Raphael Misson

Nate, can I use your photos on my web page? I'll give credit with links to the original page. For an example of what I'm doing, check out my PiP '08 web page. It's just my personal page, done mostly to amuse the regulars around here and serve as a promotional thing for an event.

Here are some images I acquired/learned about this past weekend at Paynetown in a discussion with the very knowledgeable Micheal Stevens. He's with a Scottish re-enactment group and talks about Herbs and Spices (among other things). The first is something he told me about, the medicine chest of Sir Stewart Theipland, physician to "Bonnie" Prince Charlie during the Jacobite revolution in the 1740s. I figure this chest dates to some period after 1742: http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/images/library/exhibitions/enlightenment/med_chest.jpg This chest is said to have been given to Threipland by the prince and I expect it is an exceptional example of a medicine chest, probably making it far more elaborate than a typical sea surgeon's chest. (Sea surgeons were usually fresh out of school and unable to establish a lucrative land practice, so they would most likely have had pretty mean chests.) In addition, this is a land-based medicine chest which from pics I have seen I believe are more elaborate and sometimes larger because space was not at such a premium as it is shipboard. The other is the liquor cabinet Michael made for himself. It looks remarkably like what I am starting to think a medicine chest would look like. It's about the size, shape and design I believe we are talking about. He made this one himself and fitted it to the bottles he was able to acquire. It's leather wrapped. A beautiful piece of work:

Ah, now I've got to go to work mining for the photos I'll need... Thanks for posting them! You know what I really loved about this event? It was so casual. I put my surgical stuff up on Saturday morning and left it there until about 5pm. If I happened to be around and could see folks gathering around it, I'd go over and present. Then they'd wander off and I could too. The re-enactors were very friendly and open. I wish it had lasted another two days so I could have gotten to talk more extensively with people. I particularly enjoyed chatting with Michael Stevens (78the Fraser's Highland Regiment of Scots in America) and Chole Black (Great Lakes River Pirates) and her group. Nice folks. Nice dogs. Like Phydeaux here: (Say, who is Phydeaux's owner?) From Historyfanatic: David and Aimee Graves. What are the names of these boats and whose are they? Mark's boat is the Firefly, correct? What are the other boat's names and owners? Response from Nate: Wespe, Mike Dollinger (yellow in back of pic); Firefly, Mark Gist; Unnamed British Bateau, Tom Nader; II (two), Jay Henderson; Tantrum, Jay Henderson. In the previous picture, we have the prop boat, aka Powder Tender (the one that blows up during the battle) and the Tantrum with Jay Henderson and Brian McCrary setting Powder Tender on fire. Who are these chaps and who are they with? From historyfanatic: David Graves, Rats (Archangel), Bradley (GLRP) and Daniel Robertson (Skurvy Dog Clan), both dead, and Gavin Kelly's sword and pistol in the far right. Sheriff of Nottingham, in gratitude for you faithful service, I shall knight thee. In the name of My Most Royal Majesty, I knight thee. Arise, Sir Loin of Beef. Arise, Earl of Cloves. Arise, Duke of Brittingham. Arise, Baron of Munchausen. Arise, Essence of Myrrh...Milk of Magnesia...Quarter of Ten. (Sotto voce) Got lots of stamina!"

Can anyone tell me the names of these folks (re-enactor names would be best for the web site. Their re-enactment group name and title would also be helpful if they have one. If I can find websites I link to them through my website for a little bonus PR): (I know the middle one is Chole's daughter, but I forgot her name.) (This is Stephen - is that his character name? What group is he with?) (These are the Great Lakes River Pirates. I know that much.) Oh, wait. We know that one.

Me first! I switched to Gmail to upload the pics because I ran out of space on my other pic hosting site. They wanted me to send them money, so I figure the hell with them. However, it seems that Picasa strips all the names from your pics when it uploads - thus these pics have no captions. Sorry about that. I guess you'll just have to use your imagination until I get my web page for this event together. (Think in terms of weeks...) I will probably be posting some of them directly to this thread to find out various people's names for my web page. (I can't very well go about calling them "Absolutely Lovely Parasol Girl," "Goofy Kid" or "Great Lakes Pirate A", now can I? :) ) So here are my Paynetown pics, sans labels: http://picasaweb.google.com/MarkCKSuccess/Paynetown200902#

No, they didn't call it a pot luck...what was it that they did call it? It was some sort of warped Indiana-speak. A very nice event - I learned a lot. I wish I would have taken some notes on what happened so I could make a web page of it. (It seems to take me a day to get acclimated and start seeing what's quirky and interesting to report about an event.)

