On Friday, Dad and I went down to Bona’s to visit with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Peter. I have to admit that I had another reason for going, since I knew we’d go out to the Beef and Barrel for dinner. On Saturday morning we stopped at Letchworth State Park:

Then we headed up to Canandaigua for the annual get-together:

It seems like the time just sailed by, I didn’t even get a board game in this year.

[Joe]

Gov. Palin after the birth of her fifth child (who has down syndrome):

Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed.

McCain picks Sarah Palin as VP nominee.

Cardinal Egan’s Response:

Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.

We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.

Edward Cardinal Egan

Archbishop of New York

August 26, 2008

I want that bit about people with “integrity or honor” on a t-shirt.

[Joe]

I picked up a copy of Agricola, the new board game from Uwe Rosenberg (who you may know from such board games as Bohnanza and Babel). Currently Agricola is giving Puerto Rico a run for it’s money on Board Game Geek. I’ve got some rule reading to do before we start playing, but if you want a simple explanation you can check out the latest episode of Board Games with Scott.

As an aside, YouTube/Google need to step it up. It seems like more and more people are using other video solutions because of YouTube’s poor video quality.

In unrelated news, I just found out that Majesty is getting a sequel. The game is based on an interesting concept in that it’s sort of the other half of a role playing game. Instead of being the adventurer/hero, you play as the king who plans the city and sets up rewards for various tasks like killing beasts and such. I found out about the first game when I picked it up as part of a RTS game pack. Gametrailers has a trailer for the upcoming game.

[Joe]

After being all excited about the new scanner I picked up, I noticed that the output images had three faint lines of constant color running down them. I sent the scanner back, and Newegg fixed the problem. I got it back a while ago, but haven’t gotten around to scanning much until recently. Dad and I started with the Hawaii photos, which is why there is now a 1970 folder in the photo album.

One of the extras that came with the scanner was a copy of Photoshop Elements. I started tooling around with it and found that it has a rather advanced photo-merging engine. I went back to some of my older panoramas and redid them. Here’s what I’ve got so far (I had to shrink the photos so that I could upload them):

In tooth related news, I go back to the oral surgeon tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll be getting my stitches out then, because they’re driving me nuts. (I think I ate some of them…) Otherwise, things weren’t too bad as long as I kept pounding the Tylenol.

[Joe]