Realistic-Ality Of The Show's Environment

[ShennyxBazinga]

Yeah, but it doesn't show her actually cook the spaghetti. But yes, the boys don't cook.

Edited October 15, 2012 by ShennyxBazinga

[bigbangsheldon]

I just want them to eat it too!!!! Hahahaha

[rachelshamyfan]

Mostly when leonard and Sheldons mothers are there is when they have a proper cooked meal, the rest of the time seems to be takeaways

[phantagrae]

The guys apparently make pancakes and/or eggs, and French toast (since there seems to be a French toast day on the Sheldonian calendar...), but they don't ever seem to do much work in the kitchen during the show.

But eating a lot of take-out doesn't seem that odd for a bunch of single guys. I know there are lots of days when I would rather get take-out than figure out what to cook when I get home from work.

[ShennyxBazinga]

Yeah, one time when Leonard's mother visited, it showed them with spaghetti, but where are the dirty dishes or them actually in front of the stove top or oven.

[Kyzzx]

You know when Sheldon gets drunk to accept his award at the end of season 3 (Pants Alternative)? He wakes up, asks where his pants are, and Leonard tells him to check YouTube?

To the right of the video, the account username is "ob1" which I instantly see as Obi-Wan. The page is correct, has some-thousand views, the time on the video is correct. Little things like that make the show.

[ShennyxBazinga]

Awesome. Yeah, I love that episode, that scene is the best.

[Sherminator]

WEll, the apartment is way too clean.

I mean it's spotless. NO dust even in places clean people have dust, such as back of tellies and corners of kitchen tables.

And the nerds do not even seem to clean after themselves, like never.

Do they have a cleaning lady, or what's the deal?

Also, note how clean and dust free the apartment was when they came back from the north pole. Weiiiird...

[justme8365]

Here's one I was just thinking about the other day: they live in Pasadena, California - a fairly warm climate - and yet they all wear several layers of clothes every day. Well, except for Penny. Leonard wears a t-shirt and a jacket/hoodie; Raj wears a button-down shirt, sweater and jacket; Howard wears a turtleneck dickie and long sleeve shirt; Sheldon wears a long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt...and they all wear long pants every day. I can understand that they're supposed to be geeky and maybe they don't want to wear shorts & show off their legs (lol), but why so many layers?? Is the air conditioning especially cold at the university? Or in the apartment? There was one episode where Leonard wanted to turn down the thermostat in the apartment because he was a little too warm...and he was walking around in a jacket! LOL Anyone have any thoughts on that? (otherwise I think they do a great job, btw)

[Sherminator]

I often wonder about the lack of black people in this show.

-given how black america is, the shows whiteness is quite unrealistic.

And in the other comedy shows by the same authors we can see the same tendency...

It's probably a coincidence, so I'm not saying the people behind the show are racists or anything.

But hey, a black scientist as a regular guest star. Why not?

-I would totally dig it, man.

[HeWolf]

I often wonder about the lack of black people in this show.

-given how black america is, the shows whiteness is quite unrealistic.

And in the other comedy shows by the same authors we can see the same tendency...

It's probably a coincidence, so I'm not saying the people behind the show are racists or anything.

But hey, a black scientist as a regular guest star. Why not?

-I would totally dig it, man.

How black is America? Answer: 12.6% of the US population is black. I don't know if that number matches what you imagined it to be. Black people are not even the most populous minority in America. Hispanics make up a larger segment of the population than black people.

The 2010 US census indicates California is 6.6% black. Given that ratio it is not unusual that there is little or no black representation on TBBT. It is far more unusual that there are no Hispanics on the show considering they constitute 38.1% of the California population.

Considering the intellectual makeup represented by the main characters it is also not unusual that there is not a principle black cast member. The 2011 graduating class at MIT was only 9% black. Asians comprised 26% of the class. Considering those numbers it would be much more likely for an Asian to be on the cast than a black or hispanic.

[bigbangsheldon]

Sheldon is some major clean freak to be honest that's the only reason I would like to live with him

[phantagrae]

Sheldon is some major clean freak to be honest that's the only reason I would like to live with him

He would hate me--I'm kind of a slob. And I walk around my apartment while I brush my teeth...

[Tensor]

..., and the real science on the whiteboards and in the dialogue.

And even those that don't understand the equations, can look up some of the science. On "The Higgs Boson Observation", the was a reference on the white board in the guy's kitchen that had: Arxiv 1207.72.... arXiv started as the online archive of Physics papers, prior to their publication in peer reviewed journals(arXiv is pronounced "archive"). It was started in 1991 . As you can see from the link, while it has grown to include several other fields of study, physics is still the majority of papers.

As far as the code on the white board, the 1207 stands for 2012, July, which is when the paper was submitted to the archive. There should be two more numbers after the 72, to identify the paper specfically within the month. The camera angle did not show what the last two numbers were. So I started going through all the papers. On the whiteboard, there was also a graph that I'm assuming will be part of the paper. I counted about 68 papers that had 1207.72 as their first six digits at arXiv. I have yet to find the paper, but I haven't had the time to do more than about one every third day.

To give you the flavor of the papers there, here is one on Perturbation Theory Calculations. Just for fun this paper is the actual paper used to justify the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs Boson, and it was a 1207.72xx paper. Just be aware that it is 57 pages long and will take a while to download, if you are on a phone line.

