Fall Foliage: Newsletter Challenge (10/07/08)

There are quite some parameters that one may take into account, like, e.g. the different physiology or different clothing between a man and a woman. But I bet this cannot be the answer, as it doesn't account for the particular season the scene takes place. So here is my first go:

The man, might be stepping on an insulating layer of fallen foliage, which prevents the balance of radiated heat exchange with the ground being too negative for his body. The woman on the other hand, would act as women usually do: Try to step on the cleanest place possible... paying the price for it.

Just to add a sociological point of view:

A man won't admit that he feels cold; he has to play the "macho" sort of man, especially the first few weeks he is with a girlfriend or a wife. (Of course, after routine slips in, he can relax a bit and maybe allow himself to shiver, cry, watch musicals or do other wussy stuff.)

In contrast, a woman has to draw attention, an extra warm hug and, if lucky, a rub in the back, especially in a romantic scenery like the one at hand.

Apart from women always being right, the bloke is the one who's ill ; some kind of hypothermia thing going on.

I like tkot's answer in principle* - but if it had been my wife and myself, we would both have been wearing waterproof boots and thick socks - and up to our knees in the piles of leaf (assuming these to be available).

So, neglecting tkot's detail:
My wife is right that it feels cold to her. And I am right that it is comfortable for me. That situation is quite usual. So my statement that she "must be sickening" would be treated with the contempt it deserves (on the other hand, I am usually 'persuaded' to carry more clothing than I need, which comes in handy).
Were it the other way around (as once happened in the early years of our marriage) she would have been quite right.

Had it been my father concluding that my mother was sickening (no longer possible, alas), he would almost certainly have been correct.

*maybe an additional reason is that tkot is carying the rucksack, thus he is both more sheltered and generating more heat.

First I must state, "The wife is ALWAYS correct!"

That being said there are way too many parameters missing here. How are each dressed has been stated and is true. What is the age of you and your wife. I remember one fall day here in Michigan where my family was "up north" to help my grand father pull in his dock for the winter. There stood:

my grandfather at about 70 in his winter coat

my father at about 50 in his heavy fall jacket

my older brother at about 30 in a wind breaker

myelf at about 25 in a sweatshirt

my younger brother at about 15 was in a t-shirt and shorts

We were each comfortable in what we were wearing.

Body mass is also missing. A person that is larger and has more mussle mass (usually a man) has a core temperture that is more stable and will not "feel" cold as easly as one who has less mussle mass.

A firm defination of "cool"s also missing. I find about 68 F is comfortable while my wife consistantly would find that to be "cold" and have a jacket on.

Is the sun shinnig? or is a "glum" overcast day?

How long and fast have we been walking? Has she worked up a sweat and I have not? While a fever from being sick will raise the body temp inside causing a sweat and feeling of ambient temperature to be low, it does not need to be the only thing.

With all that being said, I belive that the woman would be correct. Iread an article a few years back where some studies had been done showing that until the temp drops to the point where viruses and bacteria can't live, temperature has no bering on wether a person will become sick. Environmental condition such as humidity can have an effect on the "growing" abilities of said pests, but has no bearing on wether a person will catch them.

You are absolutely correct ...... It has to do with the ratio of volume to surface area.

Think about it. If a man is in the middle of the forest, many miles from anywhere and anyone else. IS HE STILL WRONG?

I said my piece

He is if he's with his wife!

(to be sung with the tune from Bonanza ......)

I'm ok ... You're ok .... Everyone's OK..... da, da da da, da, da da da, Bonanza , da, da da da, da, da da da , Everyone's OK.

By the way Number 5 post is the correct answer.

Well, the short answer is, of course your wife is correct! Happy wife, happy life.

The longer answer is that perceived comfort is a personal matter, and an ambient temperature that one person finds comfortable can be too warm or too cold to another person, even if both are dressed similarly and of similar physique.

