Richard Feynman's FBI Files Released

During the Cold War by cpu6502 · 2012-06-06 04:36 · Score: 5, Funny

The summary forgot this was during the height of the Cold War. Stuff like this doesn't happen today. The government wouldn't waste time doing a background check just because you flew to modern-day Democratic Russia.

hahahahahahahahahahahaaha
I kill me.

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Re:During the Cold War by i+kan+reed · 2012-06-06 04:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Nah, they'd already know what you were up to from having taped all your phone calls first.
Re:During the Cold War by Sarten-X · 2012-06-06 04:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

No, they wouldn't. Actual background checks take too long and return far too much information. Today, your visit is recorded in a database, correlated with the fact that your plane had held a suspected terrorist in its last flight, so the conclusion is that you must be the recipient of a secret package hidden inside your seat cushion. That's enough to get a GPS tracker on your car and addition to the no-fly list.

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Re:During the Cold War by betterunixthanunix · 2012-06-06 04:47 · Score: 2, Insightful

The government wouldn't waste time doing a background check just because you flew to modern-day Democratic Russia.
Now they just do it whenever you buy an airplane ticket?

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Re:During the Cold War by cpu6502 · 2012-06-06 04:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

>>> the conclusion is that you must be the recipient of a secret package hidden inside your seat cushion.
>>>That's enough to get a GPS tracker on your car and addition to the no-fly list
That's enough to get you thrown in jail without a right to trial under the NDAA which Congress passed by ~65% and Obama vetoed..... ooops, I mean signed. (I would have vetoed.)

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Re:During the Cold War by zlives · 2012-06-06 05:03 · Score: 2

"taped" reminisce nostalgic
Re:During the Cold War by w.hamra1987 · 2012-06-06 05:09 · Score: 2

The government wouldn't waste time doing a background check just because you flew to modern-day Democratic Russia
no, they would now do it if you flew to yemen or china

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Re:During the Cold War by davester666 · 2012-06-06 05:18 · Score: 1

Nope. If the investigation got to the same state today that it did back then, he would be declared an enemy combatant and rendered to another country for a little bit of information retrieval.

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Re:During the Cold War by crazyjj · 2012-06-06 05:29 · Score: 4, Funny

the NDAA which Congress passed by ~65% and Obama vetoed..... ooops, I mean signed.
Yeah, but he didn't WANT to sign it, see. Or, at least, that's what he says when he's running for reelection.

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Re:During the Cold War by nschubach · 2012-06-06 05:36 · Score: 4, Funny

Those damn mind control pens!

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Re:During the Cold War by colinrichardday · 2012-06-06 06:13 · Score: 3, Informative

The House passed it 283-136, which is over 2/3 (though the President could have tried to flip four votes to 279-140). The Senate voted 86-13.
Re:During the Cold War by IndustrialComplex · 2012-06-06 06:35 · Score: 4, Insightful

So? Veto it anyway. Make them declare themselves to be for the reasons that he vetoed the bill.

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Re:During the Cold War by ClioCJS · 2012-06-06 07:00 · Score: 1

nice of you to slip a Brazil reference in there ;)

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Re:During the Cold War by ClioCJS · 2012-06-06 07:02 · Score: 1

sick burn!

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Re:During the Cold War by Sqr(twg) · 2012-06-06 07:03 · Score: 1, Troll

I for one welcome overlord Obama's new right to throw anyone in jail that displeases him.
Re:During the Cold War by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 07:10 · Score: 1

No they do it on pretty much everything now.
My sister-in-laws father bought her a new car, and while it was being put in her name, SHE had her 'profile' ran to make sure she wasn't a)terrorist , b) illegal, c) terrorist .. I assume it was for registration purposes. Essentially, any and all means with which your name has to go through a state registry, will get your name passed through the DHS database now.
And all of that was before they tried persuading her to fill out the 'credit app', though not for an actual credit application, since her dad was buying the car. She was just short of leaving the dealership in frustration, without a car, but the finance guy ripped the 'credit app' in half to make sure they couldn't run a credit check on her, which would essentially have been illegal at the time. Apparently the fine for the dealership for that, is only a couple grand... Kinda low, if you ask me.
Re:During the Cold War by cpu6502 · 2012-06-06 07:11 · Score: 2

283 out of 435 is only 65%, not 66.7%. AND if the President vetoed the bill, I bet almost all the Democrats would have switched their "ayes" to "no" on the override vote, which would give approximately 200-219 and fail.
Then it would go back to committee, the jailtime-without-trial clauses removed, and the NDAA v.2 passed. (Of course the reason Obama didn't veto the vote is because he ASKED those two senteces to be added. He wanted them there.)

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Re:During the Cold War by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 07:18 · Score: 1

I know my penis makes me do things I regret, his probably has even greater control, you know, seeing how he's half bla... Oh, pens... Foiled by lysdexia yet again!
Re:During the Cold War by crazyjj · 2012-06-06 08:06 · Score: 3, Funny

Well, I'm sure that removing the few restrictions that corporations have on them and letting them do whatever they want, with absolutely NO ONE to stop them will make everything better. Certainly that's a better idea that trying to actually fix the government so it's NOT owned by the corporations.

