Well, aside from the sun aging the hell out of exposed skin (hello, wrinkles!), and, of course, skin cancer, there art medical conditions, such as lupus, that can be aggravated by UVA/UVB exposure. There are also a hell of a lot of drugs -- antibiotics, antidepressants, retin-A -- that make the person taking them extremely sensitive to the sun.

I get all that. I'm saying "put on long sleeves" probably doesn't require the latest in textilogical science.

Um, when I say dress for sun, I don't just mean long sleeves. I burn through clothing. I have to think about how thick the t-shirt I'm wearing is. So, yes, if I'm doing things like fishing, windsurfing, anything on the water, I would need to buy SPF t-shirts.

Is the ozone depletion contributing to this? People lived for millenia without spf clothing.

I get all that. I'm saying "put on long sleeves" probably doesn't require the latest in textilogical science.

Um, when I say dress for sun, I don't just mean long sleeves. I burn through clothing. I have to think about how thick the t-shirt I'm wearing is. So, yes, if I'm doing things like fishing, windsurfing, anything on the water, I would need to buy SPF t-shirts.

megan said it way better than I did. Clothing that is designed to protect from the sun is different than just a long-sleeved cotton tee from Target.

Is the ozone depletion contributing to this? People lived for millenia without spf clothing.

I'm guessing they didn't windsurf, but that's just a guess.

My genes didn't evolve as fast as they dropped latitudes. And in the last couple thousand years my ancestors were further north, up until 90 years ago, they generally wore more clothes than I do now.

I'm guessing they didn't windsurf, but that's just a guess.

They were too busy working in fields to windsurf?

Is the ozone depletion contributing to this? People lived for millenia without spf clothing.

I'm thinking that people's skin reactions haven't necessarily kept pace with the last 500 years of migration patterns. I seem to recall reading that Caucasian Australians had some of the highest skin cancer rates in the world, because a bunch of people whose skin was fine for, say, Dublin, found themselves in a much sunnier environment.

I am blaming Tino for the girl who was leading me on and suddenly doesn't feel a "dating vibe" (even though I am now totally crushed out on her). I am also blaming Tino for the contingent of Marines that is on the plane that i want to get on, which means I am likely stuck in the Yuma airport for another three and a half hours, which means that I will not get home until after 11pm. The Yuma airport is the tiniest airport EVER. Tino, I BLAME YOU.

I tan really easily, never burn unless I'm somewhere tropical. (I think I've gotten a sunburn in Maine once, when it was a really sunny day and I was outside all day and swimming a lot and that washed the sunscreen off. My shoulders got kind of red. My sister laughed at me for calling it a burn.) I generally put on SPF 15 if I'm going to be outside all day in the summer, but if I'm just going to be out for a few hours, or it's not too sunny, I usually don't bother. And my Vitamin D levels have been tested as low, which mostly confused my doctor. He decided to blame it on me being vegetarian, even though I take a multivitamin and I usually have soymilk fortified with Vitamin D every day.