All librarians and museum curators need to be trained in writing these sorts of letters...

When I was working in the comic store, we had an obsessive comic fan who was a shut-in who called us regularly. He was sweet, but we invented 'the bye-bye process' to politely deal with him on the phone.

One of my favourite films :)

The Wicker Man: The disturbing cult British classic that can't be defined

Let me just say the remake was a travesty as well.

Advice

I was on X earlier (I am so sick of the 'formerly known as Twitter' thing--either call it X, or Twitter, or something else, but there's no need to do that, as we all know by now if we're on the Internet). I've really debated just closing my account because in my honest opinion, Elon Musk is at the very least an odious egotist, and I won't get into what his worst epiphets might be. I have accounts on Threads and Blue Sky, but I haven't really established them well yet. But I have a really simple handle (@eilir) and I'd like to keep it on the chance he might stop ruining it and sell the platform.

So what would you do/what have you done?

If this works it would be revolutionary, and humane...

3D-printed chip showing body’s reaction to drugs could end need for animal tests

She added: “This device shows really strong potential to reduce the large number of animals that are used worldwide for testing drugs and other compounds, particularly in the early stages, where only 2% of compounds progress through the discovery pipeline.”

Tavares said there were other benefits beyond simply eliminating the need for using animals in early drug development.

“This non-animal approach could significantly reduce cost of drug discovery, accelerate translation of drugs into the clinic, and improve our understanding of systemic effects of human diseases, by using models that are more representative to human biology than animal models.”

What???

The Netherlands Spied on Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Considering Them a Danger to Democracy

Christmas Eve

Today's been about memories. I don't actually celebrate Christmas, although I put a lot of gusto into it at work, as I know the patients and others like the silly hats, etc. The spirit of Christmas, after all, transcends religions. But as a Pagan, I celebrate Yule, which is the Winter Solstice. But I don't have friends anymore who are Pagan, and I'm not in a position to really celebrate it to the fullest. I do celebrate Hanukkah with my roommate, but it was very low-key (just the candles) this year. This whole holiday season has been difficult. So I'm in the house, the only one awake (even in the afternoon), and, having grown up Southern Baptist, I think of Christmases past with my family. I had a very complex dynamic with my parents, no siblings to affect it, and no close family left in Kentucky (with apologies to my mom's cousins). I grew up very isolated, and Christmas was the one time we were a family. So here I am feeling a little lonely. Lots of emotions have been flooding me, as the holiday season does for so many. There are some good and bad memories. Truth is, it's all fuzzy anyway. But the emotions are there, and they're particularly troublesome today. But it'll pass. The hope of light is there, after, all, and I have good friends. I'm hoping the new year will be a good one.