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Can the Hottest Peppers In the World Kill You?
Hugh Pickens writes "Katharine Gammon writes that last week, the Kismot Indian restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, held a competition to eat the extra-hot Kismot Killer curry and several ambulances were called after some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting. Paul Bosland, professor of horticulture at New Mexico State University and director of the Chile Pepper Institute, says that chili peppers can indeed cause death — but most people's bodies would falter long before they reached that point. 'Theoretically, one could eat enough really hot chiles to kill you,' says Bosland adding that a research study in 1980 calculated that three pounds of the hottest peppers in the world — something like the Bhut Jolokia — eaten all at once could kill a 150-pound person. Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, activating the sympathetic nervous system — which helps control most of the body's internal organs — to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers. But tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides. As for the contest, restaurant owner Abdul Ali admitted the fiery dish may have been too spicy after the Scottish Ambulance Service warned him to review his event. 'I think we'll tone it down, but we'll definitely do it next year.'"
It may take more than 3 pounds, but if you drink enough water fast enough you get water toxicity.
In other words, this is "not news."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I know if I eat enough scotch bonnets I start to get a sort of tingling sensation in my fingers. Makes sense that if you ramp it up enough it would kill someone.
Um, I would think that usage of the words "theoretically" and "could" would be sufficient to explain that nobody has actually died of eating too many chili peppers. Also, there's the fact that the guy is currently alive which should serve as pretty strong evidence that the author of the study himself did not eat so many chili peppers that he died.
According to it's MSDS, capsaicin has an LD50 (lethal dose to 50% of pop'n) of 47.2 mg/kg when taken orally. So, for a 70kg person, 3.2 grams of pure capsaicin should be lethal about 50% of the time... This isn't anything new, the data has been published for a long time.
Could have just been a "or you might kill someone" warning and not a "or we'll convene the ambulance committee and have you ambulanced to death" warning.
Well chillis are not that big, and like other peppers they are hollow on the inside. So you take 10x10 of them put them in a square and stack them 6 high. It could fit on a normal plate. These are also professional eaters so they actually exercise to stretch their stomachs to a larger size. So the volume of 600 chillis isn't impossible. But I wouldn't want to be in the restroom the next day.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
So nice, they'll spice you twice.
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
The really hot ones are really small, shriveled-up things. Also, you might want to see how SKINNY some of the winners of "extreme eating" contests are. Does she look fat to you?
So, not necessarily fat.
So hot peppers are a natural diet food. Cool - I mean HOT!
I hear getting sprayed with pepper spray has the same effect.
I am obviously missing something here...
a) there are _lots_ of things you can eat to kill yourself.
b) what is the point of this "research"?
839*929
You are not allowed to endanger the lives of others by your actions or carelessness. The fact that the peppers are offered on by a restaurant may provide the illusion of safety where there is none. If you have a patron sustaining injury by something you have served him when you could reasonably foresee the damage done than you may be liable.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
Didn't he have a spirit vision after eating chili sauce made especially for his cast-iron palate?
eating them is only half the battle
I have eaten Ghost peppers straight. What is safe for one person may not be for another, does that mean no restaurant can provide food I would consider spicy since it might hurt someone else?
Libertarianism in theory: perfectly informed, rational, able consumers interacting freely for mutual benefit.
Libertarianism in practice: CAVEAT EMPTOR, IDIOTS! MIGHT IS RIGHT!
Hope this helps.
Well I know that they may induce hallucinations of Johnny Cash telling you to find your soul mate.
Slowly saps your will to live.
-
Or leaves horrible scars that you can pick at later.
No brain, no pain.
Given a sufficient quantity dropped on you or were fired at you at extreme velocity.
Sadly the chili pepper gun is a long way from becoming useful enough for pithy action movie hero comments "What's th' matter? Heartburn?"
crazy dynamite monkey
I for one, welcome our new hot pepper overlords in their attempt to take over the planet.
