I cannot answer this question:

Do you believe your country would be more or less safe if every adult owned a gun?

• More safe
• Less safe
• Neither / unsure

Gun-ownership -- by citizens -- has nothing to do with OUR country's safety.  There are lots of folks who ought not be allowed to own guns, but idiots ought not be allowed to breed either -- especially with one another.

Sending out a thank you for whoever removed the cartoon that got stuck in photos file.  I liked the cartoon too, but it was intended to be uploaded into my blog.  Thank you again, RicH

How can I remove that cartoon that I was trying to post into the text of my journal that ended up as my profile picture?

Do I got my okCupid 100% yet?

This is hard for me to say; I am ashamed really, but I woke up wishing that my little wild nay-sayer had answered my post.  It felt like I wanted to beat up a little kid.  Mean chagrin.

My wife pointed out this cartoon.  Do you think she is mocking me too?  Well, I got a Mom and some sisters: I can take it.

My goodness, I am a crybaby; you can ask my Mama and MY wife, but that is not pertinent to our current story.

Some few days from now, I will have been surfing around this here OkCupid site for four years. 

My MO is to waste some time here at random times, usually by starting with the profiles that Cupid sends to my email and then bouncing from those profiles to wherever Cupid, the links and my six-degrees of separation send me. 

Serendipity: Much better than TV -- which I also watch.

I have viewed literally thousands of profiles, answered a couple thousand questions, taken almost two hundred tests and had lots of FUN doing it.  I have sent dozens of emails, some answered, some not.  I have chatted online with other users here to pass the time, to gather information, and to be entertained; I am not looking for romance, although romance does have an odd way of finding me -- no matter how I hide.

In all that time and through all those many interactions, I have not had one sour, mean-spirited interaction until Thursday last.

Last Thursday, while meandering through this site like I always do, it seems that I stumbled-upon the profile of a young fella named SpringAxe, or BroadAxe, or something like that, who uninvited, saw fit, to send me, a meek, mild, old man, just having a little FUN on the Internet before I die and minding MY own bizness, an unwarranted and uninvited, (Did I say that?) email accusing me of using "this website to chickenhawk stalk people that are more than half" my age.  Can you believe it?

I'm not sure about the math here, but what does it matter: More than half, or less than half. Half being the important part.

I think.

Fuzzy math always being a strong indicator of the mentally and spiritually disturbed.  Think Unabomber hoodies.

Back to mean-spirited, uninvited emails . . .

Well, I wrote back to the boi . . . politely, well kinda politely, sorta, well, like I always do anyway.  I am sometimes courtly, but I cain't rightly be called polite.  Being an X-Marine removes me from worrying about the polite-thing. As Bilbo says, "There is no substitute for good manners, except quick reflexes."

Anyway, I answered the rude, cowardly, little pup.

And surprise, surprise, Hey, I'm channeling Gomer Pyle, I got another snotty little email calling me a crybaby. 

Well, Nan-nanna-boo-boo!  Hurt my feelings; Why don't ya?

Here's the little potty-mouth's email -- you be the judge:

Congrats, you're the biggest crybaby on the internet I've ever met. You wrote me an epistle based on something you read online. Hurr, hurr, the internet is serious business. Get over it. What you did was creepy and there is no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Take your begrumpled haggersnashery elsewhere.

Despite being cross about being accused of plagiarism, I thought my response was witty, supportive and gentle:

What a delightful correspondence, young man!

I'm hoping that this is some of the "mild-mannered sarcasm" that you asked us to "expect." In any event your emails have been perfect for someone who works with disturbed adolescent boys and convicts. IF I seem to you to be the biggest cry baby that you have ever met, it only supports my premise that you need to get out more.

I am certain that what I did felt creepy for you; I believe your claim, but that creepiness is inside of you and projected onto others. I'd venture a guess that you see creepiness many places that it does not exist. Sad to see so much pain and anger in one so young. It must be a very great hardship to have such a frightened, and saddening, view of the world: It sounds like an astounding inner-burden.

Therapy might help.

Once again, I wish you the very best. I truly do. I hope that you find whatever you are looking for and that finding it leads to a life of delighted fulfillment. May you always have peace and success.

Yours very sincerely, and with a gentle support that you cannot hear,

RicHARD MakePeace

"It only stings where we have wounds when others throw salt."
-- Marcus Aurelius
Just a little something else that I "read online." ;-0

I am sorry to say that I did not keep the first set of emails; I honestly wasn't expecting a second response. I wouldn't have kept these emails, but you can clearly see how disturbed the authors must be to write such things.

Wait!!  Does that last comment include me, or was I talking about BroadAxe's multiple personlities. 

Oh, yeah, that's right, he doesn't have any personality -- that's why he's here trolling the electronic meat market, picking on old fat guys; I'm gonna start crying any minute.

Well, I kid, but it is a serious topic: Can someone just landing on your profile, clicking those little stars, and saving you so you know that someone has passed by be stalking you?

And is BroadAss so hot and witty, which I cannot see, that he has to worry about being stalked here?

To those of you who are confused in any way about my view of this issue: On my profile page, I say, "DO NOT MESSAGE ME IF you have your head up your butt."  And this SpringApe fella has the worst case of oculo-rectalitis that I have seen recently.

I specifically ask that only "mature, reasonable people who are looking to explore slowly what humans have in common" contact me.  ALL Others need to reserve their opinions for someone who gives a . . . pick your expletive.

Finally, I work hard not to harm anyone here, or in meatspace, and to uplift Others whenever I get the opportunity.  I do not, however, accept abuse, not any, not ever.  And now I am BIG enough that I do not have to accept being abused, especially not by yipping little puppies.  Go grow a pair, Boi.

Or . . . come on by the house and I'll make biscuits.

Will I get my 90% now?  Just two more points and I can get another "A."  I'm zooming.

So, writing here adds five points to my profile score: Now I am up to ninety.  How do I get to 100%?  Over-achieving rocks my boat, or does it sink my boat?  I know it has something to do with my ship coming in anyway.  I seem to have gotten my cliches crossed; I'll jump that fence when I come to it.

Show-boolie-macka-new-nah, that ancient, little-known, Hibernian greeting, was used by myopic, Know-nothings both to recognize one another and to bless the cork. 

Today, Show-boolie-macka-new-nah is the secret high sign of a desperate band of stellar travelers, working to bring peace to the Universe: both physically and metaphysically speaking.

You can join, but the entry process is long and arduous.  Just learning the secret handshake overcomes many supplicants.

Better not to worry.  Sit back, and let those better qualified do the work for you.  It's the American way.

Peace to you all, RicH