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Re:During the Cold War by Yvanhoe · 2012-06-06 09:52 · Score: 1

I'll leave this here : Information Awareness Office

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Re:During the Cold War by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 11:57 · Score: 1

Nah, they'd already know what you were up to from having taped all your phone calls first.
Your wife called. Pick up milk on the way home.
rgds,
your friendly FBI wiretapper.
Re:During the Cold War by colinrichardday · 2012-06-06 14:03 · Score: 1

OK, President Obama could also have worked on the representatives who didn't vote. An override requires 2/3 of the vote, not 2/3 of the representatives (290).
Re:During the Cold War by colinrichardday · 2012-06-06 14:05 · Score: 1

Isn't that what I implied? He didn't even try.
Re:During the Cold War by 0111+1110 · 2012-06-06 14:33 · Score: 1

You do realize that a lot of Libertarians, myself included, are anti-corporation. If I were voted dictator the first thing I would do is outlaw them. Also Corporations in their current form couldn't exist without a government. Similar to copyrights and patents. I only found out recently that plants are patentable. It's governments that make such things possible.

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Re:During the Cold War by cpu6502 · 2012-06-07 03:06 · Score: 1

The Authorization for Use of Military Force doesn't give a president power to overrule the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights. It doesn't give the president power to arrest Americans and toss them in jail for years-and-years without a right to trial. BUT the NDAA does..... which is why it's dangerous. And why a judge recently suspended those two sentences.
You sound like the idiots who in the 1910s or 1940s said, "Oh it's okay for Wilson (or FDR) to toss the Suffragettes (or japanese) into jail indefinitely without a trial." NO. No it isn't. Please stop defending presidents (Wilson, FDR, Bush, Obama) who violate the Supreme Law of the land..... the constitution and Bill of rights.
The reason tyrants succeeded was because of useful idiots who sat by and said, "Oh President Adolf is doing nothing wrong. He's just relocating the jews to a new home in poland." In other words: Dumb asses.

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Re:During the Cold War by lsatenstein · 2012-06-07 23:04 · Score: 1

the NDAA which Congress passed by ~65% and Obama vetoed..... ooops, I mean signed.
Yeah, but he didn't WANT to sign it, see. Or, at least, that's what he says when he's running for reelection.
So now the USA can kidnap foreign nationals, bring them to Guantanamo, and forget that they have the person, until someone squeeks out.

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Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada

surely they're joking by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 04:38 · Score: 5, Funny

surely they're joking

Re:surely they're joking by blind+monkey+3 · 2012-06-06 04:54 · Score: 3, Funny

stop calling me Shirley

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BM3
Re:surely they're joking by ldobehardcore · 2012-06-06 05:16 · Score: 1

Taste the WHOOSH

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Re:surely they're joking by avandesande · 2012-06-06 05:16 · Score: 3, Informative

I will help you along...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surely_You%27re_Joking,_Mr._Feynman!

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Re:surely they're joking by PPH · 2012-06-06 05:30 · Score: 2

What do you care what other people think?

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Re:surely they're joking by nschubach · 2012-06-06 05:39 · Score: 1

Does it come in grape?

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Re:surely they're joking by treeves · 2012-06-06 06:24 · Score: 1

Yeah, surely it was his failed attempt to get to Tuva that should have raised the real big red flag!

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Re:surely they're joking by mcgrew · 2012-06-06 07:02 · Score: 1

The woosh is on you, son. You never saw Police Squad?

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Re:surely they're joking by ldobehardcore · 2012-06-06 07:11 · Score: 1

While I do understand the Police Squad reference, I am absolutely sure original joke was in reference to the eponymous phrase of the book: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" the story of which I find funnier as a matter of opinion.

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Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
Re:surely they're joking by blind+monkey+3 · 2012-06-06 07:41 · Score: 1

Never waste a perfectly set up surely, Shirley!

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BM3
Re:surely they're joking by blind+monkey+3 · 2012-06-06 12:25 · Score: 1

I do know about adventures - the intention was a joke feeding off of a joke.

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BM3
Re:surely they're joking by VanessaE · 2012-06-06 15:33 · Score: 1

When I see references like this, I am reminded of Airplane! (which predates Police Squad by 2 years). Of course both feature Leslie Nielsen, so there you go.
"Surely you can't be serious."
"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley."
Re:surely they're joking by ZPO · 2012-06-06 15:58 · Score: 1

No they're serious, and don't call me Shirley.
Re:surely they're joking by mcgrew · 2012-06-07 02:26 · Score: 1

You're right, it was in Airplane first.

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So who wrote that letter? by Animats · 2012-06-06 04:39 · Score: 5, Interesting

The interesting question is, who wrote that letter? Not an FBI agent; an FBI agent wouldn't write to Hoover directly, outside of channels. That came from some outside source with a political agenda. But the source has been "redacted".

Re:So who wrote that letter? by timeOday · 2012-06-06 04:50 · Score: 1

Sounds like a co-worker, doesn't it?

And indeed, the letter's author (whose name has been redacted) laid out an interesting case for Feynman-as-secret-agent, citing his analytical mind, film-developing prowess, code breaking techniques and his well-known fascination for lock picking. The latter was a skill he regularly showed off at Los Alamos, to the chagrin of more security-minded scientists.

