Wear silk

Since this is vacation time, I will now give my lecture on why you should wear silk when you fly.

Sometimes, airplanes don't get up and stay up the way they should. This is not something we can control. However, we can do a great deal to control our ability to SURVIVE a crash. Most people who die in airline crashes do not die from the impact. They die in the subsequent fireball when the jet fuel burns.

Try this experiment. Put a candle in your kitchen sink, take inch-long bits of synthetic yarn or fabrics, (nylon, polyester, acrylic, acetate) and, using tweezers or tongs, slowly bring the material up to the candle flame. You will see that synthetics melt, then burst into flame even before the fire actually touches them. Try to blow it out. It resists being extinguished. Imagine having this fabric on your body. Your polyester blouse would melt onto your skin and burst into flame that would be difficult to extinguish. And even when the fire was out, you would still be covered in hot melted plastic.

Now try the experiment with plant fibers: Cotton, linen, hemp, rayon (it's made from wood.) The yarn will burn as easily as grass, but you need to actually get it up to the fire, and it's fairly easy to put out. Your cotton jeans might burn if exposed to the fire, but they will be easy to put out, and they won't continue burning you once they are extinguished.

Now take animal fibers: silk, wool, and other animal hairs. You will find that the yarn resists burning, will self-extinguish once removed from the fire, and leaves a cold ash. Moreover, animal fibers will insulate your skin from the heat, preventing even more damage.

Forest-fire fighters wear only cotton or silk underwear. They get so close to the fires that synthetics would melt on them, even under their fireproof suits.

The moral of this story is that you can make yourself safer if you wear silk or wool when you fly. Anyhow, silk is comfortable, suitable to all seasons, stylish, and you are worthy of it. Get a silk top and slacks, silk socks, and undies to wear only when you fly. It's a tiny investment in your security.

I hope you enjoyed my lecture. Tune in here tomorrow for the goldfish story.