The Library

[PatH]

The Library Our library  is open 24/7; the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us.

[PatH]

To complete Jane Austen: She also wrote Lady Susan, which is told in letters.  Lady Susan is a beautiful, unscrupulous widow, looking for a second husband for herself and someone to marry off her daughter to, and we follow her plotting as described to a friend.  The story is complete, but Austen must have gotten tired of the letter form; she shifts the characters to the same place, and summarizes how everything turns out.  A few years ago it was made into a movie, titled Love And Friendship, which got very good reviews.

And there's an early fragment, The Watsons.  It's pretty incomplete, but Austen told her sister Cassandra the plot, so we know how she meant it to come out.

[bellamarie]

PatH.,  You are so correct, I was drawn to Emma, and Mr. Knightley wasn't fooling anyone.  I love JoanK.'s quote:

JoanK describes "Austen's writing as like a microscope: covers a narrow field of vision, but perfect in every detail inside that field."

Jane Austen was a master writer for her time, and it will stand the test of time, forever. 

Another interesting fact I did not know, about the movie titled, Love And Friendship. 

I have the movie Emma, on DVD, my hubby gave to me for Valentine's Day a few years back.  It's the 2009 version with Romola Garai as the character Emma.  She plays Emma exactly as I pictured her to be in the book.

[BarbStAubrey]

Found Love & Friendship available as a movie to watch on Prime... saw this movie in the past but had no idea it was a Jane Austin story... it is now added to my watch list... thanks...

[Dana]

Recently I read Emma, an up to date version by Alexander McCall Smith who is a lightweight writer that I like, and just for fun I reread Emma on my cell phone at the same time.  I have to say I enjoyed the experience!

[Dana]

Joanna Trollope, Val Mc Dairmid, Curtis Sittenfeld.... apparently there's something called the Austin project from Harper Collins which lined up modern authors to do updates of the Austin novels, I guess as a tribute or something.  I think there have only been 4 of the books to date.  I have never read Val McD. or Curtis S., but Joanna Trollope I rather like.
Its a fun way to read Austin again, along with the modern versions.  I do like a new  reading project and this promises to be a pleasant one.  I hate running out of good stuff to read.
  Recently I started rereading A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth) because I wanted something long and interesting and pleasant. I am liking it just as much the second time around.  Does anyone remember it?

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, Dana I too have read Joanna Trollope - hadn't heard of the others though - sounds like an interesting project but some authors, like Jane Austin have such memorable lines and ways of expressing a slice of life that I almost hesitate watching her books as a movie although, the costumes give me more or a sense of the times - I just do not know if I would enjoy reading them within a modern setting or using our modern way of life to express the story line - it would be interesting though - let us know what you think - I love the virtues she balances against each other - today I'm seeing 'sense' versus 'sensibility' playing out in far more than choosing a husband -

[bellamarie]

Austen's books written in her time, is what makes them classics.  I could never imagine bringing them to modern day life.  There was only one Jane Austen, and her characters, places, and subjects fit the era, and yes, the clothes back in her time are also what contributes to the beauty of her stories.  What comes to my mind is Ecclesiastes 3: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

[Dana]

well I think the thing about Jane Austin that makes her stand out is the timelessness of her characterizations.  She transcends her time. Perhaps that is why the idea arose to have modern authors take her characters and put them in a present day situation.  It is I think a tribute to her genius that we have tried to do this.

[Frybabe]

Okay, I finished The Marriage of Opposites. Interesting story. What a hypocrite Rachel turned into. She insisted on going her own way, going against religious bans regarding marriage as well as a few other things. But darn it all, if she didn't try to stop her son from doing the same. So what we have is the life of a headstrong girl who turned into a loving (and perhaps a bit over-protective and controlling) mother. Hoffman treads lightly through slavery and women's rights as well as the restrictive attitudes of the Jewish community on St. Thomas, and still managed to stir up my emotions a bit. The last several chapters were spent in Paris. This is very much a story at a personal level rather than a family saga, I think. It did stir up an emotional reaction at times.

