‘The drunken botanist: The Plants that Create the World’s Great Drinks’ by Amy Stewart

My wife and I biked home from work one humid spring evening to find an icy Mason jar sweating by the doormat. It was a gift from our neighbor, the widow of a Swedenborgian minister, an intrepid gardener known for her climbing roses. The jar was stuffed with a tangle of greens — a frilly ground cover she snipped each late April and early May called sweet woodruff. It gave off the warm scent of cardamom or maybe shavings of cedar. And steeped in white jug wine with sliced strawberries, it was the signature of the fragrant spring time chiller that Germans call maiwein, or May wine. We’d had it before. But this time around, hot and parched from our ride, we guzzled it down on the porch, rocking on the swing, until the fireflies came out. And until, well, our heads were spinning. We barely made it in the door. Was there something different in the wine this time? we asked our neighbor after we’d sobered up. She looked puzzled, then brightened: “Oh, I added a cup of vodka. For pep!” Oy, we’d imbibed far more than our minimum daily requirement of alcoholized fruits and grains and leaves. But what did we know? In the spirit world — and in the wine, craft-beer and brave new artisan cocktail worlds, for that matter — what you see is not always quite what you think you’re getting. Is there angostora bark in Angostora Bitters? Maybe, maybe not. A trademark fight led to obscure labeling. Why does Maker’s Mark bourbon seem gentler? It adds wheat, instead of the usual rye, to its mix, removing rye’s spicy bite. Does innocent-looking sweet woodruff have toxic levels of coumarin? At times, yes. But not if it’s picked in the early spring. In fact, most of us don’t have a clue about the botanical mysteries that lurk — luxuriate? — in our bottles of Bluecoat gin and bowls of punch, in the rattling shakers and sparkling stemware we engage to sand the rough edges off. But there are, indeed, stories behind every sip, starring the exotic and prosaic plants that perfume our booze, give rise to our vodka (tap-lines of maple sap are run straight into one small-batch distillery in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom) and turn water (at Dogfish Head’s brewery in Milton, Del.) into a cacao-inflected beer. Those curious stories and asides are the stuff of


Strong American role still exists at Afghan-controlled prison

the court has grown exponentially to about 250 trials each month. In some cases, the argument is effective. U.S. and coalition troops on the battlefield have neither the time nor the training to collect evidence that is admissable in court, a senior U.S. administration official said. Much of what goes into their decision to detain suspects stems from intelligence they are unwilling to turn over to the Afghans. Because of Afghan concerns about the character of U.S. evidence, which typically consists of written reports and photographs, many detainees are acquitted who would have remained in custody under the U.S. detainee review board. About 27 percent of suspects tried here are acquitted. “The judges often don’t think there is adequate physical evidence,” said Lt. Col. David Cline, a U.S. legal adviser at the court. Already, the Afghan court has released some detainees who have returned to the insurgency, according to Afghan officials. “All the physical evidence gathered by the coalition should be used in the court. If we don’t have the evidence, we can’t use it to convict,” Hayatullah said. Shakor, a thick man with a bushy gray beard, had been held without trial for three years. He was guided last week to the courtroom wearing opaque goggles. When a member of the three-judge panel asked him to stand up and “tell us the whole story,” Shakor rose, his feet and hands still shackled. “When coalition forces conducted the operation, they took materials from everywhere and they blamed me,” Shakor said. “I’m not a Talib. You can ask anyone.” His attorney then presented a document signed by dozens of members of Shakor’s district claiming he was innocent. Moving forward As always, Hayatullah had to weigh the validity of a popular argument founded on skepticism of NATO forces with the seemingly damning information in the coalition’s report — and he had to do so while a room full of U.S. officials, including his personal adviser, watched. He and two other judges left the court to deliberate. When they returned, Shakor stood again. The judges told him that he was found guilty of participating in the insurgency but not attempted murder or murder. That meant Shakor would receive only a three-year sentence, which he had already served while awaiting trial. He would be released, despite the implication in the military report that he had been involved in the manufacture or placement of improvised


Japanese utility takes blame for nuclear crisis

TOKYO — In its strongest remarks about its own shortcomings, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) acknowledged in a report that it was not adequately prepared to deal with the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan in March 2011. The twin disasters cut power at Tepco’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns at three reactors. Massive radiation leaks contaminated air, water and soil around the plant and forced about 160,000 residents to evacuate. “Our safety culture, skills and ability were all insufficient,” Tepco President Naomi Hirose told a news conference. “We must humbly accept our failure to prevent the accident, which we should have avoided by using our wisdom and human resources to be better prepared.” The report said Tepco’s equipment and safety provisions were inadequate and that the meltdowns should have been avoided. It also said the company was complacent about safety measures and had delayed upgrading them. The acknowledgment is a major reversal from the utility’s initial investigation report, in June 2012. In that report, Tepco maintained that the tsunami was mostly to blame for the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in 1986. It defended its crisis management and criticized what it characterized as excessive interference from the prime minister’s office. Following a public outcry, the company launched an internal reform task force, led by Hirose, to reinvestigate the crisis. The task force was overseen by a five-member committee of outside experts, including former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chief Dale Klein.


Trying again for a baby panda

not fully formed, which led to liver failure This year’s panda pregnancy watch began Tuesday, when zoo veterinarians noticed elevated estrogen levels in Mei Xiang. To enable breeding, they closed the Giant Panda habitat to visitors to cut down on noise and other distractions, and left the pair alone together Friday evening. When that didn’t work out as hoped, Mei Xiang was put under general anesthesia Saturday morning and inseminated using a combination of fresh and frozen sperm from Tian Tian, zoo officials said. “They were put together for a couple of hours last evening,” said Baker-Masson. “No successful breeding took place. They were separated.” The next step is familiar by now: watch and wait. “We are hopeful that our breeding efforts will be successful this year, and we’re encouraged by all the behaviors and hormonal data we’ve seen so far,” said Dave Wildt, head of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. “We have an extremely small window of opportunity to perform the procedures, which is why we monitor behavior and hormones so closely.” Female Giant Pandas can produce offspring as late as their early 20s, but most stop in their late teens, Baker-Masson said. Mei Xiang turns 15 in July and Tian Tian turns 16 in August. They are at the zoo under a $10 million agreement with China that lasts until 2015, to try to help stave off extinction for the estimated 1,600 Giant Pandas left in the world. The popular Panda Cam, which allows the public to observe the animals in their enclosure day and night, was turned off Saturday morning during the procedure. Giant Panda fanatics might have recognized that as a sign to stay away, but many visitors to the zoo Saturday were unprepared to see a blue sign that read: “Panda House Is Closed.” Seven year-old Berkley Sheffield looked glum as she leaned against the wire fence overlooking the Giant Panda enclosure. No pandas anywhere. Berkley had told all her classmates back home in North Carolina that she was going to see the pandas. “She was very excited,” said her mother Megan Sheffield, 37, a preschool teacher. A few determined zoo-goers made their way up to a higher-level viewing area, hoping to catch a glimpse of a panda through the wire fencing and thick bamboo stalks. No such luck. Deanna Porcher, who lives in Ghana, brought her 2 year-old


National Cherry Blossom Festival daily highlights

Blossom Watch Cherry Blossom events Sunday, March 31 ●National Park Service Pet-Friendly Cherry Walk. Bring your pets to enjoy the sights and sounds of spring on a casual walk. Remember your leash, bags and water. 3-5 p.m. Meet at Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Metro: Smithsonian. ●Cherry Blossom Brunch Cruise Aboard the Odyssey. Sail the Odyssey and enjoy a brunch buffet, views of the cherry blossoms and a live band. $66.90 per person. Boarding time 10:45 a.m., cruise 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Gangplank Marina, 600 Water St. SW. Metro: Waterfront. ●Cherry Blossoms at Sunrise. Workshop in travel photography and camera use. A professional architectural photographer accompanies the group, working with clients individually to improve their picture-taking skills. $74 each. 6:15-8:30 a.m. Meet at entrance to paddle-boat rental station, 1501 Maine Ave. SW. Metro: Smithsonian. The D.C. Cherry Blossom Guide 2013 is your Washington Post app with all information you need to get the most out of your annual Cherry Blossom Festival experience. Find it free at the App Store. For details on all events, visit nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. The Cherry Blossom hotline is 877-44BLOOM (442-5666). All events are free unless otherwise noted.


Dr. Gridlock’s traffic, transit tips: blossoms and baseball return

Cherry Blossom events Watch for crowding throughout the coming week on the streets near the Tidal Basin and on Metro as the cherry blossoms reach their predicted peak bloom. Next weekend will be a busy one for festival events. On April 6, the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival will draw crowds throughout the day for free music at venues around Seventh and Water streets SW. The fireworks go off after sunset on the Washington Channel. The nearest Metrorail stations are Waterfront and L’Enfant Plaza. April 7 is the date for the Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run and 5K Run-Walk, from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m., starting and ending on the Washington Monument grounds. The nearest rail stations are Federal Triangle and Smithsonian, but watch out for Smithsonian throughout the festival. It tends to get very crowded. New Circulator hours Starting Monday, opening day for the Washington Nationals’ season, the D.C. Circulator’s Union Station-Navy Yard route and the Potomac Avenue-Skyland route will extend service hours and days through Sept. 30. These bus routes offer a convenient option for fans who don’t want to deal with crowds at the Green Line’s Navy Yard station near Nationals Park. The Union Station-Navy Yard route will run from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Service hours will be extended further for night games, and buses will be added on the route. The Potomac Avenue-Skyland route, operating via Barracks Row, will run from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 am. to 9 p.m. Saturday. New I-66 travel signs Drivers on Interstate 66 this week should see more message boards displaying average travel times, part of a program the Virginia Department of Transportation began in 2011. These are the locations for the seven new signs: Driving east: past Route 234, with the travel time to the Vienna Metro; at the Fairfax County Parkway, with the travel time to I-495; near Route 50, with the travel time to the District. Driving west: at Sycamore Street, with the travel time to the Capital Beltway; before the Beltway, with the travel time to Route 50; west of Route 123, with the travel time to Route 234 Business; at Monument Drive, with the travel time to Route 29 in Gainesville; west of the Fairfax County Parkway, with the travel time to Route 29 in Gainesville; west of the rest area with the travel time to Route 15