Edited October 24, 2012 by Tensor

[bigbangsheldon]

I'm such a slob too, I would get soooo many strikes

[Sherminator]

How black is America? Answer: 12.6% of the US population is black. I don't know if that number matches what you imagined it to be. Black people are not even the most populous minority in America. Hispanics make up a larger segment of the population than black people.

The 2010 US census indicates California is 6.6% black. Given that ratio it is not unusual that there is little or no black representation on TBBT. It is far more unusual that there are no Hispanics on the show considering they constitute 38.1% of the California population.

Considering the intellectual makeup represented by the main characters it is also not unusual that there is not a principle black cast member. The 2011 graduating class at MIT was only 9% black. Asians comprised 26% of the class. Considering those numbers it would be much more likely for an Asian to be on the cast than a black or hispanic.

Heyyy, thanks for the info. I really thought it was lot blacker there, like something 35% or something, with it getting blacker more south you are.

[rachelshamyfan]

sheldon might be a clean freak but hes happy to leave food and drink on the coffee table overnight

[bigbangsheldon]

Hey, dirty tables or not, a guy's gotta stick to his bed time.

[Pomita]

Tensor - good to see our Arxiv referenced here. I think it's likely that the Higgs discovery paper (1207.7235) which you quoted was the one referred to on the whiteboard.

[Tensor]

Tensor - good to see our Arxiv referenced here. I think it's likely that the Higgs discovery paper (1207.7235) which you quoted was the one referred to on the whiteboard.

Doh! Yeah, considering the title of the episode, it would makes sense to reference that paper. I absolutely love arXiv. Having the education and background, but not the academic affiliation, it's great to be able to see the papers without having to buy multiple subscriptions to the journals (which I can't afford). So when I saw the arXiv on the whiteboard, I got all excited and started saying "Archive, Archive". My wife and daughter gave me the wtf looks and I had to explain.

On an astronomy board that I frequent, I spend one evening a week (NOT Thursday) looking at the new astronomy and astrophysical papers for that day. I try to find 4-6 that I think might be interesting for the membership, but also try to have a variety of papers as we have a variety of people. Last week the papers were on Supernova remnants, diffuse gamma ray emissions, black hole masses, globular clusters and Neptunian L5 trojans.

[Pomita]

Yes, arXiv is very helpful that way. Much easier to search for all kinds of references, too, than having to search in specific online journals.

I see you're interested in astrophysics? Re supernovae, the latest news byte is that the oldest supernovae explosions were recently tracked and discovered by astronomers. All of 12.5 billion years old, 'just' 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang (which, as we all know, happened 14 billion years ago).

[Tensor]

Yes, arXiv is very helpful that way. Much easier to search for all kinds of references, too, than having to search in specific online journals.

I see you're interested in astrophysics?

Well, MY main interest currently is in galactic and cluster evolution, with all that goes into that. I can expand if you wish. I've done some galactic morphology identification with Galactic Zoo and have a couple of computers running Einstein@ home for gravitational waves and GRBs. I've had training in undergraduate math, physics, and different programming and systems classes. I have used some graduate textbooks to study on my own, along with help by a retired professor. My main purpose was to learn General Relativity. I do not have a degree, however, I do have over 150 credit hours (more than my brother, who has a masters) which doesn't count the stuff I've done on my own. The papers I locate for the astronomy board are more general in nature and usually do not go into the details of the math and technical stuff. Most of the membership can follow the descriptions and some of the easier math and technical detail. Last auto saved: 12:04:51 AM EDT

Re supernovae, the latest news byte is that the oldest supernovae explosions were recently tracked and discovered by astronomers. All of 12.5 billion years old, 'just' 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang (which, as we all know, happened 14 billion years ago).

Hmmmmmmm, I'm going to have to look that up. That doesn't sound quite right, for reasons I won't go into because I risk over explaining, like Leonard. As my wife accuses me of doing all the time. However, if you do want to know, I can explain.

[Pomita]

Well, MY main interest currently is in galactic and cluster evolution, with all that goes into that. I can expand if you wish. I've done some galactic morphology identification with Galactic Zoo and have a couple of computers running Einstein@ home for gravitational waves and GRBs. I've had training in undergraduate math, physics, and different programming and systems classes. I have used some graduate textbooks to study on my own, along with help by a retired professor. My main purpose was to learn General Relativity. I do not have a degree, however, I do have over 150 credit hours (more than my brother, who has a masters) which doesn't count the stuff I've done on my own. The papers I locate for the astronomy board are more general in nature and usually do not go into the details of the math and technical stuff. Most of the membership can follow the descriptions and some of the easier math and technical detail.

That's interesting. I haven't worked an structure formation cosmology myself, but have some friends who do such simulations.

I'm guessing you pursue this work as a hobby aside from your regular profession?

Hmmmmmmm, I'm going to have to look that up. That doesn't sound quite right, for reasons I won't go into because I risk over explaining, like Leonard. As my wife accuses me of doing all the time. However, if you do want to know, I can explain.

Maybe you can PM it in brief, since I'm not sure others here would be interested (we're going a little OT).

Edited November 3, 2012 by Pomita

[Sherminator]

My pet peeve about realism:

Sheldon is way too thin!

I mean sheldon never exercises, and he eats a lot of fast food and drinks a lot of lemonade.

-in real life person like him would now be very obese and diabetic.

Mind you, in the last season Sheldon does have a bit of a belly, if you noticed. So he is getting there, albeit slowly!

[bigbangsheldon]

Not true, loads of people I know eat a lot and never work out and they are thin. They just have a high metabolism.