I understand the "look how tough I am, I can eat this spicy stuff" mentality to some extent, but who seriously takes it to the extreme of downing things that eat holes in your stomach and cause you to be hospitalized?
In fairness, the article just says the Ambulance Service "warned" them. It doesn't say some sort of formal "warning" was issued under some authority, like the parent post implied; it could've just been the Ambulance Service captain saying "I think this is dangerous."
There are plenty of real examples of Britain's insane nanny-statism without jumping to conclusions.
Liberty in your lifetime
It's not like a police warning or anything, but if you tie up the ambulance service with the culinary equivalent of a testicle-kicking contest, then they're going to ask you to reconsider your plans. Bear in mind that ambulances are a free service in the UK, there's no disincentive to phoning up an ambulance (as opposed to a taxi) if you incapacitate yourself in a hilariously moronic fashion.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Applying common sense helps, that's the "reasonably foresee" part. When you have a situation like this in your restaurant : "Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first 10 diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting." you likely did not entirely think it through.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
There's a difference between serving up a food grenade to a patron on request, and encouraging people to commit gastronomic self-harm through an organised contest.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Where can I make a reservation!!!
ooooohhhh momma!!!
Before anything else - this is my favourite local Indian Restaurant. Been eating there for a few years now and will continue to do so.
Secondly, 'several ambulances'? People 'writhing on the floor, fainting and vomiting'? Here's what actually happened:
Restaurant holds a curry-eating competition. Top of the list in the later rounds is the 'Kismot Killer', a curry that recently replaced a naga-based one, as too many people were finishing it easily. Anyway, if you order a killer, the restaurant staff will do everything in their power to put you off - there's warnings all over the place and you have to sign a disclaimer before eating it. If you *really* insist on eating the damn thing, you can't say you weren't warned. But anyway. So two people get to the later stages (one American, FWIW) and one of them has the bright idea of vomiting immediately after eating so as to avoid the after-effects. The other continues eating *despite being in pain and feeling faint*. I mean, seriously? So despite having the red cross present (it was a charity event), they got an ambulance to take these two to hospital for safety. The hospital gave them strong anti-indigestion medication and kicked them out.
Short version - idiots did idiotic things, complained that they shouldn't have to have any personal responsibility when the inevitable happened.
-Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience-
While the method of dying described sounds nice n all, I thought the actual danger was from asphyxiation when digesting Bhut Jolokia ( I grow those suckers myself); when strong enough chili has been digested it will often cause uncontrollable hiccups (capsacin will irritate the thingiemagic that does your breathing, causing it to cramp, which I've been told, could be enough to kill you).
The lethal dose is whats required to overload your system and die from poison (sort of like drinking too much water?) and the lack of oxygen is akin to trying to breath water or have I've just had me leg pulled?
Sweating and panting are normal responses, fainting is a bit unusual common for folks who should not be doing that. Vomiting it the only one that to me signals a problem. I wonder how much this is being hyped for shock value, or if this restaurant owner hired folks to fake it.
Hot food is often way over hyped, look at the Quaker Steak and Lube atomic sauce, it is just tabasco and some habeneros. That stuff is only 150k scoville. Lots of hot sauces are hotter. Even many natural peppers are hotter.
This post is an amazing mash of urban legend, hearsay and anecdotes. Did you do it on purpose? Are you a satirical genius?
If anything, Koreans fondness for tea (the link between tea drinking and stomach cancer has been known for decades) and booze is your culprit...
Increased rates of stomach cancer have nothing to do with the kimchee being spicy, and everything to do with it being fermented. This is well known and well documented. You find exactly the same thing in other Asian cultures that traditionally have high consumption of fermented (pickled) vegetables.
If spicy food caused stomach cancer, northern India would be a hotbed. It isn't.
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
I've never understood the attraction of eating chillies. It hurts (or is that just me?) so whats pleasant about it? Or is it just macho i-can-eat-more-than-you BS? Is it the same sort of people who do it who visit S&M dungeons because they like the pain?
I told my son that if he ate all the candy he got halloween all in a day he'd feel ill and warned him not to. I guess I'm an evil nanny-statist!
