If that Canadian professor had tenure at a U.S. university there is no way that he would have been fired over that stuff. The idea of tenure is that academia is the place for orthodoxy to be challenged. It is the place where old ideas are supplanted by new, better ideas, and the only concern should be for the quality of the ideas. The process of overthrowing orthodoxy usually offends many powerful people, and tenure provides a protection for those who would dare to offend. It looks like a protection for professors, but it really is a protection for the ideas, who after all cannot speak for themselves.

Of course, for tenure to work it has to offer broad protection, which means that people will always find ways to exploit it for other purposes. A jerk with tenure is hard to control. But the basic idea is that in a community dedicated to a life of the mind, we will accept those unintended effects of tenure for the sake of the ideas. For the sake of progress.

I will send the TSA to you guys when they want to know why I have bacon in my suitcase.

I don't think bacon is generally considered a weapon. Although maybe there is some concern about the if-you-let-me-fly-the-plane-you-can-have-some-bacon scenario.

If that Canadian professor had tenure at a U.S. university there is no way that he would have been fired over that stuff.

not necessarily. one of the few things that tenured professors can be fired for is misconduct. they might not win, but they have a decent argument.

I don't think bacon is generally considered a weapon.

No, but some of the organic compounds that could be derived from the nitrites they use to make bacon might be picked by the sniffers as explosive-like compounds.

That's a good bacon saftey tip.

A big block of frozen bacon might be used to bludgeon someone. And if you happened to dip a thin bacon slice into liquid nitrogen or hydrogen, you might end up with a sharp edge-weapon. (Not 100% sure about that last one - I might need to do some testing.)

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Wolfram!

I think liquid nitrogenized bacon would shatter on impact.

At least that's what happened to the armadillo I heard about.

one of the few things that tenured professors can be fired for is misconduct.

You can be fired for misconduct, but posting anonymous criticisms on a public web page would not rise to the level of misconduct that justifies revoking tenure. I mean, we might all think that the guy behaved badly, but that doesn't make it misconduct as the concept has been applied in universities. It pretty much has to be gross violation of your responsibilities to students, or faking data (in the sciences) or plagiarism (in the humanities). Even these things rarely result in dismissal. Spreading rumors about your colleagues? Standard. Finding ways to take advantage of new technology in doing so? The academic way.

Have fun Dana! I will be jealous of you the whole time you are gone. In good will, of course.

Hi David! ::waves::