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Thursday, October 16, 2008

The “You know” Report: Third U.S. Presidential Debate

The third and thankfully final debate between U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama took place last night at Hofstra University, and as ever, Fourmilog has scrutinised the CNN transcript for the inarticulate, time buying, phrases interjected by the candidates. The results, compared to those of last time are nothing less than stunning—you'd think the debate coaches had been reading these “you know” reports!

  McCain     Obama  
 “You know”s  4 6
 “My friends”s  2 0
 “Look”s  5 7

Bravo candidates! If only the general populace could make such progress in extemporaneous speech. (Note: I did not count the one time Obama referred to “my friend and supporter, Warren Buffett”, as that clearly was not an interjection.)

Posted at 15:33 Permalink

Reading List: Apollo

Bean, Alan and Andrew Chaikin. Apollo. Shelton, CT: The Greenwich Workshop, 1998. ISBN 978-0-86713-050-8.
On November 19th, 1969, Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the Moon, joining Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad on the surface of Oceanus Procellarum. He was the first person to land on the Moon on his very first space flight. He later commanded the Skylab 3 mission in 1973, spending more than 59 days in orbit.

Astronauts have had a wide variety of second careers after retiring from NASA: executives, professors, politicians, and many others. Among the Apollo astronauts, only Alan Bean set out, after leaving NASA in 1981, to become a professional artist, an endeavour at which he has succeeded, both artistically and commercially. This large format coffee table book collects many of his paintings completed before its publication in 1998, with descriptions by the artist of the subject material of each and, in many cases, what he was trying to achieve artistically. The companion text by space writer Andrew Chaikin (A Man on the Moon) provides an overview of Bean's career and the Apollo program.

Bean's art combines scrupulous attention to technical detail (for example, the precise appearance of items reflected in the curved visor of spacesuit helmets) with impressionistic brushwork and use of colour, intended to convey how the lunar scenes felt, as opposed to the drab, near monochrome appearance of the actual surface. This works for some people, while others find it grating—I like it very much. Visit the Alan Bean Gallery and make up your own mind.

This book is out of print, but used copies are available. (While mint editions can be pricey, non-collector copies for readers just interested in the content are generally available at modest cost).

Posted at 01:35 Permalink