Friday Links

Why are superheroes always on trial? Above, you’ll find the cover of The Trial of Thor, published not so long ago in 2009. Why, pray tell, was the God of Thunder put on trial?  Summarizes the website Comicvine: “Did Thor snap? After an epic battle against the Frost Giants, the Thunder God is accused of murdering innocent Asgardians. It sounds impossible . . . except that Balder the Brave is an eyewitness to the carnage. Did the mayhem and stress of war finally push even the greatest of heroes over the edge?” We hope that Thor’s defense attorney subjected Balder the Brave to a vigorous cross examination; we suspect that there is some good impeachment material there, after all. Although we’ve not yet read the volume, we suspect Thor escaped severe punishment. (To see our coverage of “The Trial of Superman,” see here, here, here, and of course, here).

As you know, we here at Abnormal Use are huge, huge nerds.  This is why we couldn’t resist sharing this article from Mental Floss entitled “Alternate Histories: 7 More Ways the World Could Be Completely Different.”

Friend of the blog Walter Olson, of the Cato Institute and the famed Overlawyered blog, visited and spoke to students at the University of South Carolina this past week.  See here for some Facebook coverage of that event.

What does the canceled 2002 science fiction television show “Firefly” teach us about contract law?  Josh Gililands answers that question. “Firefly,” as you may recall, was a television series created by Joss Whedon, the same auteur responsible for TV’s “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and this year’s The Avengers.  We’re not sure what he knows about contract law, but oh, well. (Hat tip: friend of the blog Dan Loyd).