# Star Trek has lost the art of sticky notes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907 "2004-03-23T15:15:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/21 "2004-03-23T19:29:45Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > In late 2002, AOL put up banners around the building proclaiming a new AOL/Netscape utility that would pop up reminder notes on your computer screen. They claimed that this would **eliminate the need** for sticky-notes, and that employees should therefore take their “now-obsolete” sticky-note pads down to the cafeteria building, where they could turn them in in exchange for free ice cream. … Sticky-note pads soon became a valuable commodity at AOL/Netscape, jealously hoarded. I once worked at a company that did a similar thing with _paper clips_ because the CEO had read a sidebar article in one of his ridiculous leadership magazines about how much money is wasted when the clip, a temporary storage device, is placed into a file folder in a drawer, effectively making it permanent. He decided that a finite number of paper clips would be sufficient for the operation, and decreed that no further clips would be purchased. If you had a clipped set of pages to go into a file, you were to remove the clip, put it back into your personal supply, and _staple_ the pages. The result was threefold: First, paper clips were accumulated by certain people. If you needed a clip, you had to know who in the black market could supply you with one. (Though given their chrome coloring, this should probably be called the silver market, yes?) Second, lots and lots of time was wasted taking files apart, removing clips, stapling the pages, and putting the files back together. And third, even though it was obnoxious micromanagement from the top that everybody hated, the CEO deemed it a success, and implemented his next brilliant idea: Because photocopiers (at the time, anyway) had trouble reproducing blue ink, from that point forward no blue pens would be purchased for the supply closet; it was red and black only for everybody. You also couldn’t bring in your own blue pen from home. Black, or red, in the office. Period. This, by the way, is the company I’ve mentioned in other threads, the one that went bankrupt almost exactly on the schedule I said it would in my exit interview. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/22 "2004-03-23T19:39:07Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > In the back of my mind, I have a list of technologies that seem to have been lost by the 24th Century: > > [li]Guns (Given how many aliens are unaffected by phaser fire, you’d think they’d keep a shotgun or two around, just in case.)[/li] Actually, in DS9 they did have a good-old fashioned projectile rifle,[the TR-116,](http://www.phasers.net/2370/tr-116.htm) for use in areas where the technobablion particles kept phasers from working. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/23 "2004-03-23T19:54:13Z")
Yep. Energy weapons are all well and good but sometimes there’s no substitute for blowing big holes in the opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/24 "2004-03-23T20:36:15Z")
They hadn’t lost the technology, remember that Kirk built the big cannon in _Arena_. I suspect them pinko Federation dudes banned guns sometime before the series began. Remember, guns don’t kill people, Klingons carrying guns kill people. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/25 "2004-03-23T20:37:36Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > In the back of my mind, I have a list of technologies that seem to have been lost by the 24th Century: > [ul] > … > [li]Missile guidance systems (Heat-seeking photon torpedoes would be a great way to deal with cloaked ships.)[/li]… > [/ul] > > … I think Star Trek’s “cloaking” is designed to shunt _all_ forms of radiation around the field, and to prevent any radiation generated by the ship from dissipating – neither radar nor IR missiles would do the trick. A missile that measured the local gravitational field vs. what was expected might be able to detect a large ship if there weren’t too many other large ships in the vicinity, but you might also discover that the cloaking field blocked gravitons. Don’t even ask me how a cloaked ship is supposed to steer or communicate. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/26 "2004-03-23T21:47:22Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > If the ship finding them didn’t have transporter technology, they wouldn’t know how to operate the terminal or know how to speak or read English either. As if not reading the language of a terminal ever stopped a StarFleet engineer before. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/27 "2004-03-23T23:40:58Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > [li]Ergonomic design (Notice how half of the crew doesn’t get chairs, and apparently spends hours standing in front of a panel.)[/li] There was a fantastic post in recent thread ragging on the design of all the control panels and such. Unfortunately I can’t remember the poster or the thread title - something like “Bad technology in Star Trek” - but it effectively ripped their design to shreds. Smooth surfaces with no tactile feedback, all the buttons are the same size and shape, etc. I’ll see if I can find it. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/28 "2004-03-24T00:18:14Z")
