How bad is a bee sting?

How does a bee sting rate on the pain threshold? Now we have the Schmidt Pain Sting Index. He rates it as a two on the one to four scale: worse than a fire ant at one, but less than the harvester ant and tarantula hawk at three and four respectively. Apparently a bee sting can cause you to vocalise. Me? Oh, never!

Apparently, we can thank Justin O Schmidt for helping restrain the Killer Bee stories -- or as I now learn we can call them: pollen pigs! He worked for the US Department of Agriculture where he once worked at the Tucson Carl Hayden Bee Research Center.