Cuisine Solutions to open new plant, expand production capabilities

Stanislas Vilgrain, left, chairman of Cuisine Solutions, with Bruno Bertin, the company’s executive chef, at the food company’s headquarters in Alexandria. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) Correction: On any given day, Cuisine Solutions prepares and packages about 300,000 meals, ranging from beef provencal to mushroom risotto, at its headquarters in Alexandria. Now, with the opening of its newest plant — a $30 million, 56,500 square-foot facility in Sterling — the company says it will be able to produce four times what it currently does. “Sales growth in the last three or four years has been very good, so we thought, let’s use everything we’ve learned and not only have additional manufacturing [capabilities], but also better technology,” said Stanislas Vilgrain, chairman of Cuisine Solutions. Eventually, Cuisine Solutions plans to move its headquarters to the new facility from Alexandria, where the company has been for 23 years. It has been a tumultuous decade for the company, which became all but debilitated in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Jars of spicy corn soup and jars of sliced beef salad with ponzu sauce. (Evy Mages/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) The company — a pioneer in the use of sous-vide, a method in which food is vacuum sealed and cooked in water at very low temperatures — had built its business around catering to airlines and conference centers. All of a sudden, business dropped off a cliff. Between 2002 and 2004, the company posted more than $11 million in losses. Vilgrain said he was sure the business was headed straight to bankruptcy. “When Sept. 11 happened, we were only focused on on-board services and banquets at very large hotels and banquet halls,” he said. “Well, suddenly you couldn’t fly for a week, and even when you could, nobody wanted to.” Slowly, Vilgrain began turning things around. He broadened the company’s focus and began selling meals to military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. National chains such as Panera Bread, Whole Foods and Costco signed on. In 2005, the company eked out a $1.7 million profit. By 2008, it had $87.4 million in annual sales. “We knew we had to expand our [business] to other markets,” Vilgrain said. “So we did that, and we’ve survived.” In 2009, Vilgrain took the company private and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in an attempt to save money on reporting requirements and administration fees. “Being


Blossom Watch Cherry Blossom events Monday, April 1 ●Earth Month at Union Station. Earth Month will feature a film festival, a farmers’ market, alternative energy demonstrations, a green fashion show and a science fair with local schools. Ongoing. Metro: Union Station. ●Kimono sale and fundraiser at Mandarin Oriental. Coinciding with an exhibit curated by Arise Bazaar, more than 1,000 Kimono and other Japanese wares are available to purchase. Proceeds support the festival and the Japan-America Society of Washington. 1330 Maryland Ave. SW. Metro: Smithsonian. ●Overtures: S&R Foundation Artist Concert Series featuring Yu Kosuge, piano. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Terrace Theater, 2700 F St. NW. 7:30 p.m. $30. Metro: Foggy Bottom-GWU. The D.C. Cherry Blossom Guide 2013 is your Washington Post app with all information you need to get the most out of your annual Cherry Blossom Festival experience. Find it free at the App Store. For details on all events, visit nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. The Cherry Blossom hotline is 877-44BLOOM (442-5666). All events are free unless otherwise noted.


Drone policy hurts U.S. image in Yemen

policy experts and former diplomats — including us — sent a letter to President Obama last week that said the administration’s expansive use of unmanned drones in Yemen is proving counterproductive to U.S. security objectives: As faulty intelligence leads to collateral damage, extremist groups ultimately win more support. The lack of transparency and accountability behind the drone policy set a dangerous global precedent and damage Washington’s ability to influence positive change in Yemen and the region. Drone strikes heighten animosity toward the United States and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government for compromising Yemeni sovereignty. The United States, the letter counseled, should reduce its reliance on drone strikes and instead invest in a long-term security agenda. This would include strengthening institutions that enhance the capacity and professionalism of Yemen’s security forces — not only counterterrorism units — to address threats to internal security. Washington already supports the restructuring of Yemen’s military, a step mandated by the transition agreement, but the Defense and State departments should ensure that our military assistance does not repeat the mistakes made during Saleh’s tenure, such as ignoring power concentrated in the hands of elites or not prosecuting human rights abuses. And building a capable police force recruited from residents in partnership with local communities is essential to securing this territory. Americans and Yemenis have a strong shared interest in combating extremism, as al-Qaeda and its local affiliate, Ansar al-Sharia, spread in the south and pledge acts of terrorism against both Yemeni and U.S. targets. The United States should not ignore this threat — but beyond the security portfolio, Yemenis need to feel that Washington is committed to supporting democratic institutions and the prosperity of the Yemeni people. Although the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are engaging Hadi’s government on development and humanitarian issues, most Yemenis feel only the negative effects of U.S. counterterrorism policy. Rather than the steady stream of military delegations, a more robust economic assistance program and public diplomacy strategy — including a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry and other high-level diplomats — would signal support for Yemen’s transition and its democratic aspirations. Yemen’s national dialogue is an ideal opportunity to break with a legacy of corrupt leaders who sought personal gain at the nation’s expense. The Obama administration can encourage this process by providing international cover for the difficult decisions delegates must make to craft a


For African American families, a day of tradition at the National Zoo

DaVon Harris, 11, of the District, sports a monster face-painting at the National Zoo on Monday. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Down the main National Zoo walkway, past the Panda Plaza and near the Elephant Trails, Jermaine and Daena Lassiter, pushing their 6-month-old daughter in a stroller, suddenly stopped their brisk animal tour underneath a small white tent. On display there were black-and-white photos taken decades ago at the zoo on Easter Monday. Jermaine, a federal government accountant, peered, transfixed, at a photo of a woman in a dress, holding a little boy’s hand, walking on what appeared to be the very same path. “I like that the zoo found these pictures and blew them up,” he said to his wife. “They’re all so dressed up!” Daena said, chuckling. “I just like how the zoo is not trying to gloss over” the history of this day at the zoo, Jermaine said. The zoo called the festivities “Easter Monday: An African American Family Tradition” and said the origins dated back to 1891. What caused African American families to flock to the zoo on the day after Easter isn’t known, although it seems clearly related to Washington’s segregation at the time. One theory zoo officials have offered is that African Americans went to the zoo because they were barred from the White House Easter Egg Roll. Another holds that many black housekeepers had to work on Easter Sunday, so they used their day off on the Monday after Easter to celebrate at the zoo. Whatever the cause, hundreds of visitors, many of them African Americans, streamed into the zoo Monday. They hunted for eggs, sized up elephants and played animal trivia games with a wise-cracking DJ from WPGC 95.5, a hip-hop station. Many members of black families said they weren’t sure about the event’s origins, but they knew that the event has been a central part of their lives for generations. A glance down the zoo’s main walkway showed scores of families pushing strollers, many multi-generational — grandparents, parents and kids. Catherine Fitch, 52, a nurse from the District, watched after her granddaughter near the egg hunt while a band played “The Hokey Pokey.” Her daughter, niece and other relatives were scattered around the zoo, but she luxuriated in the time alone with her granddaughter. “This feels more like a family reunion, as opposed to a few years ago, when they had that


Japan set to overhaul its power sector

This picture taken on March 11, 2013 shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo. (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP / Getty Images) TOKYO — The changes, which will be implemented over five years starting 2015, mark the most comprehensive restructuring of the industry since the 1950s, when Japan split its national power provider into 10 regional utilities. The move reflects dramatic shifts in the domestic power industry since the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Experts say businesses and the economy have much to gain from increased competition, as the high cost of power is seen by many as a disincentive to investing in Japan. Even before the Fukushima disaster prompted the shutdown of most of Japan’s nuclear plants, pushing up generating costs, electricity rates were twice those in the United States and triple those in South Korea. “This reform targets the whole system, from upstream generation to downstream consumption. More choice should lead to lower rates,” said Toshimitsu Motegi, the industry minister. Proposals to boost competition have long been resisted by politically influential utilities. The nuclear disaster has weakened their lobbying power while intensifying pressure to rein in prices, though critics say that has not stopped utilities from trying to slow the process of change. The plan approved Tuesday showed signs of having been hedged in small but potentially important ways by politicians close to the industry. The administration’s original proposal said the government “will submit” a bill to parliament in fiscal 2015 mandating the division of generating and transmission. But a committee of Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party, long a champion of the utilities, changed the wording to “around 2015.” It also added a provision directing the government to guarantee the “stability” of electricity supplies before allowing new entrants into the market — something critics said could be used to create obstacles to liberalization. “There is still the danger that the change could be postponed or otherwise made toothless,” the liberal-leaning Asahi daily newspaper said. Nevertheless, the breakup of the regional power companies, which operate as quasi-monopolies despite halting deregulation efforts that began in the 1990s, is seen by many as the political price being paid by the industry in return for government support after the Fukushima disaster. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the owner of the Fukushima plant, was effectively nationalized last year as part of a 1


