A guest house located in a forest

This is a guest house located in the forest of Daisen piedmont, Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture. And it is absolutely stunning. I'd live there in a heartbeat.

By K2 Design Inc.

If only all architecture could take into consideration nature in such a sensitive and thoughtful way.....

Found on Dezeen.

The Blue Trees

Lovely, lovely, lovely project in London at the moment.....

Konstantin Dimopoulos, together with  Trees for Cities and City of London Festival have coloured the trees blue around the Square Mile (using biologically-safe water-based colourant) to draw attention to the existence and importance of urban trees.

Thanks Emma.

Mapping Children's Chances

Over at the Beeb:

"The biggest ever global picture of children’s well-being, education and family life has been assembled into a series of maps by the University of California, Los Angeles."

Check out the rest of the maps here.

Zoo Photos Capture Caged Animals’ Melancholy

I'm with Gaston Lacombe (photographer of a series of photos showing some of the appalling conditions in zoos that animals have to put up with) that some zoos need to try harder to give animals better enclosures.

While I appreciate how difficult it is to recreate habitats for certain animals, many could do better. I understand the need for zoos, even though I find them sad places when I do visit..... and part of that could be the lack of decent living spaces.

Check out the link below to see more in his series....

Via Wired.

Jody Williams: Anyone can change the world

An excellent and inspiring talk from RSA by Jody Williams.

RSPB urges British public to create 1m 'homes for nature'

What a fantastic initiative. The RSPB are encouraging people to create wildlife habitats in their own back yards.

I will personally join in, even though I'm not in the UK, I think it is something that pertains to us all.

A small pile of leaves or straw and you can have your very own hedgehog hotel. Plus they will eat all those revolting slugs that eat your favourite plants and vegetables. There are no negatives......

I am working on a project at the moment very much in this vein, it's under wraps and I look forward to showing it to you when it is completed.

The 6 essential lessons of a satisfying, productive career

1. There is no plan.
Make decisions for fundamental, not instrumental, reasons.

2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
What do you consistently do well? What gives you energy rather than drains it?

3. It’s not about you.
The most successful people improve their own lives by improving others’ lives.

4. Persistence trumps talent.  
There are massive returns to doggedness.

5. Make excellent mistakes.
Commit errors from which the benefits of what you’ve learned exceed the costs of the screw-up.

6. Leave an imprint.  
Recognize that your life isn’t infinite and that you should use your limited time here to do something that matters. 

Courtesy of Johnny Bunko, AKA Daniel Pink.