So on some startups, my PC won't even recognize the keyboard. Not sure if that's a keyboard related issue or if it's an actual hardware issue. I tried a USB keyboard, which didn't work, but that could be a driver issue.

Anyway, this PC has now successfully fried its video card twice, had one hard drive failure, run on damaged RAM, suffered through endless power failures on a cheap, loud PSU, and gone through countless OS re-installations. Might it be worth buying a new one entirely, even if Windows 8 comes as stock installed?

My wife has been visiting her family for two weeks. So I decided to do a few road trips these last two weekends during that time while she was away and take a few photos.

I figured I'd share the prolog of my WiP "Gelltanas" (it means "binding promise" in Gaelic).

“Where’s mommy?” Thom’s small voice asked as Archimedes fastened the cloak around his narrow shoulders and put him up on the saddle. The wind was biting, and he didn’t want him to catch a chill. His son. The pale blue eyes several shades lighter than his own were wide and worried beneath the curtain of silvery hair.

His question made Arch’s chest tighten as the image of his wife filled his mind. “She isn’t coming, Thom.”

“Why?”

He hesitated, uncertain how he wanted to answer. To delay the explanation he fiddled with the girth a little more than was necessary and tried to come up with the best way to tell the four year old boy his mother was dead.

“She’s… ah… she’s gone away, Thom. Remember when I told you she was very sick?” Despite his best efforts to keep his voice even it wavered, and he had to clear his throat to keep it from breaking.

“Where’d she go-o-o?” Thomas wailed. Arch’s heart gave another wrench as he climbed up onto the saddle behind Thom, hugging him to his chest with one arm and gathering the reigns in the other.

“Sometimes sick or old people go far away where we can’t see them anymore, Thom.” The explanation sounded thin even to his own ears and did nothing to quiet the sobs wracking the child in front of him. Someday I’ll explain, Thomas. You’re just too young now. The sounds of the child’s grief made the man’s throat close and the backs of his eyes burn. All Archimedes could do was hug his son close as he nudged the chestnut horse away from the castle.


We have a thread where everyone admits to how much time they spend online, but what about what we do when we aren't hitting "Stumble" or wandering Reddit?

My hobbies are:

Medieval Reenactment (SCA)
Violin, cello, and voice
Writing
Artwork
Reading (SO MUCH READING)
Firearms
Archery
Gardening
Martial Arts

What about all of you? What are you all doing when you aren't staring at the screen?

While I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the writing section, my indie press "Insomnia Publishing" launched this week. I'm excited and nervous about it.

So, if you're interested in publishing a book let me know! We also offer professional services to self-publishing authors like cover design, typesetting, etc. Self-pub authors need help on their projects, and knowing they can have the same level of attention a traditional book receives (in a good way) should hopefully give them peace of mind!

The website is www.insomnia-publishing.com, and we're on Facebook and Twitter (@insomniapublish). Squee!

Yes, I know that not everyone's using WhatsApp, and it's harder to contact people through it this way.

But now I'm talking about efficiency. And I'll go with WhatsApp Messenger. It is very light and fast, and messages are being sent in a second. It also has more options than Facebook Messenger, which makes it even more worth it.

What about you?

I'm mostly into metal, which is a very heavy and "brutal" genre. But I also enjoy listening to some chill music from time to time, such as ambiental or Celtic music.

I really enjoy Adrian von Ziegler's work. I find him a very talented and dedicated man, and he's also very close to his fans. He mostly makes ambiental music, but he's had some metal projects too.

Eluveitie is also one of my favorite bands. They are folk metal, but they also make traditional Celtic songs, which I find very relaxing and peaceful.

I wanted to know if there's anyone listening to ambiental or Celtic music as well. I'd love to share some artists / bands with you!

Fantasy genre has been my favorite for ages. I simply love that celtic kind of feel it gives me when I read it. I also like to think of myself as a part of that world, living among efls, nymphs, ents and dwarves.

This being said, do you also like fantasy? Oh, and could you recommend me some books? It would be really lovely! Thanks in advance!

During high school, my programming teacher only taught us C++, and she always told us that this language is the "foundation" or programming, and that if you know it, you will eventually know any other languages too. But in my opinion they're still a bit different, and also require a lot of practice.

What do you think? Which is the best programming language to learn first?

Well hello there. I'll start with the basics. My name is Alex, I live in Romania, and I love being creative and sharing my projects with people.

During college I experienced many forms of art and electronic art: from coding to hyper-realistic drawing, music, writing and much more. I only mentioned these four because they are my favorite ways of expressing my creativity.

I hope we will all get along very well in this nice community. Cheers.