Mike Southby

Sometimes when I am browsing the net, I come across something that completely stumps me.  Today, whilst looking at something completely unrelated I came across a site which had a picture of a checker board with a number of blocks, 2 of the blocks had letters in them – Blocks A and B.  Now, what would you say if I told you that both blocks A and B were identical shades of grey?  You’d believe me right.

Are blocks A and B really the same colour?

Bear with me.  Here’s the official explanation from the site I came across [Link]:

The visual system needs to determine the colour of objects in the world. In this case the problem is to determine the gray shade of the checks on the floor. Just measuring the light coming from a surface (the luminance) is not enough: a cast shadow will dim a surface, so that a white surface in shadow may be reflecting less light than a black surface in full light. The visual system uses several tricks to determine where the shadows are and how to compensate for them, in order to determine the shade of gray “paint” that belongs to the surface.
The first trick is based on local contrast. In shadow or not, a check that is lighter than its neighbouring checks is probably lighter than average, and vice versa. In the figure, the light check in shadow is surrounded by darker checks. Thus, even though the check is physically dark, it is light when compared to its neighbours. The dark checks outside the shadow, conversely, are surrounded by lighter checks, so they look dark by comparison.
A second trick is based on the fact that shadows often have soft edges, while paint boundaries (like the checks) often have sharp edges. The visual system tends to ignore gradual changes in light level, so that it can determine the colour of the surfaces without being misled by shadows. In this figure, the shadow looks like a shadow, both because it is fuzzy and because the shadow casting objects is visible.
The “paintness” of the checks is aided by the form of the “X-junctions” formed by 4 abutting checks. This type of junction is usually a signal that all the edges should be interpreted as changes in surface colour rather than in terms of shadows or lighting.
As with many so-called illusions, this effect really demonstrates the success rather than the failure of the visual system. The visual system is not very good at being a physical light meter, but that is not its purpose. The important task is to break the image information down into meaningful components, and thereby perceive the nature of the objects in view.

Convinced yet?

OK, If you have photoshop installed, download the image and use the colour picker to check the values for both boxes, like me, I’m sure you’ll be amazed that they are both r120 g120 b120, or #787878.  Now finally, here’s another picture, the same one in fact but with 2 colour strips to help you see the proof:

Convinced yet?

There are also some other equally clever optical illusions on the site, enjoy!

If you’ve arrived at my blog using Internet Explorer 6, you’ll find that some of the features do not work as they should and the blog doesn’t always display correctly.  You’ll still be able to view my posts which of course is the most important thing (well, I’d like to think so…), but you’re overall experience may not be as good as it could be.  You’ll also receive a notice to consider upgrading to a new browser.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released in 2001. In its day it was a decent enough browser but in 2009 its time is fast coming to an end, a decade is a long time in the IT world and things have moved on.  As any developer or coder will tell you, working with IE6 is one of the most difficult and frustrating things to deal with on a day to day basis; it takes up a disproportionate amount of their time.  Aside from that, IE6’s support for modern web standards is very lacking, restricting what developers can create and in essence, holding them back from making the web a better, more interactive place.

So whilst not mandatory, I strongly urge you to upgrade your browser,  my personal favourite is Firefox, you’ll find the web will look a much nicer place…

There seems to be a lot of confusion over the new naming convention for Windows 7.  Microsoft in all their wisdom seem to change direction each time a new version of Windows is released and each time, the name doesn’t seem to follow the previous.  So, I thought I’d explain the logic behind why the latest version is called Windows 7.

Microsoft has decided to start calling this and future releases of their Windows operating system based on their version numbers.  Versions previously known by other numbers (95 and 98) or name (Me, XP and Vista) used internal version numbers.  XP was version 5.1 and Vista was version 6.0 for example.

So the story in the evolution of Windows so far is:

Windows 1 was released in November 1985, 2.0 in October 1987, and 2.1 (which was also known as Windows /286 and Windows /386) in May 1998.

Windows 3, which first introduced 32-bit capabilities came to market in May 1990, and came into its own with versions 3.1 in April 1992.

Microsoft then split off a ‘new technology’ version of Windows to compete with UNIX.  It was influenced by Microsoft’s then partnership with IBM who created OS/2.  The development of this new version began as OS/2 version 3.  It shipped as Windows NT 3.1 in July 1993 and was a fully 32-bit operating system.  It was also the first version of Windows that did not run as a shell on top of DOS.  Windows NT 3.5 shipped in 1994, and 4.0 in 1996.