Panera. Free Wi-Fi and good food. For favorite posh restaurants: Cafe Solé in Key West and Hermann's European Cafe in Cadillac, MI. Both have excellent food (at the former I suggest the hog fish snapper, at the latter the morel mushroom soup & tempura shrimp) and neither is pretentious. I will go out of my way to eat at either place when the opportunity presents.

Yes it is.

Ok, there seem to be no takers. That one is from the movie House (1986) starring William Katt, George Wendt and Richard Moll. My friend and I thought that line was really funny. How about this one? "We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin." "Well I got the sh!t kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it!" (Oh, speaking of WI, all you Wisconsin fans should check out the MSTK3 version of the movie Giant Spider Invasion. Packers!)

She wouldn't have had to be lovely....I can't remember where I read it, but most of the time the eeergh...."ladys" didn't disrobe to do their job.... So the novelty of seeing one naked, might be what the Pyrate was after...(welllll....and..... awh... nevermind... ) That's interesting. I might be interested in reading whatever you read that in if you can remember it. (Treating VD was a part of the surgeon's job.)

According to these authors, most of the warming benefit of fabric comes from the air trapped within them because it can be warmed by the body without being lost as quickly through fabric leakage. When bodily warmed air escapes through fabric, it will be replaced by cool air from outside the fabric. At least that's how I understand this. "Alcohol impairs the ability of the liver to maintain blood-sugar levels (Haight and Katinge 1973). Consequently, in cold environments, such people [as are drinking alcohol] are at increased risk of developing hypothermia. Furthermore, besides not having a normal shivering response [because it is impaired by alcohol - shivering raises the body's core temperature and is beneficial in cold temperatures], they perceive less discomfort from the cold and are less aware of the danger they are in. It is probably this reaction that has led to the myth that alcohol 'keeps the cold out!'" (Golden and Tipton, p. 105) "In contrast to whole body exercise, leg-only exercise can keep deep body temperature higher during cold-water immersion than remaining at rest. This suggests that the arms are a major area of heat loss in cold water. this seems logical given that the arms have a larger surface-area-to-mass[weight] ratio than the legs..." (Golden and Tipton, p. 135) I think it's interesting that they suggest kicking your legs, but keeping your arms still - in fact, keeping them wrapped around your torso may improve core body temperature. "Both carbohydrate and fat metabolism contribute to the body water stores, whereas protein matabolism will tend to deplete these stores. A product of protein metabolism is urea, a compound that is excreted by the kidney [via urine] and, in large amoungs, is toxic to the body. The volume of water lost in excretion of urea depends on the amount of protein being matabolized (2 to 3 milliliters for every gram __ of protein). In starvation conditions, even when a person is not eating any protein, the body begins to consume its own muscle protein (catabolism) as a source of vital energy." (Golden and Tipton, p. 144-5) So eating meats and other proteins can reduce your chance for survival when you are not getting enough water. Just fascinating. "Survivors should consume no water in the first 24 hours because the body's reserves should be able to cope in the early stages. Much of the water drunk in this period will be excreted, wastefully, as urine. Thereafter, survivors should restrict intake to about 500 milliliters (just over a pint) a day unless supplies are plentiful, in which case they may drink up to a liter (just over a quart) a day... When water is plentiful, protein, which is likely to be abundantly available [fish], provides a valuable source of energy. But when water supplies are severely limited, survivors should avoid protein as much as possible to conserve water. The loss of body water, required to excrete the urea from protein metabolism, may hasten death from dehydration long before death from starvation would occur. Thus the benefit to body energy is outweighed by the penalty to water balance." (Golden and Tipton, p. 147)

I read it based on your recommendation, actually. It's an excellent book.

It is an alleged comedy/horror movie in the vein of the ED movies. It features veterans of Cheers, Night Court and The Greatest American Zero.

Ok, let's try inserting the images again. They seem to be working and it makes that mess much easier to read.

