DAILY DIRT: Americans will consume about 150 million hot dogs today

July 4, 2025 | By Steve Eighinger, Muddy River News Minister of Culture and Doctor of Love

Opinion

Daily Dirt for Friday, July 4, 2025

Be patriotic, eat your share! … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,332 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Happy birthday, America!

Is there a better warm-weather holiday than the Fourth of July? I think not.

It’s a time to not only celebrate what a great country we live in, but those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

Here’s a few thoughts to consider today while sitting back and relaxing on your patio, or staying nice and cool indoors inside your mancave. Either way, just consider:

According to the National Sausage and Hot Dog Council (NHDSC), Americans are expected to eat 150 million hot dogs today. This is part of an estimated 7 billion that are expected to be eaten during the summer season from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I plan on doing my share.
According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, Americans spend more than $1 billion on fireworks each year. Out of this, only 10 percent of firework displays are set off professionally, which probably accounts for the estimated 12,900 firework-related emergency room visits across the country. And according to Fortune magazine, of those injuries occurring between June and July, almost 70 percent were experienced by men.– Charles Thompson and John Hancock were the only two men who actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The other 54 delegates signed over the course of the next month. The average age of the signers was 45.
Speaking of those who signed the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 82, and John Adams, 90, both died on July 4, 1826 — within five hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the document.
July 4 was not deemed a federal holiday until 1870, nearly 100 years after the nation was founded.
The reason the stars on the original flag were arranged in a circle is because it was believed that would indicate that all of the colonies were equal.
Benjamin Franklin proposed the turkey as the national bird, but was overruled by Adams and Jefferson, who wanted the bald eagle. (Whew! Glad Adams and Jefferson won that dispute.)
In 1776, there were 2.5 million people living in the new nation. Today there are more than 340 million.
Only one president of the United States was born on July 4: Calvin Coolidge (in 1872), our 30th president.
There have been 28 different versions of the American flag.
Every year on July 4, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia rings 13 times, in honor of the original 13 colonies.

2. Did you know (Part 415)

That the Liberty Bell weighs 2,080 pounds.
That Massachusetts was the first state to recognize July 4 as a holiday, back in 1781.
That Americans will consume about 155 million pounds of watermelon on July 4.
That the current 50-star flag was designed by a 17-year-old boy in Ohio in 1958.
That One World Trade Center was purposely designed to be 1,776 feet tall.

3. Listen up, baseball fans. I think you’ll enjoy this:

In his first 725 MLB games, Babe Ruth his 176 home runs and had a 37-19 pitching record.

In his first 725 MLB games, Shohei Ohtani hit 176 home runs and had a 38-19 pitching record.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — I just discovered Los Angeles has more taco trucks (5,568) than gas stations (2,704). I’m not sure what that signifies, but I find it incredibly interesting.