It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Howdy folks! 'Tis the season... we're busier than ever. All of us at Ionicsalts wish you and yours a safe and merry holiday; and a healthy, happy new year. In this world, even as it is drowning in chaos and caught in an undertow of psychopathy, take a moment of the waning year and ponder your reality; appreciate those you care about and even those whom you do not. Life is short and fleeting, everything is a lesson. Enjoy a salt lamp and focus on the good.

On another note, I found an article about new "non-stick" salt in the NY Times. Apparently, by adding an amino acid to the already poisonous and unhealthy common processed salt, it won't clump together due to it's attraction of humidity; therefore it can be stored in otherwise unsuitable environments.

From the New York Times, 12/9/2006

By CLIVE THOMPSON

Published: December 10, 2006

Everyone knows the havoc that humidity wreaks on salt. You pick up a saltshaker, tip it upside down and — nothing.

The problem is molecular. Salt grains are cube shaped, so it doesn’t take much to get them to stack together like Legos. Salt producers have created nonsticking salt before by adding chemicals to prevent binding. But this year, in the July issue of Crystal Growth and Design, a team of Indian scientists announced that they had discovered a better way to attack the problem: they produced salt that is round.

To accomplish this, they added the amino acid glycine to a pan of brine and then let the salty liquid evaporate. The resulting crystals were shaped like dodecahedrons: 12-sided grains. In this nearly spherical form, the grains no longer stacked like bricks but like oranges in a sack. The researchers put some of the round salt into a container, left it for a year and found that it still poured freely.

The glycine has a side effect: it makes the salt slightly sweeter. Pushpito K. Ghosh, one of the lead scientists on the project, claims he can’t detect it — “And I’ve eaten a lot of it!” — but he suspects that chefs might.

source

Perhaps someday they can remove the added flouride, which is a known neurotoxin and completely unnecessary. Chances are, if you live in a municipal area, flouride is being injected into your tap water too.

"There are also over 30 animal studies showing that fluoride is a neurotoxin which reduces learning and memory. Essentially, fluoride makes you a bit less intelligent."

That may somewhat explain what's wrong with some people.... ;-)

Holiday Sale and News

Happy Holidays to All! We have our holiday sale underway - 10% off everything in stock, including salt lamps, candleholders, bath salt, accessories, and more. Re-vamped the catalog again to accommodate new products and new protocol scheme...oh, and new cart! We're pleased to have finally moved to a new shopping cart which offers more flexibility and more shipping options.

We now offer sales to Canada! We've had enough traffic and inquiries to justify the addition. Welcome friends in the Great White North. Shipping options include UPS and USPS.

More design work to come sitewide. Finally the bugs are out of our new product gallery. Another interface and background to come.

Elvis Costello said, "All musicians are thieves and magpies". I suppose it's true in the web game. How many more new sites will find the need to rip our photos and graphics off? We use a service that protects our words and text, we look for those that steal our images. I never ends. We are happy to license photos, but not for free and not without specific, individual permissions. We reserve the right to refuse usage. We are diligent in enforcing our rights. Every image is dated, listed and registered with the Library of Congress. We have the RAW files as well. Lazy webmasters are scum. lol

We hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season.....there's always next year.

Holidays are coming, Ready?

We're gearing up for the holiday rush...although it has already started in some ways. If you're a wholesale customer, it's time to stock up. Last year we had to cut off wholesale orders at the beginning of December just to keep up with our retail orders; I expect the exact same thing this year - probably more in fact.

Our website will be undergoing a few changes, including a new shopping cart and new shipping options. Due to popular demand, we will beginning sales to Canadian customers too. Cool eh.

We have a few new crafted items that are unbelievable in quality and appearance. New natural salt lamps in more colors are on the way to the site....introducing fiery orange and red soon.

We will of course have a holiday sale, specifics are still being mulled.

Until next time....

New income opportunity and more

Ionicsalts is very pleased to announce our new affiliate sales program, perfect for those with blogs, websites, or other online presence. No inventory to keep, orders to pack, or tedious work involved with selling rocks like these. We offer several colors and sizes of banners, as well as text links for use as a sales affiliate. We fully support our affiliates in every way we can.

Help us spread the word and market these natural, amazing products - and get paid for every sale made from your referrals. For more information, visit our opportunity page.

Finally, don't forget to spend some time relaxing with the ambient, naturally healthy environment that comes with a Himalayan salt lamp. It's good for you!

New products are online NOW!

Finally, after weeks of labor, I've got the catalog updated and new stuff is up.

Still some clean-up and minor things to do, but it's fully functional.

New Himalayan salt lamps - Blues, Whites, two-color pieces, iron baskets, and so much more. There also a new Accessories page for cords, clear and colored bulbs.

Edible! We now have edible-grade Himalayan salt crystal in 1kg packages. Animals love it, and you will too. Common table salt is poison. We offer the real deal.

Still more stuff in the works. Christmas will be HUUUGE. Affiliate program on the way!

Onward and Upward....Stay tuned.

Electronic Smog and Salt Lamps

Told you so! A salt lamp will counteract this "smog".