Having said that, my wife has reached the stage in life where, as one comedian quipped, she has "traded in her electric blanket for a 40-horsepower ceiling fan." She is most comfortable at about 72F (22C), while I like it closer to 78F (26C). Of course, I don't point out (to her) that she is much better insulated than I am. Early in our marriage, when she was younger and less well-insulated, we both would feel comfortable at about 78F; but moving into a cooler room, she would become chilled faster than I would.

good answer Uncle Red.

I left this one alone till I read a few replies, Yes I'm a coward?, they have run the gambit of, yes she's always right, body weight, clothing and age, and have we all the necessary information? The clues given are, male and female, time of year and location. One can safely assume that the male and female population are no different from any other. As for clothing and age, they have been left as an open question.

So as they where looking at the foliage, I assume among the trees, I would say she was standing in the shade and he in the sunshine?

Regards JD.

That would presume the sun was shinning. I wondered myself when I pointed out,

Is the sun shinnig? or is a "glum" overcast day?

Although I myself think they would be nuts, I see many couples walking on a glummy day in the fall here in Michigan. Some are admiring the follage and some seem to be even more nuts by just seeming to walk.

Aren't you rather letting the side down - this means you were wrong to say she was sickening for something?

If she wants it that bad she only has to ask!

I think that I am going to side with you on this one Mr. Brain. I too have had leg operations and found the same occurrance with the cold although I did not attribute it to that until just now.

The other thing I would like to add as well would be chest hair. Women don't have it and most men do. Keeping the core temperature warmer thus keeping the body warmer.

...chest hair. Women don't have it and most men do...

You haven't met my neighbor's wife!

While I do like this answer, it does make some assumptions that we don't know. It assumes the man has body hair where the woman does not. There are many ways that this may not be true. Body builders, for example, shave it off. Some men,for another example, have more hair than others (I have two male friends that have no chest hair at all and so little leg and arm hair so as not to be easily seen). And for a third example, not all woman in the world (here in USA or other parts) shave their legs or pits (other things are left only to our fantisies and speculations).

All humans (with the rare medical exceptions of those born completely without) have hair that would help insulate. This is evident by the "goose bump effect". Goose bumps (or chicken skin as I have heard it called) is the body raising the hair on the skin so as to help keep a thermal layer around the body in order to allow less heat from escaping the body.

My bet is that the man is Irish and his wife is a gorgeous Amazonian Brazilian and they are holidaying in the Northeast US.

Seriously, temperature is a very relative measurement when we rely on humans from different parts of the world to give their verdict.

I used to work for a multinational company in Galway Ireland some years back and I remember one time we had a lady from our North Carolina plant pay us a visit during the month of July (Northern Hemisphere Summer). She wore her long leather coat, and several layers underneath I have no doubt, to our office every day, while the rest of us locals were just wearing short-sleeved tee-shirts.

It was summertime to us but sadly it was equivalent to her winter

Same thing here in Florida with a minor added issue. People from the northern states relocating to Florida do not tolerate the high summer heat, but can more easily stand the "cold" winters when the temp dips all the way to 60F or lower.

Additionally, the older folks we affectionately name "snowbirds" cannot tolerate the extremes of the north so migrate south for the winter.

Tony

Your wife is right! She is not sick and is feeling the effects of the normal "cool fall days". You, on the other hand, have an elevated body temperature (fever) because you are sick. You mistake this as normal and feel comfortable.

Both are correct. The man, because of more muscle mass, generates more heat within his body when he moves around. The woman, even though she has an extra two layers of fat to provide ample food in case of famine for her baby, feels the cold because her body heat is kept in her body cavity to also protect the baby and thusly, her hands and feet are expendable by Nature's evolution in case of a harsh winter. Why do you think a wife will put her cold feet on a husband's hot kidney area? Circulation and heat--go figure.

I'm inclined to agree somewhat with Procrastin. My wife and I have such vastly different internal thermostats that I sometimes wonder which of us is an alien.