Beer Madness: Round 2 decides the Elite 8

The Washington Post’s annual Beer Madness focused on selections from local craft breweries in the annual tournament pitting 32 beers against each other in a bracket-style tournament. The level of competition intensified in Round 2 of Beer Madness, our blind tasting of 32 brews, this year all from the Chesapeake Bay region. Three of eight contests resulted in 5-4 squeakers, and the remaining face-offs were decided 6-3. No blowouts this time. What’s more, the momentum shifted, with Maryland (the big winner in Round 1) advancing only three out of eight beers, while Virginia sent three out of four to Round 3. The District and Delaware, as the dust cleared, still had dogs in the hunt, advancing one beer apiece. Our panel The latter contest created some serious cognitive dissonance. Cheesemonger Carolyn Stromberg praised the Legend Pilsner for “beautiful notes of honeysuckle and caramel apples,” but she cast her vote for Wild Wolf’s entry (“passion fruit — yum!”). Confessed hophead Jeanne Segal chose the Legend (“appley, light and fresh”) but found Local Wolf “very delicious” and commented, “This beer seems like it’s in the wrong category.” Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout In a few cases, the more aggressive of the pair made the cut. Union Craft Duckpin, a pale ale, was overwhelmed by the hopped-up Lost Rhino Face Plant IPA by a 6-3 score. In another 6-3 verdict, the panel chose the pungently herbaceous Stillwater Cellar Door over the maltier, more rounded Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre. Mixologist Gina Chersevani, who dubbed the Fruit & Spice niche “my favorite category,” claimed to detect “citrus, allspice, cardamom” in the Cellar Door, while Schenkelberg noted “Belgian yeast funk” and “white pepper background.” U.S. Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) picked up a hint of lime, while Stromberg wrote that it was “tangeriney.” (No one identified a key ingredient: white sage.) Doris Dixon was a voice of dissent, dismissing the Cellar Door as “minty — mouthwash.” In a battle of the brewpubs, the fuller-bodied Gordon Biersch Belgian Pale Ale, the District’s sole surviving entry after it knocked out DC Brau the Citizen in Round 1, edged Rock Bottom White Ale by the slimmest of margins. Chersevani enjoyed the “brandylike nose” of the Belgian Pale Ale, while the White Ale found its most ardent booster in Stromberg (“candied orange zest and peppercorns — really complex”). In the Hop category, Segal, who in the previous round was so


Big Bang coverage misses the mark

On March 21, the European Space Agency published a map of the oldest light in the universe, from just after the big bang. So what did The Post feature on its March 22 front page? Two farmers and a cow. What a scoop! Peter Motton, Rockville


India benefits from Japan Inc. shift

India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram speaks behind Indian (L) and Japanese national flags during an interview with Reuters in Tokyo April 2, 2013. (Issei Kato /Reuters) MUMBAI — Shinzo Abe, Japan’s new prime minister, is an admirer of India, having talked about a new “arc of freedom and prosperity” linking Asia’s two largest democracies while on a high-profile visit to New Delhi in 2007 during his first stint in the post. But New Delhi is now courting cash-rich Japanese companies worried about economic and political changes in China, which has traditionally absorbed the bulk of their emerging-market investments. India badly needs extra foreign capital to fund a current-account deficit that climbed to record levels in the last quarter, while Japanese businesses have long been among the country’s most generous investors. “Japanese companies and investors would like options other than China for a variety of reasons,” Chidambaram told Indian television. “And India offers a huge market that is governed by rule of law and that makes India as attractive as, if not better, than China.” Akira Kajita, research director at the Japan External Trade Organization, a government-linked institution, says that after years of focusing on China, Japanese companies have begun to take a “more regionally balanced” approach. Partly a result of what HSBC economist Trinh Nguyen calls a structural shift in foreign direct investment globally, this trend sees multinationals shifting away from China in the face of rising labor costs and an appreciating currency, and toward other emerging Asian economies. India will by no means be the sole beneficiary, but the scale of its internal market alongside its vast, youthful and cheap labor force provide selling points that rival destinations such as Vietnam or Burma will struggle to match in the longer term — a theme Chidambaram drove home during his trip this week. A Japanese official said that the Tokyo and Delhi governments were arranging for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Japan before the end of May for a summit with Abe. Examples of new Japanese investment in India are not hard to find. On Tuesday, carmaker Honda unveiled plans for a $460 million plant in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, following recent investment announcements from the likes of Nissan and Toyota Motor. Investments by electronics groups, including Sony and Panasonic, have also been growing, with Yoshi Yamada, Panasonic’s senior managing director, saying last month that his company


Dark matter may be source of exotic space particles, physicist says

This NASA image shows the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer aboard the International Space Station. The AMS may have detected the first hints of dark matter in the universe. (NASA handout/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) The first results from a $2 billion instrument aboard the international space station have offered tentative support for the theory that exotic dark matter, invisible but abundant, permeates the universe. The instrument, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), has not seen dark matter directly — by definition, the stuff is invisible — and results announced so far do not lend themselves to a slam-dunk conclusion that dark matter is a fact of the cosmos and not merely a theoretical construct. But the 7.5-ton device, which rides a truss on the space station like a bell on a bicycle’s handlebars, has detected hundreds of thousands of particles that have features suggesting that they are debris from collisions of dark matter particles. “We, of course, have a feeling what is happening,” said Nobel-winning physicist Samuel Ting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaking in a packed auditorium at CERN, the Geneva-based European particle physics laboratory. But Ting, pressed by audience members to reveal more of his data and give a stronger conclusion, stuck to a modulated message. “It took us 18 years to build this experiment. We want to do it very accurately,” he said. The AMS operates at the nexus of subatomic nature and Big Science. The project’s $2 billion cost has been a source of controversy. The detector, funded through an international collaboration, including money from NASA, overcame delays and redesigns and one outright cancellation before riding to orbit in 2011 on the last flight of the space shuttle Endeavour. The instrument had to be designed to withstand the rigors of space and to operate without the benefit of repair or recalibration. It has functioned splendidly, Ting said. It detects cosmic rays, which are particles moving at extraordinary velocity and coming from all over the galaxy. The AMS sorts through the particles, measuring their momentum and charge. A small percentage of the particles that hit the detector are unusual things called positrons, which are like electrons but with the opposite charge. They’re in the class of particles known as antimatter. There’s not much antimatter in our universe, and there hasn’t been for many billions of years. When matter and antimatter collide, they are mutually annihilated. The universe early in its history


Hagel warns of deep, new cuts to defense budget

is not its shrinking budget overall but that disproportionately large amounts of it are being consumed by unaffordable weapons systems, as well as health care, troop pay and retirement benefits. Gates, who served as defense secretary from 2007 to 2011, warned of the same problems. Although he managed to kill a number of expensive weapons programs, he failed to persuade Congress to rein in troop compensation levels or health-care costs, which he said were “eating us alive.” On Wednesday, Hagel alluded to the inherent difficulty in overhauling military operations and the defense budget. He said the Pentagon needs to examine some basic questions about its operations, including whether it has too many uniformed personnel doing administrative jobs that civilians could do just as easily — and more cheaply. “It could turn out that making dramatic changes in each of these areas could prove unwise, untenable or politically impossible,” he said. “Yet we have no choice but to take a very close look.” Hagel also said “the size and shape” of the armed forces needs to be scrutinized again, a hint that the Army and Marine Corps, each of which beefed up its ranks for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, could face further troop reductions. The Army is officially projected to shrink to 490,000 active-duty soldiers, down from about 540,000 today. But Army planners are preparing for the possibility that the size of the force might dwindle to 440,000. Similarly, the Marines last year were directed to cut 10 percent of their active-duty force, leaving it at 182,000 personnel by 2016. But that might not be the bottom, either. Hagel said the military also needed to reform its command structure. He noted that the number of three- and four-star generals and admirals has generally remained “intact” since the end of the Cold War. Command staffs, however, are especially hard to scale back. Two years ago, Gates pledged that the Pentagon would eliminate 65 billets for generals and admirals by now and 102 slots overall by 2016. But only 28 jobs had been scrapped as of Jan. 31, according to Defense Department figures. Gordon Adams, an American University professor of foreign policy, said Hagel had correctly identified the basic spending problems afflicting the Pentagon. That’s the easy part, he added. “It’s a good start,” Adams said. “Can he pull it off? Don’t know. Honest answer is that the jury is out.”


Fairfax County Animal Watch

Fairfax County The following incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. Dog bites woman: Dog bites child: Rabid raccoon: Dog bites neighbor: Dog bites pedestrian: Loose dog: Rabid skunk fights with dogs: Fairfax City The following incidents were received from the animal control section of the Fairfax City Police Department. For information, call 703-385-7924 or go to www.fairfaxva.gov and click on “Animal Control” on the police department’s main page. Rabbits abandoned: Reunion: Dog visits neighbor: Vienna The following incidents were reported by the Vienna Police Department. For information, call 703-255-6396. Cat bites hospital employee: Dog bites hospital employee: Raccoons in house: Raccoon euthanized: Dog bites neighbor:


A promising and difficult plan to end polio

by militants who hold wrongheaded notions that vaccinations are some kind of Western plot. In fact, the danger is not in the vaccination but in the virus, which affects the nervous system and can lead to paralysis, largely among children age 5 and younger. Any effort to conquer polio is going to have to fully protect those carrying out the vaccination campaigns. Wiping out a disease is an extraordinary accomplishment; it has been done only once before, with smallpox. Yet as polio case numbers plunge, the task of complete eradication grows harder. The oral polio vaccine, which contains a live, weakened virus, has been key to the dramatic progress in reducing cases. But on very rare occasions, the virus strain in the oral vaccine has reverted to a paralytic one and begun to circulate. Earlier, it was a tolerable risk, but now it must be stopped. The new global strategy involves a switch to an inactivated vaccine that can attack the circulating virus. This requires a shot, not just an oral drop. While the oral dose costs about 20 cents apiece, the inactivated one costs a dollar or more. The switch to the inactivated virus is an important firewall against a further outbreak, but it won’t be easy and must go hand in hand with strong, routine immunization to prevent the virus from returning. The five-year strategy is estimated to cost $5.5 billion from varied sources, according to the eradication initiative, a partnership spearheaded by the WHO, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Instead of trying to raise money year to year, the new strategy calls for gathering up the total at the outset. This will be difficult in an era of budget austerity, but there have been some promising new private sources of funds, including $100 million recently pledged by New York Mayor and publishing magnate Michael Bloomberg. Hopes for wiping out polio globally have been raised by the achievement of India, now free of the virus. But success is not assured and demands a fight to the finish. Read more from Opinions: David Ignatius: The threat to global health from the hunt for bin Laden Anthony S. Fauci: An opportunity to end the AIDS pandemic The Post’s View: Turning the tide with AIDS George W. Bush: Extend the success against AIDS to other diseases


