This is the fourth video made for the WowTowel. It uses scrolling images and text, explaining various perks of the WowTowel and showing off what it’s capable of. It also shows many of our color choices and some potential uses for the WowTowel, once you’ve got your hands on it. It’s perfect as a beach towel or a picnic blanket. If you can think of some new use for the WowTowel, please leave a comment!
I have researched the web for you to find the Top 10 Beaches For Families in 2011. The source is Parents magazine written by Karen Cicero who deserves all the credit. As you know, Parents magazine is very well known and respected for generations. What I found interesting besides naming the beach and showing it, they also tell personal family and children stories as to why they like the beach so much and what makes it family friendly. Hope you find it useful for your family this summer! Don’t forget to bring your WowTowel and have fun! See our mother friendly blog.
WASHINGTON — After 33 years of consideration, the Food and Drug Administration took steps on Tuesday to sort out the confusing world of sunscreens, with new rules that specify which lotions provide the best protection against the sun and ending claims that they are truly waterproof.
The F.D.A. said sunscreens must protect equally against two kinds of the sun’s radiation, UVB and UVA, to earn the coveted designation of offering “broad spectrum” protection. UVB rays cause burning; UVA rays cause wrinkling; and both cause cancer.
The rules, which go into effect in a year, will also ban sunscreen manufacturers from claiming their products are waterproof or sweatproof because such claims are false. Instead, they will be allowed to claim in minutes the amount of time in which the product is water resistant, depending upon test results.
And only sunscreens that have a sun protection factor, or SPF, of 15 or higher will be allowed to maintain that they help prevent sunburn and reduce the risks of skin cancer and early skin aging.
The rules have been under consideration since 1978, when “Boogie Oogie Oogie” was a hit on the radio and most beach lotions were intended to encourage tanning, not protect against it. But federal regulators said they had yet to decide whether to end an SPF arms race in which manufacturers are introducing sunscreens with SPF numbers of 70, 80 and 100 even though such lotions offer little more protection than those with an SPF of 50.
Still, dermatologists said they were thrilled.
“Now, we’ll be able to tell patients which sunscreens to get,” said Dr. Henry W. Lim, chairman of dermatology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and a spokesman for the American Academy of Dermatology.
The rules will transform the $680 million domestic market for sunscreens, which has been growing rapidly because of an aging population and growing worries about skin cancer. And the final regulations are a stark change from a proposal the agency released in 2007, which would have created a star-based system for UVA protection. Under that system, sunscreens would have provided an SPF number for UVB protection and one to four stars for UVA protection.
The agency received more than 3,000 comments on that proposal, with many asserting that allowing products to offer differing levels of protection against UVB and UVA rays would be confusing. So the agency ditched the stars and instead will tell manufacturers that if they wish to label their products as offering “broad spectrum” protection they must make their defense against UVB and UVA radiation proportional.
“We think this is going to be much easier for the consumer to understand,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the F.D.A.’s drug center, said in an interview. “All they’re going to need to do is pick an SPF number and then make sure that it’s broad spectrum.”
Any product that fails to offer proportional protection or has an SPF of 2 to 14 must include a warning that the product has not been shown to help prevent skin cancer or early skin aging. The new rules will standardize the testing that manufacturers must conduct for UVA protection.
The agency had proposed allowing manufacturers to use SPF numbers no higher than 50, but that remains only a proposal for which the agency will seek further comment. In particular, the government is asking whether there are special groups of people who would somehow benefit from having a product with an SPF of more than 50.
“Right now, we don’t have any data to show that anything above 50 adds any value for anybody,” Dr. Woodcock said.
Dr. Warwick L. Morison, a professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University and chairman of the photobiology committee for the Skin Cancer Foundation, said he was disappointed that the F.D.A. failed to ban SPF numbers higher than 50 because such products expose people to more irritating sunscreen ingredients without meaningful added protection.
“It’s pointless,” Dr. Morison said.
More than two million people in the United States are treated each year for the two most common types of skin cancer, basal cell and squamous cell, and more than 68,000 receive a diagnosis of melanoma, the most deadly form of the disease. Sunscreens have not been shown to prevent the first case of basal cell carcinoma, but they delay reoccurrences of basal cell and have been shown to prevent squamous cell and melanoma.
The F.D.A. announced that it was re-examining the safety of the roughly 17 sunscreen agents approved for use in the United States, although it has no information to suggest that they are not safe. Tuesday’s announcement will do nothing to speed the approval of more sunscreen agents. There are roughly 28 such agents approved in Europe and 40 in Japan, and some in the industry complain that the best ingredients have yet to reach American shores.
Some consumer and environmental groups have expressed concern that the ingredients in some sunscreens have been made so microscopic that they could be absorbed through the skin into the body, but Dr. Woodcock said that the F.D.A.’s own tests had found no cause for such concerns.