She sleeps under a heavy down quilt while I heave the thing off within two minutes of retiring, preferring just a sheet.

According to Dr Karl Krujilnitsche (spelling?) this is a common phenomena. I've always put it down to differences in metabolism.

I agree that both are correct but it doesn't have anything to do with physics or thermodynamics. Hot and cold, warm and cool...these are all relative terms just like speed (define too fast). I naturally like a warmer temperature so when I think a room feels comfortable other people think it feels too warm.

To be honest though, I really hope I'm not right on this. If so, this would make a real lousy challenge question.

Doesn't the first sentence say "in the late, cool days of fall in the Northeast U.S.". Therefore: isn't the wife correct?

I suppose we are both heavily clothed. I also assume we are the same height and weight. So I must have something extra on like a hat and maybe I also have a beard. This will ensure that less heat from my head and face escapes. This in turn will ensure that my core temperature is higher than my wife's.

She is in that she made a statement as to her feelings. Not that in fact it was cold. Each of us are different. We have different body make ups, clothing habits, metabolisms and jobs that may acclimatize us to changing weather.

Now he could be if in fact she was getting sick. The elevated body temperature of a fever would make her feel cold.

Time for an off the wall response.

Seeing as it is late fall the sun is setting low in the sky. The husband just happens to be standing such as to absorb the sun and the wife is in his shadow. So as he is gaining the added advangate of the solar heating the wife is let to shiver. All the guy needs to do is more out of the way and so the sun can warm her up too.

Another possibility is that if the man's work keeps him outside more than the woman's job, he could have become acclaimated to the cooler temperatures sooner. I usually can stand the cooler fall temperatures but as I just got back from a 3 week stay in Vietnam, the cooler temperatures feel a bit less comfortable than in the pass years.

I don't entirely accept the shaved vs. unshaven leg argument. Women's bodies have a subcutaneous layer of insulating fat that men's bodies don't have. This would keep the wife comfortable on a 'cool' autumn day. Her comment really means she wants attention. She wants to be held close and told that although the foliage is pretty, she is prettier. (*)

I remember waiting for the school bus on cold winter days, seeing girls in skirts (no pantyhose) who were comfortable while I was freezing, even though I was wearing pants. The layer of fat is a good insulator.

(*) Note: Only a fool would tell her she 'must be getting sick' and only an idiot would mention the layer of subcutaneous fat.

Self proclaimed IDIOT! While I did not call her fat, I did insinuate her to maybe be old. Just as bad if not worse. You can lose fat. You can't lose old.

What is the age of you and your wife. From post 4

Speaking for my wife and myself (to avoid embarrassing generalities), My body has much more volume than my wife's. The greater volume gives me more muscle and, yes, fat to insulate my heat generating core (vital organs). Thus given that our clothes provide equivalent insulation; I, the larger male, have the advantage of additional insulation to prevent heat transfer from my heat generating core to the cooler environment where:

ambient temp < 98.6° (human core temp)

Speaking generally, the argument can be made that this holds true for the majority of the species.

I'm not an American and have no idea of the climate in the North East USA, but here in the UK there is very little foliage to be 'admired' towards the end of autumn (fall) and very few of the trees will have enough foliage to either shade you or keep heat in.

Just because she says it feels cold doesn't mean that she is actually cold, it could have just been a 'winter is coming' kind of comment.

But i agree with the majority, women are always right...!

The key phrase here is "you and your wife." It is a known fact that once married, a woman turns cold and her comfort zone narrows to a two degree range. The husband is supposed to sense her discomfort and respond preferably by applying some form of physical comfort, ie. a hug, an affectionate rub on the back, etc. He could also (rather symbolically) remove his fall windbreaker and put it over her sub-zero parka. Not only is this a warming gesture, but it equalizes that comfort zone. What she is telling him is that she would rather be inside cuddling next the a crackling fireplace. What he is saying is that he would rather be nude.

Your wife is ALWAYS Correct!!

