Rep. Noem faces natural and political disaster after South Dakota blizzard

that agreement, the federal government essentially shut down on October 1. Days later, the blizzard hit South Dakota. Now, Noem would like the federal government to increase its spending. Noem said that due to the millions of dollars of losses they’ve suffered, counties and the South Dakota governor are expected to “petition the president for disaster status” so they can receive Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. As the blizzard roared through South Dakota, Noem said that “there may be disagreement over certain parts of the federal budget, but not on FEMA.” (South Dakota is especially reliant on federal funding since it doesn’t have a personal or a corporate income tax and a sales tax that, at 4 percent, is the second lowest rate among the states that tax sales.) Noem doesn’t just want temporary federal assistance. She’d also like a permanent increase in assistance by expanding the livestock indemnity program in the farm bill. Many ranchers rely on subsidized federal insurance to cover their losses. For example, one South Dakota farmer reports losing 96 percent of his herd of 100 cattle at a cost of $250,000. He wasn’t insured against this loss, he says, because storm insurance is too expensive, according to a report in USA Today. (Many of the 50 million Americans who aren’t insured today because health insurance is too expensive would obtain subsidized insurance through the ACA.) While it’s too early to know the full extent of the losses to South Dakota’s ranchers, early figures from the head of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association suggest that 5 percent of the area’s 1.5 million cattle have been killed. Calves sell for around $1,000 a head and cows sell for more than $1,500. (It’s difficult to get current prices due to the shutdown.) Losses could amount to upwards of $100 million. If cattle deaths rise to the 15 percent to 20 percent of entire herds estimated by the head of the National Farms Union, as reported in the Bismarck Tribune, losses could exceed $400 million. The estimates are likely to rise as the melting snow reveals more and more cattle carcasses. Noem is on the agriculture committee and voted in favor of the House’s version of the farm bill that cuts $39 billion in funding from the food stamps program over ten years. Some 2.8 million low-income people would lose benefits with this measure. The Senate has refused to


Marine Corps Marathon threatened by shutdown

(Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post) The Marine Corps Marathon may not escape the clutches of the federal government shutdown after all, leaving 30,000 runners currently in limbo. Organizers wrote on Facebook that they’ll decide by Saturday (Oct. 19) whether to hold the Oct. 27 race, which attracts runners from around the world. “Without a resolution to the government shutdown this week, the MCM as planned is in jeopardy of being canceled,” race director Rick Nealis said in a news release (via Marine Corps Times). “While still considering and exploring all possible options, the MCM has targeted this Saturday, October 19, as the date to officially notify runners of the status of the event.” More than half of the 26.2-mile course covers federal property, including the National Mall and Marine Corps War Memorial. Both are closed because of the shutdown. “I don’t want to put people in panic mode, but if as of Friday evening the government is still closed, it’s probably not going to happen,” Lt. Dave Green of the Arlington (Va.) Police Department Special Operations Section, told Arlington Now. His department coordinates road closures for big events. Tami Faram, MCM spokeswoman, told the Marine Corps Times that “there are many variables being discussed at the present time.” On Facebook, organizers wrote: Dear Runners, Since the government shutdown occurred, the Marine Corps Marathon continues its coordination with hopes of a conclusion in time to host the event without impact. Without a resolution to the government shutdown this week, the MCM as planned is in jeopardy of being cancelled. While still considering and exploring all possible options, the MCM has targeted this Saturday, October 19 as the date to officially notify runners of the status of the event. It is sincerely the hope of everyone associated with the organization of this event that MCM participants can run as planned. Organizers for the Army Ten-Miler faced the same issue and changed the racecourse, putting most of it in Arlington. It is still on for Sunday (Oct. 20). Cancellation of the race would be another disappointment for the runners who train long and hard for the race. Competition to enter is fierce, with the field selling out in less than 2 1/2 hours. Losing the MCM would be another disappointment for distance runners after the devastation from Hurricane Sandy forced the cancellation of last year’s New York City Marathon less two days


Government shutdown generates stories of misery

Carol Diaz, a federal employee who has been on furlough since the shutdown, at her home in Staten Island, N.Y., Oct. 4. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) Wednesday’s Federal Diary drew lots of Twitter reaction. It reported on reader comments about the government shutdown. They were collected as part of a project by washingtonpost.com In case you missed the article, here is the top of the column, with a link to the full story. As Congress and the White House try to find their way out of the bleak hole that is this partial government shutdown, the damage it has done is becoming increasingly clear. The pain grows each day workers remain idle and services remain closed. Even with many federal employees being called back to work, albeit with Uncle Sam’s IOU in place of pay, the lapse in appropriations continues to raise havoc for many across the land. This was demonstrated by an online project by my Washington Post colleagues that let readers to tell how the shutdown affects their lives. In just two days last week, Thursday and Friday, more than 2,300 replies were posted. They were classified in four areas: “It doesn’t affect me” (450), “It affects me a little” (380), “It affects me on a daily basis” (525) and “It threatens my livelihood” (962). Almost two-thirds said the shutdown affected them daily or threatened their livelihood. Here is a sampling of the misery: Ohio Arizona Read the full column at: http://wapo.st/19C1x2B federaldiary@washpost.com Twitter: @JoeDavidsonWP


The D.C. burger scene, through the lens of public television

Burgers are hip, says WETA. Last night, the public broadcaster premiered "Burgers in Washington," its third local food feature, following "Pizza in Washington" and "Breakfast in Washington." The producers did a fine job hitting a variety of restaurants in the area, including Elevation Burger, Good Stuff Eatery and Palena. They also used just the right amount of footage of Maryland, Virginia and District residents shoving hamburgers into their mouths and close-ups of meat on hot grills. Palena was featured in last night's 30 minute film. (Frank Ruta/Courtesy of Palena) Some highlights below: Chef inspiration: After stints as a chef for various restaurants in Baltimore and running a steak house, Dean opened TD Burger in Largo. Dean showed the cameras the signature spice rub that goes on every patty, but obviously kept the ingredients a secret. Dean recently opened a second TD Burger in NoMa at 250 K St. NE. Vegetarians get some love, too: The most overused word: Nobody wants a dry burger, this I know. But I couldn't help but cringe every time I heard the word. Maybe that’s because words like ‘oily’ ‘soaked’ ‘dripping’ and ‘saturated’ come to mind, all of which I don't like to associate with food. The show will be re-airing on WETA throughout the month, but catch the jazzy preview below. And if you want our picks for the best burgers (a few of our favorites didn't make WETA's list), you'll find them here. For veggie fans, we have you covered too. Burgers in Washington


What ending the shutdown means for federal employees

Ending the partial government shutdown affects federal workers in many ways, apart from returning to work those who have been furloughed. Following are answers to some key questions about the impact. Q. Will federal employees get back pay for the shutdown period? A. The debt ceiling/shutdown deal up for voting in Congress would provide back pay. The shutdown divided employees into several main categories regarding their pay: National Park Service personnel remove the barricades from the World war II Memorial as the government reopens Thursday. (Astrid Riecken/Washington Post). “Exempt” employees work in functions that were not affected by the shutdown, typically because those operations are self-funding or have multi-year budgets. Those employees, most numerously in the U.S. Postal Service, have been receiving regular pay and benefits. “Excepted” employees were kept on the job because of the nature of their work — for example, positions related to national security or public health or safety. They have been in duty status, but unpaid —although those working at the Defense Department have been paid, under the Pay Our Military Act, which passed soon after the shutdown started Oct. 1. All excepted employees have been guaranteed all along that they would receive back pay for their unpaid working time, but that couldn’t happen until government funding is restored. “Furloughed” employees also have been unpaid during the shutdown but they were kept off the job and there has been no guarantee they would receive back pay for that time. The retroactive pay provision is needed for them. Q. When will employees get the back pay? A. That’s uncertain; the bill calls for distributing the back pay “as soon as practicable.” Employees might do well to brace themselves to wait. Sorting all this out could be a nightmare for payroll administrators. Agencies use different payroll providers, which make payments on differing days of the week. Those providers typically need about four days to prepare a change. That seemingly would rule out agencies where a pay distribution is being made on Thursday; employees of those agencies likely would have to wait until the payout two weeks later. The largest payroll provider, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, will make its next distribution Oct. 25, while employees of a number of other agencies will next be paid Oct. 29. Another complication is that payouts cover differing two-week pay cycles. The most commonly used biweekly period ends Saturday. Q.


Meridian Pint taps Great American Beer Festival award-winning beers next Friday

Meridian Pint boasts the best beer selection in Columbia Heights. (Photo by Evy Mages for The Post) On Monday, I went over the list of local winners from the Great American Beer Festival, and bemoaned how hard it would be to actually try most them. Well, it turns out I was being premature. Sam Fitz, the beer director of Meridian Pint, will have almost every single local medalist on tap in Columbia Heights next Friday, plus a selection of other award-winning beers from across the country. "We've had [a keg of Port City's bronze-medal-winning smoked porter Colossal Two since it came out" in February, Fitz explained. He just hadn't found the right opportunity to tap it. He finally has an excuse to tap the next-to-last keg in existence, alongside a keg of Colossal One, which also won a bronze in the category of Aged Beer. (In a cool touch, the keg being tapped is from the same batch that the GABF judges tasted.) The Optimal Wit, named best Belgian Witbier in the country, will also be available. Flying Dog told me on Monday that they were sending the brewery's last two kegs of the bronze-winning Dogtoberfest to Meridian Pint, and you'll be able to taste that alongside Lost Rhino's Rhinofest (the top German-style Oktoberfest beer in the competition) and Port City's silver-medal-winning Oktoberfest. The only local medalist that won't make an appearance is the Oktoberfest from Sweetwater Tavern, the Northern Virginia brewpub chain. Thankfully, it's on tap at all three locations. [Update: Sweetwater is sending Oktoberfest kegs after all.] Devils Backbone, the Virginia brewery named the national Small Brewery and Brewer of the year (in addition to winning six medals for its beers) will also be represented on the taps. "They've agreed to send us whatever they can," Fitz says. "Because of the timing, it's not entirely clear what that will be." Meridian Pint will fill the rest of its 24 draft lines with non-local beers that won medals at GABF, including Sly Fox Grisette, Mad River Steel Head IPA, Speakeasy Prohibition Porter, Troegs Troegenator Double Bock and Ommegang Three Philosophers. The bar opens at 3 p.m. and all beers will be $1 off until 7 p.m.


