Dore to Door internet edition

General interest - Spring 2001

Telecoms take-up - Standby - The family tree - Never too late - Healthy reward - Blood Pressure Association - After a stroke

Telecoms take-up

According to OFTEL, the governments telecoms watchdog, there are now 7.5 million UK homes (30% of the total) with internet access. While research found that a quarter of those households with internet access are considering installing high-speed web access in the next year, only one in three people were aware of alternative telecoms suppliers. This reinforces the value of initiatives such as
www.phonebills.org.uk, which provide consumers with information about the suppliers in their area and the potential savings they could make.
The same research found that 1.25 million homes have a mobile phone instead of a fixed line and one in four households have a digital television. Oftel found that people were particularly attracted to high-speed internet access as it enables voice calls to be made at the same time as using the internet on one single telephone line.

Standby

Standby consumption is the fastest growing use of domestic electricity yet it achieves precisely nothing! We are talking about the background power consumption of electrical devices left plugged in on standby while not in use or even in some cases apparently turned off.
In the UK it accounts for 8 per cent of electricity consumption, 800 million watts (MW) equivalent to the output of a medium-sized power station. This is expected to double by 2010 and cost UK households over £lbn a year, not to mention putting several million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Multiply this by the number of households in the developed world and we have a voracious monster!
The main culprits are items we deliberately leave on standby, such as TVS, video recorders, cookers and hi-fi s. But there are also items that you would expect to be off such as radios, whose makers often put the on/off switch on the low- voltage side of the transformer, so it is constantly drawing mains power even when the radio is turned off.

According to recent research, standby power consumption in the UK runs at an average 32W per household, costing £20 per year. This also found that some items such as TVS, VCRs and hi-fi s, consume over four times as much electricity over their lifetimes while turned off than while in use.

With cable TV the set-top box is left plugged in all the time, without even an on/off switch. Many digital TV decoders must also be plugged in all the time, according to suppliers' instructions. Yet by 2020, projections show that the UK will have 72 million digital decoders, each consuming almost £10 worth of electricity a year while it would cost just £2 per unit to cut the standby power consumption by 90 per cent.
In the future we can also expect a new generation of set-top boxes, able to store hours of TV on computer-style hard disks which will more than double the household standby load. Yet manufacturers have failed to agree on how to design boxes to minimise power consumption despite Philips patenting a power supply system that automatically switches off unused units. Sadly for most manufacturers, design for low standby power consumption is not a priority, and the area has, so far, largely been ignored by regulators.

Tempting as it is to leave items on standby, or not to turn off lights or the computer, the penalty is ultimately in the electricity bill and in the cost to our climate. Switch it off!

The family tree

Chances are you spent Christmas with some members of your family, and in between eating, watching TV and opening presents, you may well have ended up sharing memories of absent family members, distant relatives or discussing long-buried ancestors.

Maybe you remember tales told by your grand parents or your own parents, have sepia pictures in an old album, perhaps old letters. If this stirs your curiosity you might like to find out more about the family's past for your own interest or to pass on to future generations.

For a start, living relatives and their memories will probably enable you to span several generations. It can be amazing how many relatives you might have even in that short time. Our Victorian ancestors tended to have large families and in the age of Empire to spread around the world. On the other hand as you go back in time people were far more likely to be born and die in the same town or village.

But how do you fit all these people into your extended family tree, how do you fill any gaps or push the line back into the more distant past? Fortunately researching family history is one of the most popular leisure pastimes today and a whole industry has grown up to serve it. And this is one hobby where the computer can come into it's own with special programmes for storing and marshaling information, and by providing one of the best resources is the power of the world wide web.

Before using the computer, the best way to start your family tree, is put down what you already know. Try to map out your immediate relatives, listing full names, dates and places of births, marriages and deaths. Go as far back as you can - missing information can be added later. You will soon get a feel for the project, how many branches there are likely to be and which areas you will want to explore first. Quite quickly the limits of paper records will become apparent.

