A very filling lunch

No vegetables, but I had two at breakfast.

I attended a noon lecture at the veterinary college at Ohio State at noon, so was a bit hungry when I got home about 1:15. So I decided to fry up half an onion, a medium sized potato with the skin, and a hard cooked egg in a little olive oil. It tasted so good, and was so filling, I decided to look up why.

Onion--11 calories. This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin C. Amino acid (protein quality) score: 22; completeness score (nutrient balance) 53; inflammatory factor 65. Onions contain a variety of other naturally occurring chemicals known as organosulfur compounds that have been linked to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Hard cooked egg--77 calories. This food is a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B12 and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Protein and Selenium. One egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids. Amino acid score: 132; completeness score 43; inflammatory factor -51. Although egg yolk contains much cholesterol, it also contains a lot of lecithin. Lecithin is an emulsifier, which can lower blood cholesterol. Eggs contain a lot of vitamin A, which can rarely be found in meat. Vitamin A can not only maintain the integrity and promote the growth and development of the epithelial cells, but also can increase the immune function of the body. In addition, the content of vitamin E and B2 in eggs are higher than the meat. Eggs hold great satiety powers (they will stick with you for a long while after you've eaten them).

White potato, medium, with skin-- 130 calories. This food is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin C. Amino acid score: 83; completeness score 49; inflammatory factor -78. Eaten with its skin, a single medium sized potato of 150 g provides nearly half the daily adult requirement (100 mg) of vitamin C. The potato is a moderate source of iron, and its high vitamin C content promotes iron absorption. It is a good source of vitamins B1, B3 and B6 and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, and contains folate, pantothenic acid and riboflavin. Potatoes also contain dietary antioxidants, which may play a part in preventing diseases related to ageing, and dietary fibre, which benefits health. Potatoes rate high on the satiety index.

1 tbsp olive oil--124 calories. This food is rich in monounsaturated fat, rich in antioxidants and phenolic compounds with a variety of protective effects for the heart, low in Cholesterol and Sodium. Vitamin E and K. Amino acid score: 0; completeness score 3; inflammatory factor 4.

Some links.
http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/home
http://www.potato2008.org/en/potato/factsheets.html
http://www.herballegacy.com/Wilson_Medicinal.html
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-eggs.html

Free DC to be more corrupt?

The Mayor protests giving DC children a chance at a good education with DC scholarships (vouchers), or even a life. And he wants statehood.

. . . the mayor of Washington, D.C., Vince Gray, already serving under a cloud of corruption, was arrested while protesting Congress’ budget agreement. Gray, city council members and more than 200 protesters blocked Constitution Avenue and diverted police resources, shouting, “Free D.C.” and “We can’t take it no more,” all in response to new restrictions on spending that Congress placed on the District of Columbia. But they should have been protesting outside Constitution Hall, not the Capitol, because that is where the Framers created the role for our nation’s capital that Gray is complaining about today.

0 comments

Budget deal axes 'czars' already gone

No Obama Czars lost their heads in the budget deal. They were either promoted or already gone. Are Republicans this easy to fool? Unfortunately, yes. That's why they need the Tea Party.

Budget deal axes 'czars' already gone - Robin Bravender - POLITICO.com

House Republicans attached an amendment to a spending bill that passed the chamber in February to block funding for nine White House policy advisers. Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, the author of that amendment, warned at the time against what he called "a very disturbing proliferation of czars" under President Obama.

"These unappointed, unaccountable people who are literally running a shadow government, heading up these little fiefdoms that nobody can really seem to identify where they are or what they're doing," Scalise said in February. "But we do know that they're wielding vast amounts of power."

Senate Democrats at the time vowed to fight the measure, calling the language "an intrusive micromanagement of the president's White House staff via appropriations."

With the narrower anti-czar rider, both sides have an opportunity to claim victory. Republicans walk away with the talking point that they dethroned unelected officials playing key roles on controversial policy initiatives; the White House and Senate Democrats can claim they protected most of the advisers that matter — those who are still there.

