Below The Beltway

The economy is getting so bad, Hugh Hefner may have to fire the bunnies:
Tycoon Hugh Hefner has been advised to cut back on staff at his multi-million dollar glamour empire as it struggles to cope during the global economic turmoil.
The 83-year-old has been told to lay off some of his staff at his Los Angeles [...]

Given how the week has gone, this sounds like a great idea to me:
Concurring Opinions, like A.I.G. and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac before it, is now too big too fail. We expect that should our blogging rate slow, or the general market conditions to lead to a run on our host, the Feds will step in [...]

Within hours, the full force of Hurricane Ike will be felt along the Texas Gulf Coast:
HOUSTON, Sept. 12 — Hurricane Ike, a massive storm almost the size of Texas, strengthened late Friday and churned toward that state’s coast, battering the city of Galveston with 105 mph winds, forcing the shutdown of refineries and oil and [...]

As with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the approach of Hurricane Ike toward the Texas Gulf Coast is bringing a spike in gasoline prices:
As Hurricane Ike bore down on one of the world’s largest concentrations of oil refineries, workers scrambled to shut down production and join hundreds of thousands of residents evacuating the area.
The resulting [...]

By this time tomorrow Hurricane Ike will be unleashing it’s full force on the Texas Gulf Coast, and residents there are being warned:
(CNN) — The fringes of massive Hurricane Ike began lapping at the Texas shore Friday morning even though the storm’s center was hundreds of miles from land.
Early signs of the approaching storm came [...]

Depending on who you believe, tomorrow’s start-up of the Large Hadron Collider will either herald a new era in particle physics or lead to the end of the world, if not the universe itself:
Possibly you haven’t heard about the end of the world, and by that I don’t mean Sarah Palin becoming vice-president of the [...]

A six year old newspaper story nearly caused a collapse of United Airlines’ stock yesterday:
A six-year-old article mistakenly seen by Bloomberg financial news users yesterday reported the bankruptcy of United Airlines and triggered a massive sell-off that nearly obliterated the company’s stock in a matter of minutes.
The light-speed wipeout is a powerful reminder of how [...]

Apparently, the Prime Minister of Thailand was forced to resign because he hosted a cooking show:
BANGKOK — A Thai court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej had violated the Constitution by appearing as the host on a television cooking show, forcing him to resign after just seven months in office.
The ruling brought a sudden [...]

It’s looking like Tropical Storm Hanna is gaining strength and continuing on course to the Southeast U.S. Coast:
Authorities from Florida to Virginia braced today for Tropical Storm Hanna, the leading blow in a potential one-two punch in the coming days as a much more powerful system rampages across the Atlantic in its wake.
Hanna, which forecasters [...]

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is getting generally positive reviews for his performance during the approach of Hurricane Gustav:
BATON ROUGE, Sept. 2 — He talks about “helo assets,” military-speak for helicopters. He delivers recovery statistics rapid-fire. And in a nod to local sporting passions, he frequently resorts to football analogies.
“The evacuation was the pregame,” Louisiana Gov. [...]