# "The Sopranos" - 3.12.06 SPOILERS! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126 "2006-03-13T03:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/161 "2006-03-17T21:13:44Z")
> [@RogueRacer](#): > > That’s just it though. That sounds like complete crap to me. That’s why I was curious if anyone knew of any actual codes or if it was just a plot device that the writers thought sounded believable. I guess it made it worse for me when a few of the posters jumped on with comments about what a cheap bitch Carm is for using pine. Hello? That’s what is used to build most houses as far as I know. Keep in mind that I’m not a contractor or anything. It just seems like some ignorance needs to be fought here. I will openly admit that it could still be mine. It’s not crap. Pine is a ridiculously soft wood and should never be used for framing a house. Douglas fir is the standard for framing a house in most municipalities. They got it right. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/162 "2006-03-17T21:14:16Z")
**RogueRacer** - I don’t know anything, but here’s an excerpt a google search turned up. It’s from a page referring to understanding the elasticity of woods. > [@](#): > > A material with a higher E value is stiffer. For example: No.2 grade eastern white pine has an E value of 1,100,000 and No.2 hem-fir has an E value of 1,300,000. Hem-fir is a stiffer material. – From [awc.org…](http://www.awc.org/technical/spantables/tutorial.htm) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/163 "2006-03-17T21:17:17Z")
I’m guessing the problem wasn’t with using pine but with using that particular **grade** of pine. I can see Carm cutting corners, but I can’t see her building a collapsible house. I haven’t gotten the impression that her dad does shoddy work either. Didn’t he build Tony and Carm’s house? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/164 "2006-03-17T21:22:30Z")
> [@RogueRacer](#): > > Vito was doing some serious kissing up to Phil (Johnny Sack’s fill in), kind of like Paulie a few seasons ago. I didn’t realize this previously, but on second viewing of “Member’s Only” I caught Tony or Christopher say that Phil was Vito’s cousin. Would explain why they’re close. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/165 "2006-03-17T21:26:55Z")
> [@Subterraneanus](#): > > It’s not crap. Pine is a ridiculously soft wood and should never be used for framing a house. Douglas fir is the standard for framing a house in most municipalities. They got it right. According to this site, that’s not true. [http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/buildingproducts/softwoodlumber/species/southernpine.asp](http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/buildingproducts/softwoodlumber/species/southernpine.asp) > [@](#): > > Southern pine is a general term for several pine species that grow in a band across the southern United States from east Texas to Virginia. Its lumber has very high strength, stiffness and nail-holding capabilities and has a unique cellular structure that helps it readily accept preservative treatments. > > … > > Due to its strength and stiffness, Southern pine is used for framing in single- and multi-family housing and in commercial buildings. Regardless, I’m sure they got it right in that it’s possible to build a house using inferior-grade lumber, and fail a building inspection as a result. ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/166 "2006-03-17T22:58:22Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > According to this site, that’s not true. > > [http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/buildingproducts/softwoodlumber/species/southernpine.asp](http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/ourbusinesses/buildingproducts/softwoodlumber/species/southernpine.asp) > Regardless, I’m sure they got it right in that it’s possible to build a house using inferior-grade lumber, and fail a building inspection as a result. Utility-grade pine is not Southern pine. In general, pine is a very soft wood, a few counter-examples notwithstanding. I’m from the timber capital of the world, where Douglas firs grow like weeds and Weyerhauser is everyone’s neighbor. I also spent many summers in high school and college working construction. I never framed a house with anything but Douglas fir. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/167 "2006-03-17T23:53:57Z")
Utility grade pine is cheap and “unsuitable for framing.” (Heh.) It’s prone to splitting and easily damaged by relatively light humidity. It makes sense that they would have regulations demanding a higher grade of lumber, especially if the area is supposedly a bit posh. (It is, right?) You don’t want to knock up a cheap-assed house with a veneer of solidity and have it turn into a sagging eyesore in fifteen years. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/168 "2006-03-18T00:56:36Z")
It’s not unknown for inspectors to need a little, um, incentive to issue a certificate. Given the Soprano name, and all that implies, could it be that nothing much is wrong with the wood, but that the inspector needs a little “gift” of some sort? Also, is Tony being a bit passive-aggressive by always seeming to “forget” to call that inspector? Maybe, consciously or otherwise, teaching his wife a lesson about who’s really in charge? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/169 "2006-03-18T06:51:34Z")
> [@vaderspal](#): > > Entertainment Weekly (I think…) said that one of the upcoming episodes will involve a lengthy dream/fantasy sequence. They did not say outright, but inferred that this was due to Tony’s GSW. GSW? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/170 "2006-03-18T07:24:18Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > GSW? 😕 Must be “gunshot wound.” ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/171 "2006-03-19T02:15:24Z")
Well, I talked to one of my contractor friends last night and remembered to ask about the Douglas Fir thing. He knew right away what I was talking about. He said that he used Douglas Fir for floor joists where people didn’t want to use I-joists (a fabricated floor joist). He said he also uses it for the stringers on steps and things like that. Otherwise, “normal” 2x4’s, 2x6’s, etc. are used for the rest of the framing. He doesn’t build his own trusses and I forgot to ask what they were made of. I guess I should also note that while the whole family/genus thing tends to give me a headache if I look at it too much, [Douglas Fir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas-fir) is part of the [Pinaceae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinaceae) family (ie. pine family). Although it is not currently (has been in the past) classified in the [Pinus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine) genus (it’s in Pseudotsuga), if I saw one in the woods, I would still call it a pine tree. I think it’s a far stretch to scoff at a house being made out of “pine”. Most likely what they were getting at is either Carm’s dad used some real shit grade lumber or didn’t use proper thicknesses. Either that, or like someone said recently, the inspector wanted his palm crossed with some greenbacks. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/172 "2006-03-19T18:53:09Z")
I watched again last night looking any signs of what might have happened the past year worthy of flashing back to. The only reference at all was Tony’s “The year I’ve had” comment. There was so little with Paulie that almost anything could have happenned to him. AJ could have been in and out of trouble but it wouldn’t be very suspenseful knowing that he made it thru safely. Some have commented that Chrissy’s status with the family may have changed. What’s the conventional wisdom on that? Here’s a story line that could be done based on what we know … Finn and Meadow get married with all the Mob wedding fun and excitement. Finn gets addicted to strip clubs (thus the show that Meadow did for him) and the marriage falls apart. For all we know he’s sleeping with the fishes … or was there a reference to him in the first episode? Maybe I need to watch it again. Question … Carm referred to either “the family” or “a family” that will ultimately live in her “spec house”. Has she made any other references to wanting to move into it with Tony? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/173 "2006-03-19T19:10:52Z")
> [@What the .... ?!?!](#): > > Here’s a story line that could be done based on what we know … Finn and Meadow get married with all the Mob wedding fun and excitement. Finn gets addicted to strip clubs (thus the show that Meadow did for him) and the marriage falls apart. For all we know he’s sleeping with the fishes … or was there a reference to him in the first episode? Maybe I need to watch it again. I was under the impression that all the stuff in the introduction was happening in the present. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126.md?page=8)