White House reveals the stuff superheroes are made of

be to make ropes, hooks and other gear out of lighter and more compact material, introduced his rappeling device with the great opening line, "Most of us are familiar with how Batman gets out of trouble." In one of the hangout's most dramatic moments, University of Delaware chemical engineering professor Norman Wagner showed how the liquid armor "transitions from a fluid-like state to a solid-light state under impact," allowing it to resist assaults from small, powerful objects. Wagner actually stabbed a swatch of Kevlar containing the liquid armor, to demonstrate how the material could turn rigid quickly. "We’ve been stabbing this one for about five years," he explained as he jabbed away, to no avail. Wagner said his group is working with a range of agencies and industries on applying their research: NASA may use it for spacesuits that could withstand a micro-meteorite the size of a grain of sand traveling 25,000 miles an hour, while doctors and nurses could wear specially-knitted garb that cannot be pricked by hypodermic needles. Duke University engineering graduate student Nathan Landy on an invisibility cloak, while Stanford University chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao unpacked the latest discoveries on self-healing and touch-sensitive synthetic skin, and James Kakalios, a professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy, spoke about how he wrote The Physics of Superheroes to ensure that his students found physics interesting. Landy has worked with his colleagues to make a “cloak” (it’s actually a diamond-shaped, solid structure, rather than the sort of billowing material that instantly springs to mind) out of “metamaterials,” artificially structured composites that respond in a certain way to electromagnetic waves. Long story short, you can put objects such as a metal cylinder (which normally is very easy to detect because it scatters light) inside the “cloak,” and it’s undetectable by radar. “This demonstration shows that cloaks aren’t some sort of mystical entity,” Landy explained in a phone interview. “They’re real, in a very genuine sense.” While this work can seem somewhat abstract, it has practical applications in both the defense and telecommunications world. “It’s no secret that there’s a lot of military interest in this,” he said. “You can use your imagination as to what that is.” On a less glamorous front, this technology might allow devices to communicate better with each other, even when objects such as telephone poles get in the way. At the


Nationals fans: Head to section 139 for local beer

3 Stars's Saison will be featured at Nationals Park during this weekend's series against the Dodgers. (Photo by Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post) After two seasons of pleading from local fans, Nationals Park is upping its local beer lineup. Port City, DC Brau and 3 Stars say their beers will be available beginning Saturday tonight outside section 139 in right field, along with Mad Fox. "I hope they'll see that people want it, and they'll end up giving us more kiosks," says DC Brau's Brandon Skall. 3 Stars co-owner Dave Coleman delivered a load of the brewery's Citra Lemon Saison to the ballpark earlier today and says he expects to rotate beer styles throughout the rest of the season's remaining home games. Nationals Park had been selling a limited number of regional craft beers in the Red Porch and Red Loft, including Flying Dog, Dogfish Head and Heavy Seas, but it's nice to see them giving local beers the attention they deserve.


Shorthand

* Obama spoke out on the Trayvon Martin case * George Zimmerman's brother liked it * A Senate subcommittee will review "Stand Your Ground" laws * Biden is noncommittal on aid for Detroit


You think this is hot? Hear what Lincoln’s secretary said about Washington summers

“All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt,” by John Taliaferro (Simon & Schuster). The nation’s capital is always full of hot air, of course, but every July it grows downright unbearable. According to our Weather Gang, the past three summers here were the three hottest on record. But at least we’ve got air conditioning. Consider what sweaty politicians endured in the 19th century. When I asked historian Doris Kearns Goodwin to set the scene, she quoted President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary John Hay, who saw “men and horses dropping dead in the streets every day.” More perspective comes from John Taliaferro, who’s just published a biography of Hay. “The heat was bad enough,” he tells me. “The smell off the Potomac was even worse.” Hay likened it to “the ghosts of twenty thousand drowned cats.” Yikes…. On Aug. 5, 1899, Hay wrote to his friend Henry Adams: “I left Washington last Monday, being just able to crawl to the station. The heat has been so steady and uncomfortable that it has nearly used us all up, and, besides that, the State Department, always impossible, has been a little Hell upon earth.” Taliaferro notes that “Adams was wise enough to spend his summers elsewhere, usually Europe.” As temperatures climbed to the 100-degree mark, Washington society evaporated. “Government came to a crawl during the summer months,” Taliaferro says. “Virtually every senator and foreign diplomat went home or to the more tolerable climes of the mountains, Newport, or the shores of New Jersey and New England.” Hay retreated to his summer house in New Hampshire, a lovely estate called The Fells, which I toured several years ago with my family when I was escaping Washington’s heat. No such luck this July. @RonCharles


If Dodd-Frank doesn’t work, here are four things that could

modern financial regulation is where to draw the line of permitted activities when it comes to banks. The New Deal separated investment banking from commercial banking, while rules solidified in the 1950s prevented bank holding companies from taking over banks in more than one state and from engaging in commercial activities. The bans on interstate banking, as well as the separation of investment from commercial banking, were removed in the 1990s. In the time frame between the repeal of Glass-Steagall (which separated investment and commercial banking) and the financial crisis, most of the debate was focused on commercial entities trying to open banks (e.g. Wal-Mart). But since the crisis, there’s a whole new set of discussions over where to draw these lines. Activists were split between two possible ways to try and introduce walls. The first group wanted to place new restrictions on the activities in which banks, with their access to consumer deposits and the discount window, were allowed to participate. These ranged from preventing market making in swaps and other derivatives to reintroducing Glass-Steagall. This approach ultimately won out with the President adopting the Volcker Rule — which bans banks from trading for their own advantage, rather than on behalf of clients — in January 2010. The second group looked at capping the size of the largest financial firms. There were practical arguments in favor of size caps, as smaller banks might be easier both to regulate and to let fail. But much of the argument focused on the idea that large banks were too powerful in a political sense. MIT economist Simon Johnson, in his widely read article from May 2009, "The Quiet Coup," argued that "old IMF hands" would look at our country and say "nationalize troubled banks and break them up as necessary." In order to prevent us becoming a banana republic where finance drives the economy from one crisis to another, there would need to be a "breaking of the old elite." Both approaches had champions in the Senate. The size approach was represented by Brown-Kaufman’s SAFE amendment, which only received 33 votes in the Senate, including three from Republicans. The amendment would have capped bank assets and liabilities, with the practical effect of breaking up JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. The activities group was represented by Sen. Blanche Lincoln, whose "Section 716" would have forced banks to spin off their


Saturday night’s extreme lightning show north of Washington, D.C.

Storm/lightning as viewed from the National Mall (Kevin Ambrose) Around 7 p.m. Saturday evening, the severe thunderstorm watch had been dropped, and it appeared the D.C. area was in the clear for the evening. But, suddenly just before 9 p.m, intense thunderstorms erupted along a line stretching from northern Montgomery County to Baltimore. The storms put on a dazzling lightning display that could be seen all around the D.C. area. The lightning was frequent and intense, flashing like a vivid strobe light at a night club. Most of the lightning hopped around within the clouds rather than bolting to the ground. Storm/lightning as viewed from the National Mall (Kevin Ambrose) “There were a lot of flashes coming out of the top of the storm, from the anvil, and a lot of dancing back and forth [within the clouds],” said NOAA’s Scott Rudlosky, a lightning expert. “It was an interesting spectacle.” The Washington, D.C. Lightning Mapping Array (DCLMA), which measures the radiowaves emitted by the lightning channels, recorded off-the-chart levels between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Lightning output measurement from the D.C. Lightning Mapping Array Saturday between 9 and 10 p.m. (NASA) Earth Network’s Total Lightning Network Lightning rate data Saturday evening from northern Montgomery County (Earth Networks) Extremely unstable air due to steamy temperatures and oppressive humidity levels likely led to the high lightning output. NOAA’s Rudlosky explained the quantity of lightning was also related to the duration of the storm. “That front just stalled out as it was approaching,” Rudlosky said. “So storms trained over the same region.” Composite of Kevin Ambrose’s lightning images Saturday night (Kevin Ambrose) Readers captured amazing photos and videos of the lightning storm, many from areas well south of the main activity, photographing the lightning looking north. See some great examples below. Photos Storm/lightning as seen from Annapolis (Jennifer Casey Photography via Facebook) Storm/lightning from Washington Monument (Daniel Reidel via Facebook) Storm/lightning from Court House, Va. (Samer Farha via Flickr) Storm/lightning from Brambleton, Va. (Tom Turley via Facebook) @JustinWeather @capitalweather #storm near #poolesville MD last night, been a while since good #lightning shot! http://t.co/DyTZUPGhGs #SevereStorm in #Leesburg #Virginia. Thunder and Lightning. @TomKierein @hbwx @WeatherKim @capitalweather http://t.co/oIS338WE1s Caught some lightning on my phone while riding on a bus over the Bay Bridge last night. @capitalweather http://t.co/qvBxVkxlYu Videos By @irenerojas via Twitter By A.J. Wojciak from Falls Church By Perry Winslow, Jr.


