Blog update and weekend open thread

We want our readers to know that we’re cutting back some on the frequency of our blog entries. Starting next week, we’re going to try a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule for 2-3 weeks and see how that fits our schedules. The exception will be late breaking news items as they come up. We may do some more tinkering here and there, and we hope everyone will bear with us as we try to figure out something that works. In the meantime, this is an open thread for any topics our readers would like to discuss.