Hello twenty_one,
Indeed it makes no sense, that's why it has me so baffled.
Here is a screenshot - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27963284/MessyColorsScreenshot.png
LR is in the background; The color managed applications Pale Moon, XnView and Windows Photo Viewer are to the left and at the bottom center, the not color managed ACDSee 32 v2.42 is at the right-hand side.
If anyone wants to try and reproduce, here are the source files - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/27963284/StrangeColors.zip