Category Archives: History

I Am A Horrible Writer

I admit it, I am a horrible writer. If you have ever read more than a few of the posts on this site, you would be met with many misspellings and grammatical errors. I wanted to apologize right now for my own inability to write well. However I have always felt that the content and message of the writing is far more important than the small stuff. If you can stick through to the end, I usually try to bring it all, all the content, back around and make a final conclusion on what the overall message of the post was. That can save you maybe the minutes of mental struggle you might go through to make sense of my writings sometimes.

I know I am a horrible writer. Sometimes my stream of thinking is not smooth and you might be perplexed in trying to understand what I am saying.

I used to have a RSS feed to the blog/website so that everytime a new post was published, you would get an alert to the update and you can read it. However, I realize that my writing style is very different from most other bloggers and writers out in the internet space. I publish my articles and posts as fast as possible. Often I only have only the title of the post up and have nothing put inside. The posts are then continuously added upon, edited, and finally finished late on with a product which I feel is good enough to read and get some form of value from. That is usually when I feel that the post is 90% finished. I don’t strive for 100 % perfection this type of stuff. This project of mine is something I plan to write and work on for the next 10 years, if I manage to find the time There might even be articles and posts I edit say 5 years later because I reread my stuff years later and hated my old writing style and felt the internal need to edit and polish the old material to be more readable.

There are still many posts that I have in the backend and old posts that are already published which I never even finished the ending for. My train of thought was interrupted by another idea that I had thought up or I realized that I had to implement at that time.

I am just so passionate about this subject and have so much knowledge and content that I wanted to share with you as the reader. I am hoping to give you as much value as possible. I know that right now I write about 3-4 posts a day and that will of course one day change to a less frequency. Right now, I am enjoying myself in expressing my own opinions and ideas on the subject of height increase, and anything related to it.

Robert Wadlow, How Did He Grow So Tall?

When one has any form of interest over the subject of height, a natural question that appears is “Who was the tallest person to ever live, in all of human history?”

When that question is posed, one can only speak from the known medical records which are available. We could go into the Bible and talk about the 9 feet tall Goliath, the Mummified Bodies of Red Haired Giant Indians (Reference Link 1, Reference Link 2), Gigantopithecus (Reference Link 1, Reference Link 2), Bigfoots and Yetis, or even other human giant legends but we won’t because none of these stories, legensds, or myths can be substantiated. So who is the tallest person who has irrefutable proof?

The name Robert Wadlow appears again and again as the title holder, one which has held for almost a century now.

Robert Wadlow lived from 1918 to 1940 and was measured at an amazing 8′ 11.1″ for his maximum height, which was done only a few weeks before his untimely death.

Compared to his contemporaries he still stood far taller than most other giants in his era. Many tall individuals in other countries would come and meet Wadlow to see him for themselves whether he was as tall as he claim and was often left shocked and amazed that he was honest in his stature.

Taken from the Wikipedia article on him and his life found HERE, we quote this passage about his abnormal growth cycle.

“” His great size and his continued growth in adulthood was due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death. “”

What is surprising about Wadlow’s case was that he had shown no sign stopping in growing when he died. Unlike most other giants who have suffered from Gigantism (and then Acrogemaly) , his growth seemed to not diminish with age however that could only be because he only lived to be 22. If he had lived to his 40s, which would have been a clear possibility, his growth might have slowed or stopped by then, but he might have reached 10 feet in height by then.

Wadlow’s case is very unique even for giants because it appears that he did not suffer from the normal causes of Gigantism, which is from some form of tumor, benign or malignant, pushing against the pituitary gland thus effectively causing the gland to squeeze out more height growth hormone. His condition reveals that his actualy pituitary gland was what had a condition, due to hypertrophy. Taken from the Wikipedia article on hypertrophy, it is defined as the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. Thus, there was no foreign object pushing on the gland, but the gland itself which was abnormally large. This would suggest that the gland produced many different forms of hormones in excess, not just HGH and probably would never have decrease in size. As long the pituitary gland keeps secreting the right hormones in excess, the body would still respond by being activated to carry out its functions.

