[DupyWed] Wedding Website Blog

As I've written about before on the DupyBlog, I've started playing around with wedding website design. The homepage for this side project can be found here, and I've started a new blog which can be found here. This blog will be used to record my progress in creating templates, writing a business plan, etc. I plan to have the blog integrated with the wedding website homepage in the near future. Of course, I'll post links to the blog and to its RSS feed on Dupyshon.com.

[Kylan's Blog] In St. Louis

Last night Kristen, her family, and I went down to St. Louis to her grandparents' house. We're here to celebrate the New Year with her dad's side of the family.

[The Ministry of Culture] The Complete History of Valiant Isle, Chapter 2, Part 1

Chapter 2: The Grand Yangi Dynasty and the Age of Peace

"No longer shall the wars of the Old Home bother us upon this sacred land. All of our enemies shall sink to the utter depths of the sea before they can reach us upon this emerald in the sapphire waters. And so it has been that De has given us, the Konai, the people of choice, an ever-blooming Age of Peace, that of all the Naiya at least we shall be called blessed and given hearts to feel, ears to listen, and eyes to see the glorious works that De performs for our good."

- Teytin I, Book Three of the Esendra Daevini

Yangi the First established many precedents in the history of the Konai and Valiant Isle itself. It was noted that he was the first to rule over a relatively stable and united kingdom over the whole Valiant Archipelago (omitting the insurrection of Begri and Galbrethi Rock). He was the first to standardize Konai language, a form with few changes up to this day. He was the first king to raise an army on Valiant Isle (not all monarchs did), and the first to order public works of art, science, and economy.

Yangi was perhaps one of the greatest rulers of Valiant Isle, and it is very fortunate that historians have nearly complete records of the main events of his reign. At the age of thirty Yangi began his rule; he fathered six children, four girls and two boys. All the children had one mother, whose name is not known.

The first Daevini of the island built Xenoz, the capital of Konai civilization, next to Memba-Mosa, or Moontower, a large hollow and dead volcano on the edge of the Eastern Shore. The Royal Palace is built directly into the side of the mountain, and a passageway into the hollow magma chamber runs from behind the throne room. This passageway was, and still is, reserved for those in high power. Only High Ministers, the Royal Family, or the Supreme Chancellor may enter those premises. It was considered the most sacred part of the entire land for the Konai.

Atop Memba-Mosa the Konai craftsmen, sons of Hathsas, created the largest Konai sphere in existence. With a radius measured at one hundred meters, this sphere served as the high temple to De in Deanda, the land of God. Small spherical openings and the positioning of curved mirrors inside the sphere make it serve as a work of art and an astronomical observatory, much akin to Stonehenge of England.

Yangi considered these things great works and always wanted to achieve more than was possible. He writes in the Esendra Daevini:

"Some of our people name me as God's Vision… I do not see what De sees however. I only wish I could see such a thing. Call me what they will; we are brothers. Do what you will to me; we are brothers. Build the grandest pinnacles of rock and tower and conquer all lands to the utter ends; we are brothers… For me, there is little that is not here. May eternal peace and content always follow our sons and daughters, for that is my desire as Daevini of this place…"

Such passages are scattered throughout the mostly droll entries from day to day in the king's hand. Yangi defined Konai culture even to minute points. It was once said that because the king had worn his red sleeping garment while looking over the land, the doting people had decided that wearing red sleeping garments was the fashion. That is why today, Konai descendants will only wear red night robes and not any other color.

Within the passage of sixty years, Yangi the Great grew to the age of ninety and then passed his crown to his son Thorasso I, a passage of power never before heard of in that type of monarchy culture. By this time, three more major cities had been established on the island: Idolun, Gajayin, and Lafas-Kanay, meaning, Tree, Soil, and Daylight City respectively. The population had tripled, due to high birth and survival rate and an influx of apparently defected Minoans and slaves.

With the appearance of this new population, crime and corruption increased, but not to alarming rates. But Thorasso I in his wisdom established a system of justice and law that would last for seven hundred years. This system of law was similar in some respects to the jury system that is present in most democracies today, however, the jury members only acted as counsels to the main juror, who in many respects was really more of a judge. This "Quasay", or judge, in Konai, gave the final verdict and sentencing in the cases, but only if four of the other court officers, essentially jury members concurred with both rulings and with the reasoning behind those rulings.

