goanet-digest Wednesday, June 26 2002 Volume 01 : Number 4114
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In this issue:
[Goanet] Gulf Daily News: June King contest at Young Goans
[Goanet] Copa Mundo: Viva Brasileira
[Goanet] ALEXYZ to speak and do cartoons at FRIDAY BALCAO on 28th June.
[Goanet] National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP) to be launched on June
27
[Goanet] Re: Reproach and Accusation
[Goanet] the Konkani heritage centre
See end of digest for information on subscribing/unsusbcribing.
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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 08:32:12 GMT
From: Eddie Fernandes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Gulf Daily News: June King contest at Young Goans
Headline: June King contest at Young Goans
Source: Gulf Daily News (Bahrain), Wed. 26 Jun. 2002 at
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=26304&Sn=BNEW
MEN of all nationalities are welcome to join the Young Goans Club'ssearch
for the June King 2002.
The contest will be held tomorrow at the club's premises in Manama,
beginning at 8.30pm.
Contestants must be at least 15 years old.
The first prize will be a mobile phone, second prize a return air ticket to
Abu Dhabi, UAE, and the third prize, a VCD.
Brian Dias will be the compere for the evening.
Entrance is free for members and BD3 for guests.
The main sponsor is Gulf Cellar.
Co-sponsors are Basma and Alfredo D'Souza and family.
Meanwhile, the club's annual Goan Fiesta will be held on July 4, also at
its premises.
The event, which starts at 8.30pm, is being organised by singers Lucy
Fernandes and Fatima Jacques and their troupe.
The programme line-up includes a Konkani quiz, a comedy show, a lucky dip,
Konkani music, a skit and a fiesta membership draw.
Entrance is for members, their families and sponsored guests only.
======================
Don't forget - you saw it on GoaNet
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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 10:42:42 -0400
From: Edgar D Furtado <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Copa Mundo: Viva Brasileira
Brazil beat Turkey in todays game.
Brazil scored One.
Turkey Zip.
Brazil steps up the plate for a final showdown with Germany.
The soccer world will watch Ronaldino and his team in action.
EF
Boston, MA
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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 20:32:04 +0530
From: Goa Desc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] ALEXYZ to speak and do cartoons at FRIDAY BALCAO on 28th June.
- ---------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the FRIDAY BALCAO
- ---------------------------------------------------
Dear Cybergaokars on GoaNet,
Friday Balcao the fortnightly discussion event
to be held on 28th June will feature a presentation by Alexyz,
Goa's well known cartoonist.
Jesting his way through life, Alexyz will share his experiences as
a cartoonist on the Goa scene, the challenges and the joys of
bringing important issues to peoples attention through cartoons.
Famous also for his caricatures, Alexyz has
covered every Goan politician before and after elections.
At this Balcao session Alexyz will give the participants
a special Cartoon and Caricature session which will be a treat
on the occasion of the 60th session of Friday Balcao.
Friday Balcao will be from 4pm to 6pm
at the Goa Desc Resource Centre
No.11 Liberty Apartments Feira Alta,
Mapusa and is open to members of the public.
Those citizens who would like to receive
the regular invitation to Friday Balcao and a one page synopsis
of the fortnightly session can subscribe for the same
by sending Rs.80/- to cover printing and mailing costs.
Interested citizens wanting more information
on Friday Balcao can phone on 252660
or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
best wishes,
Lillian D'Costa.
=======================================
GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE
Documentation + Education + Solidarity
11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507
Tel: 252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy
=======================================
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Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 21:25:12 +0530
From: Goa Desc <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP) to be launched on
June 27
****************************************************************
Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service
& circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network
(GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*****************************************************************
- --------------------------------------------------------
Child Programme launch on June 27
- --------------------------------------------------------
National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP) will be launched on June
27, at 10 am
by Rina Ray, commissioner and secretary for Social Welfare.
The programme is organised by Nirmala Education Society CHILDLINE,
Altinho, Panjim, the nodal organisation of CHILDLINE-Goa at Caritas
Conference Hall, St Inez.
General Manager of Goa Telecommunication will N Chenchiah be present on the
occasion.
