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How to Draw a Cougar

Cougars are big, slender, tan colored cats with large feet and well-built limbs. Identified as solitary cats, cougars are also called mountain lion, panther, or puma. Highly territorial in nature, their predatory techniques are at par to domestic cats, as they screen themselves for a surprise attack on prey. Adult male cougars are more than 8' long and have minimal body fat. A single male cougar takes up a mammoth 175 square miles of territory as its home range. These animals prefer habituating wild areas frequented by deer. Their furs are short, rough, and have a tan shade to it.

Almost hunted to extinction, one of the best places to spot a cougar is the northern islands of Vancouver, Canada. Great jumpers, they can easily leap across the long side of a school bus. They are the fastest animals in the North American mainland. Young cougars are spotted with ringed tails and they stay with their mother for a couple of years.

Required tools:
1. Pencil
2. Paper/ Canvas
3. Colors (optional)
4. Paint Brush (Optional)
5. A reference picture of a cougar for drawing

Basic instructions to sketch a cougar: Cougars are called the biggest 'cats' that can purr. Therefore, an artist can keep a cat's morphology in mind when sketching a cougar. Here are the steps to draw a sideways standing cougar facing right:

• Face: Trace out an oval, narrow towards the bottom (at right) and wide at the other end. Draw two semi-circles on the top of it for ears. Draw two almond shaped eyes in the middle of the face, with a cat-like snout following below it. Mark an inverted triangular structure with curled edges to mark its nose. Below it, gently draw an inverted curve for mouth at the end of the oval. This will outline the basic features of the face.

• Body: Once the face is done, we can go down to the body sketch. From the side of the ears, draw a horizontal line moving downwards. At the end of the line, attach a vertically slanting tangent, slightly curved up at the free end to form a thick furry tail. Towards the end of the oval, draw another curve parallel to the bodyline, marking the bottom of the cougar's body.

• Limbs: Cougars are known for their powerful limbs. Trace out four well-built legs in the form of parallel sets of vertical lines, emerging from the lower part of the body. Two will be forelimbs and two will be hind limbs. Space them proportionally. Provide a wide puff at the start of each set to represent strong thighs. Impart an angular bent to the legs midway. At the end of the limbs, draw four small ovals for paws. Trace out sharp, lion like claws at the end of the paws.

• Finesse: The final touch can be given to a drawing by enhancing it with color. The facial features can be darkened slightly so that they look distinct. A few whiskers can be drawn and tan brown color be added.

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Petraimports is an online soccer store for all types of Soccer goals Soccer sports Equipment pop up portable soccer goals Wholesale Soccer equipment Cheap Soccer Balls Foldable soccer goals kids furniture Gazebos Wooden Hammock Stand Offset umbrella. We offer retail items at wholesale prices.

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'Omni-Swing' & Portable Adjustable Stand

Experience the latest & greatest health & fitness invention for the prevention, care & self-treatment of neck & back pain and many other neuro-musculo-skeletal dysfunctions. Its also an extremely FUN & PLEASURABLE way to get toned & stay fit, to release STRESS & tension, and to INCREASE ENERGY levels! Lightweight & portable it is light years ahead of anything else. This incredible new 'OMNI-GYM' tm super-swing represents the latest advances in WEIGHTLESS FITNESS & SELF-HEALING technology for both home, office or travel. Incredibly multi-FUNctional, this patented invention does-it-all with virtually 14 separate FUNctions: (1) Home Rehab for self-treatment of neck/back pain, (2) Spinal Decompression Therapy, (3) Inversion Therapy, (4) Auto-Adjustments of the spine (ie: a 'Chiropractor in a Sling'), (5) Lumbo-Pelvic & Thoracic Traction (6) Weightless Fitness, (7) a Total Home Gym, (8) Anti-Gravity Yoga, (9) home Gymnastics, (10) super FUN Jungle Gym for kids (can't get em off - they love to spin & bounce), (11) Partner Acro-Yoga, (12) Tantra Swing, & an excellent (13) Hammock or (14) Sky Chair for simple R&R! Hard to believe so you'd better check it out yourself at www.OMNI-SWING.com or YOGASWING.com Description: the Omni-Swing tm supermodel has a comfortable cushioned Saddle, padded foot-thigh Stirrups, soft fabric for the skin, multiple Handles & Hand-Loops on each side for incredible versatility, an ingenius height-adjust system for both sling & handles, an 'Invert-Ease ...

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LEGO Mindstorms NXT - Kids Can Build Robots Too

Many people have seen clips or shows that are devoted specifically to robotics competitions. Sometimes the robots must perform tasks such as picking up and object and moving it a required distance. Other times the robots are required to simply battle to the death! Whatever the purpose, for anyone who's never built their own robot and programmed such robots to do tasks ranging from the mundane to the dueling to the death, your time has come and you too can finally build a robot. You don't even need to have a degree in engineering from MIT. All you really have to do is know how to play with Legos and follow instructions when you buy Lego Mindstorms NXT.

