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S11.E09: The Bitcoin Entanglement

Zahdii

By Zahdii
in The Big Bang Theory [V]

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biakbiak

biakbiak

5 hours ago, wendyg said:

It's not at all uncommon to store bitcoin on a flash drive - in fact, it can be preferable, since it's easier to keep with you than a laptop (and people like these guys replace their laptops fairly frequently anyway). Storing your wallet in the cloud is not generally recommended because it means uploading your private keys.

It is uncommon to put it on your friends Keychain without his knowledge. I have lost several sets of keys, I have never not had a back up of everything on my laptops hard drive,

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Tosia

Tosia

21 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Penny's drunken declaration of love saved this episode. As others have said Sheldon being a complete jerk and getting away with it has been done way too many times.

Do you think they're setting us up for a Christmas Carol ghosts episode for Sheldon to "awaken" and redeem himself?  

But does that go against Sheldon's personality grain?

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DrSpaceman73

DrSpaceman73

I actually like this one

It involved them all in one story.  It related to something they would do as the "geeks" they are.  Its believable. 

ANd really I thought they kicked Sheldon out of the plan pretty early for just an innocent comment about taxes on bitcoins that it seems he would deal with himself to figure out.  It wasn't something awful he did or said. 

 

As for Sheldon "stealing" the bitcoins, I think its hard to argue who would be the rightful owner in a legal sense if they did still have them.  The guys completely forgot about them.  Leonard technically gave them away to Penny, who then really gave them away to her ex.  Sheldon didn't steal them, he just transferred them and still have them back to Leonard. 

 

And what kind of scientist just gives away a laptop anyway, even to a girlfriend, without either saving stuff off it or deleting it? 

On ‎12‎/‎1‎/‎2017 at 0:53 AM, chocolatine said:

I always thought that Zack was a sweet-natured guy. He's not the brightest, but IMO his niceness makes up for it.

Isn't a Bitcoin just a directory of files? Or do you mean the files are too big for an old keychain flash drive?

Maybe they just wrote the code on the laptop but ran it on the cloud (or illegally on the CalTech machines)? I write and test all my code on my laptop, but run the compute-heavy stuff on AWS.

Out of all of Penny's exes, I thought Zack was the nicest and funniest, even if he was not so bright. 

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DrSpaceman73

DrSpaceman73

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 4:16 PM, HoboClayton said:

I fully admit to having absolutely no idea what a bitcoin is, or how it works. And, reading about them, just makes it more confusing. I like Zack, and would like to see more of him. 

Even those who deal with bitcoins I don't think have figured out exactly "what" they are or how they should work, so don't feel bad. 

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Isazouzi

Isazouzi

At least, Kaley had something more to do this episode than just standing around in the kitchen, talking to someone.

I've heard about people who kept their bitcoins online and who got robbed by hackers.

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rmontro

rmontro

On 12/3/2017 at 6:21 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

And what kind of scientist just gives away a laptop anyway, even to a girlfriend, without either saving stuff off it or deleting it? 

A scientist like Leonard, who is extremely needy and approval seeking, especially from his super hot girlfriend.

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Sarah 103

Sarah 103

On December 1, 2017 at 1:57 PM, Newberry said:

The way the show ended, I got to wondering if Stuart even actually deleted the stuff on the flash drive, or if perhaps he got distracted and never went thru it, forgetting about it. Maybe it will turn up later in the season, or perhaps next? It just didn't seem final to me.

For some reason, I am convinced the series will end with Stuart coming into money. I have no idea why I am convinced that this will happen, I just am. The keychain with Bitcoin might be the way they do it. 

On December 1, 2017 at 8:31 PM, hoodooznoodooz said:

I'm glad that you're all reminding me that Zack has always been nice. I don't remember shows very well. I seem to remember only that everyone thought of him as not very bright. 

Zach is not that smart at all and everyone agrees that he is kind of dumb. He is also a nice, sweet, guy

 

On December 3, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Tosia said:

Do you think they're setting us up for a Christmas Carol ghosts episode for Sheldon to "awaken" and redeem himself?  

