6:20 PM >> The Complex

So everyone always talks about the Napoleon Complex, right? Because he was such a shrimpy little Frenchman, right? Well, being 5' 8" (which until recently was actually the standard "average height" for a man, though I always knew it must be more like 5' 10", which it is now), I always figured I would tower over that dude. So imagine my surprise when M and I went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in NYC. As you can see, we were the same height! What a blow to my sense of being.

Now, it should be noted that it turns out that Napoleon was actually not too short: he was 5' 6". In fact, he was taller than average in his time. But I guess he was wearing high-heeled boots at Madame Tussaud's.

Did you know that George Washington was 6' 2" tall? That's only two inches shorter than Abe Lincoln--but 75 years earlier!

I have to admit that I was not too excited to go to a wax museum. It seemed like a really dumb concept to me. Why pay money to look at fancy mannequins of famous people that I see pictures of all the time? But now I have to admit that it was really fun. There is something neat about actually being able to see these famous folks in 3-D and finally see if they are as tall as the magazines make them out to be.

Plus they have Pele there! [wax, not flesh]