slovobooks. Comment and I'll give you a letter, and you get to write a list of ten things too.- 1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
This it was that persuaded me into SF Fandom, which seems to be one of my primary social circles. The radio series was excellent, the books were reasonable, the TV series was good, the film wasn't that bad. And Slartibartfast, in each of his various media incarnations, is a fine character.
2. Hobnobs
One of only two identifiable foodstuffs which feature in my userpics (go and look). Hobnobs are a circular, oaty sort of biscuit, and they're really very good. Much nicer than other, lesser, varieties of biscuit. They're available unadorned (good for dunking), or topped with plain or milk chocolate. The particular hobnobs featured on the userpic are plain chocolate hobnobs.
3. Haggis
This is the other one. Haggis is a fine gourmet dish from Scotland, perfect for meals at either end of the day. Real Haggis (note the capitalisation) is quite rare now, due to overhunting, despite the huge physical demands placed upon the hunter due to the arduous nature of the hunt, but various kinds of artificial haggis (again, note the capitalisation) are available. Artificial haggis is made when the butcher takes all the bits of animal that he can't sell separately, throws them together with handfuls of barley and spices, and scoops the result into a bag. It's a perfectly good foodstuff, but it's no substitute for the real thing.
4. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein wrote SF, and was one of the main authors I was reading over my school years. A suitable transitional author between the undemanding and demanding stuff.
5. Hofstadter
A mathematician and philosopher, and the author of "Gödel, Escher, Bach", a book which weaves together themes from his own fields and also computer science, music, molecular biology and much besides, in an effort to tease out the meanings of Gödel's theories on the consistency and completeness of formal mathematical systems. Some have found it inaccessible: I got on with it famously, and have re-read it often. I can also recommend "Metamagical Themas" by the same author.
6. Haemangeoma
Strawberry birthmarks, port wine stains and the like are examples of haemangeomas -- benign tumours of the blood vessels. The ones you can see on the surface are "capillary haemangeomas", but mine is a "cavernous haemangeoma", and lives below the surface and stops me moving the fingers on my right hand properly when it's decided to swell up.
7. Humour
slovobooks included Stephen Fry in his list (for "S"). In "The Ode Less Travelled", Fry writes as follows: "There is surely no word in the language which causes the heart to sink like a stone so much as 'humorous'. Wit is one thing, bawdy another, but humorousness... Humorousness is to wit what a suburban lawn is to either Sissinghurst or a rubbish-heap, what an executive saloon is to an Aston Martin or a cheerful old banger".I'm very much afraid that I'm guilty of humorousness.
8. Henry
Some of you will have met
ursinehenry. For those who have, no explanation will be required. For those who haven't, none would suffice.9. H**s*w*rk
Yes, I don't like h**s*w*rk much. In fact, I avoid it for as long as possible.
Earlier this evening, the Stepson came into the living room from the kitchen and told me that I wasn't allowed to wash up wine glasses any more. "It's not like doing plates," he explained patiently, "you have to be able to see through them afterwards."
10. Hugs
Yes, these are a good thing.
In other news, those who were waiting for
the_major to finish her list, she's now done so -- go and look. Her letter was "D".Comment spam 2010-07-04 08:39 from
sdfqghuqvjvo.Anonymous comment spam 2011-04-03 03:07 from 109.251.102.181