Probably it was one of those "more security-minded" scientists.
I say, there's a grain of truth to it. You can never be a sure a free thinker will come to the conclusions you want.
Re:So who wrote that letter? by The+Mister+Purple · 2012-06-06 05:17 · Score: 5, Insightful

I find it funny that the term "security-minded" is used when describing the scientists upset by Feynman's lock picking, when the impression I got from reading his memoirs and biography was that he was not concealing it and was indeed pointing out security vulnerabilities at Los Alamos. He was able to open a colonel's office safe using the default combination, if I recall correctly. After all, it's not like Feynman was letting the Germans or Japanese know about the weakness of the locks, let alone about the existence of the Manhattan Project. It's basically the same problem as seen in computer security today: people who point out vulnerabilities in a non-destructive way still get criticized (or worse, ignored).

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"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
Re:So who wrote that letter? by PPH · 2012-06-06 05:28 · Score: 4, Insightful

Possibly someone like Klaus Fuchs. Secrets are being leaked. Counter intelligence is certain to find out and come looking for an insider source. Better to divert attention towards a plausible suspect than have them spot you.
Law enforcement (in general) seems to develop a theory of a crime and then go looking for supporting evidence rather than keeping an open mind. So if you give them a plausible hypothesis, they'll stop their wider investigation. Its an old trick and still works quite well.

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Re:So who wrote that letter? by Daniel+Dvorkin · 2012-06-06 05:29 · Score: 4, Insightful

I find it funny that the term "security-minded" is used when describing the scientists upset by Feynman's lock picking, when the impression I got from reading his memoirs and biography was that he was not concealing it and was indeed pointing out security vulnerabilities at Los Alamos.
"Security-minded" people always hate it when holes in their security systems are pointed out. It's practically a law of nature.

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Re:So who wrote that letter? by The+Mister+Purple · 2012-06-06 05:59 · Score: 1

Sad, but true.

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"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman
Re:So who wrote that letter? by tqk · 2012-06-06 06:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

The interesting question is, who wrote that letter?
I doubt that really matters (but from a cursory read of the redacted FBI notes, I'd guess it was a woman). Everyone was encouraged to be suspicious of everybody else. I'd be surprised if no-one had bothered to point a finger at him.
Feynman was an oddball iconoclast and would have stood out as fairly strange at anytime. His wife divorced him because he was constantly solving calculus problems even while driving, and flew into violent rages (including choking her) when she interrupted him during it or while he was playing the drums. He made a habit of tweaking the noses of censors and the security people, for fun.
Back then, if you weren't a frothing at the mouth Commie hater like Curtis LeMay or Edward Teller, you looked suspicious, and the US' security apparatus at the time was encouraged to be nutbar paranoid. Look at what happened to Oppenheimer. This was the McCarthy era. Read Vasilli Mitrokhin's history of the KGB, and you'll see the Soviets were practically level-headed sensible in comparison. Besides, there was a large contingent of scientists who thought the whole thing should end once the Nazis were beaten. Feynman was just the village oddball (and a terrific physicist).
Tuva, or bust!

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"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
Re:So who wrote that letter? by blueg3 · 2012-06-06 08:02 · Score: 1

His wife divorced him because he was constantly solving calculus problems even while driving, and flew into violent rages (including choking her) when she interrupted him during it or while he was playing the drums.
His second wife. His first wife died of TB. His third marriage was happy and lasted until he died.
Re:So who wrote that letter? by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 10:23 · Score: 1

Oh ....so.... you know how the world works...
Guards, seize this man.
Re:So who wrote that letter? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 12:16 · Score: 2, Informative

We were gathered together to discuss a
report that was in the fella's safe -- a secret safe -- when suddenly he
realized that he didn't know the combination. His secretary was the only one
who knew it, so he called her home and it turned out she had gone on a
picnic up in the hills.
While all this was going on, I asked, "Do you mind if I fiddle with the
safe?"
"Ha, ha, ha -- not at all!" So I went over to the safe and started to
fool around.
They began to discuss how they could get a car to try to find the
secretary, and the guy was getting more and more embarrassed because he had
all these people waiting and he was such a jackass he didn't know how to
open his own safe. Everybody was all tense and getting mad at him, when
CLICK! -- the safe opened.
In 10 minutes I had opened the safe that contained all the secret
documents about the plant. They were astonished. The safes were apparently
not very safe. It was a terrible shock: All this "eyes only" stuff, top
secret, locked in this wonderful secret safe, and this guy opens it in ten
minutes! Of course I was able to open the safe because of my perpetual habit
of taking the last two numbers off. While in Oak Ridge the month before, I
was in the same office when the safe was open and I took the numbers off in
an absent-minded way -- I was always practicing my obsession. Although I
hadn't written them down, I was able to vaguely remember what they were.
First I tried 40-15, then 15-40, but neither of those worked. Then I tried
10-45 with all the first numbers, and it opened.
A similar thing happened on another weekend when I was visiting Oak
Ridge. I had written a report that had to be OKed by a colonel, and it was
in his safe. Everybody else keeps documents in filing cabinets like the ones
at Los Alamos, but he was a colonel, so he had a much fancier, two-door safe
with big handles that pull four 3/4-inch-thick steel bolts from the frame.
The great brass doors swung open and he took out my report to read.
Not having had an opportunity to see any really good safes, I said to
him, "Would you mind, while you're reading my report, if I looked at your
safe?"
"Go right ahead," he said, convinced that there was nothing I could do.
I looked at the back of one of the solid brass doors, and I discovered that
the combination wheel was connected to a little lock that looked exactly the
same as the little unit that was on my filing cabinet at Los Alamos. Same
company, same little bolt, except that when the bolt came down, the big
handles on the safe could then move some rods sideways, and with a bunch of
levers you could pull back all those 3/4-inch steel rods. The whole lever
system, it appeared, depends on the same little bolt that locks filing
cabinets.
Just for the sake of professional perfection, to make sure it was the
same, I took the two numbers off the same way I did with the filing cabinet
safes.
Meanwhile, he was reading the report. When he'd finished he said, "All
right, it's fine." He put the report in the safe, grabbed the big handles,
and swung the great brass doors together. It sounds so good when they close,
but I know it's all psychological, because it's nothing but the same damn
lock.
I couldn't help but needle him a little bit (I always had a thing about
military guys, in such wonderful uniforms) so I said, "The way you close
that safe, I get the idea that you think things are safe in there."
"Of course."
Re:So who wrote that letter? by grep_rocks · 2012-06-07 00:37 · Score: 1

