Mailbox
This week in Mailbox: the effects of high-voltage power lines on animals, the Czech orchid hunter Benedikt Roezl, the amount of arable land in the Czech Republic, the 20th-century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. Listeners quoted: Bob Eldridge, Keith Daniel, Steve Manning, Rassem ben Brahim, Daniel Faure.
Bob Eldridge from British Columbia heard Christian Falvey’s story last week on a finding by Czech zoologists that animals' "inner compasses" get upset by overhead high-voltage power lines:
“I was interested hearing this morning on World Radio Network, your item on the orientation of grazing animals near power lines, stemming from a study at Duisberg-Essen University. I remember reading (about 1977, I think) that an engineer in England noticed that cattle near an electric transmission line tower were aligned with their sides toward the tower, never face-on to the tower. Subsequent investigation revealed that there were concentric contours of electric equi-potential around the tower, causing the cows to experience a shock if they faced the tower, their hooves then being on contours of differing potential. The cause was a leaky insulator on the tower.”
And Bob Eldridge adds that he often enjoys Radio Prague on the CBC Overnight – which is also where Keith Daniel in Montreal, Quebec listens to our broadcasts:
“Thank you, I listen to Radio Prague on CBC Radio overnight. Excellent radio.”
Thank you, too, for tuning in to the programmes so early in the morning.
Steve Manning from England has this question:
“I am informed by a Czech friend that you have details of a famous Czech orchid hunter named Benedikt Roezl who lived 1824–1885. I cannot find this on your web site. Is the information correct, if so, how do I find it?”
I'm afraid all I could find about Benedikt Roezl on the Radio Prague pages were these two stories broadcast by our Spanish section:
http://www.radio.cz/es/articulo/53102
http://www.radio.cz/es/articulo/41325
Apparently, the English section has never covered the story but thank you for the suggestion.
Now from wildlife to agriculture, our regular listener Rassem ben Brahim from Tunisia sent us this question:
“What is the amount of arable land in your country?”
According to the Agriculture Ministry’s website, the Czech Republic has over 4.2 million hectares of agricultural land of which nearly 3.1 million hectares is arable land, the difference being mostly forests and grazing fields.
And finally, a visitor to our website, Daniel Faure from Argentina, wrote:
“We are an Argentine male vocal group devoted to Hungarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Slovenian and Slovak songs. We would like to sing Czech music, so we are looking for songs by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, namely his Zbojnické písně (Brigand Songs). We cannot find where to buy his scores on the internet. Can you help us?”
I suggest you contact the website www.martinu.cz devoted to this 20th-century Czech composer.
And that’s it for today. Let me remind you that you have until Tuesday to send us your answers to this month’s quiz if you’d like to be included in the lucky draw. Here’s the question for one last time:
In March we are looking for the name of the Austrian philosopher who was born in 1859 in the Moravian town of Prostějov and died in 1938 in the German city of Freiburg. He is known as the founder of phenomenology.
The address for your answers is [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099, Prague. There will be small gifts for four of you who answer correctly. Thanks for all your feedback and for tuning in today, and until next time, happy listening.
