A Virtual University
for the Future
The
E-Area project is a bold design for the university of the future. It was
created in the Czech Republic by forward looking young Czech designers
to stimulate human creativity in response to the globalization of
industry, the growth of population, and other developments that effect
human ecology in the new millennium. Unlimited economic growth and
unlimited use of resources can no longer be the way of the future. The
serious problems ahead that will be created at the current growth rates
demand new, imaginative approaches for solutions. And they need to be
implemented as soon as possible.
The
use of virtual reality and other advanced audio and communications
technologies will enhance the ability of the researchers, artists, and
students to study and learn about the environment and other significant
subjects. The technology will help create new realities that will assist
humankind to deal with the problems of the future. Workshops,
conferences, seminars, courses, lectures and demonstrations will be held
in the facility with the aid of real world simulations.
Federico
Díaz, age 28, is the leader
of the project. He is a graduate of the Academy of Applied Arts in
Prague. Marcel
Vojanec is a structural engineer on the project. He worked on the noted
Dancing Building in Prague. Silicon Graphics is one of the sponsors. A
prototype of the holophonic spheres is planned for completion in Prague
by the end of this year.
I
imagine that you will be hearing a lot more about this project in the
future.
Bulletins from Radio PragueCzechs
Not Good at Foreign Languages
A
public survey has revealed that a full 45% of Czechs, aged 16 to 65, do
not speak any foreign language. Only 15.1% of those surveyed spoke
English,
and only 25% of respondents said they were confident they could converse
in
German, French or Spanish. These results put the Czech Republic far
behind
other European states. For instance in the Netherlands 70% of the
population
speaks English, in Belgium over 50%. Jan 2000.
Copyright
Radio Prague cr@radio.cz
It would be interesting to see what
similar statistics would be for the United States!
 |
Statistics
from the Czech Republic |
Population
Age
structure:
Population
growth rate:
-0.01% (1999 est.)
Birth
rate:
9.84 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death
rate:
10.86 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net
migration rate:
0.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Sex
ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.62 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female
(1999 est.)
Infant
mortality rate:
6.67 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life
expectancy at birth:
total population: 74.35 years
male: 71.01 years
female: 77.88 years (1999
est.)
Total
fertility rate:
1.28 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Czech(s)
adjective: Czech
note: 300,000 Slovaks declared
themselves Czech citizens in 1994
Ethnic
groups:
Czech 94.4%, Slovak 3%, Polish 0.6%, German 0.5%, Gypsy 0.3%, Hungarian
0.2%, other 1%
Religions:
atheist 39.8%, Roman Catholic 39.2%, Protestant 4.6%, Orthodox 3%, other
13.4%
Languages:
Czech, Slovak
Literacy:
total population: 99% (est.)
Source: CIA stats
| Ray
Kroc |
Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds, descended from Czech
ancestors. His father, Louis Kroc was the son of Barbora Krock who
immigrated from the Plzen area in 1888. His mother Rose, the oldest of
five daughters and also of Czech descent, was born in Chicago in 1882.
Her father was from southern Bohemia. Ray was born in Chicago in 1902.
In 1918 he served in the Ambulance Corps during World War I. He never
graduated from high school, but that didn't stop him from being a savvy
learner. He married Ethel Fleming in 1922. As a salesman of mixing
machines for malted milk, he could not contain his curiosity on why
Maurice and Dick McDonald were ordering so many of the machines.
He visited their McDonald's Restaurant in San Bernadino, California and
found out why. The rest they say is history.
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