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Is your sunscreen giving you Cancer?
Now that the sunny days are back, it is likely we are going to hear ‘put on
your sunscreen’ from the media again. The truth is that I have always
been a bit dubious about slathering on enough chemicals to block out UV radiation,
and exactly what happens to those chemicals after they break down
on your skin and start to soak in. Ever wonder if there is a correlation
between increased skin cancer rates and sunscreen use?
With this in mind, I went out to do some research on the web and found this
article straight away: 84%
of sunscreen products are harmful to health, says alarming EWG study. Pretty
scary stuff since they tell us to put on sunscreen every day. To make
matters worse it looks like many of the sunscreens on the market are not that
effective at blocking both UVA and UVB radiation. So while you may not
be burning, you may still be getting a good dose of cell damage. This
quote from HealthLink pretty
much sums it up:
"As prevention, however, sunscreens alone appear to be imperfect. In the
first study to test the protective effect of sunscreens on people — not
just the hairless mice used in laboratory studies — researchers at the Queensland
Institute for Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, reported in 1999 that
sunscreen use reduces the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 40%.
But using sunscreen did not reduce the risk of developing melanoma or basal
cell carcinoma. The Australian study followed 1,383 adults for five years. "
So you have managed to lower your risk of cancer of your superficial skin
cancers which are very treatable and according to InteliHealth:
"In most cases,
the outlook is excellent. Overall, 95% to 98% of squamous cell carcinomas can
be cured if they are treated early and have not spread.
But at the same time you aren’t burning you stay out in the sun longer, exposing
yourself to more UV overall and setting yourself up for other types of skin
cancer. Seems
to be that letting your skin tell you when it has had enough might be a better
way of preventing skin cancer than relying on the chemicals.
When you go out in the sun next time, give some thought to your poor skin. It
is after all your biggest organ (no matter what else you might be thinking
of) and it does suck up whatever we put on it. If you are going to wear
sunscreen take a look at the Sunscreen
Summary — What Works and What’s Safe and decide for yourself what
you should be using.
Personally I will stick with just not sitting in
the sun baking all day long. Besides, if you sit in the sun, it gets my
beer warm before you can drink it all.
The Invasion of the Sea Suckers!
Well it would make a great headline, but Sea Suckers aren’t some new invasive
species or urban legend, but a really cool new way to mount gear onto your
boat! These are are essentially big suction cups with a vaccuum pump
on them, and a generic mounting plate for attaching pretty much whaterver you
want to them without haveing to drill holes in your boat. We got to see these
babies in action at ICAST and couldn’t believe just how many things you can
do with them!
Some of their suggested uses are as mounts for rod holders, a
place to secure scuba tanks, holding electronics in place, putting bumpers
about anywhere you could need one and so much more. No need to worry
if they are tough enough either. The 6″ Sea Sucker is rated at 200# so
you and attach all sorts of things without worry. If
you have a boat then you owe it to yourself to check out Sea
Suckers today and see just what all you can use them for on your boat.
Personally I want to try out their suction cup drink holders!
I know many times people have been busted by Fish and Game officials that were
watching them do naughty things through their binoculars. Well if you think
this is bad then check out this news from the Atlantic coast of Africa!
It seems that there is a lot of commercial fish poaching going on, and according
to Alphonse Douati the Fisheries Minister, “Nearly 4 million tonnes a
year are lost to pirate ships.” Damn, that is a lot of fish! So
to combat this they are using satelites to watch who is fishing where and when. Talk
about using the eyes in the sky. My question is what do you do with all
those fish? Does no one notice when you roll into port with a boat load
of fish and no permit?
Of course at the conference that they decided to do this they also decided
on having set seasons for fishing and to set aside ‘no fishing’ areas for fish
breeding. It is truly amazing that with all the crap that goes on in
Africa, that they can all get along well enough to put together a package like
this!
Now if us Pacific Rim people could just figure out how to stop over fishing
and do some of this stuff it would be a real improvement! But hey, why
get our hopes up. That is about as likely as nixing the Indian’s special
fishing rights.
Some time ago the gang over at Bullet Bobbers sent us a few of their bobbers to test out. While we haven’t gotten any video of us fishing with them yet, we have gotten a couple of opportunities to get them in the water.
The big difference with Bullet Bobbers is
that they are meant to be retrieved, unlike your standard old red and white
bobber. What Bullet Bobbers do
different from everyone else is that they tack from side to side as you retrieve
them, changing directions when you tug the line a bit and flip them over. This
allows you to very thoroughly work and area instead of having to make repeated
casts!
We all know that one of the major keys to catching more fish is keeping the
lure in the ’strike zone’. By working your lure back and forth through
an area, fish are far more likely to see and attack your lure. Where
I find Bullet Bobbers work great
for this is along and through weedlines. I particularly like putting
a grub or jig under one and working the weeds real slow. Many times a
fish will hit a suspended lure that we see as stationary.