I personally doubt appearance was as important then as it is now. We are fed a constant diet of unwittingly coordinated, visually stimulating models of an ideal that didn't really begin until the 20th century. Besides, when you stop to consider it, just how important it he appearance of a whore, even today? Sure, attractive prostitutes would be a bonus (which is most likely reflected in their rates), but let's be realistic... Plus, as Hurricane says, people were much more likely to have blemishes and facial disfigurements then than now as Hurricane said. To quote the excellent book Hubbub: Filth, Noise, and Stench in England, 1600-1770 by Emily Cockayne: "Many conditions would have caused itching, including eczema, impetigo, ‘psorophthalmy’ (eyebrow dandruff), scabies, chilblains, chapped and rough skin, ‘tetters’ (spots and sores), ‘black morphew’ (leprous or scurvy skin) and ringworm. Few citizens enjoyed smooth unblemished skin. Cuts and grazes could lead to ugly and uncomfortable scabbing and unattractive scarring. In this pre-antibiotic era, skin eruptions in the forms of bulging pustules, lesions, acne and gout-induced ulcers could all have become infected, causing chronic wounds.’” (Cockayne, p. 54) Most modern psychological studies find the percentage of gays in the US to be in the range of 5 - 6%. Even the most liberal estimates of the percentage only suggest it could be as high as 8%. So unless there was some amazing fascination with homosexuality during period (which would be curious given cultural and religious mores of the time), it would not seem to me that there would have been excessive demand for this. Again, I suggest that our increased access to homoerotic imagery combined with a much greater acceptance of homosexuality and the presence of many androgynous male models as "ideal" via the media, we would probably have far more fascination with homosexuality today than they would have had 300 years ago when it was usually abhorred, even by many of its practitioners.

Can anyone see the images other than the one of me? If not, I guess the software is picking them out. I'm just going to remove them.

