Years ago, when the space race began in earnest, one of the most fascinating elements of that achievement was the development of powdered orange juice.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Ricci case – that white firemen suffered illegal discrimination when a promotional test on which they did well was thrown out because not enough blacks did well – will have no effect on Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

BOSTON – This is probably not the best week to air any reservations about the American passion for independence. After all, we don’t have fireworks for Dependence Day. We don’t hold parades to celebrate Interdependence Day. We don’t get a holiday for Connections.

WASHINGTON – The implicit message, delivered by the Supreme Court majority in two of the most important decisions of the term that ended this week, is that racial discrimination is no longer as big a problem as we once thought.

Health care reformers have found a new defining issue, something they call the “public option.” Simply – and devastatingly – they want Congress to establish a government-run health insurance plan to compete with the hundreds of private plans in the marketplace.

Sometimes, death is a blindside hit.

WASHINGTON – The Spanish professor is puzzled. Why, Gabriel Calzada won-ders, is the U.S. president recom-mending that America emulate the Spanish model for creating “green jobs” in “alternative energy” even though Spain’s unemployment rate is 18.1 percent – more than double the European Union average – partly because of spending on such jobs?

Pacific Northwest Dweller, you’re a hopeful, optimistic creature. A few adorable crocuses pop up and you figure it’s safe to come out of your hovel. You think winter is over, the worst is behind you.

To Manifested Glory Ministries of Bridgeport, Conn.:

WASHINGTON – Iran today is a revolution in search of its Yeltsin.

President Obama is opposed to the torture of everyone but himself.

Many performers can impress or delight, but only a few can astonish. Michael Jackson did it twice. The first time was October 1969, when the hit single “I Want You Back” introduced a cherubic 11-year-old boy who sang with unbelievable maturity, soulfulness and swing. The second was March 1983, when the prodigy — now grown tall, thin and angular — moonwalked through an electrifying “Billie Jean,” leaving a national television audience slack-jawed at how effortlessly he defied the laws of physics.

As big, dumb summer “entertainments” go, they don’t get much bigger or much dumber than “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” The briefly amusing mash-up/crunch-up of a couple of summers back has been recycled into an epic two and a half hours of explosions, ponderous cartoon history, veiled racism and inept geography.

BOSTON – From time to time, a message pops into my e-mail announcing that someone is “Following You On Twitter.” In fact, I don’t go anywhere on Twitter, having signed up just to get squatter’s rights to my own name.

WASHINGTON – A wise man once said that love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.