I Expect The Wikipedia Entry To Get Updated Shortly
Ouch
Did the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index volunteer to get stung by everything on earth?
It's a pretty cool column, and has this paragraph: This may surprise those relying for their scientific information on Wikipedia, which provides a chart of the Schmidt index listing precise decimal gradations for sting severity, with the fire ant rated at 1.2 and the bullhorn acacia ant at 1.8. These implausibly exact numbers don’t appear in any of Schmidt’s scientific papers, but rather were wheedled out of him by an editor at Outside magazine, who was trying to goose up a story for that publication in 1996.
(It's already been quoted in the talk section of the Wikipedia article, so I'm betting the change is forthcoming.)
Did the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index volunteer to get stung by everything on earth?
It's a pretty cool column, and has this paragraph: This may surprise those relying for their scientific information on Wikipedia, which provides a chart of the Schmidt index listing precise decimal gradations for sting severity, with the fire ant rated at 1.2 and the bullhorn acacia ant at 1.8. These implausibly exact numbers don’t appear in any of Schmidt’s scientific papers, but rather were wheedled out of him by an editor at Outside magazine, who was trying to goose up a story for that publication in 1996.
(It's already been quoted in the talk section of the Wikipedia article, so I'm betting the change is forthcoming.)