[BC] Engineering feats of note

[Lamar Owen]

On Thursday 19 May 2005 19:09, Ron Castro wrote:
> What's the difference between a mud daubler and a wasp or a yellow jacket?
> I have a feeling that they all sting about the same!

Around here we call them 'dirt daubers' rather than mud daubers, but in any 
case their sting isn't quite as painful (to me at least) as a baldface hornet 
(black and white and mean all over) or the larger yellow jackets (there are 
two varieties around here, one which is nearly as large as the baldface B&W 
and hurt like crazy and another which builds in the ground, is smaller, and 
doesn't hurt quite as bad).  None of the above hurt like a Japanese hornet 
would (big fat yellow-orange beasts that make a bumblebee look like a small 
thing; I've never been stung by one, but I have talked to people who have and 
they say there's no comparison to it from even the baldface B&W).  But the 
worst of all, which I've only seen a very few times, is what we call a 
blackjacket; mostly black with thin white and yellow stripes, and smaller 
than the ground dwelling yellowjacket.  The worst sting I ever have gotten is 
from one of them, and they're not much bigger than a sweat bee.

And I _have_ been stung by a bumblebee, and it's no fun, but not nearly as bad 
as that blackjacket was.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu