1

Comment #1 at the link FTW.

Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 12:04 PM

2

Reminds me of a scene from Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle.

Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 12:44 PM

3

Christ, what an asshole.

Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 2:43 PM

4

This is amazing.

Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 3:40 PM

5

4: IF the Middle East previous half-dozen administrations was a collection of gas stations beautiful buildings.

Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 9:21 PM

6

Is this the random thread? Hey Lean Diggy Doggy!

Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 10:56 PM

7

Los Alamos is at an elevation of over 7300 feet and rarely gets "very hot" even in the summer.

Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 11:04 PM

8

Wow, I kind of adore the song in 6. Also I love that that drag queen is rocking a mustache.

Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 11:07 PM

9

Comity!

Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 02-23-11 11:11 PM

10

I really don't get the Feynman worship thing. I accept that he was a great physicist. But as far as I can see, in person he comes over as a bumptious rude jerk who wasn't as funny as he thought he was. Like Newton, really. Should have stuck to writing in learned journals.

Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 1:09 AM

11

10: He became a folk here the day he deliberately undermined the whitewash of the Challenger disaster at a press conference, by doing an experiment that showed that part of the equipment wouldn't properly function at low temperatures.

Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 2:21 AM

12

11. yeah, that's fine. file that under "I accept he was a great physicist". If you want, he was a great physicist with solid social conscience. But in his personal writings he comes across as the sort of mouthy sleazeball who causes people to start looking for their coats when he turns up at parties.

Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 2:41 AM

13

9.last: As in Sir Isaac? I didn't know he thought he was funny. (Of course I don't actually know anything about him other than the (presumably apocryphal) apple story.)

Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 3:14 AM

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13. I don't think Sir Isaac thought he was funny. but almost everybody who knew him (apart from Christopher Wren, who got on with everybody) thought he was an overbearing tosser. Sorry I didn't phrase 9 very well, it wasn't intended for the ages.

Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 3:18 AM

15

But as far as I can see, in person he comes over as a bumptious rude jerk who wasn't as funny as he thought he was. Like Newton, really.

Given that Feynman (unlike Newton) was very popular with both his colleagues and his students, it's possible that he was a nice guy who just came across badly in his personal writing. When you say "in person" you probably mean "in his books" because (I assume) you never met the man.

Posted by: ajay | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 3:33 AM

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15. Yes, that is true, and I suppose your interpretation may be correct, at least if you had the right chromosomes.

First result for Google "Feynman women".

Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 3:42 AM

17

16: I knew he tried the direct approach, but I had no idea he was a PUA.

Posted by: togolosh | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 7:39 AM

18

Obligatory SMBC comic:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2103

Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 02-24-11 11:16 AM