Don’t mess with Mother Nature! Or an octopus!

(See previous posts on crazy octopi here and here.)

Incredible video of a jökulhlaup (volcanic induced flood by melting of a glacier) from the eruption beneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier in Iceland.

[Via Brian Romans]

Hah! Apparently, the American Museum of Natural History gets a lot of unhappy letters from children, unhappy that Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

As my friend Chris Town pointed out, Eris is actually larger than Pluto. If people are adamant that Pluto is a planet, they should be fighting even more for Eris to be included.

Interestingly enough, the IAU has had a definition for what should be considered a planet that has been used since 2006:

The definition of “planet” set in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) states that in the Solar System a planet is a celestial body that:

1. is in orbit around the Sun,
2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and
3. has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

[Via Kottke]

I’ll admit, walking into the living room and seeing this is enough to melt my cold, dog-loving heart.

Word cloud featuring things that gdgt users most want to see in iPhone OS 4, based on responses from this thread.

I woke up extra early yesterday to line up for the iPad launch at an Apple Store in San Francisco. It was a pretty festive atmosphere, and after the doors opened at 9AM, I finally made my way inside.

A number of journalists and photographers were inside, interviewing and shooting excited customers. I decided to pick up an iPad and start play with it for the first time. An AP photographer caught this photo and now it’s running all over the place!

Hah, so true!

[Via.]

Ah, yes. Wasn’t AT&T supposed to be getting more reliable and the coverage more consistent? I wouldn’t have noticed.

Here’s a gallery of dropped calls from the past week or so.

If anything, AT&T is consistently inconsistent.

Too bad complaining on Twitter doesn’t accomplish anything.

School House Rock gets the Joe Biden treatment.

(Via Huffington Post)

I decided to dust off the bread pans and try to bake some zucchini bread this evening! I used this recipe, called “Mom’s Zucchini Bread.”

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
1.) Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2.) Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

3.) Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

4.) Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Pretty successful!

Unfortunately, I shorted the amount of sugar I should have put in, so the bread isn’t as sweet as it could be. Still tasty though!

I have some bananas that are in the process of ripening as well, which means banana bread is on the menu for later this week!

Some photos:

Shredded zucchini

Pre-baking

In the oven!

Out of the oven!

Final product