Is That Optical Illusion Really A House?

Some people prefer to live in the recluse of the wilderness, while others choose to isolate themselves on an entirely different level. Could you picture yourself staying in one of these unusual places? I know I couldn't.   There's even one resort on the list that can easily be mistaken as an optical illusion! Don't blink your eyes for a split second, or you might miss out on some of these ingenious hideouts.      Here are 10 structural hideouts you need to see to believe:

1) Mirrorcube Treehotel, Sweden

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You might have seen many treehouses, but none are as unique as The Mirrorcube Treehotel in Sweden. The seemingly invisible Treehotel features an aluminum frame that surrounds the tree trunk, with walls that are covered by reflective glass, and a spectacular view of nature.

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2) Invisible Barn, NYC

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This Brooklyn-based design resembles the perfect optical illusion. The mirrors of the Invisible Barn reflect upon the gorgeous surrounding trees of Long Island City. Try not to stare at the invisible barn for too long, or you might wind up straining your eyes!

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3) Cave Palace Ranch, Utah

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The Cave Palace is a hideout Fred Flintstone could have designed himself! The enormous red rock cave is entirely solar-powered, and stretches over 110 spacious acres. The Cave Palace is situated atop the gorgeous canyons of San Juan County in Utah.

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4) Woodpile Studio, Netherlands

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Woodpile Studio appears to be a large pile of cabin logs, but a closer look inside reveals an ideal hideout. Designer Piet Hein Eek constructed a quiet little place where he would able to concentrate, without any distractions. The cabin doubles as a perfect rehearsal lodge as well.

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5) Juniper House, Sweden

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The Juniper House appears to be a surreal landscape painting from the outside, but it's actually a residencial home. Juniper House was the architectural creation of Hans Murman and Ulla Alberts. The Juniper trees on the outside aren't real, they're part of a design that covers all three sides of the house.

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6) The Pinnacle at Symphony Place, Nashville

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The Pinnacle tower seems to naturally blend into the clouds and sky above. The Pinnacle skyscraper contains 29 stories and has earned the coveted LEED Gold Certification for being solar-friendly. The view of Nashville's skyline is an amazing sight to behold of.

7) The Desert House, California

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This unique rock structure was the brainchild of Ken Kellogg from Organic Modern Estate. The natural interior lighting saves the owner from any electric bill expenses. The estate covers over 10 acres of desert land, with a roofing structure that shields against the scorching desert sun.

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8) Aloni House, Greece

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Aloni House is a quiet retreat located in the Greek Isle of Crete, not too far from the fishing village of Georgioupolis. The view from the outside balcony is simply breathtaking. You may want to watch your step entering Aloni House, or you might fall in!

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9) Green Box, Italy

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Green Box is the project creation of Italian design firm, Act_Romegialli, and was constructed from an unused garage. The leafy garage sits atop the picturesque mountains of the Italian Alps. Green Box is most suitable for art lovers, and provides plenty of painting inspiration from the spectacular view all around.

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10) The Dune House, Florida

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The Dune House is located in Atlantic Beach, Florida, and can be tricky to notice from the outside. The Dune House was constructed in 1975 by William Morgan, who had initially used the duplex as a vacation rental spot. The interior features a retro-nostalgic vibe, reminiscent of the 1970's. You're also a few steps away from the gorgeous beach!

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Could India Handle Ebola? 

Article By: John Schellhase

When global health experts talk about pandemics, they use the metaphor of fire and sparks. The fire of Ebola is raging in West Africa, where it has killed nearly 5,000 people this year. Sparks from that fire have started landing in other regions of the world. One landed in Dallas. Another in Madrid. Another in Lagos. As long as the fire is burning, the sparks will continue to fly.

So far Ebola’s blaze has been contained to Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in West Africa. But what happens if a spark lands where it can’t be contained? What happens if it lands in a tinderbox? Peter Sandman and Jody Lanard, risk communication specialists with expertise in pandemics, are worried about exactly this scenario. They write,

Americans are having a failure of imagination – failing to imagine that the most serious Ebola threat to our country is not in Dallas, not in our country, not even on our borders. It is on the borders of other countries that lack our ability to extinguish sparks.

The truly scary scenario is Ebola appearing in a developing country with a large, dense population and a weak healthcare system. A country such as India.

Source: Squalor To Scholar

So far India has not had any Ebola cases. Zero. But if Ebola–in spite of it being difficult to catch–were to arrive, its 50 percent mortality rate could devastate the South Asian country of 1.2 billion people. India has strained resources, an over-crowded urban population, and a weak record when it comes to public health.

India’s Vulnerability to Ebola

Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has called India’s health system “dismal,” noting that half of rural citizens have no access to modern medicine, and nearly as many life in constant hunger. In terms of health spending per capita, India is worse off than two of the three West African countries fighting Ebola now. According to data from the World Bank, India spends $61 per person on healthcare annually. Both Liberia, at $65 for each person, and Sierra Leone, at $96, spend more. Other statistics also paint a worrying picture, as India only has 7 hospital beds and 7 doctors for every 10,000 people.

India’s massive population is also roughly ten times more dense than in West Africa, making it easier for the virus to spread. With a population density of 421 people per square kilometer, the country’s 1.2 billion people live very, very close together. By comparison, in China, there are only 145 people per square kilometer, according to the World Bank. In the U.S., the figure is 35. In Liberia, where Ebola has caused the most damage, the number is 45 people per square kilometer, roughly a tenth of the density in India.

Source: The Next Miles

But the figure of 421 people per square kilometer is only the average for India. Ebola is likely to arrive in the country via a major international airport in one of India’s megacities, most likely Delhi or Mumbai. These cities make New York’s 2,000 people per square kilometer seem rural. Delhi has a population density of over 11,000 people per square kilometer. In Mumbai, the world’s most densely populated city, every square kilometer of land holds 29,650 people. That’s 30 people for every square meter.

If Ebola landed in Mumbai, it could spread very, very quickly.

To make matters worse, India has a troubling track-record when it comes to containing contagious diseases. India accounts for one-third of all rabies infections and 24 percent of all tuberculosis cases worldwide. It also has the highest number of cases of dengue fever in the world, with an estimated 6 million hospitalizations annually, according to researchers at Brandeis University.

In context, even the country’s public health milestones seem lackluster. In 2014, the country celebrated the eradication of polio. While an incredibly important achievement, India was one of the last countries in the world to cross the finish line. Every other country on earth, with the exceptions of Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan, had already done so.

The encouraging news is that India has held up surprisingly well during past international pandemics. It escaped the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (or SARS) as well as subsequent flare-ups of avian flu without incident. Swine flu did take hold in India, however. Between 2009 and 2010, over 3,000 Indians died from swine flu, according to official figures, though the actual number is likely to be much higher. Even still, India seems to have performed better than the United States, where over 12,000 people died of swine flu, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Source: Sound Medicine

The Risk Is “Very, Very High”

Fortunately, India is geographically very far from West Africa. And moreover, zero direct flights connect Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, or even Nigeria to India.

Still, one of the terrifying aspects of Ebola is that it lays dormant for days and sometimes weeks before presenting symptoms. 45,000 Indians live in West Africa, and an infected man or woman could easily take a flight from Lagos to London and then onward to New Delhi without being properly screened. According to Ashish Jah, the Director of Harvard University’s Global Health Institute, as quoted in The Hindu, the risk of Ebola arriving in India is “very, very high.”

As the risk communication specialists Peter Sandman and Jody Lanard warn,

As long as the conflagration in West Africa rages, it will keep throwing off sparks. Inevitably, some of those sparks will catch and start new conflagrations elsewhere in the world.

If one of them were to land in India, it could ignite a nightmare.