Teller?

Sleeper agent? by T.E.D. · 2012-06-06 04:41 · Score: 4, Funny

Wouldn't a Theoretical Physicist (not under government contract) make a really crappy "sleeper agent"? When you activate him, what is he going to do, change Relativity?

Re:Sleeper agent? by DigiShaman · 2012-06-06 04:47 · Score: 1, Insightful

Divulge nuclear secrets that would otherwise provide America an upper hand in the nuclear arms race. Essentially, something close to another Klaus Fuchs.

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Re:Sleeper agent? by vlm · 2012-06-06 04:48 · Score: 1

The weird part of it is his life was much more classified when he was young. All his anecdotes about the Manhattan project, etc.
Once he got older, there's not much he can do ... directly.
On the other hand, numerous students of his probably went on to some interesting projects, and maybe he was politically advising them in addition to academically advising them...

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Re:Sleeper agent? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 04:50 · Score: 1

I imagine Dr. Breen thought similarly and we all know how that turned out...
Re:Sleeper agent? by betterunixthanunix · 2012-06-06 04:58 · Score: 1

He might have friends who are working for the government, and who might not suspect that a colleague would steal their papers.

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Palm trees and 8
Re:Sleeper agent? by Dexter+Herbivore · 2012-06-06 05:00 · Score: 3, Insightful

Divulge nuclear secrets that would otherwise provide America an upper hand in the nuclear arms race. Essentially, something close to another Klaus Fuchs.
Alternatively, be in a position of trust to be able to recruit young and impressionable 'up and coming' physicists that might have better access to the current cutting edge military tech than he would have. The USSR already had most of the data from his generation, so using him to run a next generation network makes sense.
Re:Sleeper agent? by T.E.D. · 2012-06-06 05:07 · Score: 1

But if he's not working under Government contract, he's going to do that anyway. They call it "publishing".
Re:Sleeper agent? by DigiShaman · 2012-06-06 05:13 · Score: 1

And the Government has a propensity for "publishing" bullets. It doesn't make it right, but it's been known to happen. And as they say "May you live in interesting times". Well, actually not. But you know what I mean.

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Life is not for the lazy.
Re:Sleeper agent? by pseudofengshui · 2012-06-06 05:55 · Score: 3, Funny

Wouldn't a Theoretical Physicist (not under government contract) make a really crappy "sleeper agent"? When you activate him, what is he going to do, change Relativity?
Theoretically.

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[Text goes here]
Re:Sleeper agent? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 07:36 · Score: 2, Insightful

...so using him to run a next generation network makes sense.
Only on Slashdot would someone post this and get moderated Insightful. If you wonder where all the paranoid people on the interwebs hang out, you've come to the right place...
Re:Sleeper agent? by tinkerton · 2012-06-06 08:24 · Score: 2

In any case since even Feynman himself didn't know he was a sleeper agent, the guys who were controlling him must have been pretty good.
Re:Sleeper agent? by RightwingNutjob · 2012-06-06 13:53 · Score: 1

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong. The KGB/FSB had two deep cover agents living in Cambridge, MA, whose only job seemed to be to rub elbows with students and faculty at Harvard/Kennedy. They were arrested two years ago after spending most of the 90's and 00's making friends and influencing people.
Re:Sleeper agent? by slew · 2012-06-06 19:39 · Score: 1

And then there was "sleeper" agent Anna Chapman... Hard to forget about that one ;^)
Re:Sleeper agent? by Zero__Kelvin · 2012-06-06 21:44 · Score: 1

Changing the reality of perception continues to be a "danger" today. There are many folks who don't want their Biblical world view being "attacked" by nasty facts and understanding. Many of these people are fine people, but they don't want you to convince anyone that the Bible might be wrong, since you would "obviuosly" be influenced by Satan and condemning droves of people to an eternity using Windows.

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Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun

FREEDOM!!! by narcberry · 2012-06-06 04:46 · Score: 1

More proof that if you have nothing to hide everything will be fine. Another success for team Freedom!imwatchingyou.

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Jelious co-worker. by bussdriver · 2012-06-06 04:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

Envious people cause a lot of trouble; especially when you provide them outlets to express such emotions.

Modern day witch hunts are no better, people exploit the idiocy of the time to their own ends. We've not evolved any, we just like to think we are better than people thousands of years ago.

