The Sun is Different!

Originally posted by brokenheadphonez
After reading everyones posts I had an informal and non scientific experiment that seemed to indicate that we burnt *much* quicker than usual.

Everybody, PLEASE state your location.

This data is *USELESS* for analytical purposes if we don't know where everyone is feeling the differences.

There is something to this, I am certain.

i'm in sacramento...
i can say that about a week ago it was unseasonably COOLER...
but this week its back with a venegeance (the heat) and scorching my plants and my skin! never got tan so fast...well, except when i stayed in costa rica...at the equator. so yeah.

reply to post by Greenize


Lucky. I've been stuck with 50-70 degree weather all summer in the east coast.

It should be noted that ambient air temperatures have absolutely nothing to do with sunburn. In fact, cool days can be worse. Because you don't feel hot, you don't think you're getting burned and stay out longer with less protection. Ask a skier.


[edit on 7/5/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by Phage

You can't have it both ways.

[edit on 7/5/2009 by Phage]

Nor do I want it both ways. You have some sort of idea that I am arguing some point with you. I myself, said I have noticed no sunburn issue this year and I am out everyday, all day most of the time. I misspoke about the electromagnetic rays filtering UV. What I was referring to is the bombardment of solar wind from sunspots on the atmosphere forming a shield and reflecting cosmic rays. Those are responsible for more radiation reaching the planet surface during solar minimums due to the lack of said solar wind. That is pretty much proven and accepted even by the NASA guys at SOHO. Check out their animations of the process at their site by searching SOHO.

My statement merely is solar minimum means a cooler planet. For more on that, research the Maunder Minimum and Dalton Minimum. Some fascinating reading there.

Now, whether the lack of solar wind to deflect cosmic rays allows a different affect upon sun bathers is anyone's guess. These people posted that the sun is different and I say, why yes, yes it is and likely for a couple more years until the sunspot count picks back up.

reply to post by astrocreep


Look, if that's your observation - that's yours. Maybe you've adapted to this due to sustained gradual exposure - but many of us feel something different..

Originally posted by Greenize
I have fought with myself for two days about posting this. I don't really know why....anyway I decided to put it out there anyway and see if any one else has experienced this.
I have sunbathed all of my life. My skin tans in the summer and I don't have to "lay out", but I do. I have had a pool for most of my life too. I get "brown as a biscuit" as the saying goes in my neck of the woods.
Over the years of swimming, sunbathing, fishing...whatever it is, I have never ever had a sunburn...I have sat in a boat in the sun from sun up to sun down before, many times...no sunburn, just a nice dark tan...but this past week...I got in the pool on my raft and just basked and floated for about an hour and a half... my legs and abdomen later that night were nearly purple and so sore that I couldn't stand it...that was four days ago and they are still tender, although they have turned from purple to red to a slighly tan color... I did the same thing all last summer and never had this problem... I truly don't understand what is different this summer!

[edit on 3-7-2009 by Greenize]

Now that you've noticed this pheonomena, try this little trick;
Use a compass and at least three times daily check it from the same spot. Where is the sun? Is it in it's E/W track? Hmmmmmmm.

Gonna try that trick tomorrow..

My ATS Pictures, for the people who like pictures..

Originally posted by brokenheadphonez
reply to post by astrocreep

 

Look, if that's your observation - that's yours. Maybe you've adapted to this due to sustained gradual exposure - but many of us feel something different..

I probably have and I'm not arguing that its not something different with the sun. In fact, I am trying to point out what it is that is different. In a time of solar minimum such as the last 2 years, we lose our shield provided by solar wind which bombards our atmosphere so I'm not at all trying to invalidate that the sun is burning easier lately, in fact I support that notion. I also wear SPF 50 everyday and still I get very tan.

reply to post by astrocreep


Yes I accept your point and instead of using SPF of any factor I simply avoid sun exposure.

You'll see me out and about after 16h00..

Looks like we got some recognition over at Prison Planet.com:

The sun is acting strangely again

You guys should read the comments. We're not the only ones noticing the crazy wacked out sun!

Anyone else who has been studying this, please U2U me immediately.

Hello! I just wanted to say that, while being blonde and white-skinned, I burn really easily. However, I rarely need sunglasses.

There are four things I wanted to say about my experiences with the sun:

1) Last year, I got a horrid sunburn - on my hands. This was because I was 1500m on a plateau, hiking over snowfields for seven days. It was early August. The first two nights, the temperature dropped to 0*, and the little tarns froze a bit. But for the next 5 days, It was 30* for the MAJORITY of the day, extremely bright, hot, and horrid. Which, needless to say, at 1500m up, is odd. (Not that the snow didn't melt- it did. I meant how odd the 30*+ weather was). Anyhow, I got sunburned on my fingers (especially around the knuckle area... combined with skeeter bites and peeling skin = horrible. It was from the reflected light from the snow, altitude, and everything else. (Understandable at 1500m up).

