Every day I get an email from the Chronicle of Higher Education that provides links to the top stories of the day in higher ed. This time of year there's always an article on which schools have announced their commencement speakers, along with the other standard mix of funding concerns, faculty issues and articles about new presidential appointments or resignations. Yesterday there was an article about a controversy at some school in which the term "minions" was used to describe the supporters of the person who allegedly performed some act of questionable ethics. It sounded rather James Bond-ish, although they didn't go so far as to call the minions evil.

When Rebecca and I went to the movies on Sunday evening we each wanted a small soda, she wanted Starbursts, and we would share a small popcorn. The guy behind the counter insisted that what we really wanted was the special (two medium drinks, a container of popcorn the size of Rhode Island, and free Starbursts). It turns out that this tribute to American excess cost about $2 less than the smaller servings we had ordered. And scientists wonder why Americans have weight problems - cheaper and more food vs. more expensive and less food. It was embarrassing to carry that industrial sized vat of popcorn into the theater.

Roxy has started chasing the cats and barking at random intervals, behavior not unlike the human equivalent displayed by other members of the family. She's fitting right in.