Now I am back to listening to Brigadier General (Ret.) Robert Spaldings book, Stealth War: How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept. Alarming stuff. Having read some of how economics and trade shaped the ancient world and still shape it today, what is in this book is something of a warning. I am looking a little more closely at my investments now.

[bellamarie]

Author Mary Higgins-Clark dies, I have read so many of her books, loved her Christmas book Deck The Halls, she wrote with her daughter Carol Higgins-Clark 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/mary-higgins-clark-spinner-of-bestselling-suspenseful-yarns-dies-at-92/2020/01/31/e6885fe4-5944-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html?
fbclid=IwAR3HWsPtWtW83igoyLBWlGw_Q62nEgzMlbsE9gTBDe-mLeoAaVXPIvJx4WY

Frybabe,  Marriage Of Opposites sounds interesting. 

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I just discovered Horrible Histories - The Movie: Rotten Romans. It was released this past July, but not is not formatted for our region yet. There are several posts on YouTube, including someone just putting up the whole movie. Unfortunately, the sound is not the best on these. The official trailer is the exception. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVHbr70xt8

[ginny]

Frybabe, where on earth do you find these things? I can't believe they made a movie of it, with an all new cast (is that Derek Jacobi?) , thank you so much for the notice!

 I was shocked last year in London to turn on the TV and find that the original series with the  original cast with segments I haven't seen  is still running on TV there. That original cast was magic, very Monty Python-ish, very clever. But I didn't know that apparently originally one TV segment would consist of several small ones (Cutthroat Celts, Groovy Greeks,  Anglo Saxons, Rotten Romans, Tudors, etc., etc) in one show, according to the time periods covered.
 
So every night I'd tape  the Romans section on my iphone. hahaha I can't say it was very good reception, but I love the original cast and  it's so funny you put this in because I'm playing the  Augustus/ Agrippa one in one of my face to face  classes on Wednesday. It really is priceless.

I wish we could see the good ones here for our own students, but the BBC yanks them off Youtube  as fast as somebody puts them up, or the ones left up leave out half the show and it's not coordinated with sound,   good thing I saved so many of them originally. I wish I could figure out how to put them here, because everybody loves them.

Thank you for that! (You like history, have you  read the new  The Year of Julius and Caesar by Stefan G. Chrissanthos of U Cal? )It's very succinct and good.

I'm right now reading Hannibal by Patrick N Hunt, who has spent his life trying to find the path Hannibal took through the Alps. Short, snappy chapters.  Reads like a novel. His description of Hannibal crossing the Rhone River  with 37 elephants is something I will never ever forget, there's nothing like it in any fiction anywhere, just jaw dropping. 

I'm kind of late to be reading only history,  or non fiction and it amazes me how spectacular the real thing really is. Better late than never. 

Thank you, bellamarie, my mother used to love Mary Higgins  Clark. I've looked over that link,  what an amazing career she had, and an amazing person. I think I'd like to read one of hers again, just in memory, that Let Me Call You Sweetheart looks good, about the surgeon who transforms the faces of people... just the thing right now, and I haven't read it, and certainly cheap enough on Amazon.

I don't 'know how anybody competes with Amazon, especially if you have Prime.

[bellamarie]

I don't have Amazon or Prime. I am so behind in figuring all this streaming out.  I usually buy from Thrift Books, but have gotten some from Amazon, especially the used ones, because they are so cheap, and let's face it, once you read a book, you shelve it, and it doesn't matter to me if it's in perfectly new condition.

I am finally going to attempt to read Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee.  There's been so much controversy about this book, as to whether Harper Lee ever intended for it to be published, not to mention the legalities of the family friend/lawyer, allegedly, submitting it without Harper Lee's knowledge or consent, after Alice, the sister died. I vowed to never read the book, feeling Harper Lee was taken advantage of by the lawyer and publisher, but since I have it on my shelf, I decided to go ahead and read it.  If it is as bad, as this article makes it sound, I may not get through it.  After Atticus defending the black man, Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird, how could in Go Set A Watchman, he become this racist?  I've read this was actually the first book Harper Lee wrote and submitted, and it was rejected, so she made changes, and submitted To Kill A Mockingbird.  We shall see how far I get.

