Part of this (Scientific) World

I was browsing the last few entries from Cosmic Variance, a scientific blog that I follow occasionally (primarily when I'm told to read it), and came upon this: arXiv Find: Atom interferometry tests of local Lorentz invariance. While the authors of this arXive release (in particular, the fourth author, Steve Chu) are the subject of greatest interest to CV's bloggers, my reaction was slightly different. I've met at least four of the five authors (I'm not sure if I've met Sven) and seeing their names on a brief blog browse tickled my little-mermaid-like desire to be "part of this (scientific) world."

Do Re Mi Fa So

If there's anything that I've become while an undergraduate, it's musically spoiled.

I had a good (although rather one-sided... totally my fault) conversation on this topic while I was grabbing a yogurt and some juice on Thursday before one of my exams. We decided--and this is not the first time I've articulated this--that Eastman has, in some sense, ruined our ability to listen to music. We've been feasting on the rich sounds of budding professional musicians for four years. Now what used to be "charmingly out of tune" is jarring and accidentally displaced rhythms take away from my enjoyment of listening to amateur music.

In honor of the last weeks of time with Eastman so close at hand, I've been taking in lots of concerts. There's a smattering from Eastman, from campus ensembles, and from other venues. Here's the past few week's collection:

• April 24: Wait, I'm Singing! Cantatas and lute music from 17th century Italy
  Ellen Hargis, soprano and Paul O'Dette, theorbo
• April 25: Eve 6
• April 27: Gamelan Lila Muni (traditional music performed by Eastman's Balinese gamelan angklung orchestra)
• April 28: Holst's The Planets and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (b-flat)
  UR Symphony Orchestra
  
• April 29:Brass Choir and Percussion Ensemble
• May 2: Beijing Violas
• May 3: Concerti Grossi of the Baroque
  Yale School of Music, early music performance class
  

If the weather holds out, Break of Reality's playing tomorrow evening near campus. Concert-going was on hiatus with my tests, so I'm looking forward to attending a few more before graduation!

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EDIT (May 9): HooRaY Break of Reality! We weathered today's inclement weather to see BoR at the Lilac Festival. 'Twas awesome to see them again, even if it was short!