David Brooks--a conservative who was dead wrong about Obama

"Two personalities inhabit New York Times columnist David Brooks, who, like Christopher Buckley, is a friend. One personality is that of the idealist. On Inauguration Day, the idealist in Brooks claimed that Barack Obama was “a pragmatist, an empiricist” who intended “to realize the endof- ideology politics.” The other personality inhabiting Brooks is that of the realist. It takes a lot to rouse the realist. Trillions of dollars, in fact.

“There is evidence,„ Brooks wrote in early March [2009] about Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget, “of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor. . . . We end up with deficits that are $1 trillion a year and stretch as far as the eye can see. . . . Federal spending as a share of GDP is zooming from its modern norm of 20 percent to an unacknowledged level somewhere far beyond.

“Those of us who consider ourselves moderates—moderate-conservative, in my case—are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was.”

A couple of implications are worth noting. The first is that a deep, recurring pattern of American life has asserted itself yet again: the cluelessness of the elite.

[Christopher] Buckley, [David] Gergen, and Brooks all attended expensive private universities, then spent their careers moving among the wealthy and powerful who inhabit the seaboard corridor running from Washington to Boston. If any of the three strolled uninvited into a cocktail party in Georgetown, Cambridge, or New Haven, the hostess would emit yelps of delight. Yet all three originally got Obama wrong.

Contrast Buckley, Gergen, and Brooks with, let us say, Rush Limbaugh, whose appearance at any chic cocktail party would cause the hostess to faint dead away, or with Thomas Sowell, who occupies probably the most unfashionable position in the country, that of a black conservative.

Limbaugh and Sowell both got Obama right from the very get-go. “Just what evidence do you have,” Sowell replied when I asked, shortly before the election, whether he considered Obama a centrist, “that he’s anything but a hard-left ideologue?” "

Hey, Big Spender | Hoover Institution

Milton Friedman--which government departments to eliminate

Twelve years ago, Milton Friednman discussed with Peter Robinson of Hoover Institution (Stanford) the basics of libertarianism, and the cabinet offices he would eliminate in the federal government. . . Agriculture, Commerce, Education, etc. down to about four fundamental functions. If you have time, watch the entire interview. If you want to see just the "abolish" parts, start around 20. Rand Paul has suggested many of the same cuts to reduce the budget deficit.



Obviously, Glenn Beck is no right wing, fascist kook--he's a libertarian and channeling Milton Friedman, but without the blackboard. (A fascist believes in more government, not less--Nazi is shorthand for national socialism.) Friedman says, behind every government program is a smoke stack--a cost to a third party for which they receive no compensation. More housing has been torn down under HUD than public housing built. Government now owns something like 1/3 of all the land in the U.S.

No need to cut entitlements for the poor

Thomas Sowell suggests Congress start with entitlements for the rich. If you saw John Stossel's program on Fox last week, he suggested the same thing.

Sowell writes: "My plan would start by cutting off all government transfer payments to billionaires. Many, if not most, people are probably unaware that the government is handing out the taxpayers' money to billionaires. But agricultural subsidies go to a number of billionaires. Very little goes to the ordinary farmer. Big corporations also get big bucks from the government, not only in agricultural subsidies but also in the name of "green" policies, in the name of "alternative energy" policies, and in the name of whatever else will rationalize shoveling the taxpayers' money out the door to whomever the administration designates, for its own political reasons. The usual political counterattacks against spending cuts will not work against this new kind of spending-cut approach. How many heart-rending stories can the media run about billionaires who have lost their handouts from the taxpayers? How many tears will be shed if General Motors gets dumped off the gravy train?"

To Cut Deficits, It's Best To Pick Low-Lying Fruit - Investors.com

The Budget, NPR and Planned Parenthood

$38.5 billion in cuts is peanuts and meaningless. Dropping the funding for NPR and Planned Parenthood would have meant nothing for their budgets--rich donors would have stepped forward, but both Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a bigger battle down the road, and seem to want to save their ammunition.

Planned Parenthood’s Abortions Every 95 SECONDS: PP Spent $1M Electing Democrats

The real reason the Republicans caved on NPR and Planned Parenthood

But here's something you can defund on your own--The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation--it supports Planned Parenthood, even though abortion puts a woman more at risk for breast cancer. And using the "emergency contraception pill" increases it even more. KNOW YOUR CHARITY!