Gazing into the future of American business in China

will be some detail and some specifics behind the acceleration of market reform. If it is not, it will also be very interesting. Because if they go through the third plenum and they don’t release anything, that will tell us they don’t have a consensus and they’re not going to move aggressively. You mentioned the switch from managing growth to managing costs. What exactly are these U.S. companies doing to manage costs? Usually not downsizing, because we’re still seeing growth. Usually they’re investing in capital equipment for automation. And they’re looking at business process, doing a certain amount of outsourcing. Internally also, they’re really looking hard at how to organize what they do. We’ve moved quite a bit beyond the stage where localization meant having Chinese employees in management positions. What we’re looking at now is becoming the Chinese competitor. That’s a theme of the Honeywell corporation in China, for example. By that they mean being as quick to market as a Chinese company they compete with. Moving the new product approval process to China, not to head office. Moving a general counsel and other corporate functions to China, so that they can have a quick response time. It also means understanding the cost structure that companies operate under here and matching it. No longer trying to hit only a small slice of the upper end of the market, but going for the middle of a market, where you can hope to hit the biggest business. Part of that will be about location, part of that will be about how you organize your distribution and logistics, part of it is about how you recruit, train and pay people. What are some of the challenges you see to attracting top U.S. talent to China? Are quality-of-life issues, like air pollution, keeping away some American executives whom multinational companies would like to draw here? Given the change in the Chinese economy globally, some exposure to this market and this economy is now not something that holds you back in terms of a career, it often advances you. There are a large number of so-called ‘fast track’ employees in big companies who want to have a few years in China on their resumes. So there are positive reasons to come here. There are also negative reasons to come here. One of them is air pollution, another is traffic, a third is censorship. So


Ikea may open a West Bank store, but decides against North Korea

Chengdu – have proven some of their most popular, and they're planning a branch in nearby South Korea. But not the North, not yet. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images) Swedish furniture mega-chain Ikea has stores in 42 countries, from Europe to the Middle East to East Asia, with plans to expand into, among others, Indonesia and Egypt. But the chain might be discovering some limits to its expansion. Ikea is getting so big that it's even planning a possible expansion into the West Bank. Israeli media reported late last week that the furniture chain sent two senior executives into the occupied Palestinian territory to discuss the potential store with local officials, who are reportedly receptive. The most likely location seems to be Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based. A Sunday story on the Israeli outlet Ynet, noting that logistics to and from the occupied territories can be difficult, suggested that a West Bank branch might be able to easily ship goods to and from the stores in Israel proper, allowing Palestinians easier access to affordable contemporary furniture. The possibly entry of Ikea to Ramallah is seen as both a reminder of how quiet the West Bank has become in the past few years and of the Swedish outlet's aggressive expansion policy. Is there any place where Ikea won't expand? The chain may have finally found its first no-go country: North Korea. On Wednesday, South Korea's government announced that it had been actively courting Ikea to become the first non-Korean company to set up shop in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is in North Korea and jointly run by the two Koreas. Ikea, according to the Wall Street Journal, declined. If it had agreed, Ikea would not have opened a store in Kaesong, a vast industrial park, but used the dirt-cheap North Korean labor and South Korean management to produce its furniture. Though Sweden is one of the very few Western countries that still maintains an embassy in North Korea, Ikea apparently wanted nothing to do with the project. That may have been wise. In early April, as North Korea ramped up tensions with the outside world, it shut down the Kaesong complex, which remains closed. The Journal points out that South Korea, which relies on the complex for cheap labor and sees it as a peace-building tool, may have sought investment from Western firms to discourage Pyongyang from closing the facility.


NSA snooping is hurting U.S. tech companies’ bottom line

There has been a lot of speculation that the revelations about NSA surveillance program PRISM damaged the credibility of U.S. tech companies, especially with international clients who were the primary targets of the snooping operation. But now it's starting to look like the snooping is hitting U.S.-based cloud providers where it really hurts: Their pocketbooks. NSA snooping might mean stormy times ahead for U.S. cloud service providers. (NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; NSSL.) Computer World UK reports a recent Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) survey found 10 percent of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies canceled contracts with U.S. providers after the leaks, and 56 percent of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with U.S.-based cloud operators. This is bad news for U.S. tech companies because cloud computing and storage is a huge, expanding market. Research firm Gartner forecasts the public cloud services market will grow 18.5 percent in 2013 to a total of $131 billion worldwide. Naturally, European cloud service providers were quick to recognize the opportunity represented by the leaks. Shortly after the news broke in June, Robert Jenkins, CEO at Swiss company CloudSigma, told IDG News Service the leaks would be "really damaging for U.S. companies in terms of competing abroad" while Johan Christenson, CEO of City Network from Sweden, noted "[t]here are a lot of customers that come to us because they want to store their data in Sweden." European government officials also hopped on the bandwagon, with German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich telling reporters "whoever fears their communication is being intercepted in any way should use services that don't go through American servers" earlier this month. Even before the NSA leaks, some international consumers were wary of U.S. cloud service providers based on what was known about the U.S. government's authority under the Patriot Act. At the Office 365 launch during the summer of 2011 Microsoft admitted E.U.-based cloud data hosted by the company was subject to the Patriot Act because the company functioned under U.S. law. The European Parliament noted these concerns in an October 2012 report about protecting privacy in the cloud. FAQ: What you need to know about NSA surveillance and Edward Snowden


Five restaurants that time (almost) forgot

(Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) In 2007, I panicked. It had just been announced that Tom Sarris’ Orleans House was closing, and I had never been there. A native Washingtonian, I had been meaning to check out the landmark Rosslyn eatery, which opened in 1964, almost my whole life. But I had never gotten around to it, partly because my wife had warned me not to. She had eaten there when she first moved to Washington and dismissed it as “kind of gross.” Okay, so the restaurant was known for little more than slabs of prime rib, served up rare with a side salad from a giant, riverboat-shaped salad bar. And its decor combined Tiffany-style lampshades with medieval armor. But that’s what made it great. So in the few weeks before the Orleans House shut down forever to make way for a soulless high-rise, I ate there — not once, but twice. I loved it, and wasn’t even put off by the bioluminescent green goddess dressing. I admit: I’m a sucker for old restaurants. But these days, it seems, they’re increasingly invisible. It’s the new places that grab the attention of Washington’s rising foodie culture. Along once-blighted stretches of 14th Street NW, 11th Street NW and H Street NE, there’s a dining boom. In many of the hotter venues, it’s not unusual to wait an hour or more for a table. And yet, off to the side of this culinary tsunami, slinging everything from hash to haute cuisine with little fanfare — and often even less marketing — are the Restaurants That Time Forgot. Or almost forgot. • Add to our list of culinary survivors | D.C's best trusty watering holes Trio Restaurant: Comfort food and beyond (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Every day is Thanksgiving at Trio Restaurant, a funky Dupont Circle diner known as much for its quiet booths as for its lively outdoor patio. That’s according to longtime manager Mourad Benjelloun, who bought the 63-year-old business when the previous owner, George Mallios, retired last winter. Turkey — carved daily from a whole roasted bird — is a menu staple, along with such specials as sauteed chicken livers with onions and bacon. Known for little more than downscale comfort food for much of its existence, Trio’s, as regulars call it, didn’t start branching out, culinarily, until the mid-1990s, when nearby neighborhoods began to gentrify. That’s when Mallios, who had worked


Shorthand

* A plan to defund NSA phone spying was defeated. * Rand Paul is touting his belief in "minority rights." * Pelosi is appalled by Weiner and Filner. * Weiner is falling as new details come out. *And the FEC ruled for gay couples.


Summer restaurant week in D.C.: Aug. 19-25

Get your reservation-making trigger finger ready, because summer restaurant week is back -- and if you want to get a steeply discounted table at one of the city's best restaurants, you'll have to act fast. The full list of participating restaurants is available at the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington website. As is customary for the one-week prix-fixe meal deal, lunches will be $20.13, and dinners will be $35.13. Better get a move on. The Oval Room, along with other Ashok Bajaj restaurants, will be participating in Summer Restaurant Week. (Courtesy of The Oval Room) Some newcomers to the restaurant scene will be participating in summer restaurant week. They include: - Ambar - Azur - B Too - Daikaya (the upstairs izakaya) - Del Campo - DGS Delicatessen - Edgar - Nopa - Range


Afghan war now more unpopular with Americans than the Iraq war ever was

Washington Post/ABC News poll The proportion of Americans who say the war in Afghanistan has been worth fighting has dropped to 28 percent, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll. This is the lowest support for the Afghan war ever recorded in the poll – and even lower than the Iraq war ever scored on the same question. A full two-thirds, 67 percent, say that the Afghan war has not been worth fighting. The drop in support crosses political lines, although it's been most pronounced among Republicans, who only three years ago supported the war by 69 percent to 29 percent opposed. Now, 51 percent say they oppose the war, a slight majority although still less than Democrats (74 percent oppose) or independents (71 percent). What explains the drop in support, below even the nadir of American opinion toward the Iraq war? Partly, it's seasonal: Such support tends to rise in the winter, when fighting slows, and drop again during the "fighting season" in the summer. Another likely factor, judging by the White House's own view of the war, is that the costs for the United States are rising with little obvious return. U.S. casualty rates have jumped rapidly since President Obama increased troops numbers – a move that initially spiked public support – but gains have been difficult to maintain. Since a few symbolic gains in 2009 and 2010, the biggest stories out of Afghanistan have been political corruption, American casualties and the "green on blue" attacks in which Afghan soldiers killed the NATO troops who were supposed to be their allies. Support began falling in late 2011 and early 2012, when a string of high-profile incidents gave the appearance of a war spinning badly out of control. In January 2012, a video surfaced showing Marines urinating on dead Afghan insurgents. The next month, NATO troops mistakenly burned several Korans, setting off nationwide riots and more "green on blue" killings. The month after that, a U.S. soldier named Robert Bales wandered off base and into a nearby village, where he killed 16 civilians, nine of them children. But there's another possible factor that may have less to do with events in Afghanistan than with politics back here in the United States. Since the Obama administration began backing off of its previous push for the war, which it championed during Obama's campaign and first years in office, the Afghan war


The D.C. area’s best trusty old watering holes

When it comes to bars, aging often improves them, like a good bourbon. Most buzz is about the newest and hottest watering holes, but there's something comforting about walking into a place that has been in business for 50 years or longer. • Five restaurants that time (almost forgot) | Washington's culinary survivors Martin's Tavern The Quarry House Tavern (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) The Tune Inn JV's Restaurant Hank Dietle's Tavern


Weather service models running on new, vastly more powerful supercomputer

their magic on a new supercomputing powerhouse. On Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) shifted its operational models onto a supercomputer more than double the power of its predecessor, capable of performing 213 trillion calculations per second. “[These improvements] lay the foundation for further computing enhancements and more accurate forecast models that are within reach,” says Louis Uccellini, NWS director. The shift occurred after an extensive testing phase, to ensure forecasts simulated on the new machine were virtually indistinguishable from the old one. “This comparative testing involved examining output data to determine whether it is numerically reproducible out to five decimal places,” explains Computer World. “There is also a statistical analysis of weather predictions on the new system against the actual weather conditions.” Related: New Weather Service supercomputer faces chaos The models are running on a machine nicknamed “Tide” residing in Reston and are backed up by its companion “Gyre”, housed in Orlando. The immediate benefit of the more powerful computing is the ability to run an enhanced version of the Hurricane Weather Research (HWRF) model, which has shown a 15 percent improvement in forecasts for the track and intensity of tropical weather systems, NWS says. While the current versions of Tide and Gyre represent a big jump in computing power from their predecessors, the surge in the NWS’ supercomputing power remains in the pipeline. “Next comes the quantum leap,” says Uccellini. “That gives us the necessary computer power to run an enhanced version of our primary forecast model, the Global Forecast System.” By the summer of 2015, the NWS’ supercomputing power is projected to be 1,950 teraflops, up from 213 teraflops effective Thursday and 90 teraflops prior. The NWS has entered into a bit of an arms race with the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF), which currently runs the more powerful and, overall, more accurate global forecasting model. Following news of NWS’ planned computing upgrades in May, the ECMWF entered into a contract with supercomputer builder Cray to buy two new machines. “The speed of these systems is not being disclosed but a Cray spokesman said “it will be a petascale system”,” Computing World reports. The question is now: Will the NWS make the next move to attempt to keep up….? Related reading: NOAA goes ‘live’ with new weather supercomputers Senator Mikulski touts National Weather Service computer upgrades Game-changing improvements in the works for U.S. weather prediction


The Scene: Eat Local First Week reception

Our photographer colleague Rebecca D’Angelo goes to a party every week and does her thing for a regular feature in the Sunday Style section called The Scene. This week it was the opening reception for Think Local First DC 3rd annual Eat Local First Week held at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Monday, July 22. Want to invite her to your party? Email her at thescene@washpost.com. Think Local Week volunteer, Sarah McKinley passes out local tomato, mozzerella and basil appetizers. Richard McCarthy, executive director Slow Food USA, and Ann Harvey Yonkers, co-executive director FRESHFARM Markets. Amanda McClements, emcee for the evening and owner of Salt & Sundry. Al Goldberg and Chris Johnson, one of the evening’s speakers and owner of Cured DC, an artisanal salami shop. Colin Hughes, a transportation urban planner specializing in bike lanes, and Karine Bailly, marketing strategist Rock Creek Strategic Marketing. Maddy Beckwith, administrative & chef-at-market program coordinator FRESHFARM Markets, and June Blanks, co-chair of the evening’s event and owner Junius Cold Brew Coffee Co. Genevieve and Conan O’Sullivan, owners of the soon-to-be-opened Sona, a creamery and wine bar — the first on-site creamery in D.C. in over 150 years, they say. Steve Mekoski, co-founder of Gouter, “DC’s Very Own Medicinal Beverage,” offers samples to Linda Warschoff, art director for AARP. Michael Babin, owner of Neighborhood Restaurant Group, and Stacey Price, executive director of Think Local First DC and co-chair of the evening’s event. Earlier in The Scene More Reliable Source


Supermarkets are merging again. What does that mean for your grocery bill?

sales. In 1992, the top four chains ate up 15.9 percent of total sales; in 1998 the share was 28.8 percent. It was in part a reaction to the overbearing force of Wal-Mart--the Krogers and Supervalus reasoned that only by combining forces could they compete against the supply-chain bending powers of Bentonville. At the same time, though, the Federal Trade Commission helped prevent chains from carving up whole markets amongst themselves, keeping enough players in a locality to maintain competition. In the end, according to a 2010 study out of South Dakota State University, chains with a larger chunk of the national market did have lower prices. But they also tend to reduce the number of promotions they offer after a merger, making it harder on lower-income shoppers who might have put more effort into lowering their bills. Also, there is some evidence that fewer competitors in a given single market can drive up prices. (Overall, retail food prices have remained fairly constant over the past few decades). The 2000s slowed the intense consolidation drive, as a healthy economy sent consumers to their neighborhood markets, rather than forcing them to drive to a Walmart for lower prices (though Walmart kept growing, and by 2009 the top four retailers accounted for 42 percent of U.S. grocery sales, according to a recent paper). A new recession, and new competition from dollar stores, means supermarket owners needed to look elsewhere for growth. "I think they realized this business isn't growing that much," says food retail analyst Scott Mushkin, of Wolfe Research. "There's two ways to make yourself more profitable. You grow, or you consolidate." Mushkin also thinks the supermarket business isn't that consolidated, relative to something like agribusiness, telecommunications, or healthcare. There are few truly national chains, and some regions are actually oversaturated with competitors, like Philadelphia, which means that any one store might not sell enough to offer really great service. Absent a merger, stores very rarely close, even when a lower priced option opens nearby. Puzzled by this while doing a pricing survey of a grocery store near a new Walmart that was offering 22 percent lower prices, Mushkin asked a woman why she hadn't shifted over. "She goes, 'Well ok, but I've always shopped here, and I know where he stuff is.'" Mushkin remembers. "And she just walked right by and into the store. Unfortunately, humans aren't rational. It's because


Can soccer save Buzzard Point?

other Allbritton stations purchased by Maryland-based company (Erik Wemple) The good news and bad news about United Medical Center’s current finances (WBJ) Time to get moving on Eisenhower memorial already (Post editorial) Chartered settlement also means $13.7 million payout to UnitedHealthcare (WBJ) Delaware governor, Atlanta mayor dispose of Jeffrey Thompson cash (Center for Public Integrity) 14th Street’s final frontier is a hair salon, and the owner isn’t selling (Post) Lawsuit? What lawsuit? Developers move to clear Hine, West End sites (WBJ) Hacking incident made it a lot harder for LivingSocial to make a profit (Capital Business) Bloomberg story on DHS consolidation starts by suggesting St. Elizabeths wildlife would be at risk outside “in one of D.C.’s toughest neighborhoods,” moves on from there (Bloomberg Businessweek) Advocates: Vince Gray was a jerk to shop clerk, might have broken law (Loose Lips) Shocking broad-daylight sexual assault of a nine-year-old on H Street NE (Post) Three black men alleged to have mugged white man while shouting “This is for Trayvon Martin” (Post) Man found fatally shot in burning Pleasant Plains apartment (Post) Adam Kokesh is now in D.C., may be staying here for a while (Post) Seven-year sentence for woman who ran down 58-year-old on South Capitol Street while drunk and high (Post, WJLA-TV) Patient steals ambulance, takes it on seven-block joyride (Post, WTOP, WAMU-FM) Dogs are shot by police after attacking, injuring several (Post) Woman, 30, is struck and killed by SUV on Eastern Avenue (Post) Man who fell from Key Bridge Friday night was quickly rescued (Post) Do you know this person of interest in the recent Howard University sexual assault? (Post) When riding the streetcar, beware emergency braking (Dr. Gridlock) Southwest Freeway sign work is a real pain in the commute (Dr. Gridlock) “One City” spreads to a much bigger city (Loose Lips) @fixwmata is leaving but a group aims to carry on his legacy (City Desk, City Desk) It has already noticed that Metro has moved some defibrillators from publicly accessible boxes into station kiosks (DCist) 33 percent more car2go vehicles soon to ply city streets (UrbanTurf) More on Obamacare’s effect on D.C. health insurance prices (Post) Metro retirees keep close in North Carolina (Post) With District Flea, Crafty Bastards gets competition (Capital Business) Food truck owner who said he was quitting due to regulations changes his mind (GOG) The Washington Kastles are again champions of a sport you probably


Why stolen European credit card numbers cost 5 times as much as U.S. ones

technically gifted hackers on top. They are the ones compromising major databases, and are often Eastern European or Russian. The hot shot hackers store the credit card information after they compromise databases and sell it in batches to various vendors and middlemen, sometimes dumping info years after the initial breach. The middlemen then sell it to end users who attempt to use them in fraud. Those end users are frequently based in North America, where it's easier to commit credit card fraud. This is where a demand for European cards can come in. The professionals in this business are usually very adept at finding a specific monetization scheme, and they frequently need a specific type of card or one attached to a specific bank to pull them off. One of theses schemes that was still working in recent years relied on the difference in credit card technology and transcontinental lags in fraud protection. Merchants in Europe use chip-and-PIN security measures on credit cards. The chip contains all the same sort of information in the magnetic strips on U.S. cards, and after you swipe it you must also enter a PIN to complete the transaction like you would with a debit card. U.S. merchants aren't set up for the advanced security features on European cards. So when European cards are used in the United States, they fall back to the old-fashioned magnetic strips used here. But some European banks and credit card providers have a delay in processing transactions over weekends. So, fraudsters could clone European cards and go on weekend spending sprees, capitalizing on the delay while the transactions make it across the pond and through fraud analytics processing. The result: a wave of credit card fraud by American criminals targeting European victims. Another factor in the low cost of U.S. credit cards in these criminal schemes: It's easier to get them. "There's an overwhelming amount of U.S. card supplies" on the black market, Gundert says. And that's a direct result of database compromises like the one reported Sunday. U.S. companies are frequent victims of those compromises, according to Gundert, and "there are many more that haven't been discovered or reported on yet." This flood of stolen American credit cards pushes down the price of American cards. Monetization schemes that only work with foreign cards push up the value of European credit cards. The result: Stolen European credit card credentials


Medical marijuana is on sale in D.C.

