tube allow water to enter when you place it in a saucer with a little water, and the bell-shaped fixture at the top which allows the attachment ring to swivel freely doesn't fit tightly, permitting air to enter. The cactus is planted in a soil of indeterminate composition which visibly darkens as it absorbs water. I photographed the mini-plant sitting on the touchpad of my Dell “laptop” development machine, with USB and RJ-45 network connectors adjacent to provide a sense of scale.
Here is the crontab entry I added to remind me to water the plant on the 8th of every month:
0 13 8 * * echo Water mini-plant | Mail -s "Water mini-plant" root@localhost
This statement may be displayed on multiple lines depending on the width of your browser window; it must appear on one line in the crontab.
Posted at July 9, 2006 00:23