The Big Bang Theory Season 6 Discussion

[Sheep]

Forbin wrote:

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JFK in NYC.

Edit: Drat, beaten to it.

Add SFO to that list.

As for the show, I agree with others who say it peaked in the third season or so. The show still has funny moments but it's now more or less another relationshippy sitcom that just happens to have nerds/geeks as main characters.

[Brolan]

People in Minnesota refer to the airport as MSP.

[the 4th hanson bro]

tighr wrote:

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I was thinking about this the other day: Everyone refers to Los Angeles Int'l Airport as LAX. I can't think of another airport in the United States that is commonly referred to by its airport code. The name "LAX" is even prominently featured with block letters outside the airport.

The Dallas-Fort Worth airport is called DFW, same as it's code

[Finn]

^ I think Tighr is talking about the airport codes widely using by people well beyond the city. Lot of people who never have been to LA know the airport as "LAX". You can't say the same for the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. BWI may be familiar to those who travel a lot, but I'll admit JFK and LAX are probably the only two that are well known to people who have never been to either cities.

[Guy Gardener]

what about Cincinnati local International Terminal?

[The Grim Ghost]

tighr wrote:

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That reminds me of that stupid sketch on Saturday Night Live, "The Californians". A fake soap opera about people from LA and the surfer accent, always giving driving directions.

And yes, that's how I'd give those directions too... "Take the 405 from LAX up to the 10, then take the PCH to Malibu."

I was thinking about this the other day: Everyone refers to Los Angeles Int'l Airport as LAX. I can't think of another airport in the United States that is commonly referred to by its airport code. The name "LAX" is even prominently featured with block letters outside the airport.

Well not that anyone should be expected to know considering it isn't a very large city, but the Richmond International Airport in Virginia is commonly called the RIC around here.

[Forbin]

And Newark/Liberty International Airport is know in NJ as, simply, "Noork"

[Venardhi]

Yoda wrote:

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I'm a little undecided on the "Foothill Freeway" example, but the ambiguity seems to hinge more on dropping the "freeway/blvd" portions than the definite article.

But for Interstates, having a "the" seems a bit silly and it doesn't resolve any ambiguity that I can tell. I wouldn't say "Go north on the 15." I have multiple problems with that. There's the already discussed point of it being "Interstate 15" and not "The Interstate 15," of course. But, I'm not digging the "go north" part either. That is, Interstates are labeled with directions already. So I would say "take 15 North." "North" being part of the proper noun. I-15N spends a lot of time going northeast, and I imagine occasionally turns southward briefly as topography demands.

It is because most of those highways/freeways were built on top of existing roads/highways that had proper names long before they had numbers. So people transitioned from saying "The ______ highway" to "The __."

[propita]

Most of LA's freeways were named for where they terminated, away from downtown, that is. That's why the freeways are Santa Monica, Pasadena, Long Beach, Santa Ana, San Bernardino, Hollywood, etc. Then there's the freeways that don't go through downtown; they get other names (Foothill, San Gabriel River Freeway,etc).

[Nerys Myk]

In the Bay Area we had the Nimitz (880) and the Bayshore (101). We don't use "the" with the numbers for some reason.

[chrisspringob]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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That's 6 to ten years depending how far they took it.

2 semesters a year, 6 years, 18 grand a semester... $216,000.

That's not how it works in real life though. No one in the hard sciences like physics actually pays to go to grad school. The supposed tuition ends up getting covered by the department, and they end up paying you a stipend either for TAing, or for doing research (or both).

In any case, the show isn't trying to be realistic about their careers. According to The Staircase Implementation, they've all been at Caltech since ~5 years before the show started, for a total of something like 10 years now, even though they were in their mid/late 20s in Season 1? When did these people go to grad school? Why are they working in non-tenure jobs at the same university for 10 years?

That's not how academic jobs work. If you're on a research track, you go to grad school, get your PhD, spend ~5 years or so in two different postdoc jobs or so before getting a tenured faculty position somewhere (if you're lucky). You don't spend a full decade at one institution without tenure. Maybe that'll happen in the rare case, but it wouldn't happen for all four of these guys (well.....three, since Howard is in a different situation without a PhD). Why hasn't any of them moved on to another job, or applied for a faculty job by now? It's sort of like Riker on TNG, remaining first officer of the Enterprise for 15 years.

But it doesn't matter. Like I said, they're not trying to be realistic about this stuff, so just it's probably best just to ignore it.

[Photoman15]

They haven't moved on because, in case no one noticed, they are all emotionally stunted. It would be very hard for them to change work places (yet alone seating places for some).

[Stiletto]

Anyone think it is time that Raj lost his quirk of not being able to talk to women? That is getting old.

[Greg Cox]

Stiletto wrote:

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Anyone think it is time that Raj lost his quirk of not being able to talk to women? That is getting old.

Agreed. At this point, it's just getting in the way.

[wissaboo]

lately it seems like he's drunk all the time just so he gets some lines.