I remember reading an article saying that Wadlow’s hypertrophic pituitary gland prevented even puberty from being activated. Since puberty could not be activated, that means that the long bones would never get the signals to start closing the growth plates and seal the epiphyseal plates.

Overall, we gain two hints on why Wadlow’s case is so unique and why he might have never stopped growing. The first one is because that it was his pituitary gland that was enlarged, not a foreign tumor that was pressing on his gland. The second one is that apparently Wadlow’s pituitary gland was producing so much HGH that the normal process of puberty was completely stopped or delayed. My concluding thoughts are to ask how did the puberty process completely stopped with his endocrine system and whether his condition can ever be reproduced.

How Many 8 Feet Tall People Are In The World?

I remember being on a NBA basketball forum and someone posted a thread topic that went along the lines of “How many 7 feet tall people are in the world?”

I gave some reply after doing some quickly calculations. I used to live in the Seattle area and would see maybe one 7 feet tall person every 3 months. Now, that is a lot. Assuming that there was maybe 20 7 feet tall people and the total population of Washington was reported in the most recent US census beureau was about 7,000,000. then for every 350,000 people there is one 7 feet tall person which seems to be a reasonable guesstimate.

since there is about 7,000,000,000 people in the world, then we can just then multiple the 20 by 1000 giving us a total number of 7 feet tall people to be about 20,000 in the world.

However, height is a factor which is well modeled by a normalized distribution function with rather long tails on each end because of medical conditions and genetic abnormalities.

If we then wonder how many people then there are 8 feet tall or greater, we find that there is only 3 people currently that has been proven and measured. One of them is Sultan Kosen, which is the curent tallest person in the world.

1.Sultan Kosen (Turkey) – 8′ 3″

2. Brahim Takioullah (Morocco)- 8′ 1″

3. Morteza Mehrzad (Iran)- 8′ 0″ – 8′ 1″

Note: I wanted to thank the site thetallestman.com for providing me with much of the information I have used on this post. You can find their website HERE.

Oddly enough, it was only 3 years ago that an 8 feet person was even substainted in height. Before that, not one 8 foot tall person was alive for almost 40 years, at least claimed by the Guinness Book of Records.

Before that, the title of the tallest person in the world went to a Mongolian herdsman Bao Xi Shun, who was 7′ 9″. However, it was clear that he was not the tallest person in the world, or even in the billion population nation of China. The title probably would (and should) have gone to his fellow Chinese Zhang Jun- Cai , who had attended a Japanese show with Xi Shun many years ago and had both their heights measured with Jun-Cai’s height measured at least 2.25 inches (6 cm) bigger.

Some people have discussed and argued that under certain conditions and adjusting for spinal curvature, Zhang Jun-Cai should also be added to the 8 feet tall list. That would put the total number of people at an amazing 4

 

 

Torso Length To Leg Length , A Personal Theory

As I was watching and listening to the Summer Olympics in 2008 where the phenom Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals for 8 events at Beijing, many people began to question why he was so good at the sport of swimming. 4 main reasons cited by the scientists and commentaries were

1. His long arms or wingspan, which was 79 inches in length compared to his height which was 76 inches. Compared to most other Olympic swimmers, Michael Phelps is of average height.

2. His abnormally large feet, shoe size 14.

3. His reported legs and ankle which were supposed to be double jointed giving him a greater range of flexibility, allowing for his feet to give strong bursts of propulsion.

4. His disproportionately long and large torso, compared to his legs. Supposedly he had the torso of someone who was more 6 ‘8″ and the legs of someone who was 6’ 0″. (Reference Link 1)

Now that the Summer Olympics are back and Michael Phelps swimming prowess are again mentioned, along with Ryan Lochte this time. We could talk more about his swimming accomplishment but lets focus on his height and length, which is what this site is about. I used to also be a huge swimmer as well so I guess I could be more authoritive on my swimming analysis but no one really wants to hear about that.

