With no headphone jack, how can we purchase the new iPhone? This is an ethical dilemma indeed!

Our editor, Jim Dedman, has planned the Mecklenburg County Bar’s second annual Halloween CLE event. Called “Ghosts, Graves, and The Occasional Murder House: A Halloween CLE,” the event takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 19. For more information, please click here.

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the release of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” single.

How long has it been since you revisited our Stella Liebeck McDonald’s hot coffee case FAQ?

Yesterday, we published the second post in Stuart Mauney’s “12 Steps Toward Fulfillment in the Practice of Law” series. If you’ve not been reading it, we’d encourage you to do so. A new post comes each Thursday.

Yesterday, we ran “12 Steps Toward Fulfillment in the Practice of Law (Step 1),” the first of a twelve part series by our own Stuart Mauney. That’s right, a 12 part series! Come back each Thursday for the next two months and we’ll keep you posted.

Are we the only one’s that don’t hate Jefferson Starship’s biggest single?

Did you see that Lindsay Lohan’s lawsuit against the makers of Grant Theft Auto was dismissed? We previously wrote about the suit here and here.

Of course, we are saddened by the death of beloved actor Gene Wilder. We can’t even begin to speculate how many times we saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the 1980’s Just as Michael Keaton is our Batman, Wilder is our Wonka. Rest in peace, Mr. Wilder.

Believe it or not, but tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the release of Pearl Jam’s Ten, the band’s debut album which arrived in stores on August 27, 1991. Those were the days. More than a few of us here at Abnormal Use and Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A. have seen the band live over the years. We encourage everyone to spend just a bit of this weekend revisiting that album and its very fine songs “Alive” and “Black.” Early 1990’s alternative rock doesn’t get much better than that.

GWB attorney and current IADC President John T. Lay, Jr. was recently quoted in an article concerning a growing trend in the legal profession: Level Insurance.  If you’d like to read the article, please click here.

Don’t forget that you can follow us on Twitter at @GWBLawfirm! A number of our writers are also on Twitter, as well, including Jim Dedman (@JimDedman), Nick Farr (@NAFarr), Kyle White (@Kyle_J_White), and of course, Stuart Mauney (@StuartMauney).

One of us here at Abnormal Use is moving soon, and in light of that, our favorite tweet of the week comes from music critic Steven Hyden.

Owning vinyl is an excellent idea until you have to move.

— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) August 26, 2016

What did everyone think of that “Game of Thrones” finale last weekend?

So, according to The Onion AV Club, Apple “obtained a patent on technology that will disable your phone’s camera when it detects a specific infrared signal,” suggesting that those using their iPhone at a concert might be thwarted. Believe it or not, we addressed this very topic in a 2011 post entitled “On iPhones, Surreptitious Concert Taping, and The Future.” Are we prescient?

Although we love craft brewers, we are not ready for cookie dough beer.

We here at Abnormal Use and Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A. hope that you have a safe and festive Fourth of July holiday weekend. Try not to do too much billable work over the long weekend. In fact, try to enjoy the world a bit without worrying about work for a few hours.

We’re a bit puzzled by our favorite legal tweet of late, but we still keep trying to imagine the scene depicted therein.

I don’t think Boulder people are talking enough about the fact that someone really tried to smuggle an iguana into court yesterday.

— Alex Burness (@alex_burness) June 18, 2016

Okay, so as you know, the new X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse, see its release next week. The film’s bad guy is, well, Apocalypse, who you can see depicted on the cover of X-Factor #19, published way, way back in 1987. As we like to say, those were the day. Oscar Isaac of Ex Machina and The Force Awakens fame plays the title villain, so we have some faith that the movie will be a good one. Yes, we do plan to at least try to see it at one of the sneak previews next Thursday night. What else would we do?

Um, did you see the new teaser trailer for the new “Star Trek” television series?

Has anyone registered for the North Carolina Bar Association Annual Meeting, which takes place in late June in Charlotte? As he does each year, our own editor, Jim Dedman, will be attending (something which will be made far easier since the event takes place in his home city). We hope to see you there!