news: Leaked DC-CAS scores show big across-the-board gains (WTTG-TV) Fifty-eight-year-old woman, thought to be homeless, charged in National Cathedral vandalism; link to Lincoln Memorial incident unclear (Post) Luther Place Memorial Church, on Thomas Circle, was subject to a smellier attack (WJLA-TV) “A brief history of D.C. landmark vandalism” (Post) MedStar, not Jeff Thompson, may be biggest obstacle to Chartered Health Plan settlement (WBJ) District and federal officials cut ribbon on new Coast Guard headquarters (WTOP) Will it just be a “drive-through” for commuters? (Housing Complex) It’s tough being a church here: “City policies, legislation and practices are pushing houses of worship, particularly African American churches, out of the District of Columbia” (Park View) Boyfriend charged in death of woman found in Washington Highlands alley (Post, WRC-TV) No bond on gun charge for “very dangerous man” Adam Kokesh (Post, WAMU-FM, WaTimes) Charges against Protective Services officer who ordered assault rifle are dismissed (Post) Metro board chair Tom Downs: Pension provisions make new employee contract a good deal for riders (Post letter) DDOT’s vision for new South Capitol Street bridge: “a gateway into the city instead of a thoroughfare out of the city” (WAMU-FM) Zoning rewrite is now in the Zoning Commission’s hands (WMAL-AM) Akridge executive says nothing unexpected about Buzzard Point redevelopment (WBJ) And, yes, the Mark Ein and Pepco parcels are just as crucial to the deal (Housing Complex) Police are looking into report officer punched juvenile outside Columbia Heights Metro (DCist) Inspector General Charles Willoughby still has not filled his vacant deputy position (Loose Lips) Transcripts released in Chandra Levy case give insight into talk of retrial (AP) Advocates call for more speed cameras after young mother’s death on Eastern Avenue (DCist, WAMU-FM) D.C. Jail guard will do three months for smuggling thumb drive (AP) Four suspects sought after reports they tried to sexually assault a woman at an Anacostia bus stop (Post) Motorcyclist dies after striking left-turning UPS truck in Cathedral Heights (Post) A panoply of Capitol Hill cellphone thefts (Post) Is relaxing height limits the only way to accommodate D.C.’s growth? (GGW) A closer look at the Hines-Urban Atlantic proposal for Walter Reed (Curbed) CoStar wins Mayor’s Sustainability Award (news release) Likely buyer of the $26 million Cissy Patterson home: a foreign government (UrbanTurf) Believe it or not, Marion Barry had a better grasp on the facts behind his own cocaine conviction than Geraldo did (Erik Wemple)


What do Whataburger, Kroger, and J. Crew have in common? They all hate patent trolls.

that a troll had started suing companies that offered Wi-Fi services. Supermarkets are also up in arms. Erik Lieberman of the Food Marketing Institute says his industry is also affected by the growth of trolls. "I would say every single supermarket chain has been targeted by patent trolls," Lieberman says. "The biggest chains are being targeted by many trolls in any given year. In the last three years the problem has gotten worse and worse." "There's a troll out there claiming they have a patent on the rendering of JPEGs," an image format that's popular on the Web, Lieberman says. He says there's a troll that claims to own the concept of sending a text message with an embedded link, something many grocery stores do. Another troll targeting grocery stories claims to own the concept of entering your zip code to find the nearest store. Other trolls claim concepts related to clickable online menus and QR codes. "Our members are not developing this technology," he says. "All they're doing is using it." But that doesn't shield them from threats by patent holders. The letter focuses on "business method" patents, which are particularly popular with trolls. In the 2011 America Invents Act, banks convinced Congress to create a new, expedited process to challenge the validity of some business method patents. But the process was extremely narrow, applying only to patents related to the financial services industry. Last week, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) introduced legislation that would expand this program to allow challenges to additional categories of business method patents. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) proposed similar legislation in May. While the letter doesn't specifically mention either bill by name, it endorses their general approach to the issue. Trolls "often buy questionable business method patents," the letter says, "and assert them against dozens of diverse businesses that use standard technologies like document scanners and common features of the Internet, like promoting discounts or conducting live web chats with customers." The Issa/Chu and Schumer proposals are just one of several proposals to deter abusive patent lawsuits. For example, Rep. Peter DeFazio's (D-Ore.) SHIELD Act attempts to deter patent trolling by making it easier for victorious defendants to recover their legal costs from trolls. Companies that signed onto the letter say they favor a multi-pronged effort to address the problem of frivolous patent litigation, including both the Issa and DeFazio approaches.


Redskins-themed food taking over Richmond menus

The RGIII burger offered at Metro Grill in Richmond. (via @KManDevil) The local establishments in Richmond are very excited to have the Redskins in town, so much so that they’re adding Redskins-inspired items to their menus, just for training camp. Metro Grill, a bar and restaurant in the city’s Fan District, is offering a tower of meat and cheese they’re calling the “RG3 Burger.” The monster on bread consists of three patties made with a blend of wagyu beef and bacon fat, three cheeses (goat cheese, gorgonzola and gouda), three condiments (whole-grain mustard, sriracha mayo and roasted garlic spread), lettuce, tomato and bacon on an onion roll. Half of you had a heart attack just reading that description. “We were sitting around one afternoon last week and we were thinking about the best way to market something specific to the Redskins facility since they’re in town,” explained Kevin Mandeville, owner and operator of Metro Grill. “It kind of came together pretty easily between myself and my head chef. The roasted garlic is the ‘RG’ and the ‘3’ was the three cheeses.” Mandeville said that the $12, 14-ounce burger has been on the menu for a week and they have sold five or six a day since. It just so happened that two patrons had polished off one a piece just before I walked in. “My coworkers forced me,” laughed 23-year old Ryan Mallory of Richmond. “It was more like a dare, but I was up for the challenge. Honestly, I kind of wanted it.” Mallory’s buddy, Matt Fillman, 31, of Glen Allen, ordered one for himself in an act of solidarity. “Once he committed, I had to go all in,” said Fillman, who timed the two meals and said they finished their burgers in under six minutes. Both gave the burger their seal of approval. The RGIII, offered at Buddy’s in Richmond. (Sarah Kogod/The Washington Post) Just down the block from Metro Grill is Buddy’s, which sees your burger and raises you a whole page of Redskins-themed specials. There is, of course, the “RGIII” – beef brisket, pepper bacon, cheddar cheese, Texas-style barbeque sauce, Texas-style slaw, and jalapenos on a Kaiser roll. Then there’s the French dip named after Pierre Garcon, a two-hotdog dish called the “Fletching Fletcher,” and potato skins named “The Adidas Snacker.” “I’m not even a Skins fan,” said patron Joe Kang, 37, of Richmond, who was


Washington’s culinary survivors (continued)

Trio's has been a mainstay of the Dupont Circle neighborhood since 1940. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Mere hours after posting a list of old restaurants — a sidebar to my gooey love letter to five vintage local eateries — I learned that one of the places was about to close. There was no time to mourn, let alone to get a reservation. As of July 28, the Montgomery County seafood house O’Donnell’s Sea Grill, which opened in downtown Washington in 1922, was no more. Was this an omen of other closings? I hope not. I'm a big fan of antique eateries. At the risk of jinxing other old restaurants by calling them out, I'm going to share a few more places I couldn't squeeze into my original story. Most of the names were sent in by readers who were horrified at my oversight. (Sorry, but if you opened a restaurant in the 1980s, that's just not old enough. Hang in there, La Ferme, Old Stein Inn, Phillips Flagship and Taberna del Alabardero!) First up: the golden oldies. Each of these restaurants is at least 50 years old. Click on the names for addresses and phone numbers. Apple House (1963) Then there are these, which are rapidly approaching middle age: Amphora Restaurant (1977) Finally, there's Osman and Joe’s Steak 'n Egg Kitchen. It's hard to pinpoint the exact vintage of this ageless Tenleytown institution, a favorite of late-night diners. The building, which housed a greasy spoon as far back as the 1930s, has been called the Steak 'n Egg Kitchen since the mid-1970s, when it became part of a national chain. Osman Barrie and Joe Vamboi, who met while working there, have owned the 24-hour restaurant — and had their names on the menu, if not on the sign outside — since the late 1990s. If you know of more old restaurants, keep 'em coming.


A new look at the Andromeda Galaxy and Trask Industries gets a Web site (Innovations in 5)

Here’s what we’ve been reading and watching today: 1) Here is a gorgeous new photo of the Milky Way’s neighbor — the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). The image was taken by Japan’s Subaru telescope: M31 captured by HSC. (Credit: HSC Project / NAOJ) The image (here’s the full-resolution version, which may take a while to download) was captured using a Hyper Suprime-Came (HSC) and, according to a release, is a fulfillment of a key goal for the telescope: to show that it can be used to put together a “large-scale survey of the universe.” The image is remarkable considering that Andromeda is roughly 2.5 million light years from Earth. Here’s Carl Sagan to explain just how mind-bogglingly far Andromeda is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49wxtJ62Edk (via io9 and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan: Subaru Telescope) 2) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has released its report on the Aaron Swartz prosecution, and the institution’s involvement. The report was requested by the university’s president, L. Rafael Reif, in early January, following Swartz’s suicide. Swartz’s partner, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman released a statement Tuesday saying the report was “a whitewash” and that the university’s “behavior throughout the case was reprehensible.” Reif issued an open letter Tuesday writing, “From studying this review of MIT’s role, I am confident that MIT’s decisions were reasonable, appropriate and made in good faith.” (via Wired) 3) If you’re a fan of Pinterest, Fancy or other sleek photo-sharing sites and wish desperately that they could replace Amazon.com’s Web-store experience, then wish no longer. TechCrunch’s Darrell Etherington reports that Canopy has launched. The platform allows users to find and share products available on Amazon, but with a much more sleek, modern design. The site is currently invite-only. (TechCrunch) 4) In other news, and in case you don’t have Saturday afternoon plans, NASA has announced that live video coverage of the Japanese cargo spacecraft, Kounotori, scheduled to head to the international space station will be on Aug. 3 and Aug. 9. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will be launching the H-II Transport Vehicle (HTV)-4 at 3:48 p.m. Eastern time on Aug. 3 from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. NASA’s live coverage will begin at 3 pm. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano (who recently experienced a mishap with his space suit during a space walk) will be monitoring the rendezvous. (NASA) 5) In the lead-up to the release of “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” Fox Studios has created a


Ed Witt out, Justin Bittner in at 8407 in Silver Spring

seven months after he started at 8407 Kitchen Bar, Ed Witt has left the Silver Spring restaurant to launch a new chef-driven menu at the renovated Hawk & Dove on Capitol Hill. Witt's replacement at 8407 will be Justin Bittner, who just announced his departure from Bar Pilar after seven years at the small-plates operation on 14th Street NW. Justin Bittner is leaving Bar Pilar to put his own stamp on the 8407 menu in Silver Spring. (Tim Carman/The Washington Post) Witt is already in the kitchen at Hawk & Dove, hammering out a new menu and ordering sous-vide equipment. Bittner will join 8407 on Aug. 22, says general manager Nancy Hart. "He was looking for a job where he doesn't have to commute to D.C.," Hart says about Bittner, who has a few acres in Howard County. "I'm happy to have somebody new and young and with a fresh approach." While Bittner's shift to Silver Spring will remove him from the trendy 14th Street corridor, it will also give the chef the ability to expand his repertoire. Bar Pilar specializes in small plates; 8407 boasts a variety of menus, including separate ones for lunch, dinner and the bar, each of which has entree-sized plates. Hart expects Bittner to roll out his new menus in the fall. If Bittner wanted to be close to home, so did Witt, who lives in the Northeast section of Washington. The Hawk & Dove, the chef says, is a 10- to 15-minute walk from his place. Just in his third day on the job, Witt is still working out the details of his menu, which will need to satisfy a number of objectives: feed the bar crowd that populates this section of Capitol Hill, elevate the fare beyond upscale pub grub and remain compact enough not to overwhelm a kitchen that regularly has to cook for large parties. "It's going to be my food," says Witt, who previously worked at 701. "The whole thing is we want to move it into a dining destination, not a bar destination. But we will still embrace the bar part of it." Witt has no timeframe on when he'll roll out his new menu. "As quick as I can," he promises. According to Eater DC, Bar Pilar will host a pig roast on Aug. 17 to say goodbye to Bittner. There is no word yet on Bittner's replacement.