> [@](#): > > “bring uniform to cleaners” I’ve always understood that on board ship, at the end of the day a uniform is dropped into a disposal unit where it is broken down into its component molecules. A new uniform is then replicated the next day. More efficient than worrying about laundry facilities on board ship. The replicator takes the place of numerous common appliances. 😉 As to poorly designed control panels - according to the Starfleet Technical Manual (which I don’t have at hand), all control panels in TNG are user-configurable. When a crewmember comes on duty, he or she gives his or her personal code and the panel is automatically reconfigured in that person’s preferred layout. The entire panel is actually a touch-sensitive screen. So those “buttons” aren’t really buttons. They’re merely indicators of the spot a particular user had designated as a button. Standing and working? Ever worked as a professional cook? 😃 I only recall Worf, or whoever was at the Tactical station standing, at least on the bridge, and I assume that there were tactical reasons for that. For one thing, the Tactical officer is directly in line with the main door to the bridge, directly between that door and the Captain’s chair. Part of that officer’s duty is _bridge defense_, and protecting the Captain is one of his first priorities. If an enemy has boarded the ship and manages to get through the door, the Tactical officer needs to be able to respond instantly. Being seated would slow his response. For one thing, it’s difficult to draw a sidearm while seated. Also, the Tactical station provides the officer there with an unobstructed view of all parts of the bridge. Also an unobstructed line of fire. Should an enemy transport directly onto the bridge, in front of the Captain, the Tactical position provides the officer there with the ability to shoot an intruder, over the Captain’s head. Projectile weapons onboard a spaceship? Are you crazy? All they’d need was one accidental shot to pierce the hull. Beam weapons, having the benefit of a “stun” setting, are far more suitable aboard ship. In fact, all phasers on board ship are restricted by the security system - they can go no higher than “stun” if they are inside the ship, unless by specific authorization from the appropriate officer. I seem to remember an episode of TNG or maybe DS9 that involved somebody tampering with a phaser to defeat that safeguard. Maybe it was in one of the novels… Back to the OP… Post-It Notes? When you can simply tap your comunicator and tell the computer, “Personal reminder: Call Mom tomorrow at 1800 hours” and be confident that, at 1800 hours tomorrow, the computer will say, “Call your mother.” ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/29 "2004-03-24T00:41:06Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > As if not reading the language of a terminal ever stopped a StarFleet engineer before. They wouldn’t be Starfleet if they didn’t know English. And besides, we all know that by the 24th Century, humans are next to only Q and Vulcans in intelligence so Scotty, Geordi, Wesley, et al being able to do whatever they want with any technology they come across doesn’t mean that any other engineer could do it. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/30 "2004-03-24T00:47:12Z")
Considering that Worf operates the ship’s weapons in battle, and Starfleet ships jerk around a lot in battle, I’d want him strapped into a chair. You can’t fight your ship if your gunner is flying all over the bridge! I can accept that Worf needs to be able to shoot at intruders (it would help if Worf was a better shot!), but he doesn’t need to stand to do that. How about a high barstool? He could sit or stand as he chose, and still be able to reach his controls easily. A tactical officer who is thinking about his aching feet is a less-alert tactical officer. Starfleet phasers are normally worn in a cross-draw arrangement (right-handed person has phaser on left hip). This lends itself quite well to a seated draw. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/31 "2004-03-24T02:05:03Z")
> [@Vlad Dracul](#): > > I can accept that Worf needs to be able to shoot at intruders (it would help if Worf was a better shot!), but he doesn’t need to stand to do that. How about a high barstool? He could sit or stand as he chose, and still be able to reach his controls easily. Just don’t give him a rocking chair. Rocking chairs make security people sleepy. I saw it on _Seinfeld_. The heck with notes. Scotty should’ve booby-trapped the ship such that anyone hitting _any_ button (or setting off the motion detector or crossing the electric eye etc.) would activate the transporter sequence. It would have been a moderately cooler teaser had it been: La Forge: Hmm, this system’s still running on minimum. Maybe we could …[taps control panel, alarm sounds] Riker: What is it? What’s happening? La Forge: I don’t know, Commander. The system’s power levels are spiking. Riker: Can you shut it down? La Forge: [tries] It’s not responding! The computers have locked me out. [looks at tricorder] The transporter system is firing up. Worf: [draws phaser] Is this a trap? La Forge: I don’t know [some equipment panels start to spark and hiss]. I can’t control it! The system’s breaking up! [transporter effect starts and Scott appears] Scott: Sock dol’ mc’gae begorrah! Gimme wee dram o’ Scotch, you right bloody bastards! Well, maybe that last line could be cut. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/32 "2004-03-24T02:11:10Z")
You guys have it all backwards. It’s not that the future will be so different that there will no longer be post-it notes. It’s that the future will be so similar that engineers still won’t provide any useful documentation for whatever it is they’re working on. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/33 "2004-03-24T03:02:04Z")
> [@Balduran](#): > > Well, what if the ship that found them wasn’t familiar with transporter technology? Or they had an engineer who couldn’t figure out what was done? A note telling them not to press crtl-alt-del would seem wise. As well, telling them your name just seems good manners. Hmm, Flobdarg attempt translate strange yellow paper square. Flobdarg no recognize these funny symbols. 😕 Wait, Flobdarg recognizes familiar pattern on console. The pattern ctrl-alt-del appears on console buttons! 🙂 Hmm, wonder what happen if Flobdarg press these buttons? :eek: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/34 "2004-03-24T03:25:36Z")
> [@The Controvert](#): > > Wait, Flobdarg recognizes familiar pattern on console. The pattern ctrl-alt-del appears on console buttons! 🙂 Hmm, wonder what happen if Flobdarg press these buttons? :eek: ☹ Hmmm, those Microsoft bastards are _everywhere!_ ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/35 "2004-03-24T03:58:56Z")
I’m certain I’ve seen sticky notes and even thumbtacked notes in the crew quarters on **Enterprise**. Archer and Mayweather use them. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/36 "2004-03-24T04:38:39Z")
Scotty came out of the Transporter 75 years later and 175 pounds heavier! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/37 "2004-03-24T05:42:48Z")
> [@K364](#): > > Scotty came out of the Transporter 75 years later and 175 pounds heavier! Now you know what happened to the other guy who got marooned in the shuttlecraft with him. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/38 "2004-03-24T06:21:29Z")
QWERTY is gone. They enter everything in every computer, human or alien, with four little buttons. Printers are gone. No more remote controls for anything. “Computer! Access disk 7, track four. Play at volume level eleven.” Steak and potatos. “Androids don’t eat, Miss Chapel.” Extension cords. (_The Ultimate Computer_) Answering machines and voice mail. “Sorry I couldn’t accept your transmission. At the tone, please leave a message.” Biometic gel pack energy relays. Come to think of it, any kind of mail. Birthday cards, subscription renewals, Christmas catalogues. Malls. Toilet paper. Nipple piercings. Cigars. Strippers. Vacuum cleaners. Soap. Water fountains. Porn. Tooth brushes. Windex. Nail clippers. Leatherman. Letterman. Letterboxed displays. Litterbox for Spot. Stuffed animals. Sunscreen. Umbrellas. Gummy worms. Child proof caps. Cardboard boxes. Bubble wrap. Packing peanuts. Homosexuality. Chips and salsa. Hammers. Bottled water. They still have shoelaces, though ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/39 "2004-03-24T06:24:56Z")
> [@Brendan Donovan](#): > > Hell, if it were me in Data’s chair the damn thing would be covered around the edge in yellow. When I read that I thought you meant that you’d pee in your pants every time you had to do heroic manuvers. Hehe. I love how the mind thinks faster than it reads/types/speaks. /S ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907/40 "2004-03-24T08:17:49Z")
I’d just love to be a computer programmer in the _Trek_verse: “Computer! Write a program to gather the phase inverter sensor readings for the last twenty-four hours, normalize in one-hour shifts, apply Feinberg’s Algorithm to the results, then tabulate and cross-reference with solar activity of Omnartus IV.” **Beep** “Completed. Program is ready.” …of course, with my luck, all the work will be outsourced to Vulcans by then… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-has-lost-the-art-of-sticky-notes/235907.md?page=3)