My wife just called DU "Facebook for nerds."

[Tobin S.]

She meant that in a kindly way, of course. She married a nerd. I was completely unenlightened about my nerdiness until she made me see the bookishness of my ways (I just invented two new words).

My last post was about the passing of our beloved dog Swifty. It's been a week since that happened and we are feeling better now. We went over to the no-kill shelter today and sponsored a dog. We are not going to get another dog at this time, but we have made it possible for one to be placed with a family for free. It includes neutering and all of its shots.

We have gotten three animals from the no-kill shelter and adopted a stray. If you are seeking a critter for companionship, I encourage you to go that route. Two of our pets have passed away, but they brought us a great deal of joy while they were with us.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear Tobin!

I'm glad you two are feeling better...and sponsoring a dog is a wonderful thing! The dog you chose for that is a real cutie, and I think your efforts will help find him a forever home.

I think it's great that you're a nerd! My husband is one too, and I am very happy about that.

[rurallib]

2. sounds like an excellent transition plan

BTW how goes the diet? You were joining Jen on her diabetic diet a few months back - still doing it?
I ask because we have a similar situation.

[Tobin S.]

4. I was unable to continue on that diet, but Jen is still doing well.

I found that following a low carb diet made me feel terrible. I think it has something to do with another medication that I take for a different problem.

[mackerel]

3. Actually it's the other way 'round Facebook of for those other people.

and besides DU was here first.

[Tobin S.]

5. Don't be afraid of your nerditude.

Embrace it and stand tall.

[mackerel]

7. I'm a Geek, all 5'2" of me.

[BlueJazz]

6. She was close. It's actually "Highly intelligent handsome/beautiful very modest Nerds"

About your Dog: I sympathize with you. Losing a beloved pet is one "Change" this Liberal can do without.

[cemaphonic]

8. I first dicovered online BBS services in the 80s

I remember when the whole idea of communicating with people by typing at them on a computer put you squarely in the "hopeless nerd" category.

But your wife has a point. So many posters here seem to think that DU is the center of American political life, when outside of the news aggregators, it's just another social media site. We just argue about politics instead of football or videogames (game forum flamewars make GD look like kindergarten) or whatever.

And sorry about your dog - losing a pet is the worst.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. So sorry to hear about Swifty. :(

and You are right about the No Kill Shelters.

So thoughtful of you and Jen to sponsor a pet for a deserving family.

You two are the best

Nerds R Us but, really it is more like Old Habits Die Hard

[NewJeffCT]

10. If it was like facebook

half the posts would be badly spelled right-wing memes posted by people you went to high school or college with that used to be pretty cool back in the day.

And, sorry about Swifty as well.

[JonLP24]

14. Bingo

I agreed to a friend request from someone who I just knew because he was in the same unit so whenever I log on much of it is him reposting something from Right Wing something.

One that was particularly memorable was "We are the one percent" referring to the percentage of the population employed through the Armed Forces going on to say "We don't occupy... (something) ... we occupy countries" I felt like saying OK, great. What does that have to do w/ income inequality?

One thing my dad posted who I haven't seen since I was 14 was the number of Marines or service members that died over the weekend equaled the number of victims from the Sandy Hook tragedy and asked why aren't the flags flown at half-staff for them? I thought that was pretty sick because gun policy was the motivation for it (he'll post a statistic from a heavy rate of gun ownership country w/ low levels of gun violence for instance). I don't say much if anything at all, he just sits there under the friends list like mostly everyone else. I only had conversations w/ 2 people in the past 6 months on there.

[Populist_Prole]

11. The term "Nerd" has become so broadened and mis-applied that it's become useless

Judging by the people I hear who throw the term around, a "nerd" is anybody whose interest is anything other than sports or pop-culture BS "that everybody's talking about".

[Jamaal510]

12. That's assuming that

all nerds have an interest in politics.

[JonLP24]

13. I have a very boring facebook life

Not much in the way of discussions and when I do I occasionally post something, I might get a like. I only find it useful as to keep a way for my old Army friends to contact me and vice versa as well as relatives.

Here there is so much variety and open topics. In fact, the primary reason why I come to DU or even connect to the internet is to discuss sports in the sports forums. There are countless available places online to talk sports but I prefer to come to this place. I do discuss on the Streak For the Cash discuss pages but moves to fast and usually only related to the event being discussed.