Andy Pollin tells a Steve Spurrier story

(Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) Wednesday is the final day of Andy Pollin’s long tenure as co-host of ESPN 980’s Sports Reporters, which means it was cause for some stories and memories. A great one came earlier Wednesday, when Pollin sat in with Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro on The Sports Fix. They were going over some of the many Redskins coaches who made regular appearances on the Sports Reporters over the years, including Steve Spurrier. “We had two years of Steve Spurrier, who just stuck out his iron jaw and said whatever you want, and was just as incredibly honest as you can imagine,” Pollin recalled. “The best one, I think Czabe was off, and I was working with John Riggins. We had Spurrier on, and so this was before Spurrier’s last game as coach of the Redskins. I think they played Philadelphia on a Saturday night. At that point, he said his plan was to come back for year three. And I said to him, ‘What can you offer the fans for optimism for next year?’ “And he thought — “Hmmm. You know? I really can’t think of anything.” Is there an audio vault of this Spurrier stuff somewhere? Please tell me there’s an audio vault of this somewhere. You know how many blog posts that would be? Blog posts for days. Pollin also recounted the origins of his show, which I do not recall at all, despite living in D.C. back then. This was in 1999, when Tony Kornheiser’s show finally slid into the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. slot, and could no longer be replayed in late afternoons. “In my many travels with Tony, one Super Bowl he did a show where he had both Hank Goldberg and Mike Lucipa on together,” Pollin recalled. “And they were just chatting, and it sounded like a Sports Reporters TV show on the radio. So I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t that be a great idea to try that?’ “So Tod Castleberry, who was the program director at the time, I talked him into giving this a shot. I said, ‘Let me do it, and we’ll bring in two different guys every day,’ and I thought that would be rather easy. And the first day it was: we had Steve Buckhantz and Michael Wilbon. Well, you can’t go wrong with a show like that. I mean, that’s a hit out of


How Vermont could save the nation from patent trolls

a troll makes a threat in bad faith, that is a violation of state consumer protection laws," which also protect Vermont businesses against frivolous legal threats. "The patent system is federal, but it works hand in glove with state law," Kunin says. For example, he notes, questions about who owns a patent are generally litigated under state law. Similarly the sale and licensing of patents is often governed by state laws. Kunin and his clients began talking to elected officials about their idea. "We're a small state," he says. "Our governor, our senators, our legislators, they're easy to talk to. They're willing to listen to the business community." Kunin testified about the legislation in April, and the legislation passed the legislature easily in May. Vermont's legislation gives the recipient of a "bad faith" accusation of patent infringement the right to counter-sue in state court. While no specific definition of bad faith is offered, the law offers several criteria that a judge can use to determine whether a threat was made in bad faith. Possible signs of bad faith include a lack of specificity about an alleged infringement, demands for excessive licensing fees, and unreasonably short deadlines for payment. Firms that do not themselves use the technology claimed by the patent — a.k.a. trolls — are also more vulnerable to accusations of bad-faith litigation. National implications The idea of using state laws as a club against patent trolls is so new that it hasn't yet been tested in court. There's a possibility that the Vermont legislation, as well as the efforts of the Vermont and Nebraska attorneys general, will fall prey to preemption, the legal principle that bars states from interfering with the enforcement of federal law. But Camilla Hrdy, a legal scholar at Yale, says the state efforts have a good shot at standing up in court. "I don't think it's necessarily preempted," she says. Federal courts have generally allowed the states to police bad-faith patent assertions, but only if the state courts apply the same legal standards that would apply in federal courts. Hrdy predicts that if a "patent is obviously invalid or plainly not infringed," then accusations of bad faith are likely to stick against the patent holder. But in less clear-cut cases, the stricter federal standards may work in the patent holder's favor. The idea of using state consumer protection law against patent trolls could spread to


Is XKEYSCORE still active? Defense contractor posted a job listing for it 2 weeks ago

The SAIC job listing for XKEYSCORE is still taking applicants. (Screenshot) On Wednesday, the Guardian released yet another secret U.S. program, sourced to former contractor Edward Snowden. The program, called XKEYSCORE, apparently allows NSA officials to search vast databases of Web user metadata, according to XKEYSCORE training slides reproduced on the Guardian's Web site. In other words, XKEYSCORE is the database system where the NSA stores information acquired from surveillance programs. Some of the documents are a few years old, for example a training guide that's dated from 2010. So it's possible that the program may have changed since then. But we have one very compelling datapoint that XKEYSCORE is still up and running: Just two weeks ago, Virginia-based defense contractor SAIC posted a job listing for "XKEYSCORE Systems Engineer." The job requires a security clearance level TS/SCI, which is short for "Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information." The job is clearly a technical one, requiring experience with Linux systems, computer troubleshooting and "dataflow." This seems consistent with what the Week's Marc Ambinder has reported about XKEYSCORE, which he's described as "a series of user interfaces, backend databases, servers and software that selects certain types of metadata that the NSA has ALREADY collected using other methods." The listing appears fairly anodyne and heavily technical – it's also not shy about naming XKEYSCORE and labeling it as a U.S. signals intelligence (SIGINT) program of the sort that would require top-secret clearance. (Ambinder says the program itself is only secret, not top secret.) But at the time it was posted it would have also been, for people outside of the field, largely indecipherable. That SAIC would post this job listing publicly is an interesting reminder that what might appear shocking and revelatory to those of us outside the vast defense contractor world can look, rightly or wrongly, much more banal from within it. And it's still open if you'd like to apply. Update: (Hat tip to Joshua Foust for uncovering this.)


H&M launches e-commerce site in U.S., but is that good news?

H&M, the Swedish fast-fashion retailer, opened its e-commerce site to the U.S. today, making its women’s wear, as well as men’s, children’s and home wears available online here for the first time. It is the latest step in the world’s second largest retailer’s very public campaign to boost sales – which has included a string of high-end collaborations, a show at Paris Fashion Week and an eco-friendly line. An e-commerce site has been long-awaited by fashion bloggers and serious fans who have been buzzing about this day for nearly three years. A logo sits above a store operated by Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) in Bordeaux, France (Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg ). For long-time customers and fashionable shoppers looking for good deals, the online smorgasbord of cheap, trendy clothing will likely elicit jubilation. The long lines and general insanity at brick and mortar H&M’s in big markets have long been one of the store’s pitfalls — as can be witnessed at the Georgetown location on any given Saturday. So the thought of being able to purchase that $5.95 burn-out print top with a few mouse clicks without the onset of severe claustrophobia is tempting. But is it worth it? H&M Fulton Street Store Opening And Block Party on July 3, 2013 in Brooklyn City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for H&M) H&M will be unveiling a few enticing online-only offers to grab shoppers. First, there will be garments available online only, as well as additional sizes. Pieces from the upcoming Paris Fashion Week show will be available for pre-order online starting August 22. And the Home section, which is not available anywhere in the U.S., is a pretty good selling point. The downside — H&M garments are notoriously tricky — sizing can vary, materials can be iffy and quality is generally a guessing game. Ordering a blouse without having seen or touched the fabric in the store can be a different ball game than ordering one from J. Crew or Banana Republic, which have built reputations around consistency. Perhaps to counteract that uncertanty, H&M has set a flat shipping rate of $5.95 for any purchase. Items can be returned if they are unworn with labels still attached within 30 days and with the original packing slip. The $5.95 extra is relatively cheap, but for a $10 skirt, it may be more cost effective to brave a bought of claustrophobia. RELATED: Cheap, trendy


Senators demand repercussions for Russia

Prominent members of the Senate on Thursday derided a decision by Russia to formally grant NSA leaker Edward Snowden asylum for one year, calling on the Obama administration to exact consequences on the former Cold War enemy. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), joined a chorus of critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling on President Obama to demand that the G-20 move its pending summit from Russia after Putin’s decision. “Russia has stabbed us in the back,” Schumer, the No. 3 Democratic leader, told reporters. Schumer had already co-sponsored a resolution with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asking the White House to consider compelling the G-20 to move the summit, and Thursday’s action increased the stakes. “Mr. Snowden’s a coward who has chosen to run,” Schumer said, distinguishing him from other high-profile leakers of government documents such as Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the infamous “Pentagon Papers." Other reactions were similarly full-throated. Graham and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for quick movement on missile defense programs in Eastern Europe and for expanding NATO to include the Republic of Georgia, a former Soviet republic. "We need to deal with the Russia that is, not the Russia we might wish for," McCain and Graham said in a joint statement. "We cannot allow today’s action by Putin to stand without serious repercussions." Graham also previously suggested the United States boycott the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Schumer, however, declined to support Graham’s call Olympic boycott, saying that such a sanction would only hurt the U.S. athletes. He instead urged the administration to consider a host of other sanctions, but declined to name the ones he would support. The Obama administration thus far hasn't said much about these proposals, but White House press secretary Jay Carney did say Thursday that it is "evaluating the utility of a bilateral summit in Moscow" during the G-20. Updated at 5:10 p.m.


