Anna Nicole Smith and Child Porn Rings, What A Weird Day in the News By Mike Coughlin

There is something wrong in the world today. It's 16 degrees Fahrenheit yet it's sunny with blue skies. I just ate McDonald's yet I don't feel sick at all. My cell phone battery is almost dead but I just finished charging it. OK, maybe that last one isn't that weird but something is most definitely not right.

So I checked the news.

"FDA approves first over-the-counter weight loss pill." Maybe that's not so weird. But then I read a nearby headline: "Anna Nicole Smith dies." Is this a joke? The face of TrimSpa died the same day the FDA approved a weight loss pill. Obviously the pill is going to compete with TrimSpa's sales, but did she have to be so dramatic about it?

Could it be that someone said "Oh man, TrimSpa is dead," and she, famous for her intelligence, took it literally? In any case, this is not a good day for TrimSpa.

The real kicker is going to be when two people end up going to court over who gets her estate. For those who have forgotten, Smith made headlines years ago when she married an 89-year-old multi-millionaire (some people even suspect it was for his money!). Upon his death there was a drawn-out court battle over his money. Having people fight over her estate -- that same estate she fought so hard to get -- just seems like the right thing to do. Heck, it's almost paying her homage.

I wish the weirdness ended there. But it doesn't. This next one involves three news items, so try to stay with me. First: Astronaut sets U.S. spacewalking record. Second: Global child porn ring busted. I'll hold off just a moment on the third so I can explain these first two.

First, during a recent 6 1/2 hour spacewalk, Michael Lopez-Algeria reached a grand total of more than 60 hours walking in space, which is still short of the all-time record, held by a Russian, of more than 82 hours. This seems to have absolutely no relation to the second story. But according to BBC news "[The pictures] were believed to have been shot in Eastern Europe and uploaded to the web in Britain, posted on a Russian website hosted by an Austrian company." That's Russia twice now.

Probably a coincidence. Anything can have similarities if you look hard enough. But let's add in our third news item, which is really two-in-one. The missing piece of the puzzle: Michael Jackson. Not only is the inventor of the moonwalk being sued by a former lawyer -- yes, one of the lawyers that defended him in the child molestation suits -- but he has also hired a new manager, former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. So in the end, Michael Jackson brings us right back to the spacewalk, child porn and, with the Spice Girls manager, Britain (where the porn images were allegedly uploaded).

Friday the 13th can be the day of fear. Thursday the 8th is the day of weird.