Now That It’s Raining More Than Ever: First, we need to preface this item by saying we do know there’s nothing more annoying than breathless news reports telling you what the weather’s doing. You know what the weather’s like! You have windows! That said… Have you noticed it’s been raining? The District, predictably, fell to pieces; manholes started smoking on H Street NE, accidents snarled traffic everywhere, the Redskins had to practice in a hangar at Dulles. Nearly half a foot of rain could fall by the end of the day. But the weekend looks nice! -4

Metro Fights Back: Every now and then, another story pops up about how none of the members of the Metro Board of Directors ever actually ride any subways or buses. Now we know why: Alexandria Mayor Bill Euile, a member of the board, was injured today trying to take the train to a Metro board meeting, falling while boarding a subway at Braddock Road. He’ll need surgery. Yes, really. There was a time when Metro was the pride of the D.C. region. But now, raise your hand if you’d trade a working, 24-hour, if dirty, New York subway system for our clean, but utterly dysfunctional one? -3

Google This: Readers of Greater Greater Washington noticed updated Google Maps satellite photos of the D.C. region recently—and promptly set about figuring out when they were taken: Between 1 p.m. and 1:35 p.m., on Sunday, Aug. 29. Clues that tipped them off included Metro track work (naturally), farmers markets in Dupont Circle and Greenbelt (which only meet on Sundays), and the lack of some Capital Bikeshare stations installed not long afterwards. Behold the power of crowd-sourcing! There is nothing that the hive mind cannot conquer! (Well, nothing mostly trivial, at least.) +2

Players Win and Winners Play: Glebe Road turns out to be a rather lucky place—Pura Valdez bought her first-ever Virginia Lotto Ticket at a Giant Food there recently, and won $1 million. (Certain City Paper editors have been buying Powerball tickets once or twice a month for years now and never won anything more than a lousy $3!) The store got $10,000 for selling the winning ticket. Valdez says she’s been crying, sleeping badly, and not eating since she won; maybe being a millionaire isn’t all it’s cracked out to be. +1

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 42 Today’s score: -4 Today’s Needle rating: 38