What caused this enormous explosion in the Syrian city of Homs?

A video uploaded by Syrian activists purports to show an explosion over Homs. (YouTube) An unverified video uploaded Thursday by Syrian activists appears to show an explosion many stories high in the war-torn Syrian city of Homs. It's difficult to tell for sure how high the explosion is, but it dwarfs an apartment complex in the foreground that is at least seven stories. The footage, embedded just below, captures a fireball fulminating over several long seconds before darkening into a large, mushroom-shaped cloud. A secondary explosion, small only compared to the initial blast, is also visible. حمص لحظة انفجار الكبير والضخم المستودعات للشبيحة بمنطقة وادي الذهب مدينة البعث الرياضية 1 8 2013 The explosion was also reported by the London-based anti-Assad group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which told the BBC that the blast was the result of rebel rocket strikes on a weapons depot. The incident, they said, caused 40 deaths. The explosion has been discussed heavily by social media users within Syria. Speculation, it's not clear how informed, made before the Syrian Observatory announcement had turned on the theory that the blast was the result of a rocket attack or other sort of explosion against an arms depot. It's not clear whether the Syrian Observatory report is independent of or based on social media discussion. The past month has seen extremely heavy fighting in Homs, which in 2011 was the site of some of the Assad regime's most brutal crackdowns on civilian protesters. Syrian military forces have been fighting since early July to retake Homs and had recaptured a key district Monday, the BBC reports.


A court ruled swipe fees are still too high. But they’re probably going away anyway.

Really, these still? (Andrew Harrer/BLOOMBERG) The credit card companies lost a round in the payment wars on Wednesday: A judge ruled that the Federal Reserve's 21-cent cap on swipe fees for debit card transactions was too high, and should be reconsidered. The retail industry cheered, since it either has to eat the cost of those fees or pass them on to consumers. But here's the question: If swipe fees are such a burden on merchants, why are they still paying them? There are a bunch of different ways to evade the system, after all. With its cute iPhone-mounted card reader, Square has much lower start-up costs. Dwolla charges 25 cents for transactions over $10. Then there's Paypal's mobile system, Google's Wallet, Groupon's Breadcrumb, and a few smaller players. They all transfer money through the Automated Clearing House, which is also used for big transactions like direct deposit of paychecks, enabling relatively friction-free movement of money. Electronic payments are growing fast--several percentage points per quarter, according to the Electronic Payments Association. The highest-profile success has been Starbucks, which now takes in 10 percent of sales via a smartphone. But there are a few reasons why they haven't yet taken over the consumer market: - Too many services: - America is too used to credit cards: - Retailers would rather keep your data: - The legal landscape is still unsettled: Meanwhile, big banks are getting worried about all the new non-bank payment options proliferating in the marketplace, and are urging the authorities to address regulatory gaps. "Failure to do so runs the risk of incentivizing the creation of a 'shadow payments system outside of existing consumer protection and system integrity schemes, with enormous implications for consumers and the overall economy," wrote the American Banking Association in a recent report. Light regulation might give the marketplace some certainty and security, but not if it forces decent services out of the running. "We're in a period with mobile right now where there are lots of green shoots of competition developing," says Duncan. "The goal here is for everyone to stand back and not stomp on them before they have a chance to grow." - Big retailers are cooking up their own mobile payment system: So it may be odd that we're still talking about high swipe fees. But it's still possible that within a few years, yesterday's big settlement won't matter much anyway.


Find some of the country’s best wings and dancing in D.C.

Washingtonians are used to hometown favorites getting national recognition. Rolling Stone recently called the 9:30 Club the best large concert venue in America. We had six bars on Esquire's 2013 list of the Best Bars in America. National Geographic said the half-smoke from Ben's Chili Bowl is one of the 15 most iconic sandwiches in the world, though we disagree about whether it's really a sandwich. Yesterday, two more national best-of lists recognized local hotspots. The Chesapeake wings at Duffy's Irish Pub are dry rubbed with Old Bay and charbroiled. (Evy Mages for The Washington Post) First, our area had a solid showing in Food and Wine's list of the 25 Best Chicken Wings in America. Chef Scott Drewno at the Source won praise for the "fantastically sweet and sticky sauce" on his crispy wings with General Tso's Chili Sauce, and Duffy's Irish Pub got the nod for its "terrific" Chesapeake wings, which are dry-rubbed with Old Bay and charbroiled. (We can't say we're surprised Duffy's made it: When we asked readers to help us pick the area's best wings last fall, the unassuming pub received tons of votes.) Other winners also have local ties. Jaleo/Oyamel/Minibar founder Jose Andres was name-dropped for the deboned, confited wings served at the Bazaar by Jose Andres in Los Angeles. A bit more nebulous: The Korean chain BonChon Chicken, which Tim Carman reviews in today's Weekend Section. BonChon wasn't born here, there are outposts in Arlington, Fairfax and Rockville, with a Woodbridge branch on the way. Moving away from wings, congratulations are in order for U Street Music Hall, which checked in at #10 on Rolling Stone's list of the 10 Best Dance Clubs in America. "There are no dress codes, VIP areas or bottle service at D.C.'s underground outpost," wrote the magazine -- unlike at New York's Pacha, Las Vegas's XS or Miami's Liv, all of which placed higher in the poll. A late-night Saturday set with Pleasurekraft sounds like the perfect way to celebrate."


Sample new restaurants for less at happy hour

The glut of restaurant openings in recent months has left D.C. diners with more choices than ever. But what about happy hour fans who visit those restaurants' bars? Some of the buzziest newcomers, including Kapnos and Le Diplomate, offer no deals at all. But if you're looking to try cocktails and snacks without breaking the bank, there are a number of options out there. Here are a few of our favorites. Casa Luca's bar offers discounted Italian cocktails, prosecco on tap and artisan meats and cheeses during its Monday-to-Thursday happy hour. (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) Teddy and the Bully Bar Azur Casa Luca Ghibellina B Too Bearnaise


Hang on to your balloons! The helium cliff is nigh.

a wide range of advanced manufacturing processes, like making computer chips and optical fibers, as well as research and medical procedures, like cooling magnets for MRIs and visualizing lung tissue. That's why corporations like Intel lined up to push for the helium reserve's continued operation, along with private refiners that use pieces of the federal infrastructure. Then there are all the government users--scores of universities and military agencies that get a special rate on helium for things like rocket systems and chemical warfare testing. Most of us owe some piece of our daily lives to helium, without even realizing it. That wasn't the case in the mid-1990s, when Congress passed the Helium Privatization Act, giving the Bureau of Land Management a date certain for when it would have to get out of the business. Technically, that isn't until 2015, but the reserve ended up selling off enough helium to pay back the $1.3 billion loan at a faster-than-anticipated clip. "Our good work is being punished," sighs Hummel. "We should've dragged our feet a little bit, because we really had two years." The Senate bill does solve the problem at least in the short term, allowing the Amarillo office to live off its own revenue selling helium until it gets down to 3 billion cubic feet, which will be retained for federal use. After that, Amarillo will be reduced to a skeleton staff (an earlier reduction in force got rid of most of the younger employees, so most are nearing retirement anyway). And then, the feds will manage helium extraction on government-owned land just like any other natural resource, like natural gas (of which helium is actually a byproduct). This looming funding cutoff has nothing to do with sequestration, the across-the-board set of reductions that have hit the rest of the federal government. But the BLM is taking lessons from Congress' seeming inability to accomplish basic tasks, and worrying a lot about alternatives in the event that the Senate doesn't pass its bill by the end of September. "We believe that we have no discretion. So now we are looking towards every avenue," says Hummel. "There's not a day in the last several weeks when someone hasn't had an idea. The Act is very specific in its requirements--we've yet to find any nuggets of flexibility....I think it they knew then what we knew now, they would've written in some escape clauses."


PM Update: Showers possible Saturday, Sunday is super; D.C.’s waning daylight

- Temperature Map - Temperatures: Latest D.C. area temperature map. See interactive map on our Weather Wall. Our work week finale has been pleasant enough, with falling humidity and afternoon highs in the mid-to-upper 80s. The weekend, generally, looks good, though I worry about the possibility of showers Saturday. Of the two days, Sunday – for sure – is the safe pick for outdoor plans. Through Tonight: Tomorrow (Saturday): Saturday night: Sunday: See Camden Walker’s forecast into early next week. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Pollen Sunset at East Falls Church metro August 1 (Kevin Wolf via Flickr) Bit by bit, D.C.’s losing daylight Kathryn Sullivan nominated to be NOAA Administrator:


Toyota is crushing it. Abenomics is the reason.