There are a whole slew of other rigging and uses for Bullet
Bobbers so I encourage you to head on over to their site at http://www.bulletbobber.com/ and
take a look at how all you can use them, and order a couple pack to try out
for yourself!
No more leader flying off the spool!
The gang over at Line Keeper sent us over some of their Line Keepers to try out and I have to say that they are pretty cool! I really like simple products that do what they are supposed to.
These things work by simply threading your line through the hole in the plastic part then pulling the elastic tight around the spool. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. Plus at about $5 for a set of three they are a decent buy!
In addition to their line keepers they have a couple other cool fishing accessories like lead holders, gunnel gaurds and peel and stick foam panels for hanging up your hooks.
Go over to http://www.linekeeper.net/ and take a look at their site and check it all out for yourself!
Looks like Thomas and I will be heading out to do some Summer run Chinook (King) Salmon fishing in Puget Sound this next week, so I thought it might be appropriate to remind everyone to use the strict CnR rules for wild Chinook Salmon. Native Chinook are actually listed as ‘Threatened’ on the Endangered Species List so we need to take care to treat them nice while looking for their hatchery bred kin to bonk.
Some things to keep in mind are:
- Never bring an unmarked (adipose fin clipped) Chinook Salmon over the gunwale of your boat. They will be watching!
- Use a catch and release friendly net made of rubber or knotless nylon.
- Of course you have to use barbless hooks.
- Avoid messing with the fish any more than you have to, and stay away from the eyes and gills.
- Use a dehooker if to remove hooks.
- Cut the leader if the hook has been swallowed too far to safely remove.
On the subject of hooks, if you are mooching consider using circle hooks. Fished correctly, circle hooks will almost always wind up in the corner of the fishes mouth. The thing to remember when fishing circle hooks is that you need to not set the hook immediately. They hook up best if you let the fish turn to run. That pulls the hook to the corner of the mouth and WHAMO! For other rigs, try using one hook instead of the traditional two hook setups on your Hoochies and trolling flies (like our favorites Grand Slam Bucktails). The trick here is to get the hook back at the end of the lure. I will show you a trick to do that in an upcoming post.
If you haven’t tried using a dehooker, go find yourself one. We are testing out the ARC Dehooker this year. We really like this one because it comes in a variety of sizes and lengths and can be used to release deeply hooked fish, as well as those that are only lip hooked.
Simply using a tool like this will greatly increase your fish survivability as well as make releasing them easier on you. No more hanging over the side of a pitching boat with a pair of pliers! We will be using this baby when we go out Salmon fishing this year. Not only will it make releasing Salmon easier, but no more dodging Dogfish tail barbs! Thanks again to Christy Clow for setting us up with one to try out. To get one of your own, you can order them directly from their website at http://dehooker4arc.com/index.html
So there you have it. Be nice to your native fish so we can have a sustained Chinook Fishery!
I just got this press release in and this is really cool. Now you don’t have to leave your tech head friends at the dock. This is a solid-state (ie. no moving parts) computer for onboard your yacht ( a boat not really intended for fishing on) but I bet it would work on a big fishing boat too. What I don’t see on their site is a monitor for the beer supply!
KRILL SYSTEMS UNVEILS RUGGED SOLID-STATE BLACK BOX PC
Vessel System Monitoring Leader Develops New Dedicated Computer Offering Maximum Reliability In Harsh Marine Conditions
Bainbridge Island, Wash. – Krill Systems, a leading manufacturer of digital marine instrument solutions, announced today the Krill Black Box PC. A bulletproof platform designed specifically to run Krill’s powerful boat monitoring software, the Black Box PC provides protection against the security and reliability issues of off-the-shelf computer systems. Its solid-state design contains no moving parts and is ideally suited to withstand the harsh pounding and extreme conditions associated with the marine environment. Rugged, reliable and low-power, the Krill Black Box PC is the ideal platform to run Krill monitoring software on any boat and ensure the integrity of onboard systems while owners are on or away from their vessels.
Running the latest Krill vessel monitoring software on an embedded version of Windows XP, the Krill Black Box computer maintains the integrity of the monitoring solution and protect against physical crashes. Designed without fans, hard disks or any other moving parts, Krill’s Black Box PC eliminates problems commonly caused in regular computers by wear and tear on internal hardware components. The device also runs only the Krill Soft Display software, restricting boaters from loading other applications such as games that can alter system parameters and compromise the device’s functionality and monitoring capabilities. This feature also makes the system impervious to viruses and other malicious software that can result from downloading files off the web. A true marine solution, the Krill PC consumes one-third less power than standard computers so that boaters can run the monitoring solution 24/7 without fear of costly electric bills or draining onboard batteries. The Krill Black Box PC software is completely scalable and as new system monitoring features are added, such as the recent support for NMEA 2000 and engine data monitoring, it can be easily upgraded to incorporate the latest features and capabilities.