So, I watched the movie Scooby Doo: Pirates Ahoy, which I now feel the need to prattle on about. (Note: SD:PA is not the best pirate cartoon ever, but I am not about to start a new topic for this.) (Also note: this review contains spoilers...if it is possible to spoil a Scooby Doo cartoon. I mean, come on... the gang will happen across a mystery, the adults will be less than helpful, Fred will plan things, Shag and Scoob will be the bait for a trap that doesn't work as intended, Daphne will be vapid and probably get into trouble, Velma will notice things Sherlock style and piece together the puzzle and the bad guy in the mask would have gotten away with it...IF…well, you know. Did I miss anything?) We start with the most shocking thing in this movie for me: the WB logo. When did WB acquire the Hanna Barbara studios? I really need to start paying better attention. Apparently this has been a good thing, as the animation has improved dramatically. Remember how Fred's eyes were sometimes out of line like some sort of unfortunate ocular damage occurred between scenes? Or how Daphne sometimes had white sclera (look it up) and sometimes didn’t? Or those backgrounds that got repeated over and over and over and over like someone was filming the characters walking in front of scenery that was on a giant vertical treadmill? All of that is gone. (*Sniff* I actually sort of miss it.) We open with floating embers which is clearly meant to recall POTC:CotBP. Then we are treated to scenes of every stray Bermuda Triangle disaster theory known to man - aliens, mysterious fog, the Kraken, a maelstrom, etc. This is all just window dressing, possibly designed to get the kiddos not familiar with the concept up to snuff, but there it is. Again, note elements from the POTC movies. (You'll see a lot of that.) At last! Something fresh and original. (HB animation never looked so good.) We focus on a small ship containing what will later be revealed to be a astro-cartographer named Johnny De- er, Rupert Garcia. A mysterious glowing fog envelops his ships and skeletal pirate zombies smash things and abduct people while trying really, really hard to summon the feel of the Moonlight Serenade scene. (When the pirate zombie captain came aboard, I actually found myself mumbling "You best start believin' in ghost stories - you're in one!") After trashing the ship and not finding Rupert (who hides under his desk), the pirates leave and blow a hole in the side of it with their cannon. We see it sink. (Remember this.) Curiously, they will really, really need Rupert later, which makes me wonder if our pirates just don't have the right 'can do' attitude about all this skulduggery. We switch to the Mystery Machine, which is driving about in broad daylight. Yes! Broad daylight! I didn't think the MM could even run on clear, sunny days. I figured it had some sort of anti-solar panel on top causing the van to shut off when it got too sunny. The gang seems to work only in really spooky, overcast conditions. I can even remember them going boating on a foggy, overcast day in the original series! ("Hassle in the Castle"). With the advent of the latest SD incarnation, What's New Scooby Doo?, there have been a few changes to the gang. Velma is now thinner and wears a longer skirt. It's nice to see cartoon stars taking an active role in improving themselves. Fred has eschewed his orange cravat and now features a blue stripe on his sweater. I guess they didn't want anyone to think he was supporting the Chicago Bears or anything. Daphne has also lost her green cravat and received a crossover skirt, about which I can think of no snarky comment. (Purple and green?) The show now has a slightly smart-alecky, self-aware vibe this is a trifle disconcerting to me. I'm going to guess that this came about with the live-action movies, although I haven’t actually seen any of them. Frank Welker voices Fred (and Scooby) and he sounds as good as he ever did. Casey Casem voices Shaggy as usual, although he sounds a little long in the tooth (if that's possible.) Daphne is voiced reasonably well by Grey DeLisle and Velma is voiced by Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn (!). As an added bonus to all SD fans, Scrappy is no where to be seen. But I digress... The gang on set in their "new" outfits, wondering how we got off on this tangent. The reveal of the Mystery Machine is just an establishing shot to get the gang to a boat dock to meet Fred's parents. Fred's dad is voiced by Tim Conway (who was featured in one of those less-than-adequate New Scooby Doo Movies - although they do get some points for not having Scrappy in them.) His mom appears to be voiced by Frances McDormand. You betcha'. Fred's parents address everyone in the gang by their real/full names, including Shaggy. (Norville. I suppose this is why he never lobbied for a better nickname than "Shaggy." Anything must be an improvement over "Norville.") Some hijinks occur on the dock, a creepy man appears and disappears and then the gang and Fred's ma and pa board a cruise liner. The ship's hammy cruise director apparently has no other passengers to worry about and gives the gang and fam a complete ship tour. She is clearly modeled after Lauren Tewes - that hair - although her appearance is the only part of her which suggests this. The tour also introduces Captain Barack, who is, of course, goofy. All guys except non-descript sheriffs and villains in Scooby Doo seem to