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S. L. Price writes about his initiation into the newspaper business. "I was, as everybody there can attest, an instant master—at overwriting, at missing deadlines, at trying to invest my stories with an importance they didn’t deserve. But with another daily paper in town, I had to hustle or lose, and fear of humiliation was only one reason I got better. The fact is, battling on a beat is one of life’s few, clear-cut, post-athletic competitive venues. Each morning, readers open up a newspaper to see who won the game. Each morning, sportswriters open up a newspaper to see which writers won the battle for the best lead, best quotes, best information, best kicker, best assessment of that game. I lost often and won some, too, and spent a bit of each day wondering if I’d be fired."

"Much of the science being done today in many fields will turn out to be wrong. Being wrong is an essential part of investigating the universe."

Aka the physics of <A HREF="http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/index.asp?sec=2&too=100&eve=8&dat=8/1/2007… bubbles</A>.

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According to some, audiophile nirvana can be reached with only a few hundred dollars. But is "entry-level high-end" an oxymoron?

It was inevitable that I'd encounter the California Audio Labs CL-15 in my search for a CD player priced less than stratospherically. CAL was one of the first companies to hit the market with a high-end CD player, and they've been building great-sounding digital gear ever since. What's more, the CL-15's predecessor was the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/696cal">Icon PowerBoss Mk.II HDCD</A>, a longtime personal favorite. I was particularly curious to see how the CAL would stack up against today's competition. I've been impressed with CAL products over the years&mdash;the original Sigma, the Delta, the DX-1 and 2, and, of course, the Icon. On the other hand, the competition&mdash;players like the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/634">Rega Planet</A>, Arcam's Alpha 8 and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/199arcam">Alpha 9</A>, and Ultech's UCD 100&mdash;has improved dramatically since I last heard the Icon.

"They're <I>cuuuute!</I>" Not a very professional reaction, but what can I say? When the Monster Cable folks pulled out their new Entech Number Crunchers during a recent visit to Santa Fe, I couldn't help myself. I was edging John Atkinson and Wes Phillips out of the way, using my long arms to reach over...gotta get one! There would be time later for the critical evaluation and cool, detached objectivity&mdash;first, I had to get one. The Entechs are the Beanie Babies of the audio world