Windows 4 came out as Windows 95 in August 1995 and was the first consumer version with 32-bit support and pre-emptive multitasking.  Windows 98 arrived in July 1998, and a second edition (Windows 98 SE) replaced it in 1999.  Windows Me shipped in September 2000 and was the final consumer version of Windows 4; it was also a complete flop.

Windows 5 arrived as Windows 2000 in February 2000 and was a replacement for NT 4.0.  The consumer version, known as Windows XP (or Windows 5.1), was released to manufacturers in August 2001 although not available on the retail market until October.  The latest version is SP3.  Windows Server 2003 (Windows 5.2) replaced Windows 2000 in April 2003, and its latest version is SP2.  Microsoft released separate 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Sever 2003 in April 2005.

Windows 6 was named Windows Vista, released to manufacturers in November 2006 and reached the retail market in January 2007.  Vista is also available in 64-bit editions.  Windows Server 2008 is also another version of Windows 6.

So there we have it the story so far and today, we see the official launch of the 7^th incarnation of the Windows family – Windows 7.

Makes perfect sense really doesn’t it?

We’ve been getting a whole heap of sales calls recently.  It’s been an annoyance that has been getting progressively worse as the weeks have passed and they have become more and more frequent.  At first I was venting my frustrations on our call providers, being a new number I was frustrated at the amount of calls we were getting that should have been filtered out but it transpires that Vicki put the number on a competition/questionnaire entry she submitted a while back, here lies the problem.

The competition was with a reputable brand, it was with Marks & Spencer.  Had it been with some unheard of company perhaps I could have expected this but it wasn’t.  Surely we can trust Marks and Spencer when it comes to data protection and ensuring our information doesn’t get into the wrong hands?  But it turns out they are just as dishonest as the rest of them and will not think twice about passing out your information to what can only be described as scammers.

Today we get a call to say we have ‘won’ a holiday (I emphasise the word ‘won’ as this is an important legal distinction which effects the way in which these people are supposed to operate) for 4 people to Southern Spain, The Canaries or Portugal, all we have to pay is the applicable airport taxes.  Vicki asks me what I think and I say who knows?  I mean someone has to win but on the other hand, it all sounds far too good to be true.  Anyway, the lady on the phone says that she’ll send out some information by email to Vicki so that she can have a look at (owing to the postal strike) along with our unique claim reference number, so far so good and everyone seems friendly and genuine.  Of course, this is where the majority get sucked in.

On opening the email which they sent through I immediately notice that it has been sent from a company called Club La Costa, which is when my suspicions started to be realised.  The email itself strangely contained no sales speech, no information or further details, but just an attachment with a map to a location in Bristol where an exhibition was being hosted by another company called CLC Exhibitions.

Now, contrary to popular belief a dog isn’t a man’s best friend – it’s actually Google.  So I run a couple of searches for Club La Costa and CLC Exhibitions and am not at all surprised to find a whole bunch of complaints regarding this company and the way they operate.

The scam is quite simple.

Club La Costa – or CLC Exhibitions – somehow manages to acquire your details and ring you up claiming that you have won a holiday, they tell you that this is a genuine prize if you will and that there are no strings attached.  They don’t even tell you that you will have to attend a time share opportunity sales presentation.  All they tell you is that the holiday is for up to 4 people and is valid for 18 months.  The only stipulation according to the nice lady on the phone is that you will be liable for airport taxes.  Flights, accommodation and other holiday expenses are all included.

It’s human nature; by this point almost everyone will have pictures on lying on the beach firmly set in their minds, especially for the bargain price of nothing.  Being that we are in a credit crunch the thought of winning a free holiday for 4 is hard to ignore.  But it’s then once you’ve already got a mental picture of the holiday in your mind that you find out you have to attend a presentation evening to claim your holiday, of course if you believe what your told, the only reason you need to attend the evening is so that the company can check your identity to prove it’s you and you are eligible.  It’s got nothing to do with sales apparently, because we all believe salesmen right?

The true facts are that you have not won anything at all; in fact you are not even one of the chosen few.  This ‘opportunity’ is being pitched to hundreds if not thousands of people across the country.  Legally, the companies involved are meant to tell you that you have been given the opportunity to be ‘awarded’ a holiday, using the word ‘won’ or ‘win’ is sly, underhand and bordering on illegal.  In order to qualify, you have to attend a presentation evening at one of CLC Exhibitions centres around the country, you may be fortunate and have one nearby, but usually you’ll have to drive an hour to your nearest location, of course at your own expense.  Whilst at the evening you will be bombarded with a sales presentation lasting many hours.  During this presentation you will be subjected to sales people trained to mislead and coerce you into signing up to their trial scheme which lasts 3 years and costs upwards of £3000.

