Our favorite thing about the cover of Mr. District Attorney #62 – published more than five decades ago – is not the magical villain our hero appears to be pursuing. It’s not the fact that the district attorney seems to be attempting to apprehend a criminal in the act rather than prosecuting him in court at some later date. Rather, it’s the fact that the police officer – who is a few steps behind the prosecutor – refers to him not by name but as “D.A.” There’s not even a definite or indefinite article preceding the term – just “D.A.,” as if that were his name. What gives?

Did you see our own Kyle White’s article on the reptile theory in this week’s edition of DRI’s Strictly Speaking? If not, check it out. Oh, and don’t forget, you can follow Kyle on Twitter here.

You like the ease and convenience of Netflix? You like vinyl? Well, of course you do. Who doesn’t? Well, you’ve got to read the recent piece by Michael Nelso at Stereogum on the perils of the “Netflix for vinyl” model which, apparently, violates the Record Rental Amendment of 1984.

Our favorite tweet of late comes from Lawyer Cat:

A coach on my son’s baseball team has been permanently banned by the league for screaming too much – at everyone. His job IRL? Lawyer.

— Lawyer Cat* (@LawyerCat_) May 14, 2015

Well, the annual DRI Product Liability Conference begins tomorrow in Phoenix, Arizona. Big news: We here at Abnormal Use and Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A. will be there in person, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Here’s how DRI describes this year’s event:

DRI’s Product Liability Conference is the premier event for attorneys, corporate counsel, and claims professionals who handle product liability cases. Join colleagues and friends at the luxurious Arizona Biltmore for a conference featuring knowledgeable speakers from inside the White House, the South Carolina Court of Appeals, America’s top law schools and product manufacturers, as well as top-tier trial lawyers as they discuss cutting-edge issues in product liability law. Find out what new cases and trends in the law will shape product liability litigation in the years to come, how to communicate quickly and effectively on behalf of a client involved in a crisis, where to score invaluable points while cross-examining an expert witness, and how to counteract the effects of the “reptile theory.”

What better place for a products liability blog to be? Our editor, Jim Dedman, will be attending, so if you see him, be certain to say hello!

Abnormal Use does not want to be accused of failure to warn, so here’s your warning: you might not want to read this post right after lunch. The FDA has issued a warning on the use of frozen mice sold for reptile food. (You may recall that we mentioned this very briefly in a previous Friday Links post, but you must have thought we were kidding.). Now, before you use your mouse to click directly out of Abnormal Use for the day, you might want to keep reading.

The contaminated mice, sold by Biggers and Callaham LLC, doing business as MiceDirect, may be contaminated with salmonella, a nasty little bacteria that can cause some very unpleasant symptoms. The FDA is warning those with compromised immune systems not only to avoid handling the rodents themselves, but also to avoid handling any reptiles who may have already consumed contaminated rodents. Some people have already reported symptoms.

So, if anyone in your family likes to cuddle with snakes, you might want to stop that practice. We think that might be a good idea generally, but even more so now.

A judicial candidate in Florida may not personally promote his or her campaign on Facebook, says the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee in a recent opinion. However, the opinion does note that a committee working on behalf of the judicial campaign may establish such a Facebook presence; it’s just that the judge may not do so in his or her own personal capacity. (Hat tip: The Legal Profession Blog).

Hold onto your hats: The Workplace Prof Blog informs us that a new edition of The Bluebook has been published. Ah, The Bluebook. It will forever remind of those halcyon law school days when we performed citation checks on articles assigned to us by our law review editors.

The Detroit Free Press has a great article about crazy statutes still on the books. (Hat tip: The Business Law Prof Blog). Our favorite? It is illegal in Clawson to throw a snowball. Someday, perhaps, we’ll do a similar analysis of South Carolina laws.

We hope this one doesn’t go to litigation. The DRI Blog has a post entitled “Frozen Reptile Food Poses Salmonella Risk to Snake Owners.” Yikes. We’re at a loss.

Overlawyered reports on the interplay between the ADA and South Carolina courthouses.