UDC fires basketball coach Jeff Ruland; Patsos leaves Loyola for Siena

Jeff Ruland When reached by telephone, Ruland declined to comment. UDC Athletic Director Pat Thomas confirmed the dismissal, but said, “I can’t comment any further.” Under Ruland, who was in the fourth year of a five-year contract, the Firebirds made a big turnaround, going from 1-20 his first season to 22-6 his third season. In 2011, he took UDC to the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time in 25 years. His success came despite UDC being placed on NCAA probation prior to his arrival because of, as the infraction report detailed, “the single most egregious lack of institutional control ever seen by the [NCAA] committee.” The school was on probation the entire time Ruland was there. — Kathy Orton After five seasons as women’s coach at Howard, Niki Reid Geckeler has left for the same job at Towson. Reid Geckeler led the Bison to three MEAC tournament title games and 20 wins in each of her last two seasons. — Gene Wang Loyola University men’s coach Jimmy Patsos’s decision to leave the Baltimore school to take the same position at Siena University has forced several local high school standouts to rethink their college futures. The two local players who have signed for the Class of 2013, Oakland Mills forward Lavon Long and North Point point guard Marquis Wright , were taking different approaches to the news on Wednesday. Long said in a phone interview that he’d been granted his freedom to seek an opportunity elsewhere, while Wright continues to watch the situation, according to his father. Long, the Howard County player of the year, signed a national letter of intent to join the Greyhounds in November, but he confirmed that the school has granted him a full release from that agreement. Long indicated he would consider following Patsos to Siena, a school he made an unofficial visit to last summer. As of Wednesday afternoon, Wright’s father, Walter, said his son had not asked for his release from Loyola, but would be making a decision soon. Patsos had also secured an oral commitment to Loyola from Georgetown Prep senior Mike Wolfe, but the 6-foot-9 forward had not signed and de-committed late last month. Wolfe’s father, Greg, said his son received word that Patsos has interest in bringing Michael Wolfe to Siena. — Eric Detweiler George Washington guard Lasan Kromah will transfer out of the program after he graduates in


Samsung partners with Best Buy for mini-stores

Students walk out of a showroom at the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in Seoul in this October 28, 2011 file photograph. (JO YONG-HAK/REUTERS) Samsung is making a move into the brick-and-mortar world, announcing Thursday that it will launch 1,400 mini-stores in Best Buy locations across the United States starting this month. The effort fits well with the company’s marketing push as it ramps up its competition with Apple — which, of course, has mini-stores in Best Buy locations as well. According to a press release from the smartphone maker, around 900 of the mini-stores, which will showcase a range of Samsung products, will be up and running by early May. The mini-shops give Samsung a greater — and more unified — presence among American consumers, not only showing off the brand’s full range of gadgets in one place but also by giving Samsung-specific instructions to consumers in a way similar to the Apple Genius Bar. Having staff specifically trained on Samsung products on hand will help the company as it launches its Galaxy S 4 phone, which is expected to hit the U.S. market at the end of May. The new phone has a number of features that may require a little more consumer education, such as new camera features and a gesture-controlled menu navigation, so it’s smart for Samsung to get into stores ahead of that major launch. The expanded retail presence also gives Samsung the opportunity to bill itself as a platform rather than simply a gadget-maker, by highlighting how its tablets, smartphones, camera, televisions and laptops can share information through shared services. That’s been a successful strategy for Apple, which has been particularly good at showcasing how iPad and iPhone users reap benefits from also owning a Mac computer, Apple TV, iPod or other device that taps into the larger Apple ecosystem through the App Store or services such as iCloud. Samsung and Apple are in tight competition for the U.S. mobile market, with Apple leading Samsung as the top smartphone maker with 38 percent to 21 percent, according to data released last month from comScore. Related stories: Samsung reveals new Galaxy smartphone in bid for dominant model Samsung appoints new co-CEOs Google testing same-day delivery service Sign up today to receive #thecircuit, a daily roundup of the latest tech policy news from Washington and how it is shaping business, entertainment and science.


Poll: Majority support legalizing pot as states move to reduce penalties

Entrepreneurs who are hoping to cash in on the legalization of pot in Colorado are struggling with the unique challenges of conducting a business that the federal government still considers a crime. A majority of those surveyed in a new national poll said they supported making marijuana legal. As Scott Clement writes at The Fix: By 52 to 45 percent more say marijuana should be made legal than not, with support for legalization jumping seven points in two years and 20 points since the 2002 General Social Survey. . . As public opinion has shifted, the politics of marijuana have become more complicated. Laws legalizing recreational marijuana use passed in Washington State and Colorado last year remain in limbo with the federal government’s ban on production, possession and sale of the drug unchanged. Six in 10 Americans say federal laws should not be enforced in states that have decided to allow marijuana use. Businesspeople in Colorado are preparing to sell marijuana under the new laws there, and dispensaries are opening in the District, despite the federal law. Meanwhile, the Maryland legislature also is considering more lenient marijuana laws (Read more on those proposals here and here.). These new laws conflict with the federal ban, but Wonkblog’s Dylan Matthews explains that the White House could easily decriminalize marijuana use for medical purposes: Irv Rosenfeld has received shipments of marijuana cigarettes from the federal government for more than 30 years. They’ve eased the impact of his rare illness and created some awkward moments at airport security. Upon petition from private citizens, the DEA can initiate a process that results in a drug being rescheduled. . . In effect, Eric Holder could direct the agency to remove marijuana from the list of scheduled drugs, decriminalizing it for medical use federally. That doesn’t help recreational users, but it would let medicinal users and suppliers breathe a lot easier. While states could still ban it for medicinal use, those that opt not to would no longer run afoul of federal law. In an opinion piece for The Post, Peter Wehner argues against legalization: Individuals and families need support in society and the public arena. Today, many parents rightly believe the culture is against them. Government policies should stand with responsible parents — and under no circumstances actively undermine them. Drug legalization would do exactly that. It would send an unmistakable signal to everyone, including the


Details, Beijing

details GETTING THERE United Airlines offers nonstop flights from Washington Dulles to Beijing. WHERE TO STAY The Orchid 65 Baochao Hutong 011-86-10-8404-4818 www.theorchidbeijing.com Ten-room boutique property with rates from $113. Courtyard 7 7 Qiangulouyuan Hutong 011-86-10-6406-0777 www.courtyard7.com Traditional rosewood furniture fills the bright rooms facing tranquil courtyards. Rooms from $113. Old Beijing Square A 38 Baochao Hutong 011-86-10-8402-5337 Chinese musical instruments adorn the glass-covered courtyard of this 300-year-old house in an up-and-coming hutong. Rooms from $32. WHERE TO EAT Mercante 4 Fangzhuanchang Hutong 011-86-10-8402-5098 From-scratch Italian dishes such as pappardelle with rabbit ragu start at $10. Dalirenjia 80 Baochao Hutong 011-86-10-8402-2479 This unpretentious rooftop eatery serves Beijing’s current culinary obsession, Yunnan cuisine, such as beef in lime sauce, lemongrass fish and pineapple rice, starting at $8. Gegefu 9 Daqudeng Hutong 011-86-10-6407-8006 Costumed staff and traditional dance shows may seem over-the-top, but the lavish imperial fare, such as duck hotpot, is delectable. Set meals from $32. WHAT TO DO Serk Cycling Co. 40-2 Beixinqiao San Tiao Hutong 011-86-134-2647-4634 www.serk.cc Bar-cum-bike shop offering rental bikes and theme tours. Wuhao 35 Mao’er Hutong 011-86-189-1135-5035 www.wuhaoonline.com Luxury shop carrying limited-edition products by international and Chinese designers. S.T.A.R.S. 23 Doujiao Lane 011-86-10-8403-3833 Couture and wine are the main focus of this lifestyle boutique, which hosts art exhibitions and theater events. The Hutong (Beijing Culture Exchange Center) 1 Jiu Dao Wan Zhong Xiang Hutong 011-86-15-9010-46127 thehutong.com A two-hour walking tour takes visitors off the beaten path to the winding alleyways. From $19 per person. INFORMATION www.cnto.org C.K. More from Travel: Travel Guide Ski Guide Caribbean Guide


Marijuana and same-sex marriage: A common path to legalization

It is best understood by looking at the lessons of same-sex marriage. In a number of important respects, marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage track closely. Both are controversial social issues about which public opinion has changed dramatically in the past few years; on both issues, polls show the public closely divided but tipping toward legalization. Moreover, for both issues, young people are driving the trend; older opponents of legalizing both are exiting the scene. The issues’ demographics suggest that public opinion is virtually certain to continue shifting. A true national consensus, however, remains some distance away, and partisan and regional differences are sharp. In recent years, the country has pushed many controversial issues — abortion, crime, education — up to the federal level. But same-sex marriage has taken the opposite path, with leadership left to the states. The result, though somewhat messy as policy, has been a remarkable political success at a time when the country has few to boast of. That some states could try same-sex marriage without betting the whole country reduced the stakes and contained the conflict. States’ experiments with gay marriage educed valuable information about its real-world consequences, or lack thereof, allowing for a better-informed, more rational debate. Above all, localizing the dispute gave people across the country time to work out what they think and to adjust policies as public opinion changed. Had the country locked in a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the mid-2000s, policy and public opinion would today be drifting inexorably into conflict. State leadership on marijuana policy has all of the same advantages as on marriage. It contains conflict by reducing the stakes; educes knowledge about what happens if marijuana policy is changed; and allows incremental adjustment to social change. For the federal government, yielding some measure of control over marijuana policy to the states is not a threat; it is an opportunity to manage change and preserve options. Painting federal policy into a corner serves no one, not even drug warriors. There is, however, an important difference between marriage and marijuana. States have run family policy since colonial times; letting them lead on marriage was the default option. Marijuana will be much harder. The federal government has led the war on drugs for decades, and its ban on marijuana is written into not just federal statute but also into several international treaties as well. Avoiding a state-federal train