She of course is correct. She is stating how "it" feels and not how she feels. Fair enough if she felt cold then maybe she is sickening but she has stated how the cool temperature and general autumn ambience feels. And autumn generally feels cold to me. It doesn't mean it is cold because I can be in my warm office or house looking out at a cold feeling autumn.

Craig

My wife! I've been married far too long to have any doubt about it.

if the wife was from a warmer climate, she will always feel cold and this situation may be the rule rather than an exception, it certainly is for me

(the man knows but the wife knows better)

Several people have hit on very good points that should be included in the final answer. The surface to volume ratio is one key point. The larger muscle mass of the typical man to typical woman is another key (more muscle mass - more calories burnt). Another is that the average man is larger than the average woman and requires more energy to move his body along the path. With each calorie burnt comes some amount of heat produced. Some of this heat is intentionally produced by the body to maintain its core temperature, but most of it in this case is waste heat from burning the calorie to produce energy for locomotion. Hand in hand with this fact is another clinically proven fact that the calorie burning process in men is less efficient that it is in women. What this means is that not only must he burn more calories to move his more massive body down the path, but his calorie burning process is less efficient than hers, producing more waste heat. This is the primary reason the average man eats more than the average woman. Add to this the fact that his surface to volume ratio is smaller than hers and therfore his ability to radiate heat is less efficient than hers. The only obvious conclusion on a cool fall day in the woods is that she will be cold while he is more than warm enough. Neither of them is sick - physically.

Well Spoken!

The answer is actually quite simple. Since men are from Mars and woman are from Venus the temperature differential relative to their home environments would make both correct. However intimating that she was getting sick was probably not the best response. A happy wife is a happy life

She is saying she is cold because she is behind him.

When people don't feel well do they perspire? If so, she would feel colder due to evaporation.

They are both right- it's an individual's view point. Thermal comfort is a very personal concept. It will be influenced by such things as: dry bulb temperature, humidity, air velocity, radiant convection and conductive heat transfer, metabolic rate, an individuals "pain" threshold and probably a dozen other factors (not including the ones already identified by other respondents) that slip my mind at present (damm that slippery little sucker). Oh yeh- visual, noise, smell, mood, etc.

Another Aussie Engineer.

don't be foolish the wife is always right.

Admiring the folliage? Sounds like the trees leaves have gone yellow orange or red. Deciduous trees put on a spectacular display of colors only in certain locations where specific day length and diurnal temperature variations exist. I wish i could remember exactly what they were, but perhaps they might be relevant.

The might be a simpler hexplinashin though. Wifey is standing behind hubby and wifey, overcome by the beauty of nature, is suddenly overcome with ummmm... friskeyness. unbeknown to her husband she has stealthily removed every stich of clothing that she was wearing.

She is not sick, she is merely waiting for you to turn around, silly.

You are very close...... BUT.

The reason he is warm is because the sun is on his back warming his body.

She is cold because she is laying with her bare back on the colorful, damp, wet, leaves that are on the ground.

So they were both correct.

Unfortunately you told that your wife that "she must be getting sick". So, attractive as your wishful-thinking explanation may be, it does mean that you were wrong.

Consequently, you are going to need to do an awful lot of household chores before you get another opportunity like that one.

Your wife's thinner skin has more acute sensitivity, both to hot and to cold. You, on the other hand, have comparatively thicker skin and poorer skin sensitivity. So, if your wife says it feels cold, you are in the poorer position to judge whether or not the air temperature has varied from temperatures that had prevailed previously. Therefore, your wife cannot be judged, especially by you, to be incorrect or under an influence such as sickness. Therefore your wife must be correct. It all centers around the capability of the skin to detect ever slighter changes in temperature...and females have the advantage in that capacity. You only tell your wife she's sick because you are not as able to detect the change.

Quite right. Anyone who disagrees with the wife must have an incredibly thick skin. Remember that in any discussion between man and wife, the man always has the last word...... It tends to be "yes dear".

