Bored? Let Wasps and ants sting you!

Courtesy of Shelley at Retrospectacle comes this story of an entomologist named Justin O. Schmidt who decided to let a variety of toxic creatures bite and sting him to compile his Schmidt Pain Index. Looking at that beautiful pepsis wasp reminds me of one of my first wildlife rules of thumb: if it's pretty, it's dangerous. Just ask anyone in Texas who has tangled with some of the very large and beautiful centipedes we have.