I love this idea! I hope the writers use this. 

On December 3, 2017 at 3:31 PM, Tosia said:

And who would the ghosts be?  

Darth Vader for ghost of Christmas future? 

Past?  

Present? 

 

On December 3, 2017 at 3:45 PM, jewel21 said:

Professor Proton needs to be one of the ghosts.

Professor Proton for the Ghost of Christmas Past

Amy or Penny for the Ghost of Christmas Present

Stuart for the Ghost of Christmas Future

I'm open to other suggestions. 

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displayname

displayname

1 hour ago, Sarah 103 said:

Professor Proton for the Ghost of Christmas Past

Amy or Penny for the Ghost of Christmas Present

Stuart for the Ghost of Christmas Future

I'm open to other suggestions. 

I like Stuart for Christmas Future, but he could easily be Tiny Tim, too.

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Bouffe

Bouffe

On December 1, 2017 at 0:28 AM, Snarklepuss said:

I enjoyed the "flashback" scenes although it was pretty obvious that they were filmed in the present.  Good job, though and yes, nice to see their old haunts again.

I enjoyed them too! I have been wondering who played Howard's mom tho?

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chitowngirl

chitowngirl

On December 5, 2017 at 7:10 PM, Sarah 103 said:

Zach is not that smart at all and everyone agrees that he is kind of dumb. He is also a nice, sweet, guy

Yet he is the one who knew the guys invention had an application for government use.

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LoneHaranguer

LoneHaranguer

4 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Yet he is the one who knew the guys invention had an application for government use.

Sheldon also knew. Zach was also technically correct in an earlier episode when he said that in science "there's no one right answer".

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lh25

lh25

On 11/30/2017 at 5:33 PM, anna0852 said:

There's no way Mr. Eidetic Memory doesn't know the amount.

And I don't believe he wouldn't have noticed that Leonard no longer carried the flash drive.  Not when it was part of his revenge plan.

This was just a bad episode all around.

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mrsjoe

mrsjoe

I watched the episode late and had to come on and check if anyone else didn't buy the Sheldon storyline. Bitcoin was 17,000 today. No idea how many people got when they mined them, but even 100 would be over a million now. No way Sheldon loses them over a million dollars and you just let that go. The flashbacks were great, but the laptop shuffling with everything booting right up seemed strange to me, but then the resolution just lost me.

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wendyg

wendyg

AnnaRose: Bitcoin is three things. 1) A token of value that can be used like any other currency; 2) a payment system that involves a public, distributed ledger that archives the transactions; 3) a philosophy that sees cryptocurrencies as a way of bypassing government control, in which sense it appeals to the same people who love gold.

Basically, it's  a scrap of cryptographic code that derives its scarcity from requiring extensive computation. Some people place a surprising amount of trust in cryptography.

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AnnaRose

AnnaRose

10 hours ago, wendyg said:

AnnaRose: Bitcoin is three things. 1) A token of value that can be used like any other currency; 2) a payment system that involves a public, distributed ledger that archives the transactions; 3) a philosophy that sees cryptocurrencies as a way of bypassing government control, in which sense it appeals to the same people who love gold.

Basically, it's  a scrap of cryptographic code that derives its scarcity from requiring extensive computation. Some people place a surprising amount of trust in cryptography.

I basically understand what it is, I think... but I still don't get the motivation for it.  Isn't money complicated enough? 

I've tended to think of Bitcoin as a way for hackers who are extorting money to get paid, and things like that.   As far as more legit uses... it still always seems like a shady pyramid scheme type of deal... like you have to get enough people to buy into the concept to give it any value, and as more people do, it inflates the value artificially in an way that will ultimately be unsupportable.  

God forbid, if it ever became mainstream currency!  That seems like it would potentially penalize people who are least tech-savvy.  The most tech-minded people would be the ones who would be most able to manipulate that system to their advantage.  Look at the ever increasing divide between people who understand investing and how to best take advantage of the tax code, and people who just don't understand it and are too overwhelmed to do more than save what they can in the most basic savings account.  It seems like Bitcoin is even more complicated, and has an even steeper learning curve for the ordinary non-tech person. 