Truly a "no brainer" for anyone who wishes to reamain married. Wife is always correct! Particularly if she's going through menopause. In the last year I can't count the number of times the thermostat has moved from "tropical" to "Arctic" and back in the space of an hour.

Cheers

Martin

You should take her on a long walk through some fallen leaves! Maybe you could let us know her reaction when she says 'I'm cold' and you say 'Yes dear, I know your cold!'

The actual question is: "Who is correct?"

The answer is simple, and indisputable, they are both correct. Perception of temperature, as in "I'm cold, I'm hot, or I'm just right", is as about as subjective as it gets.

I actually screwed up that last post. She is correct that she feels cold. He is correct in that he feels the temp. is OK. However, he is incorrect, (and a bonehead) for telling her she must be sick to feel cold.

So, after reconsidering, she is correct, and he is incorrect.

Where does it say they are walking, with the infinite variables that go with that? I put that they are driving through the countryside in an evenly heated automobile interior. They are both experiencing identical environmental conditions and he is right.

One last go..........According to something I read, the night time temperature is about 5^oC. A run of warm sunny days allows the leaves to produce lots of sugars, but the cool nights allow them to retain the sugar. Eventually the sugars get 'cooked' in the leaves by daytime sun, producing red anthrocyanin.

Oh, I give up - the question says it's "cool". It's like asking 'what is comfortable'. That's pretty much exactly what it says.

I think that the wife is wearing cotton. It will keep the perspiration in the fabric which will appear to make the body a cooler temperature than what it actually is. The husband is wearing Gore-Tex as an outer layer, or a modern fabric as a base layer that will wick away the perspiration and make the body feel warmer, even when the outside temperature isn't.

The man is wearing a hat his wife isn't

He's also wearing over and under clothes of his wife's; so is she. So it must be her lack of head cover.

of course the wife is always correct. and if the man was chilly he would never say it first. he would simply say your right honey it is cold.

It might make a difference "what" she's feeling, hmm? Perhaps she's got her hand where it would please him most and him likewise! Both responses would make perfect sense in this case.

Both>

Teh man's core body temp is lower so the ambient temp around him does not feel as sensitive to the change

The women's body is higher in temp, so the air is more sensitive in chage to her skin causing the sensation of cold.

Your Wife is sending you a message, "Dummy"! "She wants to be hugged", "and maybe more"! Don't you realize that your wife is always right, " except when she chooses to be wrong just to protect your ego, and she has that right TOO! If you do not believe this, "ask your wife's closest female friend." Who knows, "maybe there is a fire in the hole"! "Don't you see!

I'll bet we get a lot of dumb answers to this question! You Know, stuff like the effect of the color of the leaves, the shorter periods of sunlight, the effects of minor changes in temp.s, the fact that women wear lighter weight clothing, That because women are smaller than men their bodies will lose heat faster, women generally eat less and therefore may need more food provided energy, their bodies are generally less dense than those of males, and shed or cannot retain heat as well, and the baro. pressure is changing" Did I miss Anything" Don't you Know!

"MY" Vote goes to the "WIFE" as being the most correct!

Toomuchfun

I've thought this over, and perhaps the guy is correct too. He's married to this woman after all. Perhaps, he really knows her well. Perhaps, he knows that, under said conditions, she would not normally be cold. Therefore, she might actually be coming down with something. He may then, be a warm, caring, loving husband, and she is a lucky girl to have him!

Okay, here's another stab...

The question really is: what is the question?

In that regard, I offer that the question devolves to matters of survival and of averages and extremes.

As for survival—

Could we not say, that the very pronouncement, "It feels cold," is a statement which, at its most fundamental level, is stimulated by innate (therefore immediate) survival instinct? That because pain (discomfort) is the primary mechanism by which all people detect threat to survival...whether or not they are immediately aware of such a threat? To that, could we not add, that the woman's statement is also driven by innate, gender-linked nurturing (mothering) instinct which leads her, likewise un-self-consciously, to "look out for" the male child (and provider/protector) in her midst? As if she was saying, "If we remain out here long enough, our survivability (more especially, "your survivability and utility for me") will be compromised"? Conclusion: Score 1 for the female.

