Humanitarian Word of the Day: Poikilotherm

poi*kil*o*therm: (n). an organism, such as a fish or reptile, having a body temperature that varies with the temperature of it's surroundings. 

Used in a comment to this post, on the Humanitarian Relief Blog by Michael Bear Kleinman.

Kleinman writes about how NGOs continue to believe they are neutral or perceived as neutral in a world that was turning the political heat up on them. 

The result? More NGO workers are killed, kidnapped or injured this year than any other. 

Kleinman asks whether NGO workers are like frogs in a pot of boiling water, raising their own levels of acceptance, never seeing the breaking point until they are beyond it. 

Commenter Michael Keizer disagrees, saying that some agencies are seeing this trend and are changing the way they work because of it. 

"Not all agencies are poikilotherm," Keizer expounds.