Our house in Nashville got flooded and my wife and I were pretty sure we would lose the house and go bankrupt. We did not qualify for flood insurance as we were not in the 500 year floodplain and FEMA did not give us enough to come close to rebuilding despite our asking for help from our congressman and filing two appeals for more funds.

Gold has, as of today, dipped down a tad. I wanted to use this occasion to remind you that there is no top in sight. None. Zip. I know that very few of you (if any) trade these markets. That is part of the point.

The active December contract at the Comex (GCZ10) printed new all time highs yesterday, at 1347.70 (the settlement price). At the same time, open interest in that contract rose to new all-time highs at 444,894 contracts.

This is not a short-covering rally. This is fresh money pushing the, er, envelope.

In my long and arduous journey towards understanding the ins and outs of hi-fi audio I have hit a road block. What is the difference between a DAC and a decoder? When reading reviews for Blu-ray players or AV receivers I often hear them talk about how they can decode Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio, does this mean they automatically have a good DAC as well? One would think that a device with the ability to decode the highest quality audio formats, would also come equipped with a very good DAC.

Now that we are under a month before the big event, I am making my election predictions..

Republicans gain 60 House seats and 6-8 Senate seats with today's trends and tomorrows unemployment numbers making more republican gains more likely than less...

The New Jersey Audio Society is pleased to announce its October meeting!

The theme is DIY electronics.

We will be welcoming Mr. Bob Cordell, who will introduce his new book on Class-D amplifier design.

Our host, Jack Walton, will be bringing his system to provide music, so please bring any music you'd like to hear.

I don't normally read the Industry Updates section but something about Mr. Fremer traveling to Venice (pg.s 13-15) just caught my eye so I read on. I have say, not only was it a fun travelogue piece, it was really funny. Of note was his droll descriptions of the deep end that so much modern art has gone off. In particular the 15 foot Teddy bear humping an equally over-sized rabbit and it's relation to artists and wealthy patrons. My feelings exactly- and I went to art school!

Don't take it up a notch, see what can happen:

Greetings. This is my first post. I've signed on for the journey into hi-fi, if that's still the preferred nomenclature. My first purchase was a Marantz 2250 receiver. I bought it on the basis of some research and guidance from trusted friends.