As for averages and extremes—

On average, as between any male and female, the female (in addition to having more abundant heat-retaining deposits of subcutaneous fat) is likely to be smaller...probably the more so (likely) as among a married pair. Hence—because the wife's (the female's selectively inbred) lesser surface-to-volume ratio bestows greater heat retention than the husband's, and thus greater survivability against extremes of low-temperature exposure—ought we not to conclude that the wife's statement (in effect: "We had better not remain exposed to these worsening conditions for too long!") carries greater "survival weight" than any such (perhaps) eventual statement (one more likely to be too late) by the male? Score another 1 for the female.

Finally, how might we characterize the man's statement? As suggested above, Monthly Challenge Question offers nothing other than that which establishes a premise in which near-term survival must be given greatest weight—the leaves have turned, indicating that: they will be dropping soon; temperature averages and lows are trending downward; daytime hours are diminishing; weather conditions & predictability are unstable.... In contrast, nothing is said (or can be surmised) regarding any other impending (shorter or longer term) risk (starvation, predation, ... marooning) for which male traits (including comparative male expendability) would confer a survival advantage to the couple. Therefore—and irrespective of its (provable or unprovable) validity—the husband's statement to the effect, "Until I am uncomfortably cooled, we need not concern ourselves with getting on home (before overexposure...nightfall, further temperature drop, etc)" can be given little or no weight as regards near-term risks.... Accordingly, we must score 0 for the male.

Conclusion: In the given circumstance the wife's statement (by a score of 2 - 0) is closer to correct; therefore is correct.

By way of historic support of the above, the Donner party emigration to California, in which females only survived to be rescued from marooning in the Sierra Nevada, provides a case in point. Had the males understood that unusual mountain weather might render their own (male survival) "virtues" irrelevant, a decision to tough it out in Reno before attempting a passage in the spring would most likely have led to most of the party's survival.

Epilogue—

What has "leaves dropping soon" to do with survival, you ask? If, despite what a male CR4 participant might say, we can imagine your wife's abiding in your decision to "push on" for more foliage admiration time before departure to the safety of home, can we not also imagine a search & rescue party opining a few days later: "If not for the leaves, we might have discovered them a few days ago...in time for their bodies to be resuscitated!"?

Which official position are you trying to get elected toooooo!

That was one hell of a speech! You got my attention!

"BUT I AM STILL GOING TO VOTE FORE YOUR WIFE"

Sorry for shouting, but there has been a lot of noise lately on this forum, regarding a question that as stated, offers a baited opportunity for manhood to demonstrate his lack of smarts regarding female methods of getting a little romantic attention. Actually the only get together more noisier is a hen party, You Know, one of those female only gatherings where they all sound like they have just laid another egg and did this all at the very same time. All the while bragging about or condemming their sex lives, if not that, they are re discussing surgeries and pain, or boasting about their little Tommy, Sally, Cindy, Terri, Jamie, Jerry and so on, and none of them is listening to the others because they are all talking at the same time, generally about different subjects.

So there you stand, way up high on your podium, and here I stand surrounded by all of the cold women in this crowd, Do you really think that I can hear you, when my wife is talking.

Toomuchfun

both...capillaries withstanding, she wants your coat and to share your body heat. Color of leaves strikes a chord in her he can't hear. Snuggle, tell her she is prettier than leaves. Offer to go for hot liquids. and a cozy fireplace with a nice spacious couch and covers, lots of covers, No company, just covers. It's not his place to understand, only to accomodate.

"The Answer will be posted right here on CR4 on November 4th."

So where the heck's the answer?

The wife was right - this was an emergency question and the guy died of hypothermia .

We changed their minds.

