Posted by White House
on February 25, 2005
For all of the budding home brewers out there, I will share a bit of wisdom passed down to me by my good buddy Fat Back. I used to bottle my home brews in random labeled bottles because I was too lazy to spend hours pealing off the original labels. Never more will my beautiful brew live in such janky containers. Scotch-Brite pads are the panacea for bottle labels. All you have to do is mix up a little One-Step cleaner, throw the bottles in the solution, scrub that ugly label with the Scotch-Brite. The label will come off almost instantly. You probably don’t even need the One-Step. Plain water will probably due. (I didn’t test that condition.) Your label blues are vanquished. Now have yourself a home brew.
I want to give a big shout-out to Fat Back for this one. Your a gentleman and a scholar. Cheers!
Posted by White House
on February 24, 2005
I have Hack a Day in my RSS reader. So I check it every day (along with a bunch of other websites). The premise of the site is to profile a new hack every day. It is an interesting read sometimes, but today has to be the best hack yet on the site. Some guy with a bunch on unpaid parking tickets and a junky car really stuck it to the Man. They but a boot on his car too keep it from being moved until he paid his tickets. Well he just slipped it to the side, took off the tire, put on his spare, and was gone. AWESOME! See all the evidence of David whipping Goliath’s ass here.
Posted by White House
on February 24, 2005
A jewelry store in Hong Kong, 3D Gold, build this throne and the surrounding room out of gold and gems for a whopping $4.8 MILLION. The owner of the shop , Lam Sai-wing, did this because of a statement that the communist leader Lenin once made: “Toilets of gold would serve as a useful reminder of the waste of capitalist warfare.” (Check here for more details on the encrusted comode.) Apparently setting on this golden seat has gone to Lam’s head. The tourism board of Hong Kong just stopped recommending his site because of customer complaints of employee rudeness. (Here for that story.)
While being amazed that this exists, I am not amazed that it was built in Hong Kong. The scope of capitalism in Hong Kong is truly amazing. It is a city that never sleeps that thrives on consumerism. This is totally opposite to what you would believe of a city that is technically a city in communist China. The most amazing thing about Hong Kong is how the economy thrives while not shunning the Chinese spiritual past. The sky scrapers are still being build using principles of Fung Shui, and it is not very difficult to find a Buddhist Temple mixed into the super populated city blocks. I love Hong Kong, but I am so disappointed that I have been there and never seen the most super of all toilets.
Posted by White House
on February 19, 2005
As you can tell, the only place on the internets for your Billstron news has moved. The new domain is only the beginning of the exciting thing happening at Billstron. Soon the Billstron Blog will have a different look, and I will be rolling out a traditional website at www.billstron.com. Additionally, I will be posting a full review of a new Lexmark product and reporting on the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The coming months should be exciting at Billstron. Bookmark now and keep coming back!
Posted by White House
on February 17, 2005
This is yet another reason to like Wilco. The drummer in Wilco, Glenn Kotche, is a graduate of my beloved alma mater, University of Kentucky. (I didn’t know this until Mrs. House sent me this UK press release stating as such.) Kotche is a percussion graduate from UK. That probably means that he was in the band. Wait… this does not compute… I thought all college band guys were dorks. All of the ones I met in the dorms sure were. He must be the exception that proves the rule (whatever the Hell that means). Now, I feel like I have given you enough reasons to listen to Wilco. If you have checked them out, let me know what you think. Also, let me know of any bands Mrs. House and I should check out. I will be discussing more music soon.
For those that may be sensing a trend… don’t worry, the only place on the internets to get your Billstron news is not turning into the millionth place on the internets to get your Wilco news. I have just been on a Wilco kick recently. This is not becoming a fan site.
Posted by White House
on February 10, 2005
Wilco is such a cool band. (If you don’t remember or haven’t been getting your Billstron news long, Mrs. House and I saw Wilco in concert a few months ago.) I found an article about them on Wired News 2 days ago. The article talks about how Wilco has embraced the internets as a means to disseminate their music. They are one of the few major bands that have done that. I will spare you the copyright/piracy/evil record company discussion. If you want some of that, read the article. What I am writing to tell you is that the article pointed out to me that you can hear Wilco in concert for free. They have their full concert at the Fillmore online. It was taped just after the concert we saw at the Paramount, and it is similarly awesome. I highly recommend you check them out. Click here and then on the “Live from The Filmore” link to listen.