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-i-refuse-to-read-harper-lees-new-book-2015-7-2

[PatH]

Bellamarie, I had pretty much the same reaction to the book, haven't read it either.  Let us know what you think of it.

[Dana]

I didn't like the Watchman one at all.  I thought she came across as really unlikeable, all her dramatic shock was a bit over the top, to me.  Mind you I didn't much like the first book either....I couldn't see the point of the weird neighbours.  I just read them both recently for the first time.

I agree with Ginny about reading history.  Actually I really like biographies  and presently am reading one on Churchill...,Walking with Destiny. (its gripping, but very heavy..weightwise...thus hard to read in bed...) I do like finding out about these astonishing people.  Their stories are more unbelievable than any novel really.  All the Russians...Peter, Catherine, the last Tsar and his crazy wife, Stalin,Lenin and then the Americans, Roosevelt, Lewis and Clark, Lee.......I won't get into the Brits..... I always think at some point or at many points in reading about these remarkable lives that if a novelist put half of what really happened to them , or half of what they did, in a novel no-one would ever believe it.

[bellamarie]

Anyone watch the Superbowl half time show?  Shakira and JLo were the performers, and talk about setting women back, this was nothing more than a porn show for the men watching.  I could not believe when JLo bent backwards and the camera literally went in close to the front area of her g string.  I told my hubby, it was sex and bondage, and here we are in the Me Too movement, and women empowerment, wanting to be taken seriously, and not as sex objects.  What on earth were they thinking?  There should have been an X rated warning ahead, for all the families who watch with their children.  These two women have great singing and dancing talent, and to choose to perform so raunchy in front of millions at the Superbowl, and on national TV, was such poor taste. 

Dana, I had just read To Kill A Mocking Bird for the first time a few months back.  I did not really care for it, even though it was a classic.  I realize, Harper Lee was addressing the racial issues, and the neighbors seemed to me at least, a lesson on not judging your neighbor, without knowing them.  I'm glad I read it, even though I had watched the movie on TV, years ago. Pat, I'll let you know how it goes.

[Frybabe]

Ginny, I have not yet run across Julius and Caesar. I will go hunt it up shortly.

Seasnons 1-6 of Horrible Histories are  on Amazon Prime.

For some odd reason or another I have never been interested in Hannibal or Spartacus. I don't know why except maybe being exposed to Victor Mature as Hannibal  and Kirk Douglas as Spartacus. I've never been fond of Mature. Douglas was better.. But then, I wasn't particularly  fond of Paul Newman either.  In fact, I would say that pretty boys and those who came across as a bit egotistical were pretty much on my DNW list when I was a youngster.

[PatH]

it's been a long time since I read Mockingbird, which I liked very much.  It's almost not fair to read Watchman, since it's Lee's first try at figuring out what to do with the characters she had just formed from people she knew, and she probably wasn't satisfied with them.  Kind of like reading stuff out of a wastebasket.

Some years ago, when they were readily available on YouTube, Ginny posted links to a number of the Horrible Histories.  What a hoot!  I'm glad they're available again.

Bellamarie, I saw the half time show, and thought it was inappropriate, as did some of the people I was with.

[ginny]

  It's too bad that the best ones are not on  youtube any  more.  Thanks for that Frybabe,  have you seen the Great Courses on an Historian Goes to the Movies? That might make you change your mind about some of the depictions in the past.

Spartacus in two of the newest films about him, both from Rome says "they" got it  wrong,  and I  did not see the Victor Mature one but the History Channel has a good one called something like The Truth About Hannibal, which can be found on youtube after an awful lot of searching. It's one of the few which takes up the aftermath, it really is an  unbelievable story.