NICP is a campaign initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment,
Government of India through the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD)
and
CHILDLINE India Foundation (GIF) to place 'child and his/her needs' and
concerns
on the agenda of all.
NICP aims at building partnerships with the allied systems for child
protection
and promotion of child's rights. These allied systems include: the police,
the health care system, the judicial system especially the juvenile justice
system,
the education system, the transport system, the labour department, the media,
the department of telecommunication, the corporate sector (especially
hoteliers),
the community at large (especially elected representatives and PCO owners).
These programmes are carried out throughout India by each CHILDLINE city.
For more information on NICP contact NES-CHILDLINE on phone number 231996,
says a press note.
- ---------------------------------------------
HERALD 26/6/02 page 5
- ---------------------------------------------
=======================================
GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE
Documentation + Education + Solidarity
11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507
Tel: 252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy
=======================================
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 19:32:58 -0000
From: "santoshhelekar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Re: Reproach and Accusation
- --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Joe Vaz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Santosh:
>
> Let me state this upfront: It has not been my intention to either
>blemish your reputation or tarnish your image, or ridicule you and
>your field of work. The respect I have for you (as a fellow human
>being) has remained the same -- it has neither increased nor
>diminished despite the disagreements we have in the course of recent
>discussions.
>
Dear Mr. Vaz:
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I never expected anything less
from you. My respect for you has always been high. It is easy to
understand the fact that different people have different individual
preferences on what they want to read on mailing lists, in terms of
content as well as form. Some people like original humor and satire,
even if it is amateurish, and hate recycled jokes and sayings that
have already made several rounds on most mailing lists. Others like
religious and spiritual posts, particularly of their own denomination,
and hate secular criticism of any kind. All this is perfectly fine as
far as I am concerned. I have a little bit of a problem, however, with
people who lecture to other people on what not to write and how not to
do it, ignoring the fact that they themselves have done exactly the
same in the past, or were the source of the provocation in the first
place. But I chalk it up as a fairly common human frailty.
I know you will perhaps not respond to this post of mine. So I will
address very briefly the specific points that you raised. But before I
do that, I would like to clarify my position to you and to everybody
who is paying attention to this otherwise inconsequential post from me.
I think all your responses to my post stem from a basic
misunderstanding or lack of understanding about science, and about
people like me who try to be consistent in their application of
critical and clear thinking in all aspects of life. It is easy for
people to gloss over the nuances of various arguments, and relegate
them to the lowest common denominator, such as prejudice, intolerance,
disrespect, cheap ridicule, etc, especially if they do not care about
making sure they are not hypocritical while doing that. Words such as
prejudice and cheap ridicule are trigger words that most people
understand and react to without giving much thought (mostly because of
their busy schedule). But such accusations, even if implicit, are
totally unfair to people who want to present a serious argument.
I do what I do, not because I want to denounce other people?s beliefs
or show that I know it all or impose my thoughts on others, but simply
because I want to present the other side of an issue, and to correct
misconceptions and misinformation about topics that I know something
about. This is absolutely important in secular public forums because
these forums provide an easy means to spread lop-sided views,
distortions, misinformation, disinformation and ideological
propaganda. The Hindu fanatics; various leftist organizations; the
Christian, Jewish and Islamic fundamentalists; and various types of
anti-science and anti-medicine movements have used such forums to
great advantage.
I subscribe to the notion that there are legitimate, and often times,
mainstream points of view that need to be adequately represented in
all secular public forums. These include the following:
1. Most people, non-believers and believers alike, do not subscribe to
a belief in the literal truth of extraordinary events that have been
described in the scriptures. If these extraordinary events are
presented as undisputed facts in a secular public forum, their truth
ought to be challenged, especially if they known to be in conflict
with established scientific principles. A good example is the creation
story as opposed to evolution.
