SOCIAL STUDIES – A DAILY MISCELLANY OF INFORMATION
The roughnecks who fight oil-field fires begin by robbing a well’s inferno of its heat, which is “like nothing you’ve ever seen,” says Bill Mahler of Houston-based Wild Well Control Inc. While a room in a burning house can reach 315 degrees C at eye level, a burning oil well can hit 1,600 C. That’s why the oil firefighters wear steel hard hats — the heat will melt regular plastic.
Five years ago, sauce-maker David Ashley of Massachusetts created Mad Dog Inferno, which was tested by one mail-order company and deemed to be the hottest sauce in the world. He has since created Mad Dog 357. The heat of peppers, determined by their levels of a chemical called capsaicin, is measured in Scoville units. Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce, considered fairly spicy, has a Scoville level of 2,500 to 5,000. Mad Dog Inferno is rated at about 89,000 Scovilles and Mad Dog 357 weighs in at 357,000 units. “I’ve had 2.3 million Scovilles on my tongue,” Mr. Ashley told The Boston Globe. “It was like dropping a cigarette ash in my mouth.”
Thought du jour
“The strength or weakness of our conviction depends more on our courage than on our intelligence.” — Vauvenargues
THE GLOBE AND MAIL (Canada’s Most Read Newspaper)
Filed Under: In The News
