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Best of AnthoBLOGy • Unripe Revolution • Rooster's Dharma • Don't Know Jack • No Love for Condi • Blogger's Block • Father of the Bride • TinTin's Diary - I • TinTin's Diary II • Hate Bollywood • Child Labor • M.F.Husain Guilty •Marathi & Konkani • Artist's Daughter • India's First IT Guru

Computing, Libraries, Tennis, India & other interests of Vikas Kamat

Announcing AnthoBLOGy
Announcing AnthoBLOGy I am pleased to announce the introduction of a Blog at Kamat's Potpourri. Picture of the day: Just look at the amazing dress of this nomadic tribal woman! She belongs to a community called the Lambanis. Lambanis - The Gypsies (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Friday, July 6, 2001 Last Modified: 1/29/2003

Christians of Karavali

Christians of Indian West-coast Over the past year, many patrons have complained to me that we do not have content to adequately represent the Christianity in India. While reminding our disclaimer that Kamat's Potpourri is a personal site -- meaning we do not have to follow the Quota system -- I have uploaded father's Kannada article on Konkani speaking Chrtistians of Karavali. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Saturday, July 7, 2001 Last Modified: 8/1/2003

Wimbledon 2001

Wimbledon: Venus rules supreme again. Congratulations! I also look forward to the Williams family tennis foundation that is being established to teach tennis to young girls in India and Africa. Usability Critique of The Wimbledon Website : A very well organized site built by IBM. Color combination is in harmony with the Mecca of Tennis. The live scorecard applet is very functional -- what's up with the 3262 on graphic though? The full-text search, navigation, and the quality of information are all very good. I wish that they did not restrict the contents to a width of 600 pixels... Instead of seperating the teasor and the link to the full story, why don't they just hyperlink the story title? (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Sunday, July 8, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

What a Wimbledon!

Goran Ivanisevic wins Wimbledon. What a final! What a story! Wimbledon -- an exciting finals is on the cards. (I am rooting for Goran) The cost of photography has doubled in India over the six months. With the advent of digital photography, you would think that it goes down... No wonder most people in India have Never Been Photographed. I am currently reading: The Open URL Specifications (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Monday, July 9, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Indo-Pak Summit
India and Pakistan are preparing for a grand Summit. Full Coverage at Yahoo! My father writes about his visit to Pakistan. Kamat Goes to Pakistan (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Liberate Me from PDF
I spent the entire morning trying to programatically extract text from PDFs (Adobe's Portable Document Format) using PDFLib and other tools. Still no luck.... If you have done this before, please drop me a line at Amazon has The Godfather DVD Collection for pre-ordering. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 Last Modified: 4/30/2004 3:17:58 PM

Diversity of India
I am begining a new section on the Diversity of India. Till I think of a new logo, please bear with the color spectrum. Remembering the Godly work of William Carey (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Thursday, July 12, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Friday the 13th
It's Friday the 13th. Be careful. Now that Microsoft has withdrawn the Smart-Tags, why are we continuing with the Microsoft-Free-Fridays? Mumble. Mumble. But do check out the Picture of the Week (Stub shown below) See also: Lessons I learnt from the Microsoft-Free-Fridays protest. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Friday, July 13, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Kamat Blogging Tool
I am fine-tuning the Kamat BLOGGER I have added links to durable blog entries. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Saturday, July 14, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Kamat.com as Bridge
One year ago thisweek: Kamat's Potpourri was featured on NetCulture, where I explained how our site is a bridge. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Sunday, July 15, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

No Peace Deal :-(
The Taj Mahal fails to inspire peace. Now what? Rediff : Full coverage of Indo-Pak Summit Some history for the uninitiated: Goa's Freedom Struggle....except in Kashmir (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Monday, July 16, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Ancient Man Not Naked
Was ancient man naked? Contrary to common belief, the pre-historic cave paintings found in a Central Indian site feature clothes on every human figurine. See: Pre-historic rock paintings of Bhimbetaka Also: Indian Attire Through the Centuries (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Tuesday, July 17, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Blog Archives
I have added ability to view archived blogs. For example: see all blogs for July 2001 See also: Anatomy of the Kamat Blogging Engine (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Adobe's Childishness

A Russian programmer is arrested for pointing out a flaw in Adobe's e-book technology. First, I'm shocked at the childishness of Adobe's encryption algorithms. Second, since when finding faults in a commercial product and exposing it in a public forum became a crime? A responsible company would have fixed its problems with due apologies to customers.... (I concede that the motives of the Russian progammer are questionable. He didn't provide a workaround to Adobe's shortcoming, just a way to benefit from the shortcoming...) I have a bigger fear. At this time there are all kinds of companies trying to build digital libraries and such based on Adobe's PDF and e-Book technologies. Imagine all the content that will be in Adobe's formats after ten years. Can we trust this company to contain/represent the entire mankind's knowledge? (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Thursday, July 19, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Whither Globalization?