2. One has to be fair and even-handed in the treatment of
light-hearted comments pertaining to religious beliefs. You cannot
raise strong objections to such comments regarding the parting of the
Red Sea, while remaining quiet, laughing at or even congratulating
somebody if they made fun of Parshuram?s use of a bow and arrow to
create Goa (This is not a jab at Cecil. Cecil is a good e-friend of
mine ? a faithful member along with me of a two-member mutual
admiration club). You cannot chastise me for mild sarcasm shown in
response to an obviously planted rhetorical question (an internet
forum equivalent of legalistic entrapment) on Christian beliefs, and
at the same time post chicken-crossing jokes about the Buddha, or
little parables about how Jesus is smarter and wiser than the Buddha
and Confucius in a secular public forum.
3. Misinformation spread by anybody, including well-meaning NGOs,
journalists and community servants, has to be corrected and severely
criticized. I have responded critically to Frederick?s posts on
several occasions, even though I have the highest respect and
admiration for him, as a journalist and as a human being. For me it is
always the matter presented, and never the person presenting it,
unless of course the person presenting it does it intentionally and
habitually due to some ulterior motive, in which case the motive needs
to be exposed.
4. There is a scientific world-view that has important things to say
about the natural world, and the phenomena and people that are part of
it, and the minds and beliefs of those people. This world-view is
often in conflict with religious teachings. Some of these conflicts
have been settled by empirical observation, but others have not yet
been disposed of in this manner. In the latter case, the best approach
in a secular public forum is to be impartial and even-handed. You
cannot expect people to show great deference to religious beliefs, and
at the same time dismiss well-established scientific observations or
hypotheses. You cannot make biased statements about perceived
limitations of science, and at the same time cry foul when others
point out the flaws in religious beliefs.
Finally, I must tell you once again what I have always maintained in
this and other forums, because those who are paying attention to this
elongated post should know exactly what my biases are.
I have nothing against any faith or belief system, and against people
who adhere to them. My theological position is that of an agnostic in
the broadest philosophical sense of that word, which means the following:
1. I don?t know if there is a God or not.
2. I don?t know if he, she or it has power over us, and the world
around us.
3. I don?t know if religion has got it right or wrong, or which
religion, if any is right.
4. I don?t know if there is a real spiritual plane of existence, in
addition to the material one, but I entertain that possibility even in
my own work, albeit in a more formal way.
5. I am not convinced that we need a supernatural explanation for
anything at all.
6. I am not convinced that postulating the presence of some
supernatural entity answers any questions.
7. I am not convinced that religion has helped us understand the
physical world, except in a very limited sense.
8. I am not convinced that miracles in the true sense of that word
happen in this world.
9. I am not convinced that holding spiritual or religious beliefs
makes us better persons than not holding them.
10. I am convinced based on evidence however, that religion has done a
lot of good to people at the personal and societal level.
11. I am convinced based on evidence that religion and spirituality
has a significant role to play in modern society.
Regarding my philosophical disposition in respect of science, I am a
cautious optimist, which means the following:
1. I don?t know if science has all the answers or not, but it sure has
got many of them right.
2. I am convinced based on evidence that science has helped us
understand the physical world.
3. I am convinced based on evidence that many natural phenomena lie
unexplained at the present time; but nothing indicates to us that
these will defy any such explanation in the future.
4. I am convinced based on evidence that science has a good shot at
explaining most of these phenomena.
5. I am convinced based on evidence that there are several instances
wherein what was once thought to be an act of God was later understood
to be a simple and elegant natural phenomenon.
>
> If in someway I have hurt your feelings, you have my apology.
>However, I do NOT and will not offer any apology ?for my belief in
>God or His divine miracles, ? and therefore I reserve the right to
>stand up and defend my faith if attacked, in any shape, form or >manner.
>
I am aware that I always run the risk of being detested by people who
hold religious beliefs, and people who believe in paranormal and
supernatural phenomena. So I was not at all insulted by what you
wrote. Moreover, from having read your posts on Goan mailing lists for
quite some time now, I know that it is not in your nature to hate
anybody?s guts. I thank you for the apology, however, and I would like
to offer you one in return, if the things I said offended you
personally in any way. But like you I would also prefer to stand my
ground when it comes to defending science and the scientific method,
if either or them are misrepresented intentionally or unintentionally
in a secular public forum.
Now to respond briefly to some of your specific points....
