Cringely doesn't identify his friend from Purdue, but there is a professor at Purdue that has a long standing fascination with lighting charcoal grills.
"In 1996, Goble was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for preparing a barbecue for cooking in less than 5 seconds by the use of a smoldering cigarette, charcoal and LOX (liquid oxygen). This act attracted the attention of the West Lafayette, Indiana fire department, which warned him to never let them catch him in the possession of LOX near a barbecue fire ever again."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Goble
"In 1996, Goble was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for preparing a barbecue for cooking in less than 5 seconds by the use of a smoldering cigarette, charcoal and LOX (liquid oxygen). This act attracted the attention of the West Lafayette, Indiana fire department, which warned him to never let them catch him in the possession of LOX near a barbecue fire ever again."
Writeup: http://www.humournet.com/collage.archives/collage096.txt
Watch it here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sab2Ltm1WcM