Update: Review & Outlook: Spending Cut Hokum - WSJ.com April 13 WSJ: It's not even $38.5! "A mini-revolt is brewing among Republican backbenchers on Capitol Hill now that the specific spending cuts in Friday's budget deal are being revealed. After separating out the accounting gimmicks and one-year savings, the actual cuts look to be closer to $20 billion than to the $38 billion that both sides advertised. This is not going to help Speaker John Boehner's credibility with the tea party."

Democrats rode the anti-war movement into office

and then jumped off the straw donkey. Here's a long scholarly paper to describe the goal of protesting the war in Iraq--to get Democrats elected.

"After January 2007 [Democratic Congress elected in 2006], the attendance at antiwar rallies dropped by an order of magnitude to roughly the tens of thousands, or thousands, through the end of 2008. Consistent with our environmental mechanism, the pending departure from office of President Bush and the prospect that the Democrats would nominate an antiwar candidate for President in Barack Obama, could have been perceived as a diminished threat to peace from the Republicans. After the election of Barack Obama as president, the order of magnitude of antiwar protests dropped again. Organizers were hard pressed to stage a rally with participation in the thousands, or even in the hundreds. For example, we counted exactly 107 participants at a Chicago rally on October 7, 2009. The threat to peace from the Obama Administration, as perceived by the grassroots constituency of the antiwar movement, must have been very small. The partisan dynamics of contention by Michael T. Heaney, of U. of Michigan who studies social movements and political parties

And of course, this was written before Obama's interference and rallying the rebels in Libya, which aroused no protest at all among Democrats. Looks like sincere pacifists (if there are any left), Communists and anarchists will just have to wait for another Republican to take office to stage a decent protest (unless we count Madison and Columbus).

Litter--whose problem?

This morning I was reading an Indianapolis Star blog and the writer said she'd been through 5 midwestern states, and Indiana got the prize for litter. That doesn't make me feel better about Columbus, nor its suburb, Upper Arlington. We recently returned from California, staying in Tustin, but visiting many towns in Orange County and along the coast and in the "valley." Maybe we joke about Californians being tree huggers, but I think they do take more pride in not just environment with a capital E, but in the immediate environment of their neighborhoods, business districts and freeways. Our side walk was installed in 2009 and I think the residents of the two houses at Millcreek and Kenny have not peeked over their hedges and bushes to the easement, because it's a mess. And it's not just winter trash. It's also dead leaves and weeds from 2009.

And Mayor Coleman of Columbus should be ashamed of the interchanges of major arteries in and out of Columbus' neighborhoods (I see mainly 315). How does he expect to attract new business or confidence in a well-run and safe city if it looks like a trash truck overturned every 2 or 3 blocks? The areas with safety fences and barricades are the worst--by the times the bushes bloom, the plastic bags, bottles and newspapers are almost impossible to reach. Someone needs to tackle them in March.

Yes, we walkers, joggers and strollers can take a trash bag with us, and drivers can stop throwing things out of car windows, but some of this just accumulates from blowing off construction sites and from trucks, or is debris left from storms and snow plows. It will take some commitment from our city administrations to keep things looking tidy and prosperous. Even if you are poor, you don't have to look it. Let's send a few over paid administrators out to the road side with a stick and bag to pick up the trash.

This is a volunteer in the Cleveland area in 2009. I wonder if he outsources?

Not as good as I expected

Here's another item I purchased at Marc's that sounds better than it really is--Psalms and Proverbs in the New Living Translation. The NLT is nice--I have a NT paperback that was used with a class, but sometimes you just shouldn't mess with a classic. For instance, in the RSV, Proverbs 21:5 "The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want." And in the NLT, "Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity . . ." Just doesn't have the same feel. Or, "The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need." No, do not mess with success.

Although I wouldn't use the King James Version for a study Bible, it should be remembered it was developed to be read with an audience, since so many people didn't know how to read in the 17th century. It is the Bible that went around the world with the English Union Jack, and helped English become a world wide language. It's a Bible of beautiful sounds, as well as thought. RSV follows it closely in the Psalms and Proverbs. NIV, which I've been using for about 20 years, pretty much keeps the same rhythm although not always the same words.

