The Meat of the Matter

The average American eats about 200 sandwiches every day.

When I first saw that bit of trivia, I thought "That can't be right!  I'm an old bachelor and probably eat more sandwiches than the average person, but I don't eat THAT many!" Doing the math, I figured that each American consumes nearly four sandwiches per week.  That figure still seemed higher than the amount I eat a week, though.  

After doing a little research, I found out that 50 percent of America eats a sandwich daily. It made me think about my own sandwich consumption and considering that - probably every other day - I eat a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit for breakfast, that probably counts as a sandwich, too. In fact, I had one for breakfast earlier today and two small turkey sandwiches for supper.

Oh well, I guess I really am above the mean on sandwich consumption.

Scarface

On this day in 1983, the movie Scarface debuted in theaters. Starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant who arrived in Florida with the Mariel boatlift in 1980, Montana quickly returns to his criminal roots and becomes enormously wealthy from the booming cocaine trade, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. He becomes addicted to the drug and his world collapses in violence.

From near the end of the movie, one of the iconic scenes and most quoted line:

"Say hello to my little friend!"

A good movie but even so, it's not one I watch every time it comes on TV. I have a DVD of it, but don't think I've taken it out of the wrapper.

While getting the link for the movie, I checked on IMdb and saw that I had given it an "8", but I don't recall exactly when I gave it such a high grade. Either my standards have gone or I overrated it to begin with, but I lowered it one notch to a "7"...which is still a good rating by my strict standards. I highly recommend watching it if you haven't.

The official ToTG grade:

Temptation Eyes - The Grass Roots

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy

December 7, 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a pre-emptive military strike on the United States Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Empire of Japan's Imperial Japanese Navy, on the morning of Sunday 7 December, 1941. Two attack waves, totaling 350 aircraft were launched from six IJN aircraft carriers which destroyed two U.S. Navy battleships, one minelayer, two destroyers and 188 aircraft. Personnel losses were 2,333 killed and 1,139 wounded. Damaged warships included three cruisers, a destroyer, and six battleships. Of those six, one was deliberately grounded and was later refloated and repaired. Two sank at their berths but were later repaired and both rejoined the fleet late in the war. Vital fuel storage, shipyards, and submarine facilities were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 Japanese servicemen killed or wounded.



For text and audio: FDR Asks for a Declaration of War

Also, Pearl Harbor survivor back for 1st time since war

Pearl Harbor artifact rediscovered 68 years after attack

More information with photos and videos at National Geographic.

A Texas Hero at Pearl Harbor

Texas native Doris Miller shoots back at Japanese attackers

On this day in 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Texas native Doris Miller responded courageously to the assault. He was serving as a mess steward on the USS West Virginia. When the ship was attacked he went on deck and manned an unattended deckgun. It was Miller's first experience firing such a weapon because black sailors serving in the segregated steward's branch of the navy were not given gunnery training.

Although later news stories credited Miller with downing from two to five airplanes, these accounts have never been verified and are almost certainly apocryphal. Miller himself told navy officials he thought he hit one of the planes. The navy awarded him the Navy Cross for bravery in battle.

He died on November 24, 1943, when his ship, the aircraft carrier Liscome Bay,was torpedoed and sunk.

Alliterative Insulter

I've noticed quite a few hits from a Google search for "alliterative insults", leading folks to this post made over a year ago. Looking at the search results led me to this site:

Alliterative Insulter

Every (sic) wanted to throw out an insult, but just didn't have the right words at the right time. Well, here we have insults for all occasions and all alliterative with the name of your choice. Just fill in the name of the person to be insulted and hit the "insult" button:

I decided to input my own name to see what it would come up with:

Mike, thou art a mindless, meandering mumbler!

Wow, the truth really DOES hurt.