Monday Strangeness

In composing my weekly "Go Read Blawg Review" post this morning, I mentioned the Carbolic Smoke Ball case in passing. That celebrated case is near and dear to the hearts of lawyers and law students everywhere. That's "near and dear" in the sense that mentioning it will generally prompt some murmur of recognition and perhaps a grin, not that said lawyers and law students would purchase framed pictures of the plaintiff in Carbolic Smoke Ball.

Or so I thought. When I Googled "carbolic smoke ball case" to find a representative link for the post, I discovered that there is a ready market for Carbolic Smoke Ball portraiture.

I was so surprised by that revelation that I toppled backward in my chair, knocking to the floor a package someone had left in my office, causing that package (which contained fireworks for some reason) to explode, and injuring a woman on the other side of the building. No, I'm joking about that, of course; please just disregard this entire Palsgraf.