What is This ... a great book offer ... and a short rant

Hello Friends,

What is this? I shot it on a neighborhood walk. It was eye high on some kind of shrub. I ran it through Google lens and Plant Net apps, but I'm still not sure.

In any case I think it makes for a good 3-D subject. It was shot with a Panasonic Lumix GX7 with 3D lens and frame sides for phantogram processing.

Quick commercial message: Here's a great holiday offer on books that hopefully you'll consider for yourself or for friends and family. Any book: Macrophant 3D, Pop-Up 3D, Phantograms from Nature or Crossview 3D, for $10 each, that's any book for ten bucks. Use the PromoCode "TEN" at checkout. Good until the end of the year.

As to the rant, one reader suggested I shouldn't call it a rant, so I'm open to alternate suggestions.

I'd like you to consider what's among the greatest political accomplishments of our time, the Misinformation Machine. We live in a post fact world where truth and infomation are flexible to the needs of the teller and listener, and spreadable at the speed of light. Tell people on their trusted news source that Trump's economy was great and Biden's awful, that Trump had the border under control while Biden and Harris completely opened it up. Tell them that immigrants are filthy and dangerous to our well being. Tell them that Trump will protect women.

In the world of George Orwell's "1984", the four government departments were:

Ministry of Truth: Controlled media, entertainment, education, and the arts, and was responsible for propaganda and manipulating history.

Ministry of Peace: Dealt with war.

Ministry of Love: Served as the judicial system and police force, maintaining law and order.

Ministry of Plenty: Managed economic affairs and rations.

The irony of course is that their intended purposes are the opposite of what their names suggest. The Ministry of Truth actually managed lies, the Ministry of Love carried out harsh punishments, the Ministry of Plenty was concerned with maintaining scarcity and starvation, and the Ministry of Peace focused on war.

Amony my favorite quotes from "1984" are:

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”

and

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

Welcome to the future. Welcome to "2025".

Barry Rothstein

I send out a weekly email of these. If you'd like to be included, please go to the contact page and send me an email.

Previous Images of the Week