27 years ago, this guy promised me a life full of adventure. I’d say he’s delivered. Here’s to our next chapter of becoming empty nesters and discovering what’s next—while still feeling the magic that brought us together all those years ago. Happy anniversary, Barack. pic.twitter.com/ZKhvQGEo0B
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 3, 2019
I have already scheduled posts later today on both Warren *and* Harris… which no doubt means at least one if not two impending BREAKING NEWS dumps. Or at the very least, some inadvertent Blogmaster bigfooting. You’re welcome, and remember I earn exactly as much for producing this stuff as you paid for reading it.
By a 52-21 margin, Americans think asking Ukraine to investigate Biden is an abuse of power, per USAToday poll.
The gap among independents is huge: 45%-16%.
It's even close among Republicans: 30%-40%.
Doubling down like this is … unbelievably risky. https://t.co/PDVrJrMxSB
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) October 3, 2019
yeah, we saw https://t.co/eJlX0RmSF4
— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) October 3, 2019
This is your hourly reminder that just because Trump says things that are impeachable in front of cameras does not stop them from being, you know, impeachable. https://t.co/TZVnjhzUBB
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 3, 2019
Imagine Nixon personally running into the Watergate hotel to jiggle the handle on DNC headquarters at the height of the impeachment inquiry. https://t.co/zEZVKhEbm3
— Rudy Ghouliani's Spookpoena (@agraybee) October 3, 2019
This is absolutely a function of how fully he believes (with ample evidence!) that the GOP and conservative media will not break ranks with him. It’s the culmination of four years of loyalty tests. https://t.co/NWYP6T6ocT
— Nicole Hemmer (@pastpunditry) October 3, 2019
when all the separate plotlines come together for the season finale https://t.co/PqVNHUx5tS
— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) October 4, 2019
Best cartoon ever for Trump/Impeachmenthttps://t.co/taFLb9qTqn
— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) October 3, 2019
Major Major Major Major
Morning, balloon-juice! I’m gonna go see the aqueducts in Segovia today!
worn
It’s all kinds of unfuckingbelievable, really. Why can’t he just stroke out and spare us the tawdry drama?
Bruce K
Okay, this mishegoss is officially developing faster than I can keep up. How many times has the story evolved between 5pm and midnight Eastern time? (That’s when I sleep, because I’m seven time zones ahead, God help me.)
Aleta
Mary G
Lord I miss being bored by politics. Every day is two or three Infrastructure Weeks, and it’s just going to get crazier and crazier.
Duane
Tell Cole you’re not getting your SoroBucks. The rest of us are. This calls for ALLCAPS!
Major Major Major Major
@Bruce K: one of the things I’ve usually liked about Europe is having no american political news all day, but now it’s just a tsunami from mid-afternoon until bedtime which is fucking exhausting.
JPL
@Aleta: Nothing matters.
mrmoshpotato
Nodding off with this tweet and the happy photo. Happy 27th anniversary to the Obamas, and many, many more.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
hells littlest angel
@Aleta: Great. Now Trump will just shoot Biden, plant a gun on him, and claim he was resisting arrest.
JPL
@hells littlest angel: yup
WayneL140
Anne, there is no price we could pay for what you deliver every day. Here’s one person who depends on your reporting. You are doing a national service, and for all of us, I thank you.
Don Lively
Bryan/College Station, TX
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: morning!
Brachiator
Non political news. Even though I am not a sports fan, I am sorry to see the latest severe downsizing of Sports Illustrated (from NPR and elsewhere)
Meanwhile, HP is announcing the layoff of about 9,000 employees, and Bed Bath and Beyond is closing 60 stores. Along with other business cutbacks, this will test the strength of the economy and employment figures.
bystander
@hells littlest angel:
On Fifth Avenue.
Anne Laurie
@rikyrah: Off topic — sent you an email, at the addy connected to your nym. No hurry!
Anne Laurie
@Major Major Major Major:
Why I’m happy I can run third watch, take some of the pressure off the other front pagers.
Also why I always try to put at least some little tidbit of happy news & hope in the Early Morning OT, before I go off to bed myself!
