People

People are so interesting sometimes, but older people are just down right fascinating. They have lived and done so much and I love love LOVE hearing stories. Once a week I go and hang out with my grandparents, lately I have been organizing their large movie collection. Today I learned several cool things, my favorite is the history of the 2x4. As some of you may know a 2x4 is not actually two inches by four inches which I have always thought was somewhat silly and very illogical. This cut of wood was once actually the ratio it disguises itself as, but they were rough pieces of wood that were not finished off. My grandpa told me that he went back when one of his childhood homes was being ripped down and saw that it was in fact made of these original 2x4s; the house was built in 1907. Once they started to finish off the edges of the boards they would loose an 1/8 of an inch on each side making it a 1 3/4 x 3 3/4 board. Then the wood manufacturers thought they could save a little money and cut the boards at 1 3/4 x 3 3/4 and THEN they would finish off the edges to the now 2x4 board that is technically 1 1/2 x 3 1/2. So when you are using a stud finder to hang a picture, shelves or a heavy piece of well anything on the wall you must go in 3/4 from the where the stud finder appears (because that is the edge) so that it will be in the middle of the stud which is an inch and a half.

Merriweather