Comments on: Richard Feynman needs his orange juice

Richard Feynman needs his orange juice

chrismear — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:19:47 -0800

Richard Feynman needs his orange juice (via)

By: WPW

WPW — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:25:08 -0800

Someone get that man an orange juice! This is the best thing I've seen all week. My hat is off to you, sir.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:27:26 -0800

I love his accent. So hilarious and fitting. See also

By: ruthsarian

ruthsarian — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:30:51 -0800

I'd love to know when this was filmed. Couldn't have been more than a couple years before his death. What a character.

By: notsnot

notsnot — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:53:56 -0800

Holy shit that's golden.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:00:57 -0800

Feynman remade quantum electrodynamics—the theory of the interaction between light and matter—and thus altered the way science understands the nature of waves and particles. He was co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965 for this work, which tied together in an experimentally perfect package all the varied phenomena at work in light, radio, electricity, and magnetism. The other cowinners of the Nobel Prize, Julian S. Schwinger of the United States and Tomonaga Shin'ichirō of Japan, had independently created equivalent theories, but it was Feynman's that proved the most original and far-reaching. The problem-solving tools that he invented—including pictorial representations of particle interactions known as Feynman diagrams—permeated many areas of theoretical physics in the second half of the 20th century.

Nobel Prize link Feynman lectures on Physics Collection of articles/clippings by or about Feynman.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:06:20 -0800

This really illustrates that the best part about being Richard Feynman is that you can do WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU WANT.

By: RokkitNite

RokkitNite — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:09:32 -0800

Wow. I feel thirsty all of a sudden.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:12:37 -0800

The next time you ponder the eternal question of "How awesome am I?", you will have a convenient point of reference ("Not that awesome.")

By: substrate

substrate — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:15:30 -0800

I'd love to know when this was filmed. Couldn't have been more than a couple years before his death. What a character.

This was filmed less than a month before his death according to the comments. The guy who made the comment happens to be both the poster of the video and also the guy playing next to Feynman.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:21:59 -0800

I went across the hall to the vending machine for orange juice this morning. There was only apple, THREE DAMN SLOTS THAT USED TO HAVE ASSORTED JUICES now full of only apple. So I checked the vending machine downstairs. ALL THREE SLOTS FILLED WITH APPLE JUICE! Even in death, Feynman remains my nemesis.

By: generalist

generalist — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:31:40 -0800

Hooray! Thanks for this.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:35:35 -0800

Heh. The comments, for once, don't all suck. i heard a story about a woman who hated Feynman for some unknown reason who was trying to find a speaker for an event. She asked a friend of hers: Who'd be good for a lecture on theoretical physics? Richard Feynman No not him, how about on south american culture? Oh Richard Feynman spent years there. How about something on drumming? You'd probably want Feynman

By: DU

DU — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:36:56 -0800

OK fine, how about lock picking? Cruising chicks in bars? Oh forget it.

By: maudlin

maudlin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:37:34 -0800

It's just adorable that Mark E. Smith's dad is also so musical. "Gotta have a little bit of orange juice-AHH!"

By: dbiedny

dbiedny — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:38:03 -0800

Pure Wonderful. Thanks for posting that!

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:44:44 -0800

Needs more strippers.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:47:18 -0800

I heard he could fly.

By: davemee

davemee — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:48:56 -0800

Tragic that he died of a vitamin C overdose.

By: you're a kitty!

you're a kitty! — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:51:15 -0800

There is a reason this man is a legend.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:57:34 -0800

Feynman. Feynman. 12 stories high, made of radiation.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:56 -0800

Made me smile.

By: ObscureReferenceMan

ObscureReferenceMan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:19:10 -0800

I can't access YT from work, but I know this video (Gotta have my orange juice!). It's been a Feynman few days. Was talking physics with someone, and Feynman's name came up. Listened to a few a James Randi podcasts, and heard The Amazing say some great/funny things about him. Feynman was the man. That is all.

By: bluesky43

bluesky43 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:24:02 -0800

Surely, you're joking Mr. Feynman (if you are a Feynman fan or just curious, a great book) RIP (see the section on the Challenger Disaster)

By: kid ichorous

kid ichorous — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:36:00 -0800

Don't give it to him. He's building a bomb.