Many of us remember playing with Lego building blocks as child. Many recall the dozens of different sets ranging from medieval Legos to cowboy Legos to astronaut and alien Legos. You may even have memories of the early robotic Lego sets. In those days, they were quite basic and amounted to what would end up being a remote controlled car. However, those days are long gone and the robotic Lego sets have moved forward. The latest robotic Lego set is the Lego Mindstorms NXT. With a central brick as the brain of each robot, these are far more advanced than any other out of the box, build it yourself robot set.

Much more than simply providing a central motor surrounded by other Lego pieces, the Lego Mindstorms NXT robots have sensors enabling them to perceive touch, sight, and sound. They can differentiate color, distance, and even motion. Since programming as an activity has grown not only in everyday use but in popularity, more and more children and adults of every age have really become interested in the development and creation of their own Lego Mindstorms NXT robots.

The central brick that is the brain of each Lego Mindstorms NXT robot is programmable using Net Byte Code (NBC) and Not eXactly C (NXC) languages. You can connect to the brick through a USB port connection to a home computer or by Bluetooth wireless technology. There are very few robotic kits available to the retail consumer that can provide this level of advanced robot development and intelligence programming. Lego Mindstorms NXT offers four basic robots named Alpha Rex, Spike, RoboArm, and Tribot. Each has their distinct abilities and appearance in correlation to their names. Alpha Rex is a humanoid robot, which looks takes on the shape of a bipedal robotic skeleton. Alpha Rex is the only robot of the set that has two legs which move the robot in the same way that humans move by moving one leg "in front" of the other. This is actually a sophisticated maneuver and the fact that a toy can do this is quite impressive.

Spike, is a robot taking on the form of a scorpion. Crawling around on six legs with a tail that has a touch sensor attached to the end of it, Spike is able to paralyze its prey. Up front, Spike also has two pincers with which he can grab objects and carry them away. RoboArm and Tribot are essentially opposite robots that share one thing in common - they both have sophisticated grabbing claws. RoboArm is a stationary robot, while Tribot moves around with the use of wheels instead of legs like Alpha Rex or Spike. Tribot actually moves quite fast, especially in comparison to any of the other robots who do not have wheels. The Lego Mindstorms NXT robots are not only impressive pieces of hardware out of the box, but they also provide a level of programmability that is honestly not matched by any other retail robotic kit.

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The Element of Life

Did you know that hiding a bag of dead lobsters, jellyfish and horseshoe crabs within a car's trunk for over two weeks while on summer vacation, creates an odor that has been known to curl your toenails? I did not know this. Well, at least not on this particular occasion.

I was 7 years old and on my first visit to the New Jersey seashore. Prior to my "first date" with the ocean, I had already acquired a great respect for the water. My grandfather owned a house along the Hudson River where I had spent countless days fishing and exploring. But at that time I never truly knew how powerful, huge and intimidating the ocean was.

While my parents stood behind me, I waded into the Atlantic. It was much colder than I had expected. I walked out into the surf until the water was up past my knees, then dug my toes into the packed sand and challenged my first wave.

As my mother warned "Be careful" I watched a dark blue wave roll towards me. As if a rookie matador, I nervously stood my ground as my "bull" charged. I stood only four foot tall and weighed only sixty-five pounds. This "wall of water" looked like a tsunami to me. I started to lose my cool and chicken out when the wave rapidly grew before my eyes. As the very tip of the wave began to reach out towards me like a hand, the undertow pulled on my ankles, sucking the beach from beneath my feet.

My parents forewarned me about the undertow, but I never conceived it was so powerful. The very same force that pulled on my toothpick legs was the same force that is able to grab an entire house and feed it to the sea as quickly as a mother spoon-feeds her baby. The sea is able to split apart the largest ocean liners just as effortlessly as it floats a starfish onto the beach.

Just as I became terrified that the undertow was going to suck me into the Abyss, my over-matched opponent "freight-lined" me smack in the face. It was a liquid punch.

Like a double-teamed tackle, the undertow knocked my feet out from under me while the wave hit from the front. I was thrown to the sand as the wave steamrolled over me.

Being assaulted by water has its own unique and terrifying quality. Raging water prolongs the agony: it just does not pass on by its victim after it hits them. When struck by a fierce wave one is first engulfed, then carried along with it while continuing to be battered. And, worst of all, it steals all breathable oxygen.

I was thrown upon the beach face first like a shipwrecked sailor, and while I gasped for air, the wave gently retreated back to the sea. As I choked and wiped the stinging salt from my eyes, I heard my parents comment in harmony, "We told you so".

Feeling rather intimidated and physically drained at this point, I decided to explore the shoreline. For me, combing the beach was like discovering an entirely new planet. With every breaking wave, a new creature was pushed on shore. Jellyfish, clams, fiddler crabs but the most intriguing of them all were the horseshoe crabs.

When one holds a horseshoe crab, one is holding a creature whose family tree spans over 250 million years. This living fossil gets its common name from the "U" or horseshoe shape of its shell which is called the carapace. The carapace is the color of sand or mud to help the animal blend in with its environment. Two pairs of eyes are on the rounded, front part of the carapace. These eyes are compound like those of insects. They allow the animal to see in all directions and detect movement.

