Perceptual Alternatives

Follow the links to:

• Tony's Radio Talks.

• Electronic Travel Aids for the Blind and Vision Impaired, featuring the Sonic Pathfinder.

• Daughter Sarah Heyes the Senior GP at The Shrubberies Medical Centre, South Woodford, London, England.

  Son in Law Simon Jackson an Orthodontist in Epping England.

• Daughter Rebecca after completing a PhD in Molecular Biology and a BA in Law has had a life in crime; as a Forensic Scientist. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours Becky was awarded the Public Service Medal, a civil decoration awarded to Australian public servants for outstanding service. Rebecca - AKA Dr Bex Kogios - is prominently featured in this Police Life Podcast.    Listen to Episode 4.    DNA in from the cold.

  Son in Law Harry Kogios runs XL Support in Melbourne.

• Son Simon Heyes trained as an Industrial Designer and is now working in satellite communications as Telespace Program Manager for EEC Weathertech; part of a group of advanced technology companies specialising in solutions in environmental and allied fields such as meteorology, hydrology, seismology, oceanography, air quality, and geotechnical engineering. The US branch of the group, with whom Simon works closely, has just received an Emmy Award! Yet more details here.
  Simon's work takes him to some distant places, so far: Samoa, South Korea, Laos, Pakistan, Indonesia, New Caledonia and Nepal.

• Youngest son, Ben, graduated in Information Technology and Commerce from Monash University, Melbourne and later obtained a Master of Law Degree from the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. In late July 2016 Ben suffered a stroke while on a business trip to Hong Kong. Ben is currently undergoing intensive rehabilitation with the aim of picking up where he left off...
  Son Ben Heyes spent six years working in various technical and liaison roles in national security and foreign intelligence but has come in from the cold and at the time of his stroke was the Chief Information Security and Trust Officer (CISTO) with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The role incorporated oversight of Group Digital Trust and Privacy, and included an overall staff distribution (direct and indirect reports) of lawyers and analysts of 1,000 people.
  Ben was also Chair of Crest Australia, The Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers and a member of the Board of Directors of The Conversation, a collaboration between editors and academics to provide informed news analysis and commentary that's free to read and republish. Ben worked closely with the Professor in CyberCrime Cyberwar and Cyberterror at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales to set up courses to train cyber security experts.

  Just prior to his stroke Ben was invited to accept the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University.

  In 2019 Ben was invited to become a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association.

  Ben suffers from Aphasia - this is Ben's last radio broadcast before he lost his voice.
  from Down Under from The Cybersecurity Podcast.

• My wife's, Lynn's, grandnephew, Owen, featured in the BBC Chorister of the Year 2021 competition.

• The Brain Teaser page.

• The Genealogy page - the Lancashire Heyeses and much more.

• The Maps Page: surname distribution maps for the UK.

• A famous relative - well, possibly: Thomas Heyes/Highs from Leigh in Lancashire, inventor of spinning machines, eg. the Spinning Jenny. (see Wiki)

• My tribute page to a much loved seaside spot on the Lancashire coast; Knott-End-on-Sea
  Mostly the work of one of my oldest friends, Gordon Heald. It presents Gordon's superbe historical maps of the area. Also reproductions of paintings done in the area by the celbrated artist L S Lowry. In addition a page by me explaining why, under very special atmospheric conditions, one can occasionally see the Isle of Man from the Knott-End promenade in-spite of it being over the horizon.

• My father's page. In 1918 he flew with 55 Squadron along with W.E.Johns - the author of the Biggles books (see Wiki). Follow the link to Johns' vivid account of flying on bombing raids in open cockpit bi-planes during the First World War. Both men were shot down and taken prisoner!

• An early invention: either read about a Tactile Display for installation at Pedestrian Crossings where the use of the usual audible signals could cause confusion to vision impaired people.
  or alternatively watch a short video about the secret button on Pedestrian Crossings
  The Tactile Display is currently made under License by several UK firms and is widely use throughout the United Kingdom at traffic light controlled intersections and pedestrian crossings.
  And who would have thought that the Tactile Display would be the source of humour. Read what I found on Quora! .

• Not all my projects are for the Vision Impaired. For example, I worked with a young fisherman/inventor, Steve Steer, to develop the world's first fishing rod computer.

• The big one that got away. A ' spin-off ' from my aid for the blind, I Invented and patented ReverseAid in 1983. It is an ultrasonic device which, when fitted to the back of cars or trucks, gives a warning to the driver when reversing, should there be an obstacle behind the vehicle. It was excellent for maneuvering into tight spaces. It was fitted to every car I owned for the next 18 years. That is, until I was forced to stop driving because of failing eyesight. Quite a number were sold - mainly to the oil companies - but I never really 'got it off the ground'. It was suggested that my enthusiasm for the device was because I was a one-eyed driver and could not judge distances. Today the situation is very different, many embodiments of the ReverseAid technology are now available (known generically as Parking Sensors) Not only does it seem to have become popular even with two-eyed drivers, I understand that from 2018 it became madatory on new cars in the USA - a mere 35 years after I invented it!
  This BMW advertisement is rather good.

• I was privileged to find myself part of a team at the Australian National University working on Insect vision applied to robotics. Since the retirment of Professor Adrian Horridge this work has been carried on in Queensland by Mandyam V Srinivasan (Srini) the latest development being an aircraft controled by a bee's eye.

  Listen to Professor Horridge at the age of 93 explaining his work on   bee vision  and the role this piece of "blue sky research" played in the development of the World Wide Web.   The   Allan Snyder   mentioned in this talk has changed fields, yet again, and gone on to direct the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney.

  The Science Show tribute (2024) to my old friend Adrian Horridge

• Seeing over the horizon! It is possible, sometimes. Visit my mirage page.
  And what about the Moon Illusion?

• These days I write the odd web page for other people and organizations.

• Testament to a mis-spent youth.
  In 1962 I was part of the four man team who climbed Blackpool Tower - up the outside!
  Blackpool Tower was then the tallest building in the United Kingdom. The local newspaper got quite excited and reported, "University men in death defying stunt which tops the lot". In fact it was all done with great precision and using the correct climbing gear. The was one slight problem; it was mid winter and there was "11 degrees of frost" that night. Degrees, that is, on the old - Farenheit - scale. Approximately -5.2 ° C.
  A transcript of the original newspaper article can be found here; but see below.....

  I am indebted to John Ganas, Team Leader, Document Examination at the Forensic Services Department of the Victorian Police Force in Melbourne for capturing my disintegrating newspaper cutting as a digital image.

  In 2019 my life-long friend and fellow Lancastrian, Gordon Heald (d.2023), re-wrote the story at the request of the Blackpool Gazette.
  Read here the REAL story of that epic winter clinb of Blackpool Tower.

• The Dangerous Delusions and Secular Ethics links page. Links to YouTube videos: Harris, Dawkins and more.

• Please feel free to contact me .

   

 

These web pages have been written by Tony Heyes
of Perceptual Alternatives  using     Arachnophilia.
and   IrfanView.
They have been tested using the ubiquitous Internet Explorer
and also with my browser of choice      Mozilla FireFox.
..

 

 

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