Amir Khalid
@Aleta:
I for one did not need the mental image of Trump in a Judge Dredd suit.
gene108
A lesson that I’m not a fit 25 year old anymore.
Last Wednesday, I went home from work with a slight fever. What I brought for lunch didn’t agree with me, and I had to rush to the bathroom shortly after eating it. I thought it might be food poisoning. Something which, when I was younger, before my kidney transplant last October, and the resultant compromised immune system from anti-rejection medication, I could have probably shaken off with some Tylenol, and nights sleep, and be back at work the next day, no worse for wear.
Sleeping Wednesday night was a mess. I went from cold sweats to shivering, but somewhere in my lizard brain, still thinking I’m 25, I went to work the next day. I came home early from work, because I wasn’t feeling well. I checked my temperature and it was 103,4 F. Texted my mom. She came over. She pushed me to message my post-transplant nephrologist. The nurse, who goes through the messages called back and said go to the ER.
Turns out, the persistent UTI, which had been discovered just prior to transplant, and never quite eradicated with a couple of rounds of anti-biotics, had infected my transplanted kidney. It was a massive infection, per the doctors and nurses.
I was in the hospital for 5 days, and was released Wednesday.
I so badly wanted to go back go back to being fit and 25 that I could’ve died, if my mom didn’t think to push me to contact my doctor.
Really, really, really need to come to grips with my current reality, as much as wished after the the transplant everything would go back to where I was physically 20 years ago.
germy
I’m trying to imagine a statement like this ever coming from our current FLOTUS, and it’s simply impossible.
Brachiator
Unless I missed mention of it, I didn’t see much about Obama’s visit to Denmark a few weeks ago. It certainly seemed to be less controversial than Trump’s remarks about buying Greenland. Obama was speaking at a university there.
Warm welcome and no drama.
https://www.sdu.dk/en/nyheder/aktuelt_fra_sdu/obama_besoeg
Bruce K
I looked up the Athens newspapers to see if I could get a bit of a different perspective on what the hell’s going on back home, and saw a couple of reports that apparently Pompeo’s going to be in town this weekend to discuss security issues.
Oddly enough, no mention that Pompeo’s neck-deep in an impeachment-grade scandal that makes Watergate look like a third-rate burglary.
I wonder what are the odds that Pompeo’s going to try to pressure the Greek government to start digging for dirt on Hunter Biden, too?
JPL
@Brachiator: Those were the good old days.
trnc
@bystander:
Wait, this is getting a little complicated. DT doesn’t need to plant the gun after he shoots someone on 5th Ave, right? Or anywhere, as long as Bill Barr is around.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@gene108:
That could’ve possibly turned septic, unless it did? Glad you went to the hospital
trnc
@Brachiator: What? No tan suit? No unhinged asides every 30 seconds about everyone out to get him? No rage tweets after?
That isn’t presidential, at least not by today’s standard.
JPL
@trnc: Since he is president, he was only protecting citizens from Joe.
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
Barbara
Gene: Please take care of yourself! Oh to be fit and 25 again! The refrain of many of us.
Jeffro
Happy Friday peeps. We are hearing coyotes off in the distance this finally-cooler morning.
Brachiator
@gene108:
Sorry to read about your health issues. You may not be a fit 25 anymore, but hopefully you will soon achieve a comfortable level of being.
Jinchi
@bystander:
In front of a CNN news crew.
debbie
@gene108:
Glad you are better, but yeah, aging sucks in every way possible.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s how I feel. When I read the texts that were released over night, at first I thought that our long nightmare is finally over, then I realized nothing matters to repubs. They are afraid of the twittler
Patricia Kayden
@gene108: Wow. That’s scary. Glad that you’re out of the hospital and back on your feet. I know I’m not 25 years old when I can’t keep up with my dogs on walks. Oh well.
So Trump and his Republican sycophants are clearly stating that Trump is above the law and no one can hold him accountable for his misconduct? Good to know.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I viewed yesterday as “YOU’RE GODDAMNED RIGHT I ORDERED THE CODE RED” moment.
Except in this movie, Colonel Jessie is excused to go back to his base by the judge in the guise of the Senate GOP.
OzarkHillbilly
@gene108: @debbie:
Still beats the alternative.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: holy cow. Glad you’re okay! Always listen to your mom!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Aleta:
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Aleta: The obvious followup question in my head is always “would it have been OK for Obama?”
