INTERESTING TIMES

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who make the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and crotchety–

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light–

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

 - Mary Oliver

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2011/06/rooftop_solar_panels.html
"rooftop revolution"
( notes )

I haven't used sunscreen since I moved to Oregon. Here, the sun feels weak to me. I also haven't had a sunburn since I moved here, though a few times my shoulders or nose has got pink. In Arizona I used to wear sunscreen but gradually transitioned over to using long sleeves, long pants, and a big hat. I would put sunscreen on my lower face, nose, ears, neck, and the backs of my hands and tops of my feet. Here I still favor a hat and sleeves: the lotions always felt gross to me. The ones that didn't feel gross washed off too easy (kayaking) and didn't do any good. So that's my take on sunscreen. Not highly educated---I didn't even really dig into the site linked below I have a few types around the house and I'm afraid to look them up and see how carcinogenic they are. I know some of the chemicals used aren't great. I've heard that the zinc-containing kinds are most effective and least dangerous.

Sunscreen picker:
http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2011sunscreen/?inlist=Y&utm_source=2011sunscreenfull&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image&utm_campaign=toxics

At least, in mice, according to some brand new research, anyway.... I find it wonderful. I knew that the sun was doing something for me that little drops of a vitamin from a bottle could never do. Who knows if we will ever understand why. This is the best reason why medicine need not be 100% confined to what can be proven by science: we all know that sunlight and fresh air and pure water are good for us. Our bodies tell us so. Even if science disproves it, we'll still believe what we know from experience. How unscientific of us.
( Science is a process of proving yourself wrong over and over again: article text straight from Jacob Schor at Denver Naturopathic. )

Such a sad song... Suz, can you play this one?

He's now saying that cod liver oil has too much vitamin A in it, and that while nearly everyone in the US is vitamin D deficient, some 5% of us have too much vitamin A, or "vitamin A toxicity". Vitamin A toxicity causes a person to be susceptible to infections. So instead of consuming cod liver oil in the winter to maintain vitamin D levels, he recommends getting sunshine on your skin. He says if this is not an option, "the next best choice would be exposure to UVB rays from safe tanning beds, and if that is not possible then one should resort to a high quality vitamin D3 supplement." Me, I'm doing these last two options. My vitamin D level, tested a couple of weeks ago, was 29. My doc recommends a level between 50-90. I'm taking Biotics Research Corporation brand Bio-D-Mulsion Forte, two drops a day, and going to a tanning place. I got burned the last time I went to the tanning beds, though, so I'm still working out the bugs. And the tanning bed people want you to think that UVB is bad, and charge you more for beds that have less. If you go this route, do some research and don't believe all that you are told!

SOURCE:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/12/23/important-cod-liver-oil-update.aspx
( text )

Warning: Are Your Vitamin D Test Results Valid?
by Dr. Joseph Mercola
( article text )