Yahoo!: An activist is killed in the anti-globalization protest The policy makers just don't get the protest. The protestors don't understand globalization. Both don't understand what it is like to be without a job. "In a country where college graduates remain unemployed for decades, what were an illiterate, unskilled man to do?" (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Friday, July 20, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Civil Protests

Lemurzone has a great civil protest idea: Buy one (just one) stock of the company that has offended you. They have to invite you to their meetings, send you reports, and ask you to vote on important matters. he he. Civil Protests do work -- Read lessons from a protest launched against Microsoft called the Microsoft-Free-Fridays. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Sunday, July 22, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Kamat Gets Best Customer Award from Bank

My father told me the Corporation Bank wants to honor him for being a good customer. I've never heard of such a thing in India, where bankers are notoriously arrogant and the service is actually harassment. My mom said with tongue in cheek --"You know why they are recognizing your father; to tell all their customers to be as patient as him!!" Kamat's New Book Out! Kamat's magnum opus, "The Return Journey" (in Kannada, Marupayana) is scheduled for release on August 15th at Dharwad. Published by the legendary publishing house of Manohara Grintha Mala, the book is a socio-ecological commentary on post Independent India. Most of father's books go out of print quickly, so reserve your copy by becoming a subscriber to the Manohara Grintha Mala -- which is the only way you can buy the book. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Monday, July 23, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

New Search Engines

Just when I started worrying about the dominance of Google, there is a New Search Engine Teoma is town. It even looks and feels like Google -- just a cheap Google. But the search results are as smart and this is really good news for the Web. As more and more publishers go un-public (meaning charging for content) I wonder they will reduce the importance of the search engines...because the content is not crawlable or searchable... Talking about searches, I am playing with the Microsoft's full text searching. I hope to provide a much more relevant PictureSearch results..someday... We have a new Site-map at Kamat's Potpourri. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Tuesday, July 24, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Phoolen Devi Shot Dead

IndiaInfo: Decoit Queen is shot dead There goes one of the most dramatic story of our times. Street Vendors of India In India you can get anything and everything on the streets. A new series of pictures on the roadside hawkers of India. See Also: • The Children of Asphalt • Indian Merchants and their Merchandise (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Kamats for Environment

Kamats for Environment After Kamat Sr. (my father that is) returned to India in 1966 after a doctorate in the environmental sciences (at ESF), he lobbied to increase environmental awareness and protection in India. He failed. But this year, at the invitation of a prominent educationist, Kamat has proposed establishing of a institute for environmental sciences in India. Located in the Karwar-Goa region, it will educate the Government and the people on how to use forests as a true renewable resource. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Thursday, July 26, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Bandit Queens Don't Die

Bandit Queens Don't Die Will Phoolan Devi live forever? -- The assassination of Phoolan Devi brings to front some very important and disturbing questions on rape, crime, punishment, casteism, and democracy. Indira Jaisingh gets you started. Go ahead. Glorify the sensational. Also: • Full Coverage at Rediff • Full Coverage at IndiaInfo Adobe's PR Nightmare Continues I wrote on July 19th: Can we trust this company to contain/represent the entire mankind's knowledge? Upside Today: Is Adobe a software thug? A: Yes. "...and is sentenced to a future of mediocrity in the e-publishing business." Treasures in the attic Remembering my friend Vithal Mahale and his family's glorious history dating back to 16th century! The Mahales of Honavar -- A junked copper inscription reveals the genealogy of a once prominent family and explains the root of a local tradition. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Friday, July 27, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Tale of Two Women

Tale of Two Women Throughout this week, I thought about two women, both originals but little else common between them, who passed away. The woman who brought down an American President -- Read the life story of Katharine Graham (1917-2001). It is not only a story of courage, but also of character, wisdom, leadership, and of inspiration. Goodbye Mrs. Graham, and thank you very much! The Bandit Queen -- The life of Phoolen Devi is not for the weak hearted, or for those who do not understand caste and poverty. An illiterate, and a victim of abuse, she took to revenge, mass murder, and politics (ya! she was an elected member of the Indian parliment!). Is being illiterate same as being condemned? (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Saturday, July 28, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

What Men Know of Women
Question: Is it true that in India, the man does not know the woman till they are married? Answer: Oh dear. It is true in every country! More Q&A on the women of India. (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Monday, July 30, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

Code Red

Code Red: So much hype, so little information There's panic and hoopla about the Code Red worm, but no one can tell me how I can tell if I am infected. Microsoft says: Shut up and apply this patch. NIPC Says: You must act! ZDNet says: It is a major problem Meanwhile I got this. It looks like a worm, but is it Code Red? I say: UNIX rules for webhosting (kamat.com runs on UNIX) See: Choosing a Web Hosting Platform Mourning the Death of a Kamat Model Gajanan Honavar, a patron from Gokarn, has written that the person in one of Kamat's celebrated photographs, Devate Bhattaru has passed away. Like so many others, I wonder if this is the only photograph of his life... (Comments Disabled for Now. Sorry!) First Written: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 Last Modified: 10/18/2002

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