For an Upperville estate, a risky auction

The grounds include a barn with 10 horse stalls. The property also has guest houses, a caretaker’s cottage, a custom-designed gym and a swimming pool. “I have to admit it hurts a lot to sell this place,” Pino said. But as a home builder in Florida, “times have been tough. We haven’t been able to spend as much time here lately, and it’s an expensive asset.” 3.54% The 30-year average fixed rate dipped this week. That rate has remained below 4 percent for a year and has hovered near 3.5 percent just about every week since January. MRIS makes a bid to be bigger with buyers The competition between the online listing services is heating up. MRIS This week, it launched a media campaign — complete with TV and radio spots as well as print, bus and Metro shelter ads — to significantly raise the profile of its local listing service for consumers, which competes with several national Web sites, including Seattle-based Zillow. The company is rebranding the consumer service, changing its name to MRIShomes.com from HomesDatabase.com. MRIS asserts that the national sites often slow house hunters’ searches because the sites don’t quickly remove listings of houses that have been sold. A recent study by the WAV Group, a consulting firm, showed that many of these national sites don’t have one-fifth of homes that are on the market, while 36 percent of listings that do appear are no longer for sale. John L. Heithaus But Zillow spokeswoman Katie Curnuttedisputed the notion that its site has inaccuracies, saying it is updated every 15 minutes. She cited the tens of thousands of for-sale-by-owner and construction listings, which “you don’t typically find” on a multiple-listing service. “Zillow is the only place you can find all these home types for free,” she said. Sold: Marion Barry’s Hillcrest mayoral home The 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath house in Hillcrest where Marion Barry spent three tumultuous terms as D.C. mayor was purchased this week. As first reported in Curbed DC, the property on Suitland Road SE was listed at $469,000 and sold for $450,000. Barry and his then-wife, Effie, bought the house in 1979 for $125,000 and were the first to live in it. They had columns erected in the front to distinguish it from other properties, said a spokeswoman for the online real estate brokerage Redfin. Effie Barry and the Barrys’ son Christopher moved out in 1990,


Japan opens the spigot, with a torrent of yen planned to boost the economy

Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan, speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo. Kuroda began his campaign to end 15 years of falling prices by doubling monthly bond purchases in a bid to reach 2 percent inflation in two years. (Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg) Japan plans to flood its economy with freshly printed yen in coming months in an effort to shock one of the world’s major industrial powers out of a 20-year-old stupor. The impact of an unexpectedly ambitious move by the Bank of Japan on Thursday could course quickly through the world economy, pulling down the value of Japan’s currency and with it the prices of the cars, electronics and other goods the country sells worldwide. That could mean a larger U.S. trade deficit with the country and a more difficult market for American exports, which will become more expensive in Japan by comparison. The yen fell 3 percent against the dollar on Thursday, continuing a six-month-old trend in which it has dropped about 25 percent as the country prepared to shake up economic policy. On Friday, the yen fell again and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average soared, closing its morning session up 3.76 percent and climbing above 13,000 for the first time in almost five years. Rivaling what the U.S. Federal Reserve did in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse, Japan’s move is the latest example of how the developed world is relying on its central bankers to keep the economy afloat while politicians grapple with underlying problems, including government debt and economic competitiveness. Institutions such as the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan have waded deep into unfamiliar territory to do the job, buying government bonds and other assets while their own internal balance sheets balloon. They are pushing money into the economy with historic low interest rates to try to battle the fact that households are slow to spend and companies are hesitant to invest and hire. The risks are known but impossible to quantify: of inflation remaining tame until it roars out of control, or of asset bubbles creeping into unexpected parts of the economy as investors take advantage of cheap money worldwide to make ever-riskier bets. Politicians, meanwhile, have made little progress on the underlying issues. The U.S. budget debate is stalled, and Europe remains stuck in recession and confronting deep problems with


Conductor Hugh Wolff and NSO turn unfamiliar work into comfortable sound

Orchestras can’t win sometimes: If they do pieces audiences love, they get accused of conservatism, but if they do a program of unfamiliar work, they may have trouble selling tickets. Thursday night’s National Symphony Orchestra program, however, was a textbook case of how to make the unfamiliar feel comfortable, appealing and even familiar. Granted, Chopin’s second piano concerto (which was actually written first) is hardly an unfamiliar work, and with Emanuel Ax, the orchestra had one of the most beloved of piano soloists. But the two pieces that framed this stoutly played work — “Rivering Waters,” by Stephen Albert, written in 1983-84, and Dvorak’s Fifth Symphony — were far from audience favorites. Let me revise that: They were far from audience favorites before the performance. But both proved to offer a lot to win people over. An underlying tacit presence was the late Mstislav Rostropovich, the NSO’s erstwhile and still-beloved music director. The Albert piece was excerpted from a symphony originally commissioned, premiered and recorded by the NSO. And the Dvorak was last played here under Rostropovich in 1979, the same year that Hugh Wolff, who led the concert, began with the NSO as an associate conductor. Wolff, now 59, has always seemed oddly underrated in the conducting world; having given up a post with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra to move back to the States, he teaches conducting at the New England Conservatory. Surely he should have an orchestra of his own somewhere. He is quietly competent and very at home with the NSO musicians and got generally good results, apart from a lackluster start to the concerto — which was hardly the evening’s biggest challenge. Far more difficult was the Albert piece (the original symphony’s first and fourth movements), a big, sweet, fragmented, highly textured piece that takes a lot of coordinating to come off. And it came off very well. The work is an interesting relic of a period when some composers were breaking free of the stylistic dictates of preceding years and letting themselves luxuriate in tonality — something hard to remember today, when tonal music proliferates and the snobbery lines regarding contemporary music run less between serialism and melody than between classical tradition and so-called pop. “RiverRun,” the original symphony, is a response to Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake,” and its rich sweetness, studded with little shards of melody and tonal effects, is a pretty fine musical


Friday in D.C.: 4 things to look for

Coming up today in the D.C. area: Transportation: Star Scientific: Clearing skies: Cherry blossoms: The flowers haven’t fully bloomed, but that won’t stop Saturday’s Cherry Blossom 10-miler Run. The race expo starts today at 1 p.m.


Beijing residents rethink life in the big smoke

times the level recommended by the World Health Organization. More important, real-time information is available that allows anyone with a computer or smartphone to match hard data with the choking clouds they can see and smell in front of them. After the U.S. Embassy began in 2009 collecting data on the fine particulate matter known as PM2.5 that is the most dangerous to human health, a public campaign eventually forced the Beijing government to do the same. Hourly readings are now available online from both sources. That access to information has transformed air pollution from a nonissue just two years ago into a source of deep public anger at a time when the damaging health effects of pollution are also becoming clear. A World Bank study in 2007 estimated that each year China sees 400,000 premature deaths due to outdoor air pollution — a finding so explosive that the government tried to suppress it at the time. However, one of the scientists who worked on that study, Pan Xiaochuan of the Peking University School of Public Health, said the true figure is probably far higher because the methodology used in the report was conservative. Indeed, a survey released last week that looked at causes of deaths worldwide found that outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010, accounting for almost 40 percent of the global total. The study was conducted by a group of universities and the WHO. “China is starting to experience the long-term health damage caused by pollution, and the past 10 years have been like a period of concentrated outbreak,” Pan said, pointing to increasing rates of lung cancer and digestive diseases across the country. Pan says that lack of data prevents scientists from obtaining an accurate measure of the true health impact of the air pollution that blankets eastern China. That information vacuum is mostly due to government secrecy. With a few exceptions, most Chinese cities refuse to publicly disclose some of the most basic and important environmental information, such as pollution discharge data and records of administrative punishments handed out to polluters, according to an authoritative annual report published last week. The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs in Beijing and the Natural Resources Defense Council in the United States have published an annual pollution transparency index covering 113 Chinese cities since 2009. This year, about 35 percent of the


South Korea has already won

for cheap labor. A North Korean city reliant on the plant, The Washington Post’s Chico Harlan wrote, would “all but collapse economically, potentially causing social unrest among citizens with direct knowledge about capitalism and South Korea’s relative wealth.” As the North remains ever-reliant on a distrustful South and an increasingly wary China, South Korea has expanded its exports beyond technology into popular culture, two realms long dominated by the West and Japan. Korean music, movies and television have proved so irresistible that they’re pushing across Asia into Japan, which has been a gold mine. As North Korea kidnaps Japan’s citizens and fires missiles over its territory, South Korea is sending its pop singers and soap stars into the heart of its former colonial master while funneling bushels of Japanese yen back home. PSY, of “Gangnam Style” fame, has even made it big in the West. During a November visit to Europe, he attracted up to 20,000 Parisians at an impromptu concert. The next month, he performed for and met President Obama. Of course, South Korea’s economic and cultural victory could turn to ashes in the extremely unlikely but still terrifying possibility of conflict. A war would hurt North Korea most of all, probably causing its military — and thus the Kim regime — to collapse, but also would be horrifically costly for South Korea. Seoul is well within range of North Korean artillery, not to mention vulnerable to a nuclear attack. But South Korea has been living with this threat for years. That doesn’t mean it should lessen the vigilance that has kept it ready through two generations of armistice. But it does suggest that it has figured out how to live with the North: a draft, an enormous standing army and the help of the United States’ troops and nuclear deterrent. “The only thing to remind anyone of the impending threat is the occasional army helicopter buzzing overhead or reservists in their field dress, hopping on the subway,” Pearson said of life in Seoul. Security, even in the face of extraordinary danger, is just a part of success — something that allows South Koreans to devote their energy to conquering the world with high-tech exports and addictive pop culture, peacefully attaining the power and wealth that Kim and his belligerent forefathers could only dream of. max.fisher@washpost.com Read more from Outlook, friend us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.