The tastemakers

in fact, Ma is opening a second outlet in Arlington, named Water & Wall, on Nov. 1. “It’s going to be an expansion of Maple Avenue, with the addition of a tasting menu.” John Shields Secret Ingredient: We’ll find out soon Since 2012, when he and his wife handed in their aprons at Town House — the unassuming restaurant in a tiny Virginia town they overhauled and turned into a fine-dining sensation — John Shields has toyed with the idea of opening a concept in D.C. Make that a series of pop-ups. Nope, definitely a restaurant. In Philly. Maybe. It seems the Chicago-born chef finally has some solid news for loyal followers: “We found a space we like and have a lease in hand. It’s in Georgetown.” With an anticipated opening date of summer 2014, the yet-to-be-named eatery will feature the same inventive cuisine once hailed at Town House, with an emphasis on seafood and a casual dining area out back. “I’ve always tried to keep things pure and just accentuate flavors rather than being overly creative,” Shields says. “That won’t change.” We’re going to hold him to that. Aaron Silverman Crowds at Rose’s Luxury’s (717 Eighth St. SE) first Saturday dinner service earlier this month caused a 2½-hour wait, inspiring a few impatient diners to craft impromptu seating out of wayward peach crates. The draw? Aaron Silverman’s eclectic American knockouts like popcorn soup and sausage with lychees. A Rockville native, Silverman studied political science before realizing his heart belonged in the kitchen. Following culinary school in Gaithersburg, Md., he landed stints at Momofuku in New York and McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C. With most dishes landing under $15, and with 25 cents donated to help feed hungry children for every diner who walks through the door, Silverman delivers high-level food sans pretension. Design details like tables built and signed by his uncle and a framed picture of his grandmother (the restaurant’s namesake) help to cultivate a warm environment. “We want everyone to feel like this is their home,” Silverman says. “It takes longer to turn tables, but people have a better time.” Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon Secret Ingredient: Simplicity Trying to find the Chaya taco stand (chayadc.com) at the farmers market? Just look for the longest line. Launched in May, the popular vegetarian Latin American-influenced concept is led by self-trained chefs Suzanne Simon (an Ohio native with a degree


Dining

(Stacy Zarin Goldberg/for The Washington Post) New Restaurant Le Diplomate Barbecue Hill Country Barbecue Thai Thai Tanic Middle Eastern Zaytinya South/Central American Oyamel Cocina Mexicana Seafood Hank’s Oyster Bar Sushi Sushi Taro Vegetarian Founding Farmers Brunch Founding Farmers (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) Indian Rasika Salad Sweetgreen Burger Five Guys Sandwich Taylor Gourmet Pizza Matchbox Doughnut Ted’s Bulletin Cupcake Baked Wired Frozen Treat FroZenYo (Alexandra Friendly) Food Truck TaKorean Indie Coffee Shop Tryst Bakery Whisked! Late-Night Dining Ben’s Chili Bowl Chef Jose Andres Place to Go to Impress Someone Minibar Place to Go if Someone Else Is Paying Komi Kid-Friendly Restaurant Ted’s Bulletin Sadie Dingfelder, Holley Simmons, Rachel Sadon, Beth Marlowe, Vicky Hallett, Marissa Payne, Holly J. Morris (Express) and Rachel Kaufman and Erin Bylander (For Express)


Kerry’s claim that Afghanistan’s U.S. forces deal is ‘under the same standard’ as Japan or Korea

report says. “Exclusive jurisdiction is when the United States retains the right to exercise all criminal and disciplinary jurisdiction for violations of the laws of the foreign nation while the individual is present in that country. Shared jurisdiction occurs when each party to the agreement retains exclusive jurisdiction over certain offenses, but also allows the United States to request that the host country waive jurisdiction in favor of the United States.” Generally, depending on how solid a country’s judicial system is, the SOFA is either tougher or weaker. Mongolia, for instance, can request that the United States waive jurisdiction in cases concerning criminal behavior unrelated to official duty but the United States is only required to give “sympathetic consideration” to the request. In the now-expired SOFA for Iraq, the United States offered the illusion of jurisdiction by saying it could be claimed if a soldier acted “outside duty status” but in fact service members always have duty status. By contrast, the NATO SOFA provides for shared jurisdiction, in which jurisdiction is granted in certain circumstances, such as an offense is punishable by a country’s laws. Japan and South Korea, two other countries Kerry mentioned as being equivalent to Afghanistan, have tried U.S. soldiers for criminal offenses, even though the service members sought refuge in the U.S. courts to thwart the legal actions; their efforts were rejected, including in one case by the U.S. Supreme Court. With these facts in hand, legal experts we consulted said Kerry’s statement was incorrect, though few were willing to go on the record, perhaps in an effort to preserve relations with the State Department. Karzai has said he would submit the issue of whether U.S. soldiers can be exempted from trials in Afghan courts to a traditional loya jirga meeting and the Afghan parliament, so the issue is not quite settled yet. “To the extent there is a general norm, in terms of countries with a significant U.S. troop presence, Europe, Japan and Korea, the structure is very different than that in the U.S.-Afghan security agreement,” said Christopher Jenks, director of the criminal justice clinic at SMU Dedham School of law, who defended SOFA cases while in the U.S. Army JAG Corps. “There is no country in the world in which the U.S. has 10,000 + service members and that country not have primary jurisdiction over those U.S. service members in the vast majority of


Shutdown, as reflected on Foursquare: Boom, then bust

A federal employee protests the shutdown. (Julia Schmalz/Bloomberg) If we LoJacked all the furloughed federal workers in town, we’d be able to tell you exactly what they’d been up to during the government shutdown. But that’s not exactly legal (whatever the NSA might tell you), so here’s the next best thing: Foursquare, the social media Web site that lets users share which locations they “check into,” has some answers about shutdown behavior patterns. The company says its data from Washington over the past two weeks showed more people checked in at pricey restaurants and bars during the shutdown’s first week. “Instead of offices, trains and cafeterias, people were going to bars and Italian restaurants,” the company’s analysis says. “People seemingly treated the furlough as a vacation, spending even more time in expensive restaurants.” But it wasn’t all fun and games. By the second week, it seemed people were sobering up. Activity overall decreased from normal levels. “People stopped going to coffee shops, food trucks and inexpensive restaurants and those numbers declined even further into the second week,” the analysis says. “More expensive restaurants, which were popular in the first week of the shutdown, fell below normal levels as the financial implications of the shutdown set in.” Check-ins at bars were up by half in the first week, though they returned to normal or below the following week. It’s hard to glean any economic impact from the Foursquare report, since the company doesn’t disclose how many of its 40 million users are in any particular area. But a spokeswoman says that Washingtonians are “heavy users” of the service. Foursquare says it will have more information about the shutdown’s impact today on its blog.


The government shutdown wasn’t that bad for the politicians. It was terrible for this guy.

Just because they struck a deal doesn't mean everything is right. (Photo by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images) John Anderson lost the government shutdown. His approval rating didn't fall. No political action committee threatened to primary him. He just lost two weeks' pay, which he'll never get back, and walked right up to the edge of losing his place to live. His story is a reminder that, for all the back-patting Congress is doing today over having finally resolved the debt showdown and re-opened the government, the 16-day closure has already had real, and lasting, human consequences for hundreds of thousands of people. "I was living week to week" before the shutdown, Anderson told me. "Now I'm living day to day." He is a line cook at the American Indian Smithsonian Museum on the National Mall. Anderson is not a government employee. He's a contract worker - the government hires his company to make the food for visitors to the museum. When the shutdown closed the museum, Anderson lost his job. He'll now presumably be able to go back to work, but unlike federal workers, he won't get back pay. And he could use that back pay: Anderson is a divorced father of two who usually brings home about $350 a week after taxes and child support. His 16-year-old son lives with him in Washington but commutes by bus and train to high school in Maryland every day. Anderson has no savings - his wages don't leave much cushion for savings - and struggled through the shutdown to pay his rent, put food on the table and pay for his son to travel back and forth to school. We spoke Wednesday afternoon, as a deal to end the shutdown appeared imminent in Congress. Here's his reaction to that deal, edited for length. First, we got this sheet of paper that said, we were laid off, and we need to apply for unemployment. I just got custody of my son. It’s just me and my son. I’m renting this room. I can’t afford to pay for it this week. I worked it out with [the landlords, to lower the rent]. But even now, going back to work, I won’t get paid for another two weeks. I’m happy that we get to go back. But it’s pissing me off – they used us as pawns in this big ego game. But they didn’t even


It’s over. Here’s what we missed: Glen Echo, playdates, eight-car trains and more