be a bit goofy. This may or may not have something to do with the stable of voice artists available to cartoons in Hollywood. The captain stages several fake monster "mysteries" designed to convince the patrons that aliens and other assorted monsters are boarding the ship. This is because they're in the Bermuda Triangle, see? Curiously, several of the monsters Capt. Barack portrays are actually from seasons 1 and 2 of Scooby Doo Where Are You? including that old Bermuda Triangle favorite, the wolfman (!) who comes from the episode "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts." Of course, the gang sees right through all Cappy B's attempts as they are serious mystery solvers. Velma reveals Cappy Barack for the fraud that he is. Meanwhile, the astro-cartographer from the first scenes (Rupert) is picked up from the wreckage of his boat. On embarking, he proclaims "This whole ship and everyone on it is in terrible, terrible danger!" Everyone ignores this because it's tradition. (Reference any B horror movie where the teens try to warn people in positions of authority about impending doom.) Also, multi-billionaire nutter Biff "Branson" Wellington jets onto the ship a la James Bond, which even one of the gang notes is totally unbelievable because they are in the middle of nowhere. So now you know who the villain is - haughty rich guys always have two strikes against them in Hollywood and when they appear out of nowhere when a mystery is afoot, you can pretty much depend on them being the bad guy. Some other filler occurs, but let's skip to the floor show at the costume ball (Fred: cowboy; Daphne: purple cat; Shaggy & Scooby: two-headed chicken; Velma: harem girl (!) ). The floor show at the costume ball features the creepy little man from the dock, who, as it turns out, is a hypnotist. If you have watched any SD shows at all, you should now realize that he figures into the creation of the zombie pirate deal. (In SD, hypnotism is nearly all powerful, projectors can be used to create 3D images of anything, anywhere and hidden wheels, gears and cranes (often in large robotic objects) are always soundless and undetectable until the end of the show when they are completely obvious even to a four year old child.) Mr. Mysterio (that's the hypnotist's name) does an act where he hypnotizes everyone at the ball except his targets (Shaggy and Scooby.) This causes me to wonder a) What gives Shag and Scoob this sudden resistance to hypnotics? (In the original series, Scooby was hypnotized by a ghost clown with a coin on a string!) and B ) How can this guy be any good at all when he completely misses his targets but gets everyone else on the ship? I'm thinking that this ship is full of really gullible people. I wonder if there was a checkbox "open to suggestion" on the application? Anyhow, even though we're already pretty sure he figures into the dastardly scheme, he releases everyone from their trance just as the pirates arrive and board the cruise ship. Let's talk about ship scales for a second. We see the pirate ship passing alongside the cruise-liner outside the ballroom window. Now, from my experience (which admittedly isn't much, but I'll put it out there anyhow), ballrooms and such-like are located at the top of a cruise ship. And cruise ships are freaking huge, usually poking 100’+ out of the water. We saw the size of the pirate ship in relation to the astro-cartographer's ship at the beginning and it was about what you'd expect for a pirate ship - say two or three stories high (presuming one can measure ship height in stories) plus the masts. So it's about 30’ to 35’ max. Yet there it is, right outside the window at 100’+. That must be some creative license they applied for on this project. You really gotta' know someone special at the DMV to get one a license like that. Did your ship grow taller or is it just happy to see us? Anyhow, the pirates board the ship and create Mayhem a la POTC. It turns out that the pirate captain ghost zombie guy (that's the title on his business card) is named "Skunkbeard," which I really think some re-enactor needs to consider adopting as their moniker. He sports a white stripe down the middle of his beard and probably has really bad halitosis or something. (One would hope.) Sensing that the plot is languishing, he absconds with everyone on board, most particularly Fred's parents. For some reason he doesn't take the gang, who are left to devise a way to sneak aboard themselves. Shaggy and Scooby go to the prow of the ship (that's sailor talk there) and do the whole "I'm king of the world!" thing that every geek must do when he's at the prow of the ship. "I'm king of the dorks!" We are now treated to several scenes of pirate zombie ghosts drinking and carousing on their pirate ship in a minor, Saturday cartoon way. This is sort of cool and very reminiscent of POTC. It also provides the first view of the pirate ship's masthead that I noted. It is noteworthy if you ask me. The masthead is a zombie mermaid that I was so cool that I got a screenshot of it for all to enjoy: Not to go OT, but…oh, what the hell. I have long been planning to take all the bits and pieces of old 70s POTC skeleton models and turn them into a diorama for the top shelf of book case in my Pirate-themed living room. It occurred to me that since all the pirate skeletons are guys (as near as I can tell) it would be funny to have one looking longingly at a mermaid. Of course, she