It’s a funny thing, I’m pretty sure that my politics and his politics are fairly far apart in some areas, but I have to admit that he would’ve been a lot of fun to spend an evening with, having drinks around a table somewhere… :-)
He reminded me of a guy that I used to know when I was in the Navy. I was third class or possibly a second class Petty Officer at the time, and he was a first class. He had a funny, different way of looking at things.
For example, there was one time we got on an elevator full of people. Everyone usually goes to the back of the elevator, turns around, and looks towards the door or the floor indicator above the door. He got on and stood there facing everyone as the door closed behind him. It was instantaneously funny and amazing. People got really kind of uncomfortable with this odd breach of elevator protocol and began appearing nervous. It was weird, yet hilarious. It was as if they all had the feeling that they might have ants walking up their pant legs.
Another time, he and I were in a mall, and we went into a shoe store because I needed some sneakers. When I paid, he asked the cute young girl behind the counter if it was possible to buy just one shoe. She said she didn’t think so, and said “Why would you need to?”
He replied “What if I only had one leg?”
She paused and furrowed her forehead, then said “Well, I guess you would have to find someone who was missing the other leg, and you could split the cost...”
and so on. I thought it was amusing.
When were on the ship, we were completely bored one day, and he began hitting his head against the padded steel bulkhead while saying “I’m not crazy...I’m not crazy...” and all of a sudden he had a little stream of red blood running down his balding forehead.
Apparently, one of the “buttons” on the bulkhead padding (which had the appearance of a quilted chair with buttons that puckered the fabric) had fallen off, and all that remained of it was a little sharp metal clip that must have been hidden right below the surface of the canvas quilting, and when he playfully bumped his head against it, it poked through and cut him. He said when they asked him in sick bay how he cut it, he said “I was banging my head against the wall while I told everyone I wasn’t crazy...”
Heh, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall...:) Anyway, there is some weird quirkiness about Feynman that reminded me of this guy.
Yeah I think the same thing. There was this woman I used to work with. She was a liberal atheist that drove a hybrid. She and I used to have the best discussions, almost as interesting as the lesbian artist I used to hand out, but that is a story for a different time.