The end of the shutdown means the Washington area can get back to museum hopping, drum circling, ballroom dancing, cinemagoing and even marrying - all activities that were easy to take for granted before the shutdown took them away. Here's the first batch of things we missed most. •More things we missed: the zoo, golf and D.C.'s best art-house cinema | Skyline Drive, founding documents and drums Playdates at the park Caroline Behrens, 8, stands outside a gate next to a sign announcing the closure of a playground at Lincoln Park due to the government shutdown while people play within on Oct. 2. (Photo by Matt McClain/ The Washington Post) Kids in that neighborhood got their first lessons in civil disobedience. Parents lifted little ones over the locked gates, so kids were able to slide down slides almost as often as they regularly do. With the shutdown over, Hill parents can get back to their steamy cups of coffee while watching their children run and teeter-totter again - no fence-jumping required. Lincoln Park, 13th and East Capitol streets NE. Marion Park, Fourth, Sixth and E streets SE. Free. -- Amy Joyce Arts at Glen Echo (Frank Johnston/The Washington Post) Instead of the glorious art deco ballroom, swing dancers made plans to Lindy hop in the Walt Whitman High School cafeteria; resident artists moved their watercolor classes to the Clara Barton Community Center. Others weren't so lucky: The Puppet Co. had to put its Russian-style performance of "Peter and the Wolf" on hold indefinitely. There's a lesson about democracy in there somewhere. -- Fritz Hahn Longer trains on the Metro -- Alex Baldinger Weddings both storybook and civil A wedding couple poses for a photo near the Lincoln Memorial. More than two dozen October weddings scheduled to be held on the Mall were affected by the shutdown. (REUTERS/Mike Theiler) More than two dozen weddings were scheduled to take place on or around the Mall in October, and all were told that their ceremonies could be canceled or moved. Even couples who thought, "Well, we could always get married at the courthouse!" were disappointed: The marriage bureau at the D.C. Superior Court stopped performing weddings and issuing marriage licenses during the shutdown, too. Of course, there was nothing to stop committed couples from pushing barriers aside and getting married anyway, the same way that veterans began visiting memorials or kickball teams resumed


Here’s what’s open and closed today

This post has been updated. After a 16-day government closure and late vote in the House and Senate last night, the government is up and running, which means federal agencies, parks, museums and monuments have started reopening this morning. Federal agencies, parks, museums, monuments and now the National Zoo reopen after a chastened Congress ends a bitter funding standoff that triggered a 16-day government closure and drove the nation toward the brink of default. View Photo Gallery —Federal agencies, parks, museums and monuments reopen after a chastened Congress ends a bitter funding standoff that triggered a 16-day government closure and drove the nation toward the brink of default. Open: • Smithsonian museums — Air and Space, American History, the National Portrait Gallery and more — have reopened today. • National Park Service parks and monuments are all open. That includes the National Mall, Rock Creek Park, the Mt. Vernon Trail, the United States Botanic Garden and the National Arboretum. National Mall and Memorial Parks sites are open to the public. Ranger staff are on duty for interpretive programming. -bh • The National Gallery of Art reopened today. • East Potomac, Langston and Rock Creek golf courses have also reopened today. • The National Holocaust Museum is open and operating on normal business hours. • The National Archives opened this afternoon. The exhibits are now open again at the National Archives! Come by and see the #Constitution today. http://t.co/cjZXOJQkXd Closed: • The National Zoo will reopen Friday; the zoo's live video feeds, including the Panda cam, are up and running today.


It’s over. More things we missed: the zoo, golf and D.C.’s best art-house cinema

The end of the shutdown means the Washington area can get back to museum hopping, drum circling, ballroom dancing, cinemagoing and even marrying - all activities that were easy to take for granted before the shutdown took them away. Here's another batch of things we missed most. Glen Echo, playdates, longer trains and more things we missed | Skyline Drive, founding documents and drums (REUTERS/Gary Cameron) Early morning at the National Zoo -- Amy Joyce (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) District links -- Alex Baldinger Art House Cinema at the National Gallery of Art It's the city's most happening art-house movie theater, the place to find the avant-garde, the foreign and the long-forgotten, the place I go to remind myself that mind-altering ideas about art can indeed be exchanged in this buttoned-up town. And through it all, the admission for this intellectual nourishment has remained a steady and very affordable zilch. nga.govNational Gallery of Art, East Building, Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. 202-842-6799. . Free. -- Lavanya Ramanathan Aji de Garbanzo (sauteed garbanzo beans with aji peppers) at Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe in Washington. (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) Educational eats at Mitsitam Cafe The Mall is a food desert. So it is with a sigh of relief that we welcome back our nation's government workers - including those who staff the National Museum of the American Indian's Mitsitam Cafe. Mitsitam, which won "Casual Restaurant of the Year" at last year's RAMMY Awards, teaches diners that Native Americans of the Northern Woodlands feast on game birds, for example, while those from the Great Plains hunt big game. It's the only place on the Mall where you can find squid ink calamari seviche, strawberry-and-corn-stuffed roast duck or Aji-spiced wild greens. In fact, it's pretty much the only eatery on the Mall that the Going Out Guide ever recommends when tourists ask us for a place to get a quick bite. So welcome back, Mitsitam, and thanks for feeding our tourists -- and maybe teaching them a thing or two. Mitsitam Cafe, National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW (Metro: Federal Center). 202-633-1000. nmai.si.edu. -- Maura Judkis


Why China isn’t likely to overtake the U.S. in science anytime soon

Lawmakers in Congress haven't been kind to scientific research of late. Budget pressures and sequestration cuts have put America's R&D spending on pace to shrink in the years ahead. On top of that, the recent federal government shutdown wreaked havoc on a variety of clinical studies and other U.S. research endeavors, affecting scientists studying everything from Antarctica's ice sheets to Alzheimer's. Trends like these help explain why some experts think China could soon "overtake" the United States as the world's leading scientific superpower. After all, the Chinese government has poured staggering sums into research, pledging $2 trillion over the next five years. By 2020, the country will devote nearly as large a share of its economy to R&D, both public and private, as the U.S. does: (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) But is China really about to pass the United States in science? Probably not. At least, probably not within the next decade. Gwynn Guilford has a great report in Quartz today noting that the Chinese don't seem to be getting nearly as much value as one might think from all that R&D spending. Among other things, she points to a new policy brief (pdf) from Guy de Jonquières of the European Centre for International Political Economy that makes a few key points: — China isn't getting as much value for its R "R&D spending is, at best, no more than a crude measure of input: it says nothing about output," notes de Jonquières "A 2008 study by Duke University found that engineering degrees in the U.S. were generally of a higher standard than those in China. ... Indeed, calculations by Ernst & Young, the accountancy firm, find that China has not been moving closer to the 'technology frontier' — defined as the performance level achieved by the world's most advanced and efficient economies — but slipping steadily further away from it." Catching up, but not quite there yet. (China Daily) — Too many of China's patents are low-quality "In 2011, fewer than a third of applications to China's patent office were classified as 'innovation' patents, and these accounted for only one tenth of all patents granted between 1985 and 2010," Jonquières writes. "The remainder were lower-quality design and utility-model patents that need to meet far less demanding standards — so much so that some Chinese experts have said that they risk bringing the whole patent system into disrepute." —


Here’s Walmart’s new strategy for being your everything

Walmart may be the world's biggest retailer, but has lost a bit of its swagger in recent years. The chain has been cutting costs so much that it's struggling to keep some shelves stocked and scrambling to keep up in the instant-delivery age of Amazon. Dollar stores are eating into its low-end customer base; its higher-end urban stores have been slow to emerge; and its international expansion has had some high-profile setbacks. On Tuesday, Walmart executives told investors that they aren't taking that beating lying down. They have a path to growth, and it has something to do with what they call "ecosystems." Let me explain. More like this. (Sonny Hedgecock/AP) In Walmart's thinking, there are three types of shopping trips: There's the stock-up mission, which brings families to Walmart's 3,200 nationwide Supercenters. There's the basic grocery run, when shoppers want to go someplace nearby and more navigable, such as one of Walmart's 300 "neighborhood markets." And there's the "immediate access" stop, when shoppers head for the traditional convenience store. That convenience stop is the segment Walmart hasn't really touched, except for a handful of "express" stores in Arkansas. Put the three together, and you get an "ecosystem," as chief executive Bill Simon described on Tuesday. In a time of domestic oversaturation and overseas obstacles, this is the model the retailer is banking on to satisfy ever growth-hungry investors. The key to making the ecosystem work, Walmart says, is "tethering." You can tether your hiring and back-office functions together for greater efficiency. You can tether your inventory distribution systems so that fresh items can be sent out from the giant supercenters quickly in response to demand. You can even tether your online orders, so that anything a customer might want can be delivered to a nearby market that day. The theory: Rather than one huge store that offers endless goods all in the same place, you have three stores that offer most of those goods, at the time and place you want them. What they're thinking, basically. (Walmart) "So, imagine you're at work, and you decide you need gas on your way home, and you know that Walmart Express store -- because you go by it every single day -- has fuel, and you decide what you want for dinner, and you want a rotisserie chicken, and, by the way, later that night, you decided that you'd like to play


Get Going Out Guide tips from the Washington Post on Foursquare

If you want our recommendations for the best restaurants, events and sightseeing locations around D.C., look no further than Foursquare. We're creating lists with some of our top choices. The newest addition is the Fall Dining Guide 2013, which features all 40 of Tom Sietsema's picks. (Joseph Victor Stefanchik/For The Washington Post) Little Serow Blue Duck Tavern Meaza Restaurant Market If you follow us on Foursquare, you'll get recommendations and might even unlock the Washington Post badge when you check in at certain locations. Some other lists we've created? D.C.'s best burgers and local restaurants with 50+ Years.