By: growli

growli — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:41:09 -0800

Don't give it to him. He's building a bomb. Feynman admitted that he made an ethical mistake by not reevaluating his involvement in the Manhattan Project once Germany had been defeated but before the Japanese surrender.

By: strangememes

strangememes — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:57:13 -0800

It seems clear that his mental powers are nourished enhanced by OJ. Imagine how much more powerful his mind would have been had he been drinking Simply Orange.

By: strangememes

strangememes — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:58:07 -0800

*nourished AND enhanced

By: kid ichorous

kid ichorous — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:03:38 -0800

By: Skot

Skot — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:11:36 -0800

From James Gleick's Genius:

"So we aren't any closer to unification than we were in Einstein's time?" the historian asked. Feynman grew angry. "It's a crazy question!...We're certainly closer. We know more. And if there's a finite amount to be known, we obviously must be closer to having the knowledge, okay? I don't know how to make this into a sensible question... It's all so stupid. All these interviews are always so damned useless." He rose from his desk and walked out the door and down the corridor, drumming his knuckles along the wall. The writer heard him shout, just before he disappeared: "It's goddamned useless to talk about these things! It's a complete waste of time! The history of these things is nonsense! You're trying to make something difficult and complicated out of something that's simple and beautiful." Across the hall Murray Gell-Mann looked out of his office. "I see you've met Dick," he said.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:12:16 -0800

My friends 5 year old daughter sings a song almost exactly like this. I figured she was kinda dopey, but now I see that I was misinterpreting her genius ways. She is clearly obsessing about the physics of superfluidity through the magic of singing and banging her hands on the table.

By: ZaneJ.

ZaneJ. — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:30:05 -0800

I looks like he's playing bongos with Jeff Foxworthy.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:31:27 -0800

Feynman was my childhood hero and it wasn't because of bongos or orange juice or his clever stories. It was because he was a genius. Even as a young kid I was aware of how much his work had transformed physics, of the crazy ideas he and his mentor John Wheeler were cooking up - of the effects of objects and radiation traveling backwards in time, getting just a bit closer to understanding what this abstract thing called 'energy' really is, his pioneering thinking on nanotechnology and quantum computers. Especially, for me, his path-integral formulation which is simply beautiful in its depiction of a Universe independent of Time, revising the causal framework of 'A causes B' He also had this talent for stripping away the non-essentials from complex idea and deriving the simplest and still usable isomorphic formulation. I am both pleased that his antics give him a wider audience but at the same time hopeful that they don't overshadow the substance of his work and life: He was a deep and radical thinker who opened up new doors, new pathways to understanding and unraveling some of the Universe's subtle ways.

By: trondant

trondant — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:33:43 -0800

Mmmmm, redneck physicists. Oh, the possibilities.

By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:46:26 -0800

Feynman admitted that he made an ethical mistake by not reevaluating his involvement in the Manhattan Project once Germany had been defeated but before the Japanese surrender. Yes, but "Don't give it to him, he's going to use it in a simple experiment to show that o-rings lose resilience at low temperatures despite repeated assurances from NASA to the contrary" is kind of a mouthful.

By: hollisimo

hollisimo — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:56:07 -0800

Oh man. Probably 20 years ago I saw a program on PBS about Feynman, which introduced me to the great physicist and sparked the fascination I've had for him ever since. This clip was part of that show and I've been searching for it ever since. I could never find it, so I finally decided I'd made it up. Richard Feynman playing the bongos and singing insistently about orange juice? Seemed more the product of my hazy memory than an actuality. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

By: jeffamaphone

jeffamaphone — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:58:05 -0800

I'd love to see the context for this. Who's the other guy? Was he always a drummer? What language did he start in? Was it just made up? What's his motivation? Who filmed this? So many questions.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:03:29 -0800

I do this every morning after getting out of bed. But seriously, this was awesome. Thanks!

