My late father, proud UAW-member and GM-assembly-line worker, would chuckle at that and say Fords are not worth remembering, so don't sweat it. (However, he WOULD know the make and model just the same, which makes me jealous.)
He would then add that Ford stands for "Found On Road Dead."
I did dutifully read the name of the car when I first spotted it on Laurens Rd (and you can SEE the name next to "500"--but so hard to read, even when you click to enlarge) ... and I told myself that of course, I would remember it when it came time to blog it. Weeks later, having forgotten totally about the cool car, I also forgot the name of it. (embarrassed)
I have done some random sleuthing, to no avail. Although it would certainly help if I knew the year too! I have NO idea what it is, but if you do, speak up! I love CHERRY RED and I love this vehicle, although it was not in the best condition, I still enjoyed the ancient steering wheel, radio, and general AMERICAN GRAFFITIesque interior.
~*~
We have been doing a bunch of radio shows about the NSA and Edward Snowden, in case anyone thought I had been noticeably delinquent on the subject. I assure you, I have been doing my share of fulminating, and probably your share too. Other recent radio shows:
[] The trial of our radio consigliere Gregg Jocoy, for carrying a sign that was officially TOO BIG (really). Yes, he was found guilty in a jury trial and had to pay $55.
[] An interview with Richard McIntyre, the US Trade Representative for the Green Shadow Cabinet, discussing the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement.
[] An interview with the redoubtable Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Great inspiration for activism and street theatre, you can find the Church HERE.
YALL TUNE IN, we are on every day, LIVE AT FIVE ... you can listen to us on the radio-livestream HERE. (Podcasts are HERE.) Yesterday, I had to do without my usual opening music and I sailed through it like a pro. Only a few months ago, I would have had a nervous breakdown. (There IS something to be said for 'practice makes perfect' and getting fairly good at it... that 10,000 hour rule and alla that.) As we get better, we cut down on DEAD AIR lapses (we all think its pretty damn funny that my blog was named this YEARS before I started in radio); have almost stopped interrupting each other... and have nearly eliminated the dreaded brain-fart, during which *whatever* you were thinking (and had planned to say) just EVAPORATES into the ether... as you stare at the radio mike in front of you: DUH!
We are also getting fairly good at rescuing each other when this happens.
~*~
In a couple of weeks, I am having finger surgery, which I realize sounds mildly ridiculous. But really.
I figure something incredibly blog-worthy will happen around that time, and I will want to type and find it impossible. So, I am making up for it now and apologizing for not using my fingers for GOOD whilst I have the chance.
I briefly mentioned HERE (another car post!) that I had this thing on my finger, which turns out to be a mucous cyst ganglion. As time goes on, it gets angrier and angrier, and has started rupturing with regularity. GROSS STUFF (which looks remarkably like vaseline) pops out, which at least makes the nasty swelling go down. For awhile. And then it starts all over again. (sigh)
At the current rate, its been popping open (spewing its gross vaselinesque material) every week or so. Although I have had this thing for years now, it is only currently causing problems beyond the general warping of my fingernail. Since it stays 'open' (sorry for the TMI, yall), it is an active infection risk... and this could quickly morph into a JOINT infection, not just a lil ole fingernail/cuticle infection. Apparently, it has something to do with having osteoarthritis. (sigh again)
Ah, aging, the fun just never ends. From Web MD:
Mucous cyst ganglions usually occur when osteoarthritis symptoms develop, at middle age or older. This type of ganglion is more common in women than men.I've had the cortisone shot into my finger already (certainly not pleasant, but not nearly as bad as the thing itself, if you can believe it) which did shrink it for awhile, but it regrouped and planned its next massive assault with a real vengeance.
Mucous cyst ganglions are found at the joint nearest the fingernail (distal interphalangeal [DIP] joint). The ganglion is firm and does not easily move under the skin. These ganglions may be painful and may break open, increasing the risk of infection. The fingernail may grow irregularly or be misshapen because the ganglion is near the growth cells for the fingernail.
Because of the risk of infection, a mucous cyst ganglion should not be broken open on purpose. Occasionally a ganglion opens on its own. Home treatment may be all that is needed.
Treatment measures include removing the ganglion fluid with a needle (aspiration) to temporarily shrink the cyst, injecting the cyst with hydrocortisone to reduce inflammation and possibly lower the chance that it will return, or removing the ganglion with surgery. The ganglion may return after treatment. Bone spurs (small, bony growths that form along a joint) are often present in the joint next to a mucous cyst, and removing the bone spurs makes it less likely that the cyst will return.
I'd even suggest it got MAD that it got a shot and decided it would show me whose boss. And so it has.
I am soon getting the joint and bone spurs scraped, as well as the cyst removed. I'm sure it sounds like lots more fun that it is!
I will keep you posted. (For those of you who have missed my periodic gross TMI posts, you should be in for a real treat, whenever it heals enough for me to type!)
~*~
One of my ALL TIME favorite trees is currently blooming! It is called Calliandra surinamensis and is also known as Surinamese Stickpea, Pink Tassel-Flower and Pink Powderpuff. I used to call them "bottle brush trees" because the bloom looks just like an old-style bottle-brush. My daughter finally looked it up at the library (long before there was the internet) and found the name for me. (Thus, I also associate it with her childhood.)
These beautiful trees are all over the upstate, and I took the photos below while hiking the Swamp Rabbit Trail. (you can click to enlarge)
So purty!
~*~
I now have a very lax and anemic TUMBLR of my own. I mostly did it to keep up with the various SJW-wars that have broken out online, and to lend my name to the truth-tellers who are sick of dopey, politically-correct excesses (as well as the attempted wholesale silencing of opinion). After dealing with THIS LATEST DEBACLE (see comments for gory details) -- I wanted to vent with others of a like mind, and decided to START A TUMBLR, God help me, even after declaring the place a total sewer. NOTE: I still think it is, but then, I used to contribute to DIGG and other sewers, so I am not above mucking about in the sewer... I mean, I'M BLOGGING, right? (I have declared Reddit a bridge too far, and although I've looked at it from time to time, try not to make a habit of it.)
The gangpiling, which I used to put up with as the price of admission to Blogdonia, has lately reached the level of patent insanity. In fact, TUMBLR would seem to be ONE LONG EXERCISE in gangpiling and dumping verbal abuse on people you simply disagree with... and usually the disagreements are not very serious or profound. Nonetheless, the stakes are raised immediately by issuing countless fatwas and edicts declaring that various bloggers are evil/genocidal/fascist and what-all. Thus, when something truly IS evil/genocidal/fascist and what-all (i.e. the prison-torture of Bradley Manning, the calls for the prosecution of Edward Snowden for being a saint, the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a vigilante-wannabe, etc etc) the 'social justice warriors' (not) are already bored by their own overwrought-language-feuds and therefore... DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
In fact, they don't even seem to have any opinions about these incidents, they are too busy honing their victim status and obsessing about themselves and their 'otherkin'. Real activism (even just writing about it), local political issues that need addressing and in general, real life, does not enter into their little just-so stories.
For this reason, I often find myself wondering if they are real or just decided to take on certain 'oppressed identities' to have something to whine about.
I would like to collectively paddle all of their spoiled asses and send them to Time-Out. I can't, so I have climbed onto the Tumblr soapbox to join the choruses making fun of them instead.
I mean, what else can you do?
~*~
In happy news, our beautiful FALLS PARK here in Greenville, was just voted one of the top 10 parks in the country (includes the big cities, peeps! WOO HOO!) by TripAdvisor, whatever that is.
We already knew that. :)
