Well, it’s that time again. Lots of interesting articles have crossed my path, but I can’t post or comment on all of them, so it’s time for another series of what I might call “Potpourri Posts”. Or maybe I should just call them “Post-pourris”?

(Suggestions for titles are invited.)

Out of Gas and Stuck in Space? NASA May Have a Solution

By Matt Peckham on April 26, 2011

You’re cruising round the moon, all engines go, having the time of your life, and then you notice your fuel needle’s jittering dangerously close to “E.” Tap-tap-tap, but no, it’s not stuck, and you’re about to discover how far past “E” the needle goes. What do you do?

_______________________________________

Messages in Bottles, by Adrienne Crezo

Will the ‘Age of America’ end in 2016?, From Peter Shadbolt for CNN

(CNN) — Is the “Age of America” drawing to a close? According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its demise as the leading economic power is five years away and the next president of the United States will preside over an economy that plays second fiddle to China’s.

REPORT: Fox Promotes Birther Myth In At Least 52 Segments, April 27, 2011 8:53 am ET — 135 Comments

A cadaver gets under her skin, By Shara Yurkiewicz, Special to the Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2011

A first-year medical student can’t help but wonder while working on an anonymous donor — who was this man?

_______________________________________

Inside the Cash Nexus: Diagnosing Economism, Part 1, Apr 26th 2011, 15:54 by M.S. (In “The Economist”)

… The cutting edge of human social development over the past 15 years has consisted of people in developed countries drifting away from the consumer mass cultural model built in the 20th century, and towards participation in essentially free new mediums of interactive social entertainment: blogging, Facebook and social media, and those weird flashmob dance events I understand the kids like to get up to these days. I thought I agreed with my colleague about all this. But I’m not quite sure that I know what my colleague thinks after reading his post on Paul Krugman yesterday:

“The most curious thing about Mr Krugman’s quasi-religious squeamishness about the “commercial transaction” is that it is normally the economist’s lot to explain to the superstitious public the humanitarian benefits of bringing human life ever more within the cash nexus.”

­­­­­­­­­­­­Microbiology labs linked to nationwide salmonella outbreak One death, 73 illnesses reported from clinical, teaching centers, CDC says

By JoNel Aleccia, updated 4/29/2011 12:39:32 AM ET

One person is dead and at least 10 have been hospitalized in an outbreak of salmonella poisonings linked to clinical and teaching microbiology laboratories across the nation, government health officials reported. One person is dead and at least 10 have been hospitalized in an outbreak of salmonella poisonings linked to clinical and teaching microbiology laboratories across the nation, government health officials reported.

9 pricey software products and their free (and legal) alternatives, by Shane Snow, 4/25/2011

When was the last time you dropped $200 on software? A clever geek might tell you “never.”

Getting free software doesn’t have to mean stealing. The past decade of open-source software culture, along with today’s app economy, has yielded a plethora of fantastic alternatives to traditionally expensive software solutions. Often, free software is every bit as good — or even better — than boxed products.

Here are 9 of the most popular paid software products, and how you can get free equivalents…

Why all HDMI cables are the same, by Geoffrey Morrison, APRil 26, 2011 7:34 AM PDT

There’s lots of money in cables. Your money. Dozens of reputable and disreputable companies market HDMI cables, and many outright lie to consumers about the “advantages” of their product.

Worse, the profit potential of cables is so great, every retailer pushes high-end HDMI cables in the hopes of duping the buyer into spending tens, if not hundreds, of dollars more than necessary.

Here’s the deal: expensive HDMI cables offer no difference in picture quality over cheap HDMI cables. CNET has mentioned this before, but here’s the science of why.

_______________________________________

You might not think of electric cars as long-haul vehicles, but months of real-world driving reveal that they can be long-distance marathoners — under the right conditions. Chevrolet, for example, is reporting that the average Volt driver is going 1,000 miles between gasoline fill-ups. And for the most part, Nissan Leaf owners are perfectly happy to do without the gas tank altogether.

It’s been six months since we first took to the highways for our first “Electric Road Trip,” which is enough time for electric-car automakers to work out the bugs in the system. Nissan came across a software glitch that could keep the battery-powered Leaf from starting, but the main issue has been availability. Only 5,300 Leafs have been sold worldwide, including about 500 in the United States. But Nissan says it will be accelerating production and taking reservations again as of May 1.

Will the ‘Age of America’ end in 2016?, fr om Peter Shadbolt for CNN, April 26, 2011 9:00 a.m. EDT

(CNN) — Is the “Age of America” drawing to a close? According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its demise as the leading economic power is five years away and the next president of the United States will preside over an economy that plays second fiddle to China’s.

The lender posted data on its World Economic Outlook that puts 2016 as Year Zero for China as the world’s dominant economic power — the year when China’s growth trajectory intersects the decline of the U.S.’s share of world gross domestic product in terms of purchasing price parity.

According to the figures, the Chinese economy would grow from $11.2 trillion in 2011 to $19 trillion in 2016. Over the same period, the U.S. economy will rise from a dominant $15.2 trillion to a trailing $18.8 trillion.

But, as the saying goes, statistics are often used like a drunken man uses a lamp-post — for support rather than illumination.

_______________________________________

Japanese seabed radiation levels soar, From correspondents in Tokyo, From:AFP, May 04, 20112:06PM

LEVELS of radioactive substances have jumped in the Pacific seabed off Japan near the nuclear power plant crippled by a massive tsunami in March, according to the plant operator.

Seabed samples collected some 15km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contained 1400 becquerels of radioactive caesium-137 per kilogram, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said.

The level is more than 600 times higher than a maximum 2.3 becquerels per kilogram detected in the past off the north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima.

The samples, taken on Friday, also contained 1300 becquerels of caesium-134 and 190 becquerels of iodine-131, according to a TEPCO statement issued late on Tuesday after the first analysis of seabed soil since the March 11 disaster.

Levels of the two materials were too low to be gauged in the past, a TEPCO spokeswoman said. The company did not say whether the levels were considered harmful.

Pearl Harbor visitors now get Japan and US view, By AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press  Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 7:30 a.m.

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Political assassinations in Tokyo. Censorship and the stifling of dissent. A nation hungry for oil and other natural resources. Kimono-clad women in department stores and boarding street cars. A smiling Babe Ruth posing for photos with Japanese teenage baseball players while on tour with other American all-stars.