NBC Bay Area has a cute gallery of a number of extremely involved and expensive Halloween costumes, including those guys who constructed two functioning, human-sized iPhones, and a guy who made a working, life-size Gameboy costume as well. What they call "supremely awesome" we call "trying too hard," but then again for Halloween we're fans of just drenching ourselves in the $11 bottle of theatrical blood we bought three years ago. Our only annual expense is the shirt we're wearing, which must be thrown away afterward, but yes we know lots of other people spend LOTS of money preparing for this holiday, and cheers to them. (And yes, the working iPhones are quite impressive.) more ›

Apart from a few new sand dunes, the CA coast remained unscathed by yesterday's tsunami in the Pacific. The tsunami struck the islands of Samoa and American Samoa, killing over 100 people with dozens still unaccounted for, following an 8.0 quake 120 miles away (see AP vid above). Early this morning another quake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing at least 13 75 people. President Obama has declared American Samoa a "major disaster," thereby rushing federal aid to the region, and the Australian government has pledged immediate help as well. 25 FEMA crew members from Oakland are on their way as of early this morning. more ›