Journal: News & Comment

I hate PowerPoint, part 7230

Permalinks to this entry: individual page or in monthly context. For more material from my journal, visit my home page or the archive.

If you head over to:

    www.penmachine.com/powerpoint

you'll see a bunch of links to articles written by me and others slamming Microsoft PowerPoint.

Bad visual aids: PowerPoint and schools

I've added a new one today: "PowerPoint: Killer App?" from the Washington Post, which includes this delicious bit:

The most disturbing development in the world of PowerPoint is its migration to the schools—like sex and drugs, at earlier and earlier ages. [...] Perhaps the politicians who are so worked up about the ill effects of violent video games should turn their attention to PowerPoint instead.

To reinforce that point, apparently video games make better laparoscopic surgeons. I doubt you could say the same about presentation software.

Good visual aids: Earth departure movie

For a remarkably effective visual aid, watch this time-lapse movie taken of the Earth as the Messenger spacecraft flew away from us in August. About midway through, you might see a dark blob on the surface that looks like some sort of digital artifact. But if you watch it slowly, you'll realize that it is simply the cloudless western part of Australia spinning by.

Amazing.

 |