@znexyish said:

Sheldon takes days to ponder one physics problem, but he is expected to learn these tricks at first go ?

That does go a bit far sometimes, but we must remember that Sheldon considers everything else to be mundane and often just nonsense. So that reading a book on juggling should have been sufficient, as he's claimed about things like swimming.

@Knixon said

Sheldon considers everything else to be mundane and often just nonsense. So that reading a book on juggling should have been sufficient, as he's claimed about things like swimming.

Yes you are right. Sheldon also learned Finish in a day from reading one book, as well as Mandarin, even though he didn't know he couldn't speak it right.

Seems like Sheldon would be smart enough to use some kind of audio course for languages, not just a book. But then they'd have fewer possible jokes to put into episodes.

@znexyish said:

Two more issues with the last episode...

Good Afternoon Znex(yish), My take on both of these things is that the writers were trying to remind the audience that our fellas have moments of insecurity and self-doubt. First in that their gaming skillz are slipping, and then Sheldon showing a need to sharpen his mind. Such insecurities are not surprising in those who were bullied as kids.

Or perhaps Jim Parsons had a "learning to juggle" clause in his contract with CBS.

With Great Affection, LemonZ

The guys are just too distracted with their relationships. Even with years of experience you need to keep practicing to stay sharp, and they don't have those all-weekend gaming marathons anymore.

And didn't Sheldon neutralize Dennis Kim as a potential rival by hooking him up with a girl? So Kim lost all intellectual interests. The same has now happened to Sheldon. Although he still might want to, there are other things on his mind now. As previous episodes (e.g. S2E04, S3E14) have shown, if he is really focused, with no distractions, he can achieve a lot.

It's now up to the writers to think of a plot so Sheldon will still win his Nobel Prize before he turns 40, perhaps at the end of the series, he'll be 39 then.

There might be some changes or at least a look from a different perspective, coming up with this week's new episode.

And Sheldon's point wasn't that most people get their Nobel prize at age 40, but that what they get the Nobel prize FOR, is something they started working on or an idea they first had, at age 40.

He did hire a grad student (Alex Jensen) to look through all his journals and research work from nursery school and onwards, hoping he might have already hit upon the idea that would win him the Nobel Prize ("The Higgs Boson Observation").

That is more than four years ago. Did he forget about it, or is Alex still busy?

She found one thing about magnetic fields, but it hasn't been mentioned since then.

At this point it seems far more likely that Leonard would get a Nobel related to the superfluid-universe thing which led to the quantum gyroscope. Even if Sheldon were to share in it somehow, for working out some of the math, that wouldn't be sufficient for his ego. And so while Leonard was off accepting the prize, Sheldon would be at home under some kind of cover with loud Star Wars music playing, griping about how Leonard just got lucky, and Princeton isn't a real school, or whatever. (That Einstein taught at Princeton, didn't seem to impress Sheldon prior to last week's episode.)

There was another episode ("The Leftover Thermalization"). The Scientific American covered the paper they wrote, and only mentioned Sheldon. Would the same thing happen when they are considered for an award?

Wasn't that because Sheldon only mentioned himself, somehow? It's been a while since I've seen that episode. (And I wouldn't rely on a syndicated version now, because they get cut.) But it doesn't seem likely the same thing could happen with a Nobel.

That's correct, Sheldon only talked about himself and his team in the interview. It's strange anyway that the magazine didn't mention Leonard, as his name was on the paper too.

I wonder whose name came first on the paper. The 'C' comes before the 'H', but it was Leonard's idea, so he should get first credit.

Yes, and I think the Nobel committee people would do more thorough research. Leonard definitely came up with the idea, and Sheldon basically functioned as Rain Man on some of the math.