*
Yes, very good; I’m wondering about the amount of “reality” in many of those shows. Admitted Never on budget; Denying having ever been Late; Conspicuously absent of a mention of there being an inconvenience to the homeowners.
A friend tells me that Bob Vila finds himself trapped in a lawsuit over a “smart house” he helped build over a decade ago. Seems that the homeowner finds it certifiably ‘stupid.’
Good Chear,
KIS-S
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Replies
*
Saturday night live did a skit about 10 years ago with John
Laraquette as Bob Vila doing renovations in a posessed
house. It was hilarious. Anyone else see that?
MD
I know I have that tape here somewhere...
xxxx
*
Bob Vila did get sued over a "smart" house. What happened was a builder in California built the house for an actor (don't remeber his name - wasn't a big star)and paid Bob Vila to use his name on the construction (it was supposed to be a Bob Vila creation or something stupid like that). The contractor paid old Bob several thousand dollars to use his name, and the actor actually thought old Bob was involved in the design, and construction of the house. Turns out nothing worked from the beginning, and nothing was wired right. They showed one panel of wiring that had wires just hanging in mid air, and not connected to anything. In one room, the guy couldn't turn off the light. It was on 24 hours a day. Another room had the lights come on and go off at their leisure (he had no control over the lights).
Anyway, he got sued in a BIG way (several million dollars - he settled, but I don't know for how much).
*
Aren't the inspection dates and inspector's names public record? anybody ever go after an inspector for gross negligence or corruption or whatever? Andrew?
*
The Vila/smart house story is as true as albino alligators in the NY sewers.
Clint Searl
*Thought that the attached cartoon was appropriate for the "Need flooring that can take abrasive beating" thread, but will put it over here. The "That's Jake" cartoon does an occasional reference to the trades and oversized pickups, so those wanting to follow it can find it at my favorite cartoon collection at the Houston Chronicle site:http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/comics/archive/showComics.hts?date=today(registration is required)My second most favorite comic site is the San Jose Mercury:http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/comics/(always need a little intellectual stimulation before I start my day...)
*I bet they're immune. They carry out the state's interests and don't really owe you any duty of care (unlike a home inspector, who usually limits his/her liability to gross negligence by contract). Besides, who needs this home automation cr*p anyway???
*No relevance whatsoever, but here is a beautiful picture of Hurricane Floyd taken by a satellite (Seastar) that my friend worked on.
*On the same note, I tell customers the movie "The Money Pit" is really a documentery
*Impressive, Andrew, if a bit slow to load even on the big pipe on my university machine. If it keeps moving on up the coast, you can take and post some pictures of it from the underside as well... (Didn't they name a hurricane after you not too long ago??)
*As long as we are staying basically irrelevant on this thread (although I guess some may consider this relevant to describing some of my various posts...), perhaps someone can help me out. I have been trying to find site that lists the terms used to describe someone who does things, well, inexplicably... Not the terms that could be found in a thesaurus such as looney, crazy, weird, etc., but the more colorful ones such as: "three bricks shy of a full load", "not dealing from a full deck", "a few degrees off plumb", etc.I say reference to such a site some time back in a newspaper column, but didn't save it. Any nominations?
*Ok, it must have been all of your positive thoughts on the subject, cause I found the one I was thinking of. Just a matter of hitting the right combination of search terms:http://www.mirskyland.com/fun_doc1/fun_0145.htmAny others?
*Yes, "my" hurricane was the most expensive in U.S. history! And I was afraid they'd waste my name on one of those wiener tropical storms...
*
Speaking of Movies, Ever seen "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," made in the late 40's maybe. Starred Cary Grant.
Grant has a scene where he is finally getting the house built after all sorts of delays and there are hundreds of tradesmen on the jobsite (all w/ good ethnic names) and while he's walking through the framed house under construction a guy yells down to 'em from the roof, "Hey, you the man we building this for?" "Ahhh, yes...yes I am," Grant replies. The same carpenter asks him,"Did you want those lallys in the dormers dado-ed or rabbett-ed?" Grant looking perplexed infront of his bride pauses for a moment, swallows, and firmly replies, "aaaa, RABBETTED!" Suddenly, the carpenter yells to all the workers without pause, "OK, YOU GUYS YOU HEARD THE MAN RIP-OUT ALL THOSE DADOS!" You hear this shrieking sound of nails being pulled, and then you see Grant cowering as a hundred board feet of lumber comes flying down from the rooftop. He pauses to speculate what has just happened, how much time and money have just been lost, and he flashes to his wife, "Rabbetted, it just SOUNDED less expensive."
Been there, done that .... blah, blah, blah ....:)
*Yeah thats quite a reality check, only in the comix and hollywood I guess. When the trusses don't arrive on time we don't sit down for coffee thats for sure.
*The story about the screwed up Smart House that Bob Vila worked on is true. The house was built on the Ca. coast and was ultimately purchased by an actor named Conrad Janus who played the music store owner in Mork and Mindy. The problems with the house were documented on a news magizine show like 60 Minutes and showed in detail all the problems that he was having with the smart wiring. Hope this clears the air a little bit.
*
John,
How is your brother, Jack, these days?