These people are totally unable to conceive of the concept of “general principles”. Only the immediate situation and only as it applies to them.
SFAW
@gene108:
Scary, but glad you’re OK and here to tell us about it.
Amir Khalid
@gene108:
Take care of yourself, dude. You’ll have been ordered to get as much rest as you can before getting back to work, and you should do that.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Perhaps. I speak as someone who spends every evening icing down her back. Wish I’d known at 25 what I know now.
rikyrah
Somehow, I forgot my train pass, which means that I have to buy two tickets today.
Booo???
rikyrah
@gene108:
You take care of yourself ??
SFAW
Almost every time I read about the bullshit from the Traitor-in-Chief, or Barr, or Pompeo, or Moscow Mitch the Traitor Turtle, or Ron Fucking Johnson, or Wilbur Ross, or Rudy Giuiliani, or any one of a hundred others like them, I hope that I’ll live to see a Truth and Retribution Commission, and that it levies appropriate and sufficient penalties.
Which leads me to the inevitable thought that there will be someone who will say “Reconciliation, not Retribution!” To whom I will pre-emptively say “Fuck that shit! If they don’t get punished severely enough, they’ll do it again.”
No, the caffeine has not kicked in yet. What’s it to ya, mac?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jinchi:
“Very troubling”, said Susan Collins, the furrows in her brow deep and wide as the Grand Canyon.
Chuck Todd reports – “This is a dark crisis in American history. There has been such a massive pivot to authoritarian violence that we in the media have been suddenly caught off guard.
Chris Cillizza – “Can democratic leaders overcome their own divisions and rise to protect Americans, or will they leave it to Republicans?”
SFAW
@debbie:
It’s not the aging that suck — it’s the “getting decrepit” that sucks.
delk
Today my husband and I celebrate our 20th anniversary. We were just hoping to get past Y2K. ?
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
I agree. These people need to be taught that the law applies to them too, and that it has teeth.
SFAW
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
The accuracy of your “made up” quotes is pretty depressing.
“Made up” because I assume they’re Le Comte-generated. But that doesn’t mean those morons wouldn’t say/do exactly the same things.
WereBear
Words of truth. Fortunately, I prowl PubMed and find useful ideas.
Also, people, kittens keep you young and I just picked up two. Go and do likewise!
Amir Khalid
@delk:
Congratulations to both of you. May you get to celebrate many more anniversaries together.
Wilson Heath
The request for Chinese assistance keeps bringing my thoughts to this: if Xi or any part of his government announced that Orangemandias was the biggest criminal fraudster to ever do business in China, he would start every stump speech bragging about it.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Frankly, I’m hoping that there is a Vengeful God (that a lot of them seem to believe in, but Whom they think He/She is only going to be Vengeful toward Other People) that will smite all those bastards like no one has ever been smote before. AFTER the T & R Commission gets done with them.
gene108
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Didn’t turn septic. Don’t think I’d be here, otherwise. Got the hospital in time, I guess. They dripped, dripped, dripped a fuckton of strong anti-biotics into me via an IV right off the bat. Said my WBC was 25.8, when I came in, which seems to be alarmingly high.
Wilson Heath
@SFAW:
Right. I blame Gerry Ford. The criminals skitter from maladministration to maladministration like roaches. The ICC could lighten our caseload for some things, but we need to prosecute (hopefully) most of it ourselves.
SFAW
@WereBear:
From a theoretical perspective, I agree.
But: our two “kittens” are about 10 years old, and our old girl is 15, and I have a feeling none of them would be particularly thrilled with new kittens.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: The alternative is an option available to everyone, at any time. The day may well come when the pain I live with every waking and every sleeping moment gets to a point where I say, “Fuck it.”
But not yet.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: It’s a package deal.
SFAW
@Wilson Heath:
My sense is that Ford was fundamentally a decent human being, which helped guide his decision. At the time, it almost seemed to make sense. [I say this as a person who abso-fucking-lutely hated Nixon.] I would hope that if Ford (or Rocky) had the foresight to realize what his inaction would release, 25 or 30 years down the road, he might have decided otherwise.
