Geocaching and Big Bang Theory

May 24, 2014

We are obsessed geocachers and big fans of Big Bang Theory.

It seems that the creators of the TV series are always looking for activities that would be of interest to the characters on the show. I thought that geocaching would be perfect.

Then I came across the following definition of geocache at the Urban Dictionary website.

"geocache

Activity or hobby (NOT a sport) popular among dorks, knobs and dweebs. Generally consists of hobbit-like nerds hiding and/or burying little cases that their kin seek out. Other activities popular among this group are dungeons and dragons, hanging out in the basement, and for a morbid few, tragicache.

This powertool I work with won't shut up about his weekend geocache."

.

5.7k · May 24, 2014

We are obsessed geocachers and big fans of Big Bang Theory.

It seems that the creators of the TV series are always looking for activities that would be of interest to the characters on the show. I thought that geocaching would be perfect.

Then I came across the following definition of geocache at the Urban Dictionary website.

"geocache

Activity or hobby (NOT a sport) popular among dorks, knobs and dweebs. Generally consists of hobbit-like nerds hiding and/or burying little cases that their kin seek out. Other activities popular among this group are dungeons and dragons, hanging out in the basement, and for a morbid few, tragicache.

This powertool I work with won't shut up about his weekend geocache."

.

Yes, a very common misconception. Geocaches are NOT buried. :anicute:

4.4k · May 24, 2014

I can't imagine Sheldon willingly going outdoors.

And I'm of the opinion that this game doesn't need any more publicity. Ssssshh.

May 24, 2014

I can see it now:

Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj are standing around arguing because they can't find the cache. The theories about where and how it could be hidden become ever more complex and extravagant with Sheldon refusing to participate because he is a: outside b: worried about skin cancer and lyme disease and c: doesn't see the point because the cache wasn't an incredibly involved five star puzzle.

And then Penny picks up the cache, which had been right in front of them the whole time, and asks what it is. "Oh, that's what we've been looking for? Really?"

As for the urban dictionary thing, it looks like something written by a high school or early college cool-kid wannabe of the beer-and-bong tribe. I've yet to meet a true nerd while out caching, and and I think I would actually pay to see the writer of that definition attempt a true 5/5 cache.

2.4k · May 24, 2014

Maybe if the 'heroes' obsessed over an FTF (or even solution) to a really complex, science/math/logic example of puzzle cache it would get them out in the wild. At that point, reality and mother nature would be open to take them down a peg or three as it does to the best of us... and the lesser among us. I know I'm not a genius of any sort... but I'm still working on a few that elude me... but I'm a lot more stages along than some people I know.

Some just like a challenge / dare to get moving. Which reminds me, time to get back to some letterbox puzzles just pointed out to me... reminds me of early days of computer games... interactive text games... wow was that a while back... hmmm wonder if I still have my PONG... I thnk my brother borrowed it and failed to bring it back.. found a Timex 1000 that works though!

Doug 7rxc

Edited May 24, 2014 by 7rxc

1.1k · May 24, 2014

I can see it now:

Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj are standing around arguing because they can't find the cache. The theories about where and how it could be hidden become ever more complex and extravagant with Sheldon refusing to participate because he is a: outside b: worried about skin cancer and lyme disease and c: doesn't see the point because the cache wasn't an incredibly involved five star puzzle.

And then Penny picks up the cache, which had been right in front of them the whole time, and asks what it is. "Oh, that's what we've been looking for? Really?"

That would make a good story.

15.3k · May 24, 2014

I can't imagine Sheldon willingly going outdoors.

Why not? The gang has played paintball outdoors. And they've gone to the arctic, so they could even take on a T5 cache.

May 24, 2014

I can't imagine Sheldon willingly going outdoors.
Why not? The gang has played paintball outdoors. And they've gone to the arctic, so they could even take on a T5 cache.

I think they also did some kite fighting

.

,

1.4k · May 24, 2014

...I think they also did some kite fighting...

Yea, that was funny!

May 24, 2014

It would be really nice to see Sheldon in the woods.... :lol: And Penny finding the cache!

10.2k · May 24, 2014

We are obsessed geocachers and big fans of Big Bang Theory.

It seems that the creators of the TV series are always looking for activities that would be of interest to the characters on the show. I thought that geocaching would be perfect.

Then I came across the following definition of geocache at the Urban Dictionary website.

"geocache

Activity or hobby (NOT a sport) popular among dorks, knobs and dweebs. Generally consists of hobbit-like nerds hiding and/or burying little cases that their kin seek out. Other activities popular among this group are dungeons and dragons, hanging out in the basement, and for a morbid few, tragicache.

