# Rand Rover's a non-tipping, SUV-driving, Republican, picky-eater fatty who hovers over toilet seats **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259 "2010-03-12T17:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/1 "2010-03-12T17:06:57Z")
Normally too easy of a target, but this one post on this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=555527)takes him to a whole new level: [QUOTE=Rand Rover] Well, someone’s gotta be at the bottom of the pile. If it weren’t single black women, it would be someone else, and then we could have a thread speculating about the reasons why they are on the bottom. I guess I just see the results of this study as a statistical artifact (i.e., that’s just how the numbers shake out) and not really worthy of thinking a whole lot about. [/quote] 1. What does having a $5 net worth have to do with averages? A $5 net worth is something you’d expect of Haiti, not a first world country. That’s the “shocker” point of the article. 2. There seems to be an implicit assumption that a measurement must necessarily involve separating minority groups from the other. Fine, we understand that 50% of people are average or below average by any given measure. That has f-all to do with why demographics are overrepresented at the bottom or whatever, which Rand Rover seem to be implying must always be the case. You are a psychologist’s wet dream, Rand Rover, with your head so far stuck up your ass that you actually think you’ll never [lose your job](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10639327&postcount=54), so you deal with this (and all your other fears) by saying that every bit of misfortune is everyone else’s fault, and therefore, misfortune can never happen to you. It must be a sad existence living with all that fear instead of dealing with these very real possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/2 "2010-03-12T17:09:42Z")
Why give this guy more of what he so desperately craves? Ignore him. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/3 "2010-03-12T17:11:58Z")
But does he take his shoes off in the house? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/4 "2010-03-12T17:15:43Z")
Where’s he wrong? First of all, $5 worth doesn’t say much about one’s lot in life, as has been pointed out in that thread. My girlfriend and I have the same lifestyle, but $40,000 difference in wealth, for one. Second, if you start out by classifying things by the demographic they fall under, then yes, it IS an assumption that some demographic will be on the bottom- whether it’s a race, age, gender, or religion. SOMETHING has to be on the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/5 "2010-03-12T17:20:54Z")
Before you go all Dr. McCoy, are you just pissed off because he wasn’t outraged enough? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/6 "2010-03-12T17:30:41Z")
I demand a pile-on. NOW! This MFer doesn’t even know what an [enchilada](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12215699&postcount=708) is. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/7 "2010-03-12T17:56:02Z")
Of everything the OP accuses him of, I think the toilet hovering is the worst, if true. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/8 "2010-03-12T17:59:28Z")
Don’t all guys technically hover? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/9 "2010-03-12T18:12:51Z")
We do if we like you. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/10 "2010-03-12T18:19:44Z")
Does he also hang the toilet paper so it comes off from under the roll? Does he drive with one foot on the brakes, and constantly tap his foot on the brake to make the brake lights come on and annoy anyone driving behind him? (He should be killed, NOW, if he does this) Does he have a [prehensile rectum](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80957), or has he ever [had diarrhea in a jacuzzi](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356483)? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/11 "2010-03-12T18:24:30Z")
I predict this thread will make it to page 15, and by page 10, it will be reduced to no more than a half-dozen people endlessly bickering. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/12 "2010-03-12T18:28:59Z")
Heh, of all the things RR’s ever said, he’s being pitted for the most innocent. 😃 All he’s saying here is that the statistic used isn’t a very meaningful measure (why is explained further in the thread by other people). I dunno if he’s right, that’s the sort of thing accountants argue about and I’m not one. I asked whether it could be argued that “net worth” is a surrogate marker for financial health on average. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/13 "2010-03-12T18:32:20Z")
“Republican”? I thought he was a Libertarian or something. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/14 "2010-03-12T18:36:53Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I predict this thread will make it to page 15, and by page 10, it will be reduced to no more than a half-dozen people endlessly bickering. Substitute _x_ and _x-y_ for the above values and this approaches a law for certain types of SDMB threads. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/15 "2010-03-12T19:15:02Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I predict this thread will make it to page 15, and by page 10, it will be reduced to no more than a half-dozen people endlessly bickering. Probably about the Iraq War or Health Care reform. ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/16 "2010-03-12T19:20:38Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, of all the things RR’s ever said, he’s being pitted for the most innocent. 😃 > > All he’s saying here is that the statistic used isn’t a very meaningful measure (why is explained further in the thread by other people). > > I dunno if he’s right, that’s the sort of thing accountants argue about and I’m not one. I asked whether it could be argued that “net worth” is a surrogate marker for financial health on average. Heh. Granted, I could be totally misinterpreting his intent of that one particular post. What actually pisses me off is his general ongoing attitude of “every bit of misfortune is 100% the individual’s responsibility, therefore it can’t happen to me” which is obviously borne from a coping mechanism to deal with a fear of failure, but I picked the wrong post to represent that. It’s a total and complete twisting of individualism – IMO, a big part of individualism is preparing for the worst. Rand Rover will be the first one to beg for socialism if Ayn Rand came back to life and became dictator. I’ll readily admit that I picked the total wrong post to express my outrage. I should’ve picked the enchilada post instead. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/17 "2010-03-12T19:25:31Z")
> [@dre2xl](#): > > What actually pisses me off is his general ongoing attitude of “every bit of misfortune is 100% the individual’s responsibility, therefore it can’t happen to me” which is obviously borne from a coping mechanism to deal with a fear of failure He must live in [the just world](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon), where bad things never happen to good people. I wonder what color the sky is there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/18 "2010-03-12T19:42:22Z")
What he said is wrong, but it isn’t outrageous. > [@Rand Rover](#): > > I guess I just see the results of this study as a statistical artifact (i.e., that’s just how the numbers shake out) and not really worthy of thinking a whole lot about. The factoid as presented isn’t a statistical artifact - is that what bothers you? > [@dre2xl](#): > > A $5 net worth is something you’d expect of Haiti, not a first world country. That’s the “shocker” point of the article. But that is the point - it is hardly “shocking” to find out that poverty in the US has causes. Single black women in the US in the age range presented are poor mostly for the same reasons other people are poor in the US - because they do stupid things like have children out of wedlock. I suppose **RR** is technically correct, in that somebody would end up at the bottom of any distribution of net wealth. So what? That is the great thing about America, or one of them at least - poverty is an anomaly, something that is to be explained, instead of the normal human condition for most of recorded history. If you act like a poor person, by and large you wind up as a poor person. If you act like a middle class person, you wind up middle class. This is news to anyone? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/19 "2010-03-12T20:07:21Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > That is the great thing about America, or one of them at least - poverty is an anomaly, something that is to be explained, instead of the normal human condition for most of recorded history. True, but there are quite a few other countries where poverty is even more of an anomaly. I wouldn’t say that our relatively low poverty rate is anything to chest thump about. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259/20 "2010-03-12T20:16:53Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … If you act like a poor person, by and large you wind up as a poor person. If you act like a middle class person, you wind up middle class. > > This is news to anyone? > > Regards, > Shodan I’m middle class. So, if I start acting like a billionaire, money will fall from the sky? Just messing with you 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rand-rovers-a-non-tipping-suv-driving-republican-picky-eater-fatty-who-hovers-over-toilet-seats/532259.md?page=2)