It’s over. More things we missed: Skyline Drive, founding documents and drums

The end of the shutdown means the Washington area can get back to museum hopping, drum circling, ballroom dancing, cinemagoing and even marrying - all activities that were easy to take for granted before the shutdown took them away. Here's another batch of things we missed most. Earlier: Glen Echo, playdates, longer trains | The zoo, golf and D.C.’s best art-house cinema (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) Leaf-peeping along Skyline Drive Fall ushers in a routine that revolves around buying pumpkins, uncovering that dusty box of sweaters and checking out the spectacular foliage for which the Mid-Atlantic is renowned. It was easy to forget that natural beauty could be affected by political posturing; with the "CLOSED" signs blocking Skyline Drive, the 105-mile road that weaves its way through Shenandoah National Park, the start of fall felt delayed. Autumn colors don't pause for political posturing, so now's the time to catch up on what we've really been missing: a season's brilliant rite of passage. Skyline Drive, Route 340 at Front Royal and Route 211 at Thornton Gap. 540-999-3500. visitskylinedrive.org. $15 per car through November; $10 December-February. -- Stephanie Merry The Charters of Freedom at the National Archives I regret that I've been to see the Charters of Freedom only a couple of times, but that's due in part to the long lines. The documents are bigger than you might imagine, and no easy feat to read. Even tourists, who could be somewhere cool like the Spy Museum, adopt an air of solemnity in their presence. The lights are almost ridiculously dim and cameras are banned, all so that the nearly 250-year-old ink can be preserved, and another generation can marvel over the ornate lettering of John Hancock's John Hancock. The nation's founding documents are not as whiz-bang as the shiny rockets at the Air and Space Museum. Nor does their time locked away compare to the kind of palpable, workaday loss associated with the shuttered soccer fields in Rock Creek Park. But it's difficult to think of anything that was more shameful to lose, even for a short while, to political wrangling. National Archives, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 866-272-6272. archives.gov. Free. -- Lavanya Ramanathan George Hernandez, 62, originally from Cuba, has been coming to the drum circle at Meridian Hill Park most Sundays for 32 years. (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Drums at Meridian Hill Park -- Margaret Ely


How much did the shutdown cost the economy?

Shutdowns aren’t cheap. This year’s closure, which ended Thursday, has likely cost the government and the economy billions of dollars, according to economists and policy analysts. Below are a few of the estimates we’ve seen, plus a video of Federal Diary columnist Joe Davidson discussing the financial impacts: * $24 billion in lost economic output, or 0.6 percent of projected annualized GDP growth, according to the Standard and Poor’s ratings agency. Similarly, Moody’s Analytics estimated the impact at $23 billion. The ratings agencies calculate their estimates using complicated formulas that consider past economic behavior, combined with the number of federal employees and contractors who were not paid during the shutdown, according to Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi. * $2.1 billion in government costs for the fiscal 1996 shutdowns * $450,000 a day in lost revenue at National Parks, according to the National Park Service. That was until late last week, when a handful of states agreed to fund operations for the some of the parks within their boundaries. The costs may have been lower from that point forward, as some parks reopened and began collecting fees again. The numbers come from top-line estimates by the National Park Service, which made projections based on October 2012 park attendance and fee collections. * $2.4 billion in lost travel spending, based on the U.S. Travel Association’s estimate of $152 million per day. The organization said it based its numbers in part on the National Park Service projections, as well as estimated reductions in business travel for federal employees and the federal government. Post columnist Joe Davidson, who writes The Federal Diary, explains the costs of reopening the government after it was closed for more than two weeks. Bonus material: As most politics junkies know, the government could soon shut down again if Congress and the White House cannot agree to another spending plan early next year. The agreement signed by President Obama early Thursday morning will only fund operations through Jan. 15. The deal also suspended enforcement of the debt limit until Feb. 7, which means another confrontation over the nation’s borrowing could occur again sometime in March. S&P said in a statement Wednesday that the threat of new debt-ceiling and shutdown standoffs early next year could “weigh on consumer confidence, especially among government workers that were furloughed.” “If people are afraid that the government policy brinksmanship will resurface again, and with the


Managing a ‘victimized’ federal workforce after the shutdown

Park Service police officers stand on duty at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Barriers went down at National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers began returning to work throughout the country. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Back pay But however much those gestures might help to lessen the sting of a 16-day government shutdown, federal managers will still face a range of emotional, technological and logistical hurdles as they try to reestablish the day-to-day flow and get their teams back to work. Many federal employees say they are happy to be back on the job and invigorated to be working again. That could quickly change shape, however, as reality sets in. Managers will need to rethink how to prioritize an overwhelming backlog of work, and manage the office politics of workers who now know whether they are considered essential or not. And all of this must be done amid the emotional uncertainty of whether it will happen again come January, when another budget deadline looms. "Some people think of this as workers coming back from a 2.5 week vacation," says John Hudak, a fellow with the Brookings Institution's Center for Effective Public Management. "But the way I like to think of it is people coming back from a 2.5 week bereavement leave." The emotional turmoil of the shutdown for many federal workers, he says, has been "agonizing," especially coming after sequester cuts, years of pay freezes and so much recent anti-government rhetoric. "The federal workforce has literally been victimized." The first thing leaders will need to do, public management experts say, is the exact opposite of what feels right given their overflowing inboxes. "Put aside the tasks and repair the relationships," says Robert Tobias, director of the Key Executive Leadership Programs at American University's School of Public Affairs. Federal managers should spend time reconnecting with their team, acknowledging that the first few days will be a time to vent. The biggest emotion people are going to feel is anger, Tobias says, and "the only way to deal with anger like that is to name it and to make it discussable—to make it okay to feel that anger." Shortly thereafter, however, he says managers will have to start wading through the sea of work that washed up in everyone's absence. Simply expecting people to "do more with less" or slog through all those tasks isn't leadership,


Hunter’s Full Moon, and a penumbral lunar eclipse this evening

The Harvest Moon descends toward the Lincoln Memorial, September 19, 2013. This photo was taken at 6:24 am. (Kevin Ambrose) The sky presents two lunar spectacles for the price of one tonight. The full “Hunter” moon rises, while at the same time, sections of it are darkened by the outer part of the Earth’s shadow, an event known as a penumbral eclipse. In Washington, D.C., the moon rises at 6:14 p.m. this evening, and, by then, the eclipse will have already begun (it officially begins at 5:51 p.m. EDT). It will be most noticeable around 7:50 p.m., the time of maximum eclipse, says Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory. “At this time you should notice a distinct darkening of the bottom of Luna’s disc,” writes Chester. “The shading will be quite subtle, but it should be readily apparent when compared to the northern limb. The darkening will then slowly shift to the southwestern limb before the eclipse ends at 9:52 pm.” EarthSky emphasizes the subtle aspect of the eclipse because, coinciding with evening twilight in the U.S., the sky will not yet be that dark. “You may not notice any shading at all on the moon’s surface if you see the eclipse from the Americas,” Earth Sky writes. “Even as the eclipse is happening, you’ll be seeing the moon low in the sky, peering at it through more atmosphere than when the moon is overhead. This is a very, very subtle kind of eclipse. Will it be noticeable? Maybe to photographers! We’ll hope for some good photos.” Via Earth Sky: “Europe and Africa will have the best chance of witnessing the Earth’s penumbral shadow faintly darkening the south side of the moon.” It adds: “Europe and Africa will be in a better position to see the subtle penumbral eclipse because the lunar eclipse takes place at late night (instead of evening or morning twilight).” Don’t expect to see a bite taken out of the moon as in partial and total lunar eclipses, but rather parts of it will just appear duller than usual. Whether or not the eclipse, the last of 2013, stands out, the moon itself will be striking, reaching 100 percent fullness at 7:38 p.m. EDT. “Native Americans named this bright moon for obvious reasons,” writes the Farmers’ Almanac. “The leaves are falling from trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat


Clinton reveals U.S. role in high-level 2012 incident with China

Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at Chatham House in London. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton has disclosed new information about the United States' role in a major 2012 diplomatic incident with China in which a Chinese official sought asylum at a U.S. Consulate but was turned away. That incident, which helped trigger the downfall of prominent Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, one of China's biggest political scandals in decades, has long been shrouded in a degree of mystery. The incident began in January 2012, when Wang Lijun, the deputy mayor and police chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing, confronted his boss, controversial Mayor Bo Xilai, with suspicions that Bo's wife had been involved in the murder of British businessman Neil Haywood. Bo responded by slapping Wang in outrage and demoting his longtime associate. A few days later, Wang fled to the U.S. Consulate in nearby Chengdu, apparently terrified for his life, and requested asylum. Chinese authorities surrounded the building. Some 24 hours later, Wang left the building and was promptly arrested. At the time, neither U.S. nor Chinese officials would say what happened inside the consulate or why Wang left. Now, Clinton has provided new details, hinting at some of the apparently high-level U.S. and Chinese maneuvering over the case. In remarks last week at the London-based think tank Chatham House, video of which was released Friday, Clinton revealed that the United States rejected Wang's request for protection but did agree to help him relay a message to Beijing. U.S. officials quickly decided, Clinton says, that Wang did not meet the legal requirement for asylum. "He did not fit any of the categories for the United States giving him asylum," she said. "He had a record of corruption, of thuggishness, of brutality. He was an enforcer for Bo Xilai." U.S. law prohibits asylum for anyone who has participated in the persecution of others, a standard that would probably have applied to Wang's famously heavy-handed campaign against Bo's political enemies in Chongqing. Clinton added that the United States ruled out allowing Wang to stay at its consulate in Chengdu, something that other Chinese asylum-seekers have done to avoid arrest. In 1989, for example, democracy activist Fang Lizhi lived at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for 13 months before he could be spirited out of the country. Clinton said the United States refused to extend this protection


