For the last few weeks, John and his friend Roy have been working in their spare time on a neat physics demonstration to show off at the Texas A&M Physics Festival this coming weekend.

If you know what a standing wave is, you’ve probably seen the classic demonstration with a vibrating string. But did you know you can also trace out a standing wave in FIRE? True story.

The apparatus is called a Rubens Tube, after its kind-of inventor. It’s a long metal tube with small holes drilled along its length, filled with a flammable gas and set alight. When you pipe music into one end of the tube, the flames jump into different wave patterns.

Last night I got to stop by campus and videotape their progress. With a little pretending and a little video editing, we almost made it look like they built this contraption in a single evening.

Pretty neat, eh?

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The Alexandria concert was tons of fun. The cold rain that tracked us all the way there didn’t promise a great experience, but our hosts found us an indoor location, and the show was a smashing success. Alexandria turned out IN FORCE, let me tell you.

We weren’t sure what to expect from a small-ish city, but the crowd packed City Hall so thoroughly that the organizers had to delay the start of the show for ten minutes while they brought in extra chairs. Every number got an enthusiastic response, and this audience wasn’t shy about cheering us on while we played. I can’t tell you how much easier it is to play for an audience that actually seems to be enjoying themselves.

In related news, I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I thought it was from all the yelling I did during the show, but over the course of the day the unpleasantness crept into my ears and nose. Sometimes I cough so hard that I gag.

I don’t have a fever, so I’m thinking it’s not swine flu. Goodness knows what was floating around in that crowded hall, or what lingered on the door handles of all the gas stations we stopped at. I’m hoping a good night’s sleep tonight and a day off tomorrow will vanquish these teeny intruders, whoever they are.