And if wishes were horses …
SFAW
@delk:
Happy Anniversary! And many more!
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not necessarily. And if you win Powerball, it improves your odds. Of course, that may end up being what it’ll take.
Wilson Heath
@SFAW:
Character witnesses for accessories after the fact come in at the sentencing phase, not during the trial.
satby
@gene108: Glad you’re better! And good for your wife insisting you call the doctor.
Even without a kidney transplant, all of us have to come to grips with not being a 25 year old able to abuse our bodies with relative impunity. It’s the main task of growing older. Accepting that leads to taking better care of yourself which leads to better quality of life for the remaining portion, which also (for those who embrace it) leads to not wasting the time in “someday I’ll”… Someday is now.
SFAW
Mindless rant:
I don’t know if it’s because I’m a Luddite (still running XP, which means old versions of Chrome and Firefox), but I get really fucking tired of the pages constantly refreshing because a sidebar ad decides it needs to post or re-post. The jumping around, especially when I’m cast my pearls of wisdom before y’all, drives me shithouse.
Yes, I realize updating/upgrading would probably fix that, and there are probably other techniques I can also use. Fuck that — just let me be a bitter, borderline-nuts old man, OK?
scribbler
@WereBear: Will you be doing another post where we can ask for help with cat/kitten issues? My daughter is having an issue with her 13 year old cat and I’d love to get some of your trustworthy advice about it.
satby
@delk: Happy Anniversary delk!
gene108
@rikyrah:
@Amir Khalid:
@SFAW:
Thanks for the well wishes.
The big realization is anytime, I feel a bit sick, I need to go see a doctor.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SFAW:
Can’t you run an ad blocker even with Windows XP?
Fair Economist
@Major Major Major Major: Lucky. I love Spain.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW:
Nobody lives forever.
Ladyraxterinok
OT!!!
Anyone know anything about this?? It sounds pretty bad!!
Trump admin filed suit (now at SCOTUS) to eliminate key provision of Civil Rights Act of 1866—from what I understand, banks don’t want to be sued if teller calls cops because black person tries to cash a check. Provision presently in effect says bank can’t call cops because a black person tries to do something simple like this.
There was a post at democraticunderground about this case.
JPL
@gene108: Good advice and let’s hope it’s a long time before you have to use it.
gene108
@satby:
It was my mom.
But thanks for thinking a woman would want to deal with me. (blushing)
Another Scott
@gene108: Zooks! I’m glad you’re out of the hospital and on the mend.
Yeah, it can be deadly to refuse to listen to your body. There are too many people who didn’t survive that “oh it’s nothing, I’ll get over it on my own in a couple of days” stuff.
Take care!
Cheers,
Scott.
SFAW
@Steeplejack (phone):
A what?
No, I know what it is. Don’t use them, I expect that’s for a couple of reasons:
1) I have the perhaps-misguided/incorrect idea that they can (indirectly) hurt Cole’s revenue stream (among others)
2) I’m a fucking Luddite. [“Smartphone”? What’s that? I’ve heard of ’em. And this “Windows” thing will never go anywhere.]
SFAW
@Another Scott:
Jim Henson comes to mind
RAVEN
@satby: You mean I shouldn’t have fought that big ass yellowfin???
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Old man yelling at clou… I mean computer. Not a day goes by without me screaming at some tech “improvement”. What used to be just a burned out bulb in a taillight, is today a “circuit board” that cost me $150 to replace on Wednesday. You know, the circuit board that tells your dashboard to tell you you have a bad bulb in your taillight but can’t tell you shit when it fries itself so that your mechanic can tell you, “$150 please.”???
Thanx a heap, guys.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ladyraxterinok: Story in WaPo, Philadelphia Inquirer.
Color of Change has alert.
Comcast NBC Universal brought case to SCOTUS
Steeplejack
@SFAW:
You could run an ad blocker and send Cole some money via PayPal or, since you’re a Luddite, a paper check filled out in lovely copperplate script. Or, you know, feel free to continue cursing the darkness. Sorry I interfered.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@gene108: I’m glad this came out ok, but what a pain. Thank god for moms.
