Vital tool for presentation?

Bruce Schneier spotted that the Australian Government is planning to ban laser pointers.

Yay! Whistles and cheers from Dublin! Woo-hoo for the Ozzies!

Oh ... hang on a moment ... it's got nothing to do with presenting or causing motion sickness in audiences. Apparently, laser pointers were used against planes coming in to land in Sydney airport – up to half a dozen attacks of this nature are now occurring each week.

But this means that they're going to be gone from presentation rooms too. So woo-hoo!

The Swedes are, as ever, ahead of the rest of the world on this. Hans Rosling has adopted a thought leadership stance already. Whenever he's travelling to make a presentation, he asks the conference organiser to provide one of these:

[Because, of course, he can't bring one on a plane given his close facial resemblance to Osama Bin Laden]

For Prof Rosling, considering the rich statistical data he is presenting, a fishing rod makes a great deal of sense. But for the rest of us, well-crafted slides should obviate the need for any pointing at all.

So, once again, a big "Yay!" to the Australian Government.