# Marfan's and the Big O (Osama bin Ladin, that is)... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228 "2001-10-09T01:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/1 "2001-10-09T01:25:46Z")
I’ve always heard Osama is very tall. Looking at the video released yesterday, he’s certainly got long fingers, which is another symptom of Marfan’s. Any chance he’s got it? And, if so, can we use that against him? Maybe take some tanker planes and drop some clot-busters (or whatever it was they used in _ER_ last week? Or anything more realistic? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/2 "2001-10-09T01:36:05Z")
Most accounts I’ve read about OBL say that he is a hypochondriac and has physicians check him out weekly. Perhaps we can just drop a bunch of propaganda leaflets telling him something like “You better get that mole checked out.” Or “Those headaches you’re having are probably the symptoms of a brain tumor.” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/3 "2001-10-09T01:42:55Z")
Well, considering the life style the guy leads, I’d be surprised if he WASN’T ill! Plus, his intense hatred and anger-it’s true-it really can age you. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/4 "2001-10-09T01:49:41Z")
He’s only supposed to be 44. Somebody at work asked me to find his birthday, but somehow his birth certificate doesn’t seem easy to come by. Speaking as someone who is 6’5", I am disappointed that OBL is giving all tall people a bad name. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/5 "2001-10-09T02:29:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*He’s only supposed to be 44. Somebody at work asked me to find his birthday, but somehow his birth certificate doesn’t seem easy to come by. > > Speaking as someone who is 6’5", I am disappointed that OBL is giving all tall people a bad name. \*\* Yeah… GOOD, FOR A CHANGE! I’m only 5"5’ \*Sniffs ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/6 "2001-10-09T02:36:15Z")
I don’t trust the translation from yesterday’s video. Looked like he was doing Karaoke with a dodgy microphone to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/7 "2001-10-09T03:52:53Z")
Are Barney the Dinosaur arms a smyptom of Marfan’s also? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him use his shoulders, it’s like his elbows are pinned to his ribs. ---
**Author:** ![heptapod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@heptapod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heptapod)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/8 "2001-10-09T04:08:53Z")
Osama bin Laden doesn’t have Marfan’s. He’s actually an elf. Don’t you think there’s a reason why you’ve never gotten a clear view of his ears? ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/9 "2001-10-09T04:49:31Z")
I agree that in some respects he looks Marfanoid. Long arms, very tall and skinny, somewhat sunken eyes. Other symptoms don’t fit, though. Many Marfan Syndrome patients have aortic dissection relatively early in life which leads to sudden death. This is increased with physical exertion, which I’m sure bin Laden has experience with, what with all the fighting the Soviets and so forth. In the West, we are very vigilant about giving meds to prevent this (beta blockers) and carefully monitoring for it. Also, another sign of Marfan Syndrome is displacement of the crystalline lens, leading to very bad vision. I have never seen bin Laden in thick glasses, although he may wear contacts. I dunno who is fitting him with contacts in the wilds of Afghanistan, though. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/10 "2001-10-09T06:23:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by edwino \* > \*\*Also, another sign of Marfan Syndrome is displacement of the crystalline lens, leading to very bad vision. I have never seen bin Laden in thick glasses, although he may wear contacts. I dunno who is fitting him with contacts in the wilds of Afghanistan, though. \*\* Note that while lens dislocation may be a symptom of Marfan syndrome (occuring in about 65% of the cases), it is also a symptom of homocystinuria and Weill-Marchesani syndrome (although, in the latter, those afflicted are typically short with broad fingers). So, the presence, or absence, of vision problems is not necessarily indicative of Marfan syndrom. Beals syndrome is a closely related disorder which produces similar skeletal characteristics, but afflicted individuals typically do not suffer from the vision or heart problems associated with Marfan syndrome. I do recall reading that bin Laden has an “enlarged heart” (literally, of course - he suffers from quite the opposite, figuratively), and usually has a physician in tow. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/11 "2001-10-09T10:18:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by edwino \* > I agree that in some respects he looks Marfanoid. Long arms, very tall and skinny, somewhat sunken eyes. Other symptoms don’t fit, though. Many Marfan Syndrome patients have aortic dissection relatively early in life which leads to sudden death. This is increased with physical exertion, which I’m sure bin Laden has experience with, what with all the fighting the Soviets and so forth. In the West, we are very vigilant about giving meds to prevent this (beta blockers) and carefully monitoring for it. Also, another sign of Marfan Syndrome is displacement of the crystalline lens, leading to very bad vision. I have never seen bin Laden in thick glasses, although he may wear contacts. I dunno who is fitting him with contacts in the wilds of Afghanistan, though. Gotta remember - Marfan’s syndrome affect different people to different degrees. One of my college roommates had Marfan’s, as did her brother. Yes, both were very tall and skinny - but both had near-normal vision as well. She did have a heart murmur of some sort, and slight irregularities of some sort, but it didn’t stop her from being extremely active - backpacking for 3-4 months at a time, volunteering for the Forest Service making and maintaining trails, occassional work on the firelines when people were needed. For them, the biggest manifestation of the syndrome was, in her case, severe foot problems requiring multiple surgeries and in his case, a tendency for his bones to break easier than typical. Not a big enough problem to keep him out of the army, though. Their mother had it, too (probably where they inherited it). She had the vision problems, and foot problems, but wasn’t as tall as most Marfan folks and apparently didn’t have heart problems. bin Laden could have Marfan’s but be one of the more fortunate folks who have had minimal problems with it. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/12 "2001-10-09T23:05:45Z")
Sorry to hijack this post, but I heard on the radio today (Jack Diamond on Mix107.3 in the DC metro area), that Osama bin Laden is as bald as a billiard ball underneath his turban and is extremely sensitive about. Presumably, none of his four wives have ever seen him without his turban. I’ve heard he looks like George Costanza of Seinfeld fame. Maybe we could capture him, perform a sex change operation on him, pull off his turban and send him back to the Taliban. Just a thought . . . ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/13 "2001-10-09T23:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by medstar \* > \*\*Sorry to hijack this post, but I heard on the radio today (Jack Diamond on Mix107.3 in the DC metro area), that Osama bin Laden is as bald as a billiard ball underneath his turban and is extremely sensitive about. Presumably, none of his four wives have ever seen him without his turban. I’ve heard he looks like George Costanza of Seinfeld fame. Maybe we could capture him, perform a sex change operation on him, pull off his turban and send him back to the Taliban. Just a thought . . . \*\* Osama bin Ladin as a bald woman in Afghanistan … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tsunamisurfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@tsunamisurfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsunamisurfer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/14 "2001-10-10T00:30:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by medstar \* > \*\*Sorry to hijack this post, but I heard on the radio today (Jack Diamond on Mix107.3 in the DC metro area), that Osama bin Laden is as bald as a billiard ball underneath his turban and is extremely sensitive about. Presumably, none of his four wives have ever seen him without his turban. I’ve heard he looks like George Costanza of Seinfeld fame. Maybe we could capture him, perform a sex change operation on him, pull off his turban and send him back to the Taliban. Just a thought . . . \*\* According to an, um, well-respected U.S. tabloid–and recently picked up by the mainstream media–sources say that bin Laden’s penis is seriously undersized and that he finally went over the edge when dating a Western female who kept poking fun at his shortcomings. Not that this is any part of a disinformation campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/15 "2001-10-10T01:23:34Z")
Geeze doesn’t anybody go to [[http://www.snopes.com/rumors/osama.htm](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/osama.htm) "]Snopes any more??? ---
**Author:** ![wedgerat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@wedgerat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgerat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/16 "2001-10-10T01:27:32Z")
Does anyone else think “Obi-Wan ben Laden” whenever they see “ObL”? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marfans-and-the-big-o-osama-bin-ladin-that-is/86228/17 "2001-10-10T02:02:44Z")
I was reading [this](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html) and I thought-it seems weird-you know, if someone like Bin Laden, could have been destined for GOOD, instead of EVIL. It’s scary. It makes me sad-I’m sure his father’s spirit is extremely sad.