Up Yours Spambots!

Well, it's official- spambots are driving me batshit crazy.  Ever since I took the word verifications off of the comments section, I've been bombarded with spam comments.  They've mostly been on really old posts, but I'm sick of seeing e-mails from blogger about them.  This might not be relevant by the end of the week, with the transition to the new site, but for the time being Word Verification is here to stay.  So I'm sorry if you were interested in meeting local signals, getting a free iPad, learning the secrets of working from home, or buying prescription medications from Chechnya, but you'll have to do all of those things elsewhere.

Blood of Kittens Network

Blood of Kittens is now offering a social network-like/ mother of all webrings/ community pow wow/ whatever service.  In an effort to "save bloggers from blogger," Tasty Taste has set up a number of slick customizable templates and other fun things that you can use to spruce up your blog.  By joining you'll also get access to a host of useful (and ordinarily not cheap) editing features and plugins for FREE.  I've known this was coming down the pipe for a few weeks now and am pretty excited about the opportunity to continue to help build the community and attempt to unify things.  Dick Move will be moving over by the end of the weekend.  My account is live and ready to go, I just need to sit down and finalize things and port over all of my data.  Unless something goes horribly wrong, this shouldn't change the way you access Dick Move, other than that it should put me in touch with an even bigger audience.  So, you know, more chances that I'll piss somebody off who takes something I say too literally :)  I also understand that the transition should be pretty painless and things like links, blogrolls, and the like will transfer over seamlessly.  Links that you have to Dick Move should also re-direct automatically.  If this turns out to not be exactly correct, I'll se what I can do to fix it.

Expect more updates on this as I play around with the new format and get used to things, but I'm very excited to get access to Wordpress.  Their editing features just plain old blow blogger out of the water.  I've been using it for a while through Blood of Kittens for my FNIF: Extra Innings series and I've fallen in serious like with them.

I honestly can't provide too many more coherent details about this myself as social networking and the dizzying array of options offered in this project are largely over my head.  Sufficed to say, joining the network should only make things easier for you.  If you're interested in joining the BOK network or reading more from somebody who is not a bumbling idiot when software is the subject, check out Tasty's announcement over here.

For now the HoP will be remaining a separate entity, as we have our own URL and somewhat parallel, but not competing, goals for the site.  Lauby and I are looking forward to a continued great relationship with the new incarnation of BOK and will be looking into some collaboration, cross-promotion, reach-arounds, or whatever down the road.

Dick Move hits 100 Followers- Sporeginae for Everyone!

Hooray for momentous occasions. The impossible, finally appears to have happened- we've hit 100 followers.  Never mind the fact that Strictly Average is about to lap our readership, but fuck it.  Not Brent still wins forever.  Seriously though, thanks to everyone who's still reading this blog.  You're the reason I keep plugging away and dredging up all the shit I can find on forums, blogs, and the like.  We're not even a year into this site and I'm not feeling like giving it up yet, so keep those e-mails about dumb shit you fin coming- they help make my job possible.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes

I apologize for the title, but Ziggy Stardust was on Paladium last night, so I've got Bowie on the brain.  I've made a couple of updates to the page to hopefully make things easier to deal with.  I have disabled secret words for commenting.  We'll see how long that lasts, but I appear to have been avoiding spam for the most part for quite a while now. 

I have also, sadly, done away with post reactions.  They were adding a lot of clutter and weren't really being used too much anyway.  If you want them back, feel free to throw a shit fit, but it'll take some convincing for me to begin to care about what you think :p

Why all of these changes?  Meh, it's been a long time coming.  I've had a long week of coming to terms with some things- such as it turns out I might really like the upcoming Kanye West album... oh and that bipartisan politics are fucking up the country- and I just needed to spice things up a bit. 

So join me in one last sendoff for the boner city reaction.

FNIF: Extra Innings is up

I just wanted to update everyone quickly on a few things. Since I've had/am having a busy week.

1. Finished mixing the Crusader sessions last night (only 15 hours over-budget, thanks to our recording engineer being very generous with a few things- should have been 20ish hours over in reality).  I'll post final versions of the first two songs I put up in the rock and roll diary series later tonight because...
2. Have a managerial financing exam tonight- should be a joke, but am still compelled to study
3. participated in some 40k this week for the first time in too long.  Got to thinking about the next "game breaking" IG list and think I'm getting close to revealing what will become my main tournament army
4. getting 2 super special HoP posts ready to roll- one is a hobby article by me and the other is an interview with a well known gamer about his sweet ass army.  Those will be out over the next week and a bit.
5. Went to a pumpkin patch and saw a civil war reenactment with Hoagy, Dr. Girlfriend, and Hoagy's fiance, son, and mother-in-law.  Good times were had by all and Uncle Dethtron taught Hoagy's spawn some bad habits- win!  There will probably be some pics up on Hoagy's When Cannons Fade shortly. 
6. Last but not least, the newest installment of FNIF: Extra Innings is up on BoK in all of its ill formatted glory, check it out.  But seriously, if any of you word press users can figure out why the fuck it jams a bunch of shit that I had properly spaced together, I'd appreciate a heads up.

