Paul W. Smith: Ramblings from the Internet and beyond

“Outta’ My Mind on a Monday Moanin’”

■If you are reading this, we must have “dodged the bullet” (actually, the asteroid) that passed “close” by Earth over the weekend. The asteroid, named 441987-2010 NY65 (They’ve got to come up with better names !) was unlikely to hit Earth, but if it did, we might go the way of the dinosaurs, in that scientists say it would impact with a force 300 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. (Maybe it’s time to come up with a different comparative example.)

■How in the world did this “healthy” coconut oil fad get started? The American Heart Association can’t sit by anymore while they watch people load up on something that’s far worse for them then lard!

We know we are supposed to avoid saturated fat. Eighty-two percent of the fat in coconut oil is saturated, far beyond butter (63 percent), beef (50 percent) and the aforementioned lard (39 percent). Continue to use coconut oil to moisturize your hair and skin; keep using it on your body, cut back on how much you’re putting in your body.

■On the other hand, continue to use olive oil. The good news just keeps getting better. The latest Temple University research shows extra-virgin olive oil could protect against memory loss, preserves the ability to learn, reduces conditions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and eases brain inflammation.

■Strange: A judge has approved a Texas man’s request to change his name from Ernesto Baeza Acosta to Ernesto Trump. For just a $272 filing fee (in Texas, at least) you too can join the first family.

■Stranger: A Houston woman has undergone eight surgeries to look like first lady Melania Trump.

Paul W. Smith is host of The Paul W. Smith Show on WJR-AM (760) from 5:30-9 a.m. Monday-Friday.