“The new Krill Black Box PC is the result of extensive research as well as numerous requests for a reliable marine computer from both boaters and resellers alike,” said Casey Cox, president – Krill Systems. “Our PC eliminates costly dealer tech support calls due to problems stemming from third-party software incompatibility and malicious programs, and provides boaters the security of a solid hardware platform that monitors their vessel systems, heading off expensive and time consuming repairs.”
Krill’s Black Box PC has a robust sealed cast aluminum construction that is designed to absorb and dissipate vibration, and protect from dust. With no moving parts or fans, the computer features an Intel ULV Celeron M 1.1 GHz processor, 1GB System Memory, a CompactFlash™ Disk Drive and an embedded Windows XP operating system. Supported connections include DVI, VGA, S-Video and composite video input and output ports, as well as a 100Mb Ethernet and a USB Port. The Black Box PC boasts a scant 54W power consumption, 12-24V DC operation, and a compact (252mm x 137mm x 69mm) size. The 4.4-pound device is CE, FCC and UL approved. Environmental specifications include an operating temperature range of -20 to +60 C (-4 to 140 F) and up to 95% non-condensing humidity. The rugged Krill Black Box PC can withstand vibration up to 5G (rms) and shock of up to 50G. The computer includes a 2-year limited parts and labor warranty.
Pricing and Availability:
The Krill Systems Black Box PC is priced at $2295 and is currently available at marine retailers throughout the United States and Canada. For more information the Krill Black Box PC, Krill Systems, Krill’s complete line of digital instruments and vessel monitoring products, or to locate the nearest Krill reseller, please call 206-780-2901 or visit www.krillsystems.com.
See, I told you it was cool! Now I just need to get a boat big enough to justify one, and for them to install a sensor for the level of beer in the hold.
Up, moving and limping along at ICAST
It is amazing how much Vegas can take out of you. One friendly piece of advice for anyone heading to Vegas to hang out is to be sure to drink lots of water. It is amazing how fast you can get a hang over when you are already a bit dehydrated. Well, this is what I hear anyway. Everyone knows that I would never overindulge on Tequila.
Today we started at the far end of the show and worked our way back. The coolest thing for Bass fishing this year is the JigX Bass Jigs. These innovative buggers have the attachment point for the line behind the head of the jig.
This means that when you are pulling your jig through the weeds and muck, the eyelet won’t get full of crap an hung up on weeds. This is killer! Take a look at it closeup and you will see what I mean.
The ChunkX Sling is another of their new innovations and it holds your pork rind or trailer in place no matter what you are doing. Whether cranking it back fast, or if a Bass does a short strike and yanks on the trailer you have on, it pulls the tailer right back into place.
I definitely encourage you to check your local Bass shop, or visit their website at VerticalLures.com and check out all their cool products.
ICAST Convention - Day 1
I said it before, but after walking the show floor today, I will say it again. This is a BIG show! Drunken Thomas and I spent all day walking the show floor and talking to people and made it just over half way through the exhibits. It is amazing overall and we have met some great people overall and a few schmucks. I do have a tip for any exhibitors that are reading this. Make sure your sales people are up and talking to the people walking by the booths. We ran into many exhibitors where the salespeople weren’t busy, but definitely weren’t interested in talking with anyone. Though we did see a lot of them talking amongst themselves. This was a common occurrence with the bigger exhibitors.
On to the good stuff. Tons of great products coming our way later this year, and we have the samples to prove it. The big thing we saw as a trend at the show today was the expansion of fishing gear designed and marketed towards women. One of several companies moving into this market is Fishher.com who actually won the 2007 Leadership award at the show this year.
Started by Angie Michaels, Fishher.com is a place for women to find rods, tackle boxes and other fishing accesories that are designed for women. She started the company to fill avoid in the fishing tackle market. With a wide variety of tackle available and marketed for men and kids, she saw a of gear designed, built and marketed to women. Needless to say the idea is a hit, and quickly becoming a successfull company. Be sure to take a look at their site and buy some fishing tackle for your favorite fishing gal!
As for the rest of the show, be sure to bookmark our blog as we will be updating it frequently the best (and worst) of ICAST 2007
The 2007 ICAST New Product Showcase
The new product showcase started off the 2007 ICAST fishing convention this year. The biggest sport fishing show in the world, ICAST is taking up the entire North wing of the Las Vegas Convention Center. With more booths than we can count, all of the major fishing tackle suppliers are attending as well as smaller companies hoping to break into the national market.
The buyers and the media type people (that includes us amazingly) are all voting on the best new products. We will have shots of all our favorites later today.
The show floor opens this morning with all the fishing goodies that a fisherman could want. Our friends from Lip Ripperz are here as well as some of the makers of our favorite gear. Thomas is just hoping the Lowrance people are here in force so he can bitch them out.
Stay tuned for all the fishing news from the show and pictures of all the newest and hottest fishing tackle for 2008!
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