Toyota, for the win. (Cars.com) It's been a good year so far for automakers. And it's been an even better year for Toyota. The company reported its second-quarter earnings Friday, which included this whopping number: Sales were up 14 percent over a year earlier. The company hiked its estimate for 2013 earnings by 8 percent. And operating profit rose 88 percent. The results were enough to spark a 6 percent rise in Toyota's U.S.-listed shares, and surely to strike fear in the hearts of Toyota's competitors. As Bloomberg news points out, while Toyota was edged out by General Motors in number of cars and trucks sold, it recorded more than three times the profit. The strong earnings are partly a result of surging U.S. auto demand, though that has lifted the boats of almost all the automakers that do business here. But more than that, Toyota's success is an early marker that "Abenomics," the aggressive strategy of Keynesian economic policy embraced by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is starting to have some effects. Now, some of those effects are easier to measure than others. The most direct way that Abenomics has helped Toyota is by lowering the value of the yen on foreign exchange markets. In the most recent quarter, the yen hovered about 25 percent lower against the dollar than it had in the same period of 2012, the result of the Bank of Japan's promises to keep printing yen and buying bonds until the nation's cycle of deflation is broken. Of the 272 billion yen in higher earnings that Toyota reported Friday, 260 billion are attributable to foreign exchange swings, according to Toyota's own estimates. Toyota has taken advantage of costs that are now 25 percent lower on the global marketplace (at least for those cars and parts built in Japan, rather than in satellite plants elsewhere). And rather than try to build market share by lowering prices, the automaker is mostly using its lower cost structure to achieve higher profit margins. In fact, the number of cars it sold in the quarter was actually slightly below the level of the same quarter last year, 2.23 million, down from 2.27 million. But Toyota was making more money off of each car, reaping higher profits. That's particularly welcome for U.S. and European automakers, who can live with the fact that Toyota is making record profits but would be hard-pressed


The problem with the Paul Vallas brand of school reform

test scores and achievement gaps between whites and minorities are due in large part to reluctant (or inept) district bureaucrats, recalcitrant principals, and knuckle-dragging union leaders defending contracts that protect lousy teachers from pay-for-performance incentives. Such beliefs, however, seriously misread why urban district students fail to reach proficiency levels and graduate high school. As important as it is to reorganize district offices, alter salary schedules, get rid of incompetent teachers and intractable principals, such actions in of themselves will not turn around a broken district. While there is both research and experiential evidence to support each of these beliefs as factors in hindering students’ academic performance, what undercuts sprinter-driven reforms in these arenas is the simple fact that fast-moving CEOs fast-track their solutions to these problems, get spent from there exertions or create too much turmoil, and soon exit leaving the debris of their reforms next to the skid marks in the parking lot. Swift actions certainly garner attention but sprinters quickly lose steam after completing 100 meters. Consider long-distance runners. They carefully scrutinize and adapt reforms as they get implemented. Behind-the-scenes, they build teacher and administrator expertise to put changes into practice, mobilize staff and community to support long-term changes in teaching and learning, and, most important, create a pool of leaders ready to assume responsibility for sustaining the ever-shifting reform agenda. They ask hard questions that few sprinter superintendents ask: 1. Did policies aimed at improving student achievement (e.g., small high schools, pay-for performance plans, new reading and math curricula, parental choice) get fully implemented? 2. When implemented fully, did they change the content and practice of teaching? 3. Did changed classroom practices account for what students learned? 4. Did what students learn achieve the goals set by policy makers? Sprinter superintendents neither have the breathing capacity nor motivation to ask and answer these questions. They are too busy eyeing the finish line. Marathoners spend time and energy on these questions although 2 and 3 get skimpy attention from even the best of the long-distance runners. Still, urban children are better served by superintendents willing to go the distance rather than those swift runners who flash by without a backward glance. Paul Vallas is (or was)* a sprinter at a time when marathoners are needed for turning around failing districts. __________________ *A hearing on the removal of Vallas will occur in the fall before the Connecticut Supreme Court


The week ahead for traffic in the D.C. area

until 2015, this summer and fall are the periods of maximum impact on travelers. The express lane project affects traffic along 29 miles of I-95/395 between Edsall Road, just north of the Beltway, and Garrisonville Road to the south. Throughout the summer, watch for: extensive lane closings and delays at off-peak hours day and night, occasional full closings of I-95 and overnight detours, slow-moving trucks entering and leaving the work zone in the median, reduced access to shoulders. 11th Street SE. In this area south of Capitol Hill, workers are building a bridge above 11th and M streets that will take traffic eastbound on Interstate 695. The flyover bridge is scheduled to open next summer. Northbound 11th Street SE traffic is temporarily detoured via M Street to Eighth Street, then onto G Street to return to 11th Street. Southbound traffic detours to I (Eye) Street, then onto Eighth Street and M Street before returning to 11th Street south of M Street. I-695 near Third Street Tunnel. Then from Sunday to Aug. 31, the right eastbound lane from the South Capitol Street exit to Sixth Street SE is scheduled to be closed. DDOT is building structures for variable message boards that will hang over the freeway. Because of the nature of the work, the lanes must be blocked for long periods of time, said DDOT spokesman Reggie Sanders. It’s not safe or practical to take down the work zones for rush hours, or do the work only at night, he said. Arlington Boulevard interchange. Monday through Friday, the closings will occur on westbound Arlington Boulevard from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on the eastbound side from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paving progress. David Buck, a spokesman for the Maryland State Highway Administration, said all work on the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of September. Last week, overnight crews began the final resurfacing. The paving should be done by mid-month, weather permitting. After that, the final work will include upgrades to the traffic signal on Connecticut Avenue at Jones Bridge Road/Kensington Parkway. This will include audible signals and countdown signs for pedestrians. ICC bus changes. That was Route 205, which operated between Germantown and College Park via the ICC. Two others were modified: Midday service on routes 202 and 203 was canceled, but a later afternoon run was added on Route 203 between Columbia and Bethesda.


Nightlife Agenda: Local beers and the Roots at happy hour

Every Tuesday, the Going Out Gurus highlight the week's best DJs, bands, dance nights and parties. Visit the National Building Museum after happy hour on Thursday to play artsy mini-golf until 9 p.m. (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) Tuesday, August 6 In honor of Gordon Biersch's 25th anniversary, the brewpub chain sold its house beers for $2.50 every Tuesday throughout the month of July. It went so well that they're extending the deal through August at all area locations. Wednesday, August 7 The Capitol City Brewing Company is finally legal. When its first location opened at the corner of 11th and H streets NW in August 1992, it was the city's first brewpub since Prohibition. It has seen competitors come and go, and launched the careers of a number of brewers. (Bill Madden of Mad Fox Brewing won his first national awards while at Cap City.) To mark the brewpub's 21st anniversary, owner David von Storch and brewer Kristi Griner have come up with Honey 21, a wheat beer made with local honey, coriander and orange peels. They'll tap it at a special celebration 7 p.m., but you should show up early for happy hour, which starts at 4 p.m. and includes $3.50 pints and $5 appetizers. Thursday, August 8 The National Building Museum's miniature golf course is like no mini golf you've ever played. The 18 engrossing holes were designed by local architects and building firms, and they're works of art as well as a puttable course. The problem for most of us is that mini golf is open only until 4 p.m. on weekdays, which means you either have to call in "sick" to play or brave the capacity crowds of families and tourists on weekends. The solution? Late-night mini golf on two Thursdays this month. You can putt away until 9 p.m. tonight and again Aug. 22. We suggest pairing it with a visit to the Hill Country Backyard BBQ on the museum's lawn. There's barbecue to eat and Shiner beer and spiked lemonade to sip while you sit on hay bales or at picnic tables. Virginia singer Randy Thompson performs engaging bluegrass and Americana from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The antidote to the whole Lumineers/Mumford and Sons folk-schlock scene: The Dustbowl Revival. Like some weird jam session between the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Old Crow Medicine Show, California's Dustbowl Revival swings between Appalachia, old-timey country and hot


The Grahams say goodbye

young Washingtonians. The new owner is Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, who said he will remain living in “the other Washington” and take no role in the daily operations of the paper. But take heart in this message: “Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there. I’m excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention.” In other news: The Post could soon have a new home — perhaps in NoMa, on the Southwest Waterfront or near the Navy Yard (Capital Business) But we’re not going anywhere for at least a couple of years (WBJ) Vince Gray should announce his LRAA intentions sooner rather than later (Post editorial) In fourth apparent suicide since November, D.C, jail inmate found hanged Monday afternoon (Post) DYRS: Juvenile rearrests have been cut in half in two years (D.C. Crime Stories, DCist) Sierra Club leader hails soccer deal, says Buzzard Point siting will help preserve Poplar Point (Post letter) Credit-card deadline means cabbies have to make high-stakes business decisions very soon (TheFightBack) DCHA eyes redevelopment of headquarters site (Housing Complex, WBJ) It’s official: Donald Trump controls the Old Post Office (WBJ) Vincent Gray is noncommittal on a higher minimum wage (WAMU-FM) Four-year-old dies in Northeast of undetermined causes (Post) Ingmar Guandique’s lawyers say prosecutors have not been playing fair (Legal Times) Lamond Riggs to get 73 luxe townhomes (Where We Live) James Bunn wake set for Thursday, funeral Friday (Post) Tabard Inn employees start organizing to buy the business (DCist) Mayoral candidate Christian Carter still hasn’t paid his subcontractors (Loose Lips) Teenager’s testimony provided key break in firefighter’s killing (WaTimes) City inspector is charged with accepting $2,000 from day-care owner; plea is expected (D.C. Crime Stories) The deal that replaced an Adams Morgan gas station with 36 condos (GGW) Park Service will continue to study Kenilworth landfill site (WUSA-TV) A D.C. judge’s vision of how technology will transform the courthouse (Judges’ Journal) Zillow’s latest (under-)valuation of the White House: $320 million (Moneybox) Lawyer dies a month after being struck by dump truck on Massachusetts Avenue (DCist) Marine’s murder trial postponed till November (Metro Weekly) Dance Place is expanding its operations (WTOP) D.C. favorite Arthur Treacher’s/bulgogi joint is losing the fried fish (PoPville) The gentrifier’s shorthand (Post) Tonight is the annual National Night Out (MPD)


Conservatives want patent reform. That’s new.

Policy. The paper is less an academic study than a work of advocacy. It tells the now-familiar story of how patent trolls make no useful products themselves but use the courts to extract cash from legitimate businesses. The document is stuffed with insets denouncing people Manhattan regards as patent-trolling villains, complete with unflattering caricatures. Chicago litigator Raymond Niro is described as the "Original King of the Patent Trolls." A company called MPHJ is accused of operating a "scanner shakedown." And the study describes how federal courts in the Eastern District of Texas adopted patent-friendly rules that have made it the "rocket docket" for patent lawsuits. The study directs particular ire at patents on software. "Litigation over software patents has became a drag, not a boon, to technological innovation," the study notes in its opening paragraph. The study argues that "software patents are hard to define, enabling aggressive plaintiffs’ lawyers exploiting the maze of U.S. legal rules to extract wealth from the nation’s most innovative companies." In contrast, pharmaceutical patents are "limited to easy-to-define, specific chemical compounds," producing a much lower rate of litigation. Some scholars have been drawing a contrast between good pharmaceutical patents and bad software patents for years. But until recently, the distinction tended to get lost in mainstream debates. When Congress overhauled the patent system with the 2011 America Invents Act, it focused on esoteric procedural changes like switching from "first to invent" rule for granting inventions to a "first to file" rule. Reining in software patents wasn't even on the agenda. Now there's a growing awareness that the patent crisis is really a software patent crisis. Trolls are suing people over scanner, Wi-Fi, and mobile app patents, not for chemical or mechanical patents. While the Manhattan Institute stops short of advocating the elimination of software patents, it urges Congress to "clarify the definition of 'processes' underlying such patents," which would at least nix the most egregious ones. Ultimately, the details of the paper are less important than who is publishing it. The Manhattan Institute is a prominent think tank with deep ties to conservative elites and the business community. The study's publication is another sign that the political right is paying attention to the patent system's growing dysfunction. And given that the Obama administration has endorsed a slate of patent reforms similar to those the Manhattan Institute favors, there's a real chance of change actually happening.