A long, sharp, lance-like tail that resembles a defense weapon, sticks out from behind the horseshoe crab, but it is simply used to plow the crab through the sand, act as a rudder and right the crab when it has accidentally tipped over.

Horseshoe crabs are not crabs at all; they are related to scorpions, ticks and land spiders. Once killed to be used as fertilizer, horseshoe crabs are now under intense study within the medical profession.

In the early 1950's, scientist Frederick Bang discovered that a horseshoe crab's metallic blue-colored blood contains special cells that help kill certain kinds of bacteria. When a crab receives a wound, the cells swarm to the area to form a clot and kill the invading bacteria. Bang was able to separate the chemical in the blood cells that formed clots in the presence of bacteria.

During the summer months, horseshoe crab "Blood Drives" are conducted in the shallow waters off the Mid-Atlantic coast. After collecting blood from the crabs, they are then returned to the water. In one bay off of Cape Cod, over 80,000 crabs are bled over the course of a season.

The blood is then sold for research with a price tag of up to $15,000 a quart! Unfortunately, horseshoe crabs are being killed in record numbers for use as bait in eel and whelk fisheries off of the Atlantic coast. This has been linked to drastic declines in migratory shorebirds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs. As the crabs deposit their eggs, birds rush in and gorge themselves on this unparalleled energy source. This feast will add the fat that is critical to the birds 6,000 mile journey from South America to their Arctic nesting grounds. In the past, the sheer enormity of the crab population ensured new generations of both birds and crabs, but this delicate balance has now been disrupted.

I picked up a frisbee-sized horseshoe crab by its dagger-like tail and placed it in my "Crayola Crayon" duffle bag. All of these new creatures fascinated me so much that I had to have them for my own.

Forewarned about jellyfish, I scooped a few of them up with my plastic sand shovel to avoid being stung, and into the bag they went. I then topped the duffle bag off with a few fiddler crabs. Knowing well that this collection would be against my parents' wishes, I concealed my treasures by laying various beach toys over them, then stuffed the bag into the spare tire compartment of our car.

As the mid-August week passed by, a "fishy" smell began to follow us everywhere. While overhearing my baffled parents guess what the odor was, I did not realize it was because of my stash.

During the five-hour drive home, the only topic of conversation was based on the awful stench. Still clueless I simply peered out the car window and stared at the passing trees.

Several days after we had returned home, my father was about to give up his search and sell the car "cheap, as is." Then I heard him yell, "RUSTY!" After hearing the tone of his voice, I paused to relish the last few seconds of not being in trouble. Then before I could respond, my father yelled from the driveway, "What in the hell is in your beach bag?"

Relieved that was all he wanted to know, I ran out to the car and said, "Oh thanks, I forgot I left them in there; I got them from the beach." As I approached, I could not understand why my father was holding my duffle bag by its drawstring with his fingertips. As he held out the "oozing" bag in front of him, he showed an awful expression on his face as if he was wishing for much longer arms.

Then I realized why he was mad. The stink was at a level above anything I have ever known. If a smell could be a form of energy, this would have been nuclear. Flies would not even approach the bag. Word has it that the flies even picketed for better working conditions. Being forced to clean out the duffle bag was enough for me to lose all interest in its contents, but I never lost my love for the ocean.

Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface and contain roughly 97% of the Earth's water supply. The average ocean depth is two and a half miles with a maximum of seven miles. It was in these salty seas that life on earth first originated as a frothy foam collecting on the shores of dry land over three and a half billion years ago.

Sadly, over-exploitation of its resources has scarred our seas. Schools of fish, once assumed to be in endless abundance, are disappearing before our eyes. Every year our 1.2 million large fishing vessels return from the sea yielding smaller and smaller catches.

As marine life struggles to keep a foothold, we continue to pollute their waters. According to a report by the publishers of the Oil Spill Intelligence Report, approximately 32.2 million gallons of oil were spilled worldwide into the marine and inland environments during 1999 alone. The toxic chemical components of the oil can negatively affect marine life as well as physically damage their habitat.

Oceans are earth's life support system. They are at the earth's helm, controlling climate, temperature and the weather as well as producing over seventy-five percent of the planets atmospheric oxygen. They are the greatest source of clouds, yielding rain and snow that replenishes the earth's freshwater supply. Yet we have explored more of outer space than our seas.

Equally as important to the quality of our lives is the condition of all our waters. Because of their smaller size, bays, rivers, streams and lakes react much more rapidly to pollutants than an enormous ocean. Inland waters also have a higher chance of being polluted because waterfront property is considered prime real estate. And wherever we find people, we will find their garbage.

On Sept. 16, 1999, Hurricane Floyd devastated the east coast of the U.S., hitting North Carolina especially hard. Hurricane Floyd dumped 15 to 20 inches of rain and battered the North Carolina coast creating storm surges more than 10 feet high.

The majority of North Carolina's hog farms are located in the eastern third of the state in ecologically sensitive wetlands and floodplains. On these farms, millions of pounds of waste and manure are flushed out of hog barns into lagoons. Hurricane Floyd's record amounts of rainfall caused these lagoons to spill over into waterways.

