Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 3, 1993 TAG: 9305030035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray Reed
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: The old office buildings, known as GOB North and South, are not a front-burner priority, according to several city officials.
Hotel Roanoke renovation is occupying most of the city's attention. The hotel project would add a conference center to the hotel site to accommodate large meetings.
The convention center is a separate proposal by consultants and doesn't require immediate action. "That's way in the future. I don't even know that we've had that discussion," Bowers said.
Asbestos is a potential element in any commercial building erected early in this century. Removing all of it from both office buildings would cost more than $500,000, an NS spokesman said. An exact figure would depend on bids, and none has been sought.
Asbestos removal at the Hotel Roanoke will cost about $1.5 million - less than expected, according to David Van Blaricom of Faison Associates, the renovator.
Population figuring
Q: I've heard that half of the people ever born in the world are living today. Can that be verified? E.R., Roanoke
Q: Our Sunday school class was discussing the population of the United States and the world. What are those figures? R.E.P., Roanoke
A: Virginia Tech professor James Bohland says it's true that half the people ever born are alive.
I don't have a clue about how that's verified, but Bohland does. It's a mathematical calculation, and a key point is that the population doubles about every 20 years.
Based on the World Almanac's population figure of 5.4 billion in 1991, the math whizzes work backward exponentially and prove the point with statistics.
Exponential figuring works like this. Pretend we started our first jobs at a salary of one penny a week, with the agreement that our pay would double every week.
At the end of two years we'd all be billionaires.
That would be quite a living standard if it could be shared by the United States' population of 248,709,873 in the 1990 census. The projected figures for 1993 put our number somewhere between 253 million and 259 million.
What neck of the woods?
Q: This is really not an important question, but a bunch of us at work would like to know where Lake Edna is. Is it fictitious? R.L., Roanoke
A: It's not on the Rand McNally map.
The advertising folks, though, would like us to think Lake Edna's near the place we all grew up, be that Roanoke or San Francisco - or maybe Lake Wobegon.
Kentucky Fried Chicken executives, being careful about sticking their necks out, avoided spotlighting a real place with those TV commercials.
But they've heard from people who'd like to move to Lake Edna, or get married there. Others asked for brochures on real estate prices. (The land's remarkably cheap, says Steve Provost, a vice president.)
Got a question about something that might affect other people too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB