# The return of the writing desk?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-writing-desk/382257>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 29, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-writing-desk/382257 "2006-11-29T22:30:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-the-writing-desk/382257/21 "2006-12-02T17:20:56Z")

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[QUOTE=Shalmanese]  
One relatively neat solution I’ve seen is to just accept piles of crap as inevitable. They use a top projected image so images will be shown on top of all of your crap. All you have to do is turn over the top piece of paper on your pile of crap and then you can use the white background to display something.  
[/QUOTE]

Hmm.. I though that this was relatively easy (but possibly not cheap) to resolve: simply have tiny photodetectors under the glass. If it’s dark, there’s something there.

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