Baltimore Beer Week is underway

The fifth annual Baltimore Beer Week kicks off tomorrow. There are more than 300 events, happy hour specials and more to choose from all week. You'll be hard-pressed not to find a restaurant or bar in Baltimore that doesn't have something planned. We've got a few below, but the full list can be found here. Nothing says Baltimore beer like Rick Dempsey taps. (Alexander D. Mitchell IV/For The Washington Post) • Live music, a pumpkin beer judging contest and more than 30 seasonal and local beers, all at the Maryland Zoo's OktoBEARfest Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. $20-$50. • The newly renovated American Brewery Building is open for free tours Saturday. See the historic building and learn about the history of brewing in Baltimore. 10 a.m. to noon. 1701 N. Gay St. Free. • Ravens fan? Sunday's Autumn Pigskin Feast at Pickles Pub features unlimited seasonal brews and a five-course meal through the end of the Ravens-Steelers game. 2 p.m. 520 Washington Blvd. $40. • You can also drink for a good cause. The James Joyce Irish Pub and Restaurant's Give A Shuck on Oct. 24 will have live music, oyster shucking and a happy hour with Flying Dog's Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout on both draft and cask. Benefits from the beer's sales will go to the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which coordinates oyster restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay. 4 to 7 p.m. 616 S. President St. Lots of popular spots in the city have specials, live music and more each of the week-long beer celebration. Click on the links below for a full listing of events at two local favorites, Max's and Alewife: Max’s Taphouse: T Alewife


States that ran parks during the shutdown will have to lobby Congress to be repaid

The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island on Oct. 13, 2013. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters) A smattering of states from around the country will have to lobby Congress if they want to be repaid for running national parks during the federal government shutdown. Ten days into the shutdown, the Interior Department, which runs the national parks, gave states the option to pay to reopen parks closed due to the shutdown. Six states took advantage of it. But they won’t get repaid unless Congress approves it. “The funds that came from the states to open the parks were considered donations,” said Mike Litterst, the head spokesman for the National Park Service. The funding bill that ended the shutdown didn’t include instructions on how to deal with the park funding, so the states will have to go to Congress if they want to get their money back. The lost funds should come as no surprise to the states, Litterst said. “That was all very clearly discussed in the negotiations.” The opportunity to reopen parks was critical in some states, where they can have a significant economic benefit to local economies. Utah spent the most money to reopen some sites. It took advantage of the opportunity almost immediately, ponying up $1.6 million to run eight national park sites for 10 days. But the shutdown ended after six of those days, so it will get some of its money refunded. If spread out evenly by day, that means Utah’s final financial hit was about $999,000. Colorado was also quick to take up the Interior on its offer in order to reopen Rocky Mountain National Park, spending about $218,000 over six days. New York paid roughly $308,000 to reopen the Statue of Liberty for five days while Arizona paid $465,000 to keep the Grand Canyon National Park running for the same duration. South Dakota shelled out about $45,600 to open Mount Rushmore for three days. Tennessee took a hit of about $61,000 to open the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for just one day.


Five things we missed during the shutdown

Government workers form a line at a food truck on Maryland Avenue, SW in Washington, D.C., at lunchtime on Thursday. BILL O’LEARY / THE WASHINGTON POST 1. Enjoying Our Own City Sightseers can rejoice: Federally funded museums, monuments and parks are back open for business. Runners can breathe easy, too. Shutdown threats to cancel several local races, including the Marine Corps Marathon, have been averted. The MCM will go on as planned Oct. 27 — just in time for the city to avoid an angry mob with lots of stamina. 2. Food-Truck Lunching Though some furloughed employees said their time off allowed them to brush up on their home-cooking skills, many are relieved to have someone else do the work again. And the city’s myriad food trucks were happy to oblige. Eager to feed hungry back-to-workers, they swarmed the downtown streets Thursday. 3. The Routine The occasional break from routine is nice — that’s called a vacation. But a constant break? That’s not a routine, that’s a rut, which might explain why so many commuters going back to work Thursday seemed to be so happy. No seat on the Metro? No matter. The ex-furloughed were just happy to have a job to go to again. And get paid for it. 4. Hating Other Things This tweet just about sums it up: “Awful people at DC parties can no longer ask ‘how is the shutdown affecting you?,’ will go back to asking ‘where do you work?’ ” — @timothypmurphy 5. #PandaCam Coffee Breaks The National Zoo’s panda cam returned Thursday to such high demand that the zoo’s technology couldn’t keep up, resulting in 30 minutes of panda-less darkness on eager viewers’ computer screens, reports The Washington Post’s Michael E. Ruane. No wonder though — this gal has grown a lot! And we don’t want to miss another moment.


Diabetes foundation canceled fundraising ride because of shutdown

The National Park Service missed out on an estimated $450,000 per day in entrance and user-activity fees because of the government shutdown that forced the agency to stop most of its operations. But the impact of the closures reached beyond federal coffers. JDRF, formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, canceled one of its most lucrative annual fundraising events, its Ride to Cure Diabetes tour at Death Valley National Park in California, because the area was closed. Although the event was scheduled to take place on Saturday, two days after the shutdown ended, planners had to decide whether to cancel by the start of the week to avoid losing their deposit at the park and inconveniencing registrants who might travel to the site for nothing. They decided to nix the event instead of gambling that Congress and the White House would reach a deal. Registrants nonetheless gathered about $1 million in donations, all of which will go toward the foundation and its mission of providing funding for research on Type 1 diabetes, foundation spokesman Peter Cleary said. Many of the more than 200 would-be participants are switching to a related ride that takes place in Tuscon from Nov. 20-23, he said. Biking at Death Valley National Park. (Courtesy of the National Park Service). “I think there was plenty of blame to go around for the shutdown, and we’re disappointed we weren’t able to hold the ride in this amazing setting,” Cleary said. “But we didn’t lose any money and we’’ll do the event again next year.” Still, a few key riders won’t be in Tucson this year, namely Lars Sorensen, the president and chief executive of Novo Nordisk pharmaceuticals, and the 20 Danish employees who had planned to join him in Death Valley. If the effects of the shutdown could be measured by inconveniences, the foundation and its ride registrants would rank high. The Federal Eye would like to know about more out-of-the-ordinary impacts from the lapse. If you have a story, share it in the comments section for possible use on the blog or in the Post print edition. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed or e-mail josh.hicks@washpost.com. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics.


Poll: Majority believe health-care Web site problems indicate broader issue with law

Most Americans say the rocky start for HealthCare.gov is a harbinger of bigger problems for the Affordable Care Act, according to results of a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov Web site in New York in this October 2, 2013 photo illustration. REUTERS/Mike Segar Fifty-six percent of Americans say the Web site problems are part of a broader problem with the law's implementation while just 40 percent see the Web site problems as an isolated incident. Reaction to federal insurance exchange Web site are deeply rooted in partisanship. More than eight in 10 Republicans say Web site troubles are a sign of broader implementation problems, while most Democrats call it an isolated incident. Independents resemble the public overall, with 55 percent seeing broader problems with implementation. President Obama is clearly aware of that conflation and the dangers it presents for the law. "We did not wage this long and contentious battle just around a Web site," he said at a speech Monday at the White House. The bungled rollout has not soured support for the health law overall, however. Forty six percent now support it while 49 percent oppose it. That compares favorably to a 42 to 52 percent negative split last month. Support has rebounded since July among moderate and conservative Democrats, while Republican opposition has also softened. Criticism of the law is varied, with one in five opponents saying it doesn't go far enough rather than saying it goes too far in changing the system. Fewer than half of Americans have supported the law ever since its passage but the desire for repealing it altogether is even lower. One-third of the public, 33 percent, doesn't support the law and wants to repeal it, while 20 percent are not supporters but want to "let the health care law go ahead and see how it works." Hard-core opposition rests mainly among Republicans, 69 percent of whom oppose the law and 60 percent who say it should be repealed. That compares with a third of independents who want to repeal it and 10 percent of Democrats. Views of President Obama's role in the implementation of the law are more negative than positive, with 53 percent disapproving of the job he is doing and 41 percent approving. There has been a bit of a thaw for


Can’t stop the feet

Greg Snyders of Washington high-fives spectators while running last year’s Marine Corps Marathon. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post) Hurricane Sandy nearly washed out the Marine Corps Marathon last year. But the race wrapped up just before the storm came in. This time around, with the federal government shutdown, the forecast was looking pretty grim again. “An alternate date wasn’t going to happen. Not everybody can change planes and hotel rooms,” says race director Rick Nealis. “And we couldn’t find another course. A couple blocks in any direction and you end up in some national park.” But instead of having to tell everyone he was throwing a banana feast with a lot of portable toilets, Nealis got to announce last week via YouTube that “We are on!” That’s good news for the 30,000 people signed up for the 38th running of “The People’s Marathon.” And there’s more: The weather is looking ideal, with a start in the low-40s and a high in the mid-50s. (Similar conditions in the past have led to the fewest number of medical issues on the 26.2-mile course.) It’ll be a slightly different experience racing this year, and not just because of some tweaks to the route. In response to the attack at the Boston Marathon, both the Marine Corps Marathon and the New York Marathon (on Nov. 3) are prohibiting runners from wearing CamelBak-type hydration packs. That and other security precautions, Nealis says, will ensure that everyone ends up at those bananas safely. Where to Watch Spectators can follow this plan (from marinemarathon.com): -Take the Metro to Rosslyn or the Pentagon station to see the opening ceremonies at 7:20 a.m. on Route 110. -Head across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial for views at miles 11 and 16. -Go east on Independence Avenue to the National Mall, where you can cheer runners on at miles 18 and 19. -Ride Metro from Smithsonian to Crystal City for miles 22 and 23 (and a bunch of family festivities). -Board the MCM shuttle to get to the Finish Festival in Rosslyn. Mock Neck Trial: Getting Warmer: Distance Chances:


Town Square | Contemporary fortress to be auctioned in Ocean City

(Auction.com) A palatial contemporary residence in Ocean City, Md., will be auctioned online beginning Nov. 4 with minimum bids starting at $1.5 million. The concrete-and-steel modern home features open lofts, bamboo flooring and an Italian-designed stainless-steel and gleaming white kitchen, along with a high tech sound and surveillance system for security throughout the home and its 1.1 acre site. The five-bedroom, five-bath home, located at 12933 Old Bridge Rd., was designed by architect David D. Quillin and is owned by luxury eyewear designer, actor, model and agent Roy Schwalbach. (Auction.com) More than 4,000 square feet of decking wraps around the home’s multiple levels. The grounds include a secluded hot tub, a salt water lap swimming pool, a fire pit with a seating area, two garages and a private putting green with a sand trap. Potential buyers can attend open houses on Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Bidders must register at Auction.com, provide proof of funds for the purchase and a $10,000 deposit. To learn more about the auction, contact Truc Nguyen at trnguyen@auction.com or 949-454-4538. To learn more about this property, contact listing agent Alan Klatsky of Klatsky Homes at aklatsky@aol.com or 443-379-4876. Own a piece of the Kennedy mystique Wexford The 166-acre Fauquier County property includes a 5,050 square foot home designed by the former first lady as a place for the family to escape Washington for occasional weekends and holidays, but President John F. Kennedy visited the property only twice before he was assassinated. Mrs. Kennedy sold the property in 1964. The grounds include an iron gate with stone pillars, stone fences, a pond, mountain views, a tennis court, a stable complex and a swimming pool. The home includes four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, a half bath and a three-car garage. For more information on Wexford, contact the listing agent Patricia Burns of Middleburg Real Estate at 540-454-6723. Wells Fargo to host workshop for underwater homeowners Wells Fargo During the workshop, homeowners will meet with mortgage specialists who could discuss refinancing or loan modification possibilities. The workshop will be held at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Center Field House, 8001 Sheriff Rd., Landover, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. To register, click here or call (800) 405-8067. Urban Country celebration to benefit wounded soldiers Urban Country Wine and appetizers will be served in the Bethesda Row store and merchandise donated by area home furniture


States want reimbursement for funding national parks during shutdown

Five states this month advanced funding to the federal government to reopen some of their national parks and protect themselves from major losses in tourism revenue during the 16-day shutdown. Now those states are hoping for reimbursement. The short-term spending plan that ended the shutdown does not compensate the states for bankrolling park operations. That leaves their political leaders and congressional delegations to lobby for repayment. Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation to reimburse the states, but the measures have not moved beyond committee. Visitors at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. (Charles Platiau/Reuters). Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) are among the co-sponsors of the House legislation. They joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers, all from states with national parks, that have backed the measure. A companion bill in the Senate, introduced by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), has only three co-sponsors: Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.). As for the costs, Utah devoted nearly $1.7 million to run eight federal parks for 10 days, Arizona opened the Grand Canyon at a price of $651,000 for seven days, and Colorado, New York and South Dakota spent a combined $884,000 to reopen landmark destinations for various lengths of time. The states will automatically recover a portion of the money because the shutdown ended before their funding was exhausted. Arizona, for example, will receive $186,000, since the partial government closure stopped five days after reopening the Grand Canyon. But the states are still on the hook for most of the reopening costs, and few want to lose the funds altogether while still recovering from the economic downturn. “We’re still in a precarious financial situation, and we can’t afford to be paying the federal government’s bills permanently,” said Andrew Wilder, a spokesman for Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer. “Everything we take in is accounted for, so we don’t have pots of dollars lying around that aren’t needed somewhere.” During the past two years, the Grand Canyon attracted an average of about 1.2 million people per day in the month of October, bringing in significant tourism revenue to the state, its businesses and the parks, according to Wilder. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed or e-mail josh.hicks@washpost.com. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics. E-mail federalworker@washpost.com with news tips and other suggestions.


“Gravity” better on biology than orbital dynamics [spoilers]

[Warning: Spoilers! If you have any intention of seeing the movie “Gravity,” please stop reading now. If you don’t intend to see the movie, I still urge you to stop reading, and change your mind, and see the movie. It’s really good!] “Gravity” has many virtues, ranging from the beguiling special effects to the winning performances by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The movie is, in its totality, an affirmation of life – not just in the usual Hollywood formula, but in the subtle references to key concepts in biology, evolution and the origin of life on Earth. I think the movie is more scientifically accurate in its biology than in its orbital dynamics. You could argue it’s more of a biology movie than a space movie. (“Could argue” is a useful rhetorical tool that lets us countenance things that aren’t actually true.) As a space movie, it’s fun but implausible. The movie is apparently set in the near future, where, somehow, a space shuttle is in orbit (having escaped from a museum?), and the Hubble is being repaired again (so much for my Post stories on the “final” Hubble repair mission). We see George Clooney as the ultimate Right Stuff astronaut, skylarking around the shuttle, performing a “spacewalk” with no tether, the whole thing improbably dangerous but visually nifty. In real life, spacewalks are delicate affairs performed at roughly the speed that vegetation grows. There are stoppages in the action for “glove checks.” Astronauts stay clear of sharp corners and edges and pinch points. See our story on the ISS, which includes the narrative of a real-life spacewalking drama that almost took the life of astronaut Luca Parmitano. In “Gravity,” however, the astronauts romp around like Romanian gymnasts, turning space vehicles into jungle gyms. In Hollywood’s version of space, a cloud of space debris can somehow remain in a geosynchronous Low Earth Orbit such that astronauts at the same altitude and circling the planet every 90 minutes will re-encounter the debris every 90 minutes. I’m pretty sure that’s gravitationally absurd. The movie has multiple violations of the principles of angular momentum. Horrors! [Here’s a blog that goes into all the scientifically implausible stuff.] There are a number of quotations of other space movies (Ed Harris, from “Apollo 13,” is again the voice of Mission Control), but there are also quotations from the biology textbooks. We see Dr. Ryan Stone


The lessons of HealthCare.Gov stretch far beyond Obamacare

contract is awarded there's a protest period in which everyone who has lost a bid can protest it. So right now Amazon was awarded a cloud computing contract from the CIA and IBM is protesting the bid. Which means the CIA's cloud services are on hold now while we wait for the GAO to render a judgment. Now, do I think people ought to be able to raise a flag and say this was awarded unfairly? Probably. But should we be in a climate where everything goes to the company with the best lawyers? No, I don't think that's right. So imagine you're a small business and you're up against CGI Federal. Even if you can outperform them technically and at a lower price , the contracting officer will be afraid to award that to you because they'll be afraid CGI Federal will protest that bid. EK: A point you make is that one step towards fixing this is for government to write for "people rather than sociopaths." What does that mean? CJ: If you take a look at a government RFP .. EK: I'm not sure folks will know what an RFP is. CJ: Request for Proposal. They tend to be really long and hard to read. They begin with a page of abbreviations and pointers to clauses in the federal regulation. No normal, functional human being would read those clauses and understand them without years of experience and some legal help. This legal language and tone of authority really turns away people who might bid on these contracts. A lot of businesses look at these contracts, decide they can't even understand them, and it makes it unattractive to them. I want government to decide that part of its responsibility is to get the best people bidding on these projects and the RFP is the government selling to businesses about why they want to work with them and should work with them. And part of that is using great language to decide what it is that they're doing. EK: So I'm not particularly sympathetic to the current procurement process. But if you had someone more invested in it here they'd say that there are reasons for these regulations, reasons for these rules, and that the rules protecting taxpayer dollars and the public trust are worth having even if they are cumbersome because the possibilities for patronage and abuse are


Support for marijuana legalization spikes to 58 percent

For the first time, a majority of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, according to a new poll from Gallup. The poll shows 58 percent now support legalizing recreational marijuana — an unprecedented jump of 10 points from just last year. A few states have moved in recent years to legalize recreational marijuana, with voters in Colorado and Washington state legalizing pot via ballot referenda last year. The Obama administration announced recently that it will not challenge those laws, even as the possession and sale of marijuana remain illegal under federal law. The issue is likely to be on the ballot in several other states in 2014, including potentially in Alaska, Arizona, California, Oregon, Maine, Montana and Vermont. Many other states have legalized medicinal marijuana but not recreational. Pro-marijuana legalization groups hailed the poll as proof that public sentiment is shifting. “The latest poll results point to the absurdity and even venality of persisting with harsh prohibitionist policies,” said Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance.


Is China the last hope for carbon capture technology?

Remember carbon capture and storage? Five years ago, the idea of grabbing the carbon dioxide from coal and gas power plants and burying it deep underground was considered an essential technology for curbing the world's greenhouse-gas emissions. A diagram of how various sorts of carbon capture might work. (Congressional Budget Office) But carbon capture hasn't fared well in the years since. Since 2008, world governments committed at least $25 billion to fund large-scale demonstration projects, the Financial Times reports. And we have remarkably little to show for it so far. At the moment, there are only two coal power plants on the horizon that are capable of capturing and sequestering their carbon emissions: The Kemper County plant in Mississippi and the Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan. Both are slated to open in 2014 and will pump the carbon they capture into nearby oil wells to flush out more crude. Beyond that? The landscape is thin. A recent report from the Global CCS Institute notes that the number of carbon-capture projects on the drawing board actually declined last year, from 75 to 65. The technology is still expensive — and governments are now shying away. (The FT notes that about $8 billion worth of that $25 billion in financing is being clawed back.) The case for CCS The Global CCS Institute argues that carbon capture is indispensable for averting drastic climate change. They cite a recent International Energy Agency report that envisions a major role for carbon capture in cutting emissions enough to avoid 2°C of global warming: What's more, the report points out that carbon capture is one of the few viable ways to reduce greenhouse gases from cement, iron, steel, chemical and refining plants, which together make up 20 percent of global emissions. "Without [carbon-capture]," the report says, "it is unlikely that the 2°C target is achievable." The report points out that carbon capture isn't unproven: There are at least 12 large projects worldwide that use the technique. Most of them involve taking carbon-dioxide from gas processing or fertilizer plants and pumping the gas into older oil wells in order to flush out hard-to-reach crude oil, a technique known as "enhanced oil recovery." The real challenge, however, is adapting this technology for use by power plants, refineries, cement plants and other industrial facilities. That's the ultimate goal — and that extra step remains maddeningly elusive. The difficult economics of