On the Super Bowl half time, I did think JLo at times was a bit over the top but she wanted to make a point,  I think,  and I loved the children. Absolutely loved Shakira, I thought she was just incredible singing all those songs of hers and the dancing. I wish.   I've been humming her Whenever Wherever  or whatever it is, very bouncy tune, since. Just love that Spanish energy and vibe and  salsa type stuff. Not too sure about the guy  there in the white suit, but hey.

[BarbStAubrey]

No one in our family, not son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, or any of the grandboys watched the game - with all the hoorah rah we're reading since it sounds like it was exhibitionism challenging - we all stopped watching when kneeling during the flag ceremony became the way of things. Lots of local high school and national collage games...

haha looks like our weather is making a run for exhibitionist of the year... Sat and Sun temps 80 and 81, Mon temp 82, today and it is only 11:30, not the hotter part of the day and the temp is already 80 with so much humidity had to turn on the AC - Tomorrow Wednesday we are expecting the highest temp to be below freezing

Has anyone seen the movie 1917 - my grandson says it is a winner and worth seeing - interesting for me - all the wars I can see the underlining or real reason except the first WWI - grandson says it was really about the change from an autocratic society where one ruled to the average citizen wanting a say so that meant a change in the power grid for the autocracy - forgot that this was the time when the Soviet's were shaking things up in Russia - I wonder how much of the war was related to Bismark's effort to unify Germany that he created one war with France to do just that but the unification was still not complete. Need to read up on German history in the nineteenth century and maybe WWI will fall into place.

I remember seeing Victor Mature as Hannibal and Kirk Douglas as Spartacus - never liked Victor Mature and frankly remember little about any of his movies - Kirk Douglas was not one of my favorite's either but I did like Jean Simmons, John Ireland and Tony Curtis - loved Tony Curtis with Jack Lemon - that movie seemed to start a series of guys playing gals - Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire, Hairspray and the Nutty Professor - there were others but those stick in my mind - have not seen the Dallas Buyer's Club - acting is supposed to be superb but the clips I've seen does not seem like a story I would enjoy and be able to laugh. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Goodness... we were just talking about him ... "Kirk Douglas, the muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films and helped fatally weaken the Hollywood blacklist, has died at 103.

“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” his son Michael said in a statement obtained by People Magazine. “To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to.”

[ginny]

 Some years ago I read Kirk  Douglas's autobiograhpy, I can't recall now the title, but it was  REALLY good, his father, an immigrant, was a rag and bone man, which is something I haven't heard of since my own childhood and it was inspiring and excellent. I don't know if it's still published.

But I've always been a sucker for stories of the Immigrant experience in  America, having grown up in the urban north and hearing so many such stories and it's been a long time since I heard of rag and bone men. How lovely he was able, in receiving his award, to speak after his stroke  to his sons in the audience when they thought he could not.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes, I remember you telling us about the bio when you were reading it - never knew what the rags were used for, the bones I knew were to make buttons and since WWII with plastic being the new medium we no longer have bone buttons. Some of them used to buy women's hair - I guess for wigs and toupees. Mom always saved her rags - they became either dust rags or attached to the end of a long handle for a wet mop and then she would use cotton to make braided rugs and wool was hooked into a rug that took years to make. I cannot imagine though people purchased used rags back then - they must have used the rags for something else.

[PatH]

It's good to read about an actor who led a good life.  I remember him mostly for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Frybabe, I'm with you in not caring much for pretty boys.

[Frybabe]

There are a couple of novels about books on my library Wish List. The one I am reading now is The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson. It is not quite an "I can't put it down book", but close if you don't think too much. This review pretty much sums up the good and the bad, but I think it is also something of a spoiler alert. https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/the-bookshop-of-yesterdays-by-amy-meyerson/  The author's bio says she teaches in the Creative Writing Department at USC, so you wouldn't expect her writing to be quite as flawed as the reviews indicate. Her next novel, The Imperfects, is scheduled to release soon. It will be on my list to read too.

