TOW #24 "Tusedays with Morrie" IRB Post

This book has destroyed me!!!!  It is one of the saddest, yet inspirational, books I have ever read.  There are so many lessons to be learned from the conversations between Mitch and Morrie.  There are so many quotes that I could dive into from the second half of my reading. The first quote was from Morrie, where he said "people are only mean when they are threatened".  In school, there are so many people who try their hardest to get your goat.  I have not experienced bullying or anything of the sort for a while, but I know that many people go through it on a daily basis.  It is important to remember that sometimes, the ones most mean to you are the most jealous of you. This quote reminds people to remain confident in ourselves, even when others try to destroy that confidence that we all try extremely hard to build up.

The next quote that I examined was about family, an important staple of my life and my religion.  It states "this is part of what a family is about, not just love, but letting others know there’s someone who is watching out for them. It’s what I missed so much when my mother died—what I call your ‘spiritual security’—knowing that your family will be there watching out for you. Nothing else will give you that. Not money. Not fame."  .  Although most people do not have strong relationships with their family, I have been close to my family.  I always feel that my family has been behind me, encouraging me to excel in life.  Even when my parents got divorced, both sides kept close to me and I never felt alienated.  The reason that Albom included this in his memoir was that he wanted to stress the importance of family.  While Morrie realized that he was dying, the people who want to be close to him would be his family.  Family and confidence in yourself are the most important things in life, brought to my attention when reading this book,

TOW #23 "The Effects of Cannabis on Bipolar Disorder" Article Post

In my interest in mental disorders has lead me to read many articles on diverse psychiatric disorders.  In one article that came out on the 13th talked about the relation between bipolar disorder and cannabis in London.  A study done by the Lancaster University said that, although only 2% of Britain's population has bipolar disorder, 60% used cannabis.  And most people assume that most use cannabis to deal with the depressive state.  This study, which asked bipolar patients to log their feelings and their drug use, showed that most people use cannabis when they are in a good mood, not a bad mood.  But, because of the drug use, it causes the manic and depressive stages to become worse. The study showed that people use cannabis to self-medicate, even though their medicine is actually making them worse. 

This article gives an implicit warning to everyone suffering from bipolar disorder.  Even though the cannabis might make you feel better short term, the worsening of your symptoms only make you more dependent on the drugs.  Even though the studies next course is to see the long term of the cannabis on this emotional disorder, the current study suggests that drug use may seem like a way to handle a hard-to-control situation, but it actually makes it worse.  This implicit argument, much like the one featured in our latest multiple choice reading, was subtle and probably going to be on the AP test.  This was good practice for May.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150313130855.htm

TOW #22 "The Protein Merlin" Article Post

One central idea of biology, which I learned especially once I got into AP Biology, is cell communication.  The idea that cells are able to not only able to regulate their own lives, but other cells around them, are fascinating to me.  I mean, it's what allows multicellular organisms, from tomatoes to scorpions to our own species, to evolve.  It also helps cells differentiate, causing the creation of complex organ systems, such as the digestive, circulatory, and immune systems.  One such system that this article concerns is the skin layers that hold our insides inside and keep the outside outside.  When this extremely important line of defense is breeched because of a puncture, the skin must heal and close the gap to not allow pathogens in to our fragile internal environment.  In this article, a protein named after the famous medieval magician, merlin, was discussed in the healing of wounds.  Apparently, the protein helps the "herd instinct" of cells to move to form the seal to heal the wound.  The protein also stops cancer cells from spreading throughout the body.

This find helps us take a step closer to knowing how our bodies work.  But, it also takes a step closer to understanding cancer and it's spread through out the body.  For some reason, this protein helps stop the spread of cancer cells.  By perfecting the knowledge of this protein, scientists might be able to isolate cancer in the body and stop cancer from metastasizing, which is often what causes death in cancer patients.  This really shows how a simple discovery can cause major discoveries down the road in biology.  

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-protein-merlin-cell-movement-effective.html

TOW Post #21 "Gillette Saftey Razor" Visual Post

As we learn about the Toulmin argument, I annoyingly start to see it everyrwhere I look, especially in advertisements.  To practice the Toulmin method, I researched some advertisements when I came across this older gillette poster, which contained both explicit and implicit parts of the Toulmin method.  The main explicit claim of the poster is "you should buy a saftey razor."  The explicit grounds is that "the saftey razor will not injure a grown man."  The warrant, which is implicit in this instance, states "you should buy a product that that does not injure you", with the backing being "even a baby can use this product without injuring themselves."  Although there do not appear to be any qualifiers or reservations, some can by made up.  A possible qualifier would by "the razor does not always injure you".  A possible reservation could be "unless you are satisfied with your currect razor. 

This advertisement does a very good job of using the Toulmin method to prove their claim.  the connections between claim, grounds, warrant, and backing all flow together well.  It is this ability to connect these points that makes this advertisement a good one.  It also makes the logical connection using the baby picture.  By saying that something is so easy that even a baby could do it is the ultimate explanation of ease.  The effective use of the Toulmin method and the underlying logical argument makes me glad to own and use gillette saftey razors myself.