Invisible "smog", created by the electricity that powers our civilisation, is giving children cancer, causing miscarriages and suicides and making some people allergic to modern life, new scientific evidence reveals.

The evidence - which is being taken seriously by national and international bodies and authorities - suggests that almost everyone is being exposed to a new form of pollution with countless sources in daily use in every home.

Two official Department of Health reports on the smog are to be presented to ministers next month, and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has recently held the first meeting of an expert group charged with developing advice to the public on the threat.

The UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) calls the electronic smog "one of the most common and fastest growing environmental influences" and stresses that it "takes seriously" concerns about the health effects. It adds that "everyone in the world" is exposed to it and that "levels will continue to increase as technology advances".

Wiring creates electrical fields, one component of the smog, even when nothing is turned on. And all electrical equipment - from TVs to toasters - give off another one, magnetic fields. The fields rapidly decrease with distance but appliances such as hair dryers and electric shavers, used close to the head, can give high exposures. Electric blankets and clock radios near to beds produce even higher doses because people are exposed to them for many hours while sleeping.

Radio frequency fields - yet another component - are emitted by microwave ovens, TV and radio transmitters, mobile phone masts and phones themselves, also used close to the head.

The WHO says that the smog could interfere with the tiny natural electrical currents that help to drive the human body. Nerves relay signals by transmitting electric impulses, for example, while the use of electrocardiograms testify to the electrical activity of the heart.

Campaigners have long been worried about exposure to fields from lines carried by electric pylons but, until recently, their concerns were dismissed, even ridiculed, by the authorities.

But last year a study by the official National Radiological Protection Board concluded that children living close to the lines are more likely to get leukaemia, and ministers are considering whether to stop any more homes being built near them. The discovery is causing a large-scale reappraisal of the hazards of the smog.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer - part of the WHO and the leading international organisation on the disease - classes the smog as a "possible human carcinogen". And Professor David Carpenter, dean of the School of Public Health at the State University of New York, told The Independent on Sunday last week that it was likely to cause up to 30 per cent of all childhood cancers. A report by the California Health Department concludes that it is also likely to cause adult leukaemia, brain cancers and possibly breast cancer and could be responsible for a 10th of all miscarriages.

Professor Denis Henshaw, professor of human radiation effects at Bristol University, says that "a huge and substantive body of evidence indicates a range of adverse health effects". He estimates that the smog causes some 9,000 cases of depression.

Perhaps strangest of all, there is increasing evidence that the smog causes some people to become allergic to electricity, leading to nausea, pain, dizziness, depression and difficulties in sleeping and concentrating when they use electrical appliances or go near mobile phone masts. Some are so badly affected that they have to change their lifestyles.

While not yet certain how it is caused, both the WHO and the HPA accept that the condition exists, and the UN body estimates that up to three in every 100 people are affected by it.

Case History: 'I felt I was going into meltdown'

Until a year ago, Sarah Dacre reckoned she had a "blessed life". Running her own company, and living in an expensive north London home, the high-earning divorcee described herself as "fab, fit and 40s". Then suddenly the sight in her right eye failed: she first noticed it when she was unable to read an A-Z map. Soon she was getting pains and numbness in her joints. She could not sleep and spent nights "pacing about like a caged lion". Her short-term memory failed and if she took notes to remind her, she would forget she had made them.

The symptoms got worse whenever she was exposed to electricity. She could not use a computer for more than five minutes without becoming nauseous. Even using a telephone landline gave her a buzzing in the ear and made her feel she was "going into meltdown".

Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article362557.ece

Ionicsalts - We're still here...

Three and a half months later. So much has been happening, this blog has been neglected as a result.

We recently received another 70,000 lbs of salt crystal product. The quality thus far is unmatched, seriously. There will soon be many new products hitting the website, as well as the ol' favorites. Blue and snow white salt lamps, new designs using two colors of salt, and we will be introducing Himalayan peloid with salt inclusion. This is mineral-rich mud from the bottom of the mines known for it's tremendous natural care for skin. It's a great facial scrub. Additionally we'll soon have edible Himalayan salt crystal available. This is considered "gourmet" and completely wholesome, as opposed to regular, manufactured table salt.

Things are moving quickly, no change there. We have also reached the conclusion that we are the most plagiarized and pillaged salt lamp site on the Web. Every week we get more reports of lazy, shameless people taking our images and text to use on their own sites. We are vigilant in protecting our rights, and with the time and money we put into our product photos - it is required. On one hand, it's flattering to know we have the best site and images on the Internet for these products...as well as the most informative, well-written website; on the other hand this is business, and as such we must protect our assets. We have daily scans done for possible content infringment, because of this problem we have.

We are soon to roll-out an affiliate program of sorts too. This will allow people to sell our lamps with the need for warehousing, shipping, or inventory. If you're interested please send us an email at sales@ionicsalts.com...we will add you to the list for notification once it's alive.

We've recently doubled our warehouse space (again), and finally picked up a forkift of our own. This has opened up freight shipments for us....and wholesale is growing exponentially for us - so this is a good thing.

More coming later. Peace.