The agency is also asking for more information about sunscreen sprays to ensure that consumers get adequate quantities from spray bottles and to explore what happens when those products are inhaled. “You could imagine a child getting a sunscreen sprayed on and turning their face into the blast and breathing it in,” Dr. Woodcock said. “It’s a question of safety.”
The new regulations will do nothing to prevent the most common problem with sunscreens lotions, which is that consumers fail to use enough of them. The rules become effective in one year, although manufacturers with less than $25,000 in annual sales will have two years to comply.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said the new rules were important. Mr. Reed proposed legislation mandating that the F.D.A. finally adopt the sunscreen proposals it floated in 2007.
“The F.D.A. has been sitting on these proposals for many, many years,” Mr. Reed said. “This is a major step, and I’m glad they’ve done it.”
(This article belongs to the New York Times and takes total credit for this story. We put it up on our website for our outdoor customers who wish to get the best out of their experieces.)
Being seditary is one of the worst things that we as human beings can do to ourselves. And I am included in this description so the finger points inward. But perhaps I can be talking to you, too. No judgement. Just some time for some realities and action! But I believe in telling it like it is.
We, Americans, have fallen way in love with our computers and TVs to the point that we are adding inches to our waist lines than we truly adding value to our relationships and health. Have you watched a family member, friend, or perhaps yourself, so engrossed in a text message, computer screen, iPhone video, TV program, etc. that no one notices you are even there? If so, I am talking to you!
It is time to get outside and move around. Go for a walk! Move to a brisker pace. It starts with those first steps of just actually doing it and not talking about it. Don’t psyche yourself. Just go out for a nice brisk walk. Your inner chemistry will start to change and you will find as you exercise more regularly to your health condition, you will get better and better not only physically but mentally as well. You will find yourself mentally sharper and more “on the ball” as it would be said.
And here is the coolest things. Don’t do exercise as a “routine.” In fact drop two words from your vocabulary. I have found that people hate the words: exercise and routine. Put them together and it is a oil and fire. So put those words out of your mind. Instead put in FUN and SPONTANEOUS. You will find your body peeking at different times and if you can do a routine schedule, God bless you! Most of us truly drop off a schedule. So here is the idea to fun and spontaneous. When you arrive home, instead of just flipping on the news, go for a nice walk. Bring your tunes or listen to the birds. Whatever relaxes you! You may want to go and hit the weights and work out. Just remember to stretch first so you don’t end up being laid up a month. You may wish to go out with your spouse, kids, dog, etc. Make the activity fun and spontaneous. Just do it. And like Beyonce says “A little sweat ain’t hurt nobody!
I personally like to dance, although quite bad at it. Beyonce is one of those few singers who make me just feel damn good about myself and that life is so much better than I imagined. I find the power of music is the most seductive of all as it stays with you forever. You have songs of your teenage years that you will NEVER forget because YOU own them in your hearts and souls. Well, this video is from Beyonce’s heart and soul as she truly tries to lend a dancing and singing hand to help First Lady’s Michelle’s Obama’s “Let’s Move” Campaign. I highly encourage that you visit their site and perhaps get involved if you are so inclined.
Here is the amazing video “Move Your Body,” by Beyonce for the Let’s Move campaign. And here are the “Move Your Body” lyrics thanks to Ft. Swizz Beats who has masterfully put together a Karioke version so anyone can follow. Our children are so precious! Let’s take the time to get off the couch, and find ways to interact and burn some calories while having fun. We can do it because we are Americans as it is in our DNA to do anything we set our minds to! Dance to inner prosperity!
Now that unofficial summer has begun, we hope that you can turn to our WowTowel blog for a source of where to go for beaches and lakefronts around the United States for our beloved WowTowel customers. We also hope to expand not only the amount of content of our blogs, but make it pertinent to your needs to take your WowTowel and enjoy with family and friends.
We also believe in encouragement and helping our fellow man so you will see blogs on this from time to time. Knowledge is best used when shared. And we truly hope you interact with our blog.
With all of that in mind, here is The Top 10 Beaches of 2011: The Best Places To Spend Your Summer by Dr. Beach on ABC News/Travel. I love this because it shows you in pictures so that you can picture yourself there on your WowTowel with your family enjoying yourselves.
Don’t have a WowTowel? We are so much more than just a beach blanket or beach towel. We combine the best of both into a very strong woven cotton towel blanket. We are the largest beach blanket on the planet (yet fits into a standard washer & dryer). If you are a family of 4 (or more) and each of you are under 7 foot 2 inches, you can easily fit onto the WowTowel together. So if it is just two of you or going alone, talk about stretching out and rolling over! We offer 4 corner pocket to stow away your gadgets. But there is more … you can place your beach umbrella directly in the middle of our WowTowel for overhead protection from the sun. And we are in production of making our own UV solar beach umbrellas to protect your family from melanoma causing A & B ultraviolet rays. Stay tuned! WowTowel … once you own one, you will never go back to your old stuff again.
