February Is For Romance Ala Janet Lane Walters #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Romance #Medical #Nurses #Doctors

February Is For Romance

 

Most of my books have some romance in them. Many have characters who are in the medical field.  The Doctor’s Dilemma was one where I stepped away from my northeast centered focus and set the action in Texas where I had once lived for several years. This was a fun book to write.

 

Pursuing Doctor West was another fun book to write. I had great fun finding new ways to thwart my heroine, Zelda, in her pursuit.  Most of the time, this story made me laugh as I planned new scenes and turned the tables on the heroine.

The Gemini Sagittarius Connection is another fun book to write. Like the first book on this page, this one has a set of twins. What I really had fun planning was the hero. As a Sagittarian, he can suffer from “foot in mouth” disease and finding ways for him to show this side of his character were fun.

 

All of these books and other’s which are romances visit me at one of these places.

My Places

https://twitter.com/JanetL717

 https://www.facebook.com/janet.l.walters.3?v=wall&story_f

bid=113639528680724

 http://bookswelove.net/

 http://wwweclecticwriter.blogspot.com

https://www.pinterest.com/shadyl717/

Buy Mark

https://bookswelove.net/walters-janet-lane/

Don't blame the pangolin, by J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends 

Short-listed for Best Young Adult Book 2018,

The Word Guild

Book 2 of the award-winning Twisted Climb series

As Sheila Craydon wrote in her BWL blog on Valentine's Day, effects of the Coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it's now named ('COVI' from coronavirus and 'D' meaning disease, and '19' representing the year the first cases were reported), is being felt world-wide. Scientists and doctors are combining their research efforts to determine the source of the deadly virus. According to the Medical News Today website, Chinese-based researchers believe the virus 'host' is not a bat, which is the mammal that typically carries a coronavirus. No, they suggest that the harmless, most-poached and critically endangered pangolin is to blame. It is their belief that bats are unable to directly transmit the virus to humans and that an "intermediate animal is usually the one responsible."

You've probably said, "Pangolin? What is a pangolin?"

Pangolins are the only scale-covered mammal in the world and sadly, they are being poached to extinction. Pangolins mainly eat ants and termites, and in fact, help reduce the termite population in countries like the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Malaysia. Pangolins have no teeth and use their long sticky tongue to slurp out termites and ants from their nests. Pangolins are typically nocturnal and use their scales as a defense against predatory animals. When frightened, the pangolin will roll into a ball, using their scales as a type of armour.

A pangolin rolled in a self-defensive ball.

A baby pangolin's first outing from its nesting burrow, typically at 30 days.

A tree pangolin capturing termites from a branch.

Baby pangolins will remain with their mother for up to two years.

In many Asian countries, the scales of the pangolin are sought for alleged 'medicinal' purposes, though there is no medical support for these traditions. In addition, the pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in some countries and this spurs the illegal, black-market trade. Unfortunately, the wholesale slaughter of pangolins continues in spite of the fact that the pangolin has been described as "the most poached and trafficked mammal in the world." All species of the pangolin are on the endangered list, and many are on the road to extinction. All because of illegal trafficking.

In China and many other countries, laws have been instituted to protect the pangolin. These laws prohibit the capture, sale and/or transport of the animals. In fact, those caught selling pangolins could face up to 10 years in prison.

This, however, has not deterred the black market pangolin trade. 

In the city of Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 originated in a seafood and wild animal market, it is believed that the virus transmitted from a host animal to humans. Researchers are still investigating if the source was a bat which transmitted to a pangolin and then to humans. However, since the first human case was treated late December 2019, the virus has been transmitted directly from human to human. What researches haven't proved, though, is if there were pangolins sold illegally at the Wuhan market. No one has (yet) come forward to admit they sold live/dead pangolins. Doing so, though, would be of significant benefit to determining if the pangolin was the virus' intermediate 'host.'

Is the pangolin really to blame for COVID-19? Or is it the greed of black-marketers, combined with human indifference to the potential extinction of a mild-mannered, toothless, ant-eating animal. Would there be human transmission of the virus if the pangolin was not used as bush meat and nonsensical medicine? I'm not a scientist, so I don't know. But maybe this is nature's way of saying, to paraphrase Pink Floyd, "Hey, people, Leave the pangolins alone!"

