Another great post from Hook and Eye

It begins: “Well, the shit has hit the fan, gender-wise, at Waterloo. Again. Please go read the news coverage to know what I’m talking about, and then come back. Let me just say there are bikinis, and Formula One racecars, a dean of engineering, and some corporate sponsors.” You go read the rest here.

The boobie beanie for babies

Didn’t quite know how to categorise this post, but since it’s my 40th for this blog, I wanted it to be something positive. I thought this fitted :D

Behold! the boobie beanie for babies. Gotta love the alliteration, if not the product itself. I think it’s funny. Find it here.

(Via @skepticscalpel)

Woman who attempted suicide while pregnant is accused of murder

A pregnant woman who attempted suicide by taking rat poison and survived the attempt, gave birth to a baby girl a week later. The rat poison had affected the fetus and the girl died of seizures 4 days after she was born. The mother, who was obviously not in the best mental state to start with, suffered another breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward. After that she tried to pick up her life again, but got arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide 3 months after she gave birth. She now faces life imprisonment.

I am speechless. Here‘s the article.

(via @DavidWaldock)

CFP: BPPA Conference and Careers Day

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE BRITISH POSTGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY ASSOCIATION & THE INAUGURAL BPPA CAREERS DAY

22 – 25 September 2011
The University of Reading

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Derek Parfit (Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford & regular Visiting Professor to the Departments of Philosophy of Harvard, Rutgers and New York University)
Crispin Wright (New York University & The Northern Institute of Philosophy, University of Aberdeen)
Emma Borg (University of Reading)
Jonathan Dancy (University of Reading & University of Texas at Austin)

CAREERS DAY SPEAKERS
David Archard (University of Lancaster)
Helen Beebee (University of Birmingham)
Thom Brooks (University of Newcastle)
James Garvey (Editor, The Philosophers’ Magazine)
Brad Hooker (University of Reading)
Baroness Onora O’Neill (University of Cambridge & House of Lords)
Jonathan Rée (Royal College of Art)
Clare Saunders (Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies)

Plus more TBC.

THE POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE
Now in its fifteenth successive year, the annual conference of the British Postgraduate Philosophy Association (BPPA) is the largest, most prestigious and longest running graduate philosophy conference in the United Kingdom. This year’s conference is to be held at the University of Reading from 22-25 September. Proceedings will be published in a Special Issue of Philosophical Writings. Bursaries will be available for all speakers and respondents.

THE INAUGURAL BPPA CAREERS DAY
This year’s conference features the inaugural BPPA Careers Day: a full day of talks and symposia given by leading academics on topics related to careers in philosophy. The BPPA has decided to run the Careers Day because of the increasing challenges faced by early career researchers in philosophy at the present time.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We welcome papers in all areas and traditions of philosophy, from graduate students all over the world. Authors of papers who make it to the final stage of reviewing but are not accepted will be given the opportunity to respond to accepted papers at the conference; responses will also be published in the proceedings. Decisions on whether papers have been accepted will be made by mid-July.

– Word limit: 3,000 words (including footnotes, but excluding Bibliography).
– Papers should be prepared for anonymous review.
– Submission deadline: 1st June.
– Please submit papers as Microsoft Word documents by email to bppa2011 AT pgr.reading.ac.uk.
– Please put ‘Conference Paper Submission’ as the subject of your email.
– Please include in a separate document a cover sheet containing your name, departmental affiliation, email address, contact telephone number and the title of your paper.

For all enquiries please email the Conference Committee Secretary, Noa Leibowitz, on bppa2011 AT pgr.reading.ac.uk.

Looks like a fantastic event! (Although one of our readers did happen to notice something slightly ironic: the careers day is a new addition, presumable motivated in part by the difficulties philosophers have finding jobs. And nearly all of keynote speakers have seem to have *more* than their share of jobs!)