What is this?

[beauregaardhooligan]

lol Sorry, Grav. It *has* been a rough week.
The title of the picture is "Mechanical blueberry vibrator-picker".
I suppose it could be used for almonds, olives, and other such agricultural products so I'm giving Glatt the win.

btw, the photographer is the award winning NatGeo photographer Bill Curtsinger who is famous for his marine pix among others. He is the only person *ever* to photograph a narwhal in it's natural environment. If you're not familiar with his work you should take a look.

The pic is from a special edition of a book called ThePineBarrens by John McPhee that is about the Pine Barrens of NJ, an amazing geographic oddity. It's hard to believe that such a huge expanse of wildlands could exist so close to NYC, let alone east of the Rockies. There are areas in the middle of it that you could go for literally dozens of miles without running into a town {and then it might just be a crossroads with some rundown houses} but on a clear night a bright light in the woods can be seen from the EmpireStateBuilding. The unique soil produces an acidic black water that forms what is called bog iron. This bog iron was used extensively to make a high grade iron from which the majority of the cannonballs used during the American Revolution were made, plus cannons and other armament. Some of the wrought iron around Independence Hall was made using bogIron.
It's a fascinating read and I highly recommend it if you can find a copy.