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Re:Jelious co-worker. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 06:27 · Score: 1

No kidding.
These days it is pedo. You get even accused of being a pedo in the public eye, unless you are rich, your life is over even if you are innocent.
And then there is that malware just recent posted that locks computers and tells people to pay-up or they'll be reported.
Nobody even wants to be wrongly accused of being a pedo in the slightest.
So, for a person silly enough to get infected with viruses, you either pay up (if that even works, probably not), bin the computer and get a new one or grow the biggest set of balls on Earth and report it to the police and through some miracle not have yourself tagged as some child molester or some other nonsense.
And god knows how many cases we have seen come through here about people using actual child porn images to attempt to frame others.
Even though these people were proven innocent, their lives have essentially been ruined as far as anyone they have ever known cares, the place they live and possible employers in the future.
I think the only person I think I have seen stand up to any sort of questionable content was one of the guys in charge of Wikipedia standing up over the whole Virgin Killer Vs Internet Watch Foundation guidelines. (which are as prudish as it gets, nudity = porn, quite literally)
You could be claimed as a murderer, proven innocent without a shadow of doubt and nobody would give a damn.
Pedo and proven innocent in exactly the same way? They'll actually try to burn your house down with you in it. Probably.
It saddens me to exist in a society as awful as this where witch hunts like this still exist.
Say thanks to the nazi feminists and religious fruitcakes that regularly bring down society to its lowest levels.
Re:Jelious co-worker. by catsRus · 2012-06-06 06:45 · Score: 1

Exactly, the government was run by petty selfish morons then and still is now.
Re:Jelious co-worker. by mcgrew · 2012-06-06 08:32 · Score: 1

We've not evolved any, we just like to think we are better than people thousands of years ago.

Well, we probably haven't evolved physically; wait... yes we have. Europeans evolved the ability to digest cow's milk, for one. But societies have evolved greatly. We no longer have crucifiction or burning at the stake, for example. Technology has evolved to a huge extent as well.

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Re:Jelious co-worker. by walshy007 · 2012-06-06 11:46 · Score: 2

We no longer have crucifiction or burning at the stake, for example.

Why would you do that when shooting people in the head is so much less effort?
Re:Jelious co-worker. by mcgrew · 2012-06-07 01:16 · Score: 1

Shooting people in the head is far more civilized than torturing them to death. Still barbaric, yes, but an advance nonetheless.

--
Free Martian Whores!
Re:Jelious co-worker. by bussdriver · 2012-06-08 05:39 · Score: 1

Humans have not evolved. Culture, technology and other topics are not human. Put a baby from today in the past and they'll act no better than the rest of them (assuming they live and don't die of disease right away which could quite likely happen.)
Vengeance still exists every bit as bad as before but most modern societies (practically the definition of modern) so instead of wanting to crucify somebody society provides a different alternative for the exact same equally intense emotion - in the USA, still have the death penalty. In more civil societies they have accepted a lifetime in prison as being enough. Depending on the situation and how one views it, life in prison could be worse than burning at the stake. Victims may want more... if not restricted by society those who are unsatisfied would likely do the same things as in the past. Society and technology change the expressions to some degree but the human is still in there and this where Nurture influences Nature. This is why it makes sense to work at changing the culture over changing people because most people can not escape it (if they are even aware; and if they are there is a whole lot that is taken for granted as anybody who experiences culture shock should realize.)
There is a sound basis for cultural relativism and that is why it is still around despite it being uncomfortable and unpopular.

--
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news

the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by Trepidity · 2012-06-06 04:50 · Score: 5, Interesting

While the lockpicking hobby might've scared the FBI just in itself, more problematic to them was that he had used it in a "stole the atom bomb secrets" prank. He really did break into the safe that had the atom bomb secrets! But he didn't leak them. But: not everyone was sure of that.

Here's the story from an interview (from p. 51 in this book):

Interviewer: Is it true that you broke the Los Alamos security code and opened a safe containing top-secret documents? Then left behind a note that said "Guess Who?"
Feynman: When I was at Los Alamos one of my hobbies was to try to open safes and locks, a sort of locksmith-type hobby. Practicing opening locks, I at one point opened the lock of the safe that contained all the secrets of the atom bomb, and the whole business behind them. There were nine filing cabinets containing all the documents at Los Alamos. I opened three of them to check if they all had the same combination. I left notes in them to tell the guy that he shouldn't have locks with all the combinations the same, and stuff like that. And that I'd taken the documents out. And there were certain jokes in my notes. I was standing in the office there playing with the safes in the full light of day. The guy who was running the office was a friend of mine. And he was very upset when he found the safes had been opened. They probably changed the combinations after that.

Fortunately, FBI agents apparently were more reasonable even during the Cold War than they are in the War on Terrorism, because he'd probably be in jail for that prank today.

--
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10

Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by vlm · 2012-06-06 04:54 · Score: 4, Insightful

Fortunately, FBI agents apparently were more reasonable even during the Cold War than they are in the War on Terrorism, because he'd probably be in jail for that prank today.
Its not so complicated as an individual's judgment call, its simpler; back then we were the good guys. Not so much now.

--
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 05:38 · Score: 1

More likely that prank probably caused more laws to be passed, and penal codes to be updated so that he *could* be jailed now.
Eventually everything will be illegal, we're close to that point already, so then it will be at the discretion of the police whether to arrest you for breaking a trivial law.
Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by History's+Coming+To · 2012-06-06 06:34 · Score: 5, Interesting

He later revealed that they didn't change the combinations, instead they sent a memo out instructing that Prof. Feynman was not to be left alone with a safe. "Security by missing the point entirely" I believe it's called.