The reader is Mike Kellogg, a radio host of Moody's Music Thru the Night. But my experience with any part of the Bible on record, tape, or CD is that it gets monotonous. I've always thought having different readers would be better for sustained listening.

But it was only $3 for 6 hours of audio, so you can't beat the price. A better deal than sandals that hurt my feet. It is nice kitchen listening when I'm preparing a meal or cleaning up.

Instruments of torture

My summer sandals are about 10 years old; attempts to replace them have failed, with the new ones tossed after a few wearings. Everyone is wearing foot thongs, and since I remember wearing them to class and remaining upright when I was in college, I thought I'd give them a try.

These Target thongs, called Winifred, were only $3.00 at Marc's so I thought, what would hurt if I bought them? My feet.

A refugee from Chinese Communism comments on where our country is going

This morning a woman born in China (now a U.S. citizen) told me her church group had volunteered at a local food pantry. We discussed our common concern--that because churches accept government money for their "good works," they can't give the "good news." Then I asked her if she ever saw any Chinese in the receiving line at the food pantry. "No," she said, "they are very independent and responsible. Depend on family, friends." Then she added with a sad face, "It's getting so confusing. Capitalism is thriving in China (she visits family there), and in the United States Communism is growing."

I wonder how many Americans under the age of 60 were taught in school that Maoists killed 70 million of their own people? Or that the one-child policy (forced abortions and infanticide of girls) is disrupting their whole society (not enough marriageable women; no aunts and uncles in families). In the 20th century, far more people were killed by their own government--either communist, national socialist, or dictator controlled--than in all the wars of that bloody century. If you go to the public library today and pick up a history reference book of the 20th century published in 2009 or 2010, you'll find little mention of the devastation that all forms of socialism have caused.

It's another topic (I've blogged about it), but the Communist enforced use of the Mandarin language has helped in the spread of the Gospel in China; now if we could just find a way for our own government not to help in the U.S.

Record breaking heat--for a day

Yesterday it was 85 in Columbus--broke a record for that date. Today it's 74 early a.m., but will cool this afternoon with the rain. After a week of warm weather in California--we are prepared! I went to the coffee shop this morning with no jacket!

I'm trying to work up to 2 miles a day on my daily walk--but so far, have only managed one, with some bicycle (indoor) time later in the day. The yards this time of year in Arlington are such a mess. My husband blames lack of winter clean up, but some of the homes I pass have had messy side yards since I started walking in the area when sidewalks were installed in 2009. If the home owner can't see it because of the bushes, it isn't cleaned up. Weeds, grass clippings, plastic bottles and bags--it shows a lack of respect for home ownership (maybe they are renters?) and the neighbors, as well as the environment. There are people in this world who think it's others responsibility, or they wear blinders when pulling out of the drive-way.

And the barking dogs? They look just plain lonely to me, whether it's the black lab behind the fence which gets the little yappy indoor dust-mop types going in the near-by houses, or the big old hounds, owners need to take those doggies out for a good run several times a day. Don't buy a little pup that will grow large if you don't intend to take care of its needs for exercise.

We found 2 golf balls on our evening walk yesterday. Our neighbor says she finds more in the spring than the fall, because the golfers are out of practice. We're going to pay for some clean up and repair--big time. The previous owner had a new sidewalk installed of some kind of slate or flagstone and all the mortor has deteriorated and the stone is chipping off in layers. This might be a good material for a warm climate, but not the freezing and thawing of our area where salt is put down periodically. About 5 years ago we had it repaired, but it will probably need to be ripped out and done over with a simple concrete walk, stamped with broadcast color. Also, the previous homeowner had the back patio landscaped, and it was over done, much is now overgrown or has died, so that will be about $500 to clean up and replant more modestly. Even in a condo, you are responsible for the areas nearest your home (about 20 ft.) so we actually have more plants than we had on Abington Rd. for 34 years.

I don't have a green thumb, and my husband reserves his energy for the lake house, so it will have to come out of retirement funds. Who knew we saved and sacrificed in our younger years so we could have a decent patio garden?

This walk used to look like this, but is now broken and cracked.