Fortunately there are numerous computer software programmes on the market which can accommodate your needs and leave scope for later additions and corrections as more information comes to hand. Suitable software is readily available on the High Street or via the Internet. You could try www.gensoftsb.com which has details of programs and comments on them. None are particularly expensive and some can be tested free for a limited period. The best programmes will accommodate more than a diagrammatic tree, allowing you to add photographs and links to background information, such as anecdotes and potted life stories.

Involving the immediate family is the next step. E-mail is one of the best and cheapest ways of passing on or obtaining snippets of family history from distant relatives. Often those overseas will prove the most interested, and you may find common cause with other members of the family who share your interest.

It is now that the web comes into its own. There are host of web-sites to help you, some amateur sites created by families themselves, others more professional in nature. Many are packed with useful advice. You could do worse than start by looking at the BBC's contribution at www.bbc.co.uk/ history/programmes/blood , which offers information on how to take the first steps into genealogy and on how to build a family history. There are tips on searching records, and where to go to find them.

Equally useful is the website of the Federation of Family History Societies at www.ffhs.org.uk . Besides giving general advice to newcomers, the site features a shopping list of family-history aids, including computer genealogy and Internet books. The societies can suggest local sources which could he of use and can put you on to enthusiasts who are happy to offer advice.

Another useful site for those getting started in genealogy is www.genuki.org.uk , the web site of the UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service (Genuki). The scope of their web-site is enormous, and includes online tutorials and useful introductory texts.

Genealogy is life in the past lane, and can become an engrossing hobby. If you feel yourself getting hooked, call up www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk and give yourself a present of thegoodwebguide to Genealogy (£12.99, ISBN 1903282063), It takes a look at the hundred best websites which will help you build your family history.

Never too late

It is never too late to learn, you really can teach an old dog new tricks. With the endless array of adult learning opportunities available these days, many of which are virtually brought to our doorsteps, we can all build on our knowledge and skills for employment, hobbies or pleasure.
The idea of lifelong learning really caught hold with the setting up of the Open University in the early 1970s. Now with the pace of technological change and with people living longer and staying healthier, it is increasingly recognised as essential in business and as beneficial in retirement.

Many people start with evening classes at their local adult education institute - the least time-consuming and generally the cheapest option. You can learn a marketable skill or simply acquire knowledge for pleasure.

It is of course possible to study for a qualification part-time, locally or from home. You can also go to a university, no longer the preserve of the young. Older students taking their first degree are commonplace these days, and not only at the Open University. New universities (former polytechnics) are particularly flexible when it comes to adapting their courses for part-time study. Even if you already have a degree, you can either start again with a new topic or register for a masters degree.

If you are over 50, a cheaper and totally different way of studying, is to join your local University of the Third Age (U3A). This is ideal for those who are retired, or whose children are now financially independent and many Third Agers choose to learn something that has nothing to do with the skills they already have. There are already some 90,000 members in 435 local branches.

How about it? I you are looking for a new challenge, skills or knowledge, now is the time to think about the possibilities. But remember, learning takes up time, weekends, evenings or holidays, and costs money. So before you sign up, make sure you can set time aside and that you know what the costs will be.

Some useful contacts are:

• The Open University Tel: 01908 653231 Website: www.open.ac.uk
• The University of the Third Age (U3A) Tel: 020 7837 8838
• Further Education Funding Council Tel: 02476 863000 Website: www.fefc.ac.uk
• Campaign for Learning Tel: 020 7930 1111 Website: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk
• The Learning & Sills Development Agency Tel: 020 7962 1066

Healthy reward

Everyone knows that walking is healthy. Ancient philosophers have praised it, experts have researched it, and now doctors even prescribe it. And whatever the health experts disagree on, one thing can be sure of is that at the end of a good ten-mite walk in the countryside you're left with that lovely 'feel good feeling' in your legs and lungs that means it must have been good for you.

But what should we do if the schedule doesn't allow a long walk, or if the countryside is too far away? Does it really help your health to do shorter walks? And is it really worth trying to walk more in our daily routines?