[Frybabe]

This morning's find on Project Gutenberg: The Shakespeare Garden by Esther Singleton http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61325

What a lovely title for a novel, but no, it is non-fiction. The book uses Shakespeare to introduce the Elizabethan gardens prevalent Shakespeare's time. The book starts out with a history, then moves on to the gardens with plenty of photos and poetry. Next it discusses the plants used and, finally, suggestions for garden layouts. Nice addition for garden lovers, it is still in print.

[BarbStAubrey]

If you need a good cry than pick up 'As Wide as the Sky' - I'm not yet through and find I need to take a break after every10 chapters the story or stories hit something so visceral you cannot be an armchair reader looking on. An article says the author wrote a short story about loss and moving on, that she soon realized was a much bigger story and took a couple of years to develop it into a novel. She is a novelist better known for light fun fiction. This book is completely out of character for her but so perfectly written capturing feelings on many levels.

If you have experienced in your family a shattering event or if you experienced the death of a child the story will hit all those old buried buttons and make real with new insight what happened - the mother in this story gradually moves on after giving her all to protect what is left of herself and support the goodness in her child while accepting the horror of his actions. The story does bring vignettes of how others are personally affected by the horror unleashed by her son - with the season of lent soon upon us we often renew by re-reading the sacrifice of Jesus - this book is a very real and modern story showing, as if switching roles, the social crucifixion and sacrifice of this mother.

I've loved how she handles the difficult relationship with her daughter, who feels her mother has abandoned her in favor of being there for her brother - the mother's awareness of how choices gradually close our wide sky to windows and for some a solid wall, was for me a new way to evaluate choice - and yes, the mother goes through the litany of mothering events as if we are at fault for our children's choices - I could go on and on - this story is riveting and evidently it must be a book that is used by book clubs since the book includes a chapter of discussion thoughts and questions.

[Frybabe]

My Project Gutenberg rambles have discovered a few interesting volumes this morning.  They take on a few  major projects of their own, one of which is titled Project Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. This set is the Webster's Revised Dictionary published in 1913. The other is The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia (1911) which is a reproduction of  "a famous encyclopedia". So far they only list Vol. I, in which they emphasize that the information contained within is OLD. I am assuming that this famous encyclopedia is still in existence even though this version is out of copyright. These both should be fun to browse through. They are indexed under "Project Gutenberg".

The other find is The Curiosities and Law of Wills by John Proffatt, LL.B. (1876) This is volume two of a set titled Legal Recreations, and the only one Project Gutenberg has uploaded. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41075 Proffatt is also author of Woman before the Law which isn't uploaded. Shame, I'd really like to browse that one.


A final note on The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson. I thought the ending was drawn out way too much. I ended up skimming some of it. I wonder if the author had trouble ending the story without a long explanation of why the characters did what they did. As I look back on the read, I can't say that I cared a whole lot for most of the characters. They all seemed to have some annoying traits, but maybe that was just my mood when reading it. If you don't think or question too much about all the failings of the characters to connect with each other, it is still a good read.

[Frybabe]

I am now listening to John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars. I read it years ago and thought if funny as all get out. This, I believe, was Scalzi's first effort at writing a novel. He self-published it and offered if free just to see if anyone would actually read it. You can still find a free copy on the net including ManyBooks.com
https://manybooks.net/titles/scalzijother06agent_to_the_stars.html

While Wil Wheaton does a good job of narration I don't get that tickle my funnybone feeling that I did when I first read it. At the time I thought is was an absolute riot. I've never been real fond of Wheaton, even when he was a regular on Star Trek: Next Generation, so that could be some of it, but it could be too, that he didn't  quite convey the comedy of the situation. According to previous comments by those in the business, I understand that comedy is so hard to do well.

