Daily Dirt: If you’re having ‘slatur’ for supper, don’t bother inviting Steve to the meal

I think today’s edition saves the best for the last. Those with weak stomachs may want to stop reading after thought part deux … Anyway, welcome to today’s three thoughts and Vol. 224 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Since we’re ending the shortest month of the year, here are some items that follow in the “short” line of thought:

• Shortest player to ever play in the NBA: Tyrone “Mugsy” Bogues stood 5-foot-3 and played for the Washington Bullets, Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors from 1987 through 2001.
• Shortest NFL player: Jack Shapiro stood 5-1 and weighed 199 pounds. He played in one NFL game in 1929 for the Staten Island Stapletons.
• Shortest NFL quarterback: Eddie LeBaron, who played from 1952-63, was a somewhat robust 5-7. LeBaron played for the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. He threw for more than 13,000 yards and 104 touchdown passes.
• Shortest record to ever be No. 1 on the Billboard pop music chart: The Box Tops’ “The Letter” was one minute, 55 seconds long. It topped the charts in 1967.
• Shortest recorded person: Nepalese-born Chandra Bahadur Dangi was declared the shortest human adult ever documented and verified by Guinness World Records. He stood 21.51 inches. 
• Shortest U.S. president: James Madison, who was 5-foot-4.
• Shortest war: A “war” between Britain and Zanzibar (now Tanzania) lasted for 45 minutes in August 1896.
• Shortest MLB player: Eddie Gaedel was 3 feet, 7 inches tall when he pinch-hit in 1951 for the St. Louis Browns. The number he wore on his back was 1/8. Runner-up in this department was Stubby Magner, who appeared in 13 MLB games in the 1911 season, all with the New York Yankees.
• Shortest film ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar: “Marty,” in 1955, was one hour, 31 minutes in length.
• Shortest amount of on-screen time for an actor/actress nominated for an Oscar: 5 minutes, Judi Dench (1998), “Shakespeare in Love”; 5 minutes, Beatrice Straight (1976), “Network,” a film that was more than two hours in length. 
• Shortest MLB game: The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Giants 6-1 in 1919. The game took 51 minutes.
• Shortest leading men in Hollywood (active): Peter Dinklage, 4 feet, 4 inches (He’s the really short guy in “Game of Thrones”), Danny DeVito, 4-10; Kevin Hart, 5-1; Rick Moranis, 5-1.

2. Here’s a few strange-but-true facts to get your week off to a good start:

Kind of strange: According to a Harris Poll, women with tattoos now outnumber men, 23 percent to 19 percent.

Stranger: The “Star-Spangled Banner” did not become our national anthem until 1931. Prior to that, if you stood up before a ballgame it was to simply get a vendor’s attention.

Strange, but cool: In 1900, the average life expectancy for an American man was 48.3 years — and that was if he were lucky. Today, it’s around 78.7 years, and the chances of him hitting 100 are not so rare. In just the last 15 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American men living to 100 has increased by more than 43 percent.

3. In our continuing effort to broaden your appetite for some of the world’s most disgusting foods, today we present “slatur.”

This is one of the favorites in parts of Iceland — remote parts, I assume — and consists of sheep’s blood, fat and innards. And, yes, it is served in actual sheep’s blood.Oh, and just in case you thought this particular dish could not be any more disgusting, some Icelanders like to sprinkle sugar on their slatur. 

Steve Thought O’ The Day — “The Letter,” by the Box Tops (see thought No. 1), is one of Steve’s all-time favorites.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. How does slatur differ from a hot dog?