Sea Horses are Predators and long noses can be beautiful

A blog from my recent Radio Bristol Thought for the day

                I am of the opinion that everyone has a particular gift, something that makes them special. I discovered recently that in the underwater world of sea horses this is also the case.  I think we’d all agree that sea horses are fairly odd looking creatures.. and despite living in the sea, they look like pretty poor swimmers. However scientists have recently discovered that despite looking slow and awkward they are actually ferocious and ingenious predators.  Well ferocious if you are an extremely small crustacean! The weird thing is these crustaceans, or dinner, as the Sea Horses like to call them, are incredibly fast swimmers. If humans could move like they do, we could swim at 2,000mph, and yet these fast food escape artists are no match for the Sea Horse. Apparently it is all down to those strange noses, they are simply perfectly designed. They allow the Sea Horse to creep up on the crustaceans causing no ripples or warning signals, before they pounce.

                Watching Rebecca Adlington discuss with Miss Universe Amy Willerton  aspects of female beauty I am led to a similar conclusion; everyone has beauty in their own particular way. Coming from a family with long noses, who says that long noses aren’t beautiful and actually who really cares, when attitudes and actions and kind words are so much more beautiful than simply an hourglass figure or perfect skin. So my thought for today is, look more carefully at the people around you and watch out for they are all surely amazing and potentially beautiful people. Who knows once we start appreciating all the beauty around us we may even get a little better at realising the beauty we have within us. God bless

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25103455    

Caged Contentment

A blog from my latest Radio Bristol thought for the day

              

   Let’s start with chickens; a recent report from Bristol University suggests that with “new enriched cages”, caged hens may actually now be better off than some free range hens. They have, and I quote, “space, they've

Contentment when the family are around

got a little perch and they've got things they can scratch on!”  I’m no expert on hens, but that sounds fairly limited. Truth is though that some, in the carnage of the Philippines or witnessing the on-going grind in Syria, would probably be happy with those provisions.  In Bristol do we have enough? Well you have access to a radio and probably electricity, you may struggle with some bills, or even attend a food bank to keep yourselves fed, but these are there. I wonder how many are living on a wage below the, “living” wage of £7.65 an hour. And with rising energy bills, is that really just an enriched cage, just enough to scratch by.

                 For me, this isn’t a one way street; I am not convinced that everyone gets happier or fulfilled the richer they become. Too much, seems often to be nearly as destructive as not enough. There is a lovely phrase in the bible saying godliness with contentment is great gain. I am convinced there are plenty of people in Bristol who have all they need, or even want, but still they are not content. On the other hand, some have no job, no prospects, not enough to feed their family nor enough heat to feel warm, but from my experience they can sometimes be wonderful contented generous people. So I guess my thought is, scratch it out with what you have, and always keep an eye out for other chickens less fortunate than you are!