Adam talks about Stanley Tools and his extensive collection of hand tools . . . Jeff recalls building a doomed house in the Hamptons . . .Adam boasts that shipping containers would be a virtually indestructible form of housing

The Omaha Bugle-Global News Network

Jeff and Adam talk about the incredible intellectual legacy that the Omaha Bugle podcasts will provide to future generations of scholars, political leaders and arsonists. Adam recounts the surprising 180-year history of Stanley Tools, a leading supplier of tools throughout the world and an unwitting sponsor of the show. Adam and Jeff discuss the ups and downs (mainly downs) of home renovations and the sad state of home craftmanship in today's fast-paced society. Jeff bemoans the fact that tenants do not always cooperate with landlords in paying their rent, thus frustrating the landlord's plans to build a rental empire on the backs of the working poor. The follies of Jeff's home construction project in the poor section of the Hamptons is recounted including the fact that the foundation was poured in a reverse layout and a pool of water collected inside the interior walls for years due to a leaky pipe. However, the basement, which flooded with every heavy rain, did provide a sort of indoor swimming pool that anyone could theoretically enjoy. The fact that the same subcontractors work on the cheapest houses and the most palatial estates is not particularly comforting to those who shell out millions of dollars for a custom house. Jeff's many interactions with home insurers is recalled as well as the increasing difficulty he had in getting them to return his calls. The increasingly shorter lives of all home appliances is discussed, particularly air conditioners that last only a few years and are held together with plastic and glue. Adam talk about a house in which all of the walls were crooked even though was reassured by the contractor that they would add enough material to "cover everything up." Shipping containers are offered as an alternative, almost indestructible form of housing, which a homeowner could use as a domicile and get the equivalent of a "hardened" double wide trailer able to withstand the direct hit of an artillery shell. Adam talks about his ill-fated effort to install a water heater in his garage and the map gas gun flame that nearly incinerated his face.