SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

ANOTHER TRIBUTE TO EXCELLENCE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:    A Texas high school forbids overachieving students from wearing National Honor Society stoles at graduation because officials fear it might alienate other kids.  The principal at Plano Senior High School in Plano confirmed on Tuesday for a local ABC affiliate that NHS insignia is prohibited at its June 9 ceremony. The prestigious distinction is allowed at other schools in the area.  Students who qualify to wear the special stole have a GPA of 3.6 or higher and were heavily involved with community service projects.  “I’m not just an honor student — I’m an NHS student. I worked hard,” senior Garrett Frederick told the station. “I put in the hours.”  Mr. Frederick, who plans to attend the University of South Carolina, completed 20 hours of community service every semester.   Good lesson in life, Garrett:  Achievement is often resented, not admired.  There'll be other moments like this. 

FLYING DISCOUNTS – FROM BUSINESS INSIDER:   Walmart is getting into the drone game.  Walmart's VP of Emerging Sciences Shekar Natarajan demoed the retailer's new technology to reporters from a Bentonville, Arkansas, distribution center on Thursday, on the eve of its annual shareholders meeting.  The drone technology will be replacing the jobs of inventory quality assurance employees, cutting inventory checks across massive distribution centers (the one in Bentonville is 1.2 million square feet) from one month down to a single day.  Wonderful advance.  But Walmart will be judged, appropriately, by how it treats those employees whose jobs are being made obsolete.  Retraining, I hope. 

AND IT BEGINS – FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:   Cyclist Tejay van Garderen has removed his name from from consideration for the U.S. team that will compete in the Rio Olympics, becoming what is believed to be the first U.S. athlete to back out because of concerns about the Zika virus.  Van Garderen, who was likely to make the team, is concerned that, if he contracted Zika, he could pass it along to his pregnant wife, who is due to give birth in October.  “If Jessica were not pregnant right now, assuming I was selected, I would go,” he told Cyclingtips. “But the fact is, she is pregnant. If we were just going to start trying, I’d say we could start trying six months after the Olympics. But when she has a baby in her belly, I don’t want to take any chances.”  A good man.  He puts his wife and baby first. 

June 2, 2016