2/8/07: TrimSpa, Baby

In the “real news is always weirder than fiction” department:

Poor Anna Nicole Smith, hitched to a not-even-well-preserved geezer, done out of millions of bucks, suffering from the loss of her son to drugs and an undiscovered heart defect and the center of a paternity suit from two fathers who (for a change) want the baby, has died.

She takes with her the fortunes of TrimSpa, which used Smith’s built-in before and after show to sell dubious diet pills. Under investigation for fraud and with sales lagging, TrimSpa’s at least done the decent thing: they’ve taken their website down in favor of a brief obit for Smith.

After more than 350 years of getting out that ol’ first edition, Sweden’s Mail and Domestic Tidings, i.e., Post-och Inrikes Tidningar, became a cyber-only publication today. Claimed as the oldest continuously running newspaper in the world, it’s been around since 1645. Online-only usually signals a drastic (downward) change in fortunes for print publications, which is too bad.

I once hosted a dinner party at Fem Sma Hus, which I think is the oldest restaurant in Sweden, right outside the palace grounds in Stockholm. Wonder if the POIT’s restaurant critic reviewed the opening in 1651? (BTW, it’s a nice place for dinner, even if the ceilings are only 6 feet tall or thereabouts.)

Pollster Zogby International just released a survey showing that Arabs dislike US President George Bush. What a surprise. Next they’ll be telling us that children dislike dentistry without anesthesia. What a shocker THAT will be.

NASA’s trying to figure out how, after years of PR campaigns testifying to the unparalleled brilliance and stability of its best and brightest, i.e., astronauts, one of its astronauts not only jumped off the deep end, but apparently jumped off with jet engines flying and a loud Bronx cheer.

Captain Lisa M. Nowak, with a string of commendations, a bright happy smile on her official bio, working as one of those unflappable Mission Controllers, apparently snapped and went after her boyfriend William A. Oefelein’s lover. The details are all over the press, especially the nifty ones about wearing a diaper through the long drive to find the lady, so ’nuff said about that.

“No more iPODS!” screamed NY state senator Carl Kruger, as he proposed fining New York City pedestrians $100 for being caught using iPod or related MP3 devices, Blackberries and other such gadgets on city streets.

Kruger says he’s introducing the legislation in memory of two Brooklynites who were killed in separate traffic incidents involving MP3 players. No word yet on whether he also wants to ban eating hotdogs and hailing cabs, which probably result in more traffic deaths.

Share on Facebook

--