I had the pleasure of meeting a number of the people CSC has in place supporting NASA Ames. Having visited both the NASA JPL and NASA Ames facilities over the last few months, it is exciting to see the great work being done in both locations. It is great to be where it really DOES take rocket science to do the work.
Being where daily conversations deal with the nature of the black hole in the middle of our galaxy or analyzing the incredible photographs from the Mars lander is a thrill.
Having said that it was from one of the CSC technical staff, Chris Keller, that I learned a completely new, and extremely useful, piece of information.
If you are like me and when traveling from time to time forget both where you parked your rental car and in fact what your rental car is, you might, like me, try and find it by pressing the various buttons on the keys for the car with the hope that you will hear noises or see the trunk pop open. In case someone is looking you can pretend that you pressed the wrong key, close the trunk, and shake your head at how you did that – while being thankful that you found the car.
The problem with this approach is you have to be fairly close to the car for it to work.
Keller pointed out that if you hold the keys to your chin, or in my case to my chins, then your body becomes an antenna extending greatly the range of your key buttons. Voila! Long-distance rental car identification.
A great day of discovery.