Several of the environmental effects resulting from these spillovers are nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, groundwater drinking well contamination, and air pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution stimulates alga growth which robs the water of oxygen, thus killing fish and other aquatic life. The concentration of nitrates found in the local groundwater is dangerous to humans, particularly pregnant women and babies, and is associated with a number of miscarriages and "blue baby syndrome" (a disease affecting the blood's ability to absorb oxygen).

Pathogens (disease-causing organisms) such as pfiesteria, a toxic microorganism that kills fish and subsequently feeds off their flesh, has been associated with nitrogen and phosphorus- polluted waters. And recent studies have shown that the odor and associated air pollution from hog factories are now being linked to human health effects. What the entire human population of most cities produce in one year, equals the amount produced by North Carolina's hogs in one day (approximately 50,000 tons of feces and urine a day).

With the number of chemicals in our inland waterways, communities which use them for drinking water always add chlorine to purify the water. Since, chlorine is a very active chemical, it combines with these other chemicals to form new families of chemicals, most of which are not tested for by the water facilities and are possible carcinogens.

While growing up along the Hudson River, I have sailed its waters watching many changes take place. This 315- mile long river is named after 17th century English Explorer Henry Hudson. Hudson is credited as being the first to discover the Hudson River, but many beg to differ after learning that one of Hudson's men returned from a scouting mission with an arrow through his neck.

But I suppose there were not enough arrows, because in our white man way, we moved in. Now several hundred years later we are still trying to squeeze out every tiny shred of land her banks surrender.

General Electric, the "Bring good things to life" company, dumped over two million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyl a.k.a., PCB's, into the Hudson River. The PCB's contaminated the river along with its inhabitants. PCB's are suspected to be a human carcinogen associated with liver, kidney and nervous disorders.

Fifty miles south of the GE plant, Exxon International had been caught red-handed discharging fuel into the Hudson River. The Hudson Riverkeepers, a river watch organization, blew the whistle on this illegal activity.

750-foot Exxon oil tankers regularly departed from Aruba loaded with petroleum products such as jet fuel. After off-loading in New Jersey, the tankers would journey 90-miles up the Hudson to West Park, New York, rinse out their oil tanks, and load up on fresh water which they would use in Exxon's Aruba refinery.

In the 1970.s, the General Motors plant in Tarrytown, New York, some fifty miles to the south of West Park, regularly discharged paint into the river. Fisherman setting nets near the General Motors plant could tell what color the cars were being painted that day simply by looking at the color of the water.

But to my surprise, I learned that pollution is not always an industrial crime. Many times the very people who call the river their home, are the polluters. For example, a funeral home in the city of Newburgh, New York was found discharging human blood from their "office" into the Hudson.

The thought of people desecrating the very place they live baffles me. Even dogs know enough not to soil where they sleep.

Strict regulations, ecological monitoring and, most of all, concern and action from individuals who love the river, have helped the Hudson River come a long way. Considered an open sewer in the 1960's, the Hudson now produces more fish per acre and biomass per gallon than any other major estuary in the North Atlantic. With the lower 150 miles of the Hudson as tidal estuary (a branch of the ocean), freshwater fishes such as bass, and trout, share the waters with seals, dolphin, sharks and the occasional whale. The Hudson also hosts scores of migratory species such as shad, striped bass, herring and blue-clawed crabs. Every year more and more bald eagles return to feed off the Hudson's shores. Although they were wiped out of the area from PCB's as well as other pollutants, I now have peered from my grandfather's living room window in Port Ewen, New York to see half-dozen bald eagles at once.

All inland waters are as important and sacred as the Hudson River and they all should be appreciated and protected, not only by governments, but also by the individuals living along the shores.

We humans are lucky to exist; mankind would have never graced this planet if it were not for water. No other planet in our solar system has liquid water, and what must never be forgotten is that water is the element of life. Water can exist without life, but life can not exist without water.

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Onki & Anauj (And The Prison House For Angels)

Onki & Anauj

((-and Prison House for Angels) (Newly Revised, Edited 5-2010))

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One Million BC

(4500 BC?) The African sun gently rested over this small village where Onki lived. Outside the house was a cactus garden where lizards-small and large-ran to and fro, as free as the day and night were long. Onki woke up with the bright sunlight shining on his face-through the open window and spacious bedroom: it was warm on his long stretched out nine feet naked body, broad and robust body, and the sun's rays gave light and shape to a rainbow shower far-off in the distance. The warmth of the morning seemed to wake up the cocks likewise-they started to cackle a stream of sings their dull but regular desert songs, and the desert echoed back to them-with its hollow repeating voice, as if life was walking out of death-it was a new day.

Onki's eyes became illuminated, his mouth opened up wide for a yawn, giving a pleasant but loud bursts which turned into shrieks of laughter; he looked out his window-there was a steady supply of bubbling heat waves-he grins-then, right there he spots that far-off rainbow which is full of colors-looking like a cross, an illuminated glass door stands a being, but it was the horizon he was looking at-beyond the rainbow (something he had never seen, something no being had ever seen, it was created yet, because the Great Flood had not come yet, his existence was on the tail end of it emerging)-for the most part. Then he looked at his long time angelic ally, and Nephilm, from eons past, both having been at one time: comrade in arms-rise dubiously to within his sight, he was in the other room roaming aimlessly through one room and then the next-more at pacing, and through the partly opened door he could see Otitoyoc, in rapidity, looking uneasy.

