Dr Alan Howard » News

Snow

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:25:16 +0000

at last some decent snow and temps of -8.2 C in Brinkworth:

'Exploding US National Debt'

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:24:19 +0000

The Market Oracle, the influential Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication, has integrated an analysis of US recent economic history with the song “American Pie” , citing my book extensively.

Tom Watson

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:22:39 +0000

Tom Watson’s failure to get down in three from the centre of the 18th fairway to win his 6th Open Golf Championship today at the age of 59 must rank as one of sport’s greatest tragedies. I remember his last Open victoryin 1983 when Peter Allis described Watson’s 2-iron approach to the centre of the 18th green at Royal Birkdale as ‘the shot champions are made of’. On that day I had urged Nick Faldo to go on to victory but today there must have been very few home fans who would have preferred a British (or any other) victor in preference to a Tom Watson triumph.

Song Contest outcome

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:45:10 +0000

No surprise that Norway were run away winners on Saturday night and I would have liked Azerbaijan and the UK to have been 2nd and 3rd. The model correctly predicted the winning entry but, overall, there was a less strong correlation (r2 value 0.46 compared to 0.75 – 0.85) than in previous years between predicted placing and actual ranking. As usual, the winning entry was judged by most people, irrespective of geographical or political affinity, to be the best in terms of song and performance and it is unlikely that the modified voting system made any difference.

Our website songcontestvoting.com crashed during the contest due to unprecedented visitor numbers. We will be moving to a dedicated server for next year’s contest and accepting advertising!

Sky Cam map featured by the Ordnance Survey

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:13:41 +0000

The Ordnance Survey has featured my “Sky Cam” implementation of their OpenSpace API.

On my webpage you can click on a map marker to view the latest skycam image. The map is created using the Ordnance Survey OpenSpace API including the loadurl AJAX method. Zoom in on the map and you’ll see it’s a real Ordnance Survey map.

There is also a Google map version.

CP update

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:34:06 +0000

Overnight a large number of spots have erupted over my back and lower abdomen. There are also a fair few over my scalp. Other than this disappointing development the flu-like symptoms have diminished and I feel fairly well at present and slept well – though this may be to do with the bedtime cocktail of cognac, anti-viral, ibuprofen and piriton (consult a doctor before commencing this treatment programme). The anti-viral is aciclovir which I had prescribed in preparation.

Chicken Pox

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:25:50 +0000

Slightly unfortunate development as I appear to be starting with chicken pox, which is not a great illness to acquire as an adult. I became infected from my one year old daughter about 17 days ago along with my 2 year old son, who started with his illness a couple of days ago.

I am currently experiencing severe joint pains in the ankle and knees and feeling very cold. There are two suspicious spots on the face but difficult to know whether they’re the beginning of the main rash. I have been reading up on adult chicken pox at http://www.adultchickenpox.co.uk and now wish I hadn’t.

Interview with Don McLean

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:19:41 +0000

I have just finished transcribing an interview with Don McLean that I recorded last week and which is mainly based on questions his fans submitted to his official website. The interview is available here and contains something of interest for most fans and casual readers including insights into Don’s favourite food and a surprising interpretation of an American Pie lyric. The interview extends to 13,000 words.

Radio Berkshire interview

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:32:44 +0000

I was interviewed live on BBC Radio Berkshire this morning following an unexpected request to comment on the news that Graham Norton was replacing Terry Wogan as presenter of British television’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest. They were still determined to explore the myth that the British were hard done by in this year’s contest thanks to bloc voting amongst Eastern European countries. My comment was that Britain entered a talent show runner-up with a song that managed number 65 on the Uk pop charts, so what else did they expect?

McLean's book serves up 'American Pie' and memories

admin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 10:00:26 +0000

Don McLean speaks about the biography in a newspaper article and book review by Emmet Meara.

Don said he decided to publish the book, “to counter the urban myths about me, and to get the full story out before someone else does.”