Cubby House

The Kids Under Cover Cubby House village was once again a strong drawcard for visitors to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

Five building and architectural teams built their dream cubbies for the 2016 Kids Under Cover Cubby House Challenge. The cubbies were judged by a panel of experts and then auctioned during a fundraising event on the opening night of the Show.

The creativity and thought which went into the designs was inspiring and spot-on, if the enthusiasm of the children exploring them was any indication.

The Cubby House Challenge & auction raises money for Kids Under Cover, helping homeless and at risk young people. View the amazing 2016 cubby houses!

Source: Kids Under Cover 2016 Cubby House Challenge & Auction

Epigenetics

Best video explanation we have seen of epigenetics and its implications for human health, outlined in simple, understandable terms. From the BBC.

Hank & his clone Circus Hank explain the power of epigenetics, which studies the factors that determine how much or whether some genes are expressed in your body.

The field of epigenetics is showing how your environment and your choices can influence you and your children.

How Our Genes Change Our Lives and Our Lives Change Our Genes

This groundbreaking book shows how the human genome is far more fluid and fascinating than we imagined.

Community

A need to commune

What is it to be part of a community? Maira Hassan offers her own definition of the word as well as an interesting insight into her own communities.

Maira is currently completing her second undergraduate degree (LLB) at Queen Mary. In her spare time, she is an aspiring writer and theatre addict. Her passion to connect with others drives her to learn as many as she can.

Good planets

Steve Forbert cares strongly for the environment. He recycles “everything from a water bottle to a toothpaste box” and lives by the motto “waste not, want not”.

The song “Good Planets Are Hard To Find” is written and performed by Steve Forbert. He wrote this song in 1996 to open the eyes of society towards the environment. He wanted the song to be “fun and upbeat” that everyone would enjoy. His hope was to inspire a movement of change and awareness towards the environment. He participates in many Earth Day celebrations with this song, which highlights the elements of the Earth from the soils to the forests to the mountains to the seas.

Steve reinforces how unique and rare our planet is throughout the verses of the song. He also sends out warning for us to protect our planet by stating in the chorus “the mind don’t know, what the heart can’t see.” With this, Steve is expressing that if our hearts are not open to the effects we are causing to the environment, then our minds will not comprehend what is happening. This causes us to be blinded by our actions and to not reflect on how they might have negative impacts to our planet and to our lives in the future.

In this song, Steve does not highlight one particular issue for he leaves the audience’s minds open to reflect on what issues really matter to them. Everyone can take something out of this song, whether it is to reflect on the beauty of the Earth and all it provides or to reflect on the harm that humans are creating upon it. Everyone, from old to young, no matter where you live or come from, can value the importance of the Earth and all it has to offer.

Ten steps

Ten steps to take to get, and stay rich in the earliest stage of your career.

Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.

1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment the first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.

2. Don’t show off — show up! Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.

3. Save to invest. The only reason to save money is to invest it. Put your saved money into secured, accounts. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income).

4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things.

5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.

6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person — just make sure you outwork everyone.

7. Poor makes no sense. Bill Gates has said, “If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake.”

8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.

9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. Investing is the reason to do the other steps. Your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.

10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.

Source: How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30 by @GrantCardone

Jazz

David Dower is a London based pianist, teacher and composer.

Born in Australia, David completed his Performance Research Masters in music at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2015.

David has recently released a duo album with London percussionist Matt Fisher: sophisticated original music with piano, percussion, strings and vocals.

“The Frog, the Fish, and the Whale”, recorded at Porcupine Studios in London. To buy this CD follow PayPal link:





Digital copy available from CD Baby or iTunes

David and Matt love a broad range of music styles, including classical, world, pop, and jazz music. The combination of David’s enthusiasm and charisma at the piano, blended with Matt’s unique approach to grooves and instrumentation leads to music that is rhythmic, sensitive, engaging, accessible, and fun.

Source: David Dower & Matt Fisher

David Dower & Matt Fisher

Sophisticated original music with piano, percussion, strings and vocals.

Their new album, “The Frog, the Fish, and the Whale”, recorded at Porcupine Studios in London, is available now.
Their new album, “The Frog, the Fish, and the Whale”, recorded at Porcupine Studios in London, is available now.

Physical copy follow PayPal link:





Digital copy available from CD Baby or iTunes

David and Matt love a broad range of music styles, including classical, world, pop, and jazz music. The combination of David’s enthusiasm and charisma at the piano, blended with Matt’s unique approach to grooves and instrumentation leads to music that is rhythmic, sensitive, engaging, accessible, and fun.

David Dower (piano) and Matt Fisher (percussion) performing David’s compositions “The Frog, the Fish and the Whale” live at St Paul’s Grove Park, London, October 2105

Source: David Dower & Matt Fisher

Collaboration

We achieve our full potential, when we work in collaboration with others.

After achieving independence, enlightened individuals move into a state of interdependence.

Dependence refers to relying on others to take care of us. Interdependence refers to the cooperation for a greater goal. There are limits on how productive we can be as individuals, but virtually no limit on how productive we can be when we strategically collaborate with others.

Dependence >> Independence >> Interdependence

We all start out life as babies completely dependent on our parents or other person to take care of us. This is a state of weakness and powerlessness.

As we grow up we work to become independent, moving out of our parent’s home and earning money for ourselves. A person at this level is able to do things for himself and does not need anyone else to survive.

The greatest human achievements come from people working at the third level, interdependence.

This is when people work together to achieve a common goal, and is the level of maturity of many people in a mature society or organization. This is how mankind has achieved things together that no single person could do alone. Interdependence is the state of human development of greatest maturity and power.

As we develop our character, we move from dependence to independence to interdependence.

  • Dependent wisdom is about tradition, belonging, power and survival.
  • Independent wisdom is about the journey of the self, and the power of personal experience and rational thinking.
  • Interdependent wisdom is about the interconnection of everything and the mysteries of existence.

Source: Three Stages of Wisdom: Dependence, Independence and Interdependence

“How can we develop more and better leadership talent more quickly?”

Organizations can avoid the risks associated with inadequate leadership, and prepare leaders for uncertain future scenarios, in two ways. The first is by sharing past experiences with each other as a source of practical lessons about leading. The second is by planning for future experiences and lessons to learn to make themselves and others ready for becoming senior leaders.

This structured approach to developing oneself and others is the best guarantee that your organization’s talent pipeline will be filled and flowing.

This 60 minute thought provoking, interactive and experiential session demonstrates how experiences can be used – by you and your teams – to become more effective and successful as leaders.

Learning

By learning new concepts, taking advantage of opportunities, and participating in new activities, you are physically changing who you are, and opening up a world of endless possibility.

Our knowledge of the brain is evolving at a breathtaking pace, and Dr. Lara Boyd is positioned at the cutting edge of these discoveries. In 2006, she was recruited by the University of British Columbia to become the Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology and Motor Learning. Since that time she has established the Brain Behaviour Lab, recruited and trained over 40 graduate students, published more than 80 papers and been awarded over $5 million in funding.

Dr. Boyd’s efforts are leading to the development of novel, and more effective, therapeutics for individuals with brain damage, but they are also shedding light on broader applications.