Beginning tomorrow, I’ll be blogging on a Monday-Friday schedule and taking the weekends off. After seven years of blogging every day with few interruptions, I’m beginning to notice the early signs of blogger burnout (long periods of staring at a blank screen, repeating myself, distracting myself by searching for images of women in fishnets). Even though my entries tend to be short, quite a bit of time can be spent on finding a topic and composing a post that isn’t a complete bore. I’m also thinking that time might be put to better working on some of the long-form writing projects I’ve neglected for too long. And maybe I can put a dent in my to-read pile before it touches the ceiling.

I still might post the occasional weekend post when something truly noteworthy happens (most likely involving women in fishnets), but I’m hoping that weekends off will make this a better blog that’s worth reading for some time to come.

This cat lost his rear paws in an accident and is now sporting a pair of bionic replacements. If cats also start getting neural implants, humanity’s days are numbered. The little bastards have been planning something for a long time and have just been waiting for us to foolishly give them the tools they need to facilitate our destruction. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Connecticut became the first state to expand its Medicaid program to cover low-income single adults as permitted under the Affordable Care Act. You may recall that Minnesota’s political leaders debated implementing a similar expansion, but ultimately left the decision up to the governor, who just announced that Minnesota will not expand Medicaid while he remains in office. The next governor will have to decide the matter. It’s frustrating to see other states pioneering this expansion while Minnesota, usually a leader in making health care access, sits on the sidelines because of petty politics. Hopefully, our inaction will only last until January (assuming the DFL can get through the upcoming primary without eating itself alive).

The Times ran a thoughtful article about the challenges schools face in educating kids with multiple and severe disabilities. Many of these have significant cognitive challenges that make simple communication a daunting challenge. I went to school with many kids like the ones described in the article and they were typically the most segregated and isolated, remaining almost completely invisible to the rest of the students. I have no doubt that they needed to be in a special ed classroom for most of the day, but they probably could have benefited from having some contact with their able-bodied peers down the hall. The kids described in the article seem to be equally isolated, having little interaction with anyone besides the teachers and aides. I understand that educating these kids–to the extent made possible by their disabilities–is the top priority and that many of them have can’t form traditional social connections. But more than most, students with severe disabilities need some contact with the rest of the world, just as the world needs to be reminded of their presence.

As far as summer movies go, 2010 has been something of a disappointment. I haven’t visited the local cineplex nearly as much as in summers past simply because the releases haven’t been very compelling. If the studios want me to part with $10, they’re going to have to do better than remakes of The A-Team and video game adaptations. Fortunately, films like Splice demonstrate that Hollywood can still produce original, entertaining fare. Splice tells the story of two genetic scientists (Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody) who have already had some success splicing together animal genes to create crude new life forms. When their corporate sponsor directs them to stop splicing and focus on harvesting useful chemical components from their existing creations, the couple resents the interference and they decided to create a human splice in cellular form just to show that it can be done. The experiment goes further than intended and the couple soon find themselves caring for a rapidly maturing creature that initially resembles a deformed rodent with a wicked-looking stinger on its tail, but soon begins to resemble something much more human.

Of course, things go quickly downhill for the scientists and the film’s denouement is probably one of the more disturbing of the year. Sarah Polley is great as a not-entirely-stable scientist whose instincts waver between warmly maternal and chillingly clinical. And Brody should get the MTV Movie Award for the Best Freaky Sex Scene of the Year (Hetero). The film is effective both as science fiction and horror; it’s a shame it didn’t do better at the box office. Perhaps it will be one of those movies that develops a cult following on DVD and late-night cable.