OVER 2 YOU, 119 (25/02/03)

TRAIN DRIVER’S REACTIONS

In a recent interview with some train drivers it was said that they must pass a hand, eye and sound co-ordination test. Rather like a reaction test with four coloured buttons and two pedals, which must be operated when the corresponding lights or beeps appear at increasingly faster speeds. Is there anything similar available for the PC or on the Internet?

Mike Dudgeon

You can easily measure your reaction time, in response to a colour change at the following web page: http://topendsports.com/

testing/reactiontest.htm. Although this only shows how quick your mouse finger is, you could possibly adapt it to something like the train-driver test by putting the mouse on the floor and operating the button with your foot, though I suggest that you use an old mouse, in case you get a bit over-enthusiastic!

Jerry Taylor

A reaction speed tester on the web might be what your correspondent is looking for. It uses a set of traffic lights; you have to respond to the green light by pressing the mouse button, or any key on the keyboard. The test is repeated five times and the individual and average results shown in a tabular form. The address is: www.getyourwebsitehere.com/

jswb/rttest01.html

Jane Dale, via email

There’s a hand/eye reaction tester at: http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/Reaction/

reactionTime.html. This shows a car approaching traffic lights and the objective is to apply the brakes by clicking the mouse button when the lights turn red (it’s American, so no amber…). The results, including your reaction speed and how far the car travelled after you brake, are then shown on the screen.

Neil Jarvis

Have a look at the reaction time calculator on the Neuroscience faculty website at the University of Washington. Beware; it only works on Netscape browsers. You’ll find it at:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/

java/reacttime.html

S. Murphy, Bognor Regis, W. Sussex

FTSE FIGURES

I used to download a set of historical FTSE figures (100, 250, 350, Allshare and Smallcap), every month or so from Marketeye.co.uk. As an amateur investor I found them very useful, and I have the figures back to 1995.  They are no longer on offer and I can't find an alternative.  The advantage of a download of "several months worth" is that you don't have to take it every day or every week.  Does anyone know of an alternative and hopefully free source?

Chris Walton, Broadstone, Dorset

AOL (www.AOL.com) provides historical FTSE Index value data. Go to:
Your Money >Shares > Charts (Enter the EPIC code at this point) > Show Chart Data.  The information is downloadable and extends back 10 years where appropriate.  If you need to find the EPIC codes for the indices, try any financial website.  I use ADVFN.com.  For starters the FTSE-100 is UKX and the All Share is ASX.
David Kent

The only site I know of that currently supplies historical data for the FTSE100/250/350 etc., for free is www.bigcharts.com. Unfortunately, there is no facility that enables you to download a month at a time, and each day must be done individually.

Matt Vann, Cambridge

MILITARY RECORDS

Whilst researching my family tree, I discovered that my father apparently deserted whilst serving in the army in 1944, and may have spent time in prison. The very few remaining family members are understandably sensitive about the event. Is there a web site or source of military records for this period that would show this sort of detail?
R.L, Essex.

Whilst RL might just be lucky enough to find an on-line source of information regarding courts-martial during World War 2, I believe that this is a case where the old-fashioned hands-on approach would be preferable. He will probably find it best to make the journey from Essex to the Public Records Office at Kew. Although there is a website (www.pro.gov.uk), inevitably most of the millions of records are still available only on paper. I guess that this would certainly apply to sensitive and personal matters of this nature. But don't despair! The building is well designed, procedures are efficient, and the staff are very helpful. Truly, the PRO is the acceptable face of government. Before travelling, however, RL would be well advised to check whether files from that date are yet in the public domain.

Colin Hague

I have researched my great grandfather who was in the Boer War; we started only with his name and service Number (from a medal).  We now have copies of all his records for 7 years from 1895 to 1902.  The Public Records Office hold most of this information on microfilm, I used a professional researcher who was very good, timely and cost effective. Try
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/

homepages/rogerenixon/ or email rogerEnixon@pro-search.co.uk
Chris Walsh

The latest records to be released by the Public Record Office cover the 1914-1918 war and it is very unlikely that there are any published records covering 1944 because they are not released during the lifetime of the person concerned. The records will probably be held by the MOD at Hayes Middlesex (www.mod.uk/contacts/records_army.htm, Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1RF, telephone 020-8573 3831) and it is sometimes possible to obtain information.  It would certainly be necessary to prove the person had died and that R.L. was his son. Unfortunately as there is other remaining family members I doubt the MOD would release any information.

Brian Henderson

RAPID SEARCH

I have produced separate JPEG digital images (600Kb each) with a high quality camera (Nikon 990) of every page (over 3,000) of the Minutes of a highly respected winter sporting club, going back to its inception in 1885.  Does anyone know of an application/program, which will enable the information to be presented in a format which allows rapid searches of the text (both hand and typewritten) on specific topics, for example as can be done with Encyclopaedia Britannica etc.?

Ken Newman, via email

MICROFICHE RECORDS

I have a collection of parish baptism/marriage/burial records on microfiche negatives, and I no longer have access to a microfiche viewer. There are 70 of them on postage stamp size microfiched foolscap pages on each 100x150mm negative. Is there any attachment available for a PC that will magnify the microfiches so they can be read onscreen?    

Steve Norcliffe, via email

We used a specialist company - Copyzone Archiving Ltd., (www.copyzone.co.uk) to help us transfer our microfilm to CD-ROM. They supply software to allow access to the files from personal computers. They do a lot of work for businesses, but have also carried out a lot of work for museums and aircraft restoration companies and they have built a website - www.warbirdsrestoration.com to sell some of these.

Eppie Hutchings

CAN YOU HELP

We are seeking assistance with regard to the use of PowerPoint (or similar) in our Church where we currently use three hymnbooks: Methodist Hymns & Psalms, URC Rejoice & Sing and Songs of Fellowship (all of which are rather bulky).

Is there readily available commercial software that would enable us to display the words (and numbers) of hymns from each of the three hymnbooks for use by members of the congregation?

The Choir will require the use of music editions of all three hymn books, could the words and music also be displayed for them? Have any readers tackled (and solved) similar problems or have experience or advice for sourcing such a system for a Church with around 500 members; any help would be much appreciated and acknowledged.

Ray Mackintosh, Music Co-ordinator, Trinity Church (Methodist/U.R.C.) Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3BT

We have a number of PCs running for a considerable number of hours every day. We are looking for a data capture or logging program that runs in the background that can record the date, time, total hours run at each start-up and total hours run for a given machine. Any suggestions?

John A Murray, via email        

My house was built in 1986 and fitted with a combined security and central heating microprocessor based control system. The supplier, Futura, has long since vanished. I would like to obtain a wiring diagram and technical instructions for the system, can anyone help?
Chris Bond, via email