The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The Good:  A new batch of Jim Henson’s internationally loved puppets is joining the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. His wife, Jane Henson, donated several items, including an original Kermit that was hand-made by Henson himself. A few of Kermit’s friends are joining him as well, including Pierre the French Rat, and a prototype of Cookie Monster – one of my favorite guys...

The Bad:  Iowa egg farms have been identified as the epicenter of a salmonella outbreak, likely caused by contaminated chicken feed.  The estimates of national salmonella infections are in the neighborhood of 1,500 cases as reported by the LA Times, with over 550 million eggs having been recalled. 

The Ultimate Bad:  I’m on vacation in Bend, Oregon.  I went to the local arts festival and there was this huge line.  I ignored it and decided to go to dinner with my wife.  I came home, opened the local newspaper and discovered that Bob Dylan was giving the concert with John Mellencamp as back-up.  How sad (to let alone other invectives) am I?  

The Ugly:  While the economy showed promising growth during 2010’s first quarter, the Commerce Department subsequently downsized its original 2.4 percent growth forecast for the second quarter to 1.6 percent.  While it was disappointing news, the drop in GDP was lower than originally estimated by most economists, so even though its ugly, it’s not as ugly as it could have been according to the experts.  Consumer spending has increased slightly for four consecutive quarters, which is good news, but as the worried world looks on, fears of recession redux continue to impact consumer confidence.

The Tragic:  After one month of monsoon rains, the devastating flooding in Pakistan continues to force more people out of their homes. Joining the estimated 20 million displaced Pakistanis, approximately 1 million more were displaced last week as the Indus River reclaimed banks and entire towns as its own.  International aid efforts are in place but response has been slow under fears of exploitation by militants.

Kevin Fickenscher, MD

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Services or its affiliates.