Posted by medlib on January 21, 2002, at 21:44:38
In reply to Re: A few useless factoids about height and weight » medlib, posted by noa on January 21, 2002, at 13:05:04
Hi Noa--
Thanks a lot--but, never encourage a collector! It's like the psych patient told his doc, "You know, I *really* love potato pancakes. When the doc mumbled his standard reply, the patient said, "Yes. I love them so much I've got a whole closet full of them!"
It's only as I get older that I realize just how really weird my brother and I were. Genetics is baffling! Both my parents were normally intelligent and socially outgoing. Father was an attorney who was much more interested in civic betterment than in money. They had two complete oddballs; one bipolar genius geek and one Aspergerish dweeb who had to be physically retrieved from her book world to eat and sleep. I thought that, if I just learned enough stuff, I could eventually figure out how to fit in. Since I hadn't a clue what I was missing, I simply input everything I ran across that I didn't know! Now that my short-term memory is only a memory, when I try to remember where I put the shopping list, all I find are heaps of "factoids". (And I'm still no better organized physically than I am mentally.) BTW, I had 2 fairly normal kids, intelligent, but neither geniuses nor basket cases--even with me as their only parent; go figure.
So, about height. The strongest determinant is ethnic heritage. Among Europeans, the cooler the climate, the taller the average height--and vice-versa. Inhabitants (and their descendants) of countries that border the North Sea are tallest; those from countries that border the Mediterranean are shortest. Thus, the large numbers of people of Italian and Hispanic descent who remained on the east coast probably led to a slightly shorter average height there.
Diet runs a strong second in factors influencing height, though. Wider availability of dairy and meat proteins in much of the world has led to increasing height with every generation. Nowhere is this more true than in Japan, an ancient civilization which keeps meticulous records. According to the Japanese, male average height there increased only 8 cm. (about 3+") in the 10,000 years before 1900; but it has grown over 13 cm. since 1900, the majority of that since 1945.
Yeah, *some* Texans are tall, but most of those originally came from England, along with some from Holland and Africa. *Somebody* ate all those cattle! But, the *original* settlers of Texas were Mexican, and Texas now has a Hispanic population second only to California. So, I imagine that Texan average height is not much, if any, above the national average.
Texans have a chance to regain our lead, however. < g > The tallest ethic group in the world are the Dinkas of Sudan. (Women average over 6' and men, almost 7'. (Manute Bol, the tallest-ever NBA player is [was?] Dinkan.) The Dinkas are losing the civil war in Sudan, and many orphans have lived in refuge camps in Kenya for years. Relief agencies have begun sponsoring some for immigration to Texas (similar climate, poor souls). They're called the "Lost Boys", but none is less than 6'2".
Guess that my brother (who is 6'8") is not the only one in our family who never learned to shut up.
Now shutting up (or down?)---medlib
poster:medlib
thread:16844
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020112/msgs/17048.html