the industry from working incrementally toward its goal. Similar funding difficulties are popping up elsewhere in the world. Last month, the Norwegian government pulled back on a plan to capture carbon from the Mongstand oil refinery after sinking $220 million into a project that had gone well over budget. (Norway will continue funding R&D for carbon capture.) The Global CCS Institute expects more projects to falter unless governments increase their support for the technology — through more funding for R&D and demonstration. "Existing policy support alone is not enough," the report argues, noting that only a handful of smaller carbon-capture projects will be able to support themselves through selling carbon for oil recovery at this point. Is China the last hope? The one bright spot for the carbon-capture industry, the report notes, is China: "China now has 12 projects spread across all stages of development planning compared to five in 2010, ranking second to the U.S. China is well positioned to influence the future success of [carbon capture]." Unlike the rest of the world, China is planning to double its budget for carbon-capture projects, hoping to attract some $380 million in investment over the next five years. As the map above shows, China is planning several coal and gas power plants that can bury their carbon deep underground. And they're partnering with U.S. companies to do so. For now, China is looking into offsetting the extra cost of these power plants by using the captured carbon to recover oil from nearby wells. The hope is that China could then move to build coal plants that can stash their carbon in vast underground aquifers. The latter technique would be necessary for carbon capture to ever catch on widely with power plants. (A recent study suggested that the United States had enough space in its underground saline aquifers to store 100 years' worth of coal-plant emissions.) But this is still a ways off. Further reading: — A helpful primer on what carbon capture is, how it works, what it can do. There are maps and graphs. — The CBO has taken a look at why carbon-capture efforts aren't going so well in the United States. — For those who really want to wonk out, here's a 2010 paper (pdf) from the Energy Department on why CCS that depends on enhanced oil recovery is unlikely to be a good stepping-stone to widespread CCS.


Union Market will add Tuesday hours beginning Nov. 12

You'll soon be able to shop for cocktail bitters, snack on smoked tofu and slurp oysters at Union Market six days a week. The market, where vendors include the Co Co. Sala chocolatier, Salt & Sundry boutique, the Buffalo & Bergen soda shop, Neopol Savory Smokery and Peregrine Espresso, among others, will add Tuesday hours beginning Nov. 12. It's currently open Wednesday through Sunday. Union Market. (Photo by Bonnie Benwick/The Washington Post) The market is also preparing for the arrival of a bigger restaurant concept, not unlike the Rappahannock Oyster Bar. Edens, which operates Union Market, tweeted this week that the American concept from Chef John Mooney (of New York's Bell Book & Candle), announced a year ago, will open soon. Till then, you can make do with a nice warm bowl of ramen, which will be available beginning at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday courtesy of a pop-up from Toki Underground that will run through Nov. 3. The restaurant's pop up has counter seating and is only taking cash for its $12 shoyu ramen with Chinese red pork.


Survey: What shutdown impacts caught you by surprise?

For many federal workers and government contractors, the shutdown meant hours spent at home as bank accounts dwindled and work piled up back on the job. But those were the impacts everyone saw coming before the budgeting stalemate turned into a lapse in funding. We want to know about the unexpected impacts, including those that affected individuals and organizations with no direct ties to the government. Did anything hit you by surprise? Has the media overlooked something? This week, we wrote about a diabetes foundation that canceled one of its fundraising rides because Death Valley National Park was closed, although the group still collected about $1 million in pledges for the event and helped reroute many of its would-be participants to a later ride in Tucson, Ariz. We want to hear about more of these types of experiences. If you have a story, please share it below for possible use in the Washington Post newspaper or on its Web site. You can also access the form here. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed or e-mail josh.hicks@washpost.com. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics.


How briefings became the flashpoint in the health-care battle

before the launch, when they not only offered briefings to several news outlets and groups of supporters, but to the House Republican leadership. The House GOP did not take the White House up on its invitation, according to Democratic officials who asked not to be identified given the sensitivity of the invitation. Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said House Democrats have held briefings on the law's implementation "for months." Wednesday's "caucus meeting is yet another in this series of discussions," he said. "While we appreciate House Republicans’ newfound interest in the implementation of health reform, it is clear they are not interested in anything other than continuing their desperate drive to sabotage this law, which so far has included shutting down the government.” Buck, who said his office was unaware of any offer of a meeting in September, said the real issue is whether GOP lawmakers would get a briefing now that the federal health insurance marketplace is experiencing serious problems. "It's unclear how the White House could have offered to brief Congress on the failure of healthcare.gov at a time when it claimed to believe the site would work just fine," Buck wrote in an e-mail. "This was just a day before the president told the country that the site was going to work like Kayak or Amazon.com. But if this response means they'd like to brief us, we accept and hope to set one up at their earliest convenience." The White House, for its part, doesn't seem too eager to answer every House Republican demand for information regarding the new health-care law. Asked Tuesday if the White House would cooperate with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's request for information regarding the role of the administration's chief technology and chief information officers in overseeing the Web site, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, "We cooperate with all legitimate congressional oversight." The committee's chairman is Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has been a steadfast critic of the administration. Asked what other kind of congressional oversight exists aside from "legitimate," Carney said: "This is Chairman Issa's committee? So we'll see." "I'm just saying that I think everybody here who wasn't born yesterday has seen questionable congressional oversight in the past," Carney said. "I'm not saying in regard to this issue, I'm just saying in the past." Scott Wilson contributed to this report.


The JPMorgan settlement: A sign of Dems’ new economic populism?

profitability is evidence that there is terrific rent-seeking going on somewhere. But the principal fact that CNBC hosts never mention is that the vast majority of people don’t own any stock in JPMorgan. In fact, more than half of Americans (like me) don’t own any stock of any kind. The top 10 percent of the income distribution owns more than 80 percent of all stocks; the top 1 percent accounts for almost half of that. Instead, the primary way JPMorgan could affect the lives of ordinary people is if the bank gambles itself into oblivion, either requiring another government bailout or causing another financial crisis. Which is easy to imagine — just last year they already lost over $6 billion on a single trade (plus almost a billion in fines for lying about the size of the losses). Ordinary people might also be directly victimized by a megabank, also: JPMorgan has already been investigated and fined for a staggering list of criminality and fraud, and that has to add up to thousands or millions of people hurt. The obvious truth papered over by the lickspittle financial press is that Wall Street got preposterously generous treatment, especially when compared to the punishment the marginal worker has endured for the last five years. When Wall Street, through a combination of greed, arrogance, and stupidity, poisoned itself nearly to death with its own toxic waste, Uncle Sam leaped to the rescue with $700 billion. But five years later unemployment is still over 7 percent. The primary consideration with JPMorgan and the other megabanks — really, the only consideration — is how to keep the collateral damage from these bloated monstrosities to a minimum. In fact, I would prefer smaller fines and more criminal prosecutions. Though the Justice Department will almost certainly never fine JPMorgan beyond its ability to pay, these are really big numbers and it’s possible their balance sheet might be endangered by accident. The best option would be blunt rules limiting the size of financial institutions which would break up all the megabanks into multiple parts, but that’s probably not in the cards right now. Still, colossal fines are better than nothing. There is still real anger over the special treatment Wall Street received, and the Dems could find a real vein of electoral gold — in addition to solving some real problems — if they start taking financial regulation seriously.


Beer drinkers, prepare your arms: Bluejacket to open on Tuesday

the second-tier fermentation tanks. The beer will then be moved to "bright" or serving tanks on the ground floor. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) To create more operational space, Neighborhood Restaurant Group constructed mezzanines inside the 50-foot tall, 5,600-square-foot building. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) The space is divided into the bar, left, and the restaurant, right, which collectively will be known as the Arsenal. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) The brewery features 19 fermentation vessels, more than Bluejacket really needs. But the extra tanks give the brewery flexibility to ferment a product longer without the urgency to move the beer to make room for the next batch. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Among its 19 fermentation vessels, Bluejacket has installed horizontal and open fermenters to make different styles of beer. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Bluejacket has a massive walk-in refrigerated keg room. The photo to the left? It's of Christopher Walken. Of course. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Bluejacket stores all its beers at the same temperature, but serves them at three different temps, depending on which is optimal. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Bluejacket has installed an Old World "coolship," which will allow brewers to create their own sour beers using natural yeast that will enter via open-air vents. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Bluejacket has its own lab located on a mezzanine, where the brewmakers can analyze beer, propagate their own yeast and check temperatures of each fermentation tank. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Neighborhood Restaurant Group wine director Brent Kroll helped the Bluejacket team find barrels at wineries and distilleries. These barrels will be used to age non-sour beers only. Another aging room will be dedicated to sour beers. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) The spacious kitchen at Bluejacket will prepare foods for both the Arsenal and the latest outlet of Buzz Bakery. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Both Kyle Bailey and Tiffany MacIsaac, the husband-and-wife team behind the Arsenal, plan to use spent grains in their cooking. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Neighborhood Restaurant Group installed small, custom-made lights over the tables to help create intimacy inside this massive brewery and restaurant. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) A 45-foot-long zinc bar is the centerpiece of the Arsenal bar. A few TVs will be installed over the bar, in front of the stainless steel serving tanks. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) The exterior windows of the Bluejacket offer an amazing view into the brewery's operation. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post)


Growing panda cub gets first vaccination

The growing panda cub at the National Zoo got her first vaccination Wednesday morning, the zoo announced. The zoo also released new photos of the cub, so obviously we’re going to have to post them. (Abby Wood/Smithsonian’s National Zoo.) The zoo also released additional information about the cub, which officials said is very healthy. She is nearly a pound heavier than she was last week, when the zoo reopened to the public following the government shutdown that shuttered the zoo and the panda cam. And she has begun to crawl, something that should be fun for panda cam fans. The cub is also looking more and more like an actual panda with each update, continuing something we saw with a video and photos released last month. (Abby Wood/Smithsonian’s National Zoo.) We could just keep posting these, but if you want to check out the rest of the images, head to the zoo’s Flickr page. (Abby Wood/Smithsonian’s National Zoo.)