This justice system was Thorasso's only great accomplishment, and he ruled for a total of fifty-eight years. Upon his death, the crown passed to his son, Teytin the First.

Teytin I ruled Valiant from 1552 B.C. to 1501 B.C. During this total of fifty-one years Teytin created the largest religious establishment on the island until the introduction of Christianity in 900 A.D. This religion was known as De-vol-wain, or the Servant-hood of God. It was led by the Priesthood of the Spheres, springing from the Great Sphere at Memba-Mosa and the religious and astronomical observatory there on top of the mountain. The spheres became a regular fixture around the island and it is noted that over 150 important sphere temples are still in relatively good condition, and usable to observe the motion of stars as they were used nearly three and a half thousand years previous. Teytin I passed his crown to his son Yangi II in 1501 B.C. When Teytin I died in 1495 B.C., he had helped build two summer palaces, Xenoz-Ramba near the Central Range, and Xenoz-Hathas on the northern shores.

When Yangi II took the throne at Xenoz, there were probably about 60,000 people who lived within the Konai sphere of influence in the South Atlantic. During this time Konai scholars began to create intricate maps of their society. Cartography became an apparent new craze among the emerging classes of the Konai. About this time, the royal governors were established, which would later lead to the creation of the Royal Senate. Thus, the Konai became a civilization defined by a noble class, a middle class, and a lower class. Yangi II died from a respiratory disease in 1443 B.C. and passed his crown to his second oldest son, Yangi III. He ruled a total of 58 years.

In about 1430 B.C., Yangi III took the first official census of the people. Records indicate that there were the four major Brotherhood regions, not including the outcast Galbrethi society, and a total of 115,273 people under the influence of the Konai scepter. With only about 1500 men in the army and navy combined, Yangi, understanding the value of the Konai society, built up his military and naval forces to robust standards. The king writes of this mobilization:

"The Darklings of the Old Home will find us, the grandsons of the great grandsons of our beloved father Kon. Their love of revenge and greed for power will take us all at unawares lest we be prepared for them. Thus it may be that I decree a total shield of power around this hallowed Deanda, and proclaim that every willing and able man and woman shall defend this country and God, yea unto bitter death in the salty sea…"

The "Darklings" mentioned in that passage are spoken of by the same label up to the end of the Yangi Dynasty. It is theorized that these Darklings are the Minoan or Phoenician forces that attacked the island over the next few monarchical periods, but there is no conclusive literary or forensic evidence to support this. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that the Darklings were a Mediterranean society that created quite a deal of trouble for a people still in their relative infancy.

By the end of the militarized period, the Konai possessed a naval fleet rumored to be quite powerful. According to narrative tradition, the fleet when it was packed tight enough, could completely fill Royal Harbor, an area of nearly five miles square. It was also said that the sail fabrics, made of metallic colored materials that reflected sunlight (in reminiscence of the Varadonai myths) became a second sunrise upon the island's capital Xenoz. Therefore, it was said that the glory of God shone down upon them every time the fleet returned home in victory, a connection to the common phrase "May the sails light your way," the equivalent of "Good luck," or "May God be with you," in Columbian vernacular.

[Kylan's Blog] David Davis Mansion

Yesterday Kristen and I visited the David Davis mansion in Bloomington, Illinois. It was very interesting to learn about David Davis, a US Supreme Court Justice and a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. It was also fun to explore his home, which was built in 1872.





Since it is the holiday season, the house tour included little factoids about what Christmas was like during the Victorian time period. Apparently, it was much more like Halloween than the holiday we celebrate today. During that time, it was even believed that Santa had an evil twin brother named Krampusse, who looked and acted exactly like the devil.

[DupySite] Site Expansion

If you've been paying attention to Dupyshon.com over the past few days, you've probably seen that I'm expanding the site a bit. Now if you click on any of the section headings, you'll be taken to another page that explores the topic more in depth. The addition of pages is nearly finished, but I still need to finalize the
DupySearch, Contributors, and Most Popular pages before I upload them.

