current event!

Summary: Scientists have found a new drug that may be able to treat Alzheimer's disease that will work in 3 different ways that fight off the formation of "plaques" in the brian, that are the characteristist of the Alzheimer's disease. They say it is called "gamma-secretase modulator" [GSM]. The drugs take over the making of long pieces of amyloid beta protein in the brain stop them from creating clumps, and increase production of shorter pieces that may make longer ones less likely to attach. These clumps are said to be the major contributor to the disease along with tangled bundles of fibers also known as neurofibrillary tangles.

Importance: This is importance because currently Alzheimer's is incurable and it affects a lot of people. My grandma had Alzheimer's so I am in the risk of getting it. It was really hard when she had it because sometimes she wouldn't know who she was and she would forget how to do things so in the end we had to put her in a nursing home because I had school, parents work. If this drug really works then that would change so many lives, I'd love to get that for my parents if they had to deal with that disease.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25100491/

book report!

Giles, Gail. What Happened to Cass McBride. New York. Little, Brown Young Readers: 2006.

Reason, Type and Setting: I just asked my mom to look for young adult and mystery books and that's what my mom picked out. So I decided to read this because the back sounded interesting. This movie is a mystery/fiction book that takes place in the 2000's, it seems like a timeless book though.

Plot: In the beginning it started from a guy in an interrogation room, throughout the book you learned about the events that led to the girl being kidnapped and buried under the greenhouse. You learn why the brother [Kyle Kirby] kidnapped her because of the suicide of her brother. You explore into the lives of the Kirby's and the McBrides. Cass talks to Kyle and in the end she uses her dad's tactics to find the opponents softspot, and exploits it until they both realize that Kyle's mom was really the one who drove him to suicide.


Character: Cass McBride is one of the main characters. She has brown hair, she's tan, she's lean. She's a popular pretty girl. She munipulates situations to how she wants them to happen. She knows how to munipulate people also because of her dad's nature.

Evaluation: I liked this book, it was really raw though and intense, like Lovely Bones the book I just read. This book was really interesting because you got to see the intentions behind the characters and you got to see how connected people were without knowing it. It also made me think about all the times that I said something mean or hurtful towards someone and made me really regret it because I would never want to push someone to suicide. I think the point of the book was be careful what you say, because you never know who will hear and how much it'll affect someone. I would recommend this book to anyone who liked a mystery. This book is based off of real life things because people deal I don't think this book is neccesary to read but I think it is neccesary to realize that words are harsh and you should also think before you say things.

Author, Context and Trivia: I don't really know anything about her, but I know she has written other books because my mom brought another one of her books home for me.


Reader Response; "I had been buried, buried....alive." "My breathing slowed down, not from calmness, but from hopelessness." These quotes were really like just realizations made by Cass McBride. They made me think about how I would react during those situations. It's amazing how she survived throughout and through all those days. And how she talks her way out of a situation. I chose this quote because it made me think a lot.

music project

History: Indie was first sparked after punk rock in the UK during the 1970's. They were bands supported by small independent labels; this is why they were classified as indie because they were on independent labels. They gained their popularity from the independent magazines; their music was popular among a small group of music lovers. Indie rock music was inspired by punk music, '60s pop music and counterculture, and occasionally electronic music and European pop. One of the first indie bands to become successful was The Smiths; their music influenced other Brit pop bands during that time. In the US indie was classified as music that branched off from alternative that was inspired by movements from 1970's and early 1980's. Also indie music was associated with abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds. Then in the 1990's in the UK indie music was connected to mainstream music as a result they got commercial success. During this time many indie bands were signed to major record companies or major independent companies were bought by major record companies. So during that time the label "indie" was applied to commercial guitar pop. During the same time in the US, the events were quite similar to the ones happening in the UK. Then in 2000 the indie music attracted many college students so bands like Silversun Pickups, The Kooks, etc offered to play shows for free to gain recognization. It may seem ridiculous to some people that the bands aren't signing with major labels but that shows that they aren't there for the money and they are just out to have fun, do what they love, and share that with the rest of the world.