:-}
Rich Beckman
*...only has one oar in the water...(that's how I usually feel my day went!) - jb
*"Loose in the loafers?"
*I also quote from that movie, my favorite being "it'll take two weeks". I often use it on the same job, some customers have seen the movie, but if I'm just breaking ground on a large job and the customer gets excited and says "really! only 2 weeks? I know there's some learnin to be done.
*2 for the pot,The lights on but no one's home, and his elevator doesn't go to the top floor, both go along way as mentioned earlier to explain inexplicable behavior.
*Also basically irrelevant to the thread and getting away from movies has everyone heard the little Irish song about the laborer who sends a note to his boss to explain why he won't be coming into work? He starts out unloading bricks in a bucket and lowering them down by a rope- then goes on to experience one of those Monday kinda things?
*I thought that was i light in the loafersin reference to our cross gender friends who might wanna use "a few sticks short of a faggot"How about> A couple of studs short of a wall> A few shingles short of a roof> Not the sharpest knife in the drawer> The lights are on but nobody's home> Dumb enough to be twins ( I stole that from Adrian, it was just tooo good)-pm
*
Dumb as a box of rocks
Dumber than dirt
Dumb as you can get
*I don't check Breaktime every day so I just saw your post. I don't know if there is an answer further down, I don't have the patience to ready them all. These phrases are called "full-deckisms" (after "he's a few cards short of a full deck"). Do a web search for that phrase. I did it a couple years ago and got a lot in a hurry.
*
Yes, I've heard it packaged as a TRUE STORY "workers' comp. claim" describing the cause of a bricklayer's injuries.
Try this site I just located with Altavista. Ah, the power of the Internet.
*OK, this is where I get to tell on myself! I first heard that story from an electrician about 1981. He told it to me with a straight face and I believed him. Then, about 10 or 12 years ago, I was putting the stone on my chimney and my father was out for a visit. I'm workin' away one evening, and he's there chatting and I tell him that story. Well, about 1/2 way through, he corrects me on some detail I got wrong and started laughing at how I had thought all those years it was true. Then, on top of that, my SON, who is 19, started to tell it to me last year! That is one funny story though. - jb
*Just remembered my favorite-- Couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instrucions were printed on the heel.
*
Hey you guys, how about "stupid is what stupid does". How come no one said that one yet? I was just slapping myself wondering why no one got that one yet.
TC
*
Visit http://www.urbanlegends.com for more of these. I guarantee you'll find at least one story that you'd long thought to be real. They don't even discuss the bricklayer story, characterizing it as so old as to be a "chestnut."
I worried until recently that the Internet would spread urban legends and conspiracy theories so quickly that it could actually cause some damage. I realized, however, that it is also innoculating its participants with skepticism. You know: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. But then, the National Enquirer will always have its devout readers too.
*Andrew -Are you implying that all those space alient abduction and Elvis sighting stories in the National Enquirer are not to be trusted. What next, I suppose you will tell me that professional wrestling is rigged. Is nothing sacred - can nothing be trusted anymore???(BTW - the National Enquirer is rated at the largest circulation newspaper in the U.S. at about 3 million readers, compared to the next largest of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times at around 2 million each - circulation figures varying depending upon the source, phase of the moon, etc.)
*Here is another sort of telling on oneself story that also ties into the inexplicable. My first construction job in high school I'm hired on as a pre-electricians helper. Spent the first couple of weeks drilling holes, pulling wire and extricating myself from the 1/2" drill and auger bit. Comes my big break the foreman gives me a gross of receptacles and turns me loose. In my youthful enthusiasm I attacked those receptacles and soon ran back for more. The foreman was duly impressed by my speed but skeptical at my having only done 3 and 1/2 units. Walking over to the site to assess my job it suddenly occurred to me that maybe those receptacles didn't go in EVERY box. Back to the old drill, but damned I was fast.Of course I never did anything that dumb again. Honest.
*In my state, (NC), by law, building/mechanical/plumbing/electrical/etc inspectors cannot be held liable for problems that crop up on the buildings that they have inspected.
*
You give stupid a bad name
*sharp as a marble, dumb as a doorknob, not the sharpest tool in the shed, intellectually challenged, no gray matter above the neck, not bangin on all 8.
*
Just a cartoon submitted for your amusement:
Arlo & Janis
*Evidently you did some work for the cartoonist Andrew?LOL I am going to have to print this one.Rick Tuk
*A fiend tells me a guy actually fell off the roof on an episode. Way off to the side of the screen. The camera then zoomed in on subject at hand, then seemed to cut the segment short. I didn't see it for sure, but neighbor swears it happened.Contractors don't want to be late when it would be televised to millions of people. However, if you are polite, courteous, and soft spoken they'll forget you like a bad dream.-Rob
*Yes, very good; I'm wondering about the amount of "reality" in many of those shows. Admitted Never on budget; Denying having ever been Late; Conspicuously absent of a mention of there being an inconvenience to the homeowners.A friend tells me that Bob Vila finds himself trapped in a lawsuit over a "smart house" he helped build over a decade ago. Seems that the homeowner finds it certifiably 'stupid.'Good Chear,KIS-S