The two books I refer to I was able to purchase at Coles Bookstore... They both are full of colored pictures and wonderful descriptions. Weeds of Canada and the Northern United States by Royer and Dickinson published by Lone Pine Publishing and sold for $29.95. It shows colored pictures of the seedlings, seeds, the mature plant and its flowerhead. I like the information on each including a detailed description of the flower, plant, distribution areas, fruit, leaves, seed, seedling, reasons for concern and similar species. The common name is listed as well as its Latin name and French name and a quick description. Plants of the Western Boreal Forest and Aspen Parkland by Johnson, Kershaw, MacKinnon and Pojar also published by Lone Pine Publishing for $24.95. It lists trees, shrubs, roses, asters, sedges, etc with the same details as the Weeds of Canada book. Brenda

I am a long time CU subscriber who is currently trying to buy an 18,000 BTU AC. Aside from the fact that CU doesn't rate anything that size, what I find, time and time again, is that user reports don't match the ratings. The same is true on refrigerators. So let me talk about what I we going on - CU has often used oddball criteria to evaluate products. Back in the 70's, water usage was key to a washing machine's review. I am sure this sill goes on. They are, after all, engineers. -no one looks at the long term. If you think this is a problem with appliances, think about what has been going on with pharmaceuticals. - CU doesn't realize that style or design exist, therefore, you cannot sort refrigerators by counter depth or near counter depth - you can select by size though. For stoves, you can't sort by slide in. This is really annoying if you need a specific design. -Perhaps the most famous example of CU calling a product wrong was a top ranked American Standard toilet, which became a class action law suit and which on, I think, Terry Love's plumbing site, there are an unbelievable number of negative reviews and criticisms. None of these guys could figure out why CU doesn't ask plumbers for their experience. I can pros and cons to this, but they have a point. - there is no question that appliances are made more cheaply than in the past, so they don't last anywhere near as long. Parts that were formerly metal are now plastic, often cheap plastic. Add to this the fact that appliances often aren't packed with sufficiently strong materials so they often arrive damaged. Repairs of any type are out sourced, so they are not do e properly and are a major source of hassles. - It is hard to evaluate user reports, because of all the fake reviews, positive and negative on sites. Also, many products have few or new reviews on line. In the end, I found it impossible to figure out which AC to buy because the reviews and the rankings didn't agree. I planned to go to some privately owned stores, but THEY all had reviews that were as bad as the big boxes. So I went into the ONE store that had good reviews and bought what the salesman recommended, a GE, despite all the comments about the quality of GE products. One review said the store pushes cheaply made GEs - but everything is cheaply made. So I decided to trust what the salesman said "In this neighborhood, we wouldn't dare sell anything that isn't good." Now THAT is true - Park Slope, Brooklyn is famously whiney, entitled and quick to complain. It is also quite affluent. Did I make the right choice? No idea. But I need an AC and this is as good a way to decide as any. Good luck!

LightingUniverse.com and BuildersDepot.com have been a complete nightmare for me! I ordered lighting from lighting universe and it arrived with parts missing - it obviously was a return as I actually found the nasty note the lady who recieved it before enclosed when she sent it back. I called customer service and they were very nice and said they would send the missing parts. A month and several phone and emails later and I still do not have the parts. I am now in contact with American Express (card I used to purchase with) and they are disputing the charge and getting my money refunded. I also ordered a light from Builders Depot - it was packaged VERY poorly and arrived damaged but my husband fixed it because it was not worth the hassle and expense to ship it back. I did get some beautiful lighting from Pottery Barn and it arrived perfectly and their customer service is top notch - but you will not get any bargains here. I ended up going to my local lighting store and ordering Golden Lighting - I mentioned the prices on the internet and they beat them all and threw in free light bulbs! I couldn't be more pleased. Might as well start at your local lighting store and give them a chance to match or beat prices - it can't hurt to ask! Your local stores are hurting right now and making some fantastic deals - not to mention not having to worry about returning stuff you bought online.

Sounds like a waste in trying to make sense of it. Half the consumers don't even know what components make up a unit,what they do nor where to find them. Are we to believe the other half has torn into their unit to see where all the components were manufactured? I'm as disapointed as the next guy about manufacturing moving to China but have no choice other than buying anyhow.