Sorry folks, but our sneaking suspicion that the Russian Painting was a ruse turned out to be right on target. Apparently the only thing insane about it was our willingness to postulate complicated medical diagnoses to an ordinary picture. Hmmmm . . . . I think that actually says a lot about us . . .
The Professor has deleted his two-day-old LiveJournal. All that’s left is an explanatory note by the original poster. Allegedly, somebody leaked the Professor’s personal data, including his phone number, and people started calling him and asking for the answer; some made threats. So, allegedly, he became angry and left, taking his secret into the grave offline.
At least that’s what the note says. The poster turned off the comments for that entry. He says that he, too, has been denied the answer. His nickname shaltai_baltai, by the way, is the Russian translation of “Humpty Dumpty”; and whether we believe him or not, this was certainly a great fall.
Did someone surmise in the comments that the painting was perfectly normal, but the Professor is, in fact, mad?
Thanks to VeryRussian.net for starting & stopping the insanity . . .