SFAW
@Steeplejack:
Q: How many SFAWs does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Why don’t they make bulbs that change themselves? This fucking sucks.
Q: How many OzarkHillbillys does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Ya know, it used to be I could just get a step-stool or ladder and do it myself, but NOW ….
Q: How many Steeplejacks does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: You’re doing it wrong
Q: How many Coles does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: What the F did Thurston do NOW? And Fuck Tom Brady and the Patriots
and so on
ETA: And I actually do send Cole money, although probably not enough. But there’s a difference – at least, in my tiny mind there is — between doing something like that, and fucking with someone’s revenue stream. Not saying it makes sense, just how I view it.
Patricia Kayden
@Ladyraxterinok: I’m not quite understanding your comment but perhaps a Front Pager can talk about this along with other cases before SCOTUS. I’d really like to hear about the case dealing with anti-LGBT discrimination.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Wilson Heath: I try to imagine, say, Elizabeth Warren publicly asking China to investigate Ivanka Trump and then, a minute later, promising that if she’s elected, she’ll end all the tariffs. So first, she wouldn’t do that. But would Trump think that was ok?
The problem with what we see now is that it’s like the inmates have taken over the asylum and we all live in their world. How do you carry on an argument or even a simple conversation in those circumstances?
Ladyraxterinok
@WayneL140: You at TX&AM? When I was treshman at Rice in 57, we beat A&M 7 to 6 and knocked it out of 1st place rank. Bear Bryant was coach at time I think. Not being from TX, I didn’t understand the strength of rivalry between A&M and other TX schools and what a big deal our win was.
Ladyraxterinok
@gene108: So glad your mom there to push you to call your doctor! Best wishes!
Ohio Mom
@gene108: If it’s any consolation, all of us are only fit 25 year olds for a measly year.
Glad to hear you are recovering and please put that nurse on speed dial.
sdhays
@SFAW: I don’t think the pardon of Nixon is the fundamental problem. The fundamental problem is the acceptance that an blanket, preemptive pardon is a thing. I mean, WTF? Where did that idea come from? The Constitution doesn’t say that’s possible. And it’s a horrible idea. The President can say any crimes, known or unknown, for a period of time don’t need to be investigated because they are now legal? Fuck that.
I don’t care that Nixon didn’t have to spend his golden years in prison, but he should have had to submit to being indicted and tried. And I don’t think that a Constitutional amendment should be necessary to clarify what a pardon means, but IANAL and clearly wrong.
NotMax
@SFAW
(shudder) As support and security fixes for XP ended over five years ago, connecting to the internet on a machine running XP is painting a target on it.
That said, there are things you can do to lessen the risk.
1) If you haven’t already done so, go to Control Panel – Java – Security and uncheck “Enable Java content in the browser.” Then click OK to apply the change*.
2) Keep whichever third party anti-virus tool you use up to date.
3) Might want to check out a browser whose design keeps legacy systems in mind – such as UR browser, K-Meleon or Pale Moon.
XP was a damned good version of Windows, but its time is past. BTW, ought to mention that support for Windows 7 is scheduled to cease this coming January.
*Note that this affects Java, and has nothing to do with Javascript.
NotMax
@WereBear
Even if that were so I’d choose becoming elderly without stopping to blink an eye.
;)
sdhays
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It would be risky to word for one of the candidates who might be the nominee, but one of the bottom tier could get some air time making that point. I’d love to see Trump asked about that scenario.
“Mr. President, setting aside the merits, would you consider it legal for one of your rivals to tell China that they should investigate your daughter, Ivanka, and tell China that if they are elected, they will drop all of your tariffs?”
SFAW
@NotMax:
All your points are good. I keep XP because of a mechanical CAD program I have, which I will probably not be able to migrate to Win7 or Win10. And I’m too cheap to pay a licensing fee for the latest version of the CAD. [Since it’ll run upwards of $5K, I believe.]
Despite my Luddite attitude/approach, I’m actually reasonably aware of what I need to do to fix (at least partially) the situation. It’s the unlikelihood of seamless migration which concerns me, since I’m not nearly enough of a geek to be sure I’ll do it problem-free.
But, despite my japes above, I do appreciate your and Steeplejack’s attempts to help the helpless, i.e., me.
