You're halfway there, congratulations!

Good God. I will never make it.

Dementia will over take me and I will babble more than usual.
Maybe I will sound the same.

It could be.

'Took me from 2001 to get to 100k and I doubt a handful of my posts are as interesting as so many of yours!

Congrats and glad you are here, Irish_Dem !!!

I was born two months prematurely and was very tiny.
I fit in my mother's palm and wore doll clothes for quite some time

The hospital wouldn't let me go home until I weighed a certain amount.

The doctor put me in an incubator.

Apparently this situation was not to my liking, and I let the hospital staff know.

I loudly cried and literally kicked out the glass sides of the incubator.

My aunt was an RN and happened to work at the hospital nursery when I was there.
My mother was also a nurse and they asked the doctor to let them take me home
despite the fact I was still badly underweight. My grandfather and engineer uncle promised to
build an incubator for me at home.

(This was during the Korean War and my father was flying combat there so my mother
was living with her parents.)

After the incident where I tried to destroy the incubator, the doctor did allow them to take me home.
He was probably glad to see the back of me.

I was in the home made incubator for a while then moved to one of grandpa's old cigar boxes.
There are pictures of me swamped in the cigar box wearing huge doll clothes.
I looked pathetic, ridiculous, and not quite human.

My father was on a military flight line in Korea at the time, taking off for a departure
and the guys stopped his plane right on runway to tell him about my birth.

When he found out about me kicking out the sides of the incubator, he shook
his head but honestly I was a chip off the old block.

Ed Asner was brilliant in this show.

We all appreciate your sharpest pencil and keen perspective. Spreading your ideas is what DU is all about, to reach more people, and give them knowledge and inside edge, in hopes that they tell others and strengthen a growth in democracy. I just wonder why it doesn't grow faster, we remain tainted in search engines as a liberal perspective though in the 1980s we might have been middle-of-the-road. DU should be a mainstay of fledgling local progressive websites and operations.

My military family risked their lives more than once.

The least I can do is my part, even though I am only an anonymous
internet warrior, safe from harm.

I try hard to educate, illuminate and spread liberal thought.
Providing information from my knowledge base and skill set.

As well as help us face hard realities.

I think we underestimate the DU impact.

The fact Reuters recently used this site as a measure of liberal thought and behavior
was remarkable and tells us something.

Thank you BF.

It's been great having you here for all these years. Here's to many more!

I figure I'll leave DU in a body bag.

I look for your valuable contributions every day.

Congratulations on your mileston, very glad you are here!

I'm always glad to see your name. You have good things to say, and I appreciate them.

Keep on trucking!

I'm astonished by the number of 6 figure posters here.
I've been here since DU was 7 months old, and I'm still under 70k.
Keep up the good input.

You're a valued and cherished member of this big and diverse community.

You're a favorite of mine.

🍀

You certainly are prolific. I've been here over 20 years and I haven't gotten to 50,000 yet.

I know what you mean about mostly just commenting on posts. I rarely make OPs unless I come across a good article that no one else has posted.

Maybe you should kick up your game and make some OPs.
You have good ideas.

It has been so stimulating.

I've made some OPs now and then, but if I did it too often, I'd never get off the computer! I have so many books to read and movies to watch. Time is such an elusive thing when you get older, especially if you are on the Internet. It is really strange how fast time flies when you're online.

We get on such interesting topics, it makes for a good conversation.

I was laid up before covid after some serious falls and broken bones.
(Osteoporosis). Then covid hit.

I have read Jane Austen more times than I can count.
Books upon books on various topics.
Watched every WWII movie ever made.
And watched all the submarine movies at least twice.
Then my favorite: British mysteries, FBI and police procedurals.

I had to start writing and posting online or my brain would go to mush.

Oh my, you must be my soul sister!

Yes, some of our discussions would make good OPs rather than hijacking someone else's thread.

I was offline for over a month at the beginning of the year. I did read quite a bit, but after awhile, I could only read so much and the TV was pretty limited. For part of that time I was in isolation because I caught COVID on top of the condition I was being treated for, so I couldn't even see family. I never wanted to go so badly in my life.

I suppose it is okay if it is YOUR thread, right?

Yes, I love British TV and have for many years now. No one does television quite like the Brits. On top of the detective stories, there are some amazing period pieces, many that I've watched more than once. I can't count how many times I've seen Brideshead Revisited and I've read the book twice.

I've gotten a lot of use out of my Britbox subscription. I used to have Acorn as well, but I had some streaming issues with them.

We don't have to worry the OP will boot our arses off the thread.

Yes BR was so good.

I cannot tell you how many times I have read all of Jane Austen's books.
And seen all the TV and movies adaptations many times over.

About once a year I subscribe to Acorn and Britbox and binge watch for several months.
Usually during the winter or heat of summer when I am not outside as much.

The Brits are superb actors and entertainers.
Once you get hooked on British books, TV, movies, it is hard to go back to American stuff.

Most British actors are better trained and have a greater range than the average American actor. I am often amazed at their talent. The stories can be more original and they absolutely own any period piece drama. That's not to say Americans don't have a lot of talented people, but the studios call the shots and they keep churning out the same old predictable garbage while typecasting popular actors.

Of course, now that I've watched a LOT of British television, I am aware that they have their share of junk TV too, but overall I find the programming considerably better than American TV.