--
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by qubezz · 2012-06-06 07:27 · Score: 1

He didn't lockpick or jimmy the file cabinets, he made many guesses of what kind of combination might be used by those who administered the cabinets; the physicist that had set the combination had set them all to e.
Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by rastos1 · 2012-06-06 22:59 · Score: 1

... he'd probably be in jail for that prank today.
Jail? You mean like being away from his family for extended period of time and having letters being exchanged between him and his wife inspected by an agent?
Re:the lockpicking hobby was a bit more involved by Nehmo · 2012-06-07 01:24 · Score: 1

I though I was clever using that on my stuff. Pi is too juvenile, so what's left?. Should I change it? Na. I actually want it to be breakable by an intelligent like-minded person.

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(||) Nehmo (||)

Old school by Lumpy · 2012-06-06 04:57 · Score: 1

Today, the Gove will just put you on the "google Glass" beta test list, as a ubergeenerd you will wear them everywher in hopes of people oogling at you. yet you are feeding a steady feed back to CIA headquarters....

"Anything new on subject 47?"

"no sir, he made it to Moscow, but is spending all his time in the hotel room looking at Russian porn and it seems that he is shaking a lot."

--
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.

Re:Old school by spire3661 · 2012-06-06 05:22 · Score: 1

I really want a Google Glass (on my RX glasses) setup just so I can take pictures in places people say i cant. Sorry Mr. Tour Guide, its a medical device.

--
Good-bye
Re:Old school by The+Mister+Purple · 2012-06-06 05:29 · Score: 2

A bit off topic, but when I saw the number 47, I immediately thought of a bald assassin.

--
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." Feynman

Different era by rbrander · 2012-06-06 05:02 · Score: 4, Insightful

That was a whole different era; government was different, indeed, human nature was entirely different.

There is NO chance of another generation looking back at all the surveillance of every Muslim community picnic and shake their heads in wonder at our paranoia. All of our investigations are justified and wise.

Re:Different era by dkleinsc · 2012-06-06 05:09 · Score: 3, Insightful

To quote from a previous generation's songwriter, Tom Paxton:

I learned our government must be strong.
It's always right and never wrong.
Our leaders are the finest men.
And we elect them again and again.
That's what I learned in school today.
That's what I learned in school.

--
I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
Re:Different era by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 06:42 · Score: 3, Informative

It was? Probably the name Qian Xuesen wont ring a bell, but in the madness of McCartismthey did a lot of funny things, from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen):
"During the 1940s Qian was one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory[2] at the California Institute of Technology. During the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, the United States government accused Qian of having communist sympathies, and he was stripped of his security clearance[3] in 1950. Qian then decided to return to China, but instead was detained at Terminal Island[4] near Los Angeles. After spending 5 years under virtual house arrest,[5] Qian was released in 1955, in exchange for the repatriation of American pilots captured during the Korean War. Notified by U.S. authorities that he was free to go, Qian immediately arranged his departure, leaving for China in September 1955."
Of course, he was received in China with a ** big red carpet and sent straight to develop the Chinese program, no questions asked. And even afterwards, the evidence points that the guy never betrayed any secret (the Chinese rocket development started by a Russian model instead of cloning American design), so kudos for getting rid of a brilliant guy and export a missile program to a perceived enemy for free,

7 pages, typed... by tomhath · 2012-06-06 05:06 · Score: 1

... and very few typos or grammatical errors that I can spot. The author was obviously well educated and a good typist (albeit he had a crappy typewriter). Probably the Unibomber.

Re:7 pages, typed... by starless · 2012-06-06 05:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

Edward Teller testified against Oppenheimer's security clearance. Could he have been against Feynman as well?

Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 05:08 · Score: 2

Just the right wing's way of saying- "thanks for saving us from Hitler, you crazy science guys!"

Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 05:10 · Score: 2

Oh and I forgot about Turing.. that's right.. fuckin' faggot... the conservatives gave him just what he deserves, eh?
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by Asic+Eng · 2012-06-06 05:32 · Score: 1

What did they do to Heisenberg? Looking over his bio it doesn't seem he suffered anything terrible after Germany's defeat, and had quite a decent career post-war.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by b0bby · 2012-06-06 05:49 · Score: 2

Well, in 1952 there was a Conservative government in the UK (the first purely Conservative government since before the war); presumably they could have dropped his prosecution but didn't.
As a side note, Gordon Brown issued an apology in 2009, but David Cameron has ruled out a pardon.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 05:51 · Score: 1

Uh let's see. Conservatives think homosexuality is, variously, a disease, a sin, a perversion and at any rate virtually all conservatives agree such people are unworthy of equal rights before the law.
As a matter of fact this being against gay marriage is one of the platform planks of the conservative movement, with a very few notable exceptions, Olsen and Krauthammer amongst them.
And yes, this is unchanged from the 1800s. Why do you THINK they call themselves "conservatives" while their opposition calls themselves "progressives"?
Just land here did ya? Have a nice trip from.. whatever planet it is you're from ?
Oh I get it.....I get it... you think I that by me pointing out this well known material fact about conservatives I am somehow slandering them.
Well, I guess what they say is true. "Reality has a liberal bias "
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 05:53 · Score: 1

Fuck I was thinking Oppenheimer and I type Heisenberg . I blame this on reading material before me at the time of typing. .
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 06:04 · Score: 1

