I've got my doubts it's happened to me

[austin_dern]

New computer updates (parent division): My mother wanted to know if there were any way to convert a Keynote presentation into a Powerpoint presentation, because she uses these projected slides to provide structure to her classes, and she discovered in lecture this week that the computers the university has don't read Keynote. She'd have plugged in her new computer to the overhead projector happily except that the MacBook Pro and the projector both have female ports for that bit of business and she hadn't considered where the plug to go from computer to projector might be. For the first class, mostly a review of the traditional first class subjects (``Don't plagiarize essays, you idiots, do you think teachers never heard of Google?''), this wasn't an inconvenience, but next week as they get into the real subject matter she needs this year's slides.

I thought there was no way there wasn't a Save As Powerpoint option on Keynote, but my mother said she couldn't find it, so while she was off taking care of something I took the laptop in hand to find the right export options. It turned out to be one of those traditional platform-migration problems, the thing you learn so early you forget anyone has to learn it: the save-as-Powerpoint option is, initially, concealed in the Save As dialogue box along with other options visible only when you click the little blue downward-facing triangle. With that shown, she's satisfied for her presentation needs and probably will go on to understand the little triangle so well someday she'll forget how it works when someone else is trying to learn How The Mac Thinks.

My father has been having a lot of fun with the iPod Touch, between listening to Internet radio stations or podcasts, and playing this video game where you tap a sheep to send it flying ever-higher, and the ``bubble level'' app. He particularly likes showing that to one of his favorite clients, as he can use it to prove that (a) the kitchen table is not perfectly level, and (b) there's nothing to be done about that.

Trivia: The G I Bill of Rights initially provided that the Veterans Administration would guarantee half of a mortgage of up to $2,000. Source: An Empire Of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power, John Steele Gordon.

Currently Reading: The Walter Lantz Story, Joe Adamson.