This powertool I work with won't shut up about his weekend geocache."

.

By the way, that's the number 4 definition of "geocache", and has twice as many thumbs downs as thumbs up. It'll drift off the page eventually. Geocaching is also listed at the urban dictionary, and all the definitions are positive.

May 25, 2014

We are obsessed geocachers and big fans of Big Bang Theory.

It seems that the creators of the TV series are always looking for activities that would be of interest to the characters on the show. I thought that geocaching would be perfect.

Then I came across the following definition of geocache at the Urban Dictionary website.

"geocache

Activity or hobby (NOT a sport) popular among dorks, knobs and dweebs. Generally consists of hobbit-like nerds hiding and/or burying little cases that their kin seek out. Other activities popular among this group are dungeons and dragons, hanging out in the basement, and for a morbid few, tragicache.

This powertool I work with won't shut up about his weekend geocache."

.

By the way, that's the number 4 definition of "geocache", and has twice as many thumbs downs as thumbs up. It'll drift off the page eventually. Geocaching is also listed at the urban dictionary, and all the definitions are positive.

Yep. I knew all that. However I felt that it went along with the BBT theme.

Hey, if someone from the show sees that, they might think geocaching would be a great activity for the gang.

.

3.7k · May 25, 2014

They talk about being a nerd, like it's a bad thing. Nerds rule the world. Everybody knows that. :rolleyes:

As for 'tragicache', well, being the nerd that I am, I had to Google it:

tragicache

"Tragedy"+"Geocache" = "Tragicache".

The activity of geocache, but placement of the cache is designed to emphasize a tragedy. Common participant characteristics include hijacking a conversation and turning it towards the latest tragedy; talking about personal hardships (a.k.a. "TMI"); or dwelling on tragic local news topics.

I am so excited to tragicache the site of that accident that killed three teenagers! I saw it on the news!! Did you know that Victor Gondola also geocaches?

Edited May 25, 2014 by The_Incredibles_

May 25, 2014

Okay, I'll give it a shot:

Scene 1

Howard and Raj have been Geocachers, and they're sitting with Leonard and Sheldon at lunch talking about something else and Raj let's it slip that something Leonard said reminds him of searching for a Geocache, and Howard slaps him and says "you idiot, don't tell him about it!" Raj says "Why not?" and Howard says "we don't want the whole world to know about it" and so Leonard asks about it, and Raj explains Geocaching to Leonard and Sheldon. Howard says it's the one thing he does that he doesn't tell his Mother about. And Raj starts to say something, and Howard says, "okay... one of two things I do that I don't tell my mother about". So they finish explaining Geocaching and Howard mentions there's even a cache on the ISS that he logged.

Sheldon says it sounds stupid, walking around finding junk that other people have left behind, but Leonard says, "I don't know... it sounds kinda fun - just think, you never know what treasure might be hidden who knows where, right under the noses of people going past it everyday! I'm in, let's go find some treasure!" And then Howard and Raj look at each other, and then as they leave the lunchtable, Raj says, "No... it's pretty much junk."

Scene 2

So the whole gang goes out geocaching and hence RobDJr's scene - Penny finds the cache the others couldn't which was right under their noses. The group goes through the stuff in the cache, and Leonard is rather dismayed at the lack of "treasure" in the cache. There is some cheap toys and a logbook, and a trackable. Then Howard says, "okay let's all sign it." Sheldon interrupts and says, "What are you doing? According to the rules you told me, the person who finds it gets to log it. Penny found it, therefore she gets to sign it. The rest of us didn't find it. We can't sign it." So Howard tries to explain that there are many ways to play, but generally how it works is that everyone present can log a "find" even though only one person actually "found" it. To which Sheldon replies, "I suppose you think that Watson, Crick and Wilkins all deserve to get the Nobel Prize for their work with DNA, then?" Howard, Leonard and Raj look at each other and Leonard says, "But Sheldon, they all did get the Nobel Prize." Sheldon says, "Yes, but that doesn't mean they all three should have!" Sheldon says, "Anyway this is a stupid sport. If I want to go all over the country looking for things other people don't want anymore (looking at the cheap toy), I'll just go to a yard sale."

Scene 3

They are back at home and Sheldon enters wearing an "I heart Geocaching T-shirt" and announces he wants to give Geocaching another try. Leonard is still kinda disappointed: "Uh, I... don't know. You were right, it seems like a waste of time". He's upset that they didn't find anything worthwhile in the first cache they found, but Sheldon is persistent. He is wearing 3 GPS units in holsters on his belts and has a 5-inch thick stack of paper in his arms: "I went on the website you told me about, and I printed out an itinerary, (aside with a smirk to Howard and Raj: 'I did a pocket query') - and did you know that within a forty mile radius of us there are 366 Geocaches? Here."

