This is a dandelion on the campus of UC Irvine. It took a while to find one that was just right. I was looking for a location where the angle of the light and the nearby ground would put the dandelion in bright afternoon sunlight while the grass underneath remained in shade. This one was almost perfect, but there was a little bit of sunlight on the grass at the bottom. An artfully placed foot fixed that, though I almost fell over doing it. Anything for my art.

By the way, have I mentioned lately that anyone who cares even a little bit about the sharpness of their screen should buy a 4K monitor? Well, you should. They cost about $200-300 these days for a low-end display, but even the low-end displays are great. Mine is, by a long way, the best $300 I spent last year. The picture below is an excellent test image if you want to compare a 4K monitor to a normal “high resolution” monitor.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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