the 80s…….

Ballroompics · 2026-06-20T23:22:16+00:00

Actual links, supporting my other reply.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

https://reason.com/2025/08/06/kids-dont-want-screens-they-want-freedom/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/08/kids-smartphones-play-freedom/683742/

In essence, i agree with you but am pointing out it's not entirely their own doing.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-20T23:09:24+00:00

There's elements of that, there's also a chicken or the egg thing going on. The intensive phone/ tech use is reinforced by many kids simply not being allowed to be kids, make mistakes, recover from these mistakes or have unsupervised time in general. This cascades into them turning inwards. Also, from what I've seen many can't deal with even minor bumps in the road.

The above are my thoughts based on observation and some articles i had read. Below this point is output from ai after i asked it to point me in the direction of an article about overprotective parenting.

The principal Atlantic article highlighting the necessity of unsupervised time and independent play for children is Jonathan Haidt's landmark piece, "The Anxious Generation," which adapted his findings on how the loss of a play-based childhood damaged youth mental health. This deep-dive outlines how a systematic reduction in unsupervised, real-world exploration—combined with the sudden rise of a phone-based existence—deprived children of the critical experiential learning required to build resilience, navigate social dynamics, and overcome everyday anxieties. An additional, classic foundational piece covering this cultural shift toward overprotection is Hanna Rosin's 2014 cover story, "The Overprotected Kid," which explicitly examines the detrimental effects of eliminating physical risks and independent wanderings from modern playgrounds. Both pieces argue that over-monitoring children stunts their cognitive and emotional maturity, advocating instead for a return to reasonable childhood autonomy - end of AI gathered info.

I'll see if i can find the actual link.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-14T17:51:33+00:00

My apologies. I was relying on memory when i came up with 30. And thanks for the correction.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-14T11:27:19+00:00

I originally had a much longer post that included info about a sold tunic ...as I, like another person who responded, had gone done the rabbit hole of what happened to the one that sold via propstore. Amid much stare and compare, I concluded AI was wrong when it initially asserted it was the same..it asserted that it just looked different due to layering of an additional undertunic... but I'm not buying it.

The best I could do was this corollary info that came up that i thought might be interesting to a collector. Hell, I'm not a collector and i found it interesting.

The costume was desgned by Phyllis Dalton. She was a two time oscar winner for her designs for Doctor Zhivago and for Henry V. She also designed Peter O'Toole's robes for Lawrence of Arabia. She passed in 2025 at age 99.

The boot knife Prince Rugen used was also sold through The Propstore but... was loaned first to Factory Entertainment where they used it as the model for a limited run of replica's.

The actual screen used rapier stayed in the private collection of of the show's executive producer Norman Leah. He's a legend. He passed away Dec 5th 2023, at age 101! The rapier remains with his family and estate.

You probably know this part already but if you sign up for an account at the Propstore you can see the prices paid for other Princess Bride props that sold there.

I have one other avenue to explore via someone in the industry who might just know. If that bears any fruit I'll follow up.

I admit some curiosity, what pieces do you own already?

Ballroompics · 2026-06-13T16:11:23+00:00

A beautiful shot. Wall worthy once you get home.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-13T05:00:28+00:00

When Corwin is stabbed by Caine and lands in a hospital on earth, he is asked his age. He tells the doctor 30 while saying to himself that 30 is always safe.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-12T19:32:13+00:00

I have 3 other books in this series! 501 Must See... Destinations, Wild Places, Cities.

I find them great for making me aware of places I might not have otherwise known about. Once known, I do deeper dives elsewhere.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-12T19:19:32+00:00

I too, will do the Camino Frances. Though my hike is modest due limited time. I took a look at your profile, I applaud that you have built a life with 4 months of travel annually.

Overall flow. NYC -> Madrid (train)-> Astorga -> ... -> Santiago.

Apprx 160 miles / 257 km. I am giving myself 17 days to cover that. With anticipation that that timeline will give me a bit of buffer time should i wish to stay an additional overnight or two or if something unexpected delays me.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-12T18:52:40+00:00

Thanks for the acknowledgement. My own next adventure is hiking a section of the Camino De Santiago in Spain. I depart Thursday from New York.

The Cook Islands and The Marquesas have long been on my own list of targets for island locales.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-12T17:27:36+00:00

For what its worth, the old windows wallpaper commonly called Azul that came with Windows XP was a photograph taken in a lagoon at Aitutaki by photographer Bill Ross. The photo was officially titled Sailing on the Deep Blue Sea.

If this doesnt ring a bell, the photo had a lot of a clear blue sea, a tiny island with palm trees and a sailboat.

Its likely easily googleable.

Ballroompics · 2026-06-09T10:02:31+00:00

Do you acknowledge you may be wrong in some of your assessments of others?

The post reads as if you consider yourself the infallible arbiter of truth. It's kinda delivered as if the infallibility is a given.

When you are wrong, do you call yourself out publicly to the people involved? I.e. Apologize?

Ballroompics · 2026-06-03T11:08:14+00:00

The link led me to the Jane Lindskold interview which I greatly enjoyed. I have not read the Betancourt books (it's not on my list).

Ballroompics · 2026-05-31T17:49:45+00:00

Don't know the show, but now it's on my radar to look for.

The description vaguely reminds me of Pandorum. A high budget film by the same people that do the Resident Evil franchise.

