Have you seen... [wave frequency and harmonics]

Some of the best science demos reveal something to the viewer -- making the previously unseen become visible.

In this case, a Ruben's tube is used to visualize how sound (mechanical waves) influences air pressure in a tube.  Standing waves are the easiest to visualize, but the musical dynamics and complexity are interesting too.
Plus it uses fire and rick & roll, which always makes such projects more exciting!

By the way, after the Dave Brubeck jazz, did you see the flame gap with the rock music?  I wonder if that has anything to do with how it is equalized when mastered...

Mechanical waves can create energy patterns in solids as well.  This is a clever use of salt on a vibrating table to show more complex harmonics.  The shape and composition of the table are also important here -- this table is "clean" enough to get distinct constructive and destructive effects that result in salt "mounds" and clear spaces:

Have you seen... [science and soap]

This is a classic science demo for classrooms.  Using soap, create bubbles from methane gas (e.g., in cigarette lighters).  The methane, less dense than air, makes the bubbles rise and they are flammable with cool effect:

(Note:  due to the difference between temperature and heat, plus the fact that methane is less dense than air and rises, the instructor/teacher can have the bubbles lit in her hand without being burned.)

Television has caught on and entertains with bubble sculpting and even larger flames...

Sublimating dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) to make soap bubbles produces an entirely different (but neat) result:

And for those that don't want to light your house in fire with methane, simple Ivory soap can be fun too:

Babies - new excuse for old elevator music

Friends of mine with new babies have alerted me to some interesting song remakes (thanks Tim in Chicago).  Specifically, classic and hard rock & roll tunes are changed into lullabye format!

Example CD titles are "Rockabye Baby!" and "Babies Go..." (e.g., Babies go AC/DC - yes, that does exist!).

Here is the Rockabye Baby! rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (yeah, I love this song):

Another example -- their rendition of Guns-N-Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" (with intended irony, I'm sure):

In my opinion, these are just "elevator music"/muzak versions that use baby-oriented timbres... but why not?

How about another song to help your baby sleep peacefully... "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd:

However, I'm not so sure about others you'll see on YouTube:

- AC/DC's "Highway to Hell"?
- Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"?
- Kiss' "Rock & Roll all Night"???

They're probably making a mint on these songs...

Have you seen... [liquid nitrogen and pools]

I don't know who has a stash of liquid nitrogen just lying around their house, but these two must have a source.  First, a cool billow of fog is created when liquid Ni is dumped into (on top of?) a pool.

Second, this group filled a contained with liquid Ni.  It starts evaporating right away but the change accelerates into a controlled explosion (underwater).  Probably not the one to try at home, IMO.

Makes these guys that just use dry ice (solid CO2) seem pretty lame, huh?

A night out with friends

Sadly, two friends of ours here in Munich -- a sister and brother -- both will be moving away soon.
To celebrate/say goodbye, they asked a bunch of people to join in a dinner and drinks last weekend.

It presented a few options to practice low-light photography (using a 40mm, f1.7 pancake prime lens).

The restaurant was short walking distance from a train stop not too far from the Hauptbahnhof (w/ moon!):

Also on the way, we passed one of Munich's taller buildings with interesting blue lights:

Inside, the restaurant changed into a club late in the evening, even having a disco ball:

Finally, our table was mesmerized by lots of stag parties doing crazy things... a nice goodbye to E & S.

Have you seen... [science stunts]

One contributor to YouTube has compiled some party-stunts that use basic science.  Very neat.
I've always like the fork-balancing one, but the the two burning matches stunt was new to me!
Plus, the one about rotating the foot... human brains are so interesting, aren't they?

He later uploaded a follow-up with ten more clever acts.  Worth a look.  I'm sure many people have smashed a glass trying the feather stunt.  My fav:  the coin/liquid/matches/glass (it works by creating a vacuum).

Thanks "Quirkology" (a.k.a. Richard Wiseman)!

Wiesn warmup... with pugs?

This post will be filed under "What the heck?" - but it must be shared.

Oktoberfest is almost here!  So Müncheners are warming up by singing & dancing... with pugs?  This was a recent news video on many major German websites (Spiegel, Focus, Bild, even the Financial Times Deutschland!):

It's incredible how relaxed the dogs all are!  I know our friend A in Austin, Texas will love that video.
(The title means "Swaying Pugs in Munich".)

Next... just more cute dogs.  It's a pair of pugs, each with an Oktoberfest lebkuchen heart around the neck:

Full disclosure:  the German word "Mops" means pug.  The plural would be "Möpse"... but this is also slang for boobs.  The video's title is therefore a play on words, also referencing the effect dirndls have on womens' figures.

Each year there are new "Wiesn Hits" -- songs that become popular due to being played often in the Oktoberfest tents.  A band called Flat Out recently wrote a song based on this double entendre, called "Scharfe Möpse" (in this context, scharf means "well-defined" or "hot").  They abviously want their song to become a hit.  Perhaps this isn't so subtle, but one lady (below) was ready to dance with her pug anyway!

In the last video, a woman dressed her pug up... in a dirndl.  It's 11 seconds you won't soon forget.