haboob

haboob is an arabic word for an intense dust storm. They can be created by the collapse of a thunderstorm, a 100 kilometer long wall of sand reaching several kilometers into the sky, and can leave up to a foot of sand on everything in their path.

This one hit Phoenix on Tuesday, 6 July 2011. Mike Olbinski made a great video of it.

The Phoenix Haboob of July 6th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

ecdysiast

New word.

A strip-tease dancer
Also ecdysiastic

Cognitive Dissidents

New word, thanks to Barry Ritholz

A cognitive dissident is a person who refuses to change their beliefs despite overwhelming evidence that they are wrong.

someone who has a fervent belief based not on evidence or reason or data or logic. Do not waste your time convincing them the earth is not flat; their cognitive facilities simply will not allow them to recognize the world is round.

Affluenza

the seeking of money and possessions as markers of ascent up the competitive ladder; the worship of celebrities as heroes of affluence; the haunted desire for fame and recognition; the embrace of materialistic excess that, alas, has no future except in the assured destruction of Planet Earth and of every means of a sane survival.

quoted from Christopher Ketcham
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6470

eudaimonia

Human flourishing.

Umair Haque is pretty big on the word.

Torula

A new word!

From the Wired article, "The Angel's Share":

Torula is a junk genus, now seen less as a proper taxonomical designation and more as a drawer that old-time researcher threw brownish black fungi into when they didn't fit anywhere else.

Let's make this a generic term-- we need a catch-all box.

From: wisegeek.com
Torula is a yeast which is formally known as Candida utilis. Torula ... preferring cellulose-rich substrates such as wood, leaf litter, and paper pulp. In several regions, people deliberately cultivate this yeast for industrial purposes, usually on a substrate of wood pulp which makes the yeast easy to extract.

This yeast can be used to provide dietary supplementation, especially in food for cats and dogs, where its high protein content is very useful. It is also used in the production of food for farmed fish and other food products. The slightly meaty flavor of this yeast, which lacks the bitterness many people associate with yeasts, causes some companies to use it as a flavor enhancer in some foods, especially packaged foods.