This week we have a fascinating talk, which is also the final talk of the term... but if you'd like to give a talk of your own in the Spring, then talk submissions are now open! Read on for details.

We'll finish the week with another Virtual Games and Cake. There's also a recipe for a gorgeous Syrup Pudding Mug Cake included below!

Talk submissions for the Spring term are now open!

Just like this term, we'll have speakers pre-record their talk, which members will then watch together, followed by an interactive Q&A.

Talks are half an hour, followed by fifteen minutes of questions. They will take place on Thursdays of every week between 7:15 and 8:15. You don't have to have the talk written already - give us a general idea of what you'd like to talk about, and an abstract.

If you'd like to submit a talk, then please fill in this form! Submissions will close on the 1st of January.

Talk - "Personal Identity and Fission Cases" by Rach Arnold - 19:15, Thu 26/11

We'll post a YouTube Premiere link in Slack (and on our calendar) shortly before the talk is scheduled to begin. Once the talk livestream has finished, join us in Discord for questions with the speaker!

In this talk, I will be exploring an issue regarding psychological continuity and the persistence question (i.e. how do persons persist through time). I will be discussing why fission cases pose a problem for psychological continuity theories, as it presents itself as a logical contradiction. In order to reconcile this issue, I will be drawing upon the work of Derek Parfit and David Lewis to see if there is any plausible way to defend psychological continuity account of personal identity against the issues presented with fission cases.

Virtual Games & Cake - 19:00, Fri 27/11 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

Join us in adapting our age-old Boardgames and Cake to a virtual setting in our Discord server, where we check in with each other and play games including Jackbox and Uno!

Unfortunately, we can’t bring and share cake, but we can make our own and post them on Slack.

Treat yourself to a Syrup Pudding Mug Cake!

This mug cake attempts to emulate the soft texture and syrupy rich taste of steamed syrup sponge puddings, without the 50 minute cooking time.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp plain flour
• 4 tbsp golden syrup + extra for top
• 2 tbsp brown sugar (preferably but caster will do)
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp milk (or milk substitute)
• 2 tbsp butter (neutral oil such as sunflower will do but the texture will be wrong)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder (not to be confused with baking soda)
• 1 lid (about 1/4-1/2 of a tsp) vanilla extract

Method

1. Start by combining the wet ingredients:

   1. Put the butter in the mug, then the mug in the microwave on medium for about 15-30 seconds (careful as it will melt very quickly). You can ignore this step if using oil instead of butter.
   2. Stir in all 4 tbsp of the golden syrup to the melted butter. Then stir in the milk and vanilla extract.

2. Now add the dry ingredients:

   1. Start by stirring in the sugar.
   2. Next add the flour and baking powder a bit at a time stirring as you go (careful not to spill). The mixture will be much more wet than a normal mug cake mixture due to the golden syrup.

3. Finally we need to cook it (a bit more complex than a normal mug cake):

   1. Drizzle a bit extra golden syrup over the top.
   2. Take some cling-film and cover the top of the mug, making sure to leave extra space for the steam and that the sides are sealed properly.
   3. Make two or three small cuts in the cling-film with scissors or a knife to allow excess steam to escape.
   4. Normally we would cook a mug cake for quite a short time but this as the mixture is particularly wet we need to cook it for longer. Cooking time will depend on microwave but it should be cooked for at least 2 minutes, I find 3-4 minutes works well with mine.
   5. Be careful of the steam when taking the cling-film off after cooking. Then serve with extra golden syrup drizzled generously over the top.

Make sure you're in HackSoc's Slack workspace! We have over 200 members, and it's free to join the conversation, so sign up now!

If you're joining us for any of our virtual events, make sure you're also in our Discord server.

Have a great week,

Aaron 🤖