"Warning" in this case means friendly advice. A formal warning would come from the Environmental Health or Trading Standards departments of Edinburgh City Council, or from the Health and Safety Executive.
What authority do they have to issue warnings?
They were citizens of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As such, they are allowed to issue all sorts of warnings. For example:
If you don't stop posting silly comments to Slashdot you may be in trouble.
So watch out sunshine.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
For those of you who have lived in Texas, you know how true this is. They actually have a Chili cook-off about the time the rodeo comes to town. It takes up a major portion of the parking lot at the Astrodome.The notes are from an inexperienced chili taster named Frank, who was visiting Texas from the East Coast:
"Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge's table asking directions to the Budweiser truck, when the call came in. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn't be all that spicy and, besides, They told me I could have free beer during the tasting, So I accepted."Here are the scorecards from the event:
Chili # 1 Mike's Maniac Mobster Monster Chili
Judge # 1-- A little too heavy on the tomato. Amusing kick.
Judge # 2-- Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild
Judge # 3-- (Frank) Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me
two beers to put the flames out. I hope that's the worst one. These Texans are crazy.
Chili # 2 Arthur's Afterburner Chili
Judge # 1 -- Smoky, with a hint of pork. Slight jalapeno tang.
Judge # 2 -- Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
Judge # 3 -- Keep this out of the reach of children. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave
off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver. They had to rush in more beer when they saw
the look on my face.
Chili # 3 Fred's Famous Burn Down the Barn Chili
Judge # 1 -- Excellent firehouse chili. Great kick. Needs more beans.
Judge # 2 -- A bean-less chili, a bit salty, good use of peppers
Judge # 3 -- Call the EPA. I've located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows
the routine by now. Get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back, now my backbone
is in the front part of my chest. I'm getting shit-faced from all of the beer.
Chili # 4 Bubba's Black Magic
Judge # 1 -- Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.
Judge # 2 -- Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.
Judge # 3 -- I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it. Is it possible to burn out taste buds?
Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills. That 300-lb.bitch is starting to look HOT -- just
like this nuclear waste I'm eating. Is chili an aphrodisiac?
Chili # 5 Linda's Legal Lip Remover
Judge # 1 -- Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very impressive.
Judge # 2 -- Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.
Judge # 3 -- My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four
people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had
given me brain damage. Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from the pitcher.
I wonder if I'm burning my lips off. It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming.
Screw those rednecks.
Chili # 6 Vera's Very Vegetarian Variety
Judge # 1 -- Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spices and peppers.
Judge # 2 -- The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic. Superb.
Judge # 3 -- My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I shit on myself when I farted and I'm
worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that slut Sally. She
must be kinkier than I thought. Can't feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my ass with a snow cone.
Chili # 7 Susan's Screaming Sensation Chili
Judge # 1 -- A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers
. Judge # 2 -- Ho hum, t
Capsaicin binds to and, in high enough doses, destroys neurons that are responsible for signaling molecules involved in wound healing. If you took a high enough dose that it depleted those neurons in a certain part of your body, especially your insides, it would be similar to having leprosy. Tiny cuts would get infected, and spread, and eventually you would have mass tissue death.
My lab used to study that before I started working here. Of course, we are talking super high doses, basically pure capsaicin. Peppers just aren't going to do it by themselves. As noted above, they have other health benefits, so no-one should really worry about toxicity, as the heat stops most people long before they could ever get to that point.
some of the competitive eaters were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting.
Meanwhile at a seemingly unrelated event for ball-peen-hammer-head-bangers a few blocks away, some were left writhing on the floor in agony, vomiting and fainting after pummeling their skullcaps with their 16 pound hammers.
Aren't their Darwin awards for this type of behavior?
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
Boy that's a big pile of steaming shit. Just a couple errors I will respond to, I'll let everyone else point out the rest of the garbage in your post.
Kimchee is fermented cabbage not peppers and it's strong because like most bacterial fermenting processes it produces acid while being fermented.
Coke is acidic enough to eat through it's can, that's why the can is coated with plastic on the inside. Coke is acidic enough to eat through bone. In fact remove the plastic coating and regular grocery store vinegar can probably eat through the can because aluminum is super reactive hence the reason they coat the cans.
Scoville scale is not linear, instead use 0.36 mg capsaicin per gram of habanero, or 36 grams per kilogram. Who's going to eat a couple pounds of those things?
But tissue inflammation could explain why the contestants in the Killer Curry contest said they felt like chainsaws were ripping through their insides.
Just wait until they take a crap the next day. I know when I eat really spicy food (habanero and hotter) it feels like I am crapping a tactical nuke that is going off in my ass.
Time to offend someone
Chili peppers cause the eater's insides to rev up, activating the sympathetic nervous system â" which helps control most of the body's internal organs â" to expend more energy, so the body burns more calories when the same food is eaten with chili peppers.
To me, this was the most interesting part of the article. If chili peppers cause an increase in the rate of burning calories, it seems like they'd be quite useful to dieters. For those who don't have a taste for spicy foods, might capsules full of chili extract or chili powder have a similar effect on the sympathetic nervous system as full-fledged chili dishes or raw peppers? I'd be interested to see if there were any studies on this.
at what point do people say, "hey, this isn't an interesting and enjoyable dining experience. This is pure masochism."?
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
the fact that they aren't real peppers is what gives.
"There is an episode of the Simpsons where Homer eats chilli with
"insanity peppers" and starts hallucinating. Is it actually possible
to eat something so spicy it causes temporarty insanity and
hallucinations? Does such a pepper exist?
"Endorphins, those natural drugs that are 100 to 1,000 times more
powerful than morphine, are released into our brain when we eat hot
chile peppers, according to Dr. Frank Etscorn of New Mexico University
(who also holds the first patent on the nicotene patch). Like other
psychotropics, including peyote, coca and tabacco, chile peppers alter
our state of consciousness. In the case of chile peppers the high is
non-hallucinogenic, but it is addictive. Chili addicts are hooked on
endorphins. "We get slightly strung out, but it's no big deal," he
says." - Quote from The Veiled Chameleon
http://www.veiled-chameleon.com/archives/000042.html
"We need a fix of red or green chile with a side order of endorphins,"
said Dr. Frank Etscorn, then an experimental psychologist at New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, and inventor of
the nicotine patch, in a 1990 article for the Albuquerque Journal. "We
get slightly strung out on endorphins, but it's no big deal. That year
he posed a theory that the warm afterglow and the constant craving for
chile are due to capsaicin triggering the release of the body's
natural painkillers called endorphins, which have been called "the
body's natural opiates," are the cause of the so-called runner's high,
and are capable of turning a painful experience into a pleasurable
one." - From the Chili Pepper Counterculture Robb Walsh, Austin
Chronicle, Friday, May 3, 1991
More on peppers and "runners high."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/3/prweb111083.htm - "Exercisers Get
Workout Boost From New Hot Pepper Nasal Spray"
"The chemical capsicin is fooling your nerves into believing that they
are burning in hell, when in fact nothing is wrong with them at all.
And your dumb body rushes all those painkillers to those special
receptors in the brain. That's a pretty good practical joke, huh? Pass
the hot sauce." - Quote from The Veiled chameleon - but I wish it were
mine.
So, overall, while the pepper is a vegetable which has consciousness
altering properties, it is not 'officially" considered to have an
hallucinogenic property. I emphasize the word "officially" as there
are those who consider any element of consciousness altering at all,
as a hallucination. That is why I said "yes and no" in my opening.
The definition of "hallucination" is somewhat subjective in popular
understanding."
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/332912.html
If spicy food caused stomach cancer, northern India would be a hotbed. It isn't.
Southern India has spicier food according to all of my Indian coworkers.
Time to offend someone
I like to sweat and pant as much as the next guy, not when I'm eating though :-)
Probably a good call on the restaurant owner faking/exagerating it.
