Untranslatable

26 words you really wish existed in English.

1. Age-tori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut.
2. Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face in need of a slap.
3. Craic (Irish): Fun, amusement; entertaining company or conversation.
4. Dozywocie (Polish): Parental contract with children guaranteeing lifelong support.
5. Eidolon (Ancient Greek): Phantom look-alike taking the form of a living or dead person.
6. Fika (Swedish): Relaxed social event with good friends involving coffee and pastries.
7. Gigil (Filipino): The irresistable urge to pinch or squeeze something cute.
8. Hanyauku (Kwangali): The act of walking on tiptoes across warm sand.
9. Istories me Arkoudes (Greek): Literally 'stories with bears', narrated events which are too far fetched to be true.
10. Janteloven (Danish and Norwegian): 'The Law of Jante', rules which discourage individual thought within communities.
11. Komorebi (Japanese): Dappled sunlight through trees.
12. L'appel du Vide (French): Literally 'the call of the void', the urge to jump from a height.
13. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): A shared look of desire which neither party are willing to initiate action upon.
14. Neidbau (German): A building constructed with the sole pupose of inconveniencing a neighbor in some way.
15. Oppholdsvoer (Norwegian): Weather just after the rain has stopped.
16. Poshlost (Russian): Self-satisfied vulgarity masquerading as high morality.
17. Qualunquismo (Italian): Apathy and indifference towards politics.
18. Renao (Mandarin): Lively, festive, happy, and noisy.
19. Snorker (Early English): One who gets into others' business.
20. Tartle (scottish): The act of hesitation upon forgetting someone's name.
21. Uitwaaien (Dutch): Literally 'to walk in the wind', to take a brief break outside to clear one's head.
22. Vomitorium (Latin): A room for vomiting, use popularized by Aldous Huxley. Actually a passageway in a theater.
23. Waldeinsamkeit (German): Feeling of being peacefully alone in the woods.
24. Xinku (Mandarin): Thanking someone while acknowledging their hard work.
25. Yuanfen (Mandarin): Binding force which eventually brings two people together in love.
26. Zhaghzhagh (Persian): Chattering of teetch from cold or rage.

I would also add the Dutch word gezellig. Literally, it means cozy, quaint, or nice, but can also connote time spent with loved ones, seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness.

Putin Address to Federal Assembly

President Vladimir Putin’s first address to the Federal Assembly since his return to the presidency outlined his vision for the future of Russia. He spoke of morality, Russia’s geopolitical relevance, the importance of education for the country’s development, demographics and the need for economic “restructuring”, a word that has replaced the out-of-vogue “modernisation”.

Earth, to Rubio

...So while the age of the Earth is not directly relevant to America's economy, it's useful as an indicator of the country's belief in and study of science, which is germane to any discussion of GDP and growth rates. It also says something about our economic policymakers. As Paul Krugman points out, "the attitude that discounts any amount of evidence—and boy, do we have lots of evidence on the age of the planet!—if it conflicts with prejudices is not an attitude consistent with effective policy."

More broadly, there are those who would like to call a truce between science and religion, and based on his attempt to dodge the question, perhaps Mr Rubio is one of them. But the senator's comments are the reason why there can be no truce. If the status quo allows a leader like Mr Rubio to benefit from claiming that accepted science is in fact mystery, then science is losing. When divine explanations and scientific truths are given equal footing, no armistice can be accepted. Rather, science must continue to forcefully rebut religion's unsubstantiated claims in public battles like this. And smart politicians must be made to feel profound discomfort when dealing in the absurdities that appeal to some faithful voters.

Super Bowl Farmer Commercial

"And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So God made a farmer."
-Paul Harvey

Creative Intelligence

Fostering America's Creativity

1. Entrepreneurship
2. Manufacturing - digital fabrication, open sourcing, the maker culture
3. Crowdsourcing - Kickstarter
4. Make art and shop courses central to education

Great wits are sure to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.

-John Dryden

Warm, warbling persuasiveness

For, as when the red-cheeked, dancing girls, April and May, trip home to the wintry, misanthropic woods; even the barest, ruggedest, most thunder-cloven old oak will at least send forth some few green sprouts, to welcome such gladhearted visitants.

No hay pan para tanto chorizo

A CHORIZO is a spicy Spanish sausage, best accompanied by a glass of Rioja, though often sliced and served in a doughy bocadillo, or sandwich. Chorizo is also slang for a swindler or cheat. At protests against Mariano Rajoy’s government demonstrators have taken to waving loaves aloft and shouting: “There isn’t enough bread for so many chorizos!”

* * *

The political settlement Spaniards agreed on as they emerged from dictatorship in the 1970s gave huge power to the parties to solidify democracy. This may have backfired. “Having created the monster, we are being devoured by it.”

Community

"You can't drive long term shareholder value if you don't take care of your community."

- Doug Baker, Ecolab CEO

Petrol

"The average U.S. household spent just under $3,000 on gasoline in 2012, about 4 percent of its income."

We spent $687.