[Columbian Ministry of Culture] The Complete History of Valiant Isle, Chapter 1, Part 2

The Ro-Wain is mainly concerned with the journey from what is called the Old Home to the supposed Land of God, Valiant Isle. It is suggested by many scholars of Konai history that they were descendants of the Minoan Civilization, which had suffered catastrophe in 1700 B.C. A thirty-year sojourn would have brought Kon and his sons to Valiant in time to fit with Yangi's coronation in 1670 B.C. Some mythologists even speculate that the Minoan tragedy was caused by a civil war that was even started by Kon and his family. Regardless of why they left, it is generally accepted that the Konai were offshoots of Minoan Civilization.

Various reappearances of the Varadonai follow in the next several stories, including the Myth of Ro-Baranai, or the marriages of the brothers. The Varadonai were distinguished by the clothing, either of grass or a shimmering material, the latter being more common among the female Varadonai. The following is an excerpt from the Ro-Baranai:

"Thus, once Kon lay within the Earth, the time came for the brothers to decide who held the authority to command this new land. Upon the eastern shore, closest to their home of yore, they chose the rocks of their liking and character and threw them upon the shore.

"Nearest, and least of honor, was the jet black stone of Begri. Further anon lay the amber stone of Jaksis, shaded as the wheat fields of his son's farms, and thence was the strong and jagged green rock of Memraar. Then was the beautiful blue of Hathsas, smooth and with golden heart, and finally and most commanding stood the upright pinnacle red-stone of Yangi, second-born to his father…"

The stones mentioned here refer to the Brother Stones of the Eastern beach in today's National Monument Index. The Ro Peninsula extends from the eastern shore of the island and encompasses about one-quarter of Royal Harbor into Xenoz (throne, or capital), the capital of Columbia today. The five stones appear as referenced by the story, with the respective colors and appearances. But, the description of "stones" and "throwing" may be partially deceptive: the Brothers Stones are effectively large boulders, weighing, by approximation, anywhere between forty and fifty tons each. Yangi's Stone stands nearly three stories tall, and the sizes then decrease to about waist high, the size of Begri's Stone. The difference in translation from stone to boulder is not recognized in the Konai language, and the verb for "to throw" is the same as "to erect", whence comes the ambiguity.

Historians and mythologists theorize that this boulder erection contest was reminiscent of the tower of Babel story from the Bible: whoever could erect the tallest and most beautiful structure, would win dominance, not only over the people, but also of the elements and Nature itself.

These Stones are now enclosed in the Konai Cultural Center on the eastern shore of Xenoz on Royal Harbor.

The rest of the Ro-Baranai is concerned with the lineage and descent of the Konai, or "people of Kon". According to the legend, Memraar was already married at the time of landfall onto Valiant Isle, Yangi was engaged to be married to a princess of their last home, and upon the day of his coronation as Daevini, or king, he was married. And thus it was the custom for many monarchs thereafter that the Daevini would choose his Laovini, or queen and be married upon the day of his coronation.

Begri, in defiant rebellion of the entire design of the brothers, fled to claim Galbrethi Rock, a small islet off the south-western coast, as his throne, and there he raised up a rival palace to the one at Xenoz, calling it the Gara-Pelagor, or the rock of power. But Galbrethi Rock would in time be called Gara-Zami, or Rock of Evil, for the evil that sprung from that place would exist for several hundred years before it would be defeated. Once there, Begri declared himself Daevini in opposition to the government of Xenoz. He took to himself eight mistresses whose descendants would become the infamous Witches of Galbrethi.

Jaksis had established his farming lands across the Southern Brace, an area of rolling prairie that was ideal for agriculture. He would later take a slave woman as his wife and adopt her son as his own. He would also have his own children by this slave woman.

Memraar had taken for himself the Senali Desert in the far north to the Sapphire River bisecting the island on the fringe of Jaksis' land, and as far east as the upper cliffs. This was considerable area and it would affect Hathsas' life incredibly.

Yangi had taken for himself the entire Eastern Shore and the outlying islands, rich in minerals and strategic value. This land extended westwards until it met the upper cliffs. All of the brothers' territories would change slightly over time.

Hathsas' story is the most compelling. It is said that he was unable to find land of his own after the other brothers had claimed (or in Begri's case, seized) land for themselves. After much petitioning with Yangi and Memraar, Hathsas was able to secure the central mountains from the Sapphire River northwards until Mount Pazeko and Angel Lake, also known as Hathi Volsoru. The rest of his territory ran westwards through the woodlands and into the sea.