[Frybabe]

Okay, Project Gutenberg is full of interesting stuff this morning. Here is another. Black Tales for White Children by C. H. Stigand and Mrs. C. H. Stigand (1914) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38992/38992-h/38992-h.htm The title is unfortunate in this day and age, but the stories should be interesting. They are translations of oral tradition Swahili tales. I wonder if someone has re-translated these stories or republished this volume under a less potentially inflammatory title. If you can download an epub file, you can get it here. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38992

[bellamarie]

Frybabe, Thank you so much for the link to The Shakespeare Garden.  I am an avid gardener, and look forward to reading this, just in time before I begin my Spring gardening.  Nothing brings me more joy, than my flowers in bloom.  I am seeing about an inch of green growth pushing through our layer of fresh fallen snow.  Oh how new growth excites me, and reminds me, how each year is a renewed time of life.

I have begun reading Go Set A Watchman, and am a bit perplexed,  it begins with Scout returning home for a visit from New York, where she now lives.  Jem her brother is deceased, and Atticus is now in his seventies.  My understanding of this book, was she wrote this one before Mockingbird, and Mockingbird was a revised edition to this one, after the publishers rejected this book.  Hmmm... I suppose I will figure it all out in time, but for now, I can say it does not have the same feel to me as Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

[ginny]

 Here is a Public Service Announcement:   

If you are still running  Windows 7 and have not converted to Windows 10, be sure that your Automatic Updates from Microsoft are turned off.  They are not supposed to be sending more.

 If they are not  turned off  they will destroy your ability to access your files- all your files and photos, etc., the files are still there but they will say they are not, the search function on the start button will cease to operate and you will lose authorization to your own computer, even to being allowed to turn it off.

Apparently this is happening to a lot of people including me, the computer tech guy said that he just saw an article on it last week, but if you need your computer for anything other than emails, do this small thing now and save yourself a lot of grief and money later on.  (Mine was turned off, but last week ominously my Word began greeting me in the morning and afternoon which it never did before,  which is a VERY ominous sign and leads to the above).

FYI

[BarbStAubrey]

thanks for heads up...

[PatH]

Good grief, Ginny, Why do they do that sort of thing to people?  You didn't make it clear if there is a way to recover stuff.

One more reason I'm glad I have a Mac.  They don't perpetrate nearly as much of that sabotage as Windows does.

[ginny]

In my case it wasn't the updates,  because he had shut them off  at last year's service.  Nonetheless,  despite the fact there was no virus present and all the disks were healthy and everything looked fine, the settings within the computer have been changed,  and so although the files are there and I can now access them from the desktop, I cannot access them from the search / start index  which I could up until three days ago when Word began greeting me when I opened a page,  and my Administrator status has continued to be changed, and then denied,  with every reboot, prohibiting me from making any changes. It's kind of like sci-fi to look at it to watch him do it and see it constantly changing, no matter what he does. I have had many identities tonight.

You can't restore to an earlier time, for instance.    It's amazing to look at, I won't tell you what he thinks it is, but he's pretty angry at a company.  As he's had three more calls tonight with the same problem.  SO he's currently installing windows 10 remotely and I should be able to use the search function at that time. And he can fix it to a more reasonable  interface  so I don't have to look at big color blocks on the desktop,  which I really don't want to look at.

So I would be sure that my update button is not turned on if I were still running Windows 7, unless I just used it for email. And if you go to the Microsoft website you will see they don't recommend you send email at all if you're still running 7.

[Frybabe]

Right, PatH. And it is a reason why my desktop runs a Linux OS. Well, not right now because my hard drive appears to be finally dying. I have an external drive I am going to program and use instead of futzing with changing out the internal drive when I feel like spending the time.

[bellamarie]

Gosh I recall Microsoft sending out warnings about this years ago when Windows 10 came out.  It scared me to think of what would happen to my computer, since I at the time was using Windows 7.  I have a new DELL laptop, so I don't need to worry any more.  I had a technician manipulate my old HP years ago, and it was fascinating to sit and watch him do it from where ever he was.  Hope all works out for you Ginny.