Everyone Loves a Good Star Wars Joke

Yeah, that picture showed up in a comment thread on my band's facebook page.  I almost pissed my pants when I saw it.  I think it's probably the greatest thing ever.

I've been running around non-stop with the pleasantly surprising flood of submissions, applicants, supplicants, and general drudge work surrounding yesterday's highly successful launch of the House of Paincakes blog network.  I'd just like to thank everyone who helped make the launch successful.  I must have seen at least 20 posts announcing the network yesterday, about 2/3 of which were entirely unsolicited.  All in all we signed up somewhere around 50 blogs yesterday, got 30 new followers, 5 or 6 facebook 'likes,' and have already seen evidence (via google analytics and testimonials) that people are getting increased hits from the network members.  Not bad for a day's work.  Good to see something go right. 

To reward all of you that have helped out, here is one of the greatest youtube videos ever-

New Logo Contest

Those of you that have been here for the duration of this several month long hellride may remember me mentioning at one point that my logo and layout were all temporary.  Here we are 3++ months later and I still have the same old shit* gracing this space.

Time to change all that.  The thing is I suck at art.  I'm ok at painting minis and all that rot, but when it comes to drawing something or photoshopping shit together, I fail at life.

This is where you come in.  If you have any abilities at all (no matter how bad they are- actually sucking might be a bonus), I want to see what you can do.  Send in your logo submissions to sodoffdethtron@gmail.com and I will post them for everyone to review.  The winner gets the super amazing prize of being the new logo.  Tits!  I'd like to keep the logo design in the same vein ::facepalm:: as the current one.  Several people, including myself have talked about incorporating a flamer template.  That could be an idea to run with.

Also if anybody is good with layouts and has a snazzy template they think might spruce things up around here, let me know. 

Since I'm likely to not get any submissions- Fuck you all in advance ;P

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*no disrespect to Lauby who did an awesome job designing the temporary logo, but it's time for something more "finished" feeling.

For Science!

Just in case you're not reading 3++ is the new black, and if you're not, what the hell is wrong with you?!?, I wanted to make you aware of Kirby's thesis research he is conducting for an advanced degree in psychology or psionics or peeschchology or something like that.  Anyway I took his survey about Internet use and it proved to be pretty painless.  I blacked out at some point, but I seriously doubt that it was due in any part to electroshock.  Anyhow, in spite of his assertion that the survey would take 30 minutes, I think I knocked it out in under 10.

So go take his survey for the love of science:  here there be surveys It is likely not to electrocute you.

Blogger Comments Issues

Just a heads up for everybody- Blogger is experiencing issues with its comments system. Most or all comments made in the last 12 or so hours aren't showing up. They may or may not pop back up when and if Blogger gets around to resolving the issue. If they don't come back up, I'll be sure to copy them from my e-mail inbox to get everybody caught up on the latest Dick Move gossip.

++++UPDATE+++
Everything is fixed and the missing comments appear to have gone up ok.  I will leave this post up, though, because I love the picture....

Dethtron's Summer Reading List

Summer is basically here for me, since I wasn't able to get into the database management class I was hoping to take for Summer Session 2.

Bonus Poll

Hey ya'll, since it appears to be Brent* Week all over the internet, I thought I'd jump on the Band waggon.

In the FNIF, Round 13 results thread Brent had this to say "I have a feeling I know what the subject is going to be for next week's Fight Night... I hope I win...)" I'm still not 100% certain what he's referring to**, but I'm pretty sure he had hopes of winning, based on his comment. I meant to put him in the poll for this week's FNIF for no reason. Looks like I forgot and by the time I remembered to add him, it was too late. Someone# had already voted and locked out my ability to edit the poll. So Brent, you're getting your own bonus poll this week. I hope you win too. So go vote, or justice dies.

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*Exhibit (hey these letters that follow are all links, yo...apparently they're hard to see....)
a
b
c
d
**But if I had to guess I'd say it involves footdar
# The Dick Move Super Science Forensic team has deliberated and feel that Kennedy is the one to blame here. Way to go dude. Thanks for pooping in my party hat

WET

Hey Dethtron- I thought you were on your awesome 1 week summer break and were going to be blogging every day, where the fuck were you yesterday?

I'm not dead....

...nor have I run out of ideas for posts. What I haven't had is time. Had a pretty shitty week, getting shit on by a group project for Marketing (surprise surprise) and dealing with any number of other things as well. I need to get caught up on some work for Accounting today, so I probably won't have time to post anything today- or if I do it'll be after class this evening. Fear not, though, I should have time to get caught up a bit on my blogging. I've got several half finished, but top notch, things in the pipeline that I should be able to polish up for the weekend and going into next week.

I've gotten a slightly heavier influx of e-mails in this week, so thanks to everyone who's sent something in. Keep the bullshit coming.