One thing that is clear from the start is that professional, Olympic ranked swimmers are usually very tall (Reference Link 1). However, the point that I wanted to emphasize about the swimmers build is over reason #4, that the torso seems to be far larger and longer than the legs.

I realized long ago that my body was of the same shape as Phelps, but not as tall. My torso is abnormally large and long compared to my legs. During the Summer of 2008 I really was doing 2 main things. Going to swim early in the morning for 2 and a half hours. Then, coming back home late in the afternoon to watch the Olympics, specifically Phelps to swim. Unfortunately of all the races, the one I missed was his 7th swim, against Michael Cavic which was definitely the most exhilirating swim match I have ever seen.

When I saw the amount of food that Phelps ate and compared it to myself, I wondered about this theory. What if the portions of a person’s torso to their legs is mainly determined by their eating habits when they are young?

I know that I used to eat the same amount as 2, maybe even 3 normal sized grown adults. My stomach would always be stretched out and I could feel my entire upper body ,the torso being expanded as much as possible. My mother noticed early on that my upper body seemed to be far greater than my legs. In terms of genetics,  I do have some height in my family. My Grandfather from my mother’s side of the family was supposed around 6 feet tall during a time when the average male of his country was probably 5’4″-5’6″. My male cousin is on my mothers side is also rather tall, but his height seems to be from his legs. My father’s side of the family is on the short side with rather average to short length legs.

When all this information is combined, I form this theory in my head.

1. The size and length of our torso is mainly determined by the amount of food and the nutrition value we gain when we were younger while still growing. So if you eat a lot when you are younger, you will grow taller because your torso, vertebrate, and skeletal structure will be increased in size.

2. The size and length of our legs , and subsequently, our arms and limns are determined by our genetics and the heights of our relatives and ancestors.

So that is it. My theory is really something I have thought about but never tried to prove or disprove. You can choose to accept it or not but it was something I wanted to put out there for others to think about.

 

Is Our Pursuit For Height Increase An Obsession or Mental Illness?

Something I learned about today from more reading was a medical term that may apply to some of us who are on this personal journey or even quest to find a way to grow taller.

While there are some of us who have a healthy interest because they want to be taller, there are some of us who have an unhealthy obsession with the topic.

The mental condition I am referring to is “Short Stature Dysphoria” where patients are deeply dissatisfied with their height. I would like to add that for most people who are deeply dissatisfied with their height, it is not from being too tall, but form being too short.

I personally don’t know if I am afflicted with this mental condition, but I do know that I have a personality that is very easy to be addicted to something once I am interested. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I am in my mid-late 20s now and almost all of my teenage weird habits and tendencies are gone. I could claim now that my younger stranger self was just going through the typical teenage issues but know can really know.

I guess there is still a part of me that still gets obsessed over some subjects, and they may never go away but what was once a consuming thought or desire has abated into something more controllable. These days, I can be far more objective and calm about many things which I could not have been years ago. I think for this topic at my age, I have accepted my own height since it is not that bad. I can live with that and find some peace with it. I can always wear bigger shoes or put padding in my shoes to make myself feel a little better and more confident about myself.

So, please guys, just learn to keep everything into perspective. Being short does really suck and is something which we may never be able to change. However life doesn’t give us the amount of time we each need to get over our issues and heal properly. For the people who don’t understand us, who can’t understand why we are so intensely dedicated to finding a solution, they will never understand the pain and internal suffering that may go through a person who tries to change something which may not be changeable.

Should we maybe one day 10, 20 years later wake up and realize that all of that pursuing got us nowhere, and that we are left with nothing of value to show for our effort??

I don’t know but in the words of Fox Mulder from the 90’s hit, The X-Files, “I want to believe”.