Slowly he awake, lifting himself up to a sitting position on the side of the bed. Then he noticed Anauj, his mistress, human wife, the one he cohabitated with, she was dressing, putting on a light red garment that extended to the knees, a belt gathered her waist, it had loose sleeves (similar to a tunic, almost like a dress). Then she began painting her eyes and lips-she pulls the curtain open in the main room also used as a dinning room; he stares at her nakedness, her shapely and pleasing tights, belly, calves, her rising mound, a body for a goddess he murmurs, he loves her long silk like hair, and stares for a longer moment, as she bends over, a well-formed frame he thinks-one he left his heavenly abode for, then she put on her camel skin sandals, as if to meet the day, and its chores, as if to get down to business. For him it is a passionate, almost insane craving, and that is the one thing that caused his banishment from God's sight, the thing he had no knowledge of before-until then, and now.

With light, springy ankles she trips by Otitoyoc as he paces, the heat drifting in through the open window a faint sour smell-and Onki is filled with a wild desire to be able to take in this woman, this lovely creature once more, before the morning ends, but with a deadly rich, and colorful glimpse of life, strangely he enchants himself by humming, disgorging his inner thoughts, he has had her for hours throughout the night-perhaps five hours straight, as did his friend, make love to her thereafter, both taking their turns until she passed out with pain and pleasure. He never slept; angelic renegades have no need to. She was worn out. He had left the Circle of Refaim, near the Syria boarder (in the Golan Heights), created as a shrine for Og, the powerful king, it sheltered his kind, but it wasn't safe enough, "Nobody," he told his comrade in arms, "I say, nobody can find us here."

It all seemed to Onki, a prosperous atmosphere, this hide out in the middle of the world, nowhere, a near care-free existence, and had one of his peers from long ago, looked at him, surely they would have thought him rather school-boyish, in nature. "They are all the same in bed," he tells himself, but this one is beautiful, if I must pay a price for my misdeeds, let it be with a lovely creature, no smutty one, for others to make jokes about."

Anauj, she was of an immeasurable beauty, wavy long black hair, greenish-blue eyes that often seemed to change to a lighter and fuller blue throughout the day, she was sixteen years old. Onki was over one-million years old, perhaps older, as was his comrade.

He looked at her shapely lips; the lower one was bigger than the upper one. And her bronze skin glowed with youth, he wanted to touch her again, thinking to himself, how difficult to pass a whole hour up of a waking day with such a being, and not touch her, but always on the watch, always on the alert; and then at night-nearly the same.

Onki could hear the shifting of the desert sands outside his bedroom window it was like music to his ears, like drums humming and pounding-making the heart and soul, ignite, for it was his way of adjusting to the morning; his huge bull like dogs, came forward into the bedroom ran toward him and jumped up on him, but he shook them off and called loudly, his orders "Just lay down by the bedside," and they obeyed.

He never really needed to sleep, nor did his friend Otitoyoc, they were different than Anauj; they were superhuman (paranormal beings), who came one day, and inhabited this small desert village. They had come from the great battles that were taking place among the Giants of the Refaim, a heap of rocks, made into a temple-shrine for King Og the Giant King, now turning into a cemetery; day after day the rumble of drums and battle cries, the regiments of giants fought, many wounded and died, there was over 400,000-giants in this war, and by its end, eight-thousand were only left. They used rocks and swords and gouged out eyes, and these giants, sons and daughters of the Nephilim-the angelic renegade race, had offspring hybrids that were two thirds superhuman, some as tall as five story buildings, some beastly looking others deformed, and demonic.

Onki was thinking of far-off days, the long (almost forgotten) past; of the great songs he and his angelic comrades sang within the shadows of the stars, and throughout the heavens. But that was a very long time ago. The songs had since evaporated to within the sands of this desert like oasis (where summer grasses grew high, and the sky was always a soft blue, and war far away), where the shifting, whistling sands from the winds of the desert, where only lizards made their abode now, where his sons and daughter giants were buried, where the Great Refaim Circle was.

It was Anauj, quietly walking past Onki's bedroom, barefoot, silent with no smile; Onki could hear her. She dare not anger either one of the huge angelic beings-being quite petite, and so she tried to walk in a straight line, not to making a sound. Otitoyoc gave her a wink, "Well, how are you this sunny morning," he asked, rhetorically, stewing there with the door open in the heat, and sweat and stinking breath of the famished drunken soldier, he had drank the night before much wine (he had taught one of the governors of Ur, how to make it, and it was passed down to Noah somehow).

For they could be gracious at times, but if angered, it could cause a catastrophe (and she did not want any misfortune to befall her, she was afraid, so fearful that at times horror seized her, and with a choking nausea: thus she stumbled out of step, trying to avoid Otitoyoc's presence also, if indeed she was in danger of their aggression, she'd make a few gestures to arouse them-and in return they'd make gross, repulsive gestures back, as she tried to pull herself sweetly and coyly among their presence).

