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My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip. I give Pirrip as my father's family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister,—Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, ''Also Georgiana Wife of the Above,'' I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine,—who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle,—I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence. Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.

Ahem.

March 24th, 2016 | by Trae Dorn

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└ Tags: jim, ruth, sarah p

Discussion (13) ¬

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calvsie

March 24, 2016 at 12:24 am | # | Reply

wait… why is the alt text… ohhhhh… wait what?
Blitzkrieg1701

March 24, 2016 at 12:52 am | # | Reply

I didn’t even know they made Charles Dickens video games
- Sleeps Furiously
  
  March 24, 2016 at 10:16 am | # | Reply
  
  But what I do know now is that they should.
KORfan

March 25, 2016 at 11:33 pm | # | Reply

The green-haired person does not have a badge displayed on their front above the waist.
- E. Bernhard Warg
  
  March 25, 2016 at 11:40 pm | # | Reply
  
  I think I see a lanyard!
  Or is it her shoulders?
  Stick figure anatomy is confusing.
- Glenn
  
  March 27, 2016 at 11:58 am | # | Reply
  
  It’ll get reconned later.
- Trae Dorn
  
  March 27, 2016 at 12:00 pm | # | Reply
  
  Wait, above the waist is a requirement at some cons? I always tie my badge to my belt…
  - Dessa
    
    March 28, 2016 at 4:25 pm | # | Reply
    
    Sakura-Con’s policies clearly state “chest high and be visible at all times.”
E. Bernhard Warg

March 27, 2016 at 5:12 pm | # | Reply
E. Bernhard Warg

March 27, 2016 at 5:13 pm | # | Reply

Whoops! I formatted that reply incorrectly. Here’s what the sound effects reminded me of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPA7SQbwDOQ
ed rhodes

March 27, 2016 at 5:55 pm | # | Reply

I think I’m missing the point here. Is she playing a video game? Is it annoying Ruth? Why is the panel missing? Help me out here people.
- Trae Dorn
  
  March 27, 2016 at 5:57 pm | # | Reply
  
  Ruth is playing a video game.
  
  It is annoying Sarah.
  - ed rhodes
    
    March 28, 2016 at 2:07 pm | # | Reply
    
    Thanks. I am terrible with character names. If you add enough characters to a series, I get completely lost as to who’s who!

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Trae's Blog

Every Time I Say My Desk is 'Peak' Cyberpunk, I End Up Topping It ( November 30th 2020 )

So every few years I've felt the need to make an update about my ever evolving workspace, and how I (more and more) seem to be cultivating an aesthetic that screams "secondary side character in a cyberpunk story who probably gets killed off in the third act." It's an aesthetic I've been working on on purpose (well, not the getting killed off bit), but every time I declare it's reached "peak cyberpunk" I end up outdoing it soon after anyway.

Like that 2017 update? I exceeded it in mere months.

Anyway, since I made some significant changes recently, I thought I'd post an update about my weird hole of many screens where I run The Nerd & Tie Podcast Network from. I'm not going to run through everything, but I will map out the biggest differences from 2017. The first is (obviously) the 32" display up top, which I now use to stream media on instead of the Kindle Fire (though the Kindle Fire is still used for audio bumpers on podcasts). An Apple TV runs that, though I also have a spare Switch dock hooked up sometimes. The Linux laptop is gone (I mean I still have it though), replaced by the late-2011 13" MacBook Pro which used to be my main personal machine. That MacBook Pro is tucked away, but displays on the relocated black monitor in the lower left.

Of course, my new main personal machine is a brand spankin' new M1 Mac mini, which is controlled by the keyboard and trackpad that sit where my laptop used to be. I've expanded the physical desk (and retired the mini fridge) to support the monitor for the Mac mini. And don't worry, Linux isn't gone from my desk (and I mean I still use the laptop) -- as you will notice one last monitor on the lower right which is hooked up to a Raspberry Pi 400. This is notably used from a different chair, as that's my "goof around" computer, and would literally be a distraction if I was trying to use it while getting work done.

It's funny, I bought two computers in 2020, both of which are ARM based. With a good chunk of my desk now on RISC architecture, I'm happy I can just dig out this image without context as I sign off for today...

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Ahem.

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Trae's Blog

Every Time I Say My Desk is 'Peak' Cyberpunk, I End Up Topping It ( November 30th 2020 )

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