Editing 2590: I Shouldn't Complain
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| + | {{incomplete|Created by a BEE PROVING THE HAIRY BALL THEOREM (WITH A COX-ZUCKER MACHINE) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
[[Megan]] has had a very unfortunate experience of falling into a garbage can and being repeatedly stung by wasps. [[Cueball]] expresses an appropriate amount of horror about it. However, Megan seeks to downplay this experience by saying "I shouldn't complain" and that she's "lucky" it wasn't worse. This has become a {{tvtropes|AppealToWorseProblems|habit in Western culture}}, like comparing minor issues to "kids starving in Africa" or war-torn countries, notably Ukraine (this comic was published during the {{w|2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine}} starting in February 2022 and was ongoing when this comic came out on March 7). | [[Megan]] has had a very unfortunate experience of falling into a garbage can and being repeatedly stung by wasps. [[Cueball]] expresses an appropriate amount of horror about it. However, Megan seeks to downplay this experience by saying "I shouldn't complain" and that she's "lucky" it wasn't worse. This has become a {{tvtropes|AppealToWorseProblems|habit in Western culture}}, like comparing minor issues to "kids starving in Africa" or war-torn countries, notably Ukraine (this comic was published during the {{w|2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine}} starting in February 2022 and was ongoing when this comic came out on March 7). | ||
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The title text explains how Megan came into such a mess. A tennis ball used in a clothes dryer got stuck in the exhaust vent, and was shot out of the house through the exhaust vents hole in the wall. Then it hit the wasp nest and ricocheted over on Megan knocking her off the ladder she was standing on. Since she was close to the nest, she may actually have been up on the ladder in order to see if she could remove the nest. The fall from the ladder made her end up in the trash can where she could not get out. The angry wasps began stinging her legs. This continued for two hours. | The title text explains how Megan came into such a mess. A tennis ball used in a clothes dryer got stuck in the exhaust vent, and was shot out of the house through the exhaust vents hole in the wall. Then it hit the wasp nest and ricocheted over on Megan knocking her off the ladder she was standing on. Since she was close to the nest, she may actually have been up on the ladder in order to see if she could remove the nest. The fall from the ladder made her end up in the trash can where she could not get out. The angry wasps began stinging her legs. This continued for two hours. | ||
| − | In the title text, Megan continues to downplay her experience even though it was very painful. She says that the wasp nest was of the type {{w|Dolichovespula maculata|bald-faced hornets}}. | + | In the title text, Megan continues to downplay her experience even though it was very painful. She says that the wasp nest was of the type {{w|Dolichovespula maculata|bald-faced hornets}}. These are listed as {{w|Schmidt_sting_pain_index#Pain_Level_2|Pain Level 2}} on the {{w|Schmidt sting pain index}}, a pain scale for different insect stings, which ranges from 1 to 4. Megan says her stings were a 2 on the scale, which compared to a pain of 4 is "less painful", but still worse than not being stung at all! She continues to explain that the nest could have been an insect scoring higher on the pain scale, for instance {{w|Schmidt_sting_pain_index#Pain_Level_3|scoring 3}}, like the {{w|Polistes canadensis|red paper wasp}} or even the {{w|Schmidt_sting_pain_index#Pain_Level_4|maximum of 4}} on the scale, like {{w|Synoeca|warrior wasps}} (their sting has been described as "Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano"). |
| − | + | She thus finished by saying she was actually lucky, when of course she had been horribly unlucky. | |
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She also further downplays the situation by focusing attention on the sting pain index instead of the sting lethal capacity, described by the [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3810666/ author of the pain index]. The two are not necessarily equivalent. Let's assume that all insects in the colony affected stung Megan at least once over her two hour ordeal. A colony capable of sustaining an attack over two hours would probably be at least as large as the typical [https://www.rescue.com/latest-buzz/outdoor-pests/bald-faced-bully/#:~:text=Bald%2Dfaced%20hornet%20nests%20often,hornet%20workers%20enter%20and%20exit. maximum size for a bald-faced hornet nest]. Such an attack might (depending on number of attackers and the species of wasp) deliver enough venom to kill 84 kg (185 pounds) worth of mice (or human?). Given such an attack, Megan would probably not be standing around in routine conversation, casually discussing the incident. She would far more likely be in a hospital bed, and in a [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32252275/ gruesome fight for her life]. | She also further downplays the situation by focusing attention on the sting pain index instead of the sting lethal capacity, described by the [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3810666/ author of the pain index]. The two are not necessarily equivalent. Let's assume that all insects in the colony affected stung Megan at least once over her two hour ordeal. A colony capable of sustaining an attack over two hours would probably be at least as large as the typical [https://www.rescue.com/latest-buzz/outdoor-pests/bald-faced-bully/#:~:text=Bald%2Dfaced%20hornet%20nests%20often,hornet%20workers%20enter%20and%20exit. maximum size for a bald-faced hornet nest]. Such an attack might (depending on number of attackers and the species of wasp) deliver enough venom to kill 84 kg (185 pounds) worth of mice (or human?). Given such an attack, Megan would probably not be standing around in routine conversation, casually discussing the incident. She would far more likely be in a hospital bed, and in a [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32252275/ gruesome fight for her life]. | ||
