where do you go to find best practice advice?

Peers , BOL , anywhere i can . Do I implement them ? not always , as you mentioned there is no one best practice that meets all needs.

What books, websites, blogs, and other sources do you trust the most, and why?

BOL has never let me down till date,

SSC of course

Pinal Daves blog is good.

Experts Exchange

I only trust the solution I get from each of these after I have tried them.

I like the above but don't trust them

Do you ever take this advice at face value, or do you always test it to ensure that it works well in your environment?

I first try to understand the logic of any solution, I try them out as far as possible. However I am easy to please so i usually stop at the first solution that does well for my needs.