British actors are in a league of their own.
Scripts, directing, acting, etc.
Superb.

Even their junk shows are not bad.

being the best place to get truth, accurate and timely information. From one military dependent to another: growing up on military bases around the world was an education in in itself, and DU is kind of like that too.

Oh yes, I loved being a USAF military kid. It was an education on so many levels, yes.

Would not trade it for the world, despite the hardship at times living
in isolated overseas military locations during war time. And fathers being
in a job where planes went down, and were killed or taken prisoner.

I loved living in foreign countries, it was so exciting and interesting.
And loved living with military families.

Not to brag on the US Air Force, but we knew we were the smartest, most educated,
nicest people around. There was not a lot of military decorum or frills. We were mission
oriented and got the job done without blowing bugles and getting feathers rubbed.

Once on a USAF military plane, the family was being moved from one location to another,
one of the engines blew out, the other looked like it was on fire. The USAF pilot
calmly got on the speaker and said, no problem, I have enough engine power to keep
flying.

The adults on board looked worried, but the military kids had no worries.
We knew Air Force flight crews, many had flown combat in WWII or Korea
and now Viet Nam. We knew without a doubt they were smart, brave and talented.
If an Air Force pilot said every thing was under control, we believed it. We knew he could
land the plane in his sleep.

We were flying over water, but luckily after some time we diverted to a military base
for an emergency landing. The firetrucks and medics rushing to our plane when we landed,
spraying foam every where, was quite spectacular and the highlight of our trip.
The mothers were saying a prayer, but the kids loved all of it.

Also the military diversity was amazing.
Some of the men had married women from all over the world.
The US military had been integrated since 1948 with Truman's executive order.
Especially during wartime, every military person is mission critical.
No time for racist nonsense. Lives are at stake.

If my Dad ever heard any hint of racism or making any group an "other," he blew a gasket.
He said every single person in the USAF, even those flying a desk, keeps the planes in the air.
Without them I can not do my job.

In hindsight, it was remarkable. The son of Irish immigrants to the US,
they viewed any one not white Irish Catholic with a great deal of skepticism.
So Dad did a 180 from his parents.

One of the hardest things coming back stateside and integrating with the civilian community
was the racism. I was shocked.

Oh japple, I never thought about something you just said.
DU reminding us of the US military.

Oh yes you are so right. It feels like home to us.

I know that the MIRT job is labor and time intensive.
And deals with difficult situations behind the scenes.

They work hard to keep this site safe and secure.

They run silently under the radar.
It is volunteer, they don't get or expect public kudos.

Appreciation goes to them.

keep up the fine work!

I appreciate learning from your posts, and now learning about you! I feel a connection, fwiw, coming from a French Catholic (Canadian) and Irish Catholic (Kelleys in Maine) background.

Glad you're here, and a warm part of this site.

That is one of the best OPs that I have read in a looooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg time!!!

Your posts have always been helpful, highly informational, and thought-provoking and I beseech you to stay the way you are.

You get the happy line dance for the milestone!!!!



And none of this -

I was not expecting any of this!

Thank you.

Coming from you is high praise indeed.
You are a GOAT.

It is so fun to have good conversations with everyone here.

...in hindsight. My mother supported JFK, my relatively new stepfather, Nixon. The marriage didn't last, but the memory of a Nixon bumper stick on the inside lid of our toilet lives on. And he put it there!

I always enjoy your posts, whether OP or comment. You help make DU what it is!!

Congrats!!

Here’s to many more

Very nice of you!

I concur with your sentiments on DU.

I enjoy your posts here, IrishDem!

Huzzah!

Thanks

I love the shamrocks, thank you!

What is the little blue thing after the shamrock? I cannot make it out.

With the shamrock, it's my weak attempt at celebrating 'Irish Dem' in emoji's!

The Irish Blue Wave.
Perfect. That's me down to the ground.

Happy to do what I do here.

I consider that to be a compliment, coming from you! And back atcha!

Reminds me of a friend who spent some of her young ears in ?Malaysia. Her father was Foreign Service.

Traveling four hours a day in a bus up a mountain side and back down. Far away from
the AF base.

Then sitting in quonset huts surrounded by barbed wire, in severe heat and bugs, with armed guards
marching around. Something different from American kids stateside.

This was wartime, during the Viet Nam war. The thing is we were never afraid. We knew if anything happened, the US military would come help us. In hindsight, perhaps a bit optimistic.

We also knew we were the very lucky ones. The men fighting were the ones in harm's way.
Every day.

We were far away from direct combat.

New England family vacations. I'd have been miserable!

And obviously my friend was living a much safer life over there.

You are a DU treasure.

I think I am a bit too opinionated and blunt at times to be a treasure.

DU is how I start everyday of my life since shit got serious. I mostly only comment. I do understand the dedication, and discipline it requires to write the opinion post. I deeply appreciate the time and effort you have given to thinking through and clearly writing your thoughts. Thus allowing ME to lazily sit back and comment, risking very little. Peace and Love🤟🏼

So I have time to engage in various activities of interest to me.

I was in the comment only category for a long time.
Until I got kicked out of my comfort zone.

Who knows, maybe one day you will get the same PM.

You enrich the conversation... Mr and Mrs Peacetrain

And congratulations on your milestone!

I do have a sweet tooth. Which I don't indulge much any more.
But I will make an exception!

Thank you so much Usonian.