LeasingSocial: Business is good if you're in coupons these days—just ask the producers of TLC's Extreme Couponing, a show that probably would never have been greenlighted in a less frugal-minded era. How good, exactly? Good enough that LivingSocial had to rent a whole new office to prepare to expand. The D.C.-based Groupon rival will take over all seven floors of a Chinatown building dating back to 1890. No word on whether they'll get their lease free if three other companies also rent from Douglas Development through their personalized link. +1

Biting the Hand that Feeds You: For a guy whose main claim to fame is being on a cooking TV show—where none of the audience can actually taste any of what he made—Spike Mendelsohn seems to be awfully impressed with himself. The Top Chef alum has decided that D.C., where his Good Stuff and We the Pizza restaurants are, is a "second-tier city where you can be a big fish in a small pond." Mendelsohn isn't the first person to argue that D.C. is no New York. He may, however, be the first person to argue that D.C. is no New York using his own ability to succeed here as evidence for his case. -2

All Your Bus Are Belong to Google: It's been obvious for some time now that any need to recall information will, sometime in the not-too-distant future, be outsourced to Google. For Metro subways and buses, the future is now. Google Maps has, after a wait of some time, added the local transit system to its database; you can now plug in two addresses in the D.C. area and get directions on how to ride the train or bus between them. "But surely, Metro's own Trip Planner service already does this?" you may be asking. If, that is, you still use an aol.com email address. +2

Now Batting, George Washington: About a month into the baseball season, the Washington Nationals (also sometimes known as the Washington Natinals) are just a game below .500. But they rank 23rd out of 30 major league teams a stat that matters more to the bottom line: attendance. Which means it's already time for some Bill Veeck-style marketing. So tickets for Monday night's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates will cost only $1. Sure, there are fees that add a few more bucks to the total, but still—what's more fun, sitting in the outfield on a nice spring night, or eating a McDonald's Fruit 'N Yogurt Parfait? +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 77 Today's score: +2 Today's Needle rating: 79

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

The Triangle posts an up-to-date Google map of where crimes took place in its downtown neighborhood so far this year. A lot of theft from autos! It's like smash-and-grab city.

Petworth News brings us up-to-date on the Upshur Street Arts Fair in mid December. You can find some history of this fair here.

And Now, Anacostia has an update on the street-car development complete with handy Google map.

New Columbia Heights wonders if there's too much parking available at the DCUSA megabox complex.

Frozen Tropics discovers that a new Five Guys opened up in the ugly-ass ATF building. How much security do you think you have to go through before you can get to the burger joint?

Pop Cesspool confesses to watching some pretty terrible TV.

Over at Brightest Young Things, Justin Moyer aka Edie Sedgwick aka Iceland pens an open letter to Thomas Hardy.

Coates has this.

*photo courtesy of Supaqool as found in our Neighborhood Flickr Page.