After surveying most of his lands, Hathsas had rested at the edge of the lake, which now did not have a name. It was here that he saw what appeared to be a beautiful lady in a dress of shimmering grass. She fled into the woods upon seeing him and he pursued her two days and two nights because of her unrivaled beauty. In that time he had pursued her to the sea, upon which she jumped into the water and swam out far enough to keep him away, for he could not swim, quite the irony, for his name meant "water". Instead of fleeing away though, she had stopped, for as a young woman she was curious as of this stranger, just too shy to meet him so close. So great was his will that with his tools he felled a tree and made a boat to go to her in.

When he came to her she asked him, "Why do you do this?"

He replied, "For your beauty, because to me, you are beauty itself."

And thus it was that Hathsas named his future wife Analia, which in the Konai language means "beauty". She, as you may suspect was one of the Varadonai, the lost people of Atlantis. And the nobility of ages past still traces its line in part to this great meeting of hearts upon the western shore of Valiant Isle. It was several days later that Hathsas and Analia the Angel as she was known, were married upon the steps of the palace in Xenoz.

The Myth of the Ro-Baranai ends with that story, and many years pass between that tale and the next grand legend of Konai history, for now came the days of the Royal Konai and the Realm of Deanda and the Nine Silver Isles. The more historical information lies in the Esendra Daevai Deanda, or Records of the Lords of the Land of God.

[DupySite] Homepage is Validated

After a little bit of work this morning, the Dupyshon.com homepage is now valid HTML 4.01. Yay!

[Six Weeks in Rwanda] Free Rice

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has come out with a new website called Free Rice. By playing a vocabulary game, you can help purchase rice for hungry people in the Third World. For every question you get right, the WFP will buy 20 grains of rice. The best part is that you don't have to sign up or anything, just get online and play. It gives you the chance to build your vocabulary, and it feeds people in poor countries. The rice purchases are funded by advertisers, whose ads are tastefully placed at the bottom of the screen. Try it today, and play for a meal for someone who needs it.

[Kylan's Blog] The Christmas Tree Caper

This year my family decided to get our Christmas tree from our front yard. We had a tree near the road that was about the right size, so we got a saw, put on some funny Christmas hats, and cut it down. While we were carrying it down the driveway, though, a minivan pulled over and a guy on his cellphone got out. Apparently, he was calling the police because he thought we were stealing the tree. We were able to convince him that we lived at this house, so he told the 911 operator that everything was alright. From what I understand, he had described me (the one sawing down the tree) as "some guy wearing a crazy hat." Pretty funny.

[Phrasr] Plunched in the Jlaw

"I fleel like I got plunched in the jlaw."

-Jaron, after getting a cavity filled.

[Phrasr] Kylan, December 19th 2007

"Operation C: Kill all the big scorpions"

[DupySite] Code Cleanup

I just finished going through the code of the main page for Dupyshon.com. I removed some of the unnecessary HTML tags and changed the format to make it more readable. Not that anyone ever checks out the website source, but it will make it easier for me to edit in the future.

[DupySite] The DupyFeed is Back

A while ago, I tested out a Dupyshon.com feature called the DupyFeed. The idea was to roll all of the site blogs into one feed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good (and free) website service that could do this for me. Now that the DupyBlog does this, I've decided to revive the DupyFeed with a few small changes.
It is called DupyFeeds, and it will be a list of all the feeds associated with each Dupyshon.com blog. You can find DupyFeeds near the bottom of the Dupyshon home page, and subscribe via RSS or Google Reader.

[Columbian Ministry of Culture] The Complete History of Valiant Isle, Chapter 1, Part 1

Valiant Isle is a resource rich landmass in the midst of a small archipelago in the mid-south Atlantic. Today known as the National Republic of Columbia, it also has a rich history.

Chapter 1: The Beginnings of Valiant Isle and the Konai Civilization

"And thus it was that De the mighty raised up the sacred rocks of Deanda and hallowed the ground meant for the Chosen Pilgrims. Here lay the last outpost of heaven on Earth, the last holy place. This was the refuge of good and the garden of all the spirits past, a haven for the weary of mind and body."

– The Konai Myth of Plegasi

About 30 million years ago, a large volcano in the mid-south Atlantic Ocean began to erupt under the surface of the water. Spewing lava throughout the sea, it eventually established an island about the size of the state of Massachusetts about 1 million years ago.