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
If you launched a pepper in space and set it orbiting the earth- it would travel at a fast enough speed. That it could pass right through the skull of an astronaut.
So yes, peppers can kill you.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
There's a scientific scale to measure the strength of Chili peppers - the Scoville scale
The average chili pepper from the supermarket isn't going to do much. You have to specially order the extra spicy ones like the Naga Viper pepper, Infinity Chili or Bhut Jolokai chili pepper, Trinidad Scorpion Butch T pepper.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Well I posted this because of some things I had heard and because I was bored. (My anecdote about my relative though is true!)
Anyway, learned a lot about the making of Kimchee, the cancer causing properties (or not) of spices, the ability of acids to corrode aluminum and the inside coating of coke cans.
Hope I didn't waste too much of your time!
I'd just like to say that I have eaten at Kismot many times (it's right next door to my local), and they do have a warning for their ultra hot curry (you have to sign a disclaimer to even try it). So really, there's no excuse. I do know two people who have managed it though.
By the way, it's a lovely restaurant, the staff are really friendly (Akbar always asks after my sister), and the food is great. Just... avoid the killer ;)
it could've just been the Ambulance Service captain saying "I think this is dangerous."
Too bad he didn't say, "and if you persist at it anyway, we're not going to help you."
My God, it's Full of Source!
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While most would survive up to 3 pounds, I believe a considerable percentage of the population would die after much less.
The defensive reaction can easily lead to major swelling of any affected areas for quite a number of people. This would include throat and lead to suffocation.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
This story brought to mind something from The Thirteen Gun Salute from the Aubrey Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian:
Apparently, this was at one time a common method of execution in the Malaysian states...
'Abdul is gruesomely executed in a bizarre sanctioned execution via "peppering," in which a bag of pepper is placed over the head (hands are also bound). The executioners, often the victim's family, then beat the bag, resulting in inhalation of the pepper and painful asphyxiation. '
(name withheld by request)
I was going to agree with you, then thought: if you bring all the people who would do the same stupid thing into the same room at the same time, you can cart them all off to the hospital in just the one ambulance. Not only saving emergency workers time but also petrol (so being green, probably like the contestants vomit).
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P1M5bMbHNU&NR=1
That burning feeling? That's your body telling you not to eat that.
You eating that anyway? Bannable offence.
Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.
Child != adult.
Thanks for playing, jackass.
The wife makes menudo, but somewhere in cooking he pulls some out and spices it to his liking. Seriously, don't even get close to the bowl. It's hotter than any Indian food I've had.
"Half of the 20 people who took part in the challenge dropped out after witnessing the first diners vomiting, collapsing, sweating and panting."
WHO THE HELL ARE THESE OTHER TEN PEOPLE?
Hope this helps.
No, it's just uninformed line-noise. Try reading about 50 books on history, economics, and political science, then come back and try again.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Just as long as he doesn't sing "Ring of Fire".
This is not the sig you're looking for.
There's been a case where they suspect the guy died from an overdose:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/09/how-chilis-can-kill.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1063598/Aspiring-chef-dies-hours-making-ultra-hot-sauce-chilli-eating-contest.html
From what I understand the guy had eaten chilis before with no problems.
Maybe he was allergic to something else. Or was unlucky to suddenly become allergic to chillis.
It's not very logical to say that everyone knows that ACs don't understand logic in response to a post that suggests that not everyone knows that. But you knew that, right?
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
No, you're being a parent. If you told someone else's kid, then you'd just be meddling. If you told that to an adult, you'd be a jerk.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
I'm a jerk then. I warned another adult that they probably don't want to see a movie because it is crap just the other week.
If it takes THREE POUNDS of naga jolokia to potentially kill someone MY small size, these people had to have been eating something in the neighborhood of 15-20 pounds of food in one sitting. Even eating three pounds of food is a very rough task for any regular human in one sitting.
Something else killed these people, I'd wager, it wasn't the peppers, unless they were seriously starved people calorie-wise in the first place.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I hear what you're saying and it sounds like, "If you're not a Believer then you couldn't have read the Bible."