The eight species of Pangolin, found from Asia to Africa and the Philippines.

February 17 is World Pangolin Day. According to Wikipedia, pangolin populations have decreased by up to 75 per cent in some countries. In 2017, almost 12 tons of pangolin SCALES were confiscated from a ship in China. The year before, a ship grounded near the Philippines was found to have 10,000 kilograms of pangolin meat rotting in its cargo hold.

I have been fascinated by pangolins since 2014 when I first read a CNN article about their potential extinction. In the meantime, I've written five children's picture books and a movie script about the adventures of Mama Pangolin and her wee son Foleydota. (These books have not yet found a publisher as BWL publishes text, not pictures!) However, to promote knowledge of the pangolin, I've included it in my Twisted Climb series of books. Young Georgia's favourite stuffed animal is a baby pangolin that she cradles in her arms each night before bed. Of course, the stuffie is made with a velvety outer fabric that is perfect for caressing and holding so tenderly.

I'll finish this blog by paraphrasing an old Coca-Cola commercial: Let's live in harmony.

 J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb - Darkness Descends (Book 2)

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2018, Critters Readers Poll and Best YA Book FINALIST at The Word Guild, Canada

AND

The Twisted Climb,

voted BEST Young Adult Book 2016, P&E Readers Poll

Novels for teens, young adults and adults young at heart

Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh

www.amazon.com/author/jckavanagh

Twitter @JCKavanagh1 (Author J.C. Kavanagh)

Weird Apps

Most of us use apps—those digital applications, downloaded on our cellphones, to help us order a pizza from our favorite fast-food joint, track appointments or manage our finances.  The number and variety of apps have mushroomed over the past decade. Many of them are useful, such as the one from your local transit department which lets you when the next bus is coming. Others, however, are only mildly useful, and a few, truly bizarre. Here, then, are ten apps that will leave you shaking your head:

1)      Nothing. Yes, Nothing. You press the Nothing icon on your phone and nothing happens. Nothing is free, but a premium version (which still does nothing) costs a whopping $0.99.

2)      Hold On. As the name implies, the idea is to keep pushing down on the app for as long as you can. A little timer pops up and lets you know how long you’ve been holding on. But, Why?

3)      I am Rich. Designed for rich people to make them feel good about how much money they have. At $400 a pop, I am Rich is definitely not for the poor.

4)      Fake Conversation. Ever want to desperately leave a boring meeting or a bad date? Fake Conversation will send you a fake phone call from a doctor, layer or even a magazine editor. The app will tell you what to say; you repeat it, and everyone around will be convinced you have a real emergency on your hands.

5)      Ghost EMP Meter. Yup. Your smartphone will sniff out pesky spirits and lingering apparitions. Note: It may not work if your smartphone itself is demon-possessed.

6)      Drunk Dial NO. This actually may be useful. The app allows you to enter the phone numbers of people you should not call when drunk (think: your ex or your boss.) It will hide those numbers for a period of forty-eight hours, long enough for your sober side to reassert itself.

7)      Binky. For totally random people. Binky will send you an endless stream of completely unconnected random stuff which you can browse or resend. Being totally pointless, it faithfully reflects the entire digital experience.

8)      $1,000,000. The app loads images of currency (in denominations of $50 or $100) which you can count by swiping on the screen. You won’t become rich, but your fingers will feel the pleasant tiredness a real millionaire experiences when counting his money.

9)      Lick the Icicle. The app shows an icicle on your smartphone. As you start licking it, the icicle starts melting. At this point, it’s uncertain if your tongue will stick to your smartphone if you stop licking.

10)  Places I have Pooped. As the name implies, this app allows you to map every place where you have answered the call of nature. Rather than humans, it is probably more useful in helping dogs and cats mark their territories. Use your phone to help your pooch to play Places I have Pooped.

 Mohan Ashtakala is the author of “The Yoga Zapper,” a fantasy, and “Karma Nation,” a literary romance. www.mohanashtakala.com, www.bookswelove.com.