must be a skeletal mermaid, or why would he long for her? So I tried to commission a girl to make a POTC scale model of a skeleton mermaid for my diorama. For some reason or other that fell through, possibly because she thought I was crazy. This sculpture would have been a little like this masthead, though, except skeletal. Alright, end of OT point. C'mon...ya' haveta' admit that that's really kewl. So the gang is on-board the pirate ship, where they sneak around and release Fred's dad, who has been tied to a mast. I forgot to mention that for the costume ball, Fred's dad dressed up in the astro-cartographer's clothes. For some reason this made the pirates believe he was the astro-cartographer, despite the following: 1) the clothes are pretty normal-looking (albeit raggedy) and not particularly astro-cartographery, 2) Fred's dad looks almost nothing like the astro-cartographer and 3) the pirates never saw the astro-cartographer in those clothes as far as we know. You could argue that they looked for someone in raggedy garb, but they're at a costume ball. Anyhow, the monsters (pirate zombie ghost monsters to you) head toward their destination using a 200 year old painting of the stars which was on the astro-cartographer's ship. (!!) Yes, the pirates appear to have gathered and completely reassembled Rupert's ship from the flotsam and jetsam that we saw the astro-cartographer floating around on at the beginning of the show. They did a pro job too; you can't even see the seams where they glued it back together. Rupert is forced to take the pirate zombie ghosts to the exact location shown in the painting, which he can detect using his special astro-cartographer powers. See, the painting is of a meteor crashing into the sea and it shows the stars in the sky around it. Lucky for the pirate zombie ghosts that the painter was one hand 200 years ago when this event occurred in the 500,000 square miles that make up the Bermuda Triangle. Also lucky for the pirate zombie ghosts is that Rupert can somehow figure out the exact location despite the fact that the position of the stars in the sky depend on the time of year and year itself. Once Rupert gets the pirate zombie ghosts there, they hoist the meteor out of the sea. Meanwhile, the gang finds a storeroom below deck which contains, among other things, a barrel labeled "beans." I guess barrel o' beans is the zombie pirates favorite lunch-time treat. This may help explain Captain Skunkbeard's name. The storeroom also contains small models and projectors which means that the pirate zombies can clearly create the illusions of a UFO, missing WWII planes, a kraken and similar whatnot-hoosits anywhere they like. (Recall the rule about projectors cited previously.) This is all to explain the first scenes of the show, I guess, although those scenes looked as if they had taken place over a hundred years or more. "Ok gang, let's split up and search for clues to this 'magical fruit' Skunkbeard mentioned." So now the gang knows the whole pirate zombie ghost thing is a hoax and all there is to do is capture the monsters before they get the meteor on board. Naturally, Fred comes up with a plan and Shaggy and Scooby are the bait. (There is no mention of Scooby Snacks at this point, which I think is a crime. They did say something about them earlier, however, so it's not a total loss.) The plan goes all wrong, of course. There are some classic WB gags embedded in here (perhaps another plus contribution from the new alliance) including a pretty close replica of the one where our heroes run into one of four doors and out of another as the villains try to follow. This recalls the classic Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam pirate cartoons. The pacing is a little too slow to be as effective as master gag-timer Friz Freleng made them, but you have to take a good gag where you can get it. Anyhow the zombies are all captured despite the failure of Fred's plan, because the meteor is supernatural and causes a real maelstrom. The end result of this is that all the zombies wind up in a net. It turns out that this meteor is made of solid gold. Mr. Mysterio (Who is one of the pirate zombie ghosts! Gasp!) somehow knew this despite the fact that no one appears to have even been aware that there was a meteor there in the first place, other than some sharp-eyed painter 200 years ago. Mysterio hypnotized all the people they captured and convinced them to wear pirate zombie ghost outfits. He and Biff Wellington (Gee! What a knee slapper!) cooked up (see, I can be punny too) the pirate scheme to get to the asteroid. Their plan must have been predicated upon Rupert deciding to go into the Bermuda Triangle with his 200-year old painting, which seems pretty thin to me, but there you are. They would gotten away with it, except etcetera, etcetera. After all this, the cruise continues on the pirate ship since the pirates sunk the cruise ship (Which I forgot to mention. Sorry.) The end. Uh...oh, yeah. That happened a long time ago. It's actually ok as Scooby Doo shows go. It is at least as good as the original Scooby pirate episode "Go Away Ghost Ship" featuring the less interesting Redbeard the pirate. This one is a trifle long, though. All that junk about Captain Barack pretending to be monsters along with some slow scenes could have been quickly trimmed and we'd have a much tighter and more active show. Still, it's reasonably good. You know, for kids.

