I always thought the tallest country was Norway. I had no idea whatsoever that it was the Netherlands. I've listened to Adam Curry--who was raised in the Netherlands and is quite tall himself at 5'17"--for 15 years on the No Agenda show and I don't recall he's ever mentioned it. Frankly, I would have 100% guessed they were short due to cold climate, diet, and population density.
I had to look up and down that thread before I wrote this because I thought it might have been you that said something to cause me to look it up.
Capper: I can't put my finger on it but I know I saw someone in the last couple of days mention the "tallest country", but it was an odd usage because they were referring to north-south... lol
A few weeks ago, a friend on Facebook posted a picture of herself standing next to one of the doormen at a hotel somewhere in the Middle East. The dude has got to be near 8' tall. He's otherwise totally normal looking, so it's not acromegaly or something.
So how tall is he exactly? Well, she asked him and he didn't know, just that he was the "tallest of them". That's how common it is around there, evidently--the guy didn't even bother measuring.
And still, people think it was impossible there were giants. How much taller do they need to be?!?
My brother had a pituitary tumor that probably would have caused acromegaly had it not been removed.
He's three years younger than me, and around six inches taller LOL. It still probably had some effect.
On a related note, a friend of mine in high school became a friend of Gheorghe Muresan after chatting with his interpreter at a bunch of games...in fact became pretty good friends with his interpreter. I thought that was pretty cool. Muresan was awesome to watch.
I've played enough basketball with seven footers to know how many tall people are out there. Rather harrowing at times when you are 5'9. One team I played in high school had two seven foot players...our tallest player was 6'3 that year. Ridiculous.
I certainly think if there were higher radiative levels in past (and perhaps higher isotopic levels), I see no reason why people couldn't have been bigger.
I also wonder about acromegaly...perhaps the solution in to beat it with nutrition...provide the sustenance needed to allow the body to expand to deal with the swelling. Note that would have been much easier if prey was larger in the past and there was ample readily available protein. Just food for thought hehe.
As far as acromegaly and many other disorders from which humans suffer, I believe they may ultimately be related to our genetics. Specifically, I'm of the view that we are the product of genetic engineering, and those engineers like human ones are less than perfect. I fear many of these problems may never be sorted out unless seen in the correct context.
Because really, some of us may naturally be intended to be much larger, and the environment disrupts our optimum development (think about a magnificent Great White shark being raised in a 10-gallon fish tank full of dirty bathwater). In addition to the factors you mentioned, I think the environment in ancient times may have been extremely different.
For example, dinosaurs may have been so large partly because gravity was weaker, and gravity was weaker because the Earth was smaller! Which sounds kooky until you begin to examine the evidence:
I used to reject out of hand the idea that the largest giants recorded in ancient texts were up to 36'. Well I can tell you, I don't reject the idea any more.
Haha, I'll bring this full circle!
I always thought the tallest country was Norway. I had no idea whatsoever that it was the Netherlands. I've listened to Adam Curry--who was raised in the Netherlands and is quite tall himself at 5'17"--for 15 years on the No Agenda show and I don't recall he's ever mentioned it. Frankly, I would have 100% guessed they were short due to cold climate, diet, and population density.
That is, I had no idea until I looked it up the day before yesterday to post a comment in this thread: There were giants. No one debates that other mammals were enormous during the ice age. Why wouldn't humans have also been?
I had to look up and down that thread before I wrote this because I thought it might have been you that said something to cause me to look it up.
Capper: I can't put my finger on it but I know I saw someone in the last couple of days mention the "tallest country", but it was an odd usage because they were referring to north-south... lol
Well, I'm pretty sure it was your comment that made me look into it, so there's that.
Shit is really weaved together, ain't it? The Dinka thing really got me LOL.
A few weeks ago, a friend on Facebook posted a picture of herself standing next to one of the doormen at a hotel somewhere in the Middle East. The dude has got to be near 8' tall. He's otherwise totally normal looking, so it's not acromegaly or something.
So how tall is he exactly? Well, she asked him and he didn't know, just that he was the "tallest of them". That's how common it is around there, evidently--the guy didn't even bother measuring.
And still, people think it was impossible there were giants. How much taller do they need to be?!?
My brother had a pituitary tumor that probably would have caused acromegaly had it not been removed.
He's three years younger than me, and around six inches taller LOL. It still probably had some effect.
On a related note, a friend of mine in high school became a friend of Gheorghe Muresan after chatting with his interpreter at a bunch of games...in fact became pretty good friends with his interpreter. I thought that was pretty cool. Muresan was awesome to watch.
I've played enough basketball with seven footers to know how many tall people are out there. Rather harrowing at times when you are 5'9. One team I played in high school had two seven foot players...our tallest player was 6'3 that year. Ridiculous.
I certainly think if there were higher radiative levels in past (and perhaps higher isotopic levels), I see no reason why people couldn't have been bigger.
I also wonder about acromegaly...perhaps the solution in to beat it with nutrition...provide the sustenance needed to allow the body to expand to deal with the swelling. Note that would have been much easier if prey was larger in the past and there was ample readily available protein. Just food for thought hehe.
As far as acromegaly and many other disorders from which humans suffer, I believe they may ultimately be related to our genetics. Specifically, I'm of the view that we are the product of genetic engineering, and those engineers like human ones are less than perfect. I fear many of these problems may never be sorted out unless seen in the correct context.
Because really, some of us may naturally be intended to be much larger, and the environment disrupts our optimum development (think about a magnificent Great White shark being raised in a 10-gallon fish tank full of dirty bathwater). In addition to the factors you mentioned, I think the environment in ancient times may have been extremely different.
For example, dinosaurs may have been so large partly because gravity was weaker, and gravity was weaker because the Earth was smaller! Which sounds kooky until you begin to examine the evidence:
This web site is dedicated to exploring the mounting evidence that dinosaurs lived in a reduced gravity.
I used to reject out of hand the idea that the largest giants recorded in ancient texts were up to 36'. Well I can tell you, I don't reject the idea any more.