But at least the major world religions have authoritative texts. Libertarianism has no coherent text in its favour because it has no coherence. Even leeching misogynist Rand recognised this. Like RIAA, Libertarianism is the last gasp of a crude 18th century philosophy gone wild.
Libertarianism isn't a philosophy, it's a political strategy, so you won't find any authoritative texts about what it means as a philosophy.
You can find widely varying texts that are written by authors of many philosophies who advocate a Libertarian position. If there's a commonality, it's that they subscribe to the non-aggression principle and usually a dedication to liberty.
Much of what people who advocate non-violent societies today use for models was only developed in the mid 20th Century, so if you're looking at something from an 18th century philosophy, it's not very relevant. Hayek's economics was done in the 30's-40's, much of game theory was developed in the 50's-60's, and many societal models were developed in the 70's and 80's. Heck, some of the best scholarship on 'intellectual property' is barely a decade old and important work on voting systems dates from the mid-90's. There may be some commonality with the likes of Jefferson, but also many important differences.
The oldest work one might point you to (that specifically criticizes 18th century philosophy) would be Bastiat's _The Law_. It provides a good philosophical foundation for Liberty and it only takes an hour to read, if you're really interested. Oh, and it can be downloaded for free in book or audiobook form. Is from the later 19th century. His exposition of France at that time sounds quite a bit like the way the US is developing today.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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No need to. He just could have stated that next time the costs will be charged to whoever does it again despite his 'warning'
bickerdyke
it could've just been the Ambulance Service captain saying "I think this is dangerous."
Too bad he didn't say, "and if you persist at it anyway, we're not going to help you."
I don't get why you'd want that. The whole, "you asked for it, so now you have to take it" attitude is bullshit. No matter whose fault it is, if we can fix a bad situation, we should fix it. Let's apply your way to other activities, shall we?
Skydiving is dangerous. If you hit a powerline while landing, we're not going to help you down.
Playing football is dangerous. If you get hit badly and fuck up your knee, tough. You don't get reconstructive surgery.
Driving is dangerous. If you get into an accident, we'll let you die on the road.
It's not "News for Nerds", and it sure as fuck doesn't matter to anyone except a tiny number of competitive eaters about which there is no reason to give a shit.
We're discussing practical biochemistry. If that bores/offends you, why'd you read past the headline?
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
No need to. He just could have stated that next time the costs will be charged to whoever does it again despite his 'warning'
Your solution is superior.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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Skydiving is dangerous. If you hit a powerline while landing, we're not going to help you down.
Driving is dangerous. If you get into an accident, we'll let you die on the road.
These aren't likely consequences of the activity - they're rare exceptions. In this case, the Ambulance Captain's warning was of a direct and likely consequence (he was proven right).
Playing football is dangerous. If you get hit badly and fuck up your knee, tough. You don't get reconstructive surgery.
A pro football player's team will usually pay for the repair. Amateur - yeah, it's a dumb idea to play football if you can't pay for the expected repairs. I haven't been skiing for a few years for this very reason. I can't think of anybody who's played football more than very occasionally and not been hurt.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
A pro football player's team will usually pay for the repair. Amateur - yeah, it's a dumb idea to play football if you can't pay for the expected repairs. I haven't been skiing for a few years for this very reason. I can't think of anybody who's played football more than very occasionally and not been hurt.
But people still do it. My point is that when you do something dangerous, the consequence is that you might need help after the fact. That's no reason not to supply the help.
Take the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling event. People get hurt. Everyone knows they might get hurt. Ambulances are there for that reason. The consequence is that you might break something and need a trip to the hospital. You *might* get hurt bad enough that they can't help you. These people know that and they have no right to complain if it happens. They do have a right to complain if they're not helped once they get hurt. There's no reason to say, "you know what, these are all stupid fucks, we're not going to send the ambulances there."