Daughter of imprisoned Chinese activist inspires ‘Nine Days’ by Fred Hiatt, a book about their plight

letter, he apologized for the pain he has caused us by his decisions, but said he has no regrets for responding to his calling. Fred Hiatt’s young adult novel mirrors Ti-Anna Wang’s attempts to free her father from a Chinese prison. We speak to Hiatt and Wang about the book and the case that inspired it. What was it like being fictionalized as Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School student Ti-Anna Chen, who runs off to Hong Kong with her brainy classmate Ethan Wynkoop to hunt for her missing dissident father? It was surreal. I felt a little bit vulnerable and exposed sometimes, because there are scenes about being followed by spies, which has happened. But he created a Ti-Anna that is so much like me that my mother cried yesterday when she read the whole book. He got the details right — like me having meetings over dim sum in Hong Kong with people I did not trust, but needed to get their help. I’ve always felt frustrated that I couldn’t secure my father’s release or improve his situation much. Seeing that his story was not forgotten was beyond what I could have possibly hoped for. Does your father know about “Nine Days”? No. I am going to mail him a letter soon about the book and everything happening here. The jail only lets us write to him in Chinese. But I grew up in Montreal and I didn’t know much Chinese. That’s why, right now, I am studying Chinese in Taiwan. It’s part of the way I deal with the cloud of my father’s situation — to try and understand him. So the letter about the novel will be in Chinese, so I can communicate with him directly. That was important to me. What’s happening with your father now? Sadly, his situation has not changed much. This is despite the fact that the United States, Canada, Taiwan, the European Union, the United Nations and Amnesty International have all called upon the Chinese government to release him. His physical and mental health — he suffers from untreated depression — continue to deteriorate. He is now 66 and has suffered three strokes, all while being kept in solitary confinement. His spirits are very low and he’s losing faith in the possibility of freedom. I haven’t been allowed to see him in four years. We are only allowed to write letters. Ti-Anna Wang


The Supreme Court should invalidate the patent on human DNA

Jeffrey Rosenfeld is an assistant professor of medicine at the New Jersey Medical School and a member of the High Performance and Research Computing Group. Christopher E. Mason is an assistant professor of computational genomics at Weill Cornell Medical College and affiliate fellow of the information society project of Yale Law School. Asked in 1955 whether his polio vaccine was patented, Jonas Salk replied, “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” With that, Salk debunked the misguided notion of patenting objects found in nature. His polio vaccine was not a new invention but an inactive form of the natural polio virus. Today, Salk would be shocked to find that your DNA belongs not to you but rather to many companies and institutions that have patents on the DNA from your cells. Forty-one percent of the genes in your genome are not legally yours, according to a long list of gene patents that have been granted since the 1980s. These patents cover thousands of human genes and restrict a doctor’s ability to look at your DNA and plan your medical treatment. These patent claims contradict an intuitive sense that your DNA is no less yours than your lungs or kidneys. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has a chance to rectify this genetic injustice. The justices will hear oral argument April 15 over a lower federal court’s decision that human genes can be patented. The case involves Myriad Genetics, which received patents in the 1990s for the exclusive right to examine any isolated DNA that contains the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Most people have normal versions of these genes, but those who carry mutations of BRCA usually have an 85 to 90 percent risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Doctors cannot independently look at the genetic code in a person’s BRCA genes, because as soon as blood is drawn and DNA is isolated to examine those genes, it is immediately the legal property of Myriad Genetics. Like many scientists, we believe that these patents never should have been granted and that the genes of the human genome, like other natural body parts, belong to their owners, not to companies seeking to exploit monopolies. If the court allows these types of patents to stand, it will put the endeavors of openly researching, preventing and treating lethal diseases on a lower level of importance than a set of ill-conceived property rights. Because


In Afghanistan, under fire from ‘friends’

Regarding the March 30 installment of “Faces of the Fallen”: In reading the details of the tragic loss of these 45 young lives in Afghanistan last year, I was struck by the fact that an “Afghan policeman” or “Afghan police officer” was responsible in three separate cases (two occurred the same day, Aug. 10, but in different locations) for nine of the deaths and an “Afghan soldier” in two instances for four more. These appalling incidents add a new dimension to the term friendly fire. This term has been used in the past in cases of accidental killings, but there is no accidenthere. One is tempted, in the face of such facts, to question whether the purported goal of the establishment of a democratic, terrorist-free regime in Afghanistan is being achieved after so many years of conflict, or whether it is even realistic. Edward K. Kimmel, Arlington


Pentagon probe finds three Army generals committed misconduct

After lengthy investigations, the Pentagon has determined that three Army generals committed misconduct in separate incidents, adding to an unusually long list of senior military commanders who have been censured over the past year. On Friday, defense officials confirmed that Army Maj. Gen. Ralph O. Baker, the commander of a strategic counterterrorism force on the Horn of Africa, was fired March 28 on charges of sexual misconduct. Two officials familiar with the case said Baker was investigated for allegedly groping a female civilian employee after he had been drinking. In addition, documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Pentagon’s inspector general upheld misconduct allegations against two Army lieutenant generals last year: David H. Huntoon Jr., the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; and Joseph F. Fil Jr., a former commander in South Korea and Iraq. Neither episode had previously been disclosed by the Pentagon. The cases have exacerbated concerns about the ethics and personal behavior of senior military officers, a problem that has bedeviled the Pentagon in recent months despite repeated pledges to address it. In November, then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta ordered a sweeping review of ethical training and standards for generals and admirals after several high-profile scandals tarnished the reputations of some of the military’s most prominent commanders. That month, Panetta demoted Gen. William E. “Kip” Ward, chief of the military’s Africa Command, and required him to reimburse the government $82,000 after investigators found he took lavish personal trips — including a week-long mission to Bermuda — at taxpayer expense. Last year, the Pentagon’s inspector general rebuked another commander, Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly, head of the Missile Defense Agency, for creating a toxic atmosphere and berating staff members. In an interim report in December, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended to Panetta that military officers receive ethics training more frequently and earlier in their careers. Dempsey finished a more detailed ethics review in February, right before Panetta left office, and also shared the results with President Obama, said Marine Col. David Lapan, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs. The findings of that review have not been made public. Lawmakers have expressed particular concern about another case involving a one-star Army general, Jeffrey A. Sinclair, who is facing a court-martial at Fort Bragg on charges of sodomy and wrongful


National Cherry Blossom Festival daily highlights for April 7

Blossom Watch Cherry Blossom events Sunday, April 7 ●Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run. See 15,000 runners start and finish at the Washington Monument grounds and tour the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin and in East Potomac Park. World-class runners, including Olympians and world champions, compete for more than $45,000 in prize money in the Washington area’s only world-class running event. Metro: Smithsonian on the Blue and Orange lines. 7:30 a.m. Washington Monument grounds, 15th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Registration closed; viewing only. ● ●Official Japanese Stone Lantern Lighting Ceremony. The lantern lighting ceremony opens the National Conference of State Societies’ Cherry Blossom Princess festivities. It features traditional Japanese music, the presentation of the U.S. and Japanese Cherry Blossom queens, and 2013 Cherry Blossom princesses. Independence Avenue and 17th Street SW. 2:30-4 p.m. Metro: Smithsonian. ●47th Annual Cherry Blossom Rugby Tournament. Spectators are encouraged to attend the two-day tournament, featuring the best teams from across the country. The tournament has divisions for college men, college women and high school boys. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Rosecroft Raceway, 6338 Rosecroft Dr., Fort Washington. For details on all events, visit nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. The Cherry Blossom hotline is 877-44BLOOM (442-5666). All events are free unless otherwise noted.


VA hiring blitz may hurt community health-care programs, critics say

well-documented. Since 2005, the number of veterans receiving specialized treatment for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and other behavioral conditions has risen steadily from 927,052 to 1.3 million in 2012. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide every day. VA officials have been under intense pressure to improve services for veterans. The White House promised Friday to increase funding for veterans’ mental health services by 7.2 percent to $7 billion in the fiscal year starting in October. Funding for the increased mental health professionals, however, had already been approved. President Obama last year signed an executive order that endorsed the VA’s efforts to increase its staff by 1,600 mental health professionals by June 30. When the recruitment drive began one year ago, the VA had a staff of more than 18,000 mental health professionals. Culpepper said the VA has organized publicity campaigns in each of the agency’s 21 geographic subdivisions, using posters, blast e-mails, public service announcements and TV commercials to encourage recruits to visit the Web site vacareers.va.gov and fill out an application. It is not difficult for the VA to get the attention of potential mental health providers. Heather Kelly, senior legislative officer for veterans’ affairs at the American Psychological Association, said the VA is the biggest employer of psychologists in the country. And for a mental health professional, the VA generally offers unmatched pay, benefits, working conditions, and travel and research opportunities. “We can’t compete,” said Jerry Mayo, executive director of Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources, a community mental health organization in Hattiesburg, Miss. “We’ve lost our last five licensed psychologists to the VA.” Mayo said Pine Belt also has a shortage of psychiatrists, but has compensated by hiring foreign doctors who work on special visas for a prescribed period of time. Whenever possible, he added, he tries to hire local staff who are likely to stay in the area. The VA faces similar staffing difficulties in more rural areas of the country, but its competition with local mental health centers is usually “not helpful,” Mayo said, because “it seldom brings new people into the state.” It simply means that workers leave community mental health centers for a better economic deal at the VA. M. David Rudd, scientific director at the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah, said the VA initiative will do little to address the nation’s endemic scarcity of mental health providers. “Being