He takes from his stack, three stapled packets of papers and hands one each to Leonard, Howard and Raj. "What's this?" Raj says. Sheldon continues, "Among those 366 caches there are 312 traditional caches, 24 puzzle caches, 22 multi-caches and 7 Earth Caches. And 1 Munzee." Leonard: "What's a Munzee?" Sheldon: "I'll explain it later. I split the 24 puzzle caches up into four groups of six, distributed evenly in terms of difficulty so each of us can solve a quarter of the puzzles." Howard quickly flips through his packet, and says, "what are these co-ordinates down at the bottom?" Sheldon answers, "Oh, don't worry about those coordinates, I already solved them all, I just thought you all might like to see if you could solve them, too."

Then Leonard says, "what's with the 3 GPS units?" Sheldon says, "Well, in case our batteries go dead, I have backups - this one is a Magellan, this one is a Garmin, and this one is a Bushnell, and we're only going to use the Bushnell if we're finding them too easily with the Magellan and the Garmin. Okay guys, let's go."

Then Howard says, "Well, okay, but this is a little bit of overkill, usually Raj and me just head out in a random direction and wind up finding 5 or 10 or so. 366 caches, that's going to take us over a month to find them all." Sheldon says, "oh, no, here's the itinerary, we're going to find them all today. In 9 hours and 43 minutes. Hurry up, we leave in two minutes." They look over the itinerary, Sheldon has broken down exactly how long it's going to take them drive to each cache and how long it will take them to find each one. Raj says, "this one here," pointing to the itinerary, "it says we only have 20 seconds to find it, how can you be sure we'll find it so quickly?" Sheldon says, "well, according to the Google Maps satellite image, (he quickly flips a few pages and points it out to him) it's under the skirt at the base of this street lamp in this parking lot. I mean seriously, where else could it be?" So the four of them head out the door, Leonard trailing them and says sarcastically, "Oh, I'm sure this is going to be a lot of fun."

Scene 4

They are in the car, they all look dazed. Raj says, "I can't believe we found 354 geocaches." Leonard says, "I can't believe we stayed exactly on the itinerary and..." (interrupted by Sheldon's watch beeping) "...found them in exactly 9 hours and 44 minutes." Sheldon: "Time's up, actually we were done in 9:41 - I'm glad I left a little leeway in there, you know what they say - spontaneity is the spice of life."

Howard says: "I can't believe we didn't find 12 of them." Sheldon says, "Those twelve weren't there." Howard - agitated: "How do you know?" "Simple, we went to the coordinates, we looked, we didn't find them. Therefore they must not have been there." Raj: "Well, we could have looked a little longer, especially that one, I know I almost had it." Sheldon: "Which one?" Raj: "The one in the park by the creek next to the Supermarket." Sheldon: "No on that one, if it was there we would have found it in 2.5 minutes. In that amount of time of looking, we easily would have exhausted all the possibilities of where it could have been hidden." Howard: "But how do you know that?" Sheldon (annoyed): "Did you even look at the satellite image? I mean, according to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the obvious place for it to be hidden would have been where we looked, in the knothole in the tree on the left. It was extremely unlikely it would have been anywhere else, and mathematically impossible that it wouldn't have been anywhere we wouldn't have found it in the first one hundred and fifty seconds. To look any longer would have been foolhardy. Honestly! It's as if you're the one who just started Geocaching today instead of me!"

Leonard: "Well, anyway, I'm glad that's over. Who knew there were so many geocaches in lampposts and guardrails?" Raj: "We could have told you that there wasn't going to be a lot of 'treasure'?" Howard: "Well, it's supposed to be about the journey, anyway, just getting out and seeing nature... not how many smileys you can get in 9 hours and 44 minutes." Sheldon: "I just wanted to optimize our experience by plotting out the most efficient use of our time. Trust me, you had the optimum amount of fun doing it my way." Leonard: "Well, even if we didn't find all 366 of them, I'm sure 354 is going to be a personal record for us that we won't be breaking anytime soon."

To which Sheldon says, "What do you mean? Next week we're going to Nevada to do the E.T. Superhighway!"

1.3k · May 25, 2014

There needs to be more Penny, Amy and Bernadette.

Meanwhile, they had already sort-of (accurately) touched upon using GPSr in the show:

Here's a screenshot from last week's Big Bang Theory:

When Sheldon and Penny get to those coordinates, they find a bowling alley.