No, but that's a good guess. Definitely in the right direction. It's a movie from the 80s, featuring several TV actors.

Ah, Mancini. I will add it to my list. "Damn! Come back from the grave and ran out of ammunition!"

Well, I got the Horatio series and watched the first one. It looks just like the Sharpe's series on the sea from that viewing. Good details, enough PC notions to sate the purist in most of us and a stark black & white view of the world. This is one thing I enjoyed about Sharpe - you always knew who needed to be overcome. (Too bad the world isn't really like this.) If Sharpe is a good benchmark, I expect to see some messy romantic intrigues soon.

I forgot about The Longest Day. I have seen that one. (Not Hatari. Is it good? I find Wayne is hit and miss for me.) And I believe your current quote is from Spartacus, which I just saw a few months ago. I love that chariot music.

Well then there's no need to even be concerned with the behavioral analysis. The original point is moot.

From reading this, I'd say that changing into dry clothing and then layering it is the best bet. (Although you probably don't have that option.) The reason for layering may not what you'd think, though. It's because layers provide pockets of warm air. (Of course, this is far more important in submersion than in air.) "In less severe environments underclothing absorbs the condensed moisture, becoming damp and replacing air. Because water has 24 times the thermal conductivity of air, this displacement of air from clothing by water will quickly and significantly reduce the effectiveness of clothing insulation. [in other words, damp (sweaty) skin does what it's supposed to and cools the body. So going from a very hot to very cool environment will make you cold faster.] Thus, dampness facilitates heat transfer across the layers of wet clothing...by evaporation, convection and radiation. The wisdom of the old adage 'If you want to stay warm in the mountains, stay slightly cold' should now be apparent. By staying slightly cold, a person will minimize sweating and preserve clothing insulation. To prevent the condensation of water vapor within clothing, many manufacturers have replaced impermeable materials with those that incorporate vapor-permeable ('breathable') membranes. When new and clean, these membranes allow water-vapor to pass through the clothing while preventing the entrance of water. At least some materials appear to retain this capability when soiled, although salt water, oils, and other substances may degrade other materials." (Golden and Tipton, p. 45) Some other stuff... "The hands and feet do not produce much heat. Thus, the temperature of these areas depends primarily on the heat delivered by blood flow. When cold conditions reduce this blood flow by vasoconstriction [the narrowing of the blood vessels], the hands __ and feet cool quickly because of their high surface area. The best way to protect the hands and feet, besides insulating them, is to keep the body warm and thereby maintain their blood (heat) supply. The saying 'If you want to keep your hands warm in the cold, wear a hat' is accurate. A hat will reduce heat loss from the head (see the proceeding) and help maintain deep body temperature and thus peripheral blood flow. Gloves and footwear will insulate, but will not maintain local blood flow if deep body temperature is falling. hence, even with gloves and special footwear, if deep body temperature falls, hand and foot temperatures will fall, albeit more slowly with extra insulation. The hands are particularly difficult to protect. As the thickness of gloves increases so does the surface area for heat loss [if I understand this correctly, better padded gloves make your hands "larger." Heat radiates out of your hands into the padded glove and is lost more quickly because the glove makes your hand larger and more able to dissipate heat. IF if understand it correctly. They don't explain it well.]... Fingerless mitts are therefore preferable to gloves." (Golden and Tipton, p. 48-9) Of course, if you're handling cold things, then I would thing the value of padded gloves in protecting them from direct contact with the cold thing would be beneficial. However, from their point, it would seem that minimal padding would be preferable if you want to keep your hands warmer. It's not at all what I thought. "A popular misconception about drowning is that it is caused by the weight of saturated clothing 'dragging people under.' This belief has lead to the misguided advice to undress in the water, an action that reduces total insulation. But because water does not weigh anything in water, it is not this that drags people under. Rather a loss of buoyancy occurs when air escapes withing the fabric of the clothing [they're wearing]. On initial immersion, air contained within clothing provides helpful buoyancy. After a time, which varies from seconds to minutes depending on the clothing worn and movement, the air escapes, thereby lowering the body in water and reducing the distance from mouth to water. This requires __ the person to lift the head higher out of the water to breathe [making breathing in water more likely]... The restriction to movement caused by wet clothing is a further encumbrance: It also increases drag if one is swimming. Even small waves on the sea cause a reduction in the mouth-to-water distance to become critical. Subsequent aspiration [breathing in] of water into the the lungs will further reduce the buoyancy of the body. Rescuers describe how the sound of the rescue boat sometimes prompts people in the water to wave. In so doing, they disturb the trapped air from under their waterproof oversuit and suddenly sink (fishers wearing 'oilskins' are particularly prone to this problem). Although it is difficult to do, people who find themselves in similar situations should remain motionless and allow the rescuers to do all the work." (Golden and Tipton, p. 74-5) "...seawater is more damaging and lethal to aspirate. Indeed, experiments have shown seawater to be twice as lethal as fresh water (Modell 1971)." (Golden and Tipton, p. 83) The detailed reason for this is pretty intricate, but basically it is because fresh water can be more easily absorbed by the blood passing around the lungs, meaning that the fresh water can be removed faster. As the authors explain it, water in the lungs produces a sort of lesion or blister where the lung comes in contact with the bloodstream. This makes it impossible for the blood passing by the lungs to exchange CO2 for Oxygen. This is the real reason we "drown" - no oxygen can get into the bloodstream from the damaged lungs to be circulated throughout the body. You can survive with a little water in your lungs. Conversely, you can drown when your lungs are only partially filled with water because of the damage caused by the water at the blood interface.

No Gore? (Can we lose Bruckheimer too?) http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/07/marshall-steering-disneys-pirate-ship-.html