How HOT is HOT??? Growing up in Southern California gave me a limited experience when it came to Snow & Heat. Very seldom did we get either. Later in life when I lived in the Inland Empire, San Bernardino & Riverside Counties, I had some experience with “Hot Weather”. When I lived in the San Bernardino Mountains, we got our share of snow but was not usually harsh so we enjoyed the changes. The last 3 months living here in Kuwait City and traveling into Iraq on occasions, has given me something to make a comparison too. When you asked the question “How Hot is Hot” you need to look for the answer in a special way. When it is 85 to 90 degrees most of us say things like, “pretty nice day right” or “boy I wish the weather would stay like this all year around.” Between 90 to 95 degrees our comments might change some to “it’s getting like summer” or “it’s hot but it is a dry heat”. Between 95 to 100 degrees our comments change more to “man this is desert hot” or “where is the shade” or “it’s hot but it is a dry heat”. Between 100 to 105 degrees our comments change again to “hurry to the car and turn the air on” or “man this is African hot” or “can’t stop now and talk have to get going” when outside and your neighbor says hi and “sure it is hot, but it is a dry heat”. Between 105 to 110 degrees our comments go something like this, “hey lets go to the river and go water skiing” or “did you hear the news, we are on Heat Watch” or “you could fry a egg on the sidewalk in this heat” or “sure it is hot, but it is a dry heat”. Between 110 to 120 degrees (notice a 10 degree jump) our comments change again to “DAMN it’s hot” or DAMN it’s hot” or DAMN it’s hot but it is a dry heat”. Between 120 to 130 degrees (another 10 degree jump) our comments change to “OH MY GOD is it ever hot”, or “I need to be in Laughlin if I got to put up with this kind of heat” or “it’s really hot, but it is a dry heat”. But lets get down to business. Between 130 to 135 degrees our comments change to “I can’t believe I’m still breathing” or “I think I have died and just walked into HELL’s front door” or “I must be dreaming because this just doesn’t make sense” or “I really believe that there is no such thing as a dry heat”. Between 135 to 140 degrees we are no longer able to even make a comment. It is so HOT that you just put one foot in front of the other and get to the car as fast as possible, but when you open the door and it is over 200 degrees inside you vehicle. You actually stand outside your car until the air conditioning can push out some of the heat built up inside you vehicle before you get. When you enter the car, you must be very careful on what to allow your bare skin to touch. It only takes once or twice burning yourself and you accept this rule gladly. Oh by the way, you really can’t breath good at this level of heat, and you don’t even try to talk and make any comments because it takes to much effort which takes more of your breath away. At 140 degrees you think HELL would be a relief and you plan your day so you don’t have to leave the building at all. But thus a problem. We don’t have inside toilets here at beautiful Camp Doha Kuwait, we have “port of johns” you know those plastic outhouses you see when you go camping or to sporting events. They are across the street from our offices, so, we walk out into the heat, cross the street, enter this 4x4x4x7 plastic tomb and try to do you business. But guess what, it is actually cooler inside then outside, why you ask, because you are not in direct sun light. With the car, the sunlight can filter through the windows, which magnify the heat inside, where in the “plastic tomb” the sunlight cannot get through. Now you might asked just how hot is it inside. Good question, but at this point you really don’t care. You only want to “take care of business” and get back across the street and back into the building again. Now, if for any reason you must be in a sitting position inside this “plastic tomb” you have another problem to contend with. The toilet seat. If at all possible you DO NOT ALLOW THIS BLACK TOILET SEAT TO TOUCH ANY PART OF YOUR BODY. As stated above to answer the question “How Hot is HOT” I now believe I can speak to that question. My personal record is 141 degrees in the direct sunlight, Baghdad Iraq mid August 2003. I only hope that this is one record that I WILL NOT EVER BREAK and you will never hear me say “YEA, BUT IT IS A DRY HEAT.”