GPF News Archive

Every time I go for incredible lengths of time without a news update (i.e., for more than a month), there is one loyal Faultie in Blacksburg, VA, who always e-mails me and gives me a virtual poking. "Psst," his subject heading begins this time, "Update time." "Time to give your Adoring GPF fans a news blurb to keep us happy," is the body. Of course, as soon as I get David's message, I'm usually planning an update anyway, but his timing is always impeccable. Well, David, I got your message, and here's the news update. Just don't forgot to poke me again in a month. ;)

Unfortunately, life has been incredibly busy for a certain online cartoonist. At work, things are really heating up: our project is due at the end of this month (after the deadline has already slipped several times), and we've still got to finish unit and system testing. And I'll tell you, I know more now about compiling and configuring Apache and OpenSSL than I think I'll ever need to know. Our church is performing a major overhaul of how we're structuring our services, and now I'm going to become a full-time Sunday School teacher. And all this, of course, is happening just as we're gearing up for Dragon*Con in a couple weeks. Busy, busy, busy.

So I apologize for being quiet... again. I wish I could promise it won't happen again, but I think you guys wouldn't believe me if I did. :D

Dragon*Con Approacheth: The big news at this moment is that Dragon*Con is just over a week away. We'll be in Atlanta, GA, September 2-5, as per our usual custom. Dragon*Con is always one of our biggest cons, and this will be our fifth year in attendance. Follow the link to reach the pre-con report, which I'll try to update as much as possible before and (hopefully) during the con. (I know there hasn't been a lot of updates this time, but then again, I haven't had a lot of information to add yet.) The pre-con report is always the best place to get all the GPF-related con info, so make sure to check back there often. This will be the last intrusion into the News for this con.

The current story: After all the legal wrangling of our last story, I think you guys will enjoy the geeky swing of the current story. Dexter hasn't had a lot of face time lately, and I think he really shines in this one. In fact, this story was intended to be a simple two-week throw-away fluff piece, but I liked where it was going so much that I chopped the next big story arc by two weeks to give this one room to grow. It wouldn't hurt to refresh your memory of "The Counsel of Ethendale" before we get in too deep, by the way.

I've already noticed on the message board than a number of people are wondering why Dexter is pining for Star Trek and Star Wars in Sunday's strip when there are plenty of sci-fi options on television these days, especially considering the Sci-Fi Channel's growing original line-up. The unofficial reason is, frankly, I haven't really gotten into these new shows, mostly because I never have time to watch them, and I've been burned enough times trying to write what I don't really know. ;) But I guess the official reason is that Dex considers Trek and Wars to be the cream of the crop, and while everything else might be watchable, they aren't quite the same. And, as a small reminder to the few of you who can't seem to remember this, don't forget that the opinions of the characters don't necessarily have to be the same as the opinions of their creator. ;)

The Blog Man Cometh: For the one or two of you who may be interested, I've finally broken down and started a blog. Mind you, the very first entry is about how I hate (most) blogs, so don't expect it to be conventional. It also follows the same unpredictable update schedule as the GPF News, so you might want to take advantage of the various feeds to find out when I post. The blog is essentially a catch-all dumping ground for my rambling thoughts that don't fit into the News here (which I prefer to keep strictly GPF-centric), hence the title. And it also gives me an excuse to finally register a URL in my own domain. So read at your own risk.

And now, for the paranoid among you: My work-related dabbling with OpenSSL has lead to a bit of experimentation on my part with encryption. As such, I've finally broken down and put out a GnuPG public key. I'm not sure if anyone will find it useful... at the least you may be able to compare the digital signature on my e-mails to it and know you've really gotten mail from me. Or, if you're incredibly paranoid, I suppose you could encrypt those "typo in today's strip" e-mails so nobody else can read them en route. As long as nobody includes me into any terrorist planning rings, I'll be happy.

And e-mail's still... you know: Yeah, I'm still way behind. I wanted to catch up some between the cons, but it didn't happen. I'm aiming to try and catch back up after Dragon*Con and after my big project at work dies down. Honest.