Enjoying the local scenes in Orange County, California

My husband's sister lives in Tustin, his brother in Huntington Beach; both communities are vibrant and thriving, but moreso matched up with blue skies, palm trees and interesting architecture. They are lovely to look at and we certainly didn't see the signs of economic woes and illegal populations we hear so much about on the news, although we know from discussions with relatives they are definitely there. Housing values have plumeted and work is scarce. On Thursday March 30 we visited Old Towne Orange, and Old Town Tustin, on Friday we visited Roger's Gardens and on Sunday we had brunch in Huntington Beach.

Our hosts, Debbie and John, shortly after our arrival. John is holding a tool for grilled hamburgers, which never tasted better after a long flight.

Here we are on the campus of Chapman University, a private university of 6,000 founded in 1861 (not at this location) in near-by Orange.

This shot was taken in Huntington Beach (we walked down to look at the beach which was packed with volley ball players) at our Sunday brunch with brother Rick and wife Kate and Debbie and John at the Black Bull Chop House after church at the Sound Chapel at 651 West Sunflower Ave in Santa Ana. John grew up in this area in the 1950s when it was agricultural and developing small businesses, so we had an experienced tour guide for "the way it used to be."

Here we are enjoying the sunshine and beauty of Roger's Garden--it would be a lovely place to visit any time, but with 2 inches of snow having fallen in Columbus after we left, it was like heaven for sun starved midwesterners.

The door opened at 9 a.m. and I think we were first in the parking lot. This is the entrance.

Many wonderful home and garden decor displays inside. But even the smallest, most locally significant items were "made in China."

In the midst of all the beautiful colors and sunlight, we paused for some shade in the original Disney bandstand, exemplifying all that is artificial, and yet now historical, about California.

There were entire rooms of outdoor living furniture--a bit out of our price range at almost $2,000 for the chair my husband is sitting in--taken all together, this setting would be the price of a small home in Columbus. So someone in California still has money to entertain!

The roses were so lovely I wished I'd learned how to use the settings on my camera. I'm pretty much a point and click photographer.

Hoarders on TLC

It's a bit like watching an accident. I usually clean up my desk or the kitchen after watching an episode. Today's (Hoarding: Buried alive) was about a couple in Columbus, Ohio. So I Googled the question, "do hoarders exist in third world countries," because it looked like some of these people have a serious affluence problem. And it was a Facebook question with people discussing animals who hoard and other odd behavior, so apparently you don't need to be affluent or have enough space to just go out and buy things. I've seen therapy on the show, but not many cures--it certainly breaks up families. Stuff is more important, so of course, the family or friends feel diminished. The adult children of the Columbus woman said they had a picture perfect childhood and a clean home when they were growing up. They won't visit now.

I see that TLC also has extreme couponing videos, but I'm the Columbus Anti-Coupon Queen, and I would hate to lose my title, so I don't watch.

Fiscal Year 2012 Budget from the House Committee

Let's hear it for Representative Paul Ryan who takes us on the Path to Prosperity. ". . . it cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president's budget over the next 10 years, reduces the debt as a percentage of the economy, and puts the nation on a path to actually pay off our national debt. Our proposal brings federal spending to below 20% of gross domestic product (GDP), consistent with the postwar average, and reduces deficits by $4.4 trillion." (WSJ, April 5, 2011)

I don't think they'll get these cuts--no guts no glory, it's the same old story. Too bad the Republicans only get fiscally responsible when the other guy's in office.

"The current path – which the President’s irresponsible budget commits us to – will result in a debt-fueled economic crisis, the shredding of the safety net, and a diminished future. Americans deserve better than empty promises from a government going broke. The budget advanced by the House Budget Committee ensures real security through real reform. The House Budget Committee’s FY2012 Budget Resolution helps spur job creation today, stops spending money the government doesn’t have, and lifts the crushing burden of debt. This plan puts the budget on the path to balance and the economy on the path to prosperity."Fiscal Year 2012 Budget | Committee On The Budget

Tiger didn't have a good day today

In Augusta. At the Master's. Good.

There is one Jewish state in the world

And there are over 60 Islamic or Arab states. So please. Don't give me that nonsense about you not being anti-Jewish, or that antisemitism isn't on the rise among the Democrats.