Crowdfunding expands access to capital for women, minority entrepreneurs

The growing popularity of crowdfunding has created a new fundraising mechanism for women and minority entrepreneurs, groups that have at times felt ostracized by the more traditional ways of raising money to start or grow a business. Several initiatives are taking shape here in Washington. A crowdfunding Web site geared toward black entrepreneurs has come online, and minority economic development groups are educating their client base about the practice’s potential. Crowdfunding requires an entrepreneur to mine his or her social networks and use online marketing to collect small sums of money from a large pool of individual investors. There are no credit barriers to clear or wealthy contacts to tap. Such requirements have presented a challenge for some women and minority entrepreneurs seeking bank loans or venture capital, over and above the ordinary challenges for any start-up trying to raise money. Alicia Robb, a senior research fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, said women and minorities are often excluded, intentionally or otherwise, from the networks of venture capitalists and high-net-worth individuals that are comprised largely of white men. What’s more, there’s evidence that minorities face discrimination when applying for bank loans, Robb said. This combination of factors makes women and minorities less likely to pursue financing than their male, non-minority counterparts. “If you’re connected or well educated or have family members that are connected to these pools of capital, you’re much more likely to access them,” said Nathan Bennett Fleming, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia and the District’s congressional shadow representative. “But if you don’t have that savvy to access them, you may not even know that these potential funders are there.” Bennett Fleming and five of his fraternity brothers from Morehouse College have created Black Startup, a crowdfunding Web site where entrepreneurs with business ideas or projects geared toward the African American community can raise capital. Many of the entrepreneurs will likely be black, though that’s not a requirement, Bennett Fleming said. The money, too, will likely come from African Americans or organizations that aim to encourage the community’s economic development. “There is significant wealth in the African American community, but we don’t invest that wealth at high rates. A big reason for why we don’t invest at high rates is a lack of knowledge and sophisticated understanding of the capital markets,” Bennett Fleming said. The District-based Latino Economic Development Center held its first


Washington area hospitality industry posts stronger job growth

doesn’t seem to be coming at the expense of downtown restaurants. It’s cumulative growth,” Dinegar said. EatWell DC, the company behind Commissary and Logan Tavern near 14th Street NW, opened another restaurant, The Pig, in the neighborhood last year. The pork-themed outpost opened with about 35 employees. Josh Hahn, EatWell DC’s operating partner, said he once worried about saturation in the fast-gentrifying neighborhood. “I think we always felt at some point that the neighborhood couldn’t handle any more [restaurants],” Hahn said. “But as more restaurants have opened up, more people are going out, because they don’t have to wait as long [for a table], more people are coming from the suburbs.” Another Washington-based restaurant company, ThinkFoodGroup, also said it has added jobs in the region during the past year. Rob Wilder, chief executive of the firm behind restaurants such as Zaytinya, Oyamel and Minibar, said the company increased its workforce in its local eateries by 10 percent. At corporate headquarters in Penn Quarter, where the staff manages celebrity chef José Andrés’s burgeoning empire of restaurants and food products, the staff grew by 20 percent. Although ThinkFoodGroup saw a brief dip in sales at its local restaurants earlier this year in the wake of brinksmanship over the “fiscal cliff,” Wilder said business has since bounced back. “People realized the world didn’t end with the budget standoff,” he said. The company plans to continue adding jobs in 2013. Although economists agree that much of the money being spent at the area’s leisure and hospitality businesses is coming from the pockets of local residents, marketing organization Destination D.C. says it has seen increased interest in tourism, including from international visitors. “As you look at the global community, with the strength of the pound and euro, we’re still a bargain,” said Elliott Ferguson, chief executive of Destination D.C. Ferguson said his organization is planning to reintroduce its “Luxe D.C.” marketing initiative, which highlights five-star hotels and behind-the-scenes access to events. The program is being restored because of the renewed demand Destination D.C. sees for luxury travel experiences in Washington. Although the job growth in the hospitality industry has been relatively strong, wages in the sector tend to be lower than in categories such as professional services. Fuller said this could have ripple effects on the region’s broader economic growth. “It does have consequences when you have a lot of salaries that are 20 to


Awwww-inspiring animals

A baby seal is the National Zoo’s latest addition, hot on the heels of giant panda cub Bao Bao. There may be panda-mania in Washington, but zoos all over the world have their own bundles of joy to celebrate. Take a look at these zoo cuties. Spring is in the air, and that means that at zoos all over the world, baby animals are getting their first peek at the strange species that comes to point at them and laugh and go AWWWWW. (Humans!) We’re especially lucky because zoos in Maryland, Washington and Virginia have adorable baby critters that you can visit. You can see a black-and-white colobus monkey at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, a male sloth bear at the National Zoo and a squirrel monkey at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. Even if you can’t get to a zoo sometime soon, enjoy the awwww-inspiring babies on this page. You can find even more in the Gallery of the Week at kidspost.com.


Victim stabbed during robbery in Silver Spring

Police in Montgomery County are investigating a robbery and stabbing in Silver Spring early Monday morning. The incident took place shortly before 1 a.m. in the 8700 block of Gilbert Place, authorities said. The victim was stabbed during the robbery and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. No additional information was available about the the robbery, or the victim’s identity or injuries. No suspect information has been released.


Plague draws attention amid concern that it might be deployed by terrorists

that the United States could provide free tests to Uganda and other plague-endemic countries. Meanwhile, the researchers have sought to expand drug options, because some intravenous antibiotics, such as streptomycin, are not widely available and because drug resistance to other antibiotics poses a concern. The go-to pill for an anthrax attack is ciprofloxacin, which is part of the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile established for national emergencies. The researchers hope it will also be approved by the FDA for plague. As part of the ongoing clinical trials, 14-year-old Isaac Baniyo’s plague was diagnosed with a dipstick; he then became the fifth plague patient — and the first with the pneumonic form of the disease — treated with a 10-day dose of cipro. Fortunately, the drug worked for him. “It’s a very big step forward,” says Ingelsby, who was not involved in the research. A role for traditional healers Despite their efforts so far in Uganda, the team has not achieved its goal of reducing plague mortality from about 30 percent to 15 percent. Mead at first suspected that people farthest from clinics were not getting diagnosis and treatment within the two-day window that makes the difference. That hunch proved wrong. It turned out that cultural traditions were key, and they were working against the CDC. Many people in Baniyo’s village rely on traditional healers, who treat illness with herbs or prayers. During a 2008 outbreak of pneumonic plague, the healer was one of those sickened — and a fully stocked clinic was less than a half-mile away. “Having a diagnostic dipstick and effective antibiotics doesn’t really matter if a person doesn’t get to the clinic,” Mead says. So in 2010, Titus Apangu of the Ugandan Virus Research Institute, with funding from the CDC, began recruiting 10 of these traditional healers, training them to recognize plague symptoms and providing them with bicycles, cellphones and referral cards to direct patients to a specialist at the local clinic. The number of healers working with the institute has now climbed to 42, and they have made 562 referrals for suspected cases of plague, malaria, tuberculosis and other serious illnesses. Some are even sporting homemade uniforms with a CDC logo. On a recent morning, Mark Wadribo, a healer in a blue sweater with a wooden cross around his neck, pulled out his book of referrals and told the story of a young farmer who limped into


Mother had tried to get D.C. teen off streets before he was slain

although privately they say they are looking at gang members with possible connections to the neighborhood’s Woodland Terrace Crew. Darius Cannon, 16, was killed early Sunday in Southeast Washington. (Family Photo) Darius’s family members said they cannot think of a reason for killing a teenager they described as a quiet boy who liked stylish clothing and who they said wanted nothing to do with the drug culture. He was the youngest of 14 children, including three sets of twins. “I’ve tried to find answers, and I can’t,” said brother Earl Cannon, 32. “Nobody is talking. Everyone is in disbelief. Darius is the last person to get caught up in something like this. It’s a senseless murder.” Relatives said Darius spent most of his time in a mentoring program run out of Woodland Terrace’s recreation center that aims to help at-risk kids escape their dangerous environs. His mother said her son looked up to one of his older brothers, Rashad, who is attending Shaw University in North Carolina. She was planning to move Darius in with his brother. A D.C. school system spokeswoman confirmed that Darius was a student but declined to provide details. Trayon A. White, a member of the D.C. Board of Education, said Darius went to Anacostia High. He said he had known Darius since he was in elementary school. White runs the mentoring program, Helping Inner City Kids Succeed, that Darius had been enrolled in for the past three years. “Darius was real quiet,” White said. “He didn’t really speak much. You’d never know he was in the room.” He said Darius had taken up boxing and seemed to love the after-school program, which took teens on field trips to college campuses and theme parks and helped them find summer jobs. White said Darius grew up among a “group of young men who don’t have any direction, who are vulnerable to be caught up in senseless things. . . . Sometimes they do things that aren’t right.” The school board member, a critic of how city leaders address crime, expressed frustration that he can quickly get money from a city program for a funeral, “but I got kids who want to go to college and I can’t get money for them.” He added, “There needs to be resources allocated to ensure our future has a chance.” Keith L. Alexander and Cheryl W. Thompson contributed to this report.


