[vox] [OT] MS PowerPoint to blame for Columbia disaster

[Bill Kendrick]

Okay, not quite. :^)

  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/magazine/14POWER.html?ex=1071982800&en=799ad449b398c2d7&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

(Excuse the long URL... seems to be some way of allowing us in without
logging into NYTimes website.  This was a link at news.google.com)


  "NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting
  complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional
  ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible
  wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a
  confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and
  irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It
  is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint
  slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening
  situation,'' the board sternly noted."


-bill!