She knew there was some kind of death-curse connected to them-there was always darkness within the souls of their eyes, as if they were in the trenches of death. -that haunted them inside their somewhat humanistic shell shaped supernatural bodies (there was this kind of verbal jumble about them two she noticed, waking them day and night, bewilderingly over them like a hawk, a green ooze and sinister horror on their faces at times, these titans of old, both had their burden to carry for sure, some terrible dark vista, thus far unrevealed, but to be stricken with at a later time, an obscure sort of fever perhaps she pondered, follows them, to be poured upon them at some undisclosed time in the near future) for they awaited the day, and scanned the night skies, they would look into the heavens wondering, perchance wondering or trying to guess, pondering their fate, that is to say, when the badly curled up news would appear-the sight of these strange beings, pallid men and ancient men of some lost era seeking at last to emerge from the clouds to earth-who did just that to a commanding presence on the planet, instead of protecting it, as their mission was called for, being known as a 'Watcher,' to this desert home they came: these were strange men to Anauj, too vague to pin down or analyze but a drama was in place and not yet played out-and Anauj knew that much-most conjecture but she knew-for the most part-what lay behind her, and cared not to try to unlock the forbidden gate they had come from. So not knowing, for the most part, what was in store for these foulest of beings, leave them for the pits of myth and madness. They even had strange shadows she thought-but to her it was all the same, strange men should have strange shadows.

As time passed, Anauj never could figure out the many names they whispered among themselves, except for one which was called, Ura'el, he was the one they feared the most would appear out of nowhere, sometime, someday, and it would be more than a visit. They both scanned the skies and the lands and the hideous stones and swamp like areas-of this local.

I guess it was another superhuman being-she felt would bring their demise, she came to accept as their termination, just a matter of time, evidently he'd look somewhat like them, but brighter, and someone that they feared, hence, he would show up someday and the longer she examined them and their fear-no doubt to its greater certainty it was just that, this other being was hidden in the depths of their minds-like sea creatures exploring the distance sands, and the edges of its abyss, inside their indefinite brains, but the wonder was, how mysterious, that these beings had no trouble in adapting themselves to earth, that eventually lead to womanizing, but she had overheard them talking in the heat of a night, that it was a shrewd harlot that made them sin, brought them to this level, to leave their habituate, and bathed them into the race, not accustomed to sex, they undoubtedly learned its pleasures quickly, and could have countless orgasms, unlike mortal man, as a woman can, and as a result, stripped and dominated the female race on earth, taking men's daughters and wives and whomever they wanted and word of this had reached the high heavens-called among the human race, as 'The Old Ones' or the 'Shinning Ones,' the Giants, the Nephilim. Henceforward, came the decadent days on earth, and their giant race was cartouche.

In a like manner, she had heard the name Ura'el, and more so she frequently thought of the one who would send this being called Ura'el, that would be the one to fear, her savior to be. She had learned by observation to recognize this Ura'el as the superior older one.

She was young, but quickly learned it was not natural to have such powers within such hoggish-tissue of inhuman beasts, in semi human frames, they wanted to be worshiped, and could not be killed by any warrior she knew of, and they needed no food, or sex, but took it for pleasure nonetheless. She didn't know the whole of it, but was wise enough to keep her fear silent, as they did, concerning this Ura'el being, concerning everything thought she ever had-lest she be accountable to their kind of ultimate doom-they were lifeless, cold-resistant, reluctant to do anything but give orders, and expected her to be a trained seal, or pigeon, save her dove like appearance, and mannerisms.

This morning Anauj readied the kitchen table as usual, and started to cook as she did each and every morning from her brick oven. The brick floor was warm, and everything seemingly tranquil-she would be their waiter as well as worshiper as well as concubine, she even flattered them with smiles (and because of her silence they never though much, of what she might be thinking, but she was doing a lot of thinking, praying for their annihilation. Had they seen a few of her glances, they would have utterly torn her apart, yet coyly she presented herself).

Onki and Otitoyoc (sidekicks, for the most part) looked at one another oddly, a strange feeling came over them, as if their senses were picking up something, but not sure of what-they had extraordinarily senses, Onki lay his great hand onto his hip. Then they shook the feeling off, unwilling to believe it was what they thought it might be, although sick to their stomachs together-looking at one another in that old style comradeship, they once believed in.

But it was a danger sign nonetheless, if only a shabby one, the body picks up such ill-fated memories, then out of nowhere they both started to think about the pledge they made to one another long ago; both agreeing to do this adventure together, no matter what the consequences-as if a judgment was at that very moment was taking place inside each of them, they could not help thinking about these specifics, and the hideous ravage they brought to the human race. There was something abnormal about this whole business of recalling their deadly sins, somebody's madness, though Onki. These thoughts traversed their brains making them near dizzy in the sun filled morning.

