Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports is "a non-profit, independent organization providing consumers with information on goods, services, health, and personal finance." Consumer Reports gives "unbiased advice to help you and your family make important choices."
Consumer Reports also publishs different paperbacks, including The Consumer Reports Books Guide to Baby Products. Everything you wanted to know about picking out a crib, choosing a high chair, unsafe car seats, etc. Lots and lots of good information. The book costs about $14.95.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission. Worth checking out once in awhile for dangerous products to consumers. For example, in February of 2001, they banned the importation of candles that have lead in their wicks because of the risk that young children might inhale poisonous fumes or touch toxic lead dust on furniture.
Center for Decmocracy and Technology. The Center for Decmocracy and Technology provides Operation Opt-Out, a single place to remove your name from a variety of marketing and profiling lists. This site provides ways to remove your name, both online and by regular paper mail. (This site provides forms to print out that you paper mail to the respective companies and marketing firms to remove your name from their lists.) It also provides information on ways to keep your private information private.
20,125 Questionable Doctors. A book by the 25 year old Public Citizen's Health Research Group, this contains 20,125 doctors that have been disciplined by state and federal governments. Such disciplinary action is kept secret from patients and from almost all physicians.
Yahoo Real Estate and Domania.com Data from the local county records office is now online. These two sites allow you to type in an address and usually see the most recent sales price for a home, as well as sale prices and dates of other properties in the surrounding area. Quoting from the San Jose Mercury News, Real Estate section, October 27, 2000: " Yahoo's Home Values data come from a company called iPlace, and it covers all 50 states going back about five years. For some areas, Domania.com has data going back to 1987, and it covers all but 17 states. (Data is available for all of California.) "