add biweekly update for first half of July

Here's the biweekly for the first half of July.

It resolves #57 (closed)

I incorporated all notes that were submitted to that issue.

I tried to add a little sub-heading to each section, to provide quick context. The formatting of the sub-headings may need tweaking, though -- not sure.

Please look over the text and drop in your comments if a.) anything big needs to be added, or b.) anything needs correcting.