Who but a lib would even THINK of pardoning a man who lies with another man ?
"'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
-The Holy Bible, the unerring Word of God, as asserted by conservatives.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 06:13 · Score: 1

You get that all the calls on this thread to slaughter religious people and ban religion would effect nearly 100% of conservatives and anyway the anger is implicitly directed towards a distinctly conservative brand of proselytizing religion - both Islamic and Christian- and not, say the Zen Buddhist enthusiast down the road or even the peaceable Amish or Shaker Christian sects. I mean, you are capable of discerning the implicit cultural context in which we're all living... right?
I mean, if I was going to attack someone I would think to attack the people directly calling for my and my friends deaths before I attacked someone who was merely pointing out a truth known well to all.....
Oh... did I point out the identity relation between between Jihadis and their sworn enemies ? Jesus Fuck, I am sorry if I offended anyone.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 06:21 · Score: 1

Oh oh oh I get it now. You think that i should sit back and not even mock, sneer at, deride, shame and parody that segment of the American population who is deconstrcuting the basis Western civilization - science, rationality and the Enlightenment and dragging us back into the Dark Ages WHILE AT THE SAME TIME actively working to ensure that the whole cultural debate becomes moot when civilization deconstructing climate change - which BTW conservatives also deny- not is fully realized, but only becomes only a guaranteed certainty, at which point all mayhem breaks out as "the market reacts to the bad news..."
Yeah, we're all going to just continue to be nice and respect the opinion of others under that set of exigencies.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by Eponymous+Hero · 2012-06-06 07:57 · Score: 1

can i get a book name and verse number to verify?

--
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by Eponymous+Hero · 2012-06-06 07:59 · Score: 1

slow down, take a breath, you're hyperventilating and it's making you hallucinate.

--
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by metacell · 2012-06-06 09:18 · Score: 1

Why would conservatives feel slandered? There's nothing wrong with the 1800's.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 10:00 · Score: 1

Ahh what do I win when my opponent proves beyond all dispute that he's too stupid to know use how to use Google?
Leviticus 20:13 KJB
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 10:55 · Score: 1

One of these people you get notified had "added you as an enemy" no doubt.
Who does that? Who adds someone as an "enemy"?
If I had programmed the "add enemy" button, it would work like this:
1 "add enemy"
2 immediate dissolution of your account
3 follow up note saying "thanks, but you're not the type of person we want at Slashdot. Good day.
....note to self: add this Anonymous Coward fellow as an enemy.....
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by Eponymous+Hero · 2012-06-06 11:48 · Score: 1

stupid !== getting the guy who talks a bunch of shit to provide his own reference for you

stupid == believing god wrote the bible as opposed to many different, fallible human beings

(and if fallible human beings are god's instruments to write the bible, then god also wrote the quran, the book of mormon, the i ching, the necronomicon, every episode of general hospital, and the unabomber manifesto)

opponent !== one who wishes to verify a proclaimed "fact" rather than assume it's true on hearsay

why do you use bible quotes to start arguments?

Proverbs 26:20: For lack of wood the fire goes out, And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

Translation: don't start no shit, won't be no shit.

anyone can quote the bible to achieve their ends, you bible thumping idiot. i award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul.

--
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 12:00 · Score: 1

Yeah I guess my sarcastic use of the bible to mock conservative homophobia went right over your head.
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by drkim · 2012-06-06 20:07 · Score: 1

If I had programmed the "add enemy" button, it would work like this:
1 "add enemy"
2 immediate dissolution of your account
3 follow up note saying "thanks, but you're not the type of person we want at Slashdot. Good day.
You forgot:
4. PROFIT!!!
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 22:57 · Score: 1

Oh sure, it's all fun and games for people like us.
Meanwhile:

6/16/2012 8:33PM georgenh16 (1531259) has made you their foe.
Now what that a nice thing to do? What would Jesus do?
Re:Then there's what they did to Heisenberg by eriqk · 2012-06-10 23:40 · Score: 1

Indeed! Slavery, robber barons, severe pollution, genocide against indiginous peoples, what's not to like?

If he was a sleeper agent for some enemy by nedlohs · 2012-06-06 05:12 · Score: 1

then the US certainly for the best end of that deal.

Re:Noted! by Megane · 2012-06-06 05:14 · Score: 1

Note way!

--
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }

On the FBI files, Feynman would have asked . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2012-06-06 05:20 · Score: 1

"What Do You Care What Other People Think?"

--
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!

The pathetic twistiness of law enforcement minds by gestalt_n_pepper · 2012-06-06 05:26 · Score: 1

...shows up in the heavily redacted original documents. It would be funny, if the writer wasn't so unintentionally creepy and didn't take himself so seriously. It has the hallmark of an individual totally incapable of self-reflection.

--
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.

Tannu Tuva by fliptout · 2012-06-06 05:42 · Score: 5, Interesting

Feynman had a bit of an obsession with a small Asian nation called Tannu Tuva. He badly wanted to visit, and at the time Tannu Tuva was part of the USSR. As part of an arrangement with the USSR government, he would be allowed passage to travel there, but in exchange he would have to give some lectures in Moscow, I think.

Nova has a wonderful documentary about this, and it can be watched in its entirety on youtube.
The Last Journey of Genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4_40hAAr0/

--
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.