JimV
TGFAL (Thank God For Anne Laurie).
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW:
6. 1 to hold the light bulb, 4 to grab the ladder legs, pick it up and turn it and a 6th to keep them all in step and going in the same direction, like a swain’s cox.
Tata
Every morning, Bing publishes a new image. Today’s is an enhanced image of Jupiter that is just *chef’s kiss.*
Ladyraxterinok
@rikyrah: @Patricia Kayden: As I commented later, there’s info at WaPo, Philadelphia Inquirer. Color of Change has some good info in paragraph they post for you to email to others.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom:
Not all of us.
NotMax
@SFAW
Without getting too deep into the weeds, if you have a tech savvy friend you might want to ask him/her if running a Virtual Machine on a Win10 computer would allow your CAD program to function as you wish.
Bonus is that on a more modern computer with more robust hardware, the program would also operate faster and with less strain on resources
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SFAW: Both Win7 and Win10 have comparability settings* to run older programs. You might want to setup a test to see if it’ll work.
*This includes WinXP SP3.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hey, at least my version was original (more or less).
I once happened upon a “Lightbulb Joke” book, which I foolishly chose not to buy. Among my favorites:
How many Zen Buddhists? [2 — one to change it, one to not change it]
How many union workers? [17 – and listed all of them, including the business manager, shop steward, etc.]
How many Jewish grandmothers? [“Oh, don’t worry about me, I’ll just sit here in the dark”]
How many New Yorkers? [“What’s it to ya, bud?”]
SFAW
@NotMax:
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Thanks!
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: (jacks a round into the chamber) BOOM!
VOR
@sdhays:
Assumes self-awareness not in evidence.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: “Originality is just undiscovered plagiarism.”
“Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Professor Bigfoot
@debbie: except, of course, that it beats the alternative every single time.
However shitty getting older may be, it’s still better to be on this side of the daisies.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Thank goodness for Kevlar monitor screens.
(Not sure what I did to bring that on, though.)
stinger
Thank you for all of it, Anne Laurie!
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax:
You got into the weeds.
My shotgun doubles as a weed eater extraordinaire when necessary. ;-)
Another Scott
@SFAW: Virtual Box works very well for situations like that. Install it, then install XP in it, then install your CAD software inside VB. Even if you have to have a USB dongle or something, it should still work (I think – no guarantees).
(I used VB on a Mac to run XP, and set it up on my step-mom’s Mac so that she could run Quicken for Windows in Win7.)
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Just Chuck
@SFAW: reconciliation doesn’t mean everyone hugs and forgives each other. Justice is a big part of reconciliation.
Still I have this sinking feeling that we’ll just “look forward” come 2020
SFAW
@Just Chuck:
Theoretically, perhaps. But practically? Not so much.
karen marie
@Aleta: I would say less “believes” and more “blowing smoke up the public’s ass,” because “law” to Republicans is only a convenience to control someone or something.
WereBear
@scribbler: Of course, but right now I don’t know when. You can click on my nym to get to my site and contact me if you wish.
Dev Null
@SFAW: I’m late to the game as always, and given that your post is written humorously (for an old, bitter, borderline-nuts man – and did I mention “old”?) I hope you will forgive a humorous response:
hmm, could be a factor.
well, mebbe not borderline, exactly.
Hey, Raw Story does that for me, and I’m no more than a month out of date on my OS & firefox updates, if that; and not more than 6 months out of date on Chrome.
FTFY.
Why yes, there are! Mentioned by several commenters, in fact.
From a later post:
Get yourself a VM, geezer! er, I mean, Fellow Senior!
VMware Workstation is circa $200 (I haven’t upgraded in a couple of years, so not sure). There’s also VMware Player, and a gazillion other variants. The distinctions within the product family escape me, but Workstation just works.
Microsoft has its own VM infrastructure, HyperV, I think it is called, unless it’s been renamed. I don’t remember whether you have to pay to unlock features … never used it.
And VirtualBox is free (“as long as your time is worth nuthin'” … but that applies to VMware and HyperV, too.)
Lots of choices…
So get Win10 and run XP in the VM infrastructure of your choice.
[dusts hands] My work here is done.
Oh, wait!
OK.