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.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

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So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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