merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (08/02/84)
{ And it's all in the draw of the cards... }
Well, that all depends. I never got a close look at the cards, but let's
just assume that the cards have a batch of little switches on the top.
There is a menu...a finite choice of foods that the computer can create.
You flick the switches on the cards and stick it in. The computer reads
which switches you flicked and gives the appropriate food.
Why more then one card? Well, one could be a 'breakfast' card while
another was a 'lunch' card? Maybe they can't fit the whole menu on
one card.
Of course, I never got a close enough look at those cards to tell for
sure...
--
Peter Merchanteder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) (08/03/84)
[2 August 1984]
Possible rationale for insertion of cassettes: they are like the
little boxes I have seen used with photocopiers, they only authorize the
use of the machine. The food server operates like the elevators, by
voice command. It just monitors anything said in its vicinity for the
last 60 seconds or so, and identifies anything on its 'menu'. Then
when the 'credit slab' is inserted, the food system delivers the order.
Have you noticed how much a removable data cartridge resembles the
slabs used in ST? The ones used by Hewlett-Packard on their 264X series
terminals are even the same size as the ones in ST. Many technologies
used in ST are either here now, or just beyond what is state of the
art. The exceptions are space transportation (darn it) and matter
transmission.
Dani Eder / Launch Vehicle Group / Space Systems Division / Boeing Aerospace
Company / "Tomorrow, you can be anywhere"ix21@sdccs6.UUCP (David Whiteman) (08/08/84)
Why assume that a given cassette is for ordering a specific item of food. Perhaps the cassettes are for charging the meal to a given budget. Normally a crew member or officer is given his own card for charging food against his meal allowance. But certain cards are for charging against various discreationary funds or for charging to the budget for feeding guests or prisoners. That is why it is necessary to pull out and choose among two or three cards before ordering food to select which charge account to charge it to.
mam@charm.UUCP (Matthew Marcus) (08/15/84)
<How do shipboard line-eaters order their food?>
To add even more silliness to the discussion, I recall an episode
in which a Yeoperson lays a plate of stuff in front of the Captain and this
exchange ensues (as nearly as I can remember)..
JTK: Green leaves!?!
Yeo: Yes, didn't the Doctor tell you? Your diet card was changed.
McC: You were putting on a little weight.
The implication is that at least some meals are determined by a computer
with reference to a database of personal nutritional requirements. The fistfull
of cards Whatshername pulled out in "And a Child Shall Lead" may have been spares
intended for visitors or those whose records are damaged. Why a fistfull?
Well, imagine what the computer would think if one person ordered 20 scoops
of vari-flavored icecream all at once ("Medical Alert: Crewman 087382,
Biff Macho, shows behavioral evidence of pregnancy...").
The existence of blank or spare cards explains how the 20'th century airman
could have gotten his chicken soup. The mystery in that incident is how the
computer knew that's what was wanted without being told. Maybe somebody whispered
something in its pickup.
My favorite evasion for minor consistency problems is to assume that
the TV show is not a direct-view window into the ST universe, but rather an
abstracted view in which certain details are left out and others altered.
This "filtering" notion allows continuing suspension of disbelief while
maintaining the possibility for loopholes. Let us apply this theory to the
above question of the chicken soup. We may assume that the exchange in the
transporter room went something like:
"I'd like some chicken soup"
"OK, just put this card in that slot, and when the machine asks for your
choice, tell it 'chicken soup, bowl'."
<He does it>
"Bleep, bloop" <the panel opens to reveal the infamous bowl of soup">
Now how exciting is that sequence? Blah. Tepid dishwater in which the suds
have gone flat. Therefore, the creative staff made sure that this scene
went as we saw it, mysterious computer-ESP included.
{BTL}!charm!mam
"Yes, that's it!! We're all a bunch of useless loonies!!!"