Honestly, that old rule always seemed a little short to me. Tbh, the extra foot probably came from thinking about kids. A six foot cord is easy for a tall adult to reach, but a shorter person or a kid might struggle if the door was open and the opener was mounted high. The change to seven feet gives a better safety margin for everyone, not just the average guy installing it.

Nice. That Estwing is a beast. I've got a 3lb mini sledge that's my go-to for that kind of work.

That flag thing is the weakest argument. It was a rigid pole with a horizontal rod to hold it out, and they twisted it into the ground. The movement was from them messing with it, not wind. People just don't know how it was built. It's basic stuff you can look up. The fact that this still comes up in a coffee shop is just sad.

My old leather bag got shredded by a monkey in Bali.

My old apartment in Chicago had that same basement dampness problem, it warped all my paperback novels. I see this everywhere now, people fixing small but annoying things instead of just living with them. Like my neighbor who finally bought a real garlic press instead of smashing cloves with a knife. That eighty bucks isn't just for comics, it's buying back a little bit of satisfaction you lost to time.