1000 mark

Now that chemistry is over and done with (for now), I can focus on writing without feeling guilty, cos chem is like 20% and my worst subject this semester. So I'm trying to get on that writing high. I just pretty much wrote 500+ words within 15+ mins when it took me so long to get the intro out yesterday. I'm getting there :) So current word count including fragmented ideas scattered in a rough framework: approx. 1000. Cool.

I can do it. (OK gonna keep telling myself that.)

Hope it turns out alright. I mean like, logical and persuasive. Sigh. One problem is that some of the counterpoints I plan to use may pre-date the opposing arguments... So I don't know if they are still valid. I'll just use those until i can find more recent ones (if any).

On a side note, I STRONGLY feel that people printing TONS of notes should do it in parts OR outside regular school hours. I saw 80MB of notes being released once. Today, I saw 200+MB of notes. Very inconsiderate people.

So tired today. I read that many S'poreans suffer from sleep apnea, a condition where the air passages are somewhat blocked during sleep so we get less oxygen cause we don't breathe properly for those 6 hours we sleep, so we get tired during the day and may doze off easily.

On Writing the SUJA

I've been working my way through journal articles. Sometimes I don't quite know what the conclusions are saying. Looks like this draft will be a very rough one. I'm going to leave a lot of space for adding things in to support my arguments as I read more. Thing is, there isn't even an all-inclusive definition of sexuality. If the research experiments are based on different definitions, I don't know if they can still be comparable.

OK back to writing.

And studying for mid-terms.

Introduction Writing Task Draft

Here is the draft for peer-reviewing:

Organic food is commonly regarded as a healthier alternative to conventionally grown food. The true benefit or detriment to humans and the environment, however, is debatable. Much less pesticide is used on organic farms, which is better for consumers' health. Organic matter is also regularly added to the soil, enriching it such that less irrigation is required. Such rich soil erodes less than that on conventional farms, maintaining productivity. Furthermore, the reduced use of synthetic chemicals means that rare plants and animals are not harmed, preserving biodiversity. However, research has shown that animal manure fertilisers may contaminate food and propagate dangerous new strains of bacteria. Fungi, some of which are carcinogenic, grow more easily in organic soil. Their toxins may cause sickness in consumers. Nevertheless, the wide range of benefits presented by organic production should not be forsaken because of some problems which can be overcome.

Rgds,

Sarah & Sarah

Deciding on a topic, and so on.

I've always been taken with the debate between determinism and free will. So many fields of study called upon to answer that one question: Do we have free will? So much hard scientific evidence for brain-mind monism, and only philosophical, deus ex machina type arguments from the other camp. Yet who would be comfortable to say he has no 'conscious' mind. That free will is an illusion.

But I can't do this topic. It's no longer just scientific. It's toooo much for a 3000 word, few week assignment.

So I tried to tweak the focus to something more grounded in science. Can we use genetics to predict a person's future actions? This may or may not be controversial. I'm not sure if it has been resolved. Most models present a deterministic stance, but stochastic causality suggests that when you get right down to it, the neurological interactions in our brains are intrinsically indeterminate. OK, sounds like a lot of physics and math to me. Interesting, but I may not be able to understand a lot of the content, and there may not be enough content. Plus, I believe that as I write, I will somehow direct my writing to the question of free will, and the social impacts of genetic prediction. And thus fail my SUJA.

SO, at long last, I have decided to write about the controversial homosexual gene; Is homosexuality biological or is it a psycho-social effect? Am kind of looking forward to writing this. But there's always the initial mental block, followed by the high, which gets higher nearer the deadline.

But for now, have a wonderful long Hari Raya weekend!

Sarah