Flametoad

[From Oleg, THR is now at thehighroad.us.]

Welcome to the new home of The High Road(tm) forum.

My name is Oleg Volk, and I am the owner of The High Road(tm). When I started
the forum in 2002, my vision was to create a place where people from around the
world could engage in cordial discussion of RKBA related matters. Since then,
you have helped make The High Road(tm) one of the best places on the web for
learning about firearms, for educating new shooters and for supporting effective
advocacy of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Due to pending legal issues, I am moving the forum to a new home at
TheHighRoad.us. This is the one and only official site at this time, owned by
me. The same high standards of civility apply. In the near future, we will
provide more than just a forum. The High Road(tm) is becoming an information and
activism center for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

With the help of GeoVario, our new host, The High Road(tm) is now online in its
new home. The new location of The High Road(tm) — http://www.thehighroad.us –
will serve our members while the conversion of the .org domain name by THR’s
former sysadmin is being challenged in court (Copy of the complaint available:
http://www.geovario.com/legal/Complaint1.pdf ).

Feel free to mirror this announcement on your blog (here is a link to mine with
details of this matter and how you can help. http://olegvolk.livejournal.com/474369.html
). If you link to THR, please update the link to point to thehighroad.us
Eventually, both .us and .org addresses will point to the same site again.

Thank you all
- Oleg Volk, Owner
The High Road(tm)

Thought I’d pass this along for what it’s worth. I’ve never actually visited The High Road, but I support RKBA and I’m familiar with Oleg through his blog so I’d share this with anyone who might be interested.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Getting to know more about you…

If you read my blog (either at Flametoad or one of the syndicated sites such as LiveJournal), I want to know 36 things about you.
I don’t care if we never talk, or if we already know everything about each other. You read me, so I want to know you better!
Short and sweet is fine. Use the comment function of whatever site you’re on to leave an answer beside each question.

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
02) What was your dream growing up?
03) What talent do you wish you had?
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
05) Favorite vegetable?
06) What was the last book you read?
07) What zodiac sign are you?
08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.
09) Worst Habit?
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
11) What is your favorite sport?
12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude?
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
16) Do you have any pets?
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
18) What was your first impression of me?
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22) What color eyes do you have?
23) Ever been arrested?
24) Bottle or can soda?
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
26) Favorite band to listen to when you’re mad?
27) What’s your favorite place to hang out at?
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30) Do you swear a lot?
31) Biggest pet peeve?
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
34) Favourite and least favourite food?
35) Do you believe in God?
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Popularity: 7% [?]

AKA “What the heck? I didn’t prepare a post for this morning.” Yoinked from Blondemuse.

Book Meme
• Grab the nearest book.
• Open the book to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

“Do not curl up and play dead.”

From The WORST-CASE SCENARIO Survival Handbook.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I lived through the 80’s and remember this video when it was new. You young whippersnappers probably don’t know what a music video even is. I think MTV stopped showing them back in the 90s. It’s a good thing music videos didn’t have to worry about literally portraying the lyrics, or you’d end up with something like this.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Back at the beginning of September, I got an e-mail with a special invitation from Matt at horror website Flames Rising. He wanted to post one new monster description for each day of the month of October. He was contacting his network of game designers, writers, and horror aficionados to contribute to the project and wanted to know if I would participate.

The rules were pretty easy. Try to keep it under 500 words, don’t write for a particular game system, but just write about a creature. It could be one of the standard horror villains such as vampires or werewolves, or it could be a creature of my own devising. I agreed, then let the project percolate for a couple of weeks.

In the end, I decided to write about Biting Water. Follow the link and read my submission, then come back here for “the rest of the story”. Go on. It’s okay, I’ll wait.

Okay, you’re back? Yeah, I know. It was cooler in my head. But believe it or not, Biting Water is inspired by a real phenomenon. Or, at least one reported to me by someone claiming to be a victim. This story originates, oddly enough, something like 15 years ago in a hot tub at a Colorado ski resort. I was in college at the time and was invited on the trip with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. My cousin is only a few years older than me, so we tended to hang out at night after the old folks went to bed. One night we were in the hot tub and met a brother and sister roughly my cousin’s age. The guy (whose name I have long since forgotten) had just gotten back from an abbreviated stint with the Peace Corps. Over the next few nights he entertained us with several stories, but the one about biting water stuck with me.

I don’t remember which country he was in beyond that it was on the Asian continent. (Gimme a break, it was 15 years ago!) He said that he borrowed a jeep and took a weekend trip to the coast with his girlfriend. The locals warned them to avoid a certain stretch of beach because of the “biting water”, but being enlightened Westerners they scoffed at such superstition. Anyway, that particular stretch of beach was pristine and protected by a little cove, and they had it entirely to themselves! After a couple hours his girlfriend took a nap on the beach. He decided he’d go for a swim in the clear, blue water and struck out beyond where he could touch the bottom.

That’s when the biting water struck. He swore it wasn’t muscle cramps. It felt just like something had bit him on the thigh. Then a felt another bite, and another. The clear water gave no sign of fish or other aquatic life. He painfully, slowly struck back for shore. At this point he was in a lot of pain and scared enough to yell for help, but his girlfriend slept unaware on the beach, his cries drowned by the sound of the waves on the beach. He claims that he came very close to drowning, and when he got back to shore he found painful, red welts that lasted for two or three days. He never got a scientific explanation for what happened or what the “biting water” really was, and he said that the lifestyle at that level of poverty tends to discourage curiosity. He asked a few people about it, but otherwise dropped the matter after a few days.

So that’s the story of where I got the idea for Biting Water. Something about that guy’s story stuck with me, and it’s been rattling around in my brain for well over a decade. I extrapolated his story to more bloody, vicious conclusion, but the “creature” itself might actually lurk at a beach near you.

Popularity: 7% [?]