By B.C. 2000, this patch of land in the middle of the sea had grown into a way station for animals in their migration paths, a home for several tree species, and a small outpost of the human civilization. Of these first peoples little is known. They had created small fishing villages on the western coast of the rich island, depending only on the sea for their livelihood. They stayed approximately 250 years, and then virtually disappeared. Some Konai myths depict these first people, suggesting they had some contact in the beginning of their kingdom. The Myth of Plegasi, or creation, depicts these first peoples as walking ghosts, Varadonai as they are named.

According to myth they were once human, but only ghosts of a lost age in humanity, a race far nobler and more powerful than any culture today, the Atlanai, or people of Atlantis. Because these Atlanai had chosen to bind their selves to the Earth instead of the heavenly Atlantis, they were banished to this world and were doomed to wander until they fulfilled their destinies. These creatures existed in greater numbers in the old myths, but gradually disappeared from all historical or legendary record. They faded into the realm of mythology.

The most important piece of information concerning the Varadonai is derived from the Myth of Ro-Wain, or the Brotherhood. In it, the Sons of Kon have just landed upon the shores of Valiant Isle bearing the cold body of their father, who wished to be buried in the Land of God, Deanda. Konai mythology and belief supposed that Valiant Isle was this location.

The five brothers, Memraar, Yangi, Begri, Jaksis, and Hathsas make landfall to meet an old strange man dressed completely in what appeared to be shimmering woven grass. His words have since become a motif of prophecy in the Konai culture and read as follows:

"Welcome my fathers, your task is met well. Respect, laud, and blessing for your labor is fruitful and not in vain. But such work in this world is only met with strife and anguish. Your children, as the sons of our progenitor, will indulge their natures. Such progress is then lost, but for a little time, it is secured.

"Memraar, to you is the mountains and the might of Men. Mighty bravery runs in your heart, and the sons of the sword shall come from every drop of your blood. In your hand are the hammer of justice and the spear of wisdom. In the shadow of the youngest shall the eldest be hidden, but protected. And the eldest shall one day protect the youngest.

"Yangi, second-born, to you is the government, and the peace. In your eye is held the gleam of the eastern sunrise, and in such dwelling places shall you reside, nearest your broken home of ages past. In your line shall the secret reside, long biding its time, to escape the arrow of deceit.

"From you Begri shall this deceit spring. Though you are intelligent, your craftiness holds power over your desire. Dark in the night, your existence shuns the day, cursing the ground where you are taken, and to whence you have been plucked. Though you shall strike to kill with your poisoned arrows, your own blade shall pierce your heart, and your hand of power crushed.

"Jaksis is the father of those who must choose. As there was with your grandfather's grandfather Japheth, there is division and decision. Farmers and the common man shall lay their ancestral tradition upon your work. Your family will be numerous among the brothers.

"Hathsas, great is your role in the divine story. From your sons shall rise up all those who with their minds may create beauty. Craftsmen and artisans shall cultivate this land and procure from it all their glorious works. And when the speech of water soothes the soul, then the men shall know that De has smiled upon the world and that men are saved from themselves. All will be restored."

This old prophet then collapsed in death, only to be dissolved in the wind and be carried to the next life, to his home thought to be the lost land of Atlanata, or Atlantis, of which Valiant Isle was thought to be the last outpost.

[DupySite] The DupyBlog Gets Updated

Starting today, the DupyBlog is getting a new look.

A while back, Jaron and I decided to implement a hierarchy that incorporates multiple blogs into the DupyBlog. We have a number of different interests to write about, and we wanted a way for our readers to read about one subject at a time or all of them at once.

From now on, Jaron and I will be posting a number of different blogs, depending on our subject matter. These blog entries will be gathered together and concurrently posted to the DupyBlog. When you read the DupyBlog, the name of the contributing blog will be listed in brackets in the post title. So far, we have created the following 'child blogs':

Authored by Kylan-
Kylan's Blog
DupySite
Six Weeks in Rwanda
The Old DupyBlog
Authored by Jaron-
Jaron's Blog
National Republic of Columbia
- Columbian Ministry of State
-Columbian Ministry of Culture
-Secretive Intelligence Agency

[Columbian Ministry of Culture] Celebrate Columbian History, Tradition, and Values!

This site is dedicated to bringing you accurate information on the culture of the National Republic of Columbia!  Coming soon will be periodic posts containing excerpts from the Complete History of Valiant Isle according to Prince Tychius Pendacor V.  Stay tuned!

[Columbian Ministry of Culture] Celebrate Columbian History, Tradition, and Values!

This site is dedicated to bringing you accurate information on the culture of the National Republic of Columbia!  Coming soon will be periodic posts containing excerpts from the Complete History of Valiant Isle according to Prince Tychius Pendacor V.  Stay tuned!

[Columbian Ministry of State] Welcome to the CMS!

Welcome to Columbia, the best sub-country in the world!  If you are interested in any information on Columbia, please feel free to contact the Chancellor through Dupyshon.com

[Secretive Intelligence Agency] Welcome to the SIA

This is the Secretive Intelligence Agency's public blog.  Included will be any information the agency deems appropriate for those in the general public.  End post.

[Kylan's Blog] Introducing Kylan's Blog

This is a new blog that I will use to post stuff that doesn't fit under any other Dupyshon.com blogs.

[Jaron's Blog] Introducing Jaron's Blog

Just to let you know, I have my own blog now.  Pretty much yeah...  Okay, later.

[Six Weeks in Rwanda] Introducing Six Weeks in Rwanda

During the summer of 2006, I did an internship in Rwanda and helped establish a rural telecenter in a small community. The got me interested in the Third World and development work, and this interest continues today. I will use this blog whenever I want to share my thoughts on developing countries and related subjects.

DupyBook

Yesterday I spent most of my time working on a new webapp I'm calling DupyBook.

Here's the motivation: Kristen has over 400 kids books that she hopes to use in her classroom someday. When people ask her what she wants for Christmas or her birthday or other gifting occasions, she usually asks for kids book. Now that she has so many, she's starting to have trouble knowing which books to ask for.

As a solution, I offered to make her a website to sort everything out. It has a list of all of the books she already owns, as well as a wish list that holds the books she wants. This way, people can consult the site before buying her a new book. They will know not to purchase a book she already has, and they will be able to search specifically for books she wants.

So far I have the basic functionality implemented. I'd still like to add some search/sort features to the lists, make the database entries editable, and implement a log-in page so only certain users can add/delete entries.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

CAPTCHA addition and iframe removal

Since I'm on Christmas Break from WSU now, I was able to work on KylanAndKristen.com (our wedding website) this afternoon.

The first task was to modify the guestbook to prevent it from being spammed. If you've visited the site lately, you probably know that it was being attacked by some spambots. After searching around online a bit, I finally ran into the CAPTCHA approach. A CAPTCHA is a test that makes sure that the guestbook user is a human and not a computer. It provides the user with a squiggly image of a word and asks them to type the word into a textbox. If the entered word matches the word in the image, the entry can be put in the guestbook. Since the squiggles make it difficult for a machine to read the image, the CAPTCHA should prevent any spambot messages from getting through. Hooray!

As I was working on implementing the CAPTCHAs, I decided to get rid of all of the iframes in the website. I had used iframes when I was first building the site in August because I wasn't sure how to mix PHP with HTML. It turns out to be really simple actually, so I was able to remove the iframes and make the site pages look a lot more neat.

Check out our wedding website, and enjoy the enhancements. The next thing to do (which will take A LOT of work) will be implementing an RSVP system for the wedding guests.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

New Schedule

Today I took some time to figure out my schedule for next semester.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

Appreciating Switchfoot

Since Kylan wrote the review about Jon Foreman's EP, I felt it was only fair stay away from the specific topic of the EP itself. I agree with his review; it is a very good album and it really demonstrates Jon's and Switchfoot's philosophy of being a band for thinking people. It asks hard questions, it isn't superficial, and it is spiritually intimate even. But, as I said, Kylan has already discussed this. What I did want to say is a thank you to Switchfoot and the members of that band. Thank you for making this music that moves the soul and is not just acoustic fluff.

What makes a good band? Good music? Lyrics? Image? Maybe. Many bands deemed good have those things. But that doesn't mean that the band is good because of those things. What is music for in the first place? I can't say with a good conscience that it is purely for entertainment. After all, if you believe as I do that there is a God that has created the universe and orders it such that all things are for his glory, then you will agree that music must somehow glorify God. It is a vehicle for our praise and glorification of his name. And many people would despise the very thought of glorifying God, let alone make music to glorify Him. But Switchfoot and Jon Foreman haven't. If you can't respect them for anything else, at least acknowledge how brave and bold they are to do it as popular musicians.

There are many bands out there that do live out their faith, and Switchfoot is just one of them. But what I appreciate from Switchfoot furthermore is their sense of creativity and musical essence. Their style has changed over the years, but most of their songs carry some new musical idea, some sonic sculpture to wrap your mind around. You could say that they are the antithesis of the Beach Boys when it comes to musical diversity. Songs like Circles, in 5/4 time, are what really challenge the regular pop listener. And the range of musical instruments is stunning. Strings, harmonica, guitar, drums, horns, and the ever mutable keyboard synthesizer are just a part of the mix.

And when it comes to lyrics, Switchfoot is not shy to either serenade or rebuke the listener. And this is good, because it stimulates thought. The words don't leave the listener untouched. It is a movement of the soul, rippling through the individual. And you know that it wasn't just something written on the surface. This is deep material from the deepest core of the writer's heart. And to have the courage and strength to share that with anyone who will listen is staggering.

But most of all, I respect Switchfoot because they don't give themselves up. Not to the society, not to their own struggles, not to popularity. If there is one thing they surrender to it is to the truth. There is a Swahili proverb that says, "Speak silver, reply gold," and the conversation that Switchfoot holds with our world today is characterized by their ability to do this, to speak silver and reply gold.

So, once again, thank you. Thank you Switchfoot, for daring, for playing, for being musical, lyrical, and philosophical gems in a field of life where so much is worthless glitter. Thank you for being true.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

New WSU Football Coach

This afternoon I went to the official announcement of the new head coach for WSU Cougar Football. His name is Paul Wulff, and he is a former Cougar football player from the '80s.

Jim Sterk, the Athletic Director, said a few introductory words and then let Wulff take the stage. The new coach started off by promising big, exciting changes to the program that will take us to conference title contention within a few years. He said that the Cougars will start playing a different, faster brand of football, and that the team will actively pursue high school players from the state of Washington during recruiting season. Here's the most memorable quote from his words:

"Dawgs might barks and bite, but Cougars hunt and kill. That's a big difference... We don't like [the Huskies], and we'll never like them."

More pictures from the event are available in DupyPics.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

Blog Exposure

The DupyBlog got some publicity today from Switchfeed.com and Switchfoot.com. That's because I wrote a review of Jon Foreman's Fall EP and they linked to it in one of their posts. Cool! I just hope I don't have too many typos or errors in the review, because the review was written pretty hastily, if I remember correctly.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

Semester's End

The end of the semester is upon us, and boy is it busy! I have two projects (the memory module for VLSI and the Tomasulo simulator for Computer Architecture) left to complete as well as one exam (in Computer Architecture).

Apart from school, there have been plenty of things to occupy my time. Kristen got that job at Building Blocks Child Care Center (yay!), and moved back to Pullman this weekend. We found a great duplex up behind Dissmore's that just perfect. It's really big and quite nice inside, and will be a great place for me to move into after we are married.

This weekend Kristen and I went up to Spokane an packed up everything from her apartment there. We rented a 14' UHaul truck which I drove (scary!) and brought everything down to Pullman. With the help of Jaron, Nick, and John, we were able to clean out all of Kristen's furniture from her storage shed and move it into the duplex. Having those guys assist us really helped a lot. See DupyPics for pictures of the move.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

KylanAndKristen.com

I recently bought the domain name KylanAndKristen.com. It now points to our wedding website. This should make it easier for people to remember.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

Jott + GCal

Today Jott announced a new feature which allows users to post appointments to the Google Calendars using only their voice and a telephone call. Pretty neat.

This and more at Dupyshon.com

Plans for Break

As motivation for finishing up all of my remaining responsibilities for this semester, here's a short list of things I want to do over the break:

• Make some headway on my research
  
• Work on my wedding website
  
• Work on Dupyshon.com
  
• Go geocaching
  
• Go to the Cougar men's basketball game in Seattle
  
• Celebrate Christmas and New Year's
  
• Hang out with Mom and Dad
  
• Visit Kristen
  
• Visit Weston

This and more at Dupyshon.com