There’s no such thing as a safe tan

The What’s Up Docs podcast from the BBC is an entertaining but factual podcast about health presented by two doctors, Chris and Xand van Tulleken (brothers and twins!) who find out to their dismay that they were wrong about the dangers of getting a nice healthy colour from the sun.

A cat lying on the ground and enjoying the sun.

A tan occurs when UV radiation damages skin cells, causing them to produce more melanin as a protective response. This process involves DNA damage to skin cells, which can accumulate over time and potentially lead to skin cancer.

Sunburn is obviously harmful and painful. Even one blistering sunburn in childhood can double your lifetime risk of melanoma.

It’s a bit late for my Irish readers, as we had cloudless skies and a hot sun last week. Temperatures reached 25C where I was, so I slapped on the factor 50 sunscreen and made sure I was wearing a hat when I was outside. Many years ago, a neighbour died of skin cancer at the age of 52, only a few years older than I am now.

The Met Éireann UV Index page will show you what the UV index in Ireland is. If it’s 3 or over, you should be covering up with clothing or sunscreen. It’s quite alarming that the difference between a clear sky and a cloudy sky is 1-2 or 8-10 on that index.

An umbrella for the sun

Why don’t people use an umbrella to shield themselves from the sun when they’re out for a walk? It’s a perfectly natural item to use if rain is falling from the sky, but if it is the UV radiation of a sunny day, there’s none to be seen.

A screenshot of the weather forecast showing it will be 19C - 20C today under clear skies.

It felt weird, but I took my dog for a walk and I used a black umbrella. OK, it felt more than weird. It felt stupid. I mean, it wasn’t raining. There’s hardly any cloud in the sky. I had an SPF 50 mineral sunscreen on already.

DIego, a chihuahua lying down in his blanket

But, you know what? I realised I was a lot more comfortable than I normally would be. My dog, Diego, sniffs around in the grass, forcing me to wait around on the other end of his leash. There are trees about, but not enough shade. I had a black umbrella over my head, covering my upper torso and arms. I took my baseball cap off because I didn’t need it. It was nice.

Diego was happy, reading the unseen and unsmelt messages we humans can’t perceive.

On the way back, he stopped, and wagged his tail slowly when I asked him if he wanted to be picked up. He is a 2.5 kg chihuahua, after all. He lay on my arm, and cooled down in the shade cast by me and the umbrella!

I’m not a huge fan of the sun. You’ll never find me sitting in a chair soaking up the rays, so when I do go out in it, it’s nice to be prepared.

PS. I realise 19C (66.2F) isn’t that hot, but I’m melting here!

Hot hot hot!

When a toddler is about to touch something hot, you warn them it’s “HOT HOT HOT!” What do you do when the world is overheating?

My phone says it’s 30C right now where I live, and in the Phoenix Park in Dublin it’s 33C, almost breaking the Irish temperature record set in 1835.

And Ireland is probably the coldest place in Europe today. How did we let this happen?

It’s a mystery

Mark sent me a mail entitled S …

Mark sent me a mail entitled Sun Linux this morning. Hmm.

Running Industry leading Linux on Sun: Sun brings a comprehensive systems approach to GNU/Linux-based operating systems. Sun provides Java technology, x64-based servers and workstations, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server along with Sun’s Java Enterprise System and suites. Sun also works with Canonical Ltd. to certify and support selected x64 based systems and CoolThreads servers on Ubuntu Linux.