Democracy can be a messy business

I Googled that line to see if I could get the full text of the Badger State Bungle story that appeared in the WSJ today, and "Democracy can be a messy business" turned up 109,000 matches. My, is it that messy? I mean worse than National Socialism, Communism, or Anarchy, or any of those other systems being demonstrated at our state capitals in Wisconsin and Ohio by union members?

"Democracy can be a messy business, but it shouldn't be as big a mess at it's been this week in Wisconsin. A nail-biter of a state supreme court election turned into a political uproar on Thursday with the discovery of 14,000 previously overlooked votes in conservative-leaning Waukesha County. The new totals gave incumbent Justice David Prosser a lead of some 7,500 votes over challenger and union favorite JoAnne Kloppenburg and guaranteed weeks if not months of more political heartburn. Democrats pounced on the new totals, claiming the error must be evidence of partisanship, and state assembly minority leader Peter Barca suggested that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus's long-time Republican affiliation made the incident "troubling." He's right on competence grounds, though perhaps not on the partisanship. One of Ms. Nickolaus's Democratic colleague attests that overlooking all of the votes in Brookfield, a Milwaukee suburb, was a computer mistake, not a fraud, and that the vote count is accurate."

The original WSJ article is locked, but can be found here.

Air Travel isn't what it used to be

Some things are better; most worse. We flew out of Columbus on March 30 at 6:05 a.m., to change planes in Houston and land in Santa Ana about 11 a.m. However, before we left the gate in Columbus, a passenger became ill, the plane returned, and an ambulence came and EMTs took him off the plane. Then we had to wait for more fuel because the pilot planned to make up the time. So we landed in Houston only 5 minutes late, but it sure was a bumpy ride!

Bush (Houston) is a huge airport and we were really hoofing it to make our connection, so we asked a driver of a transportation cart for directions. She explained the walk-way, and then took a good look at us, and offered to drive us to our gate, which meant back tracking because the cart didn't do stairs. Along the way she picked up several other passengers and detoured to their gates, always assuring us we'd get to ours with a few minutes to catch our breath, and we did--while whizzing through the airport at ground speed limits hanging on as we went around corners and other passengers.

Airlines now charge extra for just about everything--not that those things weren't covered in your ticket price before, but if you can't raise ticket charges, then they charge for the air you breathe. We each took a carry-on and checked one larger bag through ($25). What some people call "carry-on" amazes me--like the size of a fat golfing bag, then a back-pack is called the personal bag (no charge) and an overloaded duffle is called a purse or computer bag (no charge).

Airline food was never terrific, but it helped pass the miles. It is no more. Now you can order from a menu and pay (credit card only), which is more fiction than fact. We decided to split a lovely sandwich after leaving Houston--since it was nearing our lunch time, but the attendant had no choices, plus she said they only had four of the non-choice for the entire plane! The grilled hamburgers at our relatives' beautiful backyard in Tustin never tasted so good!

Beautiful, young stewardesses with engaging smiles and personalities also don't exist any more. Flight attendants are either burly males, or over-fifty, tired, cranky females whose feet hurt. No more smashing uniforms either. On our return flight the emergency instructions were read by a woman who either had forgotten her glasses, didn't know how to read, or she was hung over. It was almost comical, although not confidence building.

Airport attire is very casual--I converted to athletic shoes and new, light weight sweat pants for the trip, something I almost never wear outside exercise class. I saw well dressed foreigners, however, and some business men in suits and dress shoes. One woman looked like she had painted on her faded jeans and was wobbling through on 4" wedge heels, looking a bit like a call girl, but I suppose it was fashionalbe (not sure what part of town, though). One couple on our return plane on April 7 had a baby, a toddler, and a dog, with all the necessary equipment. The dog was quieter than the children, but really, considering how difficult it is to explain to a child or a dog why their ears are hurting, all five did very well.

E-tickets are a bit confusing for those of us who don't fly much. No more nice little folders for the tickets, which are now thin paper and not card stock. Little bar code type thingies on paper, scanners, no eye contact. But I saw wonderful assistance and treatment for the disabled and people with small children. Wonderful too, to have smoke free airports and airplanes. Remember how awful that recirculated blue smoke was staying with you long after the trip just a few years back?