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[Ricky]

16, 5'10" and 110 lbs. I'm skinny as fuck.

and for lack of a picture of me, have a happy-sad baby i found on the internet

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Siquo]

6'1 and something here, which is pretty average for my country.

How the fuck do all of you people grow so tall? I mean, did I miss a supplement or something?

Don't know. Lots of milk? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070924192746AAzHoQr

[SalmonGod]

Getting close to 30.  I'm 5'11" and somewhere around 180 lbs.  Haven't been weighed in years, but I don't think I've gained since then.  Overall, I've only gained about 20 lbs since high school.  Much better than most people I know.

Depends on where you are. Here in Washington, average height is about standard for America as a whole: 5'10". So I'm a little bit short of that, but not abnormally so. There are plenty of people shorter than me, and plenty taller. Most are about that height, though. On the other hand, average in the Scandinavian countries is 5'11" to 6". In Papua New Guinea it's 5'4"-ish, IIRC.

Temperature has a lot to do with it.  I forget the formal name for the phenomenon, but the less surface area your body has relative to its mass, the easier it is to keep warm.  So being bigger than average is a common adaptation to cold climates.  I'm a good mix of northern european ancestries, and I'm 3-4 inches shorter than most of my relatives.  If I had better sleeping habits and continued training hard after high school, I'd probably look something like Thor right now.  I think sleep deprivation stunted my growth a lot in my teen years, and then I wasn't allowed to do athletics for 6 months after my first MRSA infection and I never got back into it.

[Siquo]

Temperature has a lot to do with it.  I forget the formal name for the phenomenon, but the less surface area your body has relative to its mass, the easier it is to keep warm. So being bigger than average is a common adaptation to cold climates. 

That only works when you get rounder, not taller. Most of the length is in the femur, and at roughly the same weight but more length the surface area is actually increased. UNless I'm wrong and you have a good source

No, it's actually because of the snowfall, everyone shorter than 5'11 couldn't breathe in winter so they were bred out.

[SalmonGod]

Temperature has a lot to do with it.  I forget the formal name for the phenomenon, but the less surface area your body has relative to its mass, the easier it is to keep warm. So being bigger than average is a common adaptation to cold climates. 

That only works when you get rounder, not taller. Most of the length is in the femur, and at roughly the same weight but more length the surface area is actually increased. UNless I'm wrong and you have a good source

No, it's actually because of the snowfall, everyone shorter than 5'11 couldn't breathe in winter so they were bred out.

Source is a college biological anthropology class, though the principle was presented as relevant to the evolution of the animal kingdom as a whole, not just humans.

It's not just about roundness, anyway.  Don't have to be rounder to have more meat on you, and girth tends to be proportional.  To be both tall and twig-thin is unusual, and even in the case of longer, thinner legs most mass is still internal enough to help with heat storage.

[Siquo]

Source is a college biological anthropology class, though the principle was presented as relevant to the evolution of the animal kingdom as a whole, not just humans.

So.. colder climates mean larger animals? I think that one can be refuted pretty easily. Nope, I still call BS. It's actually because Vikings preferred their women tall and strong, and did not care for their ego and small lovely wifeys as much as the southerners did. But really it's because the sun is often low in the sky, and being taller you're able to get more sunlight, which helps in your vitamin D production. But in reality it's just because of the food. Secretly growth hormones have been invented over 1000 yrs ago by the Scandinavians. In actuality it's because northern people were actually crossbred with mammoths way back.

Biological Anthropology has a very negative connotation around here.

Okay, bit of googling: You're referring to Bergmanns rule. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann%27s_rule.
However combining that with Allen's rule states the exact opposite of what you claim (and agrees more with what I said): Larger bodies, but shorter limbs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen%27s_rule

[Askot Bokbondeler]

epigenetics and protein rich diets?

[MaximumZero]

You all seem to have forgotten that I hail from a currently snowy wasteland of slush and ice.

I am a pretty serious statistical outlier.

[SalmonGod]

You all seem to have forgotten that I hail from a currently snowy wasteland of slush and ice.

I am a pretty serious statistical outlier.

But did your ancestors?

[MaximumZero]

Sort of. My father's side is comprised primarily of northern Great Plains dwelling buffalo-hunters, and scavengers from the southern Appalachian mountains. My mother's side is almost all blue-face-painted warmongers and cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[SalmonGod]

Sort of. My father's side is comprised primarily of northern Great Plains dwelling buffalo-hunters, and scavengers from the southern Appalachian mountains. My mother's side is almost all blue-face-painted warmongers and cheese eating surrender monkeys.

Next question:  I think the truth is you're really tall for a dwarf.

[MaximumZero]

Sort of. My father's side is comprised primarily of northern Great Plains dwelling buffalo-hunters, and scavengers from the southern Appalachian mountains. My mother's side is almost all blue-face-painted warmongers and cheese eating surrender monkeys.

Next question:  I think the truth is you're really tall for a dwarf.

That sounds about right.

[SalmonGod]

So this is what I have learned about evolution today...

+ + =

[Solifuge]

COLD CLIMATES = BIG

NO IT MEANS SHORT LIMBS

Basically, bodies in cold climates want to minimize their heat exchange with their hypothermic environment. Less heat lost means less energy spent keeping your body warm enough to function. so bodies in cold climates select for short and stocky builds with maximum interior area, but minimal surface area.

Or rather: BOTH ARE RIGHT.

Garsh, I never thought Bay12, a forum full of people who play games about dwarves, would be so full of giants. Frankly I'm intimidated now.

Escapism.

Japa, you are amazing at one-word jokes. Are you aware of that?

[Rose]

Garsh, I never thought Bay12, a forum full of people who play games about dwarves, would be so full of giants. Frankly I'm intimidated now.

Escapism.

Japa, you are amazing at one-word jokes. Are you aware of that?

Yes.