Re:Tannu Tuva by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 11:02 · Score: 3, Informative

Was he a pedo? Did he want to go there to bone the natives? Sex tourism? Seems shady to me...
I'm sure you're trolling, but... uh, no. Feynman happened to come across recordings of Tuvan "throat-singing", an obscure tribal artform. Tuvan singers figured out some kind of crazy vocal technique which allows one singer to produce two notes (bass and a falsetto high note) at the same time. Feynman became obsessed with it, and wanted to meet Tuvan throat singers. (This wasn't Feynman's only musical obsession. He had a lifelong passion for drumming, and got good enough as an amateur to perform in public a few times.)
Search the web, you can probably find some recordings on youtube somewhere (or just watch the documentary fliptout linked) -- Tuvan throat singing is strange and unique and beautiful.
Re:Tannu Tuva by drkim · 2012-06-06 20:13 · Score: 2

No, Feynman liked big, hot women:

...one very buxom woman came up to me and introduced herself. It turns out that she was a well-known stripper and actress in adult movies by the name of Candi Samples. When she found out that I studied physics she asked whether I knew a guy by the name of Dick Feynman. Yes, I replied,. I must admit I was rather astonished to hear his name in this connection. He is one of my biggest fans... she said.
Source: http://www.brew-wood.co.uk/physics/feynman.htm
He liked the strip clubs... http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=9351

Beautiful mind this is by pesho · 2012-06-06 05:56 · Score: 4, Interesting

You got to love the logic of the person who wrote the letter. The first thing that disqualifies Feynman as scientific adviser is:

Technical ability to review scientific data

And then there is:

Experience in formulating and laying out the groundwork for complex patterns of activity that extend well into the future

and

A practical aptitude for dealing with mechanical and electronic devices

The funny part is that this is exactly the kind of things that would send you to a camp if you were in the soviet block at that time. And people on the other side of the iron curtain were writing exactly the same letters but substituting 'communist' for 'imperialist'.

Re:Beautiful mind this is by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-06 08:01 · Score: 1

I like to think there's a nonzero chance that Feynman himself was behind the letter, and just never got around to telling the tale in his biography. I mean, what better way to yank the Man's chain, once you have picked all the locks and what not.
Re:Beautiful mind this is by Nehmo · 2012-06-07 01:35 · Score: 1

... The funny part is that this is exactly the kind of things that would send you to a camp if you were in the soviet block at that time. And people on the other side of the iron curtain were writing exactly the same letters but substituting 'communist' for 'imperialist'.
The US v. the SU, both with the most destructive weapons ever, but except for peripheral conflicts, there was no actual fighting. It was the greatest war in history.

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(||) Nehmo (||)

Any bongo playing genius will do by cvtan · 2012-06-06 07:09 · Score: 1

If you're a bongo-playing genius, you are either a famous communist spy physicist or Maynard G. Krebs.

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Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.

Re:So, did anyone else... by tqk · 2012-06-06 07:13 · Score: 1

But really, thinking of Stallman as some hacker sleeper agent locksmith god of the USSR is strangely kickass.

I'm reminded of the Dennis Rodman joke at the end of MiB: "Not much of a disguise."

--
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.

Surely someone is joking by cfulton · 2012-06-06 07:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

A sleeper agent who had the time and smarts to develop quantum electrodynamics. What government would put a physicist capable of winning a Noble prize in another country as a sleeper agent? Surely the Russians (who love physics) would rather have him as their noble prize winning physicist than working as a double agent in America. That is just crazy.
Are we sure the director of the FBI at the time wasn't some dress wearing conspiracy nut?

Feynman has always been my favorite Nobel prize winner. This just takes him up a notch.

--
No sigs in BETA. Beta SUCKS.

Re:Surely someone is joking by kaef · 2012-06-06 10:35 · Score: 1

The FBI director at that time certainly was a nut and he definitely used to wear dresses. I assume you knew that when you formulated the question.

Re:This Love by Eponymous+Hero · 2012-06-06 07:54 · Score: 1

pantera lyrics? why?

--
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT

Only the Good Get Arrested by ElijahBailey · 2012-06-06 08:15 · Score: 4, Interesting

I love that he did the right thing and alerted the government to the fact that Russia had requested he visit and asked for their guidance but they knowingly ignored his request just to investigate whether he would go. It's like they were lying in wait, hoping for him to screw up so they could slap him in chains and say, "Made my quota! America is safe from citizens who do the right thing once more!"

Comment removed by account_deleted · 2012-06-06 08:20 · Score: 1

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Maybe it was a cuckolded colleague by WOOFYGOOFY · 2012-06-06 10:26 · Score: 1

True Fact: Actually, Los Alamos was one big wife swapping party....

Plausible Inference: that's where we got the next generation of geniuses from.

Re:Maybe it was a cuckolded colleague by Fuck_this_place · 2012-06-06 13:53 · Score: 1

another True Fact: People fuck.

Atomic spy? by Sqreater · 2012-06-07 01:20 · Score: 1

He was also a roommate of Claus Fuchs, the atomic spy, during his association with the Manhattan project -- where Feynman liked playing "jokes" on his fellow scientists by picking the locks on their file cabinets and leaving classified documents on their desks. Ha Ha Ha. Some jokes. He loaned Fuchs his car many times. Not an indication of infamous activity, but, considering his perverse personality, who knows? He may have spied just for the "fun" of it.

--
E Proelio Veritas.

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Richard Feynman's FBI Files Released

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