Anyone know what just happened to BTC/MHD over the last hour? 
Yes! Someone finally used the technically correct term of BTC/MHD!
Well, SOMEBODY had to! LOL
Seriously though....today was going great...right up until around two hours ago, when payouts dropped in half. To my (admittedly amateur) eyes, it looks like it's dropped for a bit longer than normal variance typically reflects.
I don't keep such a close eye on instantaneous statistics as I don't believe they provide as much useful value due to the effects of variance. But just curiously, where are you reading it from that it is showing .005ish for the last few hours?