Examples:

New Indie: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=107443193 MySpace Girl by Bubble Boy

Middle Indie: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=1244976 Don't Cry Out by Shiny Toy Guns

Older Indie: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=20745745 Familiar Ceiling by Phil Spector


Our Cover Song:http://www.jamglue.com/search?category=All+of+Jamglue&query=Kooks

Seaside by The Kooks: We chose to use Seaside because of its simplicity and beautiful sound and lyrics. The Kooks are a great example of one of the many indie bands to make it big in the 21st century. The Kooks made it big in 2004 after playing free concerts at colleges and universities. The song Seaside, we believe was inspired by the the lead singers home town, the Yorkshire seaside town of Saltburn.With all of us soon to be leaving for college I know I personally can relate to loving my home town and all the memories I have had hear.

current event!

Summary: Scientists have created a model that allows them to study injured brain tissue; They also have perfected a technique that keeps the brain of a fruit fly alive and healthy for a lengthy period of time. This is important because it allows them to inflict injury on certain nerve bundles and study what happens. They have all ready found the activation of a certain signaling pathway induces the regeneration of axons. This allows positive perceptives for the patients dealing with nerve injuries. The fruit fly model is 60% genetic similarity to humans. This model is helping us study memory and sense of smell; before we could only study the mouse. In the future the model will be used for learning about damaged nerve bundles; these will be applicants for further research with human and hopefully with help create new treatments for patients with nerve injury.

Importance: This is important because the problems with nerves that we thought weren't fixable may now be fixable. We may now be able to figure out other animals that we can compare our genetics too. I thought this article was amazing, I never knew how similar our genetics were compared to flies.


http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/06/03/microsurgery_on_the_brain_of_the_fruit_fly_leads_to_new_insights_into_irreparable_nerve_injuries.html

movie: my architect

I found this movie very interesting; it was crazy how he crossed out his home address. I wonder why he did that. Maybe he didn't feel like any address deserved to be on there because he was always traveling. This movie was hard to grasp for me because my dad has been with me for my whole life, but it kind of opened my eyes to wanting to learn more about my parents and take advantage of learning about them because I've known them for 17 years but I realized I don't really know that much about their history and what they have been through, I already made the mistake of that with my grandparents. I wonder why the ladies were okay with staying with him and having relations with him, did they think they could change him and get married to him. I wonder if he felt bad leading on the ladies, and for his children who never really got to meet him, and then he just left the world and they didn't get to really talk to him and understand how he is. I think this man didn't push any ethics onto his children but since he wasn't really involved and he was involved with different women so then they were subjected to ethics because they were tied to a ethical dilemma [being a single mom with a kid]. But I think by doing that he also broke out with doing what he wanted to do and not having to follow what society said was ethical and right.

I think that I get most of my ethics from my parents and family [grandparents] so I think not having him around gave them more of a chance to develop what they thing is wrong or right. Like I said in my journal I think your parents give you a foundation but I don't think you have to agree with it but I think a lot of the time the ethics they believe in sticks with you, at least it does with me.

current event!

Summary: They are germs everywhere even where you least expect them! The most interesting places from the article that I read were; lemon wedges, shopping carts, and beds. It said that they found that the lemon wedges had E. coli and fecal bacteria! (70% of the lemon wedges). The second unexpected thing was shopping carts; it was found that 2/3's of the shopping carts were contaminated with fecal bacteria. The article said that your bed is filled with dust mites and they thrive when you make your bed because that seals in the moisture they need to live.

Importance: I thought it was amazing thinking of the things you usually interact with and you don't even realize how digusting they are. I am glad I read this article, I never really thought to wash my hands after touching a cart but now I definitely am. Also I am not squeezing in the lemon in my drink anymore EW!! Also yesterday I used the made arguement with my parents. They told my sister and I that we don't do enough chores like making our beds and I told them that if I made my bed it would make the dust mites thrive, and it's true.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24511171/

what happened to ethics?

I think that ethics are important but I don't think that morals and ethics should be pushed on children but school is where the child is usually [spend all their time]. I think that your parents can teach you ethics because they're your guardians but that doesnt mean you have to follow them but that will give you a foundation.