Speaking of Charlotte events, if you’re interested in learning more about “smart contracts,” the North Carolina Legal Geeks are hosting a free event next Thursday, May 26, right here in the Queen City. Attorney and legal hacker Tom Brooke will be speaking. For more information, see the event’s Facebook page here. (Note: One great part about the event page is the usage of Willie Wonka’s contract as the header image.).

By the way, that three disc Grateful Dead tribute album is out today.

Okay, so we here at Abnormal Use saw Captain America: Civil War last night, and we were wowed. Go see it, and if you’ve not been following the series of posts by The Legal Geeks on legal issues relating to Captain America, please see here.

Don’t forget! A week from today, our editor, Jim Dedman, speaks on lawyer blogging to the South Carolina Bar in Columbia, South Carolina. For more information, please see here.

The Southeastern Symposium on Mental Health will be held in Greenville, South Carolina next week on May 5-7, 2016. Our own Stuart Mauney will be presenting at the Symposium on “Occupational Hazard: When Doctors or Lawyers Get Depressed.” Stuart is a long time mental health advocate and frequent speaker on mental health issues in the legal profession. For more information, see here.

Next week offers us yet another Friday the 13th. Beware.

So, we saw Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice. Oh, boy. What a mess! Aren’t superhero movies supposed to be, well, fun? All we can say is that we really, really miss Christopher Reeve. Above, you can find the cover of Superman/Batman #14, published not so long ago in 2005, but long enough ago as to where we knew not of Man of Steel or this new Dawn of Justice film. Alas.

Our own Nick Farr was recently linked at Overlawyered, which saw fit to quote his piece on the recent Starbucks “fill to the brim” litigation. See here.

Rest in peace, Garry Shandling. In fact, our tweet of the week is from our editor, Jim Dedman, who offered this memory upon learning of Shandling’s death.

While studying screenwriting at @UTAustin in the 1990’s, my first spec script was an episode of “The Larry Sanders Show.” #GarryShandling

— Jim Dedman (@JimDedman) March 24, 2016

Bad news: They are making another Indiana Jones film. With Harrison Ford. To be released in 2019. Sigh. What an awful, awful idea (proven, of course, by the tone and tenor of 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Because we’re feeling a bit nostalgic, we direct your attention above to the cover of Indiana Jones #1, published way, way back in 1984. Those were the days, weren’t they?

So, we now have a SCOTUS nominee, Merrick Garland, to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. You may have read that somewhere.

Rest in peace, Larry Drake, the great character actor from “L.A. Law.”

Core rule of trial advocacy: the jury never thinks you are as funny as you think you are.

— Popehat (@Popehat) March 17, 2016

Don’t forget! If you are a South Carolina attorney, you must 2015-16 file your compliance report with the Supreme Court Commission on CLE and Specialization on or before March 1.

Remember that we have Leap Day on February 29 this year. Prepare yourself.

Are you following our law firm, Gallivan, White, & Boyd, P.A., on Facebook? If not, you can do so here. You’ll be able to keep up with all the news from our offices in the Carolinas!

Our favorite legal tweet of late comes from our editor, Jim Dedman, who recently attended the Hospitality Law Conference in Houston, Texas. It is self explanatory.

Um, I was told there would be no spider slides at the Hospitality Law Conference (@hospitality_law). #HLC16 pic.twitter.com/105DBDKyaY

— Jim Dedman (@JimDedman) February 24, 2016

So this weekend is Valentine’s Day. Yikes. We’re not quite certain what to say about that dilemma. However, above, you’ll find the cover of A Year Of Marvels: February Infinite Comic #1, published this very week! Why is Spider-Man carrying a box of chocolates as he fights the Vulture? That seems imprudent.

According to the film Ghostbusters II, the world will end this Sunday, February 14, 2016. Click here for the scene in question.

Our legal tweet of the week is self explanatory:

Just to be clear: If you write about a court decision, and you do not link to the text of that decision, you are a monster.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) February 8, 2016