2) This year, I have noticed that being out in the sun for only a few hours has caused my fingers to tingle and burn. I should like to say I am only 300m above sea level at home, there are NO snow-fields, and that this was in EARLY JUNE. The temp was maybe 25*, tops (here this is NOT hot. Hot here is 35*+!!). Before last year, my fingers had never burned, and this year they did again >.< couldn't hold a pen for a week.

3) Because I am allergic to many sunscreens, I cover up. Most of the time, my legs and forearms are bare; I have noticed a good deal more freckles developing this year, than any year before. Not distinct freckles, but little patches of brown that make my arms appear tanned, and brown (but they are freckles - little patches of colour).

4) This is the first year I have ever thought about getting sunglasses - I didn't even use them when I was up in the plateau last summer. Very bright >.<

Very interesting tread!! thanks for posting!!!

These sunflowers are about 12-13 ft tall, you can see the sun is behind them, and their faces are turned away from it!

Here is an article about the healing power of the sun, for those that think the sun is only bad for you.

News and Views As more scientific evidence of the benefits of sunlight exposure and of getting sunlight into buildings becomes available it will be examined and discussed here. Vitamin D Deficiency Vitamin D deficiency is common across all age groups. There is even a resurgence of the bone disease rickets amongst children, half a century after it was thought to have been eliminated. For the last 20 years medical experts have been telling us that ultraviolet radiation is harmful and that anyone who goes out in the sun should cover up or put on sunscreen. As soon as summer approaches this message is repeated throughout the media, with little regard to the fact that sunlight is the most important source of vitamin D in the body. Very few foods are natural sources of vitamin D, and clothing and sunscreens can prevent the synthesis of it in the skin. So, do health campaigns that promote sun avoidance add to the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency? This was one of the subjects discussed at a meeting on Sunlight, Vitamin D and Health chaired by Dr Ian Gibson MP at the House of Commons, London, on the 2nd November 2005.

Source

Evidence that supports vitamin D's profound health benefits continues to mount: Unprotected sun exposure helps the body produce the vitamin D it needs to keep bones healthy and ward off cancers and other ailments. For example:

*

According to one study, researchers found that men with high exposure to the sun had half the risk of prostate cancer than those with low sun exposure.
*

Another study found that high levels of vitamin D and calcium appeared to reduce women's risk of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS.


The above studies' findings should come as no surprise to Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Edward Giovannucci who, in an April speech to the American Association for Cancer Research, spoke out about the proven link between sun exposure and vitamin D production. While acknowledging the dangers of the sun-related skin cancer melanoma that killed some 8,000 Americans last year, Giovannucci convincingly argued staying away from the sun--and preventing the body from making enough vitamin D on its own--may add as much as 70 more cancer deaths per 100,000 people each year. Further, during his speech Giovannucci challenged anyone to find an area or nutrient or any other factor that held such consistent anticancer benefits as vitamin D.

Source

Originally posted by Phage
It should be noted that ambient air temperatures have absolutely nothing to do with sunburn. In fact, cool days can be worse. Because you don't feel hot, you don't think you're getting burned and stay out longer with less protection. Ask a skier.


[edit on 7/5/2009 by Phage]

also being in higher altitudes makes for less atmosphere and more direct radiant sunshine. when i lived in colorado, you'd get the fastest sunburn you'd ever have sitting out in the sun for 30 minutes unprotected. pure rays just scorch your head and exposed body parts.

reply to post by DaMod

A few minutes of sunlight is enough to produce all the vitamin D you need.

If you're fair skinned, experts say going outside for 10 minutes in the midday sun—in shorts and a tank top with no sunscreen—will give you enough radiation to produce about 10,000 international units of the vitamin.

health.usnews.com...

So, while completely avoiding the sun is not a good idea. Spending more than an hour or so, unprotected, in the midday sun does more harm than good. If you avoid melanoma you may still end up looking like this:





[edit on 7/17/2009 by Phage]

wow.

i've been trying for years to get my turkey to look like that.

reply to post by space cadet


I've witnessed that too.....Central Coast California.
Very strange.

reply to post by Phage


I 'm seriously risking an off topic post but your avatar is driving me crazy....Who is that actor? iknow his face but cannot remember his name.


Yes sun is brighter and whiter....must have shades these days.
Now I'm not off topic?

[edit on 18-7-2009 by missvicky]

reply to post by Greenize


Hi Greenize, I noticed this quite a few years ago!
Being Aussie, I more or less grew up along the sea-side and had he same experiences as you have posted.
As a chld my cousins and I would spend 8 to 10 hours a day in sun and surf totally uncovered; and that was when sun-block was only just becoming popular.
I do agree with you that the sun is different; if only minutely.
What do I mean by that???
Well, we humans are only a flash in the pan as far as the life of the sun is concerned!
We cannot even entertain that we really know much about Sol; we haven't access to recorded studies that go back far enough to give us an accurate representation!
So all I can say is that: I too have noticed this change!
I do think it's only part of the suns own personal evolution.
Note: the ozone hole does move!!! this is an important factor in itself.
I got blisters on my back for having too much sun while working on my car for about 3 hours; in winter ( that was about 8 years ago).