Raisin Pooper = Untranslatable.

Nice little list of untranslatable words.

German
korinthenkacker [core-in-ten-cuck-er] (noun)
A “raisin pooper” — that is, someone so taken up with life’s trivial detail that they spend all day crapping raisins. You can spot these types a mile off — it’s that irritating pen pusher or filing fanatic whose favorite job is tidying up the stationery cupboard.

Mommipedia

My mom casually sent me a Wikipedia link today. My mom is university educated and well-read, reads the newspaper online, and checks her email several times a day, and yet, for some reason, I didn’t think she’d be all Wikipedia-savvy. Way to go, Mom: your Google-Fu is strong.

Pretty random Wiki link, too- Vetiver, a type of fragrant grass which is used in perfume and also in the Caribbean as a sort of potpourri-slash-moth-repellent decoration.

This bit of trivia interested me:

Mats made by weaving vetiver roots and binding them with ropes/cords are used in India to cool rooms in a house during summer. The mats are typically hung in the doorway and kept moist by spraying with water periodically. It acts like an air-cooler when wind from a fan or outside hits it. It also adds a pleasant aroma in the house which is commonly described as “cool” and “refreshing”.

Sounds like a good trick that would work here, too- wet the curtains or the screen in the front door to cool the breeze to cool the house. Huh.

Amish steampunk

Neat article about the Amish (and Mennonites) and the way in which they adopt new technologies.

I visited one retrofit workshop run by a strict Mennonite. Marlin was a short beardless man (no beards for the Mennonites). He uses a horse and buggy, has no phone, but electricity runs in the shop behind his home. They use electricity to make pneumatic parts. Like most of his community, his kids work along side him…. they manufacture very precise milled metal parts for pneumatic motors and for kerosene cooking stoves, an Amish favorite. The tolerances needed are a thousand of an inch. So a few years ago they installed a massive, $400,000 computer-controlled milling (CNC) machine in his backyard, behind the horse stable. This massive half-million dollar tool is about the dimensions of a delivery truck. It is operated by his 14-year old daughter, in a bonnet.