PatH., I loved my Apple/Mac computers for years, but finally went to HP, then DELL.  Now with my laptop, I no longer use a mouse, it is all touch screen, which I love.  It took awhile to get used to no longer using a mouse.  I tried to convince my hubby into getting a touch screen when he recently needed a new laptop, but he wouldn't do it.  So when he needs help with his computer, I go get frustrated having to use his mouse.  I find myself touching his screen forgetting it's not touch screen.  Ugh...I don't know how anyone can deal with a mouse now.

[ginny]

Bellamarie, yes, back in 2015 Windows 10 was released after the disastrous Windows 8 premiere. Nobody wanted it after  8. They even offered it free, I still have the download thing free  Windows 10  on my computer hard drive.

The problem is, there's nothing wrong with Windows 7, except that Microsoft has ceased its updates and security patches. A LOT of people are still using 7, including huge corporations and companies for whom changing all those records and files over will be tremendously expensive,  who can pay Microsoft a fee and enjoy ol Windows 7 right on, it's not going to immolate itself.

Check it out: this was posted 30 minutes ago, type in any of these sentences to see the website:

Microsoft has released first security updates for businesses who have signed up for Extended Security Updates (ESU) following the end of support of Windows 7 on January 14. The February 2020 security updates are available for Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 SP2.

These ESU security updates are only available for those who have paid for the extended support. Microsoft said in its advisory today that "if your organization has not yet been able to complete your transition to Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019 and want to continue to receive security updates for your current version of Windows, you will need to purchase Extended Security Updates." You can head over to Microsoft to see if your organization is eligible to receive Windows 7 ESUs.

As for today's release, here are all the updates that have been released for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. Microsoft said that the ESU customers are recommended to "review the applicable KB article below for prerequisites and other important information you will need to deploy these updates."

    The following updates were released today for Windows Server 2008 SP2:

        Extended Security Updates (ESU) Licensing Preparation Package (KB4538484)
        Monthly Rollup (KB4537810)
        Security Only (KB4537822)
        Servicing Stack Update (KB4537830)
        Internet Explorer 9 Cumulative Updates (KB4537767)

    The following updates were released today for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1:

        Extended Security Updates (ESU) Licensing Preparation Package (KB4538483)
        Monthly Rollup (KB4537820)
        Security Only (KB4537813)
        Servicing Stack Update (KB4537829)
        Internet Explorer 11 Cumulative Updates (KB4537767)

Head over to this link for more details about today's Windows 7 ESU release.

" Half a Million NHS Devices Still Running Windows 7."

These updates are not available to the consumer. There is no excuse at all for what happened to my desktop, my Dell laptop is running fine with 7 and I'm not going to change it, at all. I have Malware  Bytes and Norton and yearly service, no viruses or anything else. I have to protect and save  the huge files on my desktop and that's why I'm changing to 10, let's see how long it takes the Dell Windows 7 to implode, (and I promise I will report it honestly  if  it does) and how many service calls it will take to sort out what I hear are the problematic updates for 10.

I agree on the greatness of the remote work.  You don't have to schlep it to any store or Geek Squad, and they don't have to come out, it's brilliant. There is nothing on my computer, no code, no account, no password,  nothing to fear and I trust the guy, he built it and loaded all the files on it in the first place.

[Jonathan]

Meanwhile...back at the ranch...I'm having difficulties just posting a message with this laptop I'm using. I've had no problem reading all your wonderful posts. Thanks for the many reading tips, and the useful information. Counting chickens made easy. Flushing the system in the morning with a glass of water...reminded of a strange encounter at Hadrian's Wall many years ago....Ginny, I share your interest in immigrant stories. Are you familiar with The Rise of David Levinsky. by Abraham Cahan ? Lower East Side. I'm enjoying Me. Elton John has an easy writing style to go with his interesting life. Several more interesting books I would like to  mention...but let's see if I can get this on its way. Here goes. I'm going to hit the Post button...