Ah, evening on November 4th, election day and the male is a Democrat and the wife is a Republican. He feels warm because the polls showed his candidate with a large lead. She feels cold because her candidate is losing.

I'm begining to suspect my previous was right.

Anyway ; http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5106854.ece

Interesting article Kris! Can't wait for the official answer when it eventually gets posted!

Isn't the given answer contradictory ? If men have less fat (ie less insulation), and more mucle to use up their energy ("fibres are always contracting"), wouldn't they get cold first ? This extract from the link I gave earlier sounds more convincing ;

Gore-Tex :

"And women really do feel the cold more than men, but this is because they are better at conserving heat than men. Mark Newton, a scientist at W.L. Gore, the company that makes Gore-Tex, and a researcher at the University of Portsmouth, explains: "Women have a more evenly distributed fat layer and can pull all their blood back to their core organs."

However, this female heating system means that less blood flows to their hands and feet, and as a result they feel cold. So there is literal truth in the old saying cold hands, warm heart. One theory as to why women have evolved this system, says Newton, is to enable them to survive freezing temperatures. Women carry less fat and muscle mass than men, and so need a more efficient technique of protecting their core body temperature. "

At the risk of having you send me a frog, I agree with you. In the same way that a well insulated house has cold outside walls, so the outer skin of a woman is usually cooler. Meaning, of course, she conserves core heat better. Muscles are not as good for thermal resistance. There's been a ton of articles in Journal of Applied Physiology about this, and about the muscle myth.

I remember the 'frog' from somewhere . The analogy you make is good, tho' there's a slightly alarming link alongside this (BHW).

"Women carry less fat". What a generalisation! And structurally rather improbable, as women have proportionately lighter bones and less muscle... (perhaps even the best experts don't always write exactly what they mean?)

According to many texts, a woman of optimum weight will carry proportionately more fat than a man of optimum weight. And it will be more evenly distributed. But it is the layer of fat that we can best afford to deprive of heat, and this allows the surface temperature to be kept lower.

However, I would hesitate to judge how (if at all) this is related to people feeling the cold. The only necessary physiological basis that I can find is that, everything else being equal*, the ratio of muscle mass to surface area will determine the points at which it becomes sensible first to turn off unnecessary surface heating and subsequently to activate muscles solely for the purpose of heating (=shivering). Perhaps the prospect/actuality of these measures being activated is what determines our perception of cold - so at least the muscle mass theory makes sense.
There may also be some truth in the ideas that during our evolution it has been more important for a man to stay active and for a woman to conserve her resources for longer-term survival - this too would encourage earlier peripheral shut-down among females.

*That too would be one huge assumption

Here's a useful link to a review article on this.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asma/asem/2004/00000075/00000005/art00011

There is a European Journal of Applied Physiology which seems to also have a great many articles, but I'm having difficulty accessing that.

I think most of us missed the obvious answer. There is a marked decrease in cold tolerance that accompanies aging. So, perhaps the man has merely married an elderly rich widow (which explains how he can afford a vacation trip when the rest of us can't buy gasoline), and has her out in the cold without a jacket, hoping she'll catch pneumonia and die, leaving him free to cavort with the 22 year old hottie twins who live next door.

It looks (to my inexpert eye) like a well-researched summary. Although it is primarily directed to extreme cooling, I think it broadly confirms both the effects of withdrawal of circulation from surface fat and the relationship between muscle mass and surface area and the onset of shivering (although it's easy to miss things).

The main additional thing I noticed that it adds is confirmation of others' comments about females expressing greater sensitivity at all levels to the effects of reduced skin temperature than males; I had rather expected the response to be larger initially (to activate the withdrawal of circulation from the surface) but to be similar thereafter; but I suppose it all comes back to species survival requirements.

"Women carry less fat and muscle mass than men"

I interpret that as 'Women carry less (fat + muscle) mass then men'.

ie - they weigh less ? I suppose it depends where you live.