Da Da Da Daaaaa

Stephen is pumped about the Super Bowl game and especially the Super Bowl ads. The big thing this year is, would you believe, ads for the ads? Ray Lewis has been accused of using Deer Antler Spray, which he shouldn't be doing. Stephen thinks we should give the guy a pass. Who among us hasn't used Deer Antler Spray?

Okay, now we go to the part of the show where Stephen has that wide-eyed "deer in the headlights" look on his face. He's great.

Next up, Gatorade. One of the ingredients, Flame Retardant, or brominated vegetable oil, is no longer in Gatorade. Stephen also told us of his plans for the Superbowl party at his house. It sounds like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, chicken wings are in short supply. Were they on the menu for your Superbowl party? One solution, steal them. Recently, two men stole $65,000 worth of chicken wings. The thieves were apprehended, but the wings were never found.

Stephen had on a segment on the Craziest, "Strangest" Thing I've Ever Heard. Not exactly the title, but you get the idea. We found out that humans are more productive than animals. Case in point - Kittens on YouTube. (Stephen spends his entire day watching them. I can see why, they are so cute.) And yet, almost as if to disprove Stephen's assertion that humans are productive (and therefore, smart?) he showed us a video of a crow using higher level thinking, i.e. tools (!), to get a treat. Here's how it worked. The crow used a short stick to retrieve a longer stick which then enabled her to get the treat. Stephen demonstrated and of course it went horribly wrong. Part of me wonders if this wasn't a clever way to advertise Peanut M&M's. Yum. Chocolate, and Peanuts.

On to the Classical Music portion of the show in that the guest, Matthew Guerrieri, talked about Beethoven's Fifth. Matthew Guerrieri  (gah rare ee) has a new book out, "The first four notes - Beethoven's fifth and the human imagination." I like the cover. It is quite simple but yet probably most people familiar with classical music would immediately know the tune. (Is tune the right term? Maybe not.) In what might be called "Be Careful What You Ask," Matthew took up most of the rest of the show answering one of Stephen's questions. Stephen admitted that he did not follow all of the answer, but still went on to ask a few more questions. For example, "Did Beethoven have groupies?" One might wonder about Elise.