The good news is that adding up short walks is certainty good for weight loss. The crucial issue when trying to control body weight is that you balance the calories that you take in as food with the calories you expend through walking and other physical activities. Any imbalance leads to losing or gaining weight. For most of us of course that means the latter: about six out of ten people in the UK can now be classed as overweight, and nationally the figures are increasing quite literally. But it doesn't matter whether we expend calories on a long walk on a Sunday, or through lots of little walks in the week, what is important is the total amount of calories used. Short walks to the shops, across the office, or up the stairs at home all add up. In fact, one research report even pointed out the calorific expenditure of fidgeting!

Perhaps more surprising is that short walks can significantly enhance fitness. For a long time sports scientists had concentrated on the training effect of 20-minute bouts of vigorous exercise in increasing aerobic fitness. This led to the jogging boom as people tried to raise their heart rates for at least 20 continuous minutes.

More recently, scientists have been responding to the demand for an easier to swallow exercise 'prescription', and have tried to define the smallest bout of exercise that will enhance fitness - the 'Holy Grail' of sports scientists. Recent studies have shown that even ten-minute brisk walks can increase fitness levels. One study at Loughbrough University found that women walking continuously for 30 minutes five days a week had almost identical increases in fitness as women who split their 30 minutes into three ten-minute walks. Perhaps even more encouraging was that the short walkers lost more weight and reported greater decreased waist circumference than the long walkers. More research is continuing to confirm this, and to look at the fitness effect of even shorter walks.

One thing that is still confirmed by the fitness studies is that 'brisk is best'. While a gentle-paced walk will help you relax, improve your mental health and expend calories, it will have a lower impact on your fitness. One study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that improvements to fitness more than doubted with an increase in pace from 3mph to 4mph, and doubled again when the pace was stepped up to 5mph. This varies according to age and fitness though, so the rule to remember is that you should aim to 'huff and puff' a little, but you should still be able to chat to your companion while you're walking.

So even if you can't spare the time to get your boots on for a long walk, the message for health is clear: walk as much as possible, as often as possible and reap the rewards for yourself.

Blood Pressure Association

Launched last October, the Blood Pressure Association is the first and only UK organisation formed to draw attention to the importance of blood pressure as a cause of strokes and as one of three important factors in heart attacks. Together these are the commonest causes of death and disability in the UK.

Over 10 million individuals are affected by high blood pressure in the UK, but as raised blood pressure does not cause any symptoms, many are unaware that they are at risk (high blood pressure is often called the silent killer).
Almost half of individuals with high blood pressure are not diagnosed. Of those that are, only about half are on treatment. The 1999 UK Household Survey shows that as little as 20% of people (ie, 1 in 5) affected by high blood pressure have their blood pressure properly controlled resulting in unnecessary strokes and heart attacks.

Anyone affected by high blood pressure who would like information on how to manage their condition better should write to the Blood Pressure Association at 60, Granmer Terrace, London SW17 OQS (enclosing an A4 self-addressed envelope with 2 second-class stamps). Further details can also be found on the Association's web-site www.bpassoc.org.uk

After a stroke

Imagine suddenly not being able to talk to your friends and family. Imagine losing the ability to read and write. Imagine the frustration of knowing what you want to say, but not being able to say it.

The Stroke Association has produced a new booklet, Communications problems after stroke; it aims to improve understanding of the communications problems that can be one of the cruellest consequences of a stroke, both for those who have had a stroke and for those closest to them. 100,000 people a year experience a first stroke, of whom about a third experience communication problems as a result.
The booklet takes people through the main types of communications problems, helps them understand the difficulties they may face and directs them to further sources of help - not least of which is the Associations' own network of over 4,000 volunteers throughout England & Wales, who generously give up their own time to help those with post-stroke communication problems.

Copies of the booklet are available free from: The Admin Department, The Stroke Association, Northampton Resource Centre, 61-69 Derngate, Northampton, NNI IHD. Telephone: 01604 623 934.