Assumptions you didn't know you've made

[Benko]

You aren't the only one who made that assumption.

Good reminder of how many assumptions we make as we go through life that may be suspect.

[MediumTex]

I love this kind of stuff, though. 

I assumed doodle was a man without an ounce of hesitation or reservation.  I think that what made me certain is *she* talked about lifting weights at one point and building shoulder strength, I think.

I also assumed doodle was a man because of the man-like cocksure belief *she* had in some of *her* positions.  (See "I did it for doodle").

As I recall, doodle talked about teaching school at some point.  I guess that makes more sense now, since there are a lot more female teachers than male teachers.  This will, however, require me to update my mental image from this:



to this:



The other day I was even visualizing doodle as an entire male basketball team. I guess I'm going to have to update that mental image as well.

Thanks to doodle for providing such an interesting start to this Friday.

[Pointedstick]

I love the premise of this thread, but just to burst everyone's bubble, I believe doodle was quoting an Amazon review.

[l82start]

it confused me when i read that as well ... on re-reading i came to the conclusion doodle was quoting from a book review on amazon and it was a typing/posting error that left the quote poorly differentiated from the words of doodle himself... 

PointedStick  arrrrg... you and your fast typing.... 

[moda0306]

I believe melveyr is under the legal driving age and MT is a Wizard of Middle Earth.

[doodle]

Im actually a cross dressing hermaphrodite 

But that "I am a female" was actually part of review that I found on Amazon regarding a book mentioned by Gumby. The person who wrote the review was apparently a female.

[Gumby]

It's funny, I had the exact same double-take when I read that post. For a moment, I was totally in disbelief. Then I figured it out.

[doodle]

Thanks MT for the gut busting laugh you provided me with this morning. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

[MediumTex]

Im actually a cross dressing hermaphrodite 

But that "I am a female" was actually part of review that I found on Amazon regarding a book mentioned by Gumby. The person who wrote the review was apparently a female.

So doodle is a man again now?



Dang!  That was a weird 10 minutes or so.

[doodle]

Just let this be a lesson to all of you who partake in the world of online dating! There is a wide gulf between the way things appear here, and how they exist in reality.

[annieB]

And Annie is a dog.
A big,bad ass dog!

[doodle]

MT,

I think you need to update your mental picture of me anyways. Is that the guy from the movie about Jaime Escalante? Id prefer if you thought of me as Spartacus fighting for justice!

[MediumTex]

MT,

I think you need to update your mental picture of me anyways. Is that the guy from the movie about Jaime Escalante? Id prefer if you thought of me as Spartacus fighting for justice!

If fighting for justice doesn't work out for you, you could always become a pro wrestler.

[dragoncar]

And Annie is a dog.
A big,bad ass dog!

What exactly is an "ass dog"?

[Jan Van]

OK, this gives me the perfect excuse to post about my experiences on a forum for a motorcycle club I briefly rode with in Texas. And let me try to establish a mental picture then too, by reminding you my first name is Jan :-)

This was in 2008 in the lead up to the elections. Being a Texan Motorcycle club, most members were, well, right leaning. So the forum admin posted one post after another with links to articles negative about Obama and Biden, and how they would hurt every body with more regulation and more taxes. And many articles praising McCain and Palin. Fair enough I guess, your forum, post whatever. But to inject some alternative views I started posting some articles every now and then too. Like one article about McCain defending Obama after some person during a rally said she didn't trust Obama because he's an Arab. Another article about the son of William Buckley deciding to vote for a democrat. Some article with the title "Petraeus talk bolsters Obama". So, all articles in which republicans were *not* disparaging Obama. After a couple weeks first a post with this text shows up on the forum (and which applies to this thread about assumptions):

Would you ask this liberal bitch (Jan van Mourik) to stop posting her
liberal bullshit? I enjoy the anti Obama materials that you send.

And next I got this message:

To everyone on this message board,

Effective immediately Jan van Mourik has been removed from our message board.

Over the last twelve hours I have received emails from our Ride Free patch holders and other friends and guests of Ride Free urging me to remove him.

As Libertarians we tolerate a wide range of views—liberal to conservative; however, it is evident that our group has very little tolerance for communist sympathizers. Therefore Jan is gone.

Sincerely,
<Forum Admin>

So that was it for me. I especially enjoyed the note about "we tolerate a wide range of views" :-)

[Pointedstick]

That reminds me of a story my father tells. He was in Portugal shooting the breeze with a Portuguese cabbie, and the cabbie was telling him about how tolerant the Portuguese are. "We're fine with everybody!" he says. "We like the Germans, we like the Americans, we like the Jews, we like the Muslims…" then he pauses for a moment before continuing with, "…but not the gypsies. The gypsies are very bad! Don't trust them!"

[dualstow]

hah. I've got a German friend named Jan -- I know you're probably Dutch, Mr van Mourik -- and he often gets phone calls for "Jan" with the J pronounced as in jelly or for you Americans out there, as in Jan from the Brady Bunch.

I have always assumed that PointedStick has an afro and sandals, and *used* to wear a necklace in the 90s but doesn't any longer. I still assume that MachineGhost (where is he anyway?) wears sunglasses all the time, even indoors.

[dualstow]

part two ---

Looks like we got doodle's sex cleared up.

I certainly assumed that *this* suspect was male.
Or has someone hacked into the twitter accounts of journalists again?

Shannon Rogers Richardson has been arrested in connection with alleged ricin-tainted letters mailed last month to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, federal law enforcement sources said.

Richardson is an actress also known as Shannon Rogers Guess and has had minor roles in the television series "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire Diaries."

-- cnn email

[MediumTex]

So that was it for me. I especially enjoyed the note about "we tolerate a wide range of views" :-)

I have come to not believe people when they tell me they are open minded.  I must observe open-mindedness to believe it.  Many people who say they are open-minded are not.

I have had very awkward experiences after people telling me that they are open-minded.  I will find myself speaking openly about something and as I see their faces begin to contort I realize they weren't open-minded after all.

Honestly, I notice that when it comes to some topics, otherwise highly intelligent people seem to revert to a much more primitive way of thinking when it comes to some topics such as politics and religion.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  I just prefer to steer clear of those emotional responses from people with whom I'm trying to have a calm and reasonable discussion.

[k9]

For those wondering, my avatar is sibyllin : yes, I AM a robot dog. From another planet. From the future. Please consider updating your assumptions.

[smurff]

I always thought you were the K9 who used to hang with Doctor Who.

[MediumTex]

For those wondering, my avatar is sibyllin : yes, I AM a robot dog. From another planet. From the future. Please consider updating your assumptions.

From how many robot dog years in the future did you travel to be with us?

[Alanw]

So that was it for me. I especially enjoyed the note about "we tolerate a wide range of views" :-)

I have come to not believe people when they tell me they are open minded.  I must observe open-mindedness to believe it.  Many people who say they are open-minded are not.

I have had very awkward experiences after people telling me that they are open-minded.  I will find myself speaking openly about something and as I see their faces begin to contort I realize they weren't open-minded after all.

Honestly, I notice that when it comes to some topics, otherwise highly intelligent people seem to revert to a much more primitive way of thinking when it comes to some topics such as politics and religion.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  I just prefer to steer clear of those emotional responses from people with whom I'm trying to have a calm and reasonable discussion.

Like trying to discuss the merits of the PP to a "money manager".

[Pointedstick]

Probably the best one I've heard was, "I'm very open-minded, but if you ask me, those intolerant Republicans should all be loaded onto a spaceship and shot into the sun."

[RuralEngineer]

That's messed up Jan. The forums wouldn't be the same without our liberal brethren.