PEG TILLERY | Some skin saftey tips for gardeners

On Aug. 6 members of Bremerton’s West High Class of ’65 (Go Wildcats!) attended a picnic at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton. Before heading to the picnic I wrote a Facebook comment about how glad I was that it was a cloudy day and I wouldn’t have to wear sunblock. A very dear Facebook friend (survivor of skin cancer) gently pointed out that even on a cloudy day the sun can damage to our skin. Luckily I always carry sunblock in my car because, as I drove from Poulsbo to Bremerton, the sun came out in all its glory. On went the sunblock after all.

This episode made me think that local gardeners may need a reminder about protecting their skin and eyes from harmful effects of the sun, even when it filters through our often cloudy days here in the Pacific Northwest. I thought my idea to “enlighten” us gardeners about wearing sunblock was a good one. Much to my surprise I discovered that many other writers before me have written articles about wearing sunblock when gardening. Please take the time to check out the information on the following three links. The first link is about gardening in Colorado but the information is still very pertinent to all of us.

gardeningafterfive.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/sunscreen-a-must-for-gardeners/

gardening.wsu.edu/column/03-10-02.htm

www.hortmag.com/gardens-and-gardeners/sunprotection

A great time to garden and avoid the harmful effects of the sun is early in the morning (before 10 a.m.) and later in the day (after 4 p.m.). The good thing about gardening in the morning and evening is that the temperatures are much cooler then too. However, if you’re outside for more than 20 minutes (which most gardeners are) please remember to slather yourself with sunblock. Avoid gardening in the sun from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. because it’s when the sun rays have the potential to do the most damage. Remember to wear a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses to protect your eyes and head.

Kenneth A. Arndt, MD, clinical professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, wrote in “Bottom Line Personal” that “sunscreen and sunblock are not the same. Sunblock is opaque and blocks almost all of the sun’s UVA and UVB rays. It consists largely of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Sunblock does not have to be reapplied every few hours. Sunscreens are less visible on the skin and are designed to protect against UVA, UVB, or both.”

University of California at San Francisco Medical School says, “The American Association of Dermatology (AAD) recommends a “broad spectrum” sunblock with an SPF of at least 15 be applied daily to all sun exposed areas, then reapplied every two hours. However, in some recent clinical trials, sunblocks with SPF 30 provided significantly better protection than sunblocks with SPF15. Therefore at UCSF, we recommend sunblocks with SPF of at least 30 with frequent reapplication.”

Some gardeners prefer to wear long sleeves, long pants, hats and gloves to cover up their exposed skin. That method works well too. Remember to protect your skin while gardening so you’ll have many more years of enjoying the fruits of your labors.

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Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 7

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This week, we saw the implementation of collapsed comments, Google+ games were rolled out to everyone, and yesterday, there were several more announcements of enhanced features and tweaks.

The Google+ Navigation Bar is Now Sticky

As revealed by +Andy Hertzfeld, the gray Google+ navigation bar right underneath the all-encompassing black Google bar will become “sticky”, or rather, it’ll stay at the top as you scroll down your Google+ stream. This minor change makes it possible for you to navigate to different areas within Google+ . The “stickiness” of the navigation bars will depend on the size of your browser window—if you make your window smaller, the gray Google+ bar will disappear as you move down your stream.

Slide-in Animation for New Notification Bar

+Brett Lider showed us a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” change to the red notification tab on the top right of the Google+ navigation bar. Now, you can see the number of notifications slide up. Watch it in action in the video below.

Permissions are Easier in Google+ Games

Last week, Google+ games were rolled out to everyone. Google is differentiating itself from Facebook with a separate game tab, and a separate game stream. This simple difference means that you’re not bombarding your friends’ streams with requests for help or showing off every single achievement to them.

Of course, there were a few bumpy issues, and Google+ is beginning to address them. +Satyjajeet Salgar tells us that we can manage game permissions a bit more easily now. While you’re in the game, click on the bottom left menu, and then choose “Manage permissions”. You can then revoke access if you don’t feel like playing the game anymore.

Start a Hangout in YouTube

+Brian Glick informed us that you can now start a hangout in YouTube. All you have to do is click the “Share” button underneath any video. Then click on the “Start a Google+ Hangout” link in the bottom right corner.

Evangelizing Google+

Last but not least, we’d like to extend our congratulations to the new Google+ evangelist +Louis Gray. +Louis Gray has been a tech blogger and an adviser for several startups, chronicling his enthusiasms for the latest advances on the web, and advocating for products he really believes in. On Monday, he gets to start a dream job promoting the best social network around. 

Photo by 3D MediaDesign

Via Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 7 on googleplus.wonderhowto.com.

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