Basically, there are three separate and distinct events happening. The first is that somebody gets hurt. That's the fault of the idiot taking place in the event. Nothing bad has happened yet, and they can walk away and keep everything good. The second is that there's a situation in which people are likely to get hurt. You can either take precautions to make a potentially bad situation better, or let all hell break loose. The third is that there's somebody already hurt. If you can help somebody who is hurt, you help them, it doesn't matter HOW they got hurt. Something bad already happened, you can either make it better or worse. Nothing is gained by doing otherwise.
Hmm... you say there is no such thing as "Indian food," then you go on to use that exact phrase two more times.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
fwiw, if you line your mouth with bicarb or some other pH increasing compound, it will significantly reduce the amount of capsaicin available to inflame the tissues of your gums, tongue, and cheeks. It works like a charm, and I've got the chili eating contest winner t-shirts to prove it. i've successfully downed stunning amounts of "impossibly hot" buffalo wings with this trick, winning hundreds of dollars from otherwise perfectly intelligent college students. It's always the chem majors that twig to me first...
Probably the same as the "Guatemalan Insanity Pepper". I'd imagine it must be around 2,500,000 units on the Scoville scale.
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The problem is one of moral hazard. In a sibling comment I endorsed another commenter's proposal of just informing people they will be charged for fixing their stupid bodies. That's better than not offering help, though I fear in an environment like the UK infeasible.
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It's not "News for Nerds", and it sure as fuck doesn't matter to anyone except a tiny number of competitive eaters about which there is no reason to give a shit.
really? practical biochem seems suitable to this forum, with a dash of forensic toxicology thrown in for good measure. go the fuck away, if you can't appreciate the nerdiness of that.
>
Quit being a jerk.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Millions of hot peppers are served and happily consumed without injury for many many years. The only way you can do harm is to do asshat things like put ghost peppers and a lot of them, in foods, and at such an amount that the people who eat the food are placed in extreme pain, just for entertainment purposes. You could do similar things with say chugging a couple gallons of vinegar, or maybe soy sauce.
If you don't like them, fine, don't eat them. But they aren't hurting people who eat them normally.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Let's move on. Next comes the person who eats meat products. Is a van full of vegans allowed to refuse transport or treatment because they believe the patients eating habits caused them a problem?
Perhaps a bit more dicey, yes?
A person injured during a sports event?
A person who doesn't turn on the porch light and falls and breaks their leg?
A child falls from a tree?
The whole argument of who gets transported and treated is plain stupid. Most people who man ambulances actually want to help people, and they aren't going to refuse anyone treatment. We just sound like tea party members when we call for denying treatment.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Being harmed is not a likely consequence of eating hot peppers peppers. You are wrong, and know not of what you are talking about
Did you read the article?
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I replied to your statement.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I replied to your statement.
Which existed in the context of the article under discussion. Short version - the ambulance found it necessary to bring two men to the hospital for treatment.
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a cup of water is about 1 pound.
More like half a pound.
A cup is about 1/4 liter, which is about 1/4 kilogram in mass.
Assuming normal Earth sea-level gravity, that's about 1/2 of a pound.
"An ounce is and ounce and a pint is a pound" is a good way to remember the weight of water.
More precisely, a cup is 0.2366 liters, or about 0.52 pounds. But hey, this is pretty precise for a rule of thumb.
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As have I, after that habaneros go down like candy but not so much on the way out. Usually I just toss 2 or 3 ghost peppers into a batch of chile (about 2 gallons) to give it a nice kick but I got ambitious one day and ate one fresh off the plant. My wife on the other hand thinks that regular black pepper is too spicy so if were going to start banning foods because someone can't handle them then I hope you enjoy really bland food. I would prefer that we just label things as spicy so people know what they are getting themselves into. This weekend my son wanted to try some jalapeno peppers I was cutting up for chile because he insisted they were little cucumbers even though I tried to convince him that he wouldn't like them and that they are hot he insisted so I gave him a piece. He didn't like that very much and believed me when he asked for a piece of a ghost pepper and I told him it was hot and he wouldn't like it.
Time to offend someone