This map shows where the tallest people live

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/07/27/this-map-shows-where-the-talle.html

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I’m not short by any stretch – 6’ but when I was last in Germany I felt entirely insecure about my height. On the flip side, it was nice to be able to see over crowds when I was in China.

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I’m 6’ too - I think of myself as tall - but I guess I’m just a weeman :frowning:

Any nice fraulein’s out there looking for a short guy w/ a big ego?

BTW - I’m curious how much of these stats are factoring out nutrition. I mean, anecdotal evidence (but I think with a strong core of truth in there) is that when you see Asians and Indians come to the US (from a short part of the world), their kids can get big! (American milk I think some say??? does a body good???).

Its not a particularly nice thing to keep in mind, but whether involuntarily due to poverty, or perhaps due to historical dietary preferences, perhaps short countries aren’t eating enough of the right things?

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Actually, Man has evolved, adapting to reach the higher shelves common in those countries.

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I wonder what that could possibly correlate with…

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I wanna chart too!

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Rwanda is much different than in early 1994.

It was my understanding that the tallest people live in the North.

Far North.

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It says something about nutrition in Africa when Sudan and Somalia are lower on the height scale than China.

Funny thing: I noticed after years of going to shows that whenever I went to see an “alternative” act, I’d generally be one of the taller people in the room and could stand where I wanted. When I went to a more mainstream metal or industrial act, I’d be in the bottom 50% of men, and would have to move around a lot to find a view of the stage.

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Nimelennar hit the nail on the head, and the article has it backwards. Height doesn’t lead to longevity, they’re just both correlated to nutrition.

Access to adequate nutrition, especially protein and calcium for children – both plentiful in the low countries and Scandinavia – are going to result in taller, healthier adults.

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Not my house?

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Sorry for bringing down the average, fellow North Americans. I look up to a lot of people.

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As a shortarse from a family of shortarses, the paediatricians tell us that daneel Jr is going to end up 6" taller than both his parents. Personally, I doubt it.

I hope he does, but I don’t see it happening.

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You know your place.

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I used to dream of being 5’7"-5’9".

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MY PEOPLE

A message to all humanity: I’m an inch taller, and much more wonderful, than Michael Jordan, and yet I do not play basketball. Thanks for the eleventy-millionth query about it.

Fun Fact: I spent two years as a USAF airman in Okinawa, Japan.
Second Fun Fact: The Japanese are a lovely people, but they do tend to stare a bit.

Also, if you’re wondering what it’s like “to be that tall”? Good. Very, very good.

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Whatever happened to the principle of least surprise in plots? If you insist on using a bad colour scale (rainbow is pretty but never a good choice), at least use it the same way up as everybody else. Red is, by convention, hotter/bigger/more, blue is colder/smaller/less. Except here. Sigh.

MY PEOPLE:

#There once was a basket ball player at my alma mater who was 1 inch taller than Shaq.

#He asked me out once, and I said no because I’m like 5’5" (and his rep with women wasn’t that great, either.)

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I’m in the 20th percentile for height in the US and my “little” sister is in the 98th percentile.

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