You won’t be eating a lab-grown hamburger anytime soon

exercised regularly with stretching machinery, essentially elaborate meat gyms, and you can begin to understand the incredible challenge of scaling in vitro meat. Agapakis also noted another big hurdle. At the moment, as Tom Philpott highlights, the artificial meat cells need to be nurtured with "fetal bovine serum," or blood derived from cow fetuses. That's not exactly ideal from an environmental or animal rights perspective — and it's massively expensive, with the serum selling for around $250 per liter. So, as an alternative, some scientists hope that future meat cells could be fed with algae. That's an enticing idea. Algae are exceedingly efficient at photosynthesis, which is why researchers have often looked to the organisms as a way of minimizing the environmental footprint of food production. But it's never quite worked in the past: [T]his isn’t the first time that algae has been proposed as a solution to an environmental crisis in food production. In the 1940s and 1950s, as the population exploded and conventional agriculture didn’t seem like it could keep up, enormous research efforts went into scaling the production of algae as a food product, a high-protein green paste to feed to increasing number of hungry people around the world. ... Scaling, it turned out, killed these plans the last time we tried them. Scaling algae production in open ponds proved an enormous challenge, with the gains in efficiency fading as the controlled environment of the lab was traded for ponds where cells crowded and shaded each other while having to fight off infections and predators. Now, this isn't an argument that artificial meat will never work — it'd be foolish to bet against all the smart engineers and scientists working on the issue. But there are more than just engineering hurdles to surmount. There are also difficult resource constraints. Further reading: --Alexis Madrigal has a fantastic post charting predictions about lab-grown meat that have been made over time. In general, forecasters have tended to underestimated the difficulty of producing the meat. "[T]he technology is advancing, but very slowly, and the commercialization horizon hasn't really gotten any closer over the last eight years. In fact, it may have receded." --Agapakis has some more recent thoughts on the lab-grown meat tasting over at Scientific American. Key question: "Is controlling all the variables really possible when it comes to meat?" --Ezra asked yesterday: "Could a test-tube burger save the planet?"


The day after

the rest of the Graham business empire. Ben Nuckols of the Associated Press looks at what it will mean to have a Washington Post without a local owner. DCist’s Ben Freed, writing at BuzzFeed, looks at what the sale means for local journalists covering the city. In a Wonkblog interview, Post Co. chairman Don Graham says new owner Jeff Bezos will “quickly see the importance of local news, local revenue and local readers to this business.” Clinton Yates has a little bit of scene from inside 1150 15th St. NW on Monday afternoon. And WUSA-TV’s Bruce Johnson catches up with Marion Barry to get his thoughts on the sale. In other news: Activists say they have outed undercover D.C. cop who illegally infiltrated their activities (In These Times) After latest D.C. jail suicide, warden declares all inmates will have cellmates (Post) Union says jail officers aren’t equipped to spot inmates’ mental health issues (WaTimes) Frager’s shell could soon come tumbling down, Historic Preservation Review Board willing (WBJ) Better to just auction off public land without RFPs and affordable housing covenants and such? (GGW) Who is pulling the bait-and-switch here: D.C. politicians or Wal-Mart? (HuffPo) Vince Gray may be acting like he’s running for re-election, but much still depends on Ron Machen (WRC-TV) Deputy medical examiner was pressured to change finding in DC9 patron’s death, was startled by Cathy Lanier’s description of it (AP) D.C. Office of Risk Management says it’s open to settling more torts (Legal Times) DDOT moves on Kalmia culvert project (WRC-TV) Why build stadiums? “They’re cultural amenities that people want, and are willing to pay for.” (BeyondDC) A bunch of new restaurants and businesses are coming to Shaw (GOG) Gay proposition could be involved in Pleasant Plains murder (Blade) Note everyone thinks the Eastern Market Metro plaza needs an upgrade (GGW) National Cathedral has been restored to splendor after paint-splashing (DCist) Not a lot of Posties at the Post Pub these days (City Desk) Deer cull opponents hope Yale professors study will lead to ban (WTOP) Inside the renovated Wonder Bread Factory in Shaw (UrbanTurf) National “College Summit” program seems to be working for D.C. kids (GGW) Is the panda pregnant again? (AP) “Why DC Should Ban Cars, and How You Could Get Around if They Did” (InTheCapital) That mega-pop-up on V Street NW hasn’t gotten much prettier (PoPville) Post sale gets the Taiwanese animation treatment (Post)


New ShopHouse to open in Georgetown Aug. 19

In a year that has brought fast-casual Asian noodle joints aplenty -- Tom Yum District in Rosslyn, and the forthcoming Newton's Noodles downtown -- the original "Chipotle of Asian food" is welcoming a new arrival. D.C.'s second ShopHouse will open at 2805 M St. NW on Monday, Aug. 19. (Courtesy of ShopHouse) Expect the same tastes that Tom Sietsema called the "best fast-food idea in years." On the pan-Asian menu: banh mi sandwiches, noodle and rice bowls, pickled and roasted veggies, and spicy curries that pack heat. The 40 seat Georgetown location will not serve beer or wine. It replaces Furin's Bakery, which inhabited the location for 27 years. "It's exciting to have ShopHouse open in Georgetown in a cool, historic, early 20th century building that's not too far from our first location in Dupont Circle," said Tim Wildin, the restaurant's concept developer. After debuting in D.C. in 2011, a Hollywood location opened in June. This will be ShopHouse's third location, with another California branch opening later this month. The Georgetown location will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.


Go watch a flock of goats eat Congressional Cemetery

Congressional Cemetery Through Monday, around 100 "eco-goats" will live in the historic Southeast Washington cemetery, devouring vines, bushes and invasive species and keeping the towering trees from being overrun by harmful plants which could then cause the trees to topple. (The "eco" name of the goats is because the animals are removing ground cover and weeds without the use of pesticides, which the cemetery wanted to avoid due to its proximity to the Anacostia watershed.) "Eco-goats" eat their way through Congressional Cemetery, removing vegetation and invasive species without the use of pesticides. (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) Congressional Cemetery draws crowds of tourists, joggers and dog walkers on a daily basis, and the addition of the goats should attract even more visitors. Here's what you need to know if you go visit. These are not really free-ranging goats To find the goats, enter through the usual gate on Potomac Avenue SE, and follow signs with pictures of a herd of goats on them. Bring the kids This isn't a petting zoo Weekend tours will go on as usual Members can still walk their dogs in the cemetery As always, the cemetery is open from dawn to dusk, and admission is free, but donations to the non-profit cemetery are appreciated. While the goats are cute, this isn't a petting zoo. Keep children's fingers away from the goats, and don't try to feel them. (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post) The herd of eco-goats will spend six days grazing in a 1.6-acre area of the cemetery, living behind a chain link fence. (Fritz Hahn/The Washington Post)


Politics and Prose owners blast Bezos

(David McNew/Getty Images) The owners of famed D.C. bookstore Politics and Prose, like everyone else in this country, have an opinion about the sale of The Post to amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. And to be sure, Bradley Graham and Lissa Muscatine have some crossover credentials that make them suitable commentators on this topic: They’re both former Post journalists and they own a brick-and-mortar bookstore. With those credentials in tow, Graham and Muscatine blast away in an essay on the Politics and Prose Web site. Though they preface their remarks with their best wishes for the acquisition and end with a “welcome” to Bezos, they have their concerns: [I]n the past two years, as stewards of another local cultural institution — Politics & Prose — we’ve routinely encountered a different version of Bezos. Indeed, among many independent booksellers he is perceived as a ruthless competitor bent on disrupting traditional retailers, including bookstores, without regard for the civic and commercial value that local bricks-and-mortar establishments still bring to neighborhoods around the country. Reflecting the unease with which booksellers view the Post sale, Shelf Awareness, a daily book industry blog, wrote: “For our part, all we can say is that for the people who have called us paranoid about Amazon’s plan for world domination, we rest our case — nervously.” Further, the owners hammer Bezos for bad workplace conditions and other “questionable practices,” all on the way to saying that they have “difficulty sharing Don Graham’s confidence that the Amazon founder (a Washington outsider with no newspaper experience who plans to continue living in Seattle) will do the right thing and maintain the Post’s high journalistic standards and deep commitment to the DC area.” Related: Ann Patchett: I still don’t like Amazon. But I hope Jeff Bezos can save The Post.


Is pot the new gay marriage?

Sanjay's just voting with the public. (Gallup) In a pretty dramatic reversal for someone who nearly became America's surgeon general, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta has come out in favor of medical marijuana. While working on a documentary called "Weed," he talked to people suffering chronic pain who'd been helped by smoking pot, and looked closer at the smaller studies in foreign countries that show its benefits. "We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that," he wrote. "I hope this article and upcoming documentary will help set the record straight." It's one of the first high-profile evolutions on the subject of marijuana -- following evangelical leader Pat Robertson and Mexican President Vicente Fox -- but Gupta's no longer out of step with the American public. Support for legalization has been steadily rising for decades, reaching 50 percent last year before falling slightly. The trend mirrors that of another hot-button social issue: Same-sex marriage, which became more and more accepted as Americans came to know gays and lesbians as friends and relatives. In the run-up to this spring's historic Supreme Court case, politician after politician announced their support for gay weddings, some because a son or daughter had come out. And with more states legalizing pot for medical use, the likelihood of knowing someone who has benefited from it -- not your stereotypical stoner -- increases as well. Finally, pot and gay marriage also share strong support from libertarians, who are so trendy right now. If only there were a court case that could resolve the issue once and for all.