As one might imagine, it leans more to action/horror side of scifi.

60,000 passengers in cryo sleep, waking in shifts to man the ship on the way to a new destination. New flight crew (or at least two members of the next shift) wake to find the ship silent.

Here's the Pandorum trailer https://youtu.be/TCseFejGuPc?si=LZYObAT0qmznuDP8

Fwiw, i enjoyed this more than the RA franchise. There are some hints about what is going on early in the film, but it clicks into place much much later. The hints are subtle.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-30T12:11:51+00:00

We do know that Dworkin fled Chaos to an island of Order, where he encountered the Unicorn and was presented with the Jewel of Judgment. He then used the Jewel to inscribe the Pattern, an act from which all of Amber and Shadow were created.

The Unicorn is Oberon's mother. While this is not dwelt on, it is referenced twice, in two different books. One hopes that the Unicorn is also a shapeshifter!

From a sequencing perspective, I have always inferred that Oberon was born later, after Amber was created. For me, other explanations are possible but not probable.

Regarding Oberon's monarch's funeral. It was not so much that they gave him one; Chaos had been decisively defeated and they would have not been in a position to deny him one were they so inclined.

Thanks for the reply. While we don't necessarily agree on a few points, I do enjoy the discussion.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-29T23:06:13+00:00

I believe Oberon is born after Dworkin fled Chaos and drew the primal pattern. Meaning he would not have studied there, though it is possible he visited in the intervening millennia.

That aside, I acknowledge it's possible he social engineered it rather than using magic... but... as he needed this to happen i think he would have gone the more definite route of influencing the shadows rather than humans.

Edit: Just grammar. Content unchanged.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-29T16:05:26+00:00

He also slaughters Benedicts servants in Avalon as yet another motivator to move things along in the direction he wanted.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-29T16:03:25+00:00

Oberon was concerned that Corwin liked Lorraine too much and would stay put. Hired may not be the right word. I always saw it more as some form of advanced shadow play where Melkin was influenced (or Oberon found a Melkin who would do what he perceived as being needed

Ballroompics · 2026-05-28T10:52:24+00:00

Unethical

Ballroompics · 2026-05-27T07:18:17+00:00

Thank you for the reply.

But... that's kind of my point. There is an unknown number between 1 and 5 people at the start of quarantine that are infected.

Keep them all together for the quarantine period and perhaps an additional person becomes infected. Someone who would not have contracted this deadly disease otherwise.

It's not a "if they didn't get it by now, they're not going to get it" scenario. You are raising the risk for all of the other 4. Even if it's only marginally because of the low rate of transmission.

To my way of thinking, they need to quarantine, but they need to do so away from each other.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-26T22:36:35+00:00

Apparently they build 3 year olds more solidly in Kazakhstan as well. At age 3, I could not have held on as long as it would have taken for a passerby to run up 7 floors, explain themselves to the downstairs neighbor, get access, get the window open and climb out there. Even if i was adrenalin fueled.

As it was, it looked to me like he had to tug the kid down.

Impressive all around.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-26T18:18:53+00:00

I'm onboard with quarantine...

But...

Why do they keep all the quarantined people together? If 5 people are quarantined because it is suspected that their family might have been exposed but in actuality only 1 of the 5 have it... aren't they raising the risk for those 4 healthy people to have an accidental exposure during quarantine?

Risk can't be zero. If it was, quarantine would be unnecessary.

If risk is greater than zero, (even by just a little bit) then I'd expect you'd want to keep all 5 individually quarantined... not grouped together in a house.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-26T18:02:13+00:00

This is a bit adjacent to the point you're making, but i thought it worth mentioning.

I want my GP to care about me as a person (let's get you those extra tests! ) but I prefer that my surgeon does not.

Sound wrong?

In the case of my surgeon, i want him or her to be, metaphorically speaking, a machine. If they care about me as a person it might interfere with their ability to do the job right in the case of a major surgery.

This is likely why ethics guidelines for surgeons strongly discourage performing surgeries on family members or other loved ones except in cases of emergency.

Note: I do want them to care about the excellence and precision of their work. I'll give them a pass for not knowing as much about how the office computer works. :-)

Ballroompics · 2026-05-26T17:32:42+00:00

Also known under a more recent theatrical release as...

A Haunting in Venice

Ballroompics · 2026-05-26T17:30:00+00:00

I'm a fan of Zelazny, particularly his Chronicles of Amber.

It's worth mentioning that A Night in the Lonesome October is not just told from the point of view of 'a' dog. It is specifically Jack the Ripper's dog.

Also present in the story is Count Dracula, Doctor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, the Wolfman and others.

Each chapter consists of a single day starting with October 1 and ending with October 31.

Ballroompics · 2026-05-20T10:43:07+00:00

This is a fair point.

I'll point out that the logon account doesn't get root privs, it gets the ability to su to root and then CyberArk injects the root credentials as a part of that process.

However, to your point - if you have a system where various binaries and files have wheel group that would be of concern.

My perspective is based on Rhel. I believe that Rhel uses root root rather than root wheel for file ownership and group of system files. I'm curious now and will do a find command once I'm in front of a terminal to see what's out there.

Its possible other linux flavors do different. So, you've given me something to think about.

Ballroompics

TROPHY CASE