The holidays are going to be here before you know it and that means many of you are going to have a house full of relatives. This quick post will help you prepare for the impending onslaught of freakish family behavior regarding electronics.
Most of my relatives are afflicted with a very strange disorder. The “I must point every remote control at the TV and see what happens” disorder (also known as IPERCTV). The scene usually unfolds at dawn. One early riser must immediately know the weather conditions of all cities in the world via the gorgeous people on The Weather Channel. Since no one else is up, and since the guest is incapable of complex thought at such an early hour, he or she proceeds to pick up all 37 remote controls lying around the house to try them out. The behavior with each remote control is the same: point the remote control at the TV, press every button on the remote control, move on to the next remote control and repeat.
It does not matter that the remote control says “General Motors” on it, clearly indicating that it is in fact a key fob for the car in the driveway, the guest is going to point it at the TV and click every button on it anyway. One of these button presses inevitably sets off the car alarm of the car in the driveway and wakes up everyone in the house. The rest of the family comes downstairs to investigate the alarm. It is at this point that the guest quickly demands someone turn on the TV for the latest weather report.
For the next two hours the host attempts to sync back up the 985 audio and visual systems to the one remote control that they all used to successfully communicate with. During the first hour and a half of troubleshooting, there is a tremendous amount of cussing. The final thirty minutes is dedicated to testing, lecturing guests on remembering to use only one remote control and drinking beer for breakfast to deal with the stress.
To save your sanity, lock your extraneous remote controls away NOW. Do not wait until your guests are in your living room. To make for an even smoother visit, put a piece of paper next to the TV remote control that shows guests what buttons to push.
Good luck.
Coding Under the Stars 
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