Physics professor goes on rage in class One benefit of DL is that one doesn't need to deal with this sort of thing!
Here was a fun part of the story. In case you didn't read the article, nobody is dead. This place apparently uses a coroner to evaluate mental illness in the living. There's gotta be a good joke in there somewhere.
This story is kind of sad. Clearly this professor has psychiatric difficulties. I hope that they can be managed and that his career isn't ruined. I suppose that even with psychiatric problems, he might still be an excellent physicist. I understand that Isaac Newton behaved erratically in his later years (it's sometimes attributed to heavy metal poisoning from his alchemical experiments). And I seem to recall reading about a prominent 19'th century British physicist who was so shy that he rarely left his home and who was so afraid of women that he would completely avoid their presence. I don't know if DL would protect one from crazy professors and/or students, or just make things worse. Obvously they can't physically attack you through a screen, so you are safer that way. But we have all seen how the ability to hide behind a screen brings out the worst in many people. People who would be charming to your face will turn around and savagely flame you when they can remain hidden. So I can imagine all kinds of borderline personalities that can maintain a sociable facade, even if with difficulty, in face-to-face interactions, but who might lose it entirely when they feel that there are fewer repurcussions. I mean, just look at unmoderated internet discussion boards.