Home (state) cookin’

If you haven’t uttered the following sentence, you’ve at least heard someone else say it: “D.C. is such a transient city.” For those District residents who hail from another state, here are some dishes prepared by local chefs (many of them transplants themselves) that may assuage longings for familiar flavors. Not that D.C.’s half-smokes aren’t something to write home about … Chicago-Style Italian Beef Sandwich at Red Apron Red Apron Butcher Jersey Mac at G G Muff-a-lotta at Bayou Bakery Bayou Bakery Philadelphia-Style Pretzels at The Pretzel Bakery The Pretzel Bakery Juicy Lucy at Ray’s to the Third Ray’s to the Third Kreuz Sausage at Hill Country Barbecue Hill Country Barbecue and Market From the Aloha State Hula Girl Truck All photos by Brian Oh (For Express)


Busy weekend of events in D.C.

- Memorial Bridge - West Potomac Park - East Potomac Park (access to Golf Course and Tennis Courts available) - Maine Avenue SW from East Basin Drive SW to Independence Avenue SW - Independence Avenue from Maine Avenue to Ohio Drive SW - Ohio Drive SW between independence Avenue SW and Lincoln Circle - Lincoln Circle from Ohio Drive SW to Henry Bacon Drive NW - 23rd Street NW from Lincoln Circle to Constitution Avenue NW - Constitution Avenue from Bacon Drive to 15th Street NW - 15th Street from Constitution Avenue NW to Independence Avenue SW - 17th Street from Constitution Avenue to Independence Avenue - Madison Drive NW from 15th Street NW to Third Street NW - Third Street from Pennsylvania Avenue NW to Independence Avenue. - Pennsylvania Avenue NW from Third Street NW to East Capitol Circle - First Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to Maryland Avenue SW - Maryland Avenue from South Capitol Circle to Third Street SW - Jefferson Drive SW from Third Street to 15th Street SW - 14th Street SW from Jefferson Drive SW to the northbound HOV lanes - HOV lanes from 14th Street SW to the HOV ramp at South Eads Street Westbound M Street will remain open up to Wisconsin Avenue NW. Motorists must then turn north on Wisconsin Avenue from M Street or east from Wisconsin Avenue to M Street. Police say they will reopen the roadways as soon as possible, provided doing so does not interfere with the race. Arlington County police list these street closings for the marathon: - Eastbound Washington Boulevard will be closed at I-395 toward Memorial Bridge from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. - From 4 a.m. to 6 p.m., Route 110 will be closed in both directions to all traffic. North Meade Street will be closed from Fairfax Drive to Marshall Drive. There will be no access to Lynn Street or Meade Street from Route 50. North Lynn Street, from Route 50 to North 19th Street, will be closed. Ft. Meyer Drive will be closed from 19th Street to Route 50. North Moore Street from 19th Street to Wilson Boulevard will be closed. Wilson Boulevard will be closed east of North Nash Street. - From 4 to 9:30 a.m., Westbound Washington Boulevard from Memorial Circle to I-395 will be closed. - From 7:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., Eastbound Lee Highway from Kirkwood Road to


Space trash is a big problem. These economists have a solution.

have cracked apart, or old upper-launch vehicle stages: (LEFT) An image of Earth orbit and the region of space within 2,000 km of the Earth's surface to show the most concentrated area for orbital debris. (RIGHT) This image is generated from a distant oblique vantage point to provide a good view of the the larger population of objects over the northern hemisphere that is due mostly to Russian objects in high-inclination, high-eccentricity. (NASA Orbital Debris Program Office/Johnson Space Center) NASA currently tracks more than 21,000 man-made objects in orbit larger than 10 centimeters, but there are also hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces circling the Earth that are harder to detect. Many of them are moving at extremely high speeds, some as fast as 22,000 mph. That trash is starting to become a hassle. Now and again, satellites have to adjust their orbits to steer clear of passing debris. Astronauts working on the International Space Station occasionally have to scramble into their Soyuz escape capsule when metal shards fly near, just in case a piece hits the station. "A 10-centimeter sphere of aluminum would be like 7 kilograms of TNT," one NASA scientist explained. "It would blow everything to smithereens." "There are already a lot of costs associated with the ongoing debris cloud," says Brendan Michael Cunningham, an economist at the U.S. Naval Academy and another co-author of the paper. "We have very expensive programs to track all that debris in orbit, using radar to send out early warnings to satellite operators." The nightmare scenario would be a cascade of collisions that becomes unstoppable. Metal shards would start destroying satellites, which would create even more debris, until low-earth orbit became unusable. This is known as the "Kessler syndrome," named after NASA astrophysicist Donald Kessler who first discussed the possibility in 1978. Fortunately, a chain reaction hasn't occurred yet, and Kessler's early prediction of apocalypse by 2000 turned out to be premature. But there are some warning signs. Back in 2009, we saw the first major collision between two intact satellites — a U.S. Iridium and an aging Russian Cosmos. The result: 2,000 extra chunks of metal flying around Earth. A major report by the National Research Council in 2011 warned that may be reaching a "tipping point" where such collisions become more common. The researchers said that space might be just 10 or 20 years away from severe problems. "Kessler


How will shutdown furloughs affect the October jobs numbers?

The 16-day government shutdown didn’t affect the jobs numbers that came out this week, unless you count the fact that it made them late — the Bureau of Labor Statistics couldn’t compile and release the September data with just three employees on staff during the closure. The impact on employment actually wouldn’t show up until October’s figures come out Nov. 8, and policymakers are surely anxious to see whether they provide ammunition to criticize their opponents. Perhaps some of our readers are curious about how the BLS will account for shutdown furloughs in the next report. Here’s how it works: A banner reading “Jobs” hangs on the facade of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) The first thing numbers watchers have to keep in mind is that jobs reports are based on two separate BLS surveys: One conducted on households and the other on employers. The household numbers for October will inevitably reflect some upward pressure on unemployement. That’s because it classifies individuals as unemployed if they were on furlough, so long as they were off the job during the reference week, which is Oct. 6-12 in this case. That includes federal employees who were guaranteed back pay in the deal that ended the shutdown, according to BLS spokeswoman Stacey Standish. The opposite is true with the employer survey, which counts individuals as employed if they are paid — including retroactively — for any part of a pay period that includes Oct. 12, Standish said. As such, the employment level will not be affected by furloughed feds. One thing to keep in mind is that many government contractors were affected by the shutdown as well. But unlike federal workers, they won’t receive back pay if they were taken off the job for the closure period. That means the household and employer surveys will both reflect contractor furloughs, creating upward pressure on the numbers. In summary, the household-survey data counts furloughed feds and contractors as unemployed, while the employer survey places only contractors in that category if they were out of work. To connect with Josh Hicks, follow his Twitter feed or e-mail josh.hicks@washpost.com. For more federal news, visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics.


PM Update: Freeze warning expanded to entire area; toasty September globally

Freeze warnings now cover the entire area late tonight through early tomorrow morning. (NWS) 9:15 p.m. update: - Temperature Map - Temperatures: Latest D.C. area temperature map. See interactive map on our Weather Wall. 4:30 p.m…. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Friday): See David Streit’s forecast through the beginning of next week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Pre-sunrise at the Lincoln Memorial on October 21, 2013. (Christopher Skillman via Flickr) Toasty September: Pollen update:


The International Space Station’s scientific payoff is real. And increasing.

(NASA/NASA) This is a guest post by William Bianco, a Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. His current work includes a study of the evolution of cooperation between NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, in their joint operation of the International Space Station. A recent article by Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post posed a fundamental question about the International Space Station (ISS): “What is it for?” While conceding that the space station is an engineering marvel and a monument to international cooperation, the article contrasts the costs and dangers of life on the ISS with the lack of a clear scientific rationale for continued operations. As space policy analyst John Logsdon put it in the article, “It’s an awfully expensive engineering demonstration. If that’s all it is, that’s a hell of a price to pay.” Demanding that ISS supporters identify concrete, immediate, substantial benefits from station operations is setting the bar unrealistically high. The ISS is designed for basic research, which is a long-term bet with an uncertain payoff. A better way to judge the productivity of the ISS in the short-term is to use criteria that are familiar to any research scientist: the likelihood that ISS research projects yield published papers, the willingness of individuals from outside NASA to become Principal Investigators (PIs) on ISS projects, and the trend in the amount of research taking place on the ISS. Publications are a basic measure of research quality, as they indicate that a project’s questions, methods, and findings have passed muster with peer reviewers and journal editors. Moreover, inasmuch as journals are a primary venue for scientific debate, a high publication rate for ISS projects implies that the PIs are using the facility to address questions that are considered important by scholars in their home disciplines. For example, early results from the ISS’s Alpha Mass Spectrometer, designed to detect dark matter and other exotic particles, were published in a flagship disciplinary journal, Physics Review Letters. The presence of PIs from outside NASA on ISS projects confirms that the orbiting lab provides a venue for advancing ongoing research programs that have nothing to do with NASA’s mission – and that the facilities on ISS are unique enough to justify the investment of time and resources needed to carry out the work. For example, a team of corporate and academic scientists combined with NASA researchers to study drugs designed