>
> JV: I fail to see how: ?Scientific study of ? *abnormal* brain
>function ? can give us fundamental insights into why people hold
>spiritual beliefs, and into the nature of beliefs that they hold.??
>
You now give the above as an example of misleading information that I
have presented, and state that you fail to see how. You can only claim
that it is misleading if you base your statement on knowledge, not on
ignorance, of what I was talking about here. What I was referring to
here is the vast amount of peer-reviewed medical literature on
neurological disorders that affect a part of the brain called the
temporal lobe. The most common of these is what is called temporal
lobe epilepsy. People afflicted with this condition are extremely
religious. They often have the feeling that they are in the presence
of God, have repeated similar spiritual experiences, and hold many
common religious beliefs. Brain scientists, many of whom are highly
accomplished individuals, think that studying the brain mechanisms
underlying this phenomenon would shed new light into the neurobiology
of the sensations and convictions that characterize spiritual belief.
I find it ironical that, of all the subjects that I have discussed in
this forum, you have accused me of misleading people in the very area
of knowledge that I am intimately familiar with.
>
> JV: Does your confrontation... "with every instrument of honest,
>outspoken and civilized public discourse available"... entail
>sarcasm, mockery, and disregard for people?s religion or religious
>beliefs.
>
>I invite you to re-examine your statements below:
>
I have already answered this question above. But I submit to you that
my sarcasm, mockery and disregard for people?s religion or religious
beliefs, as perceived by you, are no more offensive than your
chicken-crossing joke involving the Buddha, as perceived by a devout
Buddhist.
>
> JV: Thank you for your invitation, but I don?t think need to make a
>trip to Huston, just to examine fossils of some animals ?- in favor
>of the Darwinian Evolution, -- for I don?t believe that it will prove
>the evolutionists claim that life originated in the chance forming of
>minute cells in oceans and evolved through fish, birds, mammals and
>apes into humans, for which there is no conclusive proof.
>
The irony in the above statement sticks out like a sore thumb. You
expect others not to dismiss the claims made by religious believers,
and protest when they demand even a tiny modicum of objective physical
evidence, calling their expressions cheap shots, and yet when the
tables are turned, you summarily dismiss the claims of evolutionists
citing your belief that there is no conclusive proof?
I think I have addressed all the points raised by Mr. Vaz. I will not
reply to any trite and non-substantive responses from anybody to this
post of mine. I will however respond to any serious and substantive
arguments, as and when I can find some time.
Cheers,
Santosh
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 23:00:32 -0700
From: "rene barreto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] the Konkani heritage centre
Konkani on the verge of extinction: Ozario
DUBAI, June 26 (UNI): Despite having survived 6,000 years of turbulent
history, migration and political and cultural oppression, Konkani is facing
threats of extinction, according to an Indian Konkani cultural organisation.
A majority of the about 5.5 million Konkanis in India and abroad are totally
oblivious of this threat, Mr Eric Ozario, president of the 15-year-old
Maandd Sobhann organisation, which is striving for the preservation of the
unique Konkani culture and language, told Muscat's Times of Oman.
"Konkani is not being taught in schools, except in Goa. Many have discarded
it for English, Hindi or Kannada and today the fear of extinction of the
language is so real that we have to sound the alarm to all the Konkanis in
the world," he said.
It is high time that Konkanis stopped aping the West and got down to
preserving their culture and language, which was giving them their own
unique identity, he exhorted fellow Konkanis during a visit to Oman.
Mr Ozario is here as part of the organisation's Kalangaan Abhyaan, a stage
show for the cause of the Kalaangaan - the Konkani heritage centre - that is
being built in Mangalore.
The centre, the first phase of which is completed, already has five fully
functioning facilities.
The second phase would include a research and documentation centre, a hostel
block, guest block, administration block and a recording studio.
Mr Ozario said Rs 1.5 crore was required to complete the project. Of this,
Rs 21 lakh was needed urgently, he added.
Accompanied by Messrs Arun Raj Rodrigues and Stany Alvares of the
organisation, Mr Ozario is touring the Gulf countries to raise funds. They
have already covered Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
On lIne -Navhind Times - Goa.
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End of goanet-digest V1 #4114
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