They had sworn an oath to one another-there were two-hundred of them -to leave God's realm (their abode, the one they had lived within for eons), and to descend to this new world called earth, where pleasures were not of heaven, but of flesh and blood, at which time the pleasures of mankind were all a mystery, unexplained if not a fabulous mystery, and curious phenomenon to them, and to many more angelic beings like them. And now looking back, all they could say was: we only intended to visit, or revisit this place-curiosity having long ago got the better- but at the time, earth's deepest emotions sealed their fate, and they tried to blame, to lay this curse of guilt to someone else's madness. But they kept coming nonetheless, where the temptation to hesitate did not exist, like worms they sought the insane pleasures of earth, where they balked at anything short of certain disaster. And they got what they suspected, an archangel, drove them into the pits, and chained them under the sands of the deserts, and these two Nephilim, somehow tiptoed their was to safety, with a dim and single torch-in what was once an oppressed world, oppressed by them.

This was something unknown to the angelic race, prior to God's creating human flesh, on a material world. When they found earth, along with two-hundred others, they committed the unpardonable sin of cohabitating with the human species, again, part of the oath all took, one for all, and all for one; for they knew this was a species God created for other purposes, not for their pleasure. But it was tempting, and God had hid it from many of the angels, for good reason of course earth per se (and so, like a treasure, unfound for centuries, they came down upon earth like thundering gods).

Onki knowing the humans were weaker, they the stronger took advantage of the moment that very moment he touched down on earth's soil; at first Onki could not accurately say what was wrong with the formality, the pure air, heavy air, drowned him, but after a few seconds his body got acclimated, but his mind reacted definitely. Let me try to state this better, what may have nauseated him was some kind of transformation, grave-he had lost his immense historical importance, as it was, his body slowed down, like an intervening river (and he understood quite well at that point, why God had kept this a secret from certain angelic beings). As he whispered to his friend, '...we were the first beings, not them' (showing a bit of sourness) but this was true, they were among the first angelic beings God created. And they would be the first to face His judgment. And so, as the breakfast was being readied, they continued to stare at one another, heart pounding, as it did day in and night in anticipation, living in fear; their thoughts emerging, for they were over a-million years old, they knew one another quite well.

(Offspring) Onki had one child, called Iamuot; he was a hybrid, of short statue, born in the desert of Djurab, by Ahounta Diimdoumalhaye (where they lived now, Iamuot, living in a hut outside of the main house), Anauj's mother had died while giving childbirth to his creature, half-demonic and half-human. Anauj was quite young back then-when this all took place. For Onki took Anauj from her original husband whom he killed with an arrow from a blow, to the head, the child was then eight-years old. Anauj took on the responsibility of the mother, Iamuot being a kind of half-brother. But the child was a little different than most of the children of the village. And for that reason he was called the "Inhuman Fiend."

As Iamuot grew up his teeth remained small, he kept a short looking face, and like his father, Onki, had a prominent brow, ridges to be exact. He walked upright, but with a slump, his arms and hands hung to his side of him as he walked, looking, or resembling at times, more ape than a man, looking as if he was about to lose his balance quickly, although he seldom did.

(Iamuot) Outside the front door Iamuot squatted down to go to the bathroom looking up at the dark cloud encircling his home. While his dog came sniffing him, and wanting to be patted, he noticed a burning flame high in the sky near some clouds, he pushed the dog away to get more focused, he called to his half-sister to see this strange phenomena-he was but eight.

As she opened the door, at that very moment, a lightening spear flashed through the sky, a rod of fire-like the tail of a comet, it soared through the atmosphere striking the houses near by in the village and their house as well, making the houses tremble, and their foundations, of: mud, wood and stone, crumble into dust. The village of seven-hundred inhabitants (humans) were shaken to oblivion, running everywhichway, scared the sky was falling in, "Fire from heaven" as their house crumbled to the floor of its foundation.

As the village continued to burn, the earth started to erupt; sucking into its crevices, and deep holes, everything in its path, one could see dead bodies all about. Anauj stood starring, with a flat affect, as if it was God sent. Onki looked at her, I mean looked at her looking, deeply looked at her from ground to the top of her head, perhaps for the first time, and she smiled, and that was a far and in-between facial expression, for she had not smiled it seemed but a few times, and that was to appease these warlike gods, titans of old, the angelic renegades, and the Refaim giants of the land.

Onki hissed at her, unconsciously, but before he could strike her (which was on his mind), this wide and huge being heard something, crackling, it was of iron or steel, it was chains, he was being bound, tied, tighter than a python snake can squeeze the life out of a man, tied and retied in knots, in front of Anauj.

Said Ura'el to Onki, as if they knew one another:

"You will be bound a million years, one for each of your sins, in the Prison House for Angels, deep within the Universe along with your comrade (as had previously been done to a good portion of the two-hundred angelic renegades, the Watchers of old)."

The desert, the houses, the village, and farms, and hunting sites were all burning filling sky with black smoke. The animals, pigs, camels, vultures, snakes, rodents, and rabbits, dogs and cats, all dying of fright, some falling into sinkholes, others were swallowed up by the movement of the crust of the earth. The world was coming to an end it seemed. And Anauj just stood there as if to wait for her master's call, wanting to go with Ur'el, for it was the only safe name she had ever heard; she kept that smile on her face now, and Onki could not take it off. Ur'el looked at her, his warm eyes told her many things, they told her that the Almighty God of the universe, had read her heart, heard her secret words-as she threaded the dim and thin labyrinth Onki made out of her life, and with a morsel of faith, the echo had reached his throne room.