Caveat:  Now to be fair, timeshare works for some, some people I found on Google have had good experiences with Club La Costa, and continue to be happy but of course they are in the minority.  It’s really up to you to decide if this is a scam or a genuine opportunity.

So, if you manage to sit through the whole process and say ‘no thanks’ then so long as you meet their marketing criteria (you’re a UK homeowner, are aged between 25-62, married or living together as a couple for at least a year and at least one of you is in full time employment earning at least £30000) you are eligible for the holiday – finally.  The holiday of course costs a lot more than you are expecting and has a lot of hidden extras, all chargeable.  We haven’t been to any presentation so I cannot say for sure how much we would be charged but internet opinion says that the charge is £29.50 per person to cover their administrative cost and a varying cost which covers the applicable taxes, usually amounting to a few hundred quid.  So, at this stage you could have yourselves a holiday for around £400 and yes, if you have a strong resolve and can see your way through the sales talk then this ‘may’ be worth it.  But of course it doesn’t end there.

You’ll be met at your resort by a friendly representative who will do his utmost throughout your holiday to brainwash you into signing up for the timeshare, you can’t be forced to do this of course and you can say no throughout but I for one would need a holiday to recover from this when I got home.  You’ll also be obliged to attend a formal presentation on one day of your holiday and sit through another presentation just as you did back home.

Here’s an extract from a comment written by a former employee of Club La Costa which I found on one of the consumer opinion websites:

I have previously worked for Club La Costa for just short of 3 years and after reading this thread and seeing claims that there were “no catches” involved I felt obliged to set you straight. This is extremely untrue. ******* ******* is totally right in saying that there is no obligation for you to purchase anything from Club La Costa, but in the event you refuse to do so, the staff there are trained to sell in such a way you are made to feel inferior. I have even heard cases where the staff make customers who refuse to purchase a timeshare like they are only doing so as they cannot afford it.
******* –  What you wrote on this thread looks surprisingly like the script I spent 3 years of my live reading to poor unsuspecting people. The sad truth is that the information given to the customers on the phone is 100% accurate, Club La Costa are very clever in the way they word things. Club La Costa employees are told under no circumstances to say to words “free” or “won”, this doesn’t mean they don’t use words to this effect to create the same excitement.
Customers are coaxed into attending a meeting, usually in a rented building or in part of a hotel. Whilst working for the company I dealt with customers from areas including Leeds, Manchester, London and Southampton. If they agreed to attend the meeting they were to be subjected to a very hard sell for at least 3 hours in which time they were made to feel inferior. Customers are also only awarded the vouchers as promised if they stay for the whole of the meeting. The lucky ones then got offered the chance to go on holiday with Club La Costa. They would then have to choose 3 dates. Only one of these could be “peak” times so those of you with children only have a 1 in 3 chance of being able to take your holiday in school holiday times. It’s like walking through a mine field – you have to try and get to the other side without one of the traps going off – for the “lucky” ones of you who do get to the other side you get to spend a week, usually in the lovely Costa del Sol, with a very well trained sales man who literally will not leave you alone from the minute you wake up ‘til the minute you go to sleep.
I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time working for Club La Costa. I met some of the nicest people I will ever meet. It’s just a shame that the company bases itself on hard selling to innocent people who undoubtedly do not want or need timeshares.

You don’t get anything for free in this world; we all know this deep down.  I think it’s a scandal that companies like this are allowed to target people who perhaps do not have the strength to say no.

Club La Costa, CLC Exhibitions – whatever they may be calling themselves – should be stopped.  I leave it up to you to form your own opinions but I for one will be avoiding them at all costs.

If you have had any experiences with Club La Costa or CLC Exhibitions – good or bad – leave a comment below, the more people leaving an opinion the better the resource will be for people searching for information.  The more viewpoints we have the easier it’ll be for everyone to make up their own minds if they recieve the call to say they have ‘won’.

If like me you spent a whole heap of time in the admin options of WordPress trying to figure out how to add an avatar to your local user account, you’ll be pleased to know it’s actually really simple even though it doesn’t explain how to do it within the WordPress console itself.

All you need to do is set yourself up with a Gravatar profile.  Yes really that’s it.  Easy.

Gravatar seems to act as a central avatar database amongst WordPress users and so long as you ensure you use the same email address when you comment on others blogs, your avatar will also appear there too.