http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/20/monsantos-gm-corn-and-cancer-in-rats-real-scientists-deeply-unimpressed-politics-not-science-perhaps/ "Their claim is that the rats fed GM corn and Roundup got more such tumours earlier than the control group. The criticism of this finding is that the control group was simply too small to allow such an observation to be made with any certainty. And they have not conducted, or at least not presented, the standard statistical tests which would allow they or us to determine whether the results were the outcome of pure blind chance." http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/anti-gmo-researchers-used-science-publication-to-manipulate-the-press/ "Any journalist that wanted to receive an advance copy was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving one. That agreement prohibited the outlet from sharing the results with any outside experts before the embargo lifted. In other words, if a press outlet wanted to be one of the first to cover the story, it would have to run the story without having any experts sanity check the paper." "The embargo lifted during a live press conference from the researchers, hosted in London in cooperation with the Sustainable Food Trust. The SFT conveniently had a press release prepared; a release claiming that the research was "supported by independent research organization, CRIIGEN." However, this neglected to note that the paper's lead author, Eric Seralini, is on the CRIIGEN board." Conflict of interest, and keeping the newspapers from doing any fact checking before publication ... that's not accepted protocol. https://embargowatch.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/stenographers-anyone-gmo-rat-study-co-sponsor-engineered-embargo-to-prevent-scrutiny/ " One of the main reasons for embargoes �" if you take many journals at their word �" is to give reporters more time to write better stories. Part of how you do that is talking to outside experts. And scientists �" ones interested in science, anyway, not those interested in spin and political points �" should welcome that kind of scrutiny."

Sorry for this - I forgot the company name in the subject. Re posted. I'm sinking this one.

Unfortunatly you learned a hard but old lesson...you can't get somethin' for nothin'. If you want to outfit your house you need to consider going with local reputable companies that have been around for a while and really know the industry. If you want designer furniture you have to work with a designer...truth is most of the larger furniture companies are importing from China and the product is junk. Wood fails due to the drying process being inferior, the glue is horrible, it is not worth more than a scoff and a tsk. My suggestion is you go to a designer that really knows the industry, that researches all the companies out there and can guide you properly to have a beautiful job done. Shopping is not what it used to be and to get a beautiful room that will last for years to come I have found few stores that really offer quality. N.C. is a joke...about as much a farce as that "Direct Buy" business. I have found Design Essence Inc. in Old Saybrook to be top notch for knowledge, talent, and reliability. Lillian August is bigger and not so personal...but they have wonderful offerings as well. Sometimes you gotta just have a conversation with yourself and ask...do I want to have a beautiful room that I am comfortable in and proud of, or do I want to be cheap and work my butt off to try and save a few bucks and get less than perfect product? For me, all that effort to save a buck just isn't worth it.

Les, that was an incredible report on your evening with Candice!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! It sounds like the Smithe brothers did a lot of fine tuning for the evening compared to when I attended last year. We had the same welcome at the door by two of the brothers. I even asked them to sing the Smithe song which they did without hesitation. Where they've improved since my visit is with the store set-up. At that time, we were in the back of the store and altho they had a "stage" area and some chairs set, many people, including me and my girlfreind, were standing wherever we could the whole time because there was only one screen for the slide presentation. They did, however, offer the same wonderful food and beverages, as well as the complimentary copies of Candice's book. And you are so right, she is so friendly in person. And wasn't it fun to get more background information on the show itself as well as some of the projects they've done? After reading about the evening, I'm really kicking myself for not attending. I don't dare share your report with my SIL, tho. She'll really be upset that she didn't go. I sure hope they have another signing in the near future. This is the second time they've used the Oak Brook store. They have their newest store in the Lincolnshire area which is just as nice and they've had only one event at that location. Thank you again for taking the time to write such a great recap of the entire evening.