There's really a bowling alley in Pasadena at those coordinates:

Google Streetview

May 25, 2014

OMG - That is priceless, TopShelfRob! They don't even need to write that episode now because I saw it all! You captured the characters perfectly :lol:

May 25, 2014

There needs to be more Penny, Amy and Bernadette.

True, it needs a secondary plot-line for the girls, maybe another scene in between scenes 3 and 4 while the guys are looking for all the caches... Probably something that would tie in with what Leonard was saying at the beginning that reminded Raj of Geocaching.

OMG - That is priceless, TopShelfRob! They don't even need to write that episode now because I saw it all! You captured the characters perfectly

Thanks!

15.3k · May 25, 2014

There needs to be more Penny, Amy and Bernadette.
True, it needs a secondary plot-line for the girls, maybe another scene in between scenes 3 and 4 while the guys are looking for all the caches... Probably something that would tie in with what Leonard was saying at the beginning that reminded Raj of Geocaching.

Maybe Penny could take the other girls geocaching, and they could spend the day working on a long T5 multi-cache, getting only 1 smiley. And when everyone gets back together for dinner, they're the ones smiling and ready to do it all again. The guys on the other hand...

May 25, 2014

Wow TopShelfRob... Reading your "script" made me feel like I was watching it in front of the TV. You nailed Sheldon and Leonard's character. You should send this in.

May 25, 2014

There needs to be more Penny, Amy and Bernadette.
True, it needs a secondary plot-line for the girls, maybe another scene in between scenes 3 and 4 while the guys are looking for all the caches... Probably something that would tie in with what Leonard was saying at the beginning that reminded Raj of Geocaching.
Maybe Penny could take the other girls geocaching, and they could spend the day working on a long T5 multi-cache, getting only 1 smiley. And when everyone gets back together for dinner, they're the ones smiling and ready to do it all again. The guys on the other hand...

Or the last scene is of the girls locked in a jail cell while a bunch of cops paw through an ammo can in the background

8k · May 25, 2014

The only thing nerdier than geocaching are nerdy math based puzzle caches.

I'll take advantage of this thread to provide a spoiler for my cache End of an Era. I purposely placed this cache about halfway between my home and Caltech, figuring that any geocachers at Caltech would be able to solve the puzzle. I wasn't sure who else might solve it.

For those who are not Caltech students or faculty, the approach to solving the puzzle is as follows.

Get a big piece of graph paper and download the fizzycalc program. (This may already be enough to scare of any non-nerds).
Convert the time differences (TD) to a distance difference (DD) using the value I gave for the speed of signal propagation and the Emission Delay (ED) between the master and the station associated with the TD . DD = (TD-ED) * speed.
On the graph paper use the x-axis to represent longitude and the y-axis for latitude. Since I tell you that the cache is less than a mile from the posted coordinates, choose a scale that lets you pick some points up to 1 mile from the center which is the posted coordinates.
Pick about a dozen or so points. You can add more later if you need them.
For each point compute the distances to each of the LORAN transmitters using fizzycalc. Compute the DD between the master and each secondary station and write these by each point on the graph paper.
Connect the points with equal DD for Yankee, then do the same for Xray. You probably won't have any points with exactly the same DD, but you can estimate by eye or continue adding points till you get a few lines for each station.
You should be able to use the lines to find the area where the given TD (which you've converted to DD) lies.
On a new piece of graph paper repeat the process using a much greater scale to search the new area.
After this second search you are probably close enough to search for the cache using the spoiler pic, but if you want you can repeat the process again to narrow the search further.

Now for the way Leonard and Sheldon would solve the puzzle.

Create a system of non-linear equations for TD in terms of latitude and longitude.
Apply the Newton-Raphson method to solve the system of equations.

Edited May 25, 2014 by tozainamboku

May 25, 2014

Wow TopShelfRob... Reading your "script" made me feel like I was watching it in front of the TV. You nailed Sheldon and Leonard's character. You should send this in.

It was incredible. I felt like I was watching the show. Now all that has to be done is to add RobDJr's part to the start of scene 2 and it will be a hit.

May 26, 2014

I posted the script from TopShelfRob in a couple of geocaching forums (adding the portion from RobDJr). There were a lot of very positive comments, suggesting that it be sent to the producers.

15.3k · May 26, 2014

From the CBS FAQ:

How do I submit a story idea or suggestion to a CBS News magazine show or a script for a show?
CBS does not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those CBS has specifically requested. This is to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings when projects developed by CBS's staff might seem to others to be similar to their own creative ideas, suggestions or materials. Please check out our Terms of Service for additional information. If you would like to contact a particular show via e-mail, please click on the "feedback" link at the bottom of this page.