By: RakDaddy

RakDaddy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:33:24 -0800

jeffamaphone, the guy on the left is Ralph Leighton, Feynman's friend and biographer. The clip appeared in a Nova documentary called "The Last Journey of a Genius," well worth tracking down. Feynman started playing drums when he was a visiting lecturer in Brazil; the story is including in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", also worth tracking down. And I think this whole segment is just Leighton and Feynman fooling around for the sheer bloody joy of it.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:20:25 -0800

CitrusFreak12 : I do this every morning after getting out of bed. Eponys... Ahh, you get the idea.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:49:23 -0800

davemee: Tragic that he died of a vitamin C overdose.

Tragic?! No, 'twas murder most foul... for indeed, he was poisoned by his old nemesis, Linus Pauling!!!

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:51:21 -0800

None living today shall perish ere Feynman is reborn in Tuva.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:08:51 -0800

They're supposed to be making a movie on the Challenger investigation with David Strathairn as Feynman, called Challenger. The fact that IMDB knows nothing about it perhaps doesn't bode well.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:01:29 -0800

Thank you, Chris, that was wonderful; it really added some spice to a gray day. I have played in small ensembles that like a great deal — even one time barely escaped arrest for same — and believe that the world would be a much better place if more Nobel Prize winners (actually, more people in general) banged on things and chanted gibberish. One note: Mr. Feynman was of course notorious as a bongo player, but — just like the time we were told to go away by the police — seems to be playing a conga in the video, not the bongos as reported.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:08:55 -0800

I can relate. *takes big swig of O.J.*

By: mk1gti

mk1gti — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:50:27 -0800

Watching that was pretty emotional for me, I never met the man but I met Ralph when he brought the Tanu Tuvan throat singers up the the U of Washington for a concert and later met Feynman's daughter at a talk she gave when she released the book on his letters. I still tear up when I watch that video of him talking about flowers and most especially his father, the way his voice cracks when talking about how much his father taught him, and most especially to be curious, to question and explore. Thanks for posting this, we need more Dick Feynmans.

By: John of Michigan

John of Michigan — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:52:46 -0800

There is no such thing as a lesbian. There are just girls who haven't met Richard Feynman.

By: spongeboy

spongeboy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:02:06 -0800

I've always thought Richard Feynmann and Murray Gell-Mann would make a great comedy duo. Feynmann is the crazy, tangental hippy, and Gell-Mann is the ultimate straight man. I want to see Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry do a comedy series as Dick and Murray respectively. Call it "The Odd Coupling" or "Strange Attractors" or "You can leave your hadron"...

By: mmoncur

mmoncur — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:05:04 -0800

That was great, I just finished "Tuva or Bust" and there's Feynman acting just like I'd expect him to act. I love how he starts with gibberish. Makes me wonder if he was really saying "orange juice" the whole time and I didn't understand, or if he was just making up syllables and decided they sounded like "orange juice."

By: Dillonlikescookies

Dillonlikescookies — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:11:26 -0800

sweet, i gotta new rickroll video.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:25:09 -0800

Doug Hofstadter, in a Post Post Post Scriptum to one of the articles reproduced in Metmagical Themas:

After I'd completed the P.S. and P.P.S., I ran into Richard Feynman at a conference. I reminded him of my lecture at Caltech three years earlier; his somewhat vague recollection of it was that it was "silly". I took that as a charitable way of saying that he hadn't seen any point to it. Which made me think that maybe his "village-idiot" stance was due to genuine puzzlement, and not just an act. I then told him, with a certain amount of trepidation, that in my new book I had humorously referred to his blunt way of answering all my analogy problems as "village-idiotic" a few times. Would this offend him? "Oh, no!" he said. "A while back, Omni magazine interviewed me, and on their cover they advertised it as an interview with the `world's smartest man'. I think it's good to counterbalance that—so now you're calling me a village idiot. That's fine. I think my mother would agree with you more than with Omni."

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:09:17 -0800

I've had this song stuck in my head all day, and it's been awesome. Being reminded throughout the day to think about Richard Feynman, and his pro-science, anti-honors, pro-uncertainty, pleasure of finding things out? Thanks, chrismear.