Karim Bakhtiar's Blog

The Truth About KFC Finally Revealed

Undercover reporters working for B3TA have managed to take shocking secret photos of what really goes on inside a KFC Drumstick Factory.

Though the fate of the chics may seem harsh, it's better than the alternative.

My fellow Brits will also appreciate this image  [cultural reference for non-Brits].

I also appreciate these pics.

Free Porn

I've been thinking about how to improve this blog. I've settled on the answer: gratuitous nudity.

So here are some indecent videos of scantily clad bodies, writhing suggestively.

DMOZ

When you search for stuff on Google, where do the descriptions on the results page come from?

In many cases, they come from a web directory called DMOZ - The Open Directory Project.

DMOZ lists over 4 million web sites. Each site has been reviewed by one of 65,000 volunteers.
The results of this industrial-scale voluntary project are used by Google, Altavista , AOL UK and Excite UK.

I edit the UK Conservative Party bit. It's tough. After you've seen 500 Conservative sites you begin to think...
Oh god, not another web site with a chairman's message, a list of association officers, local propaganda, councilor contact details and an out of date events calendar.

But once in a while I come across a site that reminds me why I volunteer my time. This week, I added the Conservative sites for Bexleyheath and Crayford (I lived in this constituency for  13 years), Bromley and Chislehurst (I live in that constituency now), Greenwich (I walk through it on my way to work every day), Dulwich and West Norwood (canvassed there), Edmonton (ditto), Eltham(ditto, plus used to pass through it on my journey to school for years), Hammersmith and Fulham (canvassed) and Lewisham West (canvassed).

That really brought home that whilst I may edit in an American-run project, stuff stored on an American server, the consequences can be very real, and very local.

Sky News Rocks

I'm a news junkie, and for the UK news junkie there's no better channel than Sky News.

After the terrorists struck on September 11th, I would come home from work and watch Sky News's coverage for hours on end.

When Baghdad fell, Sky News Reporter David Chater was there to talk to the troops as they drove their tanks onto the square in which Saddam Hussein's statue would famously fall. Chater was the only reporter broadcasting live from the square.The pictures were simulcast on news channels worldwide.

Sky News launched the world's first interactive TV video news service. It lets viewers choose what they want to watch, from 8 video screens. These can be viewed at up to full-screen size.

On election night 2005, Sky News viewers with Sky Digital will have 16 full-size screens from which to choose.

If you want to get a feel for Sky News (but live in the US, or do not have digital TV), check out Johnnie Larkin's authoritative site, SkyNewsCentre.

It appears as though I'm not the only fan of Sky News. The SkyNewsCentre discussion forum has 850 registered members.

Interactive TV and digital satellite broadcasting offer fantastic possibilities for creating TV that's controlled by the viewer, not by the editor or producer.

Why does this matter? Because most people get their news from TV, and as long as that's the case, we're all forced to make do with what the 'average' viewer wants. Our news consists of soundbites from news-makers, not their words in context. Every story that's of interest to you is excluded if it won't interest the average viewer. The time given to stories is cut down to that which the average viewer will accept without switching channels.

Interactivity offers depth, breadth, choice, genuine viewer feedback and active participation. Plus the ability to order pizza without leaving the sofa. As all countries move towards digital TV, Sky News is offering a glimpse of how interactive TV will transform your viewing of Television news.

Is Your Web site Unreadable Gibberish?

Find out. Test it with the JuicyStudio FOG test...

 

[Via LifeHacker]

WHOIS.SC

If you ever want to find out whether a domain name is available, or to whom it is registered, visit WHOIS.SC

Whois.sc can look up the registrant of .COM .ORG .NET .INFO .BIZ and .CO.UK domain names. Just type whois.sc/DOMAINNAME into your browser. For example http://www.whois.sc/test.com

To look up .ORG.UK domain names, visit http://www.nic.uk/ and enter the domain into the box on the lower left-hand side of the homepage.

WHOIS.SC can also look up which organizations have registered a given IP address, which is useful for finding out which organizations are visiting your web sites. Just enter http://www.whois.sc/IPADDRESS for example
http://www.whois.sc/195.224.195.66

Introducing B3TA

B3TA is a board where adults with too much time on their hands, create amusing graphical works for adults with too much time on their hands.

Below are some samples of their work:
CJ's "Robins are aggressively territorial":

... jagerman's logo for Rover...

and Naive Amoeba's suggestion for a new Mr Men book...

Update: ... has been removed to appease some anonymous kill-joy who filed ELEVEN Digital Millennium Copyright Act notices to stop this harmless cartoon appearing in your Google search results.

Note to self: Avoid cartoons of Muhammad AND Mr Men.

Subscribe to a feed via Bloglines.

Go Sight-Seeing. From Space

The problem with traditional sight-seeing is that you have to move.

Thankfully, Google have recently added Satellite photos to their site, so you can now view America's most famous areas, from space (from the comfort of your own home).

The White House (edited for National Security protection)

The Pentagon

Alcatraz

Niagara Falls

Ground Zero

The Statue of Liberty

 The Grand Canyon

Cape Canaveral

[All links via Google Sightseeing]