
From Wikipedia: “Alan Francis is a horseshoe pitcher from Defiance, Ohio who has won the World Horseshoe Championship 28 times — in 1989, 1993, 1995–1999, 2001, 2003–2010, 2012–2019 and 2021–2024. He holds the record for most championships with 2nd place belonging to Ted Allen, who has won 10. He is also the only player to consistently pitch over 90%, and is regarded by many as the greatest horseshoe pitcher ever. The New York Times wrote that he may be “the most dominant athlete in any sport in the country”. He began competing when he was 9, and won a record 4 Junior Boys World Championships, the first of which he won at the age of 12. He competed in his first world championship in 1978, held in Des Moines. He has by far the highest ringer percentage in history at 90 percent, and the most consecutive wins in history.”
This solar furnace in the French alps creates temperatures of 3,500 degrees Celsius

From RIBA Journal: “The Odeillo Solar Furnace in France – the largest in the world – was built by engineer Felix Trombe and opened in 1970. It is 48 metres (157 ft) high and 54 metres (177 ft) wide, and includes 63 heliostats. The sun’s energy is reflected via a series of 9,600 mirrors and concentrated onto a point about the size of a cooking pot to create temperatures reaching 3,500°C. The furnace is used by space agencies including NASA as well as scientists and technology companies to ascertain the effects of extremely high temperatures on materials intended for use in nuclear reactors or space vehicle re-entry. It is situated in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, in the region of Occitania, in the Pyrenees mountains south of France. The site was chosen because of the length and the quality of sunshine with direct light (more than 2,500 h/year) and the purity of its atmosphere (high altitude and low average humidity).”
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