Said Onki, with a shout, breaking the moment "Kill ME!-do not let me have to count the days and nights and hours alone in darkness, and nothingness, in a blind world in some sculptured prison out of the cosmos...!" but there was no conversation between prisoner and the protector, Ur'el.

Said Ur'el to Anauj, softly, "It is a tiny moment in time...no more than that, it will pass, and be buried deep within man's unwritten journals, maybe just maybe, another world away, in a different time cycle will uncover some of this. But go, find a husband, leave the dead to themselves, and the scorpions to the desert. Create a new generation; I come from the One God, He is the one who sent me. I will see you at another time."

Having said that, more angels appeared, grabbing the other two renegades, and binding them with double-chains. As Onki was taken away to the Prison House for Angels, far-off in the Universe; and as they took him, one could hear his hard and emotional breathing, his beating of his limbs, his nostrils hissing, his body shaking. Onki's child was dead as was all the hybrids of that day and so this is where a new saga began and an old one ended.

Postscript

Had you asked Anauj, to share any warm, or generous emotions on this subject of kidnapping and forced sex, and enslavement, she would have told you straight out, she wanted to escape the very first day she saw Onki-but of course it never did come to pass until this very day, the day Ur'el arrived. She wondered as they took Onki away-couldn't help but wonder 'Did he love me, was he capable of it?' She even remembered some of the ecstasy of those dark blue nights, with a silver moon, endless sex, by him most likely self-forgotten, dumped in darkness, perhaps he imagined her in years to come as 'that fat whore,' and he'd kill her as he did her mother. And then make jokes of it with his kind at that Circle of Refaim, as he called it.

Even her imagination had been debauched without being aware of it. She was taken before she knew anything of love at all, lined up for examination, sexually, with the impetuousness of Onki, he was her night wind, for years, at sixteen-years old, she wondered if she was ever a whore-in any of this psychodrama. After a while it was all wretched.

These is still light in her soul though, and she is standing in front of a large heap of rubble, her home, she whispers "I'm glad I've seen you," as Ur'el disappears in the distance, she smiles, haltingly she stares as if everything up to this moment was just a dream, illusion and is looking for reality, and in so doing, discovers, she is no longer disillusioned, it's only natural-she tells herself-that she had been strained to the utmost, a matter of life and death. So now, the here and now, the future, is what matters, and of course, what counts.

Notes 1: Originally written in 2002 (in St. Paul, Minnesota), and published in the book "Chasing the Sun" and reedited March in 2006, in Lima, Peru; again reedited and this time revised, 3/2008 and a third time reedited, 5-2010.

Note 2: We can see in Genesis 14:5, there is a 1st and second generation of Nephilim, to put this into a comparison, Gilgamesh would be from the 2nd Generation, and pure angelic being from the first, the 1st having more power and strength than the second, that is to say, the 2nd was not on par with the first. Their story takes place in the land of Zuzim (of old), not all that from the 'Dead Sea,' and just a tinge farther from Jerusalem.

Dedicated to Rosa Peñaloza, because of her fondness for this story.

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Leopard Gecko Information - Fun Tidbits

Leopard geckos have several characteristics which make them not just any old lizard. These fun and attractive animals make great pets. If you'd like to learn some fun facts about these fascinating reptiles, this article is for you.
They have eyelids which they close while sleeping, unlike other species of gecko. They can also blink, another unique trait.

Geckos can grow as long as 25.4 cm.

They lack the toe pads which allow other geckos to climb walls and other vertical surfaces; instead, they have small claws on their feet. The leopard gecko is named for its coloring, which is usually yellow or orange with black spots. However, leopard geckos can be found in many different colors, with breeders having produced geckos in many different patterns and colors.

They are very gentle and docile animals; they rarely bite, even when you provoke them. This is one of their qualities which makes them good pets.

A leopard gecko can live for a very long time; close to 20 years is common and they have been known to live as long as 30 years - longer than dogs and as longer than most cats!

Geckos use their tail as fat storage; they can also detach their tail if a predator catches them by the tail. They'll grow a new tail to replace the one they've lost. They shake their tails when defending their territory, hunting or mating.

Geckos can bark! They bark when excited and sound a little like a tiny, gecko-sized dog.
They eats scorpions, spiders, insects and even smaller lizards in the wild. The leopard gecko is one of the few animals which is immune to scorpion stings, making it a fearsome enemy for these poisonous insects.

Like other geckos, leopard geckos are nocturnal, being most active at night and usually sleeping through the day.

Your pet leopard gecko's diet should consist solely of insects. Before you buy a pet leopard gecko, you'll need to make sure that your pet store sells the bugs your gecko needs. They're too high in fat to make a regular part of their diet, but you can give your leopard gecko a weekly treat of their favorite snack: wax worms.

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