Today is not actually our blog’s third birthday: it’s tomorrow. But as you know, every Friday for the last three years, we’ve offered your our sardonic and fun Friday Links. So, today (and really, only because it’s the first week of the new year and we aren’t yet into the swing of things), we indulge ourselves in a bit more nonsense with this fully separate (and early) post.

What to say on our third birthday? Well, we made it past the terrible twos.  That’s a good thing, right?

This year, we would like to try to take things to the next level here at Abnormal Use. Last year, we turned a few pop culture fixations of ours into week long commemorations of film anniversaries.  (Those, of course, were the 20th anniversaries of both A Few Good Men and My Cousin Vinny.).  We also offered you a week’s worth of posts on practical legal education and the benefits thereof. We continued to bring commentary on the latest cases and developments in products litigation.  This year, we would like continue that trend and offer some intriguing reading material for you.

We’ve just got to figure out what that will be.  Don’t worry; we’re working on it.

By the way, depicted above is the cover of Mickey Mouse Birthday Party #1, published way, way back in 1953.  Look at it closely. It may be the creepiest thing we’ve ever seen.

To see our first and second birthday posts, click here and here.

Recently, I had a great conversation with the executive director of a facility that processes wastewater. Inevitably, the conversation turned to the scandalous parts of his job. So, I asked, ever find anything unusual in this stuff? Of course he had. Blah, blah, blah, alligators, turtles, et cetera. The usual. Here’s what he’s also found: chemical evidence of illegal drug use. Which only makes sense, right? People are going to take drugs, excrete waste, and their excrement will contain evidence of the habit. Very interesting.

Here’s where the story takes a turn for the disturbing. It’s something I never thought about, and maybe you haven’t, either.

What about prescription drugs? Ever dumped any leftover prescription pills into the toilet? Know anyone that has? How about all the folks who take prescription pills on a daily basis and then use the bathroom? You know who that describes? Literally everyone. Regardless of the manner of entry, the chemical remnants of prescription drug use end up in the water supply.

Here’s the bad news: almost no locality does any pre-treatment for the chemicals in the water supply that would address this issue. Although government agencies are studying these circumstances, there is no published information on the ultimate effect of the consumption of chemical remnants on downstream consumers.  But if we’re taking bets on whether having chemical remnants of prescription and non-prescription drugs in your water supply is a good thing, I’ll take the under on that.

It’s probably just a matter of time before claims are brought against someone for this water supply issue. I say “someone” because it’s not entirely clear who claims could be brought against. It’s foreseeable that an individual would try to sue pharmaceutical companies, but there would be obvious problems with causation, among other issues. It’s also conceivable that a downstream individual or body politic would sue an upstream body in nuisance for the contamination of the water supply. But again, there would seem to be causation problems.

In any event, the immediate priority should be making sure that everyone has clean, safe water to drink.

Well, it’s now 2013.  How about that? We here at Abnormal Use are big fans of U2, so today always reminds us of the fabled track by that band, “New Year’s Day.” If you believe Wikipedia, this song – an anthem of many – was released as a single on January 1, 1983 – thirty years ago today – in conjunction with the band’s third album, War.

This got us thinking about songs of the New Year and the anniversaries of same.

“In The New Year,” from The Walkmen’s You & Me album, turns five this year.

“The New Year,” the lead track on Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism album, turns ten this year.

“New Year’s Prayer,” on the late, great Jeff Buckley’s posthumous Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk compilation album, turns 15 this year.

“New Year,” by the Breeders, and from their popular Last Splash LP, turns twenty this year.

Lastly, we direct you to The New Year, a band who in 2008, released a self titled album, which will soon celebrate its fifth anniversary.

Suddenly, we feel like making a mix tape. While we do that, we wish you a safe and merry New Year’s Day.