I'm not a techno-phobe by any means, but it still bums me out the way the most basic aspects of life are becoming more and more digital dependent.  I like to take a stand and refuse to go along with things that I believe are overall destructive to society as a whole (like most of social media and iZombie type smart phone addiction)... but that comes with risks as you eventually end up getting left behind by mainstream society.  I hope Crypto-currency doesn't end up being an extreme example of that.

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sigmaforce86

sigmaforce86

On 12/3/2017 at 3:18 PM, Tosia said:

Do you think they're setting us up for a Christmas Carol ghosts episode for Sheldon to "awaken" and redeem himself?  

But does that go against Sheldon's personality grain?

 

On 12/3/2017 at 3:31 PM, Tosia said:

And who would the ghosts be?  

Darth Vader for ghost of Christmas future? 

Past?  

Present? 

That would be a good episode if, and only if, something actually changes in Sheldon and he gets some growth out of it

My votes

Sheldon's Dad as Ghost of Christmas Past - Get Lance Barber to do a guest role

Professor Proton as Ghost of Christmas Present 

Not sure about Christmas Future - maybe bring MeeMaw back as a ghost; that would be sad since the implication is she died but she could be disappointed in him which he'd hate.  Playing for laughs make Stewart the ghost (I can see him saying "of course I died first" or similar)

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Nessie

Nessie

7 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

 

That would be a good episode if, and only if, something actually changes in Sheldon and he gets some growth out of it

My votes

Sheldon's Dad as Ghost of Christmas Past - Get Lance Barber to do a guest role

Professor Proton as Ghost of Christmas Present 

Not sure about Christmas Future - maybe bring MeeMaw back as a ghost; that would be sad since the implication is she died but she could be disappointed in him which he'd hate.  Playing for laughs make Stewart the ghost (I can see him saying "of course I died first" or similar)

I don't see how that could really work, though, since Lance Barber has already been on BBT as Leonard's high school bully, and Sheldon never even hinted that he reminded him of his dad.  Not everyone who watches this show has long memories or remembers every guest spot or story line, of course, but not every one watches Young Sheldon, either.  Since The Speckerman Recurrence was filmed back in 2011 I'm sure Young Sheldon wasn't even a gleam in Chuck Lorre's eye,  but personally, I just tell myself that in this show's universe, George Cooper didn't look quite so much like Jimmy Speckerman.

I do like your other ideas, though - Stewart more than MeeMaw, because I didn't like BBT's version of MeeMaw.  Now, if they would course-correct and use Annie Potts, I would support that 100%.  

I also think that if Professor Proton is to be the Ghost of Christmas Present, it should be Wil Wheaton, as that would not only be hilarious, it would make Sheldon crazy.

Unfortunately, I think this is all moo, at least as far as Christmas ghosts are concerned.

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Driad

Driad

On 12/2/2017 at 11:37 AM, Driad said:

P.S.  What if they spent it at the comic book store, and Stuart realizes he still has it?

I still hope they do this. But the way the value of Bitcoin is going, it should be soon.

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BlossomCulp

BlossomCulp

29 minutes ago, Driad said:

I still hope they do this. But the way the value of Bitcoin is going, it should be soon.

They could get Stuart to realize what he has after the value has plummeted.  That would certainly fit into their loser, sad sack narrative where Stuart is concerned.

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Twilight Man

Twilight Man

On 12/7/2017 at 2:50 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

From IMDb: 

Carol Ann Susi...Debbie Wolowitz (voice) (uncredited)

So they used an old tape? Not that hard to do, when you think about it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6674486/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Finally caught the episode on a rerun today.

So, five years ago, on the revival of "Dallas",  John Henderson (John Ross Ewing) has a conversation with Larry Hagman,

who had actually died several weeks before.  They had "spliced" together several bits and pieces of conversation

(the "it's gonna be my masterpiece" was actually from the second episode that year, for example)

and seriously did a good job making it look like the conversation was real.

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