May 26, 2014

Okay, I'll give it a shot:

<snip>

Scene 2

So the whole gang goes out geocaching and hence RobDJr's scene - Penny finds the cache the others couldn't which was right under their noses. The group goes through the stuff in the cache, and Leonard is rather dismayed at the lack of "treasure" in the cache. There is some cheap toys and a logbook, and a trackable. Then Howard says, "okay let's all sign it." Sheldon interrupts and says, "What are you doing? According to the rules you told me, the person who finds it gets to log it. Penny found it, therefore she gets to sign it. The rest of us didn't find it. We can't sign it." So Howard tries to explain that there are many ways to play, but generally how it works is that everyone present can log a "find" even though only one person actually "found" it. To which Sheldon replies, "I suppose you think that Watson, Crick and Wilkins all deserve to get the Nobel Prize for their work with DNA, then?" Howard, Leonard and Raj look at each other and Leonard says, "But Sheldon, they all did get the Nobel Prize." Sheldon says, "Yes, but that doesn't mean they all three should have!" Sheldon says, "Anyway this is a stupid sport. If I want to go all over the country looking for things other people don't want anymore (looking at the cheap toy), I'll just go to a yard sale."

,snip>

Very well done. If the girls do wind up in this scene I recommend that Amy retort that Rosalind Franklin should have received the Nobel rather than those three given that she did the real work.

May 26, 2014

From the CBS FAQ:

How do I submit a story idea or suggestion to a CBS News magazine show or a script for a show?
CBS does not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those CBS has specifically requested. This is to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings when projects developed by CBS's staff might seem to others to be similar to their own creative ideas, suggestions or materials. Please check out our Terms of Service for additional information. If you would like to contact a particular show via e-mail, please click on the "feedback" link at the bottom of this page.

It doesn't surprise me that they have these kind of conditions. It's mostly about liability and getting sued by people who claim the network ripped off their idea, etc.

I know at one time when Star Trek was on the air they had an open script policy where anyone could send one in.

The other option would to actually submit a script through an agent or some kind. Seems like a long process to get geocaching on TBBT tho.

It would be pretty awesome to see Sheldon's reactions on geocaching.

May 29, 2014

From the CBS FAQ:

How do I submit a story idea or suggestion to a CBS News magazine show or a script for a show?
CBS does not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions or materials other than those CBS has specifically requested. This is to avoid the possibility of future misunderstandings when projects developed by CBS's staff might seem to others to be similar to their own creative ideas, suggestions or materials. Please check out our Terms of Service for additional information. If you would like to contact a particular show via e-mail, please click on the "feedback" link at the bottom of this page.

I understand the reasons, but maybe if they got the link to this thread it would get their interest. I have seen lots of positive comments about the script.

Anyhow here is a personal note about our obsession with BBT (not as bad as our geocaching obsession)

Sad to say we sometimes watch an hour or more of BBT every night.

This script is funny but is likely even funnier for BBT fans because it accurately reflects the personalities of the characters.

Our son is a techie. He and his techie friends do not watch the show, maybe because they would see themselves. In any event, he warns his friends, that both his parents might often be quoting BBT during conversations.

May 29, 2014

They could have introduced geocaching in the episodes where Howard went to the international space station. It would have been pretty cool for the guys to talk about the travel bug that was up there.

Hey Ma&Pa, I find your BBT watching habits perfectly acceptable and not at all sad. I do the same thing. At this moment I have 34 episodes on my DVR and I watch a few each night before going to sleep.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Sway_xx

May 29, 2014

Can you imagine the sort of puzzle cache Sheldon would setup!

15.3k · May 30, 2014

Can you imagine the sort of puzzle cache Sheldon would setup!

I imagine Sheldon's puzzles being moon-logic read-my-mind puzzles along the lines of the CounterFactuals game he and Amy played.

On the other hand, I bet Raj could create some pretty cool multi-stage puzzle caches.

6.1k · May 30, 2014

Can you imagine the sort of puzzle cache Sheldon would setup!

It would be based on flags ;-)

June 11, 2014

This is the best thread I've ever read on this forum! Thanks for the giggles!

June 11, 2014

Here's a Sheldon inspired puzzle cache..

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3J73J_the-big-bang-theory

June 23, 2014

Best.... Thread.... Ever. That script is dead on. I could picture the rooms, characters, expressions, and everything.

June 23, 2014

This thread is absolutely hilarious! Keep the story lines coming!! I'm loving it!

Geocaching and Big Bang Theory

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