In China, bird flu brings panic buying of herbal remedy called ban lan gen

in stores there that they issued two advisories last weekend banning increases in ban lan gen prices and forbidding public suggestions that it can prevent bird flu. Curiously, on the same day as the Jiangsu memo, the western province of Gansu issued a memo suggesting that facial massages of key acupuncture pressure points could prevent H7N9 infections. (Alas, no panicked runs on facial massages have been reported — perhaps because Gansu health officials have been mocked before for their medical advice, notably pushing pig’s feet in recent years as a cure-all.) Ban lan gen Ban lan gen, however, has been a particular favorite for China’s panic buyers. It caught public attention during the 2003 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, then resurfaced during the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic and previous H5N1 avian flu outbreaks. Derived from the root of a flowering plant called woad, or Isatis tinctoria, ban lan gen has a certain logical appeal as a cure-all for many in China, where it is widely used to combat the common cold. In the parlance of traditional Chinese medicine — focused on balancing yin and yang, hot and cold, in the body — ban lan gen is valued for its antiviral properties as a “clear heat,” said Yang Liteng of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou. The view of Yang, an expert in integrating Chinese and Western medicine for respiratory diseases, reflects the vast majority of China’s medical community — that ban lan gen may have proved helpful for viruses in the past but lacks proof as a treatment for H7N9. “In the first 24 hours of the common cold, ban lan gen can restrain the virus and is helpful,” Yang said. In the case of H7N9, however, Yang said it’s too soon to tell, calling the Jiangsu advisory irresponsible because “there is no scientific evidence showing that it is helpful.” But with relatively mild side effects, the herb would be harmful only to those with weak constitutions, Yang said. Diplomacy and skepticism For the most part, central health authorities have avoided weighing in on the ban lan gen debate. The World Health Organization, the lead international agency in the crisis, has been similarly diplomatic. “The main recommendation in our clinical guidelines for treatment is the prompt administration of neuraminidase inhibitors,” a type of anti-influenza drug, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in an e-mail. “We do not have enough evidence


a cure-all for many in China, where it is widely used to combat the common cold. In the parlance of traditional Chinese medicine — focused on balancing yin and yang, hot and cold, in the body — ban lan gen is valued for its antiviral properties as a “clear heat,” said Yang Liteng of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou. The view of Yang, an expert in integrating Chinese and Western medicine for respiratory diseases, reflects the vast majority of China’s medical community — that ban lan gen may have proved helpful for viruses in the past but lacks proof as a treatment for H7N9. “In the first 24 hours of the common cold, ban lan gen can restrain the virus and is helpful,” Yang said. In the case of H7N9, however, Yang said it’s too soon to tell, calling the Jiangsu advisory irresponsible because “there is no scientific evidence showing that it is helpful.” But with relatively mild side effects, the herb would be harmful only to those with weak constitutions, Yang said. Diplomacy and skepticism For the most part, central health authorities have avoided weighing in on the ban lan gen debate. The World Health Organization, the lead international agency in the crisis, has been similarly diplomatic. “The main recommendation in our clinical guidelines for treatment is the prompt administration of neuraminidase inhibitors,” a type of anti-influenza drug, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in an e-mail. “We do not have enough evidence to comment on the efficacy of traditional medicines, although we know there have been reports of their efficacy.” But some people have had a field day with the conflicting government advisories on the root remedy, especially online, one of the rare places where criticism of Chinese officials is possible. In one especially popular Internet meme, bloggers have been tweeting traditional poems but replacing key words with “ban lan gen” in mock praise of its good-for-any-situation properties. Although skepticism abounds, there are many other steps that Chinese and WHO experts agree the public should be taking, such as eating only fully cooked poultry, avoiding contact with birds and washing hands frequently. Perhaps sensing a rare opening for unsolicited public health advice, Yang, the medical professor, did not hesitate to tack on a few precautions that never hurt anyone: “Adopt a clean living style and a healthier diet. And do some physical exercise.” Li Qi contributed to this report.


Beer Madness: Round 3 picks the Final Four

The Washington Post’s annual Beer Madness focused on selections from local craft breweries in the annual tournament pitting 32 beers against each other in a bracket-style tournament. Nothing in common. That pretty well sums up the Final Four for Beer Madness 2013, our blind taste-off of 32 regional brews. They are: a crisp but balanced Pilsener; a freestyle herb beer that might have been Belgian-inspired but resisted pigeonholing; a hop juggernaut; and a confectionary stout. We don’t have top seeds in Beer Madness, but if we did, the honor probably would have fallen to Devils Backbone Vienna Lager. Head brewer Jason Oliver boasts a chestful of hardware, including eight medals alone from last year’s Great American Beer Festival. His Vienna Lager took gold in its category. But in Beer Madness, it failed to lock up the Crisp category, falling 6-3 to Legend Pilsner. Worn to the nubs, our tasters’ palates seemed to respond better to the prickly hoppiness of the Legend than to the caramel smoothness of the Vienna. “Malty, bready, meh,” wrote cheesemonger Carolyn Stromberg of Vienna Lager, while praising Legend Pilsner as “more effervescent — much more complex in flavor, too.” Range restaurant chef de cuisine Matt Hill termed both “well-balanced” but added that “I just enjoy [the Vienna Lager] better.” Gordon Biersch Belgian Pale Ale, In the Hop bracket, Flying Dog Double Dog Double Pale Ale, an imperial IPA, edged Lost Rhino’s Face Plant IPA by a 5-4 tally. Scott Schenkelberg praised the Double Dog’s “rich fruit bouquet” but felt it was a “little too high in alcohol.” (At 11.5 percent alcohol by volume, this was indeed the most potent beer in our contest.) He deemed the Face Plant “too malty — not enough hop floral essence.” Doris Dixon disagreed. “Hops are balanced and don’t overpower,” she wrote of the Face Plant. The matchup in the Roast category elicited a lot of love for the combatants, with Dominion Oak Barrel Stout barely besting Baying Hound Long Snout Stout, 5-4. Chersevani opted for the Oak Barrel, terming it “affogato delight,” after the Italian dessert consisting of a scoop of gelato drenched in hot espresso. But she enjoyed the Long Snout Stout, too, commenting, “berries — also delicious.” Joe Wallace compared the Long Snout to a “complex sherry,” while Stromberg likened the Oak Barrel to “currants” and “chocolate-covered raisins.” Normally, dessert finishes a meal, but two more rounds of


Bailed-out banks haven’t met goals of small-business lending program, report says

increasing lending, according to the report from the TARP special inspector general. “For some TARP banks, SBLF turned out to be little more than a TARP exit strategy,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP. Twenty-four of those banks shared$501 million in small-business funding but have not boosted their lending at all, while the remaining banks have increased lending by $1.13 for each $1 in funding they received, according to the report. By comparison, banks in the program that did not participate in TARP have lent $3.45 for every $1 they received in funding. “Despite Congress imposing a safeguard that banks submit a plan showing how they would increase small-business lending,” Romero said, “Treasury and the banking regulators did not adequately assess the plans, each claiming it was the responsibility of the other.” Treasury officials refuted the inspector general’s findings, saying the program is subject to tremendous oversight and has been a success. Former TARP recipients have upped their small-business lending by $3.6 billion, according to the Treasury. The banks in question have reported a median lending increase of 18.4 percent, well above the 10 percent that Congress set as the threshold for gaining access to the best loan terms. “These banks are ahead of schedule in achieving the increases specified in their lending plans,” said Don Graves Jr., Treasury deputy assistant secretary. “There are numerous errors and omissions in the report.” Graves took issue with the inspector general’s assertion that Treasury failed to catch deficiencies in the lending plans submitted by the banks. Treasury rejected numerous applications based on the banks’ financial condition. Only 36 percent of the 933 community banks that applied for money were approved. Indeed, community banks complained that Treasury rejected their applications with little explanation and offered no formal appeal process. Banks were turned down if they could not pay dividends, had missed more than one TARP divided payment or were on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s problem bank list. Applicants also griped about the number of months it took the agency to respond to requests — the first round of approvals was announced five months after the program launched. Congress criticized Treasury for the delay in distributing the funds. The agency said that having each application be approved by a bank’s primary supervisor slowed the process. Although Congress allotted $30 billion to the lending fund, barely a quarter of the money was spent.


Washington area braces for cicadas’ return

Based on sightings of this group’s parents in 1996, residents of the following municipalities should be on the lookout: Richmond, Williamsburg, York, Fairfax, Falls Church and Baltimore, and Loudoun, Prince William, Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Wicomico and Baltimore counties, among others. “I vividly remember 17 years ago when the cicadas were everywhere and very, very noisy,” said David Ledwith of Falls Church. “I would be on the telephone with someone, and they would ask what that noise was.” People remember Brood X of 2004 most because it was the most recent and because of its sheer geographic size. Weddings were disrupted, grown men beat themselves over the head when cicadas piled on, children tossed and turned in their beds from the noise. Gaye Williams, an entomologist for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, remembered them from even further in the past, 1987. “One woman told me her outdoor Montgomery County wedding was June 1 and asked what should she do,” Williams recalled. “I said you can make it a cicada-themed wedding because that’s what it’s going to be.” Brood II’s last outing was smaller but still made headlines. News archives from 1996 carry accounts of bug phobics running to shrinks. This year’s arrival will be amplifed by updates and tweets; it’s the first cicada emergence since Facebook and Twitter became popular. Expect lots of pictures of an insect even bug lovers say is ugly. Expect tweets from restaurant patios. And expect YouTube videos of bugs making tons of noise. “I think it is . . . important to let people know that they don’t bite or sting,” said Todd Michael Day, a Culpeper County resident. “And that they will invariably fly into a car window at some point. They are big, and they are ugly, but wrecking your car because one just landed on the dashboard is a bad idea.” Such birds as gulls and starlings will flock around the swarm, gulping as many cicadas as they can. “It creates a monstrous pulse of energy into the ecosystem they emerge from,” said Sam Droege, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. “Predators can eat their fill, and there are still unbelievable numbers of cicadas that escape to mate, lay eggs and die,” Droege said. “Just the dead, rotting bodies alone have a large nutrient impact on the forests and streams in an area.”