Interesting, as a snapshot of history (written 1922). A noteworthy quote: "Since 1900 it is safe to say the number of Soy Bean importations from foreign countries exceeds several hundred." There are over 19,000 soybeans in the USDA's collection at present. The info on crossing was interesting, as well as the heritage of some of the varieties in my collection. It was also interesting to see so many colored soybeans discussed, since yellow has pretty much become the standard. I liked the bean references, and found the photos somewhat useful... it would be even better if they were scanned in color. :-(

If you would enjoy this book, and it's on my to-do list after reading the link, you might also enjoy "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" by James Lileks (2001) - highlights from classic American recipe books. Sarcasm at it's finest. Hubby and I took turns reading this book out loud at breakfast for a week and laughed ourselves silly to the priceless commentary and the amazing pictures from old cookbooks and pamphlets, many I remember my mother having, and many I had in my collection. As the book states on the back: WARNING: This is not a cookbook. You'll find no tongue-tempting treats within--unless, of course, you consider Boiled Cow Elbow with Plain Sauce to be your idea of a tasty meal. No, "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" is a public service. -Grainlady

I apologise if I've offended anybody, but it's difficult to escape generalisations when you see so many recipes for things like sweet muffins and pancakes intended for breakfast eating. A few people I know have visited America, and they come back with some amazing stories about the food over there. It does make me wonder at times, whether these Aussie visitors have had their IMPRESSIONS of America's food preferences catered for! I mean, if Americans think that Aussies eat kangaroo all the time, then is that the reason certain places actually serve kangaroo to American visitors? I don't know any Aussies who actually eat the stuff! Not humans, anyway - quite a few dogs have to eat it, and not many of them like it either!!

Okay, so it's a bit different. But pick up in-store sometimes means "Buy online, pick up in store". And many retailers seem to follow a practice where "online" prices are different (usually lower) than in-store prices, even if for in-store pickup. Doesn't sound like that was the case for you. Stores have hundreds/thousands/tens of thousands of items for sale and pricing mistakes, display mistakes, etc., are bound to happen. I'm not suggesting you did anything at all wrong or different from what anyone else would do in that situation, but I've seen some people carrying-on, often impolitely (having happened upon a pricing mistake) as if they had won the lottery and it was their right to have just as many at the wrong price as they desired. Sometimes store personnel are courteous about it, sometimes not, but it's easy to understand why someone could lose their patience. If you're unhappy with them, the best way to show is to not buy anything else from them. My own recent experience with Best Buy, who I myself have stopped dealing with because of cumulative dissatisfaction, went like this: I was looking for a certain product. It was available at Best Buy for $30 - a middle of the road price, and higher than at the place where I would normally go. But where I normally would go is in another area and that day I didn't want to take the time to make the drive. So I went to Best Buy and bought it. It was a product of a type that it gets paid for at a department counter, not the main registers. The clerk tried to record the sale but the equipment didn't want to process my credit card charge. The clerk called over a department manager. After about 10 minutes of repeated trying (and my standing there patiently), the charge went through. I had the bank app open at their request because of therepeated failures to process. I told them I saw the charge come through. The manager said "Okay, I'm going to do something else, see if your account shows another transaction". I kept reloading and watched, and in about 60 seconds, a credit came through reversing the charge. I said "Oops, you just reversed the charge". He said "Yes, I did that intentionally, you've waited patiently for a problem on our side, not yours. Take the product with our compliments, see you next time". They will see me another time, I thought it was a classy gesture. Good luck to you.