Last, in slightly sad news, it looks like the band I have been part of for about the last four years if finally throwing in the towel. Not exciting, but probably about time for this to happen. Anyways, it'll give me more time to focus on my metal band (hitting the studio by this fall, hopefully) and try to get another semi-electronic project I've had kicking around for a while off the ground. If you're in the Chicago area we are planning a farewell show for later this summer with the Nekromantix. Word on the street is we will be getting 2 sets that night on each of the venue that we're working with's stages, to give ourselves a proper sendoff.

Dicking Around Since 1996?

A friend of mine just pointed out an awesome site to me.  It's totally radical dudes.  It converts any URL into a mid 1990's style Geocities site as it would be designed by a 13 year old.  Click here to see what "Dick Move" would have looked like if I had made it in High School.  Bonus internets to anybody that can tell me what song is playing in the background.  Anybody else miss general MIDItunes?

+++edit+++ it totally plays different songs when you click away from the main page.  The mathlete post plays something from Evita.....I think I'm going to permalink this!!  I vote that everyone reading this, go and "fix" their own blog right now and post a permanent link to your new geocities awesome page.

Since you're all totally jealous of my totally awesome blog by now and want to have your own totally awesome Geocities site, here is a link to the application:  this is a link to awesometown, population: you.

this is a link to a different awesometown

Dick Move Goes All Literary

Well I am absolutely wiped out from being conscripted into cooking a 6 course Thai meal for a bunch of Dr. Girlfriend's friends last night. On the plus side, I learned how to make several very authentic curry pastes from scratch in one day, so go me! Today will be no less busy. Band practice is just around the corner and then Hoagy, Evan, DFM, Joe numero dos, and I will be rocking some 40k in me olde basement. Gonna try out my nids list some more (since I retired my Leafblower:) list ). I'll try and put up some pics if I remember to take any. So if you like dark pictures that usually have a shot of somebody's crotch in them, you're in for a real treat my friend.

So no real substance to give you today (wait have I ever given you anything of real substance?). If you like books, though, you should go check these literary dick moves out. This is one of the funniest things I've read in a while. I particularly liked Nabakov slamming Hemmingway. PS, fuck Hemmingway.

Looking to fulfill my wildest fantasies

Hey everyone.  I'm trying to get back into Warhammer fantasy battle and looking for some good reading material.  I know there's a new edition rocketing our way like a twin flame belching hammer of doom, but I'd like to get some insight into 7th edition.  It would also just be nice to see somebody who isn't a "comp is the greatest" fuckhead writing about fantasy.  So, if you could send some links to good blogs, hit me up in the comments.

Happy Easter...

Happy Easter, if you're into that kind of thing. Otherwise, Happy Sunday.

Hack the Planet

I have a marketing midterm today, so I won't have the time to dredge up some shit and make fun of it this afternoon. I may get around to it this evening, though. Nevertheless, here's something that happened at my alma matter a back in 2008 that I just found out about. I almost pissed myself when I read it. Why didn't any of my chambana crew alert me to this when it happened?

http://www.dailyillini.com/news/2008/09/23/no-suspect-in-sight-for-eye-of-sauron-prank

Gaming and Obesity

In my daily tour of the Internet, I came across a pretty provocative article on "The Army Collector" that deals with gamer obesity. It's not a particularly deep read and doesn't step into examining the issue of obesity in any kind of detail, but I like the candor. The author takes a long look at himself and resolves to change his situation (which doesn't seem too bad in the first place), so kudos to him.

Now I know that there are a large number of gamers out there who don't fit the plus sized gentleman stereotype, but I think that we can all admit that this (and hygiene all too often) is a problem in our community.

I think there are a lot of us out there that can identify with this issue in one way or another. Personally in the face of a rapidly slowing metabolism, quitting smoking, moving from a highly active retail management position to a highly sedentary unemployed status, throwing the towel in on a 15 year stint as a vegetarian, and insert additional victim statements ad naseum I am finding myself in a similar situation. In the last 10 years I have slowly seen my own weight increase from around 160 to damn near 200 pounds today (I think I'm somewhere around 5'9"-10" as I recall). But, I've resolved to fix this issue. I did it once before when I was 15 and I can do it again. The GF and I picked up a sweet elliptical to replace the ancient exercise bike that I decimated* and I am henceforth resolving to use it 5 days a week without fail, with the goal of losing 25 pounds. The proposed miniature rewards program seems like something that might just motivate me towards this. It might also get me some of those blood angels I'm drooling over.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Anybody out there up for starting the "Gaming's Biggest Loser" program with me?
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*previous owners of our house left a 15+ year old excercise bike in our basement. It was one of those fan style ones with the moving handlebars. Was using it 3-4 times a week for the past few months, until one of the handlebars broke off in a way that would have required welding to fix.

Thunderchart HO!!!!!!!!

Someone implied that I would not make this chart comparing the use of "thunder" in AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" and the "Thundercats" theme. Well I did. Thunderstruck wins at most uses of "thunder," but loses in "thunders" per minute to the "Thundercats Theme." FML!

Edit